Family Time

I say it all the time, but it's always worth repeating:  I have the BEST family in the whole entire world!  Usually when I say this, I'm referring to my immediate family, but I must admit that it goes for my extended family as well!  I am so incredibly blessed to have amazing family on both my mom's side AND my dad's side.  I don't know any other family that is as close as ours.  Honestly.  I'm sure there are some out there, and I know some that come close, but we have a pretty tight-knit little (ok... large, obnoxious, & HILARIOUS) family.

Last weekend, I spent my entire Saturday with my dearest cousin Daniel and his siblings.  He left on Sunday to spend 11 months serving the Lord in Peru, where he will also be doing his Junior year of college.  So, on Saturday, we gathered to have a "farewell" for him.  On the river.  In Canoes.   Now, for those of you who know me, you know how I generally feel about being in nature.  However, I absolutely LOVE being on the water, so this little nature-venture was great!  Here are a few pics of the crew:

Roster: Aunt Julie, April, Daniel, Joshua, Caleb, Amber, Alisa, David, Lacy, Laura, Leah, Sarah, Megan, & Jared  (Megan is Daniel's girlfriend, Sarah is her sister, and Jared is our friend)

Sunday afternoon, Joshua & Caleb graduated from the local high school:

Congratulations, Josh & Caleb!  

PS- I always had faith in you... lol :)

And last, but not least, I checked on my Mother's Day gift to Mamma:

Looks like they're doing just great!  I told my mom when I gave them to her that I hoped she'd think of me every time she sees them and remember how much I love and appreciate her being my mother and my friend. Looks like a good reminder to me! 

Well, that's all for now!  Stay tuned for more summertime fun!

Remember

When you wake up in the morning,
and you start your morning coffee,

Remember.

When you leave your house,
and you drive down the street,

Remember.

When you go to church on Sunday,
and you sing your songs to God,

Remember.

When colors are presented,
and you salute the flag,

Remember.

When your children go to school,
and they learn about our past,

Remember.

When your family sleeps at night
safe from terror and tragedy,

Remember.

Remember those who went
with no concern for themselves.

Remember those who fought
and volunteered to go.

Remember those who missed
their families during war.

Remember those who loved
their country more than life.

Remember those who gave
the ultimate sacrifice.


Never take your freedom for granted.  When you spend time with your family and friends celebrating memorial day,  take time to remember that while most gave some, some gave all.

Happy Memorial Day



(Yes, for those wondering, I did write this poem myself.)

A Whirlwind of Life

Welcome, friends!  This is the post where I try desperately to play catch-up on life.  So much has been going on lately, and blogging has just consistently been shoved to the back burner (cooking analogy... see what I did there, Helen?). Well... the longer I put it off, the harder it was to actually sit down and blog... because there was even that much MORE to include!  So here is my feeble attempt at getting the last two months out into cyberwebs (mostly for the sake of the family members that actually do read my blog for the sake of keeping up with the Vances), and an upbeat "Life IS Good!" post:


At the beginning of April, the family gathered for Easter.  Since it was fairly uneventful (which is surprising for a Vance holiday), there really isn't much to say about it.  We did, however, get some pretty great family pictures:

(Note for those who receive this via e-mail: if you can't see the pictures, you should probably actually head on over to my blog... which is laughswithlacy.blogspot.com.)

At the end of April, Helen was in the FBBC Spring Drama, and so the whole family came up to see that.  Somehow, I didn't end up getting any pictures at the play, but here's a picture of Alexxa eating a noodle at Olive Garden that same weekend:

The first weekend in May was graduation at Faith.  My dear friend Thomas graduated.  His birthday followed a week later, but since our lives are so crazy busy, we haven't actually celebrated together yet. Oh well... maybe when life slows down? 

Another week flew by, and last weekend we gathered the family together for another celebration.  My other best friend, who happens to also be my cousin, April (aka: Steve) graduated from Nurse Nancy school, so we gathered family and friends together for a small gathering at the park.  Again, pretty uneventful.  After that, we went to Pizza Hut and devoured ten large pizzas.  MMMMM!  

The finale to the evening was gathering at the retirement community's club house for a surprise birthday party for my dear Aunt Julie, who turned...older... on Tuesday.  Aunt Jules was quite surprised, and fun ensued.  I spent most of the evening with my cousin Daniel & his girlfriend Megan.  Family gatherings are the BEST!

We ended the weekend on Sunday with celebrating Mother's Day.  After all, I have the absolute best mother in the whole entire world, so really... I mean... EVERY day is Mother's Day at our house! Last year, I bought my non-green-thumb mother four bright red lily plants because they were less expensive than a bouquet of flowers, and theoretically... they should last longer.  And, thanks to daddy, they're still alive, AND they've multiplied! My mom decided to start a mini flower garden with her fist full of lily plants, so this year I bought twelve more lilies in bright yellow and yellow/red.  They don't look like much for now, but hopefully next summer, we'll have a nice little flower garden of lilies!

Well... that takes care of April & May... for the most part.  I'll try to do a little better at regularly updating.  Till next time... :)