Still trying to catch up...

I can't believe that it's the middle of June and I am just getting around to posting again.  The last couple of weeks of school were crazy!  I was in the school everyday doing something.  Randy would sure like it if I was getting paid for all those hours!  But, I love being in there and getting to know the kids in my kid's classes and the teachers.  It certainly is worth all the time I spend in there.  I also just got back from Girl's camp.  It was a wonderful experience and I have 17 new daughters!  I loved being over the YCL's and grew to love all of them in a short period of time.  I sure missed Dari and Natalie though!  It was Taysha's first year.  I didn't see her a lot, and I tried to give her space away from Mom, but I was glad I was there to get my nightly hug from at least one of my kids!

On Thursday, Randy, TJ, and I leave for the Trek.  I am excited, nervous, anxious and every other emotion you could feel.  It's so humid and hot here, and we are supposed to get thunderstorms everyday.  I am sure it will be an experience that I won't forget.  But....I am excited for the experience and will report.....if I live through it!

In April we went on a temple trip with the youth of our ward.  Once again, we headed to DC.  This trip was extra special because it was Taysha's first time.  Randy is always helping in the temple, but this time I got to in as a leader.  I can't even begin to describe the feeling I had, as I watched her go under the water and be baptized for those people who have waited so long for the gospel.  I felt my Dad and Randy's Dad so close. I felt as though I could have reached out and touched them.  I sure miss them and constantly feel the void in our lives without them around, but I am so thankful for eternal families and the knowledge I have that I can be with them again.   It was a very spiritual time for me and for Taysha!  Before we went to the temple, we stopped at Cheasepeak Bay.  It was cold, but fun for the kids to walk on the beach and put their feet in the water.  We have loved the many experiences we are having back east, but sure miss our family!

This is a picture of the kids swimming in the swimming pool at the hotel.  It was so nice to be able to sit on the side and watch them.  It did tear at my heart though, to know that my babies are growing up!

We loved spending time at Cheasapeak Bay, even though it was cold! 

I love this picture of the kids, especially Taysha.  (This is the Easter picture, but TJ wasn't quite ready yet!  Typical teenager!)  She is a beautiful young woman and growing up so fast.  It's so hard to believe that she is 12 and in Young Women's!  The night of her birthday, her beehive teacher showed up at the house with four girls from our Young Women.  This might not seem like that big of a deal to those of you back West, but for them to get to our house was at least a half hour drive one way.  They all had cookies, a cake and a card.  I was very touched and couldn't keep the tears back.  It made Taysha's night and I don't think that leader will ever fully comprehend how much that meant to us.  Taysha is my right hand and always helping me out.  She is such a blessing to me in my life!

This is what the Young Women brought to Taysha!  She felt pretty loved!

My Baby

 

I think the hardest thing about being a Mom is seeing your children hurt.  It doesn't matter how old they are, when they hurt physically, mentally or emotionally, you feel as though your heart is being torn out.  I HATE it when my children hurt!  But....the second hardest thing about being a Mom for me, is letting them grow up and do things on their own!  A prime example is my Tylee!  I was at a meeting in February.  When I got home, she very PROUDLY showed me the box she made for her class Valentine's Day party.  They were all suppossed to decorate a box and bring it to school so the kids could deliver the valentine's in them.  I have made all sorts of boxes throughout the years with my kids and we have been pretty creative.  I know we are living in a rental house and most of my craft supplies are boxed up, but I do have out the necessities!  I certainly could have supplied Tylee with something fun and cute.  But NO!!!  She decides to do it all on her own!  This was the result.....

Tylee was so proud of her box and I just had to bite my tongue and send her to school with it!  Honestly, it was one of the hardest things I've done, but I am proud of her that she designed it ALL BY HERSELF!  She is quite the girl!

The girls love to do fun things with their hair for the holidays.  This is what we did for Valentine's Day!  They loved it so much, that they even wore it to school the next day!

Tylee was a cheerleader again this year for Treyson's Basketball team.  She LOVED it and did really well.  It was fun to watch her cheer and cheer on those boys!  The first picture is last years.  The second picture is a little blurry and it is this year.  She is so proud of that trophy!  We love our Tylee! 

Trying to catch up....

I can't believe that it's been so long since I've posted anything.  I swear the days are just flying by so fast, that it's hard to keep up with life, let alone posting something on the blog.  Over the next several days, I will try to catch up.  We've had two birthdays, band concerts, basketball and baseball games, cheerleading, track meets, another temple trip to DC and of course just hanging out with each other!

We only had FIVE snow days this year.  That is alot compared to Idaho, but last year we had about 17, so 5 doesn't seem like too many!  They also have 2 hour delays which we have come to LOVE!  They delay school two hours to give the snow plows time to get out and plow the roads.  We don't get nearly the snow here in Morgantown that we got in Idaho, but we do have the skinny, narrow roads and the hills.  You are either driving up a hill or down a hill.  There are not too many places that are flat!  We LOVED snow days this year because we live in a neighborhood.  All the neighborhood kids would get together at our house and go sledding down our hill.  They all get a long so well, and they had a lot of fun!  However....people DIE out here when we tell them that they don't cancel school in Idaho until it's 20 below!  They don't let our kids out for recess if it's 33 degrees!  Things are sure different back here, but we have loved the opportunities and friends we have made in the last two years.  We sure do miss our family and friends though....it's been too long since we've seen you!

All the kids making a train on the sleds!  Of course, our snow has been long gone, but this was some fun times in February!  Tylee is at the bottom in the blue coat.  She wasn't too excited about waiting for everyone...imagine that!

At the bottom of hill!  We live at the end of a road that is a dead end, so there is very little traffic.  The road in front of our house is actually flat, so the kids can ride bikes, play ball and of course.....go sledding!  If they get enough speed, they go down our hill, across the road and into the neighbor's yard.  We usually ended the day with hot chocolate and video games for all! 

This is TJ skiing down our hill.  He finally made it to the bottom, where it's flat.  It's crazy to me that you can actually ski in your back yard here!  However, he didn't like climbing back up the hill with his skiis!  He was really missing the ski lift!

Temple Trip in Washington DC

We had a youth temple trip scheduled on the 29th of December.  Randy was in charge of it, so we decided to take all the kids and stay the night.  With ALL the traveling Randy is doing, we had a free night in a Marriott, so we took advantage of it.  We LOVE DC.  This is certainly a benefit of living in the East.  We are only three hours from DC, so we love to make the trip there.  I watched a lot of kids in the Visitor Center while the youth and their parents did baptisms.  We had so much fun watching the movies and looking at all the nativity scenes from all over the world.  My kids got to hang out with their friends from the ward, so that was an added bonus.  I love the spirit in the Visitors Center and TJ loved doing baptisms.  We went to a bookstore close to the temple.  It's a miniture Deseret Book and I almost cried when I walked inside.  It made me feel so close to home!  You don't realize how much you miss Deseret Book until you are thousands of miles away!  That night we went to the zoo for the zoo lights.  We took the Metro in to downtown DC and I honestly think that is the kids favorite part!  After the zoo lights, we came back and drove back to the temple to see the lights at the temple.  They were absolutely breaktaking.  The pictures don't do it justice.  I LOVED it and as tired and worn out as the kids were, they were such great sports to get out and walk around.  As long as we were in the car.....I convinced Randy to drive into downtown DC to the White House so I could see the National Tree!  It's a good thing that he loves me so much, because I could tell by the look on his face, he wasn't too excited!  Even though all the kids were asleep, I got out and took a picture.  I kept telling Randy that this was a ONCE in a LIFETIMe opportunity!  I have to admit that as it took SOOOO long to get back to our hotel, I wondered if it was worth it, but now I realize that it was! 

The girls on the Metro and part of TJ's face!

The kids at the zoo!  It was so much fun, but Tylee said she did entirely too much walking!

 It's hard to see our family, but we are there!  I LOVED these lights!

 

The next day we took the Metro again and went to the Capital.  It was amazing!  There is so much history there.  We loved it!  We also went to the Botanic Gardens.  They have miniture monuments, White House, and other historic buildings made out of trees and plants. It is crazy!  We loved being in DC and had a great time being together as a family.

 This is the rotunda of the Capital.  The painting is absolutely breathtaking!

This is a statue of Philo Farnsworth thats in the capital.  My Mom is a Farnsworth and 2nd cousins to Philo.  Randy was pretty upset though because his plaque says that he is from Utah.  If you know anything about Philo, he was from Idaho and went to Rigby High School. The guy at the Capital said that lots of people come through there and tell them that Philo is NOT from Utah, but Idaho!  I guess we weren't the first people to notice!

 This is at the Botanic Gardens.  This whole thing is made out of twigs, sticks and parts of plants.  If you couldn't tell, it's the Eifel Tower!

 Tylee posing as only Tylee can in front of the Washington Monument!



Tay in front of the White House.  We loved our trip to DC!

Christmas 2010

We survived our First Christmas away from Idaho with only a couple of breakdowns!  We missed our family so much, but Skyping our family in Idaho on Christmas Eve made them seem not so far away!  Thanks Lynette for the great idea!  We did love being able to spend so much time together just the six of us and we had a wonderful Christmas.  We had new traditions, (yes Mom I am attempting to keep up with all YOU did for me!) and we had a great time despite it being so quiet.  I LOVE Christmas and wathcing my kids get so excited!  The magic of the holiday was certainly present in our home.  I LOVE the extra spirit of peace and love as we celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and remember our Savior being born in such humble circumstances.  How grateful I am for the gospel, our Savior and my WONDERFUL family that I adore with all my heart! 

TJ took on the role of the guitar player for our play.  Alan always plays the guitar in Idaho for the play and since we were not there, TJ decided to do it.  We HAD to do the play EXACTLY like we do in Idaho, although we were short a few people!  Thanks Alana for sending us the outline.  TJ did an awesome job!

Tylee was a beautiful Mary and even made this manger!  She cut up pieces of paper for the straw and took such great care of the "baby" Jesus!

Sorry this wouldn't rotate!  The kids did an awesome job when we read the Christmas Story!  Treyson was his usual donkey, Taysha was the angel, Tylee was Mary and TJ was Joseph.

 I made ALL the kids sit on Santa's lap!  There is this house in Morgantown that goes out of control with lights.  It's so big, that you have to get out and walk through it.  We found it last year and LOVE visiting it.  They have Santa there and he and Mrs. Clause gives out little prizes to all the kids.  It truly is amazing and it gets us so excited for the holiday!

This is just a small part of the lights that we walked through at the house.  It is AWESOME and we LOVE it!

Christmas Time

I love everything about Christmas!  I love the lights, the smells, the goodies, the decorations, but especially the extra spirit that lingers around our home this time of year.  This year is going to be a little different for our family.  It will be the first Christmas Eve that my children have not been at Grandma Haws' house.  We are all feeling the pain of not being there and the traditions that we are all used to.  But, I have convinced the kids that we will start our own traditions and it will be a great time together just the six of us....I think!  There is a tug on my heart when I hear the song,  "I'll Be Home for Christmas".  I would give anything to be home at my Mom's and Randy's Mom's for Christmas, but I guess it's time I grow up and realize that I AM the Mom!  
 

I am so thankful for this Christmas season and the joys and peace it brings to our life.  It truly is about being together as a family, laughing, crying and feeling the true spirit of Christmas.  It is the spirit that comes only from the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice so that we can live together forever with our families. 

I know this is the picture on my cards, but I wanted to post on my blog.  These four kids are the light of my life!

 Taysha is not too happy that Treyson is almost as tall as her!

Tylee is such a ham!  



These two girls are best friends, despite their age difference!  

Once again, Randy is out of control with the lights.  He is determined to put more out!  Our neighbors are a little blown away by all the lights, but he LOVES it and so do we!  It was actually nice for him to decorate in 50 degree weather!  No gloves, frostbite, or frozen cords!

I love this little girl so much!  She truly is a blessing to our family!

My Dad

It's been 10 years since my Dad passed away.  It some ways it seems like yesterday, but in others, it feels like eternity since I have seen him.  Everyone told me that it would get easier with time.  In some ways that is true.  The sting and hurt are not nearly as great as they were 10 years ago.  However, in other ways it is so much harder.  The separation is difficult and I miss him more than I ever thought possible.  I know that he has never PHYSICALLY seen my boys play sports, my daughters cheer or dance, hold my kids on his lap and get their sweet hugs and kisses, seen their report cards, witnessed the band concerts and plays, or been to a primary program.  That hurts and hurts bad!  It hurts even worse that my kids have grown up without PHYSICALLY knowing their Grandpa Sharp.  I try to do everything I can to keep his memory alive and we talk about him constantly.  TJ is hoping that he has some of Grandpa Sharp's TALL jeans, (my Dad was 6'4...don't know what happened to me!) and I always tell the kids that they have their own very special angel to watch over them. 

My Dad was a great man.  I remember as a little girl that I would cry on his shoulder and he would make me laugh as he couldn't figure out why his shirt was wet.  What I wouldn't give to be able to cry on his shoulder now!  No matter how old you get, I don't think you ever outgrow the need for YOUR Mom and Dad!  I loved being able to travel with him when he traveled for his job.  I got to see so many interesting parts of the country and meet so many wonderful people. 

 I LOVE sports because of him.  He taught me so much about football and basketball and I will ALWAYS cherish those times.  He would always give me super great tips when I was a waitress at the BYU Skyroom.  I loved having him come up there so I could wait on his table! 

Dad was ALWAYS joking around.  Many times, my friends didn't know if he was serious or not.  He always had that twinkle in his eye.  My Dad was the most organized person that I know.  I like to think I got a little bit of that trait from him, but I'm not nearly as good as he was. 

 I will NEVER forget the day I got married and I looked at him in the sealing room of the temple.  He had a tear rolling down his cheek.  He came and gave me a hug and told me how much he loved me.  What I wouldn't give for just one of those BIG BEAR hugs he used to give me.  I miss him more than I ever thought possible.  But, thank heavens for the gospel and the plan of salvation.  I KNOW that I will see him again and be able to live with him forever.  What a great comfort that is to know that as hard as the separation is, it is only temporary and yes....once again, in the next life, I WILL be able to get one of those huge bear hugs that I so desperately need and miss! 

I miss you Dad.

I Love you so much!