On Sunday, December 19th Matthew was ordained a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood. Neil gave him a beautiful blessing. We are so grateful for the fine young man he is growing into. He looked so handsome passing the Sacrament.
David was baptized the same evening. He was so excited to become a member of the Church. He is a good boy and joy to have in our family.
It was such a special day to spend with these two boys. Grandpa and Grandma Sharp came. Grandma Karan wanted to come, but couldn't make the trip. Ben and his family tried to come, but they got a flat tire and had to go back to Billings. Rebecca and Rian were here. I was so grateful that Rebecca could be here for her brothers special day.
Matthew turned 12 on December 9th. He was excited to be old enough to be ordained to the priesthood and be in scouts. We are so pleased with the fine young man he is growing into. It is fun to watch your children grow up.
Matthew wanted a Death by Chocolate cake for his birthday. He even helped make it. It tasted delicious!! We did cake and presents at lunch time because Neil and Emma were leaving to drive to Oregon for Grandma Hibbert's funeral.
Matthew's favorite present was from his friend, Sam Shoopman. Sam gave him a new tackle box and some flies. He was really dancing with excitement when he saw them.
Our ward had a youth baptism trip planned for the 18th of December so he has already gotten to attend the temple.
David was so excited to turn eight. He had his traditional football birthday cake. I think he has had one every year except his first birthday. At least they aren't very hard to decorate and I have gotten pretty good at doing them.
We traditionally have given our children a new set of scriptures for their birthday when they turn eight. I thought about it a month before his birthday, but then I forgot to order his scriptures. When he finished opening presents the older girls asked where his scriptures were and that was when I remembered I hadn't ordered any. I ordered them the next morning. He was patient with my forgetfulness, but couldn't wait to get his own quad. He was excited when his package came in the mail.
David was also very excited to start cub scouts. Unfortunately, it has taken mom a few weeks to get in the habit of sending him on Wednesday afternoons.
We have been busy and enjoying many fall activities. The children worked on a 3D puzzle of the White House together. It didn't get finished because someone came by and caused an earthquake of the work they had done.
Matthew and Sam caught a rabbit out in the sage brush one Saturday. They had it all planned out on how to butcher it and split the meat up. I wasn't too excited about roasting a rabbit for dinner. They finally decided to just let it go. I was amazed that they were able to catch it, and bring it home. When they got it home they put it in Matthew's trap.
We had our first snow of the year on Monday. The children loved going out to play in the snow. They had great fun out there. It made for an interesting school day, but they did learn a lot about spending time together in the snow. The snow sure looked pretty out there on our pine trees.
We read The Hobbit together this month. Sometimes the children just wanted to keep reading later than the little ones could manage to stay up and listen. You can see from this picture of MaryAnne that she had just been going too long on this day. It was definitely bedtime.
Joshua loves to play football. Unfortunately, he isn't big enough to even wear the helmet. We sure got a chuckle out of watching him try to play. Hope you enjoy this video of our future star in the Hall of Fame.
Bethany and Julia participated in the Young Women in Excellence night in November. Our ward did a county fair theme. The girls displayed things they had worked on through out the year. They had a lot to show. Bethany was asked to clog as part of the entertainment. She did a really good job. It was a fun family evening to spend recognizing what the girls have accomplished.
Dallin always counts his birthdays by what kind of cake he had. He'll say he's had a football birthday, a tiger birthday, and so on. He loves birthday cakes!! This year he decided awhile ago that he wanted a dump truck cake. I was a little nervous about actually making a truck cake, but I found a cute one online that actually turned out cute and wasn't too hard to make. Julia frosted it yellow and I did the decorating final touches. Dallin was happy with it, and that's all that really matters. You can't tell how much he liked it in the pictures, but he really did. Dallin was so excited about the chocolate donuts for wheels. We gave everyone a donut after we put wheels on. We thought there would only be a couple left so we told Dallin he could have the rest. He was so excited to get 8 donuts for himself.Dallin didn't get all that excited about his presents until the next day. I guess I should be glad that presents weren't his focus.
Dallin is such a cute little boy!! He sure keeps us busy with all his cute antics. He rises early and keeps going until it is bedtime. We are glad to have him as part of our family. I love his sweet smile and the cute things he says. We love you, Dallin!!
On Tuesday, November 9th, Julia got her braces taken off. She was supposed to get them off in October, but the Orthodontist was sick and we had to reschedule. She didn't mind having them on, but it will be good to have them off so she can eat celery again. She pretty much ate what she wanted to anyway, so I guess it really doesn't matter if they are off or on. Her sisters think it is unfair that she never had to wear rubberbands. What a beautiful smile she has now.
MaryAnne has been waiting and waiting for her birthday to come. We made a countdown chain clear back on the first of October. She had a hard time watching Emma open presents on Emma's birthday and couldn't wait until it was her turn. She wanted a fairy birthday cake. I think it turned out pretty well, but I am not sure I would call it a fairy. She had a fun birthday and now she can't wait to be seven. Here is a video of her blowing out the candles.
We had a beautiful October this year. This was one of the few years that you could wear a cute costume and not worry about wearing a coat over it. It was a beautiful fall day. We enjoyed our yearly tradition of eating pizza with Martha before going trunk or treating.
The children had fun figuring out what they wanted to be. Bethany and Julia didn't dress up, but they took Dallin and Joshua around to get treats. Matthew was a two headed monster with Sam Shoopman. I was glad that Sister Shoopman helped them figure out their costume. Emma was a pink pony and she pulled the carriage with Emma Andreasen as a princess. They always dress up together. They take turns being pulled and pulling each year. They worked their costume out by themselves. They even made and painted their own carriage. The costume Emma wore was too small because I made it for Rebecca when she was five, but I didn't want to make another pony costume. She was a good sport about wearing it anyway. David was excited to be a cub scout. MaryAnne decided to be a princess, not too surprising. Dallin was a dragon. Rebecca and Bethany gave him this costume for his birthday last year. It was a little small but he was excited to wear it. Joshua was an adorable pumpkin.
Emma was so excited about her birthday this year. She had a countdown chain for the whole month and faithfully cut a link off each day. Neil thought it was really cool that she was turning 10 on 10-20-2010. That doesn't happen every year. She picked a butterfly cake. I think it turned out pretty good, at least for my cake decorating skills. She was happy with it anyway. She wanted lasagna and rolls for dinner. We had Martha out to our house for dinner and cake. It was a fun evening. Neil and the girls had Young Women's activities so we had Emma, Romney and Linda over for cake in the evening. Emma was so excited to get some more Let Pet Shop things. She sure enjoys playing with those right now.
Emma, you are such a special young lady. Thank you for sharing your bright smile and fun personality with us. You keep us hopping with your enthusiasm and spirit. We love you and are grateful for your presence in our family. Hope you have a wonderful year. Love, Mom and Dad
Lest you think that our whole life is Joshua oriented we decided to make a post strictly about Matthew playing flag football. He would have liked to play tackle, but he was a peacemaker and listened to Mom's wishes. I really wanted him to play flag one more year. Tackle involved more money, and travel. Flag was right here in Powell and didn't last as long. Last year, Matthew's team didn't win a single game. This year his team went undefeated. He played on the Colts team this year. It took a few games for either offense to get a score, but the defenses did well at scoring off of interceptions for both teams. He got some really good blocks in. We had nice weather for every game. It was fun to watch him play. Good job, Matthew!!!
Joshua absolutely loves to play ball. He has a pretty good arm. He definitely doesn't throw like a girl. He will throw anything and everything. He will keep throwing over and over and never seems to tire of it. Someone forgot to tell him that he isn't supposed to be an athlete. Tonight at Matthew's football game he kept throwing a rock over and over. The other night he was throwing the balls so cute that we decided to record him. We hope you enjoy watching him.
We really enjoyed going to Dubuque, Iowa to see Aunt Janet and Uncle Paul. They were very good to us. Our children like to talk about how they let them eat ice cream at 11:00 pm after watching the fireworks. We went to church with them on Sunday. We thought about not going to their house since Aunt Janet was just getting out of the hospital. She called and talked us into coming. We were glad we did because we really enjoyed seeing them.
After Iowa, we drove across part of Wisconsin and into Minnesota. We went to see the St. Paul, Minnesota temple on Sunday afternoon. It was such a beautiful temple. We camped out at Lake Elmo State Park. It had an amazing pond that we loved playing in. It was 2 acres, it had a nice sandy beach and was not too deep. It was like a swimming pool, but sandy. I think the children would have spent the whole day there, but we went on to the Mall of America. When Rebecca was in 6th grade she really wanted to go to the Mall of America, but we didn't make it then. Now it wasn't so much of a big deal to her, but we were close that we decided to go. It was amazing everything they had in the Mall. Matthew, Emma and David rode the log chute in the Amusement park. It was neat to see all the things built from Legos in LegoLand.
We spent a second night in Minnesota. We camped at Alexandria. The campground had a shooting range. The mosquitoes were really bad that night. I was glad we had a trailer to sleep in so we didn't get eaten.
The next day we drove to North Dakota. We stopped and saw the Bismarck temple. It was a beautiful temple. While we were there we told our children the news that we were going to have another baby. It was a neat place to share that with them.
We stopped and camped our last night in Montana. The children and Neil went swimming. It was kind of cool so Joshua and I didn't get in.
While driving home we saw the Teddy Roosevelt State Park in Montana. I didn't even know there was such a place. It had some pretty landscapes, but we didn't stop to see it.
We were glad to finally get home after 13 days and 3400 miles. It was a bigger and longer vacation than we had ever tried before. We had a great time together and shared many good memories.
We loved our time in Nauvoo!! We enjoyed all the shows, the carriage and wagon rides, the ox cart ride, and the visitors center. The weather was perfect the whole time we were there. About 80 degrees each day. We loved walking the Trail of Hope. President Hinckley encouraged the members to do this when they went to Nauvoo. Reading the plaques was very inspiring. Putting our feet in the Mississippi River was fun. We watched Vocal Point each night. Matthew loved them, especially the song "Thriller". Going to the temple was a spiritual experience for the girls and us. It was amazing to hear the stories of what the Saints left behind. The view of the Temple on the hill as the Saints crossed the Mississippi was inspiring. Nauvoo was an amazing experience for out family.
Life has been so busy lately!! We have been switching computers and I can't get to my pictures to update my blog. Soon I hope to update with pictures.
Matthew is working on his reptile study merit badge. He started out with a lizard that made it as far as Nauvoo on our trip. The lizard got left outside one night and a visitor in the night either had him for dinner or set him free. Now he has two snakes that he has to keep for a month. Last week one of the snakes unexpectedly (at least for us) had 11 babies. You should have seen the aquarium we are keeping them in just crawling with snakes!! It was pretty interesting. I was going to post a picture, but Matthew let the babies go out in the garden while I was gone to Nebraska. I only hope the garden is far enough from the house that they won't try and make their way back inside.
We went to church in Nebraska City and then started our drive to Missouri. We sat in the back in our own row since we didn't have water to shower that morning and we probably didn't smell the best. We loved seeing the church history sites in Missouri. We went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman first. It was beautiful!! It was very peaceful. We also went to the temple site at Far West, Liberty Jail, and the Visitors Center at Independance. They were each a neat experience. The children loved the Visitors Center and all the activities there were to do there. We enjoyed listening to the sister missionaries sing at the Christus statue. We camped not too far from Independance. We made a quick stop in Kansas just to say that Neil had been there.
Monday morning we started the drive to St. Louis. We had to get there on time because the girls had tickets to see Wicked that night. They were so excited!! We had an unexpected stop in Boonville when one of the tires on our trailer blew out. We changed it on the freeway shoulder and then stopped in Boonville to buy new tires. We played at a park for and hour or so. Four tires later we hit the road again. We made it to St. Louis in plenty of time for the show. We drove around for awhile to see the sites. We saw the Arch, the Cardinals stadium, the Ram's stadium, and lots of neat things. David kept asking us why they had peeled bananas on their street signs. It was funny to hear how he perceived it. The girls loved St. Louis!! I think they are planning to live there when they grow up. I am not sure that is a good thing. The girls loved Wicked. It was an amazing experience for them. We took the other children swimming at the RV park while they were gone to Wicked. It was interesting to camp in downtown St. Louis. The RV park was a huge parking lot. There wasn't any grass, but there was a swimming pool and nice showers.
Tuesday we spent site seeing in St. Louis. We really enjoyed Grant's Farm. It is the farm that Ulysses S. Grant and his wife farmed. It had a neat train that took you around to see the sites. It also had animal shows. Everything except parking was free so that was really nice for us. We also went to Forest Park. There is so much to do there. It was built for the World Fair in 1904. There are museums, a zoo, and a theater just to mention a few things. We went to the History Museum in the morning. There was so much to see and do there. We enjoyed learning about Charles Linbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis. Later on the older girls went to the Art Museum and we took the younger children to the St. Louis Science Center. It was a wonderful experience. That night we tried to get free tickets to Beauty and the Beast. Only some of us got in so we let Rebecca, Bethany, Julia and Emma stay. The rest of us went and fed the fish in the ponds. It was neat because there were turtles also. We saw a huge one that was probably as big as Matthew. We named him Goliath. We also took the children swimming again for a little while. The children couldn't get enough of swimming or eating at Hardee's. The boys looked for Hardee's every where we went. We also went to see the St. Louis temple. It is absolutely beautiful!! It was an amazing experience.
One of the things the children loved most about Missouri was the fireflies. It was the first time any of us had seen them. They were fascinating!! It was fun to watch them and to try and catch them. We had a wonderful time in Missouri, but I am not sure I want my children to live there when they grow up!!!
Our days in Nebraska were very hot!! I think I heard everyone say at least a hundred times how hot it was. We were grateful for air conditioning and that we weren't walking like the pioneers. On Friday we enjoyed a tour of Chadron State with Rebecca. She really liked the campus. We really liked the air conditioning in the buildings. We had lunch at a fun park. I think the mosquitoes had lunch at the same time.
We spent Friday night in Valentine, Nebraska. The sign said it was the heart of Nebraska. We played Frisbee golf and just hung out. It was fun to see some of Nebraska. Nebraska has lots of small towns. We saw on sign I wanted to get a picture of buy missed. It said, "When you leave our town you are entering the middle of nowhere."
On Saturday we enjoyed seeing the Winter Quarters Temple, Pioneer Graveyard, and Visitor's Center. The Visitor's Center was really neat. The younger children liked dressing up as pioneers. We didn't actually go into Omaha, but we saw the skyline from the road. We crossed the Missouri River for the first time on this trip. We decided to keep driving down the road because we couldn't find an RV Park near Omaha. We ended up staying the night in a parking lot with no water or electricity. Our fridge quit working in the night so we packed the fridge and freezer with ice. We figured out the problem in the morning. I guess we think clearer in the morning than we do in the middle of the night.
We tried something this year that we had never really done before, a long summer vacation. We planned to go to Mount Rushmore, Church history sites in Nebraska, Missouri, and Illinois, and then to the Mall of America in Minnesota. Our trip lasted 14 days and we drove 3400 miles. We had a wonderful time together. We bought a trailer to pull so we wouldn't have to get motels or camp out. It worked really well for us.
We left on June 24th and drove to Mt. Rushmore. We got there just in time to watch the evening lighting. We have been there before and really love the evening lighting. It is a powerful presentation about freedom and the things that our Nation should stand for. It is always a neat experience to see the lights come on the mountain.
I thought some of you might be interested in seeing more about the surgeries Joshua has had and the one that is still somewhere in his future. He had a BT shunt when he was 9 days old. The Glen was done when he was almost six months. The Fontan is what we are waiting for. He has to reach 30 pounds before the doctors want to do it. He weighed in today at 18 pounds. Typically, the children are between the ages of 2 and 4. I found these clips to be very interesting.
MaryAnne and Emma had a clogging performance in June. MaryAnne really wanted us to video it and put it on so her grandmas and grandpas could see it. They did a great job. I always really enjoy watching them clog.Bethany was there and ready to clog, but no one from her class came so she just watched.
I think I am just a little behind. I don't know where May and June went, but I will try and catch up. Rebecca graduated from seminary on May 17th. When we got to the Stake Center in Cody for graduation Neil and I were surprised to see her name on the program as a speaker. I asked her if she knew she was speaking and if she was prepared. She had kept it as a surprise. She did a very nice job talking about her seminary experience.
Rebecca and Bethany went to EFY at BYU June 7-12. They had lots of fun. I don't think they ever really learned the campus and they would probably still get lost today if they were there. We also went to the Sharp reunion in Provo. It was lots of fun to see everyone. The rain held off until the very end, but then we got drenched!
I had my birthday on June 23rd and got a really nice, fun camera. There will be pictures coming. We left on the 24th to start our vacation, that will be another post and there will be pictures I promise.
Hi, this is Rebecca, Sarah's daughter writing about Into the Woods, which I was in, performing May 6-8. Plot: Stephen Sondheim's play has several fairy-tales collide (Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and a childless couple) in a musical explosion of awesomeness. I had a ridiculous amount of fun doing it, though I am sure that my family is thoroughly sick of it because I have been quoting and singing it for months. It is a fairly small cast compared to the past musicals that Powell has done because it doesn't have many "extra" parts (i.e. chorus, villagers), so we all got to know each other and became really good friends. Basically it was the best three months of my time here at Northwest College. :D This is a montage of pictures from it that I made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_A9XEkaGk8
Well, Bethany turned 15 and to celebrate we took her over to Cody to take the test for her driving permit. She passed the first try!! One of the workers there told her that 75% of kids don't pass the test on their first try. She has been out driving a few times and is definitely catching on. We really didn't do much else besides presents, cake and singing. It was a very busy day at our house. The play that Rebecca was in was also going on that night. Bethany, Julia, Matthew, Emma and I went to watch Into the Woods that night. Happy Birthday, Bethany!! What a sweet young lady you have grown into. Thanks for your good example and loving kindness. We love you!!!
We are all very excited that Joshua has started taking a few steps. I saw him take steps on his own at least three times today. It is really cute to watch him. He is pretty careful. I will miss his little scoot when he finally starts walking for good.
I think that spring in Wyoming means wind. The wind has been blowing like crazy for the past few days. It blew all night last night. It was strong enough that it kept waking me up. When we got up this morning this is what we found.
Somehow, the wind managed to blow over our bike tent that was anchored into the ground. It ended up across our fence and into the garden area. You have to respect the power of the Wyoming wind. I think we should be using all this wind to generate our own electricity. I am tired of the wind and ready for nice spring days. You know the wind is bad when Neil won't even ride his bike to school. He is ready for the wind to quit blowing also.
No sign of the wind stopping yet as you can see from our windsock this morning.
Today Neil and I are celebrating 19 wonderful years together. We have now been married longer than I was single. We have had a wonderful adventure together and are looking forward to eternity. Happy Anniversary and looking forward to many more!! I love you with all my heart!!
Joshua loves to be outside right now. This doesn't help with getting things done, but I am spending lots of time outside with Joshua and just enjoying it. He has learned to keep his hat on or else we come inside. He reaches for his hat and points at the window when he wants to go out. Pretty smart little guy!! Here is a video of him bouncing on the trampoline. Who needs a tail to be as bouncy as Tigger.
Well we finally heard back from the Endocrinologist about Joshua's blood tests. The result is we still don't know much of anything. He was low in one growth factor but everything else is in the normal range. The doctor wants to watch him for four months and see if he can grow on his own. If that doesn't work we will take him in for a sedated MRI to check out his pituitary gland. An MRI will be required before starting him on growth hormones. We'll just wait and see and continue to pray for and enjoy this little guy. In a lot of ways it is ok with me that he is still little, I just don't want him to be little his whole life.
On a positive note, Joshua has started taking just a few steps here and there. He is pretty pleased with himself when he does it. I think he likes to show off more than most of our other children did at this age. He sure is cute to watch. Whenever I get the camera out though he quits walking and comes over to see the camera. Here's a video of him walking. All the other children sure love to try and get him to come to them.
Joshua will do and keep doing anything that gets him attention. He especially likes to be clapped for and laughed at. Here is a video of him getting Bethany and Julia to laugh at him. It was so funny to watch. Hope you enjoy this as much as we did.
Well, Rebecca found a car she liked and was in her price range so she now owns her own car. She likes the sound of that I think. It is a pretty gold 2001 Saturn. Should work well getting her to and from Chadron for school. It is a pretty car. Dallin calls it the other Rhonda. (We call our Honda, Rhonda).
About six months ago Neil and I were talking about needing a family room so we had a place where everyone could sit down together and enjoy time. Neil teasingly mentioned that the garage had a lot of space. His comment really got me thinking and I thought it was a great idea. We talked some more, drew up plans for a family room and storage room, and kept thinking about it. We decided it was a good idea and got started in October 2009. Neil has put in lots of evenings working on the project. He has learned new skills. We have had dust and noise in the house. We have enjoyed working on the project together, and now we will all enjoy our new family room. Picking out paint was interesting. We ended up creating our own color for the trim and doors. Now I really do like the paint color. Thank you, Neil for all your hard work!! It looks beautiful!! We had carpet laid on Friday and enjoyed a movie together on Sunday. We hung pictures today and now it looks like our dream family room.
