Christmas Morning 2008

Here we are showing off our loot.








Our kids slept in until about 7:30 as usual. They were so excited when they saw all the presents under the tree. (Thanks to mom and dad Sharp mostly) After opening all their gifts we sent them on the traditional scavenger hunt for the 'big' present of the year. We got a Wii for that. (Thanks to Mary Ann who paid Aaron extra on a construction job he did for her) I'm sad that Christmas is over but looking forward to getting our house back to normal. Thanks to everyone who helped our family out this year. Our christmas was wonderful, we couldn't have asked for more. Hopefully we can sell all our houses and 2009 will be a bit nicer to us! We love you!!

Christmas Eve Day.

On Christmas Eve day my family came up to our house and we drove a block away to the golf course to go sledding. It was a blast. I don't remember the last time I went sledding and I think this was the girl's first time. They weren't so sure of it at first but when it was time to go they begged to stay, all except Macey who was freezing. It was a pretty steep hill but the three older ones all went by themselves at times.








For you to be able to appreciate this steep hill you must have seen the movie 'Better Off Dead'. This hill is the K-12 in my opinion! Aaron and my dad both took turns going down it which was nigh unto suicide but somehow made it out alive. Fun was had by all then we went home to make scones, and hot chocolate. Then I made a yummy shrimp ceviche before we had our hawaiian haystack feast. We ended off with homemade ice cream and fudge. We played Josh and April's Wii, watched a movie and ended off with a spiritual lesson. It was such a fun day. I was so happy that almost my whole family was here. Mark and Jody and their kids went to Indiana to see Jody's family. I just love my family so much and I love spending time with them. Thank you for all coming. Let's do it again in 2010!






After my family left we ended off the day by opening our new pj's from grandma and papa Sharp.

Black Eye compliments of Church Ball

Aaron came home with this shiner a couple weeks ago. The first pic was a couple days later when it just looked really bad, the second was the night of when is was all swollen. Apparently he was going up for a shot and got elbowed in the face. He was bleeding all over so you'd think there would've been a foul called but nope. Not to mention not even an apology. Oh well, boys will be boys. I told him he needed stitches but it's healed up quite nicely with a homemade butterfly bandaid.

Polar Express House in Lindon

There's the coolest house in Lindon that is set up like the Polar Express. There's a little train that you sit in and ride all around the block. While we waited for our turn we watched The Polar Express in a theatre (garage) and had "hot, hot, hot chocolate" and ate snacks. Half way through our train ride we stopped at the 'North Pole' and got to see santa. The girls loved it!

Some christmas-time moments.

Olivia is teaching Makell to read. Ah, the sweet rewards of teaching HER, now she teaches them

I don't know how Aaron's going to be able to fit one more in his arms! Good thing they come small!

Winter Fun

Olivia and Makell were out trying to catch snow on their tongues while Jocelyn and Macey were inside drinking hot chocolate in front of the fireplace.

I have nothing to really blog about, but since this is like a journal then I better write something. Pella paid completely to have our van repaired and the guy who hit us was fired. They wouldn't/couldn't tell me who he was (privacy policy) so I never did get to look him in the eyes and ask for an apology. Pella apologized for his behavior several times which was wonderful of them however it's not the same as it would be to hear it from him. So why are we all so concerned about hurting feelings and keeping things so "private"? Especially of people like that? Why can't it be public knowledge of exactly who is doing what. Why do we have to be so dang politically correct about everything? I think they should be flogged in public or cut off a little finger. SOMETHING to dissuade them from repeating their actions. Our society cracks me up or depresses me is a better phrase I suppose. If we would stand up for right and put down the wrong then we'd probably still have prayer in schools, people would say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays, women would not be able to senselessly and brutally murder their unborn babies and marriage would still be considered a holy and only correct union. I know that most people in the U.S. are Christians. Why don't we all stand up and insist on what is right and good. Is it because we feel that we need to be Christ-like and not hurt anyone's feelings? Yes we should be Christ-like and God-like in the fact that we love everyone. But I seem to remember a little story in the Bible about a God that sent plagues, turned the water to blood, sent fiery hailstones, and killed the first-born child. He LOVES everyone but He also gets sick of all the horrible things that wicked people do and tells them to knock it off. It scares me to death to raise my children in this world today. How much worse will it get? How many more evils will we let people get away with because we don't dare or don't have the law behind us to stop them? How many of us KNOW what is right but don't have the courage to voice it? I'm so grateful to have a still, small voice to help me. I will teach my children right and then hope they will always stand in holy places, always stand for righteousness and what is good. I'm sure we will be hated and persecuted for standing up for right but someday there will be and end, I mean a real END. And then we will all stand before our Maker and be judged on that great and dreadful day. It is my sincere hope and prayer that on that day that my family and I stand before God that we will be found worthy to be in His presence and be able to stay with Him. Together forever.
I realize that this post may sound a bit peculiar to those who do not share my same beliefs. That it sounds like the ranting of a religious fanatic. Unfortunately religion is becoming peculiar and something to mock at. I am happy to be a peculiar person. I feel true and honest peace inside when I do what I know is right. There is no guilt, no turning on the radio all the time so I don't have to be left alone with my own thoughts. I know this is right. I don't share the strong testimony I have inside of me often because of the nervousness I feel to stand in front of a congregation, but that doesn't mean it's not there. I have always known the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I absolutely cannot deny it. When I take the time to sit quietly and ponder it, it is confirmed again and again to me. I just know it and I don't doubt it. I'm so grateful it's in my life.
Well, I guess I did have something to blog about after all! Have a great day and a wonderfully Merry Christmas!

Frosty the Snowman

We all made this huge snowman. Well, actually it was mostly Aaron who did it but we all took the credit. The neighborhood love it.

Aaron is about 6'3" so that gives you an idea how huge this thing was!

We got side-swiped by a drunk driver!

So we were on our way back from CAL Ranch's grand opening in West Jordan yesterday at around 5pm. Now anyone living in Utah County knows that 5:00 is not the time you want to be on the road. Not because of drunk drivers, of course not, but because of the horrid traffic jams! We finally made it down I-15 to our Alpine/Highland exit. We took it and were merrily on our way home. Makell was asleep, Macey was crying and I was trying to console her and the other girls were just hanging out. We were completely stopped in traffic when out of the blue this big white Pella van coming the other way swerved right at us. Luckily he only broke out our driver's side mirror but by the sound of it you'd think he ripped off the entire side of the van! Aaron made an instant U-turn and we were in pursuit! I figured the guy would pull over but he didn't. We got up on his passenger side and motioned for him to pull over. He saw we were there and then just kept going. It was obvious that something was wrong with him. He was totally out of it, nodding off and swerving all over the road. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and said he was probably in a diabetic shock or something. I thought for sure he'd kill himself or someone else. We called 911 and reported the incident and were told to follow him until the police pulled him over. He got on I-15 southbound and we followed but he had run a red light so we were a ways behind. He took the Lehi exit and so did we but got stuck at 2 red lights and lost him. We kept driving for a while but couldn't find him. The police called and told us to meet them to fill out a police report. When we met the officer he told us they'd finally caught him in Eagle Mountain!! I can't believe he got that far and I can't believe he didn't kill someone. They found him intoxicated. What a LOSER!!!! How can people do that?! He could've killed a father, a pregnant mother and 4 small children! It just makes me so mad and sick! He'll probably get off easy too. Piece of crap!!!
I called Pella (he was driving the company van so I assume he works for them) today and left a message. I told them that I want to bring my entire family in and I expect to get a major apology from the LOSER himself. I do not hold Pella responsible or liable in any way, (other than they obviously need to screen their employees better). I hold this jerk totally responsible for drinking himself into an idiot and then taking other people's lives into his hands. If you know anyone who drinks and drives, do me a favor...punch them in the face (and then the cajones) for me!

Soon to be Seven Strong!

Well, I guess it's finally time to announce that we're having another baby. It wasn't something we planned but we're very excited to be bringing another special spirit into our home. Before I knew I was pregnant I kept feeling like someone was missing. I would have all my girls in the room and kept looking around for someone else. So I wasn't too surprised to see 2 lines on the pregnancy test. I went in for my first doctor's appointment last monday. The midwife wasn't able to find the heartbeat and had to go get the ultrasound machine. While she was gone getting the machine I realized how much I already love this baby and was praying we'd see a heartbeat on the ultrasound. It took a minute (one of the longest of my life) but we did finally see the little flicker of a heartbeat. We can't wait for June to be able to hold our little one in our arms!

Aaron's 29th Birthday!

We headed down to the Tuacahn in St. George to see Big River. It was awesome! If you've never been before I highly recommend it. Tickets are decently priced and there's a dinner before. If you go on a wednesday night, like we did, it's considered "date night" and you get free popcorn and 2 sodas. We got there early to check out the place. A little old lady gave us a ride up to the theatre from the parking lot and told us stories and showed us some crazy rock formations that we're still not sure were even there. Aaron says when he's a little old man he wants to mess around with youngsters like that. You know like say "Do you see the indian wearing his head-dress riding on that horse? It's right there next to the big frog..." Whether it's there or not he wants to see how many people would say, "Oh yeah, I totally see it!" just because he's a cute old man. Anyway we were there from about 5:30 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. We got back to the hotel, put on our swimsuits and walked out the door just in time to see them locking the pool and hot tubs for the night. D'oh!



Thursday, which was Aaron's official birthday we headed downtown to the St. George temple. My parents were married there so it was really special for me to be there in the same rooms I imagine they had been in 38 years or so ago. Then we made the trek back home and Aaron went straight to play softball. They kept winning and ended up playing 3 games so he didn't get home until around 10:30 p.m. That's what he loves to do though so I hope it made his birthday even better.
I love you Aaron! Thanks for letting me share your amazing life with you. Happy Birthday! Hopefully we've got many more to come!

Our alone day hike in Lake Powell.

At the end of August we went to Lake Powell again. My parents watched the girls for us while we went on an amazing (scary) hike. We rode on the wave runner over to Lost Eden then crawled up the sandstone. This is usually impossible because of how low the water normally is. But this year it was high enough to venture to unknown places. These pictures are very deceiving. In the first one we are about 15 feet up from the water. The wave runner is down there, you just can't see it.
The rest of this post is more like a journal entry. You're welcome to read it but it is just thoughts and feelings of mine.
We hiked through a bit of sand once on top. There were jagged cliffs around us and we could tell the water carved through here during flash floods.
We had a rope to pull one another up ledges (Aaron is not light FYI). A couple of different times we had to scoot across v-necked sandstone. 15-20 feet below us were large holes filled with water and rocks. We waded through ponds and at the end Aaron swam across a very cold pond. He could not see nor touch the bottom. He encouraged me to come but I said I had had enough adventure. Looking at the other side I didn't think we'd be able to get up the wall, which ended up being the case. The pictures of Aaron straight up and down in the rocks was as far as we (he) went. I was happy that I hadn't gone because when he came back across the abyss I had to pull him up with the rope. He had nothing to stand on and there was about 3 feet of sheer rock to get up. There were no hand-holds and it was smoother than smooth. I began to think later what would've happened if I would've swam across too? He never could've lifted me up onto the ledge to get back out. Have you ever tried lifting something real heavy out of the water when you can't touch the bottom? All you do is sink. Scary to think of. If that was the worst thing that happened though I would stop right there. It gets worse. On our way back we had to cross the same chasms. I remember thinking while going across the first time "Crap, I've got to come back over this on the way back!"
We came to the final big V-neck (or H-neck if you will since it had a large opening at the bottom) to cross. Aaron went first (thankfully in hindsight). I'm not that tall 5'3" to be exact as you can see from the first time crossing I am stretched to practically fingertips and that wasn't the widest part. My ankles were at a painful angle and my shoes were slipping. At one point I just couldn't go anymore. I've never felt the way I did then at any other point in my life. I looked at Aaron standing 4 feet away and then looked down at the jagged cliffs and rocks 20 feet below. It wouldn't have been a nice straight down fall. I was sure I would've banged my head several times before ending up at the bottom. I'll tell you what, when people say your life flashes before your eyes before you die they're lying. I honestly thought I was going to die and I was only worried that Aaron would try to save me and die too. I've had a couple of near death experiences before (almost rolling our Ford Bronco down a ravine when I was 17 and one other time on my mission while we were hiking around with heavy backpacks on slippery rocks above a waterfall-the angels were with me that time) but they happened in a split second and I never had time to actually think about dying until afterward. This time was different. I didn't think of my loved ones and their futures, I just thought that it was really going to hurt like heck and I was scared. I was shaking and sweating and couldn't move. All I could hear was my heartbeat rushing in my ears. Aaron could see that I was scared and panicking. He calmly told me to look at him and asked me if I could move. I tried but I really think I was in shock at that point. Then my loving husband leaned as far as he could on tippy toes and put his hands on either side of the wall just under my feet. "Use my hands as a foot hold," he said. I was scared his hands would slip if I put any weight on them but I had no other choice. I inched my way the remaining few feet and finally got down. I hugged him, shaking like crazy. I told him I thought I was going to die. He kind-of smiled. I don't think he really realized how close I was to letting myself fall because I had no strength left. It was so scary for me and pretty stupid too, I shouldn't have pushed my limits that far. Anyway, it's over and I'm still here but I won't be doing that ever, ever again.

Here's our second trip to Lake Powell for the year. Out of my entire family only my parents came so we only needed one house boat. As you can see it was a blast as usual. This is one of our favorite places on earth!


Family Picture at a place that we named "Witch Wart Bay". There were little round rocks stuck to the sandstone that looked like warts.






Early morning sunrise. This was our last day.















Olivia with the wind blowing through her hair.






























My mom with Makell and Jocelyn
















Makell on the knee board.














Aaron doing a back flip off the wave runner.














My dad on the knee board.














Sweet cheeks Macey.