Half Moon Bay

I have to say, I'm glad January is over. Ryan and the boys seemed to be sick most the month and I was getting exhausted playing nurse. Ryan had some sort of congestion, nasal, sinus infection that kept him in bed for over a week and then still lingered for awhile after. The boys both had coughs that turned into pneumonia for Landon and Zachary's runny nose caused an ear infection. Oh, and Landon got an ear infection too. So all 3 of my boys were on antibiotics. Thankfully, I stayed healthy over the whole ordeal. I do love my immune system:) This last weekend we were all feeling better and I just had to get out and enjoy nature. I needed to go somewhere away from the people and the busyness of the city, but it was raining cats and dogs so I had to do a little research. I discovered that an hour north of us it wasn't raining. This is one thing I love about the Bay area. Anyway, so I looked up a hike that our little family could do and off to Half Moon Bay we went. Most of the way it was pouring and Ryan and I both wondered if we were going to have to turn around and go back home. But, we decided to trust the weather report and keep going. About 5 minutes before we arrived at our destination it stopped raining. I was so happy. We took a 1 mile hike that started out along some cliffs overlooking the ocean , then we went down some stairs to the beach and some tide pools. We then walked along the tide pools until we were back to where we started. We saw tons of crabs and sea shells. It was so nice to get out and I'm so thankful I live somewhere it doesn't stay cold all winter long.

CANCUN

We recently returned from Cancun, Mexico. We were spoiled with sunshine, all you can eat buffets whenever you want, unlimited kayaking, sailing, swimming, and soft sand. We had a room on the bottom floor looking out to the ocean. The boys loved playing in the sand, swinging in the hammocks, going down the waterslides, and swimming in the pool. They were also spoiled with an icecream cone at lunch almost everyday. We enjoyed this beautiful place with Janice and Delwin and Derick, Niesja, and Ethan. Despite the 4 year age gap, I think Landon and Ethan had a lot of fun playing together. One day Ryan, Derick, Niesja, and I left the kids with grandma and grandpa and went to Chichen Itza. We were amazed at the pyramids and the life that the Mayans lived. So advanced, yet so primitive. I just can't understand why a civilization would think that cutting off each others head and killing each other would be pleasing to God. Craziness! Here's some pictures of our adventures....

Sharp Family 2009

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Fun Stages!

I have to say I am really enjoying the ages of my boys right now. Landon is a little over 3 and Zachary is 20 months. A couple weeks ago Landon started preschool 3 days a week which has really changed the relationship between him and Zacky. Instead of getting bored with each other which turns into pestering and fighting, they now are super excited to see each other after their seperation and they play great. Zachary still isn't talking a whole lot, but Landon loves to ask him questions and they still manage to carry on a conversation. For example, this morning they were in the tub and Landon asked Zachary to show him one of his bruises. Zachary points to his toe and grunts. Landon says, "Oh, that's a nice bruise on your toe. Do you have another bruise?" Zachary then points to his arm and grunts again. And on it goes until they run out of bruises to show. Not that they really have very many bruises, but they count every little scrape or discoloring of the skin as a bruise. They love to play trucks or cars and throw balls around. Landon has also been very protective. We went miniature golfing with some friends the other day and the little girl that's Landon's age kept taking Zachary's ball away. This made Landon very upset and he would start crying until we got the ball back to Zachary. At home, he always waits for Zachary to get in the elevator first when we go down to our car and he'll get mad at me and tell me to stop and wait for Zachary if I'm walking a little to fast. It's so fun to see them playing and getting along so well. Hopefully, they'll keep it up and be best friends forever.

Exercise, Planes, and Utah

Hooray for me! With Ryan home while the boys were napping I was able to get myself to the gym today. I keep telling myself that my walks with the boys and twice a week kettle ball workout is enough, but something(maybe the way my pants keep feeling tighter) tells me it's not. We just booked a trip to Cancun in November so my goal is to get my butt, abs, and thighs looking a little firmer over the next 4 months. You would think it would be easier to do this during the summer, but for me it's not. I'm used to exercising with the kids in the stroller in the middle of the day, but the heat kind of ruins my plans. We also don't feel like hiking, rollerblading, or biking when it's too hot. Which leaves swimming, the gym, and my exercise videos. Not the wide variety that I prefer, but still possible and I'm making a goal now to work harder and be more disciplined.

Anyway, we returned from a quick trip to Utah about a week ago. We were able to fly (thanks to air miles) and now Landon keeps asking when we can go to the airport again. Notice I said airport and not airplane. Because we used air miles we had a lovely layover in Phoenix for three hours where the boys had a blast riding the moving walkways over and over again. I'm just glad the airport was somewhat empty. They were fascinated with how fast they could walk on them and Zachary threw a fit when we finally had to go catch our plane. The plane was cool for the first 30 minutes or so to Landon, but it didn't even compare to the walkways. While in Utah we went to Bryan's farewell. It was fun to see a lot of my extended family that I haven't seen in a couple years. All my little cousins are getting so big. We also went to two water parks. One with my family and one with Ryan's family. We had fun playing in the shallow pools and going down a couple water slides. Zachary couldn't get enough of the slide. As soon as he reached the water at the end of the slide he started pointing and grunting to go again. Good thing daddy was so willing. We had a great trip and look forward to seeing more family when we go again in September, right after my brother, Jeff returns from his mission.

Dating

Last night for the bishops youth fireside the Bishop talked to the young men and young women about dating and gave them all a copy of April's New Era that is full of amazing advice. I took some extras to give to the young women that didn't make it and set them on the table when I got home. This morning during breakfast Landon started asking about the magazine cover that has a boy with a rose in his hand and he's knocking on a door. I started to explain to him a little about dating and how when he turns 16 he can go on group dates and then when he's older he can date to find a girl that he wants to marry in the temple. He got really excited and jumped off his chair and ran to tell Ryan, who was just waking up, that when he turns 16 he can marry mom in the temple. It was really cute. I was surprised that he was so interested in learning what dating was. I know he has a long time before 16, but I'm going to keep this issue on the book shelf in case something like this isn't made again. I think it answers curious teenagers questions really well and it has everything from "What's so Special about 16?" to "What makes a person Datable?" and in the back is a fun list of cheap dates that I think Ryan and I should try out.

Swimming

It finally warmed up enough to go swimming and we have been loving it. Ryan was home sick with a nasty earache most of the week so when Zachary would go down for his nap Landon and I went out to enjoy the pool. Landon did good at staying on the steps or at least close to the steps with his tube on so I was able to do some laps, which felt wonderful. I wish I could do that everyday, but as I found out today, it's not possible when I take Zachary. Ryan wasn't home today, but with it reaching 80 degrees we just couldn't resist so we all went to the pool. Zachary didn't like being in the water much so I spent most of my time chasing him around while trying to keep an eye on Landon doing laps back and forth in his tube.
Landon started swim lessons this week and he loved it. He was smiling and laughing the whole time. His teacher was really good. He even got him to float on his back without much fuss which is amazing because he never lets me lean him back. Even when we wash his hair he has to hold his head forward. I thought maybe we had reached a new phase so I tried to help him float on his back like the teacher did, but he refused. I guess I don't have the right touch. He's signed up for the next 3 months so it will be fun to see what else he learns and hopefully he'll start to use the skills he learns in our own pool.