"Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power"

As I lay on the couch this beautiful Sunday morning I think of all the many blessings in my life and can't help thinking that I am one lucky gal. I'm 33 weeks pregnant now and have been on bedrest for the past 6 weeks. After church on February 12th we packed up and headed down to Hollister for a visit and as we were driving this overwhelming feeling came over me that I needed to slow down; my body needed more rest. I had been having quite a few little contractions and tried not to think much of them, but I couldn't ignore this warning that I was receiving. I started crying (which rarely happens) because I knew that I had to make some big changes if I wanted this baby. I could no longer run around all day from kids lessons, to cleaning, to cooking, to YW's, ect. This made me upset at first and I felt jealous of the women that can still run around the block at 40 weeks pregnant. BUT, my pity party didn't last long once I thought of my favorite scripture that has helped me with multiple situations in my life. "Therefore, my beloved brethren (or sisters) let us CHEERFULLY do all things that lie in OUR power; and then may we stand STILL, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God and for his arm to be revealed." D&C 123:17 After thinking of this scripture and regaining perspective on life I knew that I could do whatever it was I needed to. A couple days later I went to the hospital because I was still having contractions and the doctor confirmed that my cervix wasn't feeling like it should be for 27 weeks and that I needed to go on bedrest to keep the pressure off. This wasn't much of a surprise to me since I had already been feeling like something wasn't right. I then started seeing the doctor weekly for cervix checks. At 27 weeks I was 1 cm, 40% effaced. At 29 weeks I was 2 cm and 40 %effaced. Then at 30 weeks I was 3 cm and 50% effaced. Each week I went to the Dr. reminding myself of my favorite scripture. I do my part and the rest is up to the Lord. There was no point in stressing or getting angry over my situation because really that would do more harm than good. I'm now at 33, almost 34 weeks and I'm still at 3cm, 50% effaced. I had Zachary at 34 weeks so I feel more confident in what would take place if I did have this baby a little early, but we shall wait and see and have faith that everything will work out. Through this whole ordeal I have been extremely grateful for Ryan. He's really been overloaded with work, taking care of kids, cleaning, cooking, ect. And through it all he's only had a few venting moments, which is understandable. I have really enjoyed seeing the change in the kids towards their dad. They have always loved to play with dad, but it seems they have an even deeper connections with him now that he's been the main parent to go to for the last little while. And Landon and Zachary have been awesome with transitioning from me taking them to multiple places everyday to staying home a lot more. They have learned to be more independent and seem to understand that I need to lay down a lot to keep the baby inside. They went from "Mom, what are we going to do today?" To "Mom, Can we do this once the baby comes out?" I know the help we've received from family and friends has been huge in keeping them happy. We've been to Hollister a lot and they've spent the day playing at friends houses once or twice a week too. We have also had ward members bring food and clean our house. This isn't easy for my to accept. For some reason I feel like I need to be the one giving service so it is so hard to say "yes" when someone asks if I need help, but I am glad that I have and am so grateful for all those who have helped and those that keep helping. We've had to find a new normal the last couple of months, but I am so thankful we have and look forward to the new life we will have with three children. I am thankful for the Holy Ghost and the still small whisperings that guide and direct us daily. I am thankful for the scriptures and for prayer. Without the Gospel I would be a mess.

Summer Adventures

The last few months have been full of adventures for the Sharp family. We started the summer off by going to a Sharp Family Reunion in northern California. We camped amongst some giant redwoods, visited with family, played in a river and the ocean, and saw some amazing trees. It was a fun trip and we feel lucky to have had everyone come our direction.

A couple weeks later we traveled to Utah to spend a couple weeks. We were able to see most of our Utah family and the kids had an amazing time being able to run around in everyone's big back yards. So much fun that we had a hard time adjusting to our little condo when we returned home. We were there over the 4th of July so we were lucky enough to see 2 amazing firework shows and play with fireworks of our own a couple nights. We also went to two different water parks, boating and tubing, on a hike to a waterfall, and on a carriage ride. Oh, and a plane ride. It was Landon and Zachary's first time in Grandpa Sharp's plane and Zachary loved it. Landon, on the other hand has my reaction to small planes and got sick, but Zachary couldn't stop talking about the plane the rest of our trip. And he still says, "I want to do that again" whenever you bring it up. Never a dull moment when we visit Utah thanks to all of our fun family members. The weekend after we got home from Utah Ryan and I went boogie boarding with the level 4 camp young women. This was what they chose for their adventure. So, we found a bunch of wetsuits and boogie boards and headed to the beach. It was a lot of fun and one of the highlights of the day was seeing a family of dolphins go back and forth along the coast not far from where we were boogie boarding. (not sure how the underlining started)

Following our boogie boarding trip, we got a couple days in at Great America before I left for a week to Young Womens camp. It was hard to leave my boys, but camp was a wonderful experience. Both years I have gone I have been amazed at the quality of the camp and all the wonderful leaders there to help make it a great experience. A couple of my favorite experiences was repelling and sailing. I had never been on a sail boat before so I jumped on the opportunity to try out one of the miniature sail boats at camp. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I tipped over....hit my head on the sail, twice...got frustrated...wanted to get back to the dock...but couldn't figure out how. Eventually, I figured it out, but it took awhile. I am thankful for this experience because I keep thinking about the many ways I can apply the lessons I learned out there on the lake to my life. One of my favorite parallels is that we can't always choose the path our lives take, just like I couldn't always choose which direction the wind was going to blow, but I could choose how I was going to shift the sail and make it work for me and I was thankful that a kind soul came out to give me pointers on how to do that. Also, the lake was small so I could always see the dock and new that I would make it back to safety. Similarly, if we keep our lives rooted in the Gospel, we will be o.k. and our Savior will help us make it back to him.

Soon after getting home from camp we went to Hollister to visit with more family. We had fun going to the beach, Gilroy Gardens, and the Monterey Aquarium. The sad part about all these outings is Ryan and I didn't do very well at capturing the moments with pictures. We've been slacking in this area. Mostly because we don't like our camera. As I'm looking through our pictures, I'm sad I didn't take more of everyone. Especially, our kids with their grandparents.

So, now we've reached September. Time for some new adventures. We are going to try a co-op preschool with some ward members and a Spanish preschool on Fridays. Life stays busy, but we are blessed and are enjoying each and every day.

Landon is 4

Landon is now a big 4 year old. To celebrate his birthday we took his cousins, Aaron and MaKayla with us to Gilroy Gardens. They had a lot of fun riding rides and playing together. We had perfect weather and short lines which made it even more fun. After Gilroy Gardens we went out to eat with Grandma and Grandpa Hemingway and then back to Aaron and Makayla's to play.
Landon is growing up so fast. He loves to go to preschool and is making a lot of new friends. He is working on writing his letters now. He might be somewhat of a perfectionist because he thinks he has to get it looking perfect before he feels good about it. He'll write a letter over and over again trying to get it to look like something I might write. You'd think this would be a good thing, but the problem is if he doesn't get it looking the way he wants it within a few tries he gets mad and gives up or cries or starts throwing things. He wants so badly to be perfect at everything. To be the fastest runner, the quickest puzzle maker, the best at writing, ect. And he is pretty fast at these things for his age, but he likes to compare himself with much older kids. We're working on keeping a positive attitude even when he doesn't do as good as he thinks he should. One of the things he's doing awesome on is swimming. We had 80 degree weather last week so we went swimming and practiced what he's been learning in swim lessons. He found a new love of jumping into the pool and then swimming to the edge on his own. He's really good at putting his head in the water and kicking and he's working on his arm strokes. He loves to sing songs, read books, go to the park, play with friends, say prayers, have family home evening, pretend, and go to the mall. He's always giving me compliments like, "Mom, you look like a princess" and "That dress is beautiful". And I love it when he says, "I love you, mom" when I drop him off at preschool or at bed time. He's a kid that likes to be on the go. He's happiest when he's doing things all hours of the day. This makes life fun and exciting and we are always exhausted when bed time comes. Pictures of the big day are coming.

Sharp Family 2010

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Happy Valentines Day!

Landon had his first BIG celebration of Valentines Day at preschool today. He came home with a box full of goodies. And as a Bonus, it was one of his classmates birthdays so he got pizza and cupcakes for lunch. Lucky Boy! As for Ryan and I, we learned the maranga on Saturday at a ward Valentine dance. I wasn't sure if Ryan was going to participate, but since he was in charge of the event, I think he felt he had to and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Tonight I'm planning on using a gift card that we've been holding on to since Christmas and order from Chilies. I usually make a nice dinner, but I'm looking for an excuse not to cook today.

Bath Time

Zachary loves to take baths. At least twice a day he asks to take a bath. Sometimes he takes two, but most of the time I only give into the one because as you can see he always insists on filling the tub all the way full. He loves to pretend that he's swimming. I think he's learning a lot by watching Landon at swim lessons because he tries to copy what he's seen Landon do. For example, Landon is working on kicking on his stomach and then rolling over and floating on his back. Zachary tries to do this in the tub. He'll kick his legs for a few seconds and then roll half way over, getting some of his hair wet. He'll do this over and over again laughing and smiling the whole time. He loves it. We went to swim lessons at a different time than we normally do today and there was a younger class there, some of them Zachary's age. Zachary kept pointing to the babies and tried to take of his clothes. I think he always must have thought that swimming was for bigger kids, but since he saw kids his age and younger in swim lessons he wanted to do it too. The only problem is that the parent has to get in too if your child is under 3. Not something I really feel like doing, but maybe I'll do it during the spring session if he keeps acting interested.

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.