New Pajamas!!

Here are the boys in their new pajamas. Thanks Grandma Sharp!

Christmas Joy

Well, Christmas has come and gone already. We had fun with our two boys. And the greatest part was that Ethan didn't wake us up at four in the morning to open presents. We all slept in until around 8:30. He was genuinely excited about everything that Santa had brought during the night, and kept running back and forth from the living room to our bedroom telling us what was in his stocking until we finally crawled out of bed. Ethan also had fun teaching Owen how to unwrap presents (which Owen had already been trying to do all week to the presents under the tree). He caught on rather quickly.

The boys got a fun assortment of toys, clothes and games. Dustin got his router bit that he needed and I got my Clinique Happy perfume, which I needed desperately! I think Ethan was most excited about the "chocolate presents" in his stocking. It was better than Halloween.

Bedhead boy.

The tree before the ripping and shredding began.


Trying to make the stuffed Lightning McQueen drive.

Band in a Box...it's been noisy in our house the last couple of days!

Trying to make the race cars fly.

It was definitely a white Christmas...and our wonderful neighbor cleared our sidewalk for us! Dustin caught him in action.

Owen decided he didn't want his pajamas on anymore...but he did want more "chocolate presents" from Ethan's stocking.

Dustin and the boys...notice there are no pictures of me, and I rather like it that way, considering the way I looked Christmas morning. Blah!

Thank you to all our friends and family that sent gifts! You made our Christmas possible.

Let it Snow!

It snowed last weekend, but then completely melted by Friday. Ethan was so disappointed because he got new snow boots on Thursday. But the next snow storm is never far away in Utah. The rain turned to snow today and piled up fast! Ethan had a blast making tracks in the snow and making snowballs. Here's some pics from his fun in the snow today.






After about an hour, he was cold, wet, and had enough of the snow for one day!

Fun with Rice Chex

Caught red handed. He only looks a little guilty.



Do you think he's hungry? Maybe he's inventing a new Chex Party Mix recipe.


The other day, Owen felt it necessary to climb on to our kitchen table, open the box of Rice Chex and dump it out all over the table, the floor and all over the kitchen. Some of it made it in to his mouth...but I managed to catch him before he swished it all onto the floor.

We always know when Owen is up to something. Things get a little too quiet in the house for too long. When I call his name, he comes running excitedly to me, babbling about something or other...then, never failing, he leads me to wherever the disaster area is, and proudly points to whatever it is he destroyed. Yesterday, he came to me soaked with water. He ran, and I followed him to the bathroom. There was basically no more water in the toilet, because it was all over him and the rest of the bathroom. My first thought was, "I hope Ethan flushed the toilet the last time he used it..." Who knows. Let's just say that Owen ended up in the bathtub regardless, and I ended up cleaning the bathroom (which needed cleaning anyway...thanks Owen).

Holiday Goodness Giveaway

Find out how to win a $20 gift certificate to use at Becky Sharp Designs by checking out the Holiday Goodness Giveaway.

Thanks, Ann, for all your help!

Give it a Shot

My kids have both been sick this week and last. I took Owen for his 18 month check-up last Tuesday. He had to get three shots: hepatitis A, a flu shot, and a steroid for his wheezing cough. Ethan was with us, of course. We surprised him with a flu shot, also. It took both the nurse and I to hold him down while he screamed. I was glad when it was all over, and so was Ethan.

Owen recovered quickly. However, Ethan was soon feverish and coughing his lungs up. So I took Ethan to the doctor yesterday. He was scared to death. He thought everything the nurse jabbed at him was a needle: the thermometer, the oxygen meter, etc. Finally, the doctor came in and said Ethan would need a steroid just as Owen had. Ethan started to panic, but the doctor explained that he could take one orally, although it would taste horrible. Ethan agreed to this, considering the alternative involved a needle. The doctor said that the nurse would come in with the medicine in just a minute. Then he said, "We'll give it a SHOT!" Upon hearing this, Ethan exclaimed, "NOOOOOO, I don't want a shot!!!" Arrrrgggghhhhh! What pediatrician uses the word "shot" in front of a 4-year-old in some other context than what it really means? We both had to do some quick explaining to calm Ethan down. It was kind of humorous to the doctor and me, although I think he'll watch what he says in the future.

When the nurse came back, Ethan swallowed all the nasty medicine without spitting it out. Right before we left, the nurse said, "Oh, by the way, the medicine makes some kids feel queasy. He might throw up...so keep an eye on him, and call us if he does." Great. All I need is puke all over my car. Luckily, nothing came up!

I'm happy to say that after one more rough night with Ethan, he feels much better today. But now my throat is sore. Here we go again!

Becky Sharp Designs Holiday Open House

I try not to post about my business on my family blog, but I wanted to get the word out to friends and family that live in Utah who might be interested. Posted on Becky Sharp Designs Blog:

Any woman who loves books and jewelry and who is going to be in the Salt Lake City area this Friday, November 30th, is invited to a Holiday Open House at my sister's book store. The store is called Central Book Exchange, located in Sugar House on 1100 E across the street from The Soup Kitchen. The open house is a "girl's night out" to eat, mingle and shop for great holiday gifts, including all of the books at the store, and featuring stained glass jewelry by me! It will go from 7-10 pm and it will be a lot of fun. So come see us on Friday night!

Our Halloween Adventures

We didn't go trick-or-treating for very long this year. Halloween seems to be going out of style in our neighborhood. We only got one knock on our door the whole night! And, only every third or fourth house was handing out candy. So we circled one block and then headed to a fun party at a friend's house. Unfortunately, I was the only one there not wearing a costume. Oh well...Halloween really isn't my thing. But there was music and more junk food! Just what we needed. At least the kids got to play with their friends, and I got to hang out with my friends for a while. Too bad Dustin couldn't come. He was at home doing homework. Anyway, here are some pictures from that night.

Ethan the friendly ghost and Spiderman Elijah. They are best friends and like to hold hands. (Wonder how long that will last?)


Our little pumpkin. (You can see how much time and money I invest in costumes...permanent marker and an orange sweat suit...quick and cheap.)


Owen and Ethan busting a move at the Halloween party. (I made Ethan's ghost costume last year and made him wear it again because I couldn't figure out how to make a Transformer costume.)


As if he didn't have enough sugar already.

The used and abused apostrophe

I was informed that I misused an apostrophe in the title of my blog (thanks c5.) I promptly removed it. But I am so ashamed of myself. I usually pride myself on having good writing skills. I even read a book in my college English class about punctuation! Eats, Shoots & Leaves is the title, I believe. (Actually the funniest book about punctuation I've ever read...not to mention the only one I've ever read.) It had about three chapters devoted to the apostrophe alone. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but I know it was at least one chapter. It's by some British lady who goes on and on about the abuse of English punctuation. And it's really true...sad, but true. So for anyone who noticed my punctuation fopah, I apologize. Oh, and does a period go inside or outside the parenthesis at the end of a sentence? I've been confused about that for a while now.

Oh, I just remembered why it said "Sharp's" instead of "Sharps." I originally typed "Ahh! What's going on at the Sharp's house?" But it was too long, so I deleted "house" but forgot to remove the possessive on Sharp's. Ha! I knew I didn't do that on purpose. But I guess I need a proof reader.

Crisis Averted

Dustin fixed the lawn mower yesterday, much to my relief. He had to tip the thing upside-down to drain a quart of diesel out of the fuel tank. Then he used a tube to suck the rest out with his mouth!! Yuck! He didn't really get any in his mouth...the tube was like 3' long. But he did smell of diesel the rest of the day. Anyway, he fixed it, it works, and he mowed the WHOLE front yard. It looks beautiful!

The Mis-adventures of Becky Sharp

I attempted to mow our front yard yesterday, which had grass about a foot long (almost) and weeds even taller than that. After three times emptying the grass catcher and 2/3rds through the yard, the mower ran out of gas. I'm usually pretty adept in situations like this. I've mowed the yard plenty of other times, enough to know how to fill up the gas tank on the mower. However, I was not prepared for the gas can to be filled with diesel fuel. :-(

I swear it smelled like gasoline, or so I thought. It spilled all over my hands, and the smell wouldn't wash off for the rest of the day. Our car uses diesel...I know that smell too. Regardless, I had the thought right before I filled the tank that I should call Dustin and double check the content of this gas can, as we have two in the shed...duh. But no, I have too much pride to ask questions...I was trying to surprise him by mowing the lawn before he got home. The mower started right up, and I was relieved, until it sputtered black smoke and came to a stop five seconds later. (This reminds me of a certain other "unleaded gasoline in my car's diesel tank" mix up on my wedding day...don't feel bad, Pam, I laugh every time I think of that story!)

So I stood there in my front yard for a moment, ashamed of myself for not calling Dustin. Then I called Dustin to say "Oops...please don't be mad...can you fix it?" He only responded, "You're amazing..." I don't think he meant that in a good way. As I recall, the mechanic on my wedding day had to drain the Jetta's fuel line to rid it of unleaded gasoline (only to have our car wreak of fuel for our entire honeymoon.)

Luckily, Dustin can fix anything. Otherwise, I would be in a load of trouble. Really, the worst part about the whole thing is my half-mowed front yard.

Snow in September!?

I know it was pretty cold this morning, because I walked to my friend's house in the freezing rain for our Saturday morning yoga session. She said, "I heard it's supposed to snow this weekend." Yeah right, I thought. It's still September, at least for a few more hours. But lo and behold, I looked out our front window around 4 pm, and there it was! I had mixed emotions. My first thought was, "OH NO, the garden, the tomatoes, the flowers are RUINED!" The kids, on the other hand were overjoyed to see the fluffy white flakes falling from the sky. So instead of bemoaning the fact that our tomatoes just barely started ripening, I pulled out the camera and ran outside.

This made Ethan's day.

I couldn't get him to go inside, even though it was freezing and we were both wet!

Owen just got to observe from inside the house, although for a moment I thought he was going to jump out the open window.

Our poor zinnias and gerber daisies...but still very beautiful.

If this is any indication of what our winter is going to like, I don't think I'm ready. In fact, what happened to autumn? Two weeks ago it was 100 degrees here. Oh well, I should be grateful for the moisture, which we didn't have a lot of this summer. And what's better than seeing your 4-year-old gleefully run around the yard shouting "Yeeeeeaaaaahhhh!!! It's SNOWING!!!!!"

This is fun...

There's a first time for everything, I guess. I vowed never to start a blog, being irritated by them before I even really knew what they were. But somehow I found myself irresistibly drawn to the idea after creating my own business website two months ago. Web design is a little addictive. So here is our Sharp family blog, for what it's worth.

My family and friends have complained over the last couple of years about not being able to get a hold of us or get e-mail to us. This was due to the fact that we had no internet at our house. Now that we've introduced ourselves to the 21st century again, I will try my best to keep anyone who has the slightest interest in our family completely updated and informed of every detail of our lives, down to every runny nose (maybe not that detailed.) I know how captivating we can be! :-)

In all seriousness, I realized that a blog is just an online journal, a history of my family going-ons that would otherwise be forgotten. Seeing as I do such a (not) good job of writing in my real journal I figured I would give this a try. My goal will be to post once a week with highlights and pictures from the week. I don't know what kind of archival value a blog has, but if I get these thoughts and stories out of my head, maybe that will have more lasting value at least to me.

So, read, enjoy, and...E-MAIL US...I promise we'll check it.