Blackberry Jam

I love blackberry jam.

I'm not sure if it's the berry or because it reminds me so much of my Grandma and Grandmpa Sharp. 

The summer before college, Lyndsey and I spent a few weeks at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We stayed up late watching movies, slept in late, went four wheeling, ate a whole big, big Costco box of Eggo Waffles, shopped for what we thought were "college necessities", went of the jet boats, got to drive Grandma's car around and she helped us make matching comforters for our college apartment. 

 We also picked berries and Grandma helped us make jam and figure out how to get it home with us on the plane.  We had homemade blackberry jam to eat our whole freshman year of college.

(1998 - Jet Boats)

(1998 - Four wheeling while we were there.  Justin, on the left, is the other cousin born the same year as us and Trevor is in the middle.)

(1999 - Roommate dinner at Angie's in Logan)

A few years later, Addison and I were there again during blackberry season.  We picked berries and Grandma made jam with us again that we took it home on the plane. 

And I want to say we did it again later when I was there with Addison and Olivia this time, but I can't remember for sure.

 I think I like it more because it reminds me of my grandparents.

The kids and I made blackberry jam his summer and kicked out 5 batches in a morning.  I thought it was going to a learning experience for them that I would just endure, but they were actually a huge help!  We had quite a bit of fun. 

Ansen figured out the price per bottle and though we're not saving any money by making our own, it's way, way better than store bought and it's the experience . . .

Baby Blankets (Pics Added - Repost)

I've sewn before in my previous life of less children, less work and more time.  But two years ago I started going to a quilt class and re-found my love of sewing.  Or maybe just found, since I'm not sure I really ever loved it before. Since it's become (kind of) a big part of my life right now, I thought I would document it - at least some of my favorites.

Sewing was the first thing I could do after my accident (since I could just sit) that made me feel like a person again.  And it's been my "mental out" to make it through the week for the last 2 1/2 years.

I made both Addison and Olivia their own crib sets.  My mom helped me a ton on Addison's and I made Liv's all by myself.  I made their precious baby blankets especially for them . . . though they'd never know it and they were never attached to them since I wanted to keep them "special."  Lesson learned.  I guess they'll still always be special to me.

Addison's had these tiny 1" squares that I sweated, cursed and hated until it was done, but loved for every minute after that.

I took her picture every month on the 30th with her blanket to document her first year . . . so it did get used.

Olivia's I was a little smarter and went with bigger squares.  This was the first time I happened upon a "real" quilting store and thought it was coincidence that there were fabric lines that matched perfectly.   My mom had just bought a long arm quilter and this was one of our first tries at quilting.

And I agree there's a little too much yellow, but the room was yellow when we bought it so I tried to work with what I had.  I made that whole bedroom set and was so proud  . . . now I realize I might have been borderline stupid since I could have bought one for the same price and saved the time . . . But I like to tell myself it was the "experience" I was doing it for . . .

And I wasn't as diligent of a mom or maybe it was because our stuff was in storage for 7 months after Liv was born, but this is all I can find for pictures of her.

Oh, I miss those little babies!

More life around here . . .

It's just me and Drew these days.  And he lives for pre-school. 

Boy hair is so much easier than girl hair and I find that it's easier to be outside waiting for carpool on time.

Liv had something funny going on with her fingernails, we took her in when we went for Drew's well child check up. 

It turns out that she had hand, foot and mouth disease 6 weeks prior and it killed her fingernail growth.  New nails were growing and pushing the old nails up and off on four of her fingers.  Who knew?

Stickers and sticks do the trick though and even flu shots didn't keep us down.

We're working a little harder on this right now.  



Drew was so tired he put himself to sleep one night.  Poor guy.

Gingerbread houses in October are all the rage.  I'm stocking up after Christmas this year.  Random little project to keep kids busy and happy.

Drew has perfected the art of drawing mermaids.  He came up with this technique all on his own.

It's such a simple game and yet so, so entertaining. 

 And this will make me sound more obsessed than I really was, but I have quit drinking - drinking coke.  My dad's theory was that he was more tired the day after drinking coke and since I was so sick of being so stinkin' tired ALL. THE. TIME. it was worth a try. 

And dang it, he was right.  I changed a few other things too, but no coke and less tired is worth it.  I have had 3 in 4+ months, but some days are just hard-hard and if a coke will solve it, then by all means I'll do it.

And this is where we wake up to Drew most mornings.  We leave him out a bed and a blanket, he drags in his own pillow and as long as he's not in my bed we'll roll with it.   Besides he's my baby for now and maybe I still won't mind it when he's 16 . . . you sometimes have to hold on for as long as you can.



Life around here . . .

Grandpa sent out Ansen's cowboy have to got from his Grandpa Hatch.  He wanted a blue one and Grandpa Hatch had it died especially for Ansen.  Drew loved it.

Olivia dominates at Tic-Tac-Toe.

The scorpion in easy for Addison now.  She's gotten up to 8 back hand springs in a row and she's working away at her tucks.  I'm so delighted to see her working so hard!

Frank the snake is such a huge improvement over some of his past bedtime friends.

My plan this year was that from the street all of the weeds would mingle with the flowers and look pretty.  This was only a few months ago and the flowers (and most of the weeds) are twice the size.  

 I call it half way sucessful. 

Before:

And After:



Late night/movie night at Banna and Branda's with a stop at the Halloween costume store.  I wonder how many people put these on their faces  - I saw two more groups after us.  I'll assume we were the first ever.

And quilting during late night/movie night.



Go Aggies!

Jen texted to see if we were going to "be around" the coming weekend and assuming they just wanted to meet for dinner or something I waited to figure out what was going on that weekend with Ansen.  Finally Jen called and she actually just wanted to know if we wanted to go to the USU game (everyone down here in Utah County calls is the BYU game) at BYU stadium.    Ummm, yes. 

And it's just on the 50 yard line, 8 rows back.   Ummm, yes. 

No kids.  Ummm, yes.

Young-ish and dumb.   Ummm, yes. 

Lukcily Ansen just got a new USU sweatshirt last year for Christmas (he's not wearing it in the picture) and luckily Christmas is coming up soon and I'm going to get ask for a new one since I'm sporting the same one I bought freshman year.  Luckily huge sweatershirts were in style then and it still fits me now. 

We had a blast and I figured out I actually like football when it's a team I care about and it's only 8 rows back on the 50 yard line . . . I don't ask for much. 

It was an ESPN game and just like the old college days we did whatever dumbness we could muster to be on TV.  Ansen wasn't in this picture that Jen's mom texted . . . but he was being dumb too.  I had to keep jumping to be seen . . . but of course I did it.

Our future USU roommates were all sound asleep with the babysitter when we got home (Skylar didn't make it in the picture). 

Ansen says there's only two special people in my life that separately we have two full brains, but together (everytime) we barely have one . . . Jen and my cousin, Lyndsey. 

Earlier this summer we drove past Salt Lake and Olivia proved we've been lacking on our parenting when she didn't know which building was the Temple for sure and then wondered if you could ever get close to it. 

It was only 2 Christmas' ago that we went to see the Temple Square lights, but still we only usually go at Christmas time now and we never take anough time to appreciate and talk about the Temple while we're there. 

So we headed up to Temple Square to see the visitor's centers and "get close" to the Temple.  It turns out they've made some changes in the last 18 years (the last time I probably really spent some quality time in the visitors center).  But some things haven't changed like the feelings that come when we think and learn about Christ.

We didn't get through everything so we've planned to head back in a few weeks.

This series of Drew's (and Olivia's) facial expressions made me laugh once I got them downloaded.

 

Zoo with the little ones

I haven't regretted the zoo pass purchase for one second. 

We planned a day and went with all the little Sharp great-grand kids in Utah (except for two that got sick that day) to the zoo. 

(Kate, Hannah, Trevor, Crew, Lincoln, Drew, Carter and Ava)

It's been a long time since we last went to the zoo

(or even tried to get together regularly with the kids).  

This was Lilly, Addison and Creyton from the last time we went.  They're the 3 oldest, but there's 33 now with at least 4 more on the way. 

And this picture is a bad one, but it was just a gaggle of little babies (and nursing) . . . who are all big now and gone to school all day.

It was fun to get the kids together, but it was even better to talk to my cousins.  I love talking motherhood, callings, work, home and husbands with them.  They're all so great at something, I learn from all of them and it's fun to move through parenting phases together.

Motherhood is not easy and I'm game for all the help and insight I can get.

(Drew picked the polar bear in honor of Halle.)

Plus it was good for Drew to get to be around all that little "boy."

Just Pull it All Together

My friend, Barb, told me that she always says to herself . . . "If I could just pull it all together tomorrow  . . . "  And the the problem is - just what is "it" exactly?

I think she described me (and probably motherhood for the most part) perfectly.  I keep thinking those exact thoughts, but I hadn't gotten to the part where I didn't even realize that I didn't even know what "it" was. 

I'm doing well physically now, I'm progressing and I'm getting around, but I'm just trying to put the pieces of our life together.  I feel like every time I turn around there's a small crisis on our hands . . . my return piles from my summer clothes shopping binge that I just did't have the energy for, insurance and medical bills, school reports, new bank fees on every account since I'm still receiving paper statements, a mess in every square inch of our house, my computer is still in my kitchen on a card table . . .

Oh and everyone needs to eat every single day . . . really?!  3+ times even . . . which means we have to have food in the house so someone has to grocery shop . . .

Okay, so none of them are a crisis, but it just feels like everything is a bit of a mess and if I could just "pull it all together" . . .

The truth is I'll never pull it all together . . . ever.

And maybe there's a few more things I can let go of.  Like this summer I stopped rolling our underwear into pairs.  I just divide his and hers and jam them in their appropriate drawers.  Awesome, right?

But we just keep moving, we keep evaluating and I guess make sure the "it" that I'm pulling all together is my family.

Ansen should get a medal

I think it's completely appropriate for Ansen to get a medal (and I am in no way being sarcastic).  It is no secret we are not project people. Well, I'm a craft/sewing project person but not a home project person. 

It only took him 3 months but he built (and finished) garage shelves for our ever expanding junk.

I have to remind him that it's not something I just thought up so he'd be miserable.  It's because we chose together to have children, we chose together (at some point) to buy a million bikes, we chose together to buy roller blades when we were engaged and to keep them for 14 years, we chose together to buy a house and therefore a lawn mower, we chose together to buy a trampoline and store the box for winter, and so in a round about way, we chose together to build shelves in the garage. 

The logic is there, right?

And there's not really a choice that necessitated shelves that I regret  . . . other then thinking we'd be "big" into camping and buying/storing all the gear and maybe storing roller blades for 14 years . . . you know . . . since we're going to get those out soon and take up roller blading again.

What I re-learned as a coach

I got to coach the Orange Fireballs this year in soccer.  I really only did it because no one volunteered and they were going to dissolve the team.  I felt like we've "put in our time"  since we're coached 4 times (out of 7 seasons) between Liv and Ad, but I couldn't let them dissolve the team so I reluctantly did it. 

I decided though if I was going to do it, I was really going to do it (even if I still know nothing about soccer).

And those sweet little girls worked their little child magic and I love them. 

We're missing 2 in this picture and I actually love the one on the far right more than anything in this world.



They are each individuals with entirely different little personalities.   And because they're children, it's so easy to love their unique personalities, to appreciate their differences and to praise their individual talents. 

What a wonderful reminder that we are all just older children with our own personalities, talents and capabilities. 

Drew has been a good sport this season, wearing his "official soccer shoes" to all the games we had enough time to squish them onto his fat feet.

Drew and his cute little soccer/preschool friend - Emmy.  Aren't they the cutest? 

And I got to sit back and appreciate Addison's awesome coaches that actually know something about soccer and clearly love these girls too.

It's our same team from last year - but this year they're the Tsunamis.

(Addie is the one impressing us with the cheerleading stretching abilities) 

She really loves soccer!

And as much as I love it . . .

I'm so glad we only have 2 practices and only 1 game left for now.