Children's Books

Being a first grade teacher and a book lover, I have collected 8 large boxes of just children's early years books. It has been a lot of fun watching the kids go through the boxes and choose books that were meaningful to them from their childhood or books that would be fun to read to their own children. What a happy time to see the my kids reading their own books to their own children. These classics get to go around the block one more time. How awesome is that. Michael even got involved in the choosing of books. It was fun to watch.

The Sprinkler Park

Each Monday, Valerie takes the kids on a play date with other children who live in her ward. They go somewhere different each Monday. Dallin and Kate have loved these little outings. Valerie has been able to find her way to each location, every time. Today was the exception to the rule and after an hour of driving, they passed Nana's street on their way home after not being able to find the Sprinkler Park. Dallin told his mom to go to Nana's house, that she would know what to do. It is wonderful to know that your grandchild has all the faith in the world that Nana has the power to fix whatever may be wrong in the world. Thank you dear Dallin for giving me super natural powers that I never knew I had and helping me step up to be all the Nana I can be. As the story goes (with an introduction like that) Nana just had to save the day. With the help of Uncle Will, we got the directions and Nana drove the crew to the Sprinkler Park just before all of the kids' friends were going to go home. They decided to stay longer to play with Dallin and Kate. The Sprinkler Park was a magical place in that I had never seen a place quite like it. There were so many sprinklers shooting up about 20 feet in the air. The kids could run through them and the place was huge and completely enclosed. What an awesome idea not to mention the fact that it was free. What a great time. The kids ran and ran. The day continued to be a wonderful day with many wonderful memories. Thanks Dallin and Kate for a perfect day!

Craig and Will Help With Hurricane Ike Clean Up

Craig and William drove to Houston Saturday morning at 3:30 to help out with the clean up of the damage that Hurricane Ike left behind. We were thrilled that the men in our family had the opportunity to help out in such a personal way. In many of the disasters that have happened over the years, it seems all we have been able to do is send items or cash for the relief of those that needed it. This time, we were asked to serve by helping remove trees and all matter of junk that ended up in the yards of the homes of the folks that lived in Houston. From what Craig said, there were huge trees that were laying across the tops of some of the houses. From what I understand, It was a full days work. Our guys came home dead tired about 9:00 pm. I'm sure that we will hear more of the details when they wake up. Houston certainly got a lot more damage than expected and I'm sure the clean up effort will take more than days, weeks, or months... but at least for one of the days, Craig and Will along with many other church members in our Stake were able to make a difference.

Hurrincane Ike

It's been years since we have even heard the word Hurricane associated with our part of Texas. We were completely spared having very minimal wind gusts and no rain. Our Texas Friends in Houston and Galveston were not so lucky. They are currently without power, water and perhaps without homes or businesses to work at. Craig works for BMC Software which is based out of Houston and I can tell you that the hurricane took its' toll. One of Craig's Co-workers from there rode out the storm. His kids were scared to death as terrible loud winds went by them for 10 hours. He said that never again would he "ride out" a hurricane. It seems that lives were spared but the coastline took substantial damage. We are grateful that we were completely spared. We hope to find ways to help our fellow Texans. The last time the Texas Coast was hit terribly hard was 108 years ago with 6,000 plus in loss of lives. We are grateful for our modern technology as many evacuated the area in plenty of time to be safe.

Madison Rose Sharp's Blessing

On Sunday, Maddie was blessed by her father, William, in the new Old Settler's Ward in Taylor Texas. In the blessing circle was her father William, her grandfather Larry Dickinson, her grandfather Craig Sharp, her uncle Jimmy Dickinson, her uncle Christopher Kellogg, and the bishop Dane Parker. Maddie was given the most wonderful blessing AND it was so wonderful to have Tammy's family there as well as our own. We enjoyed family time together after the blessing with a traditional Texas Barbeque. There was plenty of food and plenty of family fun for everyone.

The blessing of Madison Rose joining our family came six weeks earlier on July 20th in Provo Utah. Lori and I were both at the hospital for 17 hours waiting for this special little angel to join our family. Maddie was born early afternoon at 12:20 and weighed in at 8 pounds and 4 ounces. She was 20 1/2 inches long. She is much longer now. She has certainly blessed the lives of us all. Tammy is a wonderful mother. She's a natural really. William is a very caring father. Maddie is very happy and loves to make little talking noises and loves to smile and laugh. She also loves to lift her little legs up like a ballerina. She loves to be kept warm but loves her feet poking out of her blanket. She feels safe and content. There is no question that she has Tammy's eyes which Tammy certainly got from her mother, Lori! They are beautiful!

Valerie's Birthday

Valerie was able to celebrate her 29th birthday in Texas. Who would have thought that would ever happen! We were able to have a special dinner at our house the day before her birthday with all her favorites. Homemade chicken tenders, mashed potatoes and cream gravy, brocoli and cheese sauce, stuff (which is the jello salads), and Grandma Sharp's favorite angel food cake with orange frosting (also Val's favorite). There were other foods too but I can't remember them all. the important thing is that they were all made from scratch and they were her favorites and that we were able to share this special time with our whole family as Tammy, Will, and Madison were here too. I remember that day as one that I wanted to take the whole thing in. To me, it was so special for EVERYONE to be here for this special time. Monday, September 1st, the day we celebrated, was Labor Day. I can remember very well that Valerie was born on Labor Day, but it was on a Sunday, 29 years ago. On September 3rd, Christopher and Valerie went out on a date for their own extention of Valerie's birthday celebration. I got to babysit the grandkids. I was so grateful for this time as well. I have loved being a mom and a nana so much. I love these special memories.