Can you believe it........She is {2}

life

Life is good.... it has been 18 months since our last post. Guess you could say we have been a little busy.......enjoying the moments!

IT'S A GIRL! A Blessing from above...............

After much stress and many trials LOOK who arrived to join our family a little over a week and a half ago. Miss AVERY arrived over a month early after problems during pregnancy. We are so blessed to finally have her here.....Safely. She is a trooper and has been through a lot with her mother. We did steroid injections to develop her lungs after the baby and mom had been in and out of the hospital with problems with High blood pressure, toxemia, blood clots, and much mental stress...... with every week Dr. appointments (last 3 months), stress tests, nurses, needles, and much worrying if baby would be OK. Dr. Beier decided that after weighing out the risks, it was time to get this baby here, and we had a repeat C-sections to find another little girl to add to our family. Dad was amazing and stayed all 5 days at the hospital to care for mom and Avery (only leaving once to shower). We are firm believers in the steroid shots to develop baby's lungs and feel richly blessed to have taken our now 5 lbs 3 oz baby home with us. The brother and sisters are in LOVE with her. Mom is on the road to recovery after delivery and trials with toxemia....but says it is more than worth all the trial for her new precious baby. She, Avery is a blessing from above!

NOT 1, NOT 2, NOT 3, BUT 4........ 5 if you count my husband!

Well, I thought I would share our big news!!!!!! Our kids are so excited they tell everyone including janitors, random checkers at the grocery store, and people we do not even know. Sooooo..... Here it is..... we are having another baby the beginning of SEPTEMBER. We are all excited.... Especially Jayson! Mom is a little over whelmed with zero energy and the pukes, and wondering if she can do this again? Scared...... to say the least! The kids, and of course grandmas are so excited and besides themselves. They have already picked out names and have major plans.....for when the baby comes. Which in Jenna's words "is too long away". I would have to agree!!!!
This year is the year of the baby in both my family and Jayson's. All, but one of my sisters, sis-in-law in my family are all expecting within a month of me, and Jayson brother Jerry and Katie are expecting within a couple of weeks..... of us. There must have been something in the punch at the Family PARTIES!!! We are excited for Cousins to be so close!!! It is nice for me to have someone to share the morning sickness blues with, and actually have someone that can relate.
We are blessed that we get another one to add to our family. Let's hope we can manage without being a too CRAZY family of 6! Wow that number even scares me!!!

Gratitude....A Time and Season for Everything!

I have been extremely lost in the blogging world,(haven't had the desire, nor the time) and I have never been one to lay my feelings out on the line and expose myself to openness, but today I just wanted to write down my feeling of gratitude. Yesterday, after years of serving as Primary President I was released. I spent all day in tears of gratitude, as I reflected on all the great moments along the way, and all the special things that took place over the last 3 yrs. What a blessing it was for me to have had this great opportunity. I still remember the feelings of inadequacy when I was first called, and wondering if I could ever do it. Those feelings were still present even in the end, but yesterday I found myself praying that I had done my job, and hopefully touched one child along the way with helping their testimony grow in the Gospel. Many times, I found myself the one being taught in countless ways by the kids.They have strong spirits and they are truly chosen for this day. Now, I find myself feeling LOST, wondering what lies in store for me now. I find faith in knowing that the man upstairs knows more than we do, and that everything happens for a reason. I feel so blessed to have had this great opportunity to serve in the Primary. I will miss the perfect love and smiling faces of all my Primary Kids. Primary and Primary Children will always hold a special place in my heart. What a blessing and a cherished time!

REFLECTIONS OF CHRIST

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS! 2008 Much Love: the Haws Family

A Verry Merry Christmas!

The fun has begun and I cherish each time this Season comes around. We have been super busy with parties galore, and all the fun that Christmas brings. It is a special time of the year filled with much joy and some madness too. I have mixed emotions about all the commerialism that occurs during this time, but love all the wonderful opprotunities it brings. We have been tring to focus and find comfort in the true meaning of this holiday season, and this year I have made it a special point to focus on the true Reason....Christ. We have been sharing with those in need, and we recently gave FHE at a local Nursing home. I think those things are the things the kids have enjoyed the most......GIVING! Life seems to get to crazy some times and we end up running from here to there. We have been trying our best to find time just being together as a family. We and have decorated a Gingerbread House with tons of Candy (Dad even enjoyed this activity) . We have made our annual trip to see the Christams lights on temple square, taken a horse drawn caraige ride, we rode Frontrunner with our cousins and Grandparents! WE have seen many great frineds, laughed with fimily and have truely enjoyed the Season. We are so excited for Christmas!

BOO!!!!!

Here some pictures of our little cuties on Halloween...(better late, than never)!
We had our traditional pot of chili, and then went trick or treating through our little neighborhood and the kids scored royaly with loads of candy. Then we were off to the HV trunk and treat. You guessed it even more candy!!! We now have a two year supply (Don't tell the Dentist!!!) The kids loved being with both gmas and gpas and cousins.....HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The Happiest Place on Earth.......A family Trip to Disneyland and SEAWORLD!

Over the UEA break we took our long awaited and much needed family trip for 08" to sunny California. The kids loved every moment of the trip, but especially DISNEYLAND, CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, and SEAWORLD. It was so fun to watch each of their emotions and joys as we rode rides, met princesses and other Disney characters, and most importantly laughed together. I couldn't help but think of my own childhood memories when I was a child and although much has changed since then I still remember how I felt....Happy! What a great place for kids to smile and dream. We could all use a little more of that in the world today. What a fun memorable trip.

Top 10 great things about this trip!

1. Jenna being the royal guest aka (birthday girl) who got to introduce each and every princess at a Royal breakfast. Gavyn was a prince, but was not interested in having any photos with the beautiful princesses. He wanted nothing to do with them! Snow White deemed him as BASHFUL! His father on the other had had a top two that he wanted his picture with!

2. Gavyn who was called on stage to be part of a production with Buzz and Woody. He got to say "REACH FOR THE SKY" and his name in the mic. I was worried he wouldn't do it but he did like a champ. He received a hand drawn picture of Woody. He loved it! Most the rest of the time he wanted nothing to do with the Characters....I think the costumes made him a little nervous.

3. Rides....we took the kids at a perfect age when for the most part we went as a family on each ride. None of this waiting around stuff! I love to be able to experience it all together. Gavyn was a trooper. He went on everything! Splash Mountain,Thunder Mountain. You name it he tried it!

4. Friends! Angie and Justin Merrill and their cute kids ventured down with us! It made it fun to have some friends to hang out with. The kids got along great and us adults managed to enjoy ourselves! We both found comfort in knowing we were not the only parents spending a fortune on Disneyland trip! It was all about the MEMORIES! Rick and Maureen G. and their 4 kids just happened to be in Disneyland the same time as us, we met up a few times too. We had an awesome dinner in Downtown Disney with 16 of us! There was never a dull moment since we we out numbered by kids, but the waiters were great and the kids loved, loved, loved the balloon man that made each child their very own something. G...a Sword ofcourse. J.....a princess crown, it was her special b-day! and B... great at fixing the balloons when they came undone.

5. Spending 12 hours visiting with my husband about everything under the sun, while the kids watched endless movies! Thank heavens for the DVD player and head phones, it would have been a miserable trip with our them. Don't let me forget the beautiful countryside, a drive along the beach, and a great book! Navigation... I don't know who we ever survived with out it. It was our best friend on this trip!

6. Seaworld! I didn't think we would be able to top Disneyland, but I think the kids enjoyed Seaworld just as much. It was fun for them to experience touching the dauphins ant other sea animals and Shamu is so huge and beautiful and inspiring!

7. Baylee realizing she was not to old to still BELIEVE in the MAGIC! Her new found love was trading pins with all the Disney characters/workers!

8. A sunset on the beach and yummy Chipotle's afterwards that reminded me of my favorite days in MN.

9. PERFECT Temperatures not to hot or cold. Swimming in the sun! Warm weather to bask in while walking hand in hand!

10. Enjoying the moment and the Journey along the way Together! Memories that will hopefully last forever!

Here is my list of not so great things about this trip!

Having our car broken into ...yes with my purse in it with lots of money$$$$$$ and cell phone, gift cards, ipods, and Nintendos all stolen. What a bunch of JERKS!
Long lines (just one of the nights in Disneyland I wanted to scream...there was way too many people!)
Paying Maddox price for a reheated nasty $12.00 hamburger!
Driving for 12 hours!
Exhaustion!!!!! Jayson and I were exhausted on this trip. It was hardly a vacation at all with zero sleep in time!


OVER ALL THE GOOD OUT WEIGHS THE BAD!!!! What a fun family trip! How blessed we are to have each other, and as the story goes.......
AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER..... THE END!