Hello Haws Family,
It seems like it was just yesterday that I sat down and wrote a family news letter. Here we are 6 months later writing another one. This family letter isn’t as busy as our last one was. Not too much excitement has happened. Since we’ve moved our lives have gotten quiet with family gathers and parties just about every weekend. Now, our lives have come to staying home and being with each other more. Our holidays haven’t been what we’ve had in the past, but we’ve tried to keep them fun. We had Thanksgiving with my grandparents, my aunt and her family, and my uncle and later that night a few of my cousins came over. It was fun to see family that I haven’t been able to see for many years. Christmas was a fun one for us, less busy, but fun. My parents came for Christmas and stayed for about 10 days. It was great to have them come up for our first Christmas away from extended family. We had a GREAT time and we LOVED that we had snow. We probably had about 15 inches of snow or more by the time Christmas came for us. We aren’t use to having snow coming from Mesa, it’s always 80 during Christmas, or so it seems. James and I loved the “white Christmas” and the kids did too. It felt more like the season. James was able to make a trip in February with Zach. They had a good time, besides the fact that Zach was sick just about the entire time he was there. Didn’t make James too happy. They were there for about 6 days and enjoyed seeing family. In March we had Lorraine come up and visit us for a week. We enjoyed her visiting and she loved seeing the kids. We tried talking her into going over to see Josh, since he was only 4 hours away, but she didn’t want any part of that plan. It was too tempting to bring him home when and if we saw him. So, we didn’t go see him. We did take her to a few other places here in the great state of Washington. We enjoyed having her here with us. Also during these last few months, James got a new calling in our ward. He is now one of the ward organists. He blames me for him getting that calling. For the first month he was always at the church practicing. He does pretty well now. James is busy with work. He has finally started training for the position he was hired for. He didn’t start training until November or so. For 2 months he was reading procedures and taking tests. Finally those are all done and he is able to do hands on work. His schedule is no longer a Monday to Friday job. His schedule is so weird. The good thing every month he has 7 days off in a row. That makes it nice; we get to see him more during that time.
The kids are growing and keeping busy. Kylie is 9; Alecia is 7, Zach 3 and Jacee 2. Zach and Jacee have birthdays coming up soon. They are growing so fast! They all keep me on my toes. I started babysitting back in October, so I have been busy with kids all day everyday. It makes it nice at times because it gives my kids someone to play with during the day. I’ve become pretty busy watching kids. I have about 10 kids I watch on and off during the week. Not all of them are full time, don’t think I would be alive still if all 10 were all day. So, I’ve managed to survive this long. It works out pretty good.
Our summer plans are pretty exciting. I am planning on coming down to Arizona at the end of July and staying for about 3 weeks. I will be in Mesa the week that Josh gets off his mission; it will be good to see him. James will fly down in August and stay for about a week and then drive back home with me and the kids. I’m looking forward to see family while I’m there. I know the kids are excited to see friends and family too. It seems like the next 3 months can’t go any faster. So much seems to be going on. We don’t get out of school until the 11th of June and then off to AZ in July. The summer seems to be going by fast already and it hasn’t even come yet. My brother is nice enough to fly up here to WA and then drive down with me and the kids. I don’t think I can drive 24 hours with the kids all by myself. James is sweet enough to let me go and be gone for 2 weeks without him. But I am glad he is flying down to stay a few days. It wouldn’t be the same without him.
We hope all of the Haws families are doing well. We can’t wait to see some of you when we come down. We hope everyone is doing well. We love you all and miss you all. Keep in touch.
Love,
James, Stacee, Kylie, Alecia, Zachary and Jacee Haws
www.jamesstacee.blogspot.com
James & Stacee Haws Family