Family Get together

Some of the related pictures are on other blogs- and thanks to Melissa Roquemore for these pictures. We are so happy to have been able to get together during Jeremy's furlough from Iraq. It was the first time that so many of us we able to get together in a very long time. We love our family so much and although we get caught up in our own lives for the most part, we are happy to take a break and get reaquainted wtih the people we love the most. Thank you Tyra for getting us together.

Las Vegas Trip

Eileen and I went to a six State Bankers Convention in Las Vegas. It was held at the Wynn Resort- some place we would never be able to afford on our own. It was sure very nice to be able to be together for a few days, though. Thanks to Grandma helping out with the kids!

The covention was a success and I leared a lot of good things. The time schedule was not too hectic, either. Eileen and I got to go to the temple and spend some time together. We got to see a couple of shows and ate some good food.

Las Vegas is a busy place and we could not believe the growth. So much money is spent in that place. I heard a good analogy the other day, though. Las Vegas is like eating something rich or sweet- it might be good for a while, but if you get too much of it, it gets old real quick. We were happy to get home and back to our more simple life.

Baseball Time

Here are our Cubs- Joshua and Tyler before their first Game the other day. They are on the same team - which makes it nice for the practices and games. We have not had them play for a couple of years - couple that with the fact that there was not a lot of athleticism to pass on from Dear Old Dad and I hope that all goes well. Nice thing about this age is that there is a lot less pressure than when they get older.

Joshua, who turned 9 earlier this month, and Tyler, who turned 7 this month, are both just happy to be playing together and having a good time- so we are not going to stress about it, either.

They are sure fun to watch.

Tomorrow is finally last day of school- so they should be able to get into lots of fun stuff. Our summer is going to be pretty busy- so hope to keep you all up to date.

(and it is good to be blogging again)

Decmeber or May?

No, this picture was not taken a few months ago, but rather a few days ago. To show how crazy the high desert weather can be- we were almost 90 degrees on Monday of last week and this was taken on Friday Morning after a Thurs night snowstorm.

It was good to get some moisture, but the snow was a surprise to get the day before the Memorial Day weekend started.

As you can see- we now have a camera again. I will post a few blogs about goings on in the Haws household the last few days. It is hard to believe this is the last week of school for the kids and then it is going to be a crazy summer.

Hope all is well- Tommy

Broken Camera

Sorry for the lack of reporting on the blog lately. My camera has broken. I had a really cute picture of Kayla ready go do and a nice little writeup on her. I will get a new camera soon so that we can get back to blogging about family.

I was really impressed with General Conference this weekend. I really needed it. Work got suddenly busy when a valued co-worker left the bank, so with the added stress of that- it was nice to get some spiritual nourishment from the Brethren.

It was an honor to stand and sustain our new Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson and his great counselors in the First Presidency, as well as our newest Apostle- D. Todd Christofferson. (Kayla noted that his name even testifies of the Savior -CHRIST, the OFFERed SON.)

Hope to be able to post soon about family things again.

A Guys' Weekend

I had the great opportunity to get reaquainted with some of my favorite people in the world this weekend. Here are the 6 of us who served together in the Washington, DC South mission around 20 years ago. They are (Top L-R) John Manning, Frank Christianson, yours truly and (Bottom L-R) Vance Mellen, Dave Dobbins and Dan Perdue.

John Manning was kind enough to host us in his beautiful home in Henderson for four days of basketball, food, golf and lots of "catching up". Thanks to John and his wife Joanne (hope that is spelled right) for being so gracious in letting us take over their home for the few days we were there. It was so nice to see all of these guys again. Sometimes after a long absence, it can be awkward getting caught up and wondering if you still have anything in common. Not with these guys. They are just good men that made me feel welcome and like it was just last week when we were serving as missionaries together. They are a very disparate group that come from very different backgrounds but I was touched by how all of us had such an incredible respect for one another that allowed us to talk freely, share openly and laugh much.

Thanks, guys for a great time. I am counting down the days until next year. Here are some good pics to laugh at. Vance got way too into discovering the sushi Bar.

On the last day, Dan treated us all to a Sushi Buffet. It was new to me- but was a great treat. Vance took this silly picture, but then with his great skills on the computer "enhanced" his misery and distended belly. Vance still has that warped and unique sense of humor. Kept me laughing the entire weekend.

Finally- here are Dan and Vance with their differing boxing styles.

In all- it was a great weekend. Heard they all made it home safely, so that is always a good thing.

Ashley

Sorry for the sidetrack on posting about the kids. This is Ashley. She is pictured here preparing to go in for her first ever Solo competition at the high school with her clarinet.

We are very proud of the fact that she worked very hard and practiced well. She got a I+, just below the highest score possible. She played a piece called Aria and Scerzo. (I am sure that I spelled that wrong).

Ashley is very focused and works hard at all she does. She is a great student, too. She loves to cook, is our crafty one and also loves to read. She is good at "getting it done"- whatever the "it" may be.

She is our Ashers and we are so happy she is in our family