Christmas Letter 2015

*2015*

Ruthie became a 

SUNBEAM * We biked 15 

miles of the Everglades with 

all three babies * We celebrated FIVE 

 years of marriage! * Will turned TWO and got 

his requested bike cake * He is slowly talking more

and is my sweet little man * Molly started the year

with zero teeth and now has 16 * She also screamed for 

four months straight and nearly killed us all, haha * Sterling 

had his white coat pinning ceremony as a medical student * We went 

to the Florida Keys for Spring Break and had the time of our lives 

camping with our three babies! * Started swimming every single day

 in the pool and Ruth can now swim without any floaties * Sterling spent 

the summer in Washington, DC doing an internship for the National Rural Health 

Association –this was for his master’s degree in public health, no break for him! – while 
I spent my time in Utah with the kids and enjoying all the family! * Molly 

started walking at 10 months and is the busiest little body there ever was * Will

potty trained in TWO days! * Ruth turned four and had a pink cake * She is my biggest 
helper and loves all things pink, ballerina, twirly, and sparkly * Molly turned one and is the smartest, tiniest, most hilarious little person we know * Lindsay started teaching ten piano students at the start of the school year and just had a great Christmas recital * We hit up the beach and zoo whenever we have free time * We are LOVING Miami and have such great friends here * Wishing you a merry Christmas and wonderful memories!
 The Haws

That's a wrap on our year! Haha! But, of course, PICTURES!

If anyone ever brings up the idea of taking pictures in August, in Miami, on the beach. RUUUUN!!!!! I don't know WHAT I was thinking, but we were all dying of heat and humidity before we even made it out of the van, which meant the kids just wanted to get in the water, and were accordingly ornery the rest of the time because they weren't allowed. Until Will just decided to take matters into his own hands and headed straight into the water, cowboy boots and all, haha! 

Huge shout-out to our awesome photographer (my good friend Brooke) who made it look like we had the whole beach and island to ourselves! It was actually a CRAZY PACKED beach day, but she didn't get any other people in ANY of her shots! AMAZING!

Right now, there's not much that makes me happier than looking over the past year and thinking about the memories we made. Nothing makes me quite as sad, either. Every time I have a baby and we pass the first year, there's always a little bit of me that panics- "Wait! I didn't snuggle her enough! I didn't kiss her enough! I didn't rock her to sleep enough! She's too big and independent and it's all just going by TOO FAST!". I feel that way about life in general this year. It is all going by TOO FAST! Luckily for us, it just keeps getting better and better. Last night Will woke up to go potty and when I tucked him back in he gave me a big squeeze, with both arms around his neck and said "I just lub-ba you mama." and was instantly asleep. I just love you, too Will! 

A few quick details for myself (and you): Ruth and Will are THE BEST at playing together and keep each other occupied for hours during the day. They play mostly with wedgits, trains and schleich, cars, and dress-up. They love to get the mail with me. They are very serious about opening the mailbox with the key by THEMSELF. Ruth is close to riding her bike without training wheels. Will still gets too frustrated to figure out how to pedal, but cruises on his balance bike. Will loves cars and balls and trains and especially Spiderman and Turtles (of the ninja variety). He also loves planes and helicopters. Not to be confused with each other. Haha. Molly plays well with them for awhile, but since they try to tell her what to do, she mostly goes off and plays by herself, haha. Unless they are coloring, then she sits smack-dab in the middle of the table, dumps all the crayons around her, and tries to color on everyone else's pictures! Will is at that sweet, sweet little boy stage where he give hugs and kisses and tells me he loves me, and that I look pretty when I put on a dress for church! I could just bottle that up and keep it that way forever! Ruth is starting to be very responsible and really think about things. She'll bring something up that you can tell she's been thinking about since a previous discussion. I can't believe how big she's getting! She's dying to have piano lessons (I teach out of our home) and go to school. I just want to keep her home forever! Molly is feisty as ever and I am already worried about raising that one. She has some FIRE that's for sure! Sterling has been working really hard this semester and we finally chose to make things a little easier and spread out his education a bit. He started in a rigorous 4 yr program where he gets both his medical school degree and his masters in public health. We just put a pause on medical school, he's going to finish his master's degree, and then we'll start second year of med school again in July. Most programs are five year and it will hopefully lighten his workload a bit, which is nice. In the meantime, he just got a research position and is plowing full steam ahead as ever! He just got all the blood work started to see what's going on with his health, we aren't sure if it's Celiac yet, but we are still on the gluten free train over here and it seems to be a major help. That was a big change this year! I am still plodding along with piano lessons, play groups, joy school, and just enjoying this Florida winter!  We love our ward so much and the area we live in with all the parks, zoo, and fun beach to play at! 

Merry Christmas!