Hike #1

Hiking on the 31st of December was a great change of pace! It was a comfortable temperature. We started with jackets but took them off as we walked the Bluebell trail in the Bull Run Regional park. The trail was a bit muddy but we were able to dodge the the water puddles. We hiked 2.7 miles and 1.3 hours. Bill, Lauril Emily, Willy, Austin, and Lydia enjoyed being together chatting and snapping photos.

Christmas

Christmas began with a wonderful Christmas program for sacrament meeting. I loved the music and the the readings from the speakers. The message of gratefulness from the Bishop really put the spirit of giving into perspective. It has been wonderful to be able to give and share and see and feel the and understand the gifts the Savior gave to us!

After church we changed back into our pajamas and skyped Jessica so that we could all be together for Christmas. It was awesome to see Jessy and talk with her. We missed her so much. We are grateful that she was with grandparents and cousins during the Christmas season. Thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa Ward!

We themed this Christmas around Scouts and fitness. The boys got their backpacks along with Bill so that they could all hike together. Emily received some running gear and a magazine subscription to women running. Lydia got a new bike to learn to ride, and a computer we received for twenty dollars. I received the gift of a membership to the freedom center and weight watchers. I guess you know what we will be working on this next year.

Ginger Bread Houses

We had so much fun making ginger bread houses with a few families! We had a nice neighborhood once everyone completed their house! This activity is one we will do again next year! Thanks to Kerstie for letting us use her house!

Leaves Leaves and More Leaves

In early November I caught Lydia, Willy and Roxie playing in the leaves supposedly raking and cleaning up for winter!  What a delightful sight!  I couldn't help getting the camera out and joining in the fun

Christmas letter

Dear Family and Friends,

I just wanted to share with you numerous events that happened this year!

3 days Bill and Lauril spent together in Adamstown Pennsylvania celebrating our 21st wedding Anniversary. Loved the Amish buggy ride and Intercourse Pennsylvania.

114 days of adventure at BYUI. Jessy loves the life of a college student. She is majoring in Chemistry. Loves her roommates and her Independence. She Loves photography!

10 days of visiting Idaho. Lauril had a wonderful time taking Jessy to college and visiting with family. Bill had the adventure of helping the children through the first week of school.

6 The number of times Bill will conduct Sacrament Meeting this year. Bill is the second councilor in the Bishopric and wonders if he can conduct electricity.

180 The number of nights Emily will stay up late doing homework! Emily is a great student with 3.75 GPA. She won't quit until the homework is done. Even though senioritis has set in and she has early morning seminary.

134 school days left in the school year! Emily graduates and moves on to college. She has her heart set on Architecture as a major. But the university is still undetermined. Loves the idea of Virginia Tech.

6+1= Six calls and 1 parent teacher conference for Willy from one math teacher. Just saying ..... Talk Talk Talk!

18 gallons of paint to paint the kitchen, family room, and four bedrooms. Love the way they look!

3 The number of times Austin will pass the sacrament this year. Austin turned twelve and received the Aaronic Priesthood. We are so proud of Austin and his determination to keep the commandments and read the scriptures.

133 Books Lydia has read since the beginning of the school year! Lydia is a great reader and won't go to bed until she has read. First grade is so much fun and reading is the best!

19 The number of nights Willy, Austin or Emily were gone over night on a church camp. The kids have had their eyes opened with the adventures of camping. Their testimonies have been strengthened and their lives have been enriched by new experiences and great leaders.

14 Years old Willy can now go to dances and youth conference! Willy is now six feet tall, handsome and funny. He played Joseph in our ward Christmas program. Willy stands up for what is right and is glad to be a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood.

1st Time to see the Hill Comorrah Pageant and the Sacred Grove. We loved meeting grandma and grandpa Ward and going together to see these wonderful church history sites where we felt the spirit confirm again of the visitation of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith.

We are grateful for the happenings of 2011! We have been blessed with new experiences and wonderful people. May 2012 treat you and yours with adventure and love.
Love the Bill and Lauril Ward Family

Christmas Decorations

The fire light glistens off of the red and green balls! The tiny lights glow through the delicate beaded ornaments and the children reach to find the empty green bough. The cheery songs of Christmas hang in the air! Each wreath finds it place on the wall and each ornament with it's memory is chatted about and hung on the tree! The lights sparkle and the decorations from Christmases past find their place throughout the house!

It's so fun to see the Kids decorate the trees! Memories are talked about and all is peaceful and calm. They all get along so well and the family moment fills my soul with a new memory of joy and peace. For the first time we will be missing one of our children Jessy who is spending Christmas with grandma and grandpa Ward. We are sad that she is not here but are happy that she has family to be with this Christmas! We love you Jessy

I just love this time of year! All the lights and colors! The music, the family time, the feelings and most of all the reminders of Jesus, his birth, his life and his sacrifice.

So Much Happened So Little Written

July was an extremely happening month, so I am going to share some of the highlights starting with the good news. I look back and wish that I could have written all of it at the time it happened, but I lived in the moment and enjoyed the time we had together as a family. I enjoyed watching the kids come back from their camps and adventures and we have been truly blessed from the experiences of this July. We have been touched by dedicated leaders and friends who have volunteered time and resources for the camps. Our children's lives have been touched. Here is our gratitude list for the happenings of July.

Girls camp for Emily! This year Emily was a YCL. She helped in the planning of girls camp and looked forward with anticipation. She loaded bags and bags of stuff into the car. She had a great opportunity to serve some of the 1st year girls. She loved being a youth leader and working with other girls in the stake. She talked about testimony meeting and the faith walk. She felt the spirit and her testimony was strengthened.

11 year old encampment for Austin and Bill! Austin learned so much about orienteering, setting up tents, knots, lashing, and first aid. Bill learned about Austin and 11 year old boys. They both enjoyed a fireside where they learned about our constitution and some history of the United States. Bill came home with a new appreciation for Austin and his blooming sense of humor.

Cub Camp for me! I am the primary presidency member over cubs and until recently was the cub committee chair so I helped get the boys signed up and helped to organize one of the stations. I had a great time with some of the other sisters in our ward helping the boys make flags and having the boys get their pictures taken with various costumes. We had so many mothers and even a father that walked and volunteered over the three days. It was so great to see how excited the boys were as they left to go to camp and how tired they were when they returned. It was so neat to have the boys meet at my home and as they waited for parents to arrive they would show me what they had made at camp and tell me of all the exciting things they had done!!!

Scout Camp for Willy!! Willy earned several merit badges at scout camp He learned a lot about accountability and finishing up what he starts. He had a couple of complaints about scout camp and that was that the food wasn't very good, and that he didn't have time to go canoeing. He worked hard at getting mostly required merit badges for his eagle. He only needs a couple of things to get his life rank and with consistent progress he will get his eagle. He learned a lot from his leaders and his friends at camp! Thanks goes out to all his leaders!

Youth Conference for Emily! Emily learned so much at youth conference and felt the spirit so strongly that for family home evening she shared with us the happenings and taught us from the question and answer panel. She shared her testimony with us. She has so many questions and ideas. Her big goal in life is to be Happy and to Change the World. She had a great time over the 3 days she spent with friends and leaders at SVU. I'm so grateful that she shared with us her experience as we all felt the spirit of youth conference.

We love having visitors from Idaho and especially loved meeting Grandma and Grandpa Ward in upstate New York. It was so awesome to go as a family and go to the Hill Cumorah Pageant together. We loved the costumes, the fires, the waterfalls and the story of the Book of Mormon. It was spectacular. The stage was amazing! and of course the back drop is the hill cumorah! It was a beautiful evening. It was great to hear from grandpa that when he was a missionary in New York he was in the pageant. We loved the pageant each of the kids told us that they liked the Nauvoo pageant the best. It's interesting what they remember.

We spent the night in a little campground. The kids and Bill slept in the tent and I stayed in the motor home with grandma and grandpa. (We haven't camped this summer so the kids loved it.) The kids couldn't pass up the swimming pool in the campground so they went swimming while we took down the tent and cleaned up camp. We enjoyed the peacefulness of the sacred grove with the children. I sat with Lydia on a bench and talked about the first vision and as we talked you could tell she understood and she felt the spirit. It was so beautiful. We walked around for a good while. It was amazing with all the people that we in the sacred grove that it was reverent and quiet. The sun was beautiful coming through the trees. We noticed that change in behavior as we left the grove and looked through the homes and other buildings on the Smith farm. We had a pizza lunch in Palmyra. We visited the David Whitmer farm where the church was created and looked at the Martin Harris home.

We had awesome luck at the end of the day we were able to get the last camping spot at Watkins Glen State Park in upstate New York. It was nearly dark when we arrived so we didn't get much time to look around. We had a nice time together eating dinner and talking with grandma and grandpa. We took a little time in the morning to look around at the water falls at the park before leaving to go to the Corning Glass Museum in Corning New York.

The Glass Museum was awesome! We watched several different demonstrations: a glass blower make a vase, a lady make a little glass animal, and Austin helped with a demonstration on how different types of glass break. The displays were awesome on how corning ware started and all about the different kinds of glass we use. The kids really thought the demonstration on fiber optic cables ( which are made of glass) was really cool. Loved this museum! 2 thumbs up!

We loved having grandma and Grandpa stay with us over the the next week. Bill took the time off of work so we enjoyed being together for the week. WE had record breaking heat and humidity so we stayed home or did indoor activities. But we loved being together and enjoyed some great food. We went bowling,to the movies, out to eat, and of course to the 150 anniversary of the civil war parade. I loved watching the kids interact with their grandparents. Lydia always wanted to play games or would climb up on grandpas lap and fall asleep. I love the feeling of the kids reconnecting with family. Still after five years I miss connecting with family. I miss the kids playing with cousins and uncles and aunts. So hanging out with family is so wonderful. I enjoyed it so much when Ibraham and Jason had lunch with us and Dad and Mom thought Emily had great friends. We our so glad that Grandma and Grandpa came for visit!!!

Well, along with all the good also comes the opposition in all things part. Along with blessing there must be trials. It's strange how that always goes hand in hand. For the most part in our life it has been a trial in the area of finance. Last year we worked so hard to get out of debt and we had paid off so much we thought we saw the light at the end of the tunnel but then you have.....

• Inspection sticker renewal. I call that sticker my thousand dollar sticker. no matter what the repairs to get that sticker always cost me that much. So yes again it cost me that much . Plus the cost of a ticket having got pulled over at a checkpoint on the 4th of July. Sticker expired the last day of June. Replaced the suburban earlier in the year with a little Aveo because the Suburban wouldn't pass inspection without major expensive repairs. Double Ouch



• Hard drive on computer melted. Lost all pictures taken over the last 5 years or more, including all the pictures from last years trip to Nauvoo, Kirtland, Burley, Boise, and Utah. I have cried all ready about this so no new tears now! This also includes any pictures at sites around here. We thought we were backing everything up off the hard drive each month but evidently we were only backing up our business stuff. Had to buy a new computer. Double Ouch memory wise and money wise.


• Appliance breakdown! This time the washing machine is dead! Bill prolonged the buying of this appliance by replacing a power switch but Monday I smelled the smell of motor burn out. No way to save that. So its either spending a lot of time at the laundry mat or buying a new washing machine. I opted for the later so a new machine will be delivered next Tuesday. ouch ouch ouch. We have already replaced a dishwasher and a dryer this year.

We have so much and our so blessed that even if we have to use some of our credit we are grateful that our family is healthy and strong. We are so blessed by good friends and by opportunities to serve. Love life and and all the curve balls it gives us!

My Adventure with Lydia, a Few Props and My Camera!

So .... Lydia wanted to play a game so we started to play catch then basket ball then I got bored so I told Lydia to get her hat and purse while I got the camera and we went on our adventure.

so here's the evidence:

i love to go on adventures with my camera and oh ya Lydia tooo!

~Jessy

Ward Wonderings

I think that I will just ramble for a few minutes about life and what has been going on in the Ward house. The kids all finished school strong. With mostly A's and B's and a couple of C's. It was great to see the growth that comes with each passing school year.


Our first week of summer vacation was very eventful. Emily went to girls camp. She had the opportunity to be a youth camp leader this year so beginning in January she has been preparing for this week. She had so many things to bring it was amazing it didn't just take one car for her. The theme for camp was BELIEVE, and was centered around Christ beginning with his birth. So Christmas lights and decorations. She loved all of camp, she was so totally exhausted when she came home but so enjoyed the hard work and fun of leading a group of first years.

Along with girls camp Austin and Bill attended 11 year old encampment. Austin learned all about orienteering, lashing and cooking. Bill had a fun time with Bother Gregory helping the boys and keeping them focused. Bill learned a few things about his son Austin and gained a deeper understanding and love for Austin. They both came home happy and couldn't stop talking about all the things they did.

Lydia and Austin also had swimming lessons Monday- Thursday at 8:30 am. I watched Austin swim across and back several times. He has a good strong crawl and back stroke. He says he can't do sports, but I think that swimming is really his sport. Lydia is learning the swim strokes and has a way to go before she has them down, but she is improving everyday!

For me this week has been a little stressful. We started out the week with 3 shirt orders plus meetings and home teaching and I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. Well, I did learn it doesn't help to stress or have anxiety attacks over it. But I did work hard making screens and begging and pleading Willy to help me print. With a few late nights we were able to pull it off and complete the orders!!!

On Tuesday we were invited to visit with the our Stake President. I always get this weird feeling inside when this happens we try to figure out why or what calling could it possibly be. It's just interesting that as you ponder that the answer comes quietly, not exactly what the calling is but the peace enters your heart and you know that Lord has prepared you over a life time for whatever service He will ask you to preform. Bill was sustained on Sunday to be the second councilor in the bishopric. Unfortunately that will mean no more seminary at our home and Bill wanted so much to teach the Old Testament, but he loves to serve in whatever calling he is asked. I know the Lord will sustain and help him as he works in the bishopric, and He will help me at home and with my calling. I pray for His guidance as we all try to do the Lords work.

Bill and I enjoyed talking to our parents this week. We are so excited to have Bill's parents come and visit at the end of July!!! I can't wait! I hope to get the family room painted and office cleaned out. Loved hearing my mom's voice and hearing how everyone is doing in Idaho.