Christmas 2012

We had a white Christmas, how about you?!

Holiday greetings

Tyler's reindeer from preschool

Christmas PJs

Santa came!

We enjoyed a delicious ham dinner at Grandma & Grandpa Ward's house 

with Aunt Laura, Aunt Rosanne, Uncle Rafa, and cousin, Zoey.

 Grandma Ward's Snowman collection

Building Legos with Daddy and Grandpa Ward

Heber C. Kimball Family Reunion Day

Sam is a descendant of Heber C. Kimball.  

We attended the Heber C. Kimball Family Reunion held at 

This Is The Place Monument Park in Salt Lake City.  

There were probably 200 people in attendance.  

We enjoyed a picnic lunch complete with strawberry shortcake under this pavilion.

During the family meeting part, Katie was rambunctious,  so I took her on a walk.  

Tyler lucked out and won this sweet huge Star Wars kite in the raffle.

The adults enjoyed chatting.

Here's Sam's Aunt Deanne.  

She is a great host and it's always fun to go visit her and the rest of her family.

The kids enjoyed playing in this mini sized town.

Riding a pony was fun too.

More views of the village.

It was a super hot day, and my kids didn't last as long as we'd hoped. 

There were many fun things we could have done, but once we mentioned ice cream to the kids, there was NOTHING else that they wanted to do except get  ice cream.
The line for ice cream was way too long at this building,
so we left the park for good and ventured down to Wendy's so we could each enjoy a frosty.

We enjoyed a pizza dinner at Sam's parents' house with Aunt Laura,

Aunt Rosanne, Uncle Rafa, Zoey, Kevin, Becky, Owen, Wes, and Madalyn.  

Then we hung out in the perfectly shaded backyard for a bit.  

Becky started up a fun dice game that I participated in before heading home.  

I feel so lucky to belong to such a great family.

Here is Tyler bonding with his cousin, Owen: 

Brian and his cousin, Wesley LOVED the bubble machine.

Fun With Cousins from Lisa Ward on Vimeo.

The sunset on the drive home was just gorgeous.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

We spent Thanksgiving with most of Sam's family up in Idaho.  Sam's brother, Kevin has a beautiful home up there.  There was a "blizzard warning" the day before we left for Idaho.  Some of the roads that we needed to travel on were closed but reopened before we left.  Our drive up took longer than anticipated, but we just drove slow and made it to Kevin and Becky's home. 

Sam, Kevin, Becky, Staci, and Fred all got up early on Thanksgiving Day to run in the Feed the Hungry Race.  Everyone but Sam ran the 5K.  My man ran his first ever 10K! 

I felt kind of bad that I wasn't there to cheer on my family, but I was home helping with the kids.  Sam tells me that he didn't quite make his goal, but was proud of himself because he never stopped running.  That's quite the accomplishment and I'm very proud of Sam.

Thanksgiving dinner set up was very nice. We had two adult tables and a kid table.  There was more than enough food for us to feast upon.

I helped make these cute turkeys on the plates.

Sam's sister, Staci made this gorgeous flower arrangement:

The boys loved playing with Kevin & Becky's boys, Owen and Wesley.  Owen is the same age as Brian and Wes is 3 1/2 years old.  Little Tyler kept up with the big boys.  They played all day every day we were there.  Grandpa Ward and Sam took the boys out to play in the snow too.   

Tyler, Wes, Brian, Owen

Owen, Brian, Wes

And here's my sweet little niece, Madalyn.

Thanks to Kevin and Becky for having our family over for Thanksgiving. 

We had a great time.

I know I do a 'Thankful Thursday' post on most Thursdays, so because I missed last Thursday's post, I'll post a few things that I am most thankful for:

1.  Being a wife and mother.  Taking care of my family of 5 is so much work.  I'm so glad that I am able to take care of everyone and raise my own happy family.

2.  Being married to Sam.  It's great being married to my best friend.  I feel that he understands me very well and that we get along (most of the time.)  I love Sam so much.

4.  My three incredible kids.  My kids are my pride and joy.  I try to study each of their personalities and habits and embrace the joys and challenges that come along with their traits.  (Tyler is still trying my patience with his destructiveness.)

5. Photography and how it helps me notice the beautiful people and world around me. 

6.  The Gospel.  I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I'm so glad that I was raised in this church.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!