Happy Holidays 2022

Dear Family and Friends,

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  We rejoice in the birth of our Savior and know that He loves every single one of us.  We hope that this letter finds you happy and well. Our 2022 was filled to the brim with many blessings and new adventures.  We are excited to see what 2023 will bring.  Here is an update on each member of our family and some of our highlights of the year:

SAM continues his career as a Engineering Technician at Juniper Systems.  He has the best work ethic and we truly appreciate the fine example he sets for our family.  Sam serves as the Ward Librarian at church.  During Memorial Day weekend, we all squeezed into our minivan for our family vacation.  We ate dinner at our favorite Rexburg sandwich shop, Millhollow.  Our first night was spent in a giant suite at the Hampton Inn.  Sam drove us all to Yellowstone National Park.  We braved two days in the torrential rain and explored as much of the park as we could.  Sam, Brian and Tyler enjoyed hiking the Red Pine Lake Trail with Sam's dad, brothers, and some older cousins.  Thanks to endless patience, YouTube, and several trips to the auto parts store, Sam has successfully repaired a couple car issues.

LISA turned the big 4-0 in April.  She found the perfect house (a couple blocks away) for her newly retired parents to move to.  After living across the country for almost 20 years, our family is thrilled to play games, go on adventures, attend church with Lisa's parents.  At church, Lisa actually really enjoys serving as a Nursery leader.  There has been 15+ toddlers in Nursery several times and luckily there are two other women that serve with her.  Lisa and her friend, Polly Arey, took on the huge task of planning, purchasing, and preparing a week's worth of meals for 30 people at Girls Camp.  It was quite the undertaking but they did it (and were highly praised for the tasty food).  However, her biggest feat was creating the Lisa Kay Studios Shop.  She set up her vendor booth 8 times this year! She also took over a huge kitchen classroom and taught women handlettering and chalk art.  Her dream came true of sharing her artwork with her community and becoming a paid artist!  

BRIAN (17) high school senior, accepted and has a scholarship to attend Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah in Fall of 2023, worked and lived at LaBeau's in Bear Lake (his first summer job just 1 hour from home), bought himself a custom Framework laptop that he's proud to bring to school.

TYLER (15) high school freshman, made the Varsity Cross Country Team, helped lead his team to win the Cache-Box Championship (1st place since 2003), participated in the Bob Firman meet in western Idaho and NXR (Nike Cross Regionals) in Mesa, Arizona.  Tyler had a big growth spurt and is now taller than Brian.   

KATIE (12) 7th grader at a new to her public charter school, collects mood octopus toys, attended a baking class, went to her first Girls Camp (where she discovered her love of hiking).  Katie is thrilled to be taller than Lisa now.  Katie has been growing out her beautiful brown hair hair out and it's now practically down to her waist!

JULIA (9) 4th grader, loves to make crafts, discovered the show Master Chef Junior (which inspired her to attend a baking class), and volunteers to help cook dinner and bake at home, enjoys attending our church's activity days.  Julia loves her friends and has enjoyed supporting her friends by attending their events.

Thank you to those of you who sent us Christmas cards.  We really enjoy hearing updates from our family and friends.  Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and abundant new year.                          - Love, The Wards 

#teamplayer Katie 5th Grade 2020-2021

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2020!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from THE WARD FAMILY!!!

First of all I have to thank CodyPaige Photography for the great family picture! I just love the fall colors. Anyway, this year has certainly brought forth many challenges. We have increased our faith, our diligence, and our trust in our Savior. His plan is the best plan.

Tender mercies have brought us closer as a family this year. We're grateful for the opportunity we had to take a family trip to Southern Utah at the end of the summer. We had a blast and went on lots of adventures at Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. Good times!

Brian (15) is a sophomore and can't wait until his 16th birthday

to get his official driver's license. Just a 2.5 month wait!

Tyler will turn 13 at the end of December. He has had quite the growth spurt

this year and is now taller than me! This 7th grader's passion is

training and running local 5k races.

Katie (10) is in her last year of elementary school.

This 5th grader is still obsessed with elephants

and is working on growing her elephant collection.

Julia loved ringing in her 7th birthday with a parade just

for her outside of our front door. She loves to create art and

play an online math game called Prodigy.

Sam turned the big 4-0 in May. To celebrate, two of Sam's sisters came to visit.

We all went to Bear Lake and enjoyed the water and the yummy raspberry milkshakes.

Sam has been very fortunate to be able to go into work as usual

and continues to take good care of us. And as for me,

I worked as a preschool teacher's aide for a few months.

I no longer work outside my home, which is fine with me.

I have freedom to do whatever I'd like while the kids are at school. Life is good.

We wish all of you the best holiday season. We are so glad to have people like you that bless our lives. We'd love to hear back from as many of you as possible. Take care!

Happy Holidays 2017

December 2017

Dear Family & Friends -

We hope this holiday greeting finds you well.  The joy and magic of this season is very much alive
in our household.  It’s so fun to decorate the house, make treats for neighbors,
watch Christmas shows, and just enjoy each other’s company.  
We are well aware that the Lord has blessed us immensely this year.  
We are grateful for this wonderful life.

SAM - Husband, Father, 9th year with Juniper Systems as a Repair Technician, #1 Mr. Fix It Guy,
Loves to Netflix & Chill, has a Sweet Tooth, enjoys being Uncle Sam

LISA - Wife, Mother, 1st Counselor in Primary, Professional Photographer, Indecisive Home Decorator,
Early Afternoon Napper, Kettlebell Queen, Modern Calligrapher in Training   

BRIAN (12): Straight A 7th grader, Percussion Master, Mom’s Wednesday Morning Baker,
Resourceful Researcher, Engineer in Training, Ordained a Deacon at church

TYLER (9): Super Social 4th grader, Multiplication Facts Master, Creative Drawer,
Competitive Soccer Star, 1st Place 1 Mile Wildcat Runner for his grade (every year since kindergarten)  

KATIE (7): Best Writer in 2nd grade class, Thoughtful GIft Giver, Super Swimmer,
Biggest Fan of TMNT, Batman, & Wonder Woman, Quality Time and Snuggling are her favorite

JULIA (4): Youngest Student in Preschool Class, Starting to Read, Collects PEZ dispensers,
Colorful Artist, Cosmic Kid Yoga Girl, Aaron Richards is her best buddy

Thank you for all the love and support you show our family.  Take care!        Love, The Wards

Girlfriends

 These four girls are great friends.

 These two pretty girls are sisters who live on our street.

Friends are fun!  

Check out all of the colorful details of their outfits 

they picked for themselves, right down to Julia's mismatched socks!  

KATIE LOVES DONNIE!!!!

Katie use to love MIKEY the TMNT most.  

Mikey got loved to death (seriously, his leg fell off).  

 Katie spotted DONNIE, the pillow pet, in ShopKo this spring, and just had to have him.  

 Katie and DONNIE became fast friends.

 Katie takes Donnie with her whenever she can.

 This particular day, it was an extra special treat.

 One Saturday, I told Katie she could take Donnie to school for a BFF photo shoot.

 These two are inseparable.  

 Katie has told me on several occasions, "I want to MARRY DONNIE in the Logan Temple!"

 A stuffed animal as loved as Donnie would be so lucky.

 Too bad this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle can't provide everything for his biggest fan.

 I guess these two will just have to stick with being best buds!

Our Girls Love to Dance

 Last summer, Katie was super lucky to get to take ballet lessons for the first time.  

She sure loved getting all dressed up in her ballet clothes and attending class with a few other girls.  

Although Julia didn't take an official dance class, she was paying close attention to her big sister. 

 I'm sure Julia can't wait for her turn!

Olson Cousins

Last summer in July, our little family drove across Wyoming and down to Colorado to visit Jenny & Seth and their family as well as Aaron & Sarah and their family.  

I took several pictures with my phone, but the only time I whipped out my nice camera was right before we drove back home early one morning.  

 Sarah (6), Katie (6), Emma (4)

 Brian (11), Ben (8), Tyler (8)

Summer 2016