Ward Family Photos

I felt so fortunate that my friend Debbie offered to take family photos while we were all together for the holidays. They turned out great! It is so fun to have memories of time spent together as a family. It was so fun to have the Bartrons and our son Ryan home for Christmas and New Years this year!

This was also Nathan's first Christmas and first time in a family photo. No one can ever really tell you how wonderful a grandchild is! What really matters most in life is family and friends.

Christmas 2009

It has been so wonderful having all of our kids home for Christmas! We have gotten to know Nathan so much better by having him and his parents here for 10 days. We have all played games, laughed, and shared and made new memories to sustain us until we can be together again.

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Here is our sad gingerbread house... First the frosting was too thick then we

got the frosting too thin and the candy slid off the roof! It was still fun to

make and fun to eat.

Our Nathan who has brought so much joy to us on

his first Christmas!

Our traditional Savior Supper by candlelight.

Jesse and Kevin on Christmas Eve when we each open one present.

I still make the kids, old or young, line up on the stairs in order of age

before they can go down on Christmas morning!

Here is our son Ryan on Christmas morning.

Heather, Ryan and Nathan

Here is a cute photo of Nathan and Papa!

Our Christmas tree

Here is our Christmas tree - we always have a live tree. In our 27 years of marriage we have never had a fake tree although there have been years I would have liked to have a fake one. I suppose it's because Rick has a BA in Forestry! Every year the kids get a new ornament until they are 18 years old. Ryan's ornaments are Soldiers, Kevin's are Teddy Bears, Jesse's are Snowmen and Leslie has Angels. Heather has Ballerinas, but I gave them to her after she got married. Each child will take them to use in their own homes and I hope it will bring back happy memories of Christmas's as a child at home.

November 2009 was crazy busy!

I had to be at classes for the MHTP (Music for Healing & Transition) program for 4 1/2 days at the first of the month,

in Eugene, Oregon. Normally the classes would have been held in Washington, but there were not enough people here

so I joined the Oregon students for a 4 day camp. I really had no choice because I could not wait another year to take the classes, but it turned out to be a great experience. The bonus was that I was only about 15 minutes away from Heather & and her little family. I got to see them a couple times while I was there. Thank you to Rick and Kevin who held the fort down while I was gone!

Then I had a week to catch up at home before my birthday, Jesse's birthday, and Thanksgiving. That's a lot of cake and pie!! We had fun with Heather, Ryan and Nathan here for Thanksgiving and look forward to everyone being home for Christmas. Blessings to everyone!

My favorite birthday cake with 7 minute frosting

Jesse's 14th Birthday

with his Reese's ice cream cake

Fun with Nathan at 7 1/2 months old

Rick brined & basted our turkey to perfection

Enjoying our Thanksgiving feast

Happy Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

from Lucy the Princess

Popcorn Balls

We made yummy popcorn balls for a Family Home Evening treat last night! We added M&M's, but you can also add chopped nuts, chocolate, butterscotch, or peanut butter chips or even candy corn. If you want them to look like mini pumpkins leave out the extras and dye the mixture orange before you pour it over the popcorn. Then use a piece of black or green licorice for the stem.

Here is the recipe:

4 cups mini marshmellows

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 bags light microwave popcorn

Pop the popcorn and put into a very large bowl or cookie sheet. Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the sugar and marshmellows. Stir constantly so mixture doesn't scorch. Boil for 1 minute. Be ready with buttered hands and buttered forks to toss the popcorn mixture. Pour some of the mixture over the popcorn. Pour on some of the extras and stir. Repeat until all of the mixture and extras are gone. Form into balls and gently press together. This will make about 10 fairly large popcorn balls. Enjoy!

Nathan and more Nathan...

Last weekend we had a nice visit from Heather, Ryan and Nathan.! It was the first time they have visited us here in almost 2 years. It was their first visit since they moved to Oregon last month. Nathan keeps getting cuter and cuter every time we see him. What's a Nana to do?!

Our boy in blue at 5 1/2 months old.

Leslie helping to feed Nathan.

Nana with Nathan - I think he is starting to get used to me.

Papa is always happy to play with Nathan!

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Last month I went to Springfield, Oregon to visit Ryan, Heather and Nathan about 10 days after they moved there from Utah. It was all I could do to not go there the day after they moved there! Here are cute photos of Nathan at 5 months old when I visited them in Oregon.

All decked out!


A cutie with a cutie!


A cute photo of the boys!