Merry Christmas to All!

Wow, it's been a looooooooong time since we posted anything here. Well, maybe I will be better at posting more next year.  Love, the Wards

Their First Batch

I have heard of other mothers letting their kids make cookies all by themselves and I just couldn't get my mind passed all of the potential mistakes, messes, fighting, and danger to let myself allow it. But, I finally did. I let them make cookies all by themselves. They did a good job. Only one temper tantrum (by me). I then decided to leave the room and let them handle things themselves. Success! Yummy cookies and happy girls! After Mally tried her first cookie she said with a proud smile, "they even taste like real cookies." Good job girls. Here's to many more batches. 

His Name in Lights!

Stephen's dream came true on Saturday at the family screening of Turbo. His name appeared in the movie credits. This is the first of hopefully many movie credits to add Stephen J. Ward to their list of contributors. It was a proud moment for us. 

A photo of the credit screen as his name scrolled by. 

It's a fun action packed film. Kids will love it. I loved how life like some of the car and racing scenes looked. Very cool graphics. Sadly, my baby was too wiggly for it and I spent much of the time in the hall trying to catch her from crawling away. I would have much rather been watching a snail zooming away. 

Kid + iPhone =

Below is a sampling of what you might get when your kid steals your iPhone. This clip has over 100 photos she took of herself. Enjoy seeing Eva in action. 

And It's Off

  Eva only had to have her cast on for 3 weeks, thank goodness. It was a stinky 3 weeks. It's so hard for kids to keep casts dry and clean. When they removed the casted they asked if we would want to keep it. No! Gross! I thought. Why would I want that stinky thing?

   Throughout this whole broken arm experience she has been a really good sport. She was excited about getting her cast off until they began cutting it off. She got really scared. She told me after in tears that she thought she was going to die. I felt bad. She was very brave. 

Living Among the Dead

There is nothing like being among the dead to make you appreciate your life and birthday. We spent my birthday at the Golden Gate National Cemetery doing a Mormon Helping Hands service project. We cleaned rows and rows and rows of headstones. Some dating back to the Spanish American Ward, or as Stephen liked to say, the "SPAM war." Here are the pics:

The Birthday Fairy visited me in the night. See the "34?"

The happy cleaners. 

The "SPAM War." Too bad we lost that war. SPAM needed to be stopped. 

She found a person with her same birthday and the same birthday and year as Grandpa Ward. 

Even with just one good arm she was still my best worker. 

I have a great respect for the people buried at the National Cemetery.  I could feel that it is hallowed ground. It was a honor to give a bit of service to those who gave the ultimate price for our nation and freedom.

Lucy on the Loose

 I have had a request (from Sarah) to add Lucy pictures. So Sarah, here you go.

The happy crawler.

Look closely and you can see her first tooth. 

Lucy is 10 months old and today she crawled for the frist time. She as been able to scoot backwards for a week or so, but now she is actually crawling in the right direction. I don't know if I should be happy or concerned. I have to admit, it has been nice to be able to set her down and know that she wasn't going anywhere or getting into anything.