John and Sondra Ward Family

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Happy Wintertime! 2010

Just a few reasons I love this time of year:

Family! We have felt the great joy and love of each of our children and their spouses, most of all - our beautiful, wonderful, magnificent, grand children.

The family pictures are just “pictures of pictures” so not good reproductions, but you get the idea.

Karl’s very unexpected and useful gift to John is a very nice trailer to attach to his quad for hauling things around in the “Poppy Fields”. He (John) immediately got everyone involved loading it into the motor home for his next trip up there. He’s pretty excited about it.

Allow me to share just WHY these grand children are so special to us.

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Watching them with their gingerbread houses in Utah – how creative they can be. Can’t you just feel that satisfaction for a job well done?

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They were pretty creative in California as well. Wow, they made some amazing decorations…with a little help, as you can see.

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Aren’t they beautiful?! And FUN as well. It brings me so much joy to see them having fun. I LOVE these children! (All 34+ of them). The + is for Kevin and Lesa’s little one due in May. I kinda like their parents too. :)

That is why they are all so special to us. They are FUN and fun loving. creative, intelligent, caring, noisy, messy, beautiful, interesting, and they love us as well. So what’s not to love about them?

I love the weather changes. It becomes cooler and even crisp in the evenings and the trees change colors and leaves fall. We might even get a good rainstorm to add to the cozy feeling of our home with all its fall or Christmas decorations
And then there are all the beautiful decorations.

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Some people go to great lengths in their lighting and decorating. I feel like a little kid. Even when I walked into a Target store and saw all the huge snowflakes, I wanted to express my delight.

Karla and I found the above decorations in the new Family History bldg in SLC. They decorated the gargantuan tree with church history paraphernalia.

I love it when perfect strangers wish me “Merry Christmas” which seems more and more NOT politically correct.
I enjoy seeing all the small acts of kindness that seem more prevalent.
I love the Christmas Spirit, which I believe, is the spirit of Christ; a tiny spark within all mankind.
I love seeing the delight when someone opens a gift they are excited about.
I love giving gifts - especially to children, and watching their faces, seeing the happiness a gift brings them.
I love my family and appreciate them even more at this time of year. One, because they make the huge effort to visit and spend time with us; and two, because I know what a big sacrifice that is to travel in poor weather, with small children and lots of traffic. We are richly blessed!

Those are just a few of the things I love about this time of year.

There are only a few things I don’t like, such as: Feeling torn about to whom I will express affection first with so many loved ones around, and only one me: an insecure me at that. Worrying about loved ones feelings, and wanting each one to know they are my favorite – or at the least, very much loved, honored, respected, and cherished. I have prayed diligently to be able to cut out all the excess worry, shopping, fretting about who to give what, etc. It’s made the difference being able to focus more on what’s really important about Christmas; My God and family being on top of the list.

This is the time of year I begin to ponder and pray about my standing with my Heavenly Father and my Savior, and what improvements, changes, or goals need to be set for the coming year. John and I are both doing this and praying together about it as well.

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Because it’s easier to share them this way than emailing them…

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We can’t all be California girls

I posted this on my blog earlier but thought I’d share it here too.I think in my heart I will always be a California girl. Even if I never live there again. When someone asks “Where are you from?” I’ll invariably answer, “Well, originally from Southern California.” Perhaps I have too much salt water in my pores, but nowhere else truly feels like home. Texas has definitely started to grow on me though. I occasionally slip into my lazy southern drawl and who can live here and not help but become a Dallas Cowboys fan (without suffering pain of death)! It shocks me that none of my children were born in California. It helps that my parents still live in the same house I lived in all of my childhood. The same green linoleum lines the guest bathroom, the dark wood-paneled den, the carpeted “office” where I hold dear memories of rocking in the lay-z-boy with my Dad listening to Beethoven. Most of the rest of the house has been updated (I kind of miss the green shag carpet), but going to my parent’s house still feels like going home to me.

As mentioned in a previous post I utilized questionable sanity when deciding to attempt a week’s vacation with my children without my eternal companion. He complained of loneliness but I know for a fact that he saw multiple movies, slept in daily and watched every sporting match available through our measly digital antennae signal. We did get to talk everyday and I was surprised at first that it was Dan who usually called and often kept the conversation going with questions and comments. You have to know him to understand, but Dan’s phone etiquette is passable at best. I realized after not long a common theme at the end of each call. “So where’s my present?” I had started a 12 days of Christmas gift giving before leaving and hid (pretty darn well) most of his gifts. He had to call each day to find out where the next one was. It was fun and good incentive to get him to call.

So apart from a couple crummy flights (which I’ve blocked from my memory now but you can see previous posts to know what I’m referring to) and maybe a day or two of crummy children. Oh, did I say crummy!?! I meant to say crabby! Anywho, it was a fun trip and good opportunity to see family.

Caleb and Abby were both entranced by the singing tree in the front yard. It sang “Jingle Bells” so loud I wanted to deck it’s halls a couple times!The kids get along well with their cousins and there was only one time that Parker came to ask me to play with him. Apparently all the girls were playing dress-up.When Grandpa is available he always makes the best horsey!We spent one lazy afternoon roaming around El Dorado park watching the ducks and other wildlife. Grandpa found some fishing line and rigged up a pole for Parker to fish with. I’m not sure that fish could even live in the murky water of that tepid pond, but he gave it a great effort, even offering up a prayer for fishing help before we left. Caleb and Seth were bosom buddies. My older sister who somehow still looks 20 and her 16 year-old husband.Some cute cousins. The Grandpa we adore. Charlie’s Angels!?!For family night the kids acted out the nativity as Uncle Spencer read from the scriptures. The boys, if you can’t tell, were the kings complete with gifts for the infant Jesus. And we had some angelic little beauties.