Christmas 2009

6:30 AM Christmas morning with Lucy, Liberty, Chas, Emma, Katie, Matt and Shelby standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting to see what Santa had left for them.

Flash! We had a very special guest the night before at this years Christmas Eve festivities and as you can see he was well received!

Dave, Lana, Shelby, Matt and Liberty

Great Grandma & Santa

The Avery's

Mike, Laura and a Utah fan.

Grandpa and Grandma and a smiling Santa.

Santa enjoyeed the kids most of all ... especially the true belivers!

Favorite Thinking Spot

I spent yesterday afternoon at my favorite thinking spot in DC - the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Clay was having a particularly hard day yesterday because he learned that he will not be able to come home for Christmas. He was sitting in his room at Camp Pendelton bored and frustrated and in an effort to distract him I took pictures of some of my favorite exhibits and sent them to him and we "talked" over text about each one. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the pictures. My favorite painting in SAAM is Thomas Moran's HUGE HUGE HUGE painting of the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone (above and for more info http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/index.php?s=saam)

Enjoy.

This is the hall where the Lincoln Inagural Ball took place - the tile is so beautiful!

Modern art hall ..... the sounds and images on the TV are from the 1960's and 1970's ... it's a young Korean artists interpretation of what it felt like to see our great big country from the interstate highway.

ommmmm. The Atrium - it's 20 degrees outside, but if you know where to go you can sit in this garden any time of year.

another view of the atrium

Snowshoeing the volcano!

We had Kristie come up to Washington so she could take pictures of our family snowshoeing on Mt Rainier.  We realized after we got back that there wasn’t a single picture of Kristie on our trip.  We had another fantastic day on the mountain even though the weather ranged from mostly poor to downright bad.  Even though the weather wasn’t great the mountain was quiet and peaceful with a few inches of new snow on top of a hard snowpack.  We ended up covering about 1.5 miles before we stopped to rest in a cove of trees and never got going again.  The kids had a ball playing in the snow for the hour we rested and then we headed back to the car and a little bit of sledding before it got dark.

We didn’t build this snowman but took a picture anyway.

Lucy spent most of the day wrapped up and being carried by her mom.  She did peek out for this picture though.

A group picture without Kristie.

The kids playing in the snow.

This picture is taken post snowshoe trip.  We found a snowsuit for Lucy and it was so cute that we had to try it on her.  This will enable her to get down and crawl around in the snow the next time we go!

I was quite excited when the plane rose out of the clouds and into the bright sunlight that there was the peak of a mountain far off in the distance (probably Mt. Baker). I looked ahead to see if Mt. Rainier might possibly be visible as well. I caught a glimpse and then videoed it coming into view. It was quite breathtaking and it seemed like the pilot kept it in our view for as long as possible.

It was especially amazing to see the caldera because it is something that looks like it would be impossible to see from the ground.

Rainier receding into the landscape.

Grandma's new address

We moved grandma into assisted living today. Her place looks really nice and she is pretty excited about it. Her address is:

Marjorie Ward
Mountain Ridge Assisted Living
1885 E Skyline Rd.
Apt # 119
South Ogden, UT 84403

Life on the farm is kind of laid back

We done went and bought a farm. Or maybe a ranch I am not sure. It has 14 acres a small brook that runs by the side of it. A few pine trees and lots of grass. 10 acres are fenced so we can have a cow or 3. It has a chicken coop, barn, shop, a small house that needs lots of work and even an outhouse. It is 60 miles north of Spokane, and 15 miles from lake Roosevelt. For the short term we will be cleaning it up so we can spent more time there. Everyone is welcome to stop by and stay a spell, it will just be more like camping than living in a house for awhile.

View from the pasture


The small brook
The garage that when we get it open we will put our boat in.

The barn and the chicken coop

Fall in Spokane

What would fall be without a child in the leafs? Soon will be white we can see snow on the top Mt Spokane now

Congrats Chas

Chas was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on October 10th.  We were lucky enough to have Mom and Dad, David and Lana, Ben and Amelia Harris at the Baptism.  The hot water wasn’t working at the church that day.  We poured boiling water into the font before the service but it didn’t warm it up much.  The day before Chas caught his first salmon with his Grandpa and dad.  He won’t forget either the salmon or his baptism!  I’m not sure if the water was much warmer at the baptism that it was for the Salmon but we were happy none the less.  We are proud of Chas and glad he is part of our family.

Lucy La

This one's for you Auntie Kristie!

Bonneville Shoreline trail - mountain bike ride

We took a wrong turn uphill, onto "Brutal Hill" as it turns out. I noticed quite early that we were off of the GPS track I had uploaded to my GPSr but we kept going. From this I learned, the moment that you realize that you are going the wrong way, turn around!!! It was way too steep to ride up and practically too steep to ride down.

Elevation profile of the ride. Brutal Hill is the first, insanely large spike.

A tiny bit of color left in the hills. The view of the colors in the valley however was wonderful, especially when the light hit it just right.Once we were on the right hill the riding was fabulous. I'd like to go back and enjoy the trail on a day when my legs are not jello from hiking a steep hill.

MaKayla address

MaKayla was dropped off at the MTC yesterday, things have changed from when Logan left, so after lunch yesterday we said goodbye to her and off she went to the MTC. Below is her address in the MTC, she will be there for 2 months.

MaKayla's email address is sistermward@myldsmail.net

Dear family of MaKayla Ward,

We are pleased to inform you that your missionary has been safely checked in at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. We thank you for supporting your missionary and know that your family will be blessed as a result.

Your missionary's mailing address while at the MTC is:
MaKayla Ward
MTC Mailbox # 210
PHI-QUE 0107
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Please note the following items:

1. Your missionary's service began today. Please do not arrange or request visits with your missionary, including meetings at the temple or in proximity to the MTC.

2. All missionary mail must come through the US Mail or commercial delivery services. Hand delivered items will NOT be accepted. Do not send pizzas, fast foods, ice-cream, or any items that will spoil if they are not refrigerated within 24 hours. Missionaries are not called out of class to receive packages, nor do they have access to a refrigerator.

3. Communicate with your missionary weekly through letters sent to the above address or through the email account that the missionary will set up within the first two weeks. This account is to be used by immediate family only. Telephone calls for missionaries cannot be accepted. Your missionary will correspond with you on his/her first preparation day.

4. Families and friends should not plan to visit missionaries departing to their field of labor at the airport or MTC.

Should you need to communicate with the MTC call 801-422-2602. Do not reply to this email.

Sincerely,

Provo MTC Presidency

Cold and Clamming

Okay so it wasn't very cold. Just windy! We had tons of fun clamming on Saturday! We dug 49 clams, well Dan dug 49 clams. The rest of us were "Spotters" and "Dirt Kickers". Lucy and I were there even though the camera ran out of battery before wecould be documented.

Happy Birthday big sis

Happy birthday to my big sister that is turning 40 something today. I hope you have a great day and dont add any hotsauce to milk, it does not improve it at all!

Morning on Silver Lake

I went to Silver Lake the other morning and the edges of the lake had a thin layer of ice on them. As we approached there was a moose eating at the edge of the lake. We kept our distance but and were very happy when she started going toward the water. We got to watch her walk through the water and were very delighted when we could hear the ice cracking as she took each step. There is a video with that at the end. While we were standing on a pier in the lake a duck flew right next to us. It was so funny to watch it slowly sink into the water until it had finally created a little pond in the ice.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of a cold Fall day.

Ice on the lake

We saw a lot of these tracks on the walkway.

Happy Birthday Chas Man!

Chas turned 8 on Friday.  It was a great birthday and he had lots of fun.  It almost killed him to sleep in until 7:00 on his birthday.  Chas is always a go getter and loves to get going.  He woke up and wanted to open his presents.  We compromised and let him open some of them.  He already has his cub scout vest that grandma sent on and his having fun on his birthday morning.

We invited a few of Chas’ friends over after school for a surprise birthday party.  Here is the look on his face when he walked in for his surprise.

And here is Chas blowing out his candles on his cupcakes.  As with everything he does it was done with great enthusiasm and excitement.

Chas is a great kid and we are lucky to have him in our family.

Happy birthday Chester!

Christmas

Lana sent this onto me and asked me to forward it to everyone else.  Here is the 411 on who is giving to whom on Christmas. :)  I want 40 quarts of Tomatoes Mike!!!

David          gives to         Mike
Deborah       gives to         Charlie
Mike            gives to         Dan
Charlie         gives to          Kristi
Dan             gives to          David
Kristi            gives to         Deborah

I love it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70xGUxznYY&feature=player_embedded

Dan’s Birthday Surprise!

Dan has been very busy traveling lately but he took time for a short break to celebrate his 36th birthday.  It was a busy Saturday with 2 soccer games and a volleyball clinic,  but luckily, our last soccer game was in Gig Harbor just across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.  The kids and I surprised Dan by continuing on to a campground near the Hood Canal for some boating and relaxing; followed by a steak dinner and angel food cake(undropped) by the campfire. 

     As usual, Dan does all the work when we go canoeing! Paddleboats are fun too! Lucy and I played on the dock. Sorry, I couldn’t pick just one photo of Lucy LaRee. It was all fun and smiles until Lucy realized all her people were leaving her on the dock.Dan had to open his presents by the light of the car’s headlights. The kids shamelessly begged for some of their Dad’s Jelly Bellys.  He shared, of course. The stars were out and the marsh mellows were yummy.  But most importantly, a very awesome man was celebrated by his family.  Some of the things the kids said that they love about their Dad are: 

“that he works hard for us so we can have the things we have and live the way we live”-Emma,

“that he takes time to do fun stuff, like camping, with all of us”-Chas,

“that he loves each of us so much”,-Katie. 

Dan is a giving and loving person who always thinks of the kids and I before himself.  Happy Birthday Danny!  You’re the best!!!!