You have 10 dollars at a convenience store, what do you buy?Charlie: Diet Dr. Pepper, Chocolate Donut and Doritos Cool Ranch.
Kristi: Crumb doughnuts, a Reese's peanut butter cup, wheat thins, sunflower seeds, maybe an egg salad sandwich.
Mike: If its a Maverick station, I would get a hoagie with a large drink, and a large cookie plus 6.80 worth of gas, if its not, then just the gas, those places are too expensive for me to get anything else.
Dan: Not sure. Probably a snack for the kids and a soft drink for me. If I spent 10 dollars though I would be miffed.
Dave: I would take the 10 dollars to Costco so I could get a hot dog and a root beer I would save the other $8.50
Crystal:$9.00 of gas and a Diet Cherry Coke
If you were reincarnated as a sea creature, what would you want to be?Kristi: Not a lobster! Hum ... probably something like a dolphin that is very agile and seems to enjoy being in the ocean.
Crystal:It would be fun to be a scary shark and go around to beaches and watch everyone scream!Evil, I know.
Dan: A dolphin. They look happy. Who wouldn’t want to swim and jump in the waves.
Dave: An Orca eating tasty Salmon
Mike: eastern pacific killer whale, swimming in US and MEX waters along ways from Japan.
Charlie: Dolphins have more fun.
Do you have a hero? Who?Charlie: Dad
Kristi: Lots! People who opt for hard work vs ease and make a difference in the world.
Crystal: Emma
Dan: Yes, My Dad.
Dave: Everyone who has served their country with honor
Mike: Spidy, who else is there
Last book you read?Charlie: From Mom's library in bountiful "The Mist of Quarry Harbor". Pretty good, read it in a day.
Kristi: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Crystal:I'll be Seeing You. Thanks to LaRee's Traveling Library
Dan: Flying through Midnight. Before that it was Flags of our fathers. I’m on a war history kick right now.
Dave: If you leaved here I would know your name
Mike: I listen to more then I read, so the last one I listen to was Critical by Robin Cook
Describe the last time you were injured.Mike: Stepped on a piece of broken glass, I had to dig it out myself....lots of fun.
Crystal: Degenerative disk disease hmmm... last episode 3 weeks ago.
Kristi: I have had a lot of pain working in my current job ... I feel like I am squishing my joints right together from long hours of standing on hard floors.
Charlie: I twisted my back working for Oldcastle. On my knees in a crouching position in a steel rack 4 feet off the ground. I was lifting and twisting a 68 lb retaining wall block. It's mostly better 5 years later... but every once in a while OUCH!
Dan: I sprained my stomach. It is still swollen.
Dave: Last year cross-country skiing I was going pretty good and somehow landed on my thumb it still hurts some almost a year latter.
Of all your friends, who would you want to be stuck in a well with?Charlie: My friend Scott, because he always makes me laugh and is pretty darn smart. I think he'd keep me calm and figure a way out.
Kristi: Hum, probably Julie Goo ... because she would think that it was the most fun thing that she had ever done, or she would start singing, or she would start talking about the meaning of life ... well, she would make the best of it and I would too and then it wouldn't be so bad to be stuck in a well (well except for the toxic gasses -- eek).
Crystal:Denise, because she would still laugh at all my jokes.
Dan: I can’t imagine being stuck in a well with anyone.
Dave: All of my friends are smart enough not to get stuck in a well
Mike: I don't want to be stuck in a whale, I will leave that to Johna.
Rock concert, symphony or high school musical?Charlie: Symphony for me.
Kristi: I love to go to the symphony and sit where I can see the musicians playing their instruments. I also love high school plays, although I seldom make it to them =) I have had mixed experiences with rock concerts.
Crystal:Well, only one of those 3 are affordable so...
Dan: If Oingo Boingo was playing, the concert. Otherwise a musical.
Dave: High School Musical I love seeing kids doing good.
Mike: Well, can I just stay home? I would guess symphony as I donut like noisy crowds. I have only been to two rock/country concerts in my life so maybe I don't really know.
What is the wallpaper on your computer?Charlie: Victoria
Kristi:it is a picture that I took Saturday of some engravings off of a canon in Bangor.
Crystal:My family in front of the IF Temple Reflecting on the river at night..
Dan: Blank black background. Pictures are for hanging on the wall.
Dave: it’s a sunset taken from a cruise we took
Mike: Dan's modified picture of the Tetons that looks like a painting.
If you could only use one form of transportation what would it be?Crystal: Minivan all the way.
Dan: Downhill skis
Dave: Bike but it would be hard to see all of you
Charlie: A flying Unicorn
Mike: Helicopter, as it can take me places I really enjoy in the back country.
Kristi: Hum ... this is a hard one. I would hate to not be able to bike. I need a car to go long distances. And I need planes to go even further. I want it all!
What’s your favorite kind of cake?Dave: Angel Food, is there any other kind
Mike: Angle Food (home made only, none of that store bought crap)
Dan: Homemade angel food.
Charlie: Chocolate
Crystal: Chocolate
Kristi: German Chocolate
What did you have for dinner last night?Charlie: Italian Pannini's. I had egg, basil and sun dried tomatos, Breck had Chicken.
Kristi: Margarita Pizza
Crystal:Baked Ziti, garlic bread, salad, Pumpkin Cake
Dan: Can’t remember. I’m going out for Italian soon.
Dave: Meatloaf
Mike: Taco soup, very good, I wish I had some right now.
Look to your left, what do you see?Charlie: A really tacky painting my boss thinks is an investment, but it's ugly and looks like it's from Tijuana.
Kristi: My printer, phone, stapler, empty water glass, Cd's, wall, door, two bath towels.
Crystal:Emma's Land form Project, Salt Dough is forever.
Dan: A picture in my hotel room.
Dave: Certificate of achievement from JA and a pile of work to do
Mike: (a picture of) The Country Club Plaza in KC MO
Close your eyes, what do you see?Charlie: The rocky coast of Maine.
Kristi: Just two shades of darkness
Crystal:My eyelids
Dan: Glorious darkness
Dave: Not a thing
Mike: Dark
Favorite toy as a child?Charlie: Probably Debby's Easy Bake Oven.
Kristi: Mud!
Crystal:Don't remember.
Dan: Snow.
Dave: Tinny Town or the Ping-pong table
Mike: Basketball stand, took it to show and tell in kindergarten and carried it all the way home without the help of older siblings......
Do you buy your own groceries?Kristi: Yes
Charlie: Not very often, mostly Breck does our shopping.
Crystal:yeah, alot of them.
Dan: Sometimes but crystal doesn’t like it when I do. I always come home with extra stuff.
Dave: Yes
Mike: a few, Laura takes care of most of them.
Do you think people talk about you behind your back?Kristi: Some
Charlie: They better! I work too hard not to be noticed!
Crystal:Of course.
Dan: Maybe.
Dave: Some
Mike: Oh I know they do, I bug rooms so I know what they are saying. (I just heard you laugh)
When was the last time you laughed REALLY HARD? What was so funny?Kristi: When I was doing cartwheels at the Paul Bunyan statue and when I was watching Freaky Friday
Crystal:Everyday with Danny!
Dan: I can’t remember.
Mike: I don't remember, but Laura was with me and did not find it all the funny.
Charlie: Dad's Birthday Party. What was so funny? Grandma said or did something, and i can't remember what it was but it tickled my funny bone pretty good.
What’s your favorite fruit?Kristi: Hum ... probably lime
Crystal:Pears
Dan: A mango from the Philippines. There is no comparison.
Mike: a Very good pare fresh from a tree, not Wal-Mart.
Charlie: Breck (tee he)
Do you have a picture of yourself doing a cartwheel?Kristi:LOL!!!!! Yes, quite a few! (did you make this one up Charlie?)
Mike: I have one with my sister and her Man-friend Paul.
Crystal:Cartwheel, no. Snow angel, yes.
Dan: no
Charlie: I don't but I bet/hope mom does from when I was young. (BTW... I didn't make this one up Kate, it was from a friend).
Dave: Maybe someone called the other day and said that if I did not send them $500 they would publish the photos. That could be the photo they were talking about
Do you like running long distances?Dan: I love to run. It is a great feeling.
Crystal:No
Dave: No
Mike: nope, not really
Kristi:Nope, but I do like long drives and short long bike rides, and short long hikes.
Charlie: Only when I'm chasing an Ice Cream Truck (except in Baltimore because deb shoots at her local Ice Cream man).
Have you ever eaten snow?Dan Yup.
Dave: Yes I melt it and make hot coco every year.
Mike: yes
Charlie: I have, and I've had my face washed in it too by David Dog when we were kids. Not very nice I know.
Crystal:Many times, some not on purpose.
Kristi: Yes, lots of times ... one time my roommate and I went out around midnight to play in the new snow and we ate the snow right off of the tree branches ... we laughed because we thought that we looked like deer.
What’s your favorite flower?Charlie: for the smell, I love the Syringa (Philadelphus lewisii)which also happens to be the Idaho State Flower.
Crystal:Carnations or Lilacs
Kristi: Hum ... I guess I would have to say pansy for obvious reasons ... but I also like the flowers on vegetable plants because of what I know will soon follow!
Dan: The one I’m taking a picture of.
Dave: Not really a flower but Indian paint brush
Mike: Little purple pansies, touched with yellow gold, growing in one corner of the garden old; we are very tiny but we must try, try, try just one spot to gladden, you and I. In whatever corner we may chance to grow, whether cold or warm, the wind may ever blow, dark the day or the sunny, we must try try try Just one spot to gladden, you and I.
If you had to perform in public would you prefer to dance or sing?Crystal:Neither and you wouldn't want me too!
Kristi: I can't do either ... but I would have more fun dancing.
Dan: Sing but never alone. If I ever had to sing in public by myself I would puke.
Charlie: BOTH!
Dave:Sing
Mike: faint
What is the 1st TV Theme song that pops in your head?Dave:It’s Garry Shandling’s Show
Mike: From MASH.
Crystal:Believe it or not, I'm walkin' on air, I never thought I could feel so free ee ee.(American Hero rocked!)
Kristi:Do do do do do do do do do do ... I can't think of the name
Dan: TV Shows have theme music? I guess the sportscenter music
Charlie: The Love Boat, soon will be making another run. The love boat promises something for every one. Climb aboard for adventure or find you a new romance. It's LOVE. Welcome aboard it's La - A - Ah-vAH!
Do you watch Sponge Bob Square Pants?Crystal:Not if I can help it.
Kristi: Sometimes ... but not as much as mom thinks I do =)
Dan: NO. To silly.
Dave:Yes it’s on often at my house
Mike: Nope
Charlie: Only when i'm home sick preferably hallucinating with a high fever.
Do people consider you smart? Do you?Charlie: That's a dumb question.
Crystal:Smart Alec, maybe I do.
Kristi: Usually. But sometimes people think that I am quite dull because I am being absolutely hilarious with my dry sense of humor!
Dan: I have never asked them. I feel like I’m equal to the task
Dave:Yes Smart People consider me Smart
Mike: the dumber ones do. I do some days
Have you ever tried gluing your fingers together?Crystal:Yes.
Charlie: Yes, and it worked.
Mike: Who hasn't done that?
Dave:No
Dan: Not on purpose. It has happened though.
Kristi: No, but when I was a kid we would put Elmer's glue on our hands, let it dry, and then pull it off. It looked like skin! Pretty cool stuff to play with!
Do you have an iPod? If so, on your play counter, what song have you
listened to the most times?Dave: The winner takes it all by ABBA it is the most brutally honest song ever recorded.
Crystal:No
Dan: No IPOD
Kristi: Simple Gifts by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with Simple Gifts on my Christmas in Maine CD a close second!
Mike: I have one that was dropped, no longer works
Charlie Yes. Heaven, by Annie Lennox 1,042 plays. I listen to it every time I do my yoga/stretches. I need a new song.
Your family?Crystal:How long have you got?????
Kristi: I love them!
Dan: They are the most precious thing in the world.
Dave:I have a great family
Mike: love them and look forward to seeing them.
Charlie I love everybody, and I'm still the tallest.
What time do you go to bed?Crystal:11:30
Kristi: I try to go to bed around 9:30 (here that feel like midnight)
Dan: 11:30 – 12:00
Dave:11:00 PM
Mike: around 11
Charlie Usually before dawn
What is your favorite salad dressing?Charlie Blue
Kristi: Blue Cheese
Dave: Blue Cheese
Dan: Blue cheese. Hard to find good blue cheese though.
Mike: Blue cheese followed by Roquefort. (yes I know its the same thing)
Crystal:Blue Cheese(which I first tried at my first dinner at the WARDS!)
What do you want for Christmas this year?Crystal:Healthy family and RAIN.
Kristi: The new Alisson Kraus CD
Dave: Cell Phone Jammer
Dan: To not overspend.
Charlie World Peace.
Mike: Is it too late to ask for another little brother?
What family member/friend lives the farthest from you? How many miles away are they? Where are they? Crystal: WA Wards Spokane
Kristi: 3354.56 miles, Dad in AZ and Dave et al in WA
Dan: David, Spokane WA 2417 miles
Dave: Hard to say we seem to move a lot
Mike: I would guess its Kristy living up east at the moment. 2670.69 miles away
Charlie: I had to look this up... I thought it was my brother Dan in Georgia (1568miles away) but actually it's my sister Kate who is 2210 miles away in Bar Harbor, Maine. I figured this out at http://www.geobytes.com/CityDistanceTool.htm
Do people often mispronounce any part of your name? How do they say it?Dan: The people in India who take my support calls can never spell ward right. After I spell it they can’t pronounce it.
Dave: No
Mike: Word, Wart
Charlie: Rarely. Sometimes to be funny I'll call myself ChaaLEEEE WAAAAwDA.
Crystal:No, but they always ask how to spell Crystal, which is so weird.
Kristi: People often call me all kinds of derivations of Kristi (e.g. Kirsten, Kristen, etc)
Do you like hugs? Who was the last person you hugged?Charlie: More than air. One of my clients.
Crystal:Yep, Dan.
Kristi: I do like hugs Hum ... probably one of my patients when they were all done with therapy.
Dan: I love hugs. I hugged all the kids stuffed animals before I left for the week. Each animal gets a kiss, hug and smack for each day I am gone.
Dave: Somewhat. Lana or Liberty
Mike: yes and Laura Lee
What is the most important thing you've learned in your life?Dan: The harder you work the happier you are.
Crystal:Most important, I don't know but most recently; You can really tell how much you love someone by how bad it hurts when they hurt!
Kristi: Ha! I've learned too many important things ... hum ... probably that negativity kills the person who is feeling it not the things or people that they are feeling it towards.
Dave: An object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by some other force. When you are on a bike or skis or motorcycle or a Skateboard and you fall. That other force will be the ground and friction and hitting the ground at high speed hurts and runs up the medical bills.
Charlie: To not be too serious and let things slide that I have little or no control of. Oh... and if someone doesn't like me, it's their loss not mine.
Mike: Not to start answering these things unless you have a lot of time to do it.
The herd of Bison as Matthew is getting ready to shoot.
Matthew standing in the middle of the herd. That Bison standing behind Matthew is about 3 feet away and weighs about 800 pounds we are hopping she stays where she is. This is the scariest point, if the herd was to run towards us we could not stop them and we could not move out of the way.
Soccer Season Ended on saturday for us. Both Katie and Chas have come a long ways this fall and we are really happy with their progression. They have worked really hard and have not missed a practice. Emma has been a saint going to many practices and games cheering her brother and sister on. She got to ride the golf cart this season because of her casts. She has been trying to sneak onto that cart for the last three years. That might have been the highlight of the season for her! I got a lucky picture of Chas winding up to nail a ball. Chas' first word was 'ball' and he hasn't thought of much else since. He lives for soccer and practices voluntarily an extra two days a week with another team because he likes to play so much.
I went to Bangor today. I have been several times to go shopping but today I went to be a tourist. A must see in Bangor is the Paul Bunyan statue. Maine (as well as Minnesota) claims itself as the birthplace of Paul Bunyan. I guess I was feeling especially energetic today (being that I was sick and immobile much of yesterday) and I decided to do cartwheels in my pictures with the statue rather than just standing or sitting there. I was cracking up as I was doing it. With most of the cartwheels I did, I ended up falling on the ground rather than on my feet because I was concentrating on getting a good picture and that just made the whole thing even more humorous to me. 
