Family Pictures 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had heard of a good photographer named Tara Brown...so we decided to ask her to meet with us and go over pricing, her style, etc.  When she arrived at our house and Laura opened the door...she was met with a familiar face!  Back in March, Laura ran her first 10K run for St. Paddy's day.  1/2 through the run at the water station, Laura met this girl that had been running close behind her the whole way.  They decided to run the second half together.  They talked, got to know each other, motivated each other and helped each other get across that finish line!   Low and behold, as Laura opened the door...here was her 10K running buddy!  It's such a small world.  Tara did such a great job with our pictures.  We are excited to have captured our current family moments, but also some of the beauty of Clovis as well. 

 

 

CJ's First Cub Day Camp

CJ attended his first cub day camp this year and had a fabulous time!  It was a "knights" theme that CJ thought was great!  They made dragons, shot guns, shot bows and arrows, whittled, sculpted, played games, and had a great time being boys!   

Tornado or Tomato?

 

Some of our kids have a problem saying their "m"s and "n"s so TORNADO became TOMATO....  Friday, June 6th marked a scary day in the Ward home and in the town of Clovis, New Mexico.  We have had quite a bit of storms lately, so when it started to lightening and thunder....Laura didn't get too worked up about it.  CJ was at cub day camp, Clay was at work, and Laura was at home with the other 3 kiddos.  Well, Laura gets a phone call saying that she needed to come pick up CJ from camp immediately because of the weather, and the parents awards night was cancelled.   As Laura drove to pick up her son, she was a little annoyed that they would cancel the awards ceremony.  As she looked at the sky...yes, it was raining, but there was a crisp line of cloud and then blue skies....surely this storm would pass soon and we would be seeing sunny skies in no time.  (All this is going through her mind as she drives out of town to get CJ).  Then she gets a phone call from Clay..... who is now on his way home.  He asks her where she is...and she says, she is on her way to get CJ.  They cancelled the night because of weather.  Then he asks a weird question, "Laura, do you have your radio on?"  Thinking he is insinuating that the radio is turned up too high and can't hear her, she said, yeah, but I can hear you ok.... Then Clay's next words scared the pants off Laura, "No...Laura.  There is a tornado.  It just touched down a few miles north of base and is heading directly your way.  Go get CJ and GET HOME,NOW.  Don't delay."  Instantly, Laura's attitude changed and she was not on alert and peaked attention to the clouds.  She drove quickly but safely.  Got CJ in record time, asked the kids to watch the skies for funnel clouds/tornados while she drove home.  Laura saw Clay on the side of the road as they got closer to town - he had come looking for them making sure they were safe....what a man.  We all got home just in time.  As we got out of the car and looked up at the sky...clouds were swirling above our house in a circular motion...freaky!  Never seen that before.  Our kids broke down, tears, screams, hysterics...all surfaced and made an appearance!  So, we gathered our little family into the family room, said a family prayer for safety, and then attempted to calm everyone down.  Preston grabbed the scriptures and said that we needed to take them and head into the bathroom, gather in the bathtub, put a matress on our heads and SEEK Shelter!  This kid was hysterical, but right.  At the time, we focused on calming down the kids....but looking back, we realize we did the wrong thing.  We should have listened to Preston and done exactly what he said to do...we should have sought shelter, read scriptures, and stayed safe...to help rectify our wrong decision, we had a special FHE where we read scriptures as a family - all piled in the master bathtub with a crib mattress on top of us!  Yes, we were quite the sight.  Thanks for teaching us so well Preston.  You are one smart boy.

 

There were tornado warnings all through that evening and all through the weekend.  Thankfully we are safe and didn't hear of any more tornados touching down in the area.  That is definitely a weekend we will all remember for a long time to come.   

 

This is SCRATCH

Introducing......drum roll please....SCRATCH!  Our pet. 

 

 

 

When your husband comes home and he prefaces what he is about to say with a "Now, honey, don't get mad, but...." you never know what is coming next.  As Laura braced herself for whatever  Clay was going to say next, she was not ready or expecting his next few words... "I brought home ANOTHER turtle."  Laura was relieved, but at the same time also a little put out....didn't he learn last time?  Obviously, from his use of the word, "Another" turtle, this isn't the first time Clay has brought a turtle home with him.

 

 

The last time was when we were living in Oklahoma.  Preston was a few weeks old, and Clay comes home with a rather large turtle that he had rescued off the side of the road.  It was huge and covered with moss....dirty and gross.  Nothing about this turtle was cute, and it just emanated feelings and thoughts of dirtiness....NOT what Laura wanted around her new born son.  So, the turtle was quickly rejected as a pet and released into the wilds of the Oklahoma ponds and park.

 

So..as Laura heard these words this time, she cringed.... but this New Mexico turtle was different.  It was small, cute, clean, and we don't have a new born baby at home.  All these things lead to the turtle being accepted and adopted into the family.  Her name came quickly and easily as her nails would scratch the kids as they held her...she became SCRATCH overnight. 

 

 

 

 

 

 The thing that really sold Laura on the idea was...our backyard is set up perfectly for her.  Our fence is secure enough that she can have free reign and roam the backyard freely and not get out.  So she has quite a big "cage" to keep herself happy, plus Laura doesn't have to clean a cage, find someone to take care of our pet when we are gone, we do feed her things here and there, but not like feeding an animal several times a day!  It is great!  Every day we go out and have a Scratch hunt....our personal scavenger hunt every day!  We find her burrowed in the dirt by the fence, under leaves by the air conditioning unit, in tall grass, walking along the fence...she has a few favorite places..but she is always out there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scratch even seems to take all the petting and holding well too.  A definite plus in our family!  When you think of turtles, you think of these really slow creatures that move a little distance in a long period of time...oh no...not Scratch.  Boy can she book it!  She is a fast little thing.  She can get across our yard, or away from a child in nothing flat!!!  Detric has also taken to trying to walk/crawl like a turtle!  It sure is fun to have her.  I think we'll keep ya! 

So... I think we bought a ZOO

 

Well, we thought that we bought our first house last Fall...but boy were we wrong....  It started with the snake, then we progressed to snails, then we upgraded when we found 7 frogs in our yard that the kids love (and they love to chase Laura around the yard with them too...and make her squeal.  Laura DOES NOT do frogs...too slimy, too jumpy, ... too toady...I don't know...but she just doesn't do them...and the kids think it is hilarious.  They are so friendly with the frogs/toads...whatever they are.  They play with them, stick them in their hair, put them  up to their neck, face....arghh..  Laura just about dies watching them.  And now, we have graduated to a turtle!  And the turtle is loved by all!  Even, Laura.  Goodness gracious...we do have a ZOO!

 

 

Practicing Underwater Moves

 

Detric and Aparri were practicing their underwater skills while we were at the pool.  It was Detric's first real attempts at going under consistently...and he did amazing!  I think this boy is going to be a swimmer!