I'm a Chicken, are YOU?

Logan came home from school today insisting that he had to make a "say no to drugs" poster to hopefully be nominated to me the Chicken Club representative (chicken stands for cool, honest, intelligent, clear-headed, keen, energetic, and not interested in drugs). So off he went making his poster. He worked so hard at it. And a few days later, he was nominated to be the 1st representative! Way to go Logan!

Here is Logan and Kiki showing off their posters.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yap, 'tis that time of the year again that I turn a year older. On this birthday, and this birthday week, I felt blessed to have the family that I have. I have been sick this past week and Jon was exceptional by been so helpful and picking up all my slack. He worked really hard at making sure I had a nice birthday. It was so cute and thoughtful of him. He had picked up cake, ice cream, whip cream, cherries, and a candle, as well as presents! I was spoiled!

Me in front of a delicious birthday dinner 

(pork tenderloin wrapped in phylo dough with a mustard cream sauce. YUM!)

Jon had a little too much fun with the whip cream!

 Logan even added his very own chocolate mustache!

Swim meet!

 Today Julien and Logan participated in a swim meet. It was Logan's first one. They both did really well. Julien competed in  a 100 freestyle race, 50 breast, 50 butterfly. Logan race in 100 freestyle, 50 breast, and 50 back.

Logan and Julien before the race

 

Kiki loved to watch the boys race, she was cheering them on during all their races.

To celebrate their accomplishments Jon and I took them to Red Robin for some amazing burgers!

Pussy cat, pussy cat where have you been...to the Ward's residence to tempt the queen!

Sunday morning while I was cooking our delicious General Conference brunch, I sent the kids outside to play, and within 5 minutes they were back with a cute, little, cuddly kitten. He was no more then a few weeks old with no collar around his neck. The kids were crazy about him, and to be honest so was I. He was so sweet! I knew we could not keep him for more than one reason, yet realized that we mostly would have to keep him over night since animal shelters are not open on Sundays. Luckily, one of my good friends came over for conference with her son and took the kitten home with her.

MOVE!

Well we finally did it! After years and years and years and years.....yes literally years of living in apartments we FINALLY made the move to a house!
After coming back from my parents "mansion" in UT, Jon and I could not even bare being home in our little 2 bedroom 900 square foot apartment. We were so unhappy, frustrated at the clutter and lack of space. Within about 3 weeks of being home one of Jon's co-workers mentioned that he was moving out of town and wanted to rent his home. So Jon and I jumped on board and within 3 more weeks we were moving in. It is a cute little 1300 square foot, 1950's home with a huge yard.  We just love it! After a few days of being in the house Jon admitted that he didn't realize how much being in such a confined space had made him so unhappy and now he felt like a burden had lifted. No picture yet! But soon!

The move day!
Leave it to us to plan the move day on the only day of the month maybe months of a "flood". Well "flood" might be a slight exaggeration, but when it rains here in Lake Jackson, TX it pours rain. It rains so much that within 2 to 3 minutes of standing outside you are soaked to the bone.
Jon and I had not rented a truck for the move since the weather is always really nice, and we have a truck and had trucks and trailers accessible for us to use.
I woke up to the sound of rain and thunder around 4 am and was sick to my stomach at the idea of all of our stuff getting ruined in the back of pick up trucks, so I started moving things at that time in my Jeep knowing that the weather was suppose to worsen throughout the day. Around 7, Jon broke down and found a moving van for us to rent for 1/2 a day only. The move was successful, our stuff made it to the house relatively dry, but our awesome friends however were soaked! We were so grateful for all those who showed up to help in this horrific weather.

Here is a quick video of our assembly line while getting poured on:

Julien's first Boy Scout campout + adopt a beach clean up!

This weekend was filled with adventure for some of the Wards. Julien's eleven year old scout troop tagged along with Jon's scouts for a 4 mile hike down the beach to their designated camp site. It sounded pretty exhausting since they had to hike down with all their gear under 86 degree weather.

Julien packing up

 

All ready to go!

 

Julien said he had an awesome time. He was the troop's photographer since he now has his own camera (thanks to Jon's parents).  He even found a dead stink ray.

 

 Hiking down!

 

 

Jon and Julien both agreed that it was a lot of fun for the exception of the mosquitoes. They had been eaten alive, especially Jon who slept in a hammock. He had welts all over his body.

The next day Logan, Kiki, and I joined the scouts for an adopt a beach clean up project sponsored by DOW. It was a lot of fun. They had shirts, cloves, trash bags, water, and lunch for everyone who participated. We will be excited to be part of it again next year.

Logan hard at work

Kiki too was picking up trash!

Triathlon!

 

Today Jon rocked at his very first triathlon! Some co-workers at DOW were competing as a team and were missing a swimmer so Jon jumped in to save the day. He did awesome! And I think I managed to talk him into doing another one with me.

Jon showing off his awesome freestyle stroke

 Jon and his team

We celebrated Jon's accomplishment with Kolaches!