Sledding, Snoring & Casualties

There is a perfect sledding hill right down the street from our house...so when it snowed, we headed for the hill!!! We spent several days going up and down that hill, having a blast!!

We had a casualty on the slopes... it was the orange sled... unfortunately it wasn't strong enough to withstand Clayboys tough buns!!  As he was sledding down the hill...it cracked and popped out, right where his bum was planted.....good thing there weren't any sharp rocks underneath!!!  Now that is one tough bum!

Erica had sooo much fun in the snow!!! She went sledding down the hill...over and over again!  We wore the little lady out!  She fell asleep in the sled on the way home!  It was so cute - this little blue ball of snowsuit snoring  in the sled!  When we got home, we transferred Erica to the floor so we could take off all the snow gear and get her in her bed...she didn't even stir...she stayed asleep through the whole process!!!

Fresh Snow and Frozen Feet

We woke up Christmas morning to SNOW!!! It is a white Christmas, YIPEE!!! To start the day off right Laura decided to share the "run around the outside of the house BAREFOOT in the fresh snow" tradition with the family (and to motivate them, no presents could be opened until everyone did it!)....some people thought it was great fun...others were ready to swear and curse Laura for the idea... Clay made it all around the house carrying Erica, but not very happy with the whole thing.  CJ made it around no problem- Laughing and cold feet, Detric made it 1/2 way around the house and then started crying and demanded Laura take him back, Laura then grabbed Preston and the 2 of them set off around the house where they tried to do it together, but Laura was a whole lot slower than Preston.  Preston just nailed it.  Laura was trying not to slip and kill herself down the hill in the process!   I'm not sure if Aparri took the challenge or not....hmmm, it's all a blurr!!!  In the end, some were laughing, some were crying, some people's feet were hurting, but it was all done in the  name of tradition!!! Memories!!! ( It definitely was memorable!! )  **We all took a moment to thaw out our frozen feet by the fire!  

Santa brought each member of the Ward family a NERF GUN for Christmas...  let the nerf wars (or Nerf Wards...haha) commence!  So...watch out..or  put your goggles on, grab a gun and come on over and join in the fun!

Clay and Laura made family t-shirts!  They turned out great and everyone loves their shirts!

Cinnamon Rolls just got a little sweeter

We thought it would be a neat family experience to make homemade cinnamon rolls and bring them to a shelter on Christmas Day.  (We invited the Sister Missionaries to join our family on our adventure.)  As Christmas quickly approached, Clay and Laura thought about the shelter and the families that were there and tried to decide what else we could do for them in addition to the homemade cinnamon rolls.  So we got out a large polka dot bag, and said, "KIDS, Let's fill this bag with toys!"  So we went around the house and every kid found things to donate.  We gave dolls, cars, action figures, masks, puzzles, games, books, etc.  - it didn't take us long to fill up this large bag until it was overflowing!  Clay and Laura were so pleased with the generosity of the kids. 

On Christmas Eve, everyone helped make lots and lots of cinnamon rolls...boy did our house smell yummy!!!  The kids did a lot of the work and the cinnamon rolls turned out perfect!!!

  

On Christmas Day, we got to the shelter at 1:00pm with 70+ cinnamon rolls and a bag full of toys.  We dropped off the cinnamon rolls in the eating area and then placed all the toys and other goodies on a table. It was neat to see the kids that were at the shelter come up to the table and look at the items and be grateful for our donations.

This was definitely a Christmas Experience we will all remember.

Non-fancy cozy soft PJs

It was Laura's turn for PJ duty.  She picked out soft thermals from Costco...these are the best...they are soft, warm, and cozy..and they can double as PJs, undersnow pants attire, skiing clothes, leggings, attire for snow camps, etc.  They might not be the fanciest of PJs but everyone was happy and they sure are useful! 

** It is a fight to get everyone to take a picture (I'll spare you the details on how many retakes we had to do to get everyone looking and smiling)...however, when we say silly picture...we have no problems at all, we got it in one shot...gee what does that say about us??  

Keeping traditions alive

Since the making of dozens of cinnamon rolls for the shelter consumed most of Christmas Eve, Laura was ready to forego the traditional family nativity...unthinkable, I know...but that's where she was at.  Thankfully Clay didn't let the tradition die.  Clay took charge and got everyone casted and costumed while Laura finished up things in the kitchen.  Aparri was a beautiful Mary, Detric was a  thoughtful Joseph, Preston was a careful donkey who carried Mary and assisted the angel, Clay was an obedient innkeeper,  Laura and CJ were shocked shepherds, Erica was a glorious angel,  CJ was doubled casted as the lone and all wise wiseman (maybe wiseguy is more appropriate)... it probably wasn't the most reverent nativities (let me correct that...I know it wasn't the most reverent nativities) there was a lot of laughter and silliness, but we did it.  Well done Claywardcrew.

Sister Missionaries Meet Ralphie

We invited the Sister Missionaries to come over on Christmas Eve and make cinnamon rolls with us and then come with us on Christmas and deliver them to the shelter.  We thought we would have them all Christmas Eve, so we got them Christmas PJs too...but they were able  to come by for just an hour to help with cinnamon rolls and then they had to leave because they had other appointments and meeting, but we still wanted to share our PJ Christmas tradition with them so we asked them to come back on their way home !  So at 8pm they came and opened their polka dot Christmas jammies and took some Christmas morning cinnamon rolls for them to eat.  The sisters mentioned they were feeling a little homesick around the holidays...they even mentioned that back home they have the same Christmas jammies tradition and so this gift made their day!!!   We were glad we could spread a little bit of Christmas Cheer.  HOHOHO

Christmas Eve fun

A gift for Laura...Christmas Eve Pictures

Laura loves to take a family picture the Sunday before Christmas...this year it was Christmas Eve.  It was snowy and cold, but everyone was a good sport!  Thanks family for giving mom her annual picture gift again this year....

Merry Christmas from the Wards

The Eve of Christmas Eve

We spent the Eve of Christmas Eve all bundled up looking at Christmas Lights!  It was cold, but fun to see all the lights and experience the magic of Christmas.