Tigers Game and Red Bull Air show

We finally got to go to a Detroit Tigers baseball game! We took the whole family and it was so much fun! We have been trying to go to one since we moved here six years ago. I am so glad we finally went.
Estee didn't really sit still the entire game, but it worked out fine because we had these amazing seats with tons room to walk around--she could just wander amongst the other 5 of us.
Paws the Detroit Tigers Mascot gave Estee some personal attention and she liked it, but it kind of scared her too :)

I love these handsome boys!!
There was girl who kept coming and checking on us to see if we needed anything, and Jake finally talked us into letting him get some nachos from her (we went to dinner before the game) and he thought he was pretty hot stuff as he got his nachos delivered to him! He loved them! Gross pasteurized nacho cheese and all. Before the night was through we had all gotten drinks, cotton candy for the kids, and bumpy cake for me! Yum!

When Estee was really needing a break from baseball, we went to find something else to do and look what we found! Right in the stadium, right by our seats--a tiger carousel! Jake almost thought he was too old for this, but he is a HUGE fan of tigers so he couldn't resist! Abby just loved going on this with Estee, she is such a great big sister.


Estee is giving me the look that Abby gives me all the time! Mini scowl! I think I told her I was going to take that cotton candy away if she didn't stop getting so sticky!

We stayed after the game for fireworks, there was a really good show of fireworks, but it was kind of loud and Estee kept her ears covered the whole time--but she LOVED the fireworks!
***I just have to put a note here and say thanks to Dan's patient for giving us these amazing tickets! The seats were so good and that was so nice. I have to thanks to Dan too for being such a kind, and loving doctor. His patients love him and he comes home all the time (sometimes daily) with things his patients have given him! Usually not as nice as these tickets but still just very thoughtful and nice. Thanks Dan for being such a good doctor, husband, dad and person!



The next weekend our good friends invited us to the Red Bull Air show/race. The race was on the Detroit River so we decided to go over into Canada and watch from the Windsor side of the river. Our passports came in handy!Chris and Dan (Abby playing on my ipad--love my ipad--thanks Dan) and Michelle who would NOT turn around for the picture!
The kids got a little grumpy and all wanted to use the ipad (see Abby above) to play games. How annoying! Watch the airshow kids!!!

Zack and Michelle

Playing on the big rocks right on the Detroit River. It was kind of a hot muggy day and it was about 10 degrees cooler right by the river.

This was about the only time all day the kids were looking cute and being nice!

See the yellow airplane? It just flew through those cones and flipped around and is going back through the cones. So cool. It was fun to see it. At one point one of the planes wings hit the water. So cool. Thanks for inviting us Sadlers!! Sorry the kids were grumps!

We will miss you dearly...

Our dear Grandma and mom passed away suddenly on May 4th. We have all been so saddened by this and we will miss her so, so much.

Dan flew out to Utah next day to be with his family and help his dad with all the arrangements. The kids and I decided to drive out to Utah for the funeral. We had a great time driving and everything went really well. Dan skipped his flight home and drove home with us so the drive home went really well too, and we finally tried Culvers on our way back--really yummy shakes and burgers.

The funeral for Grandma went so well, it was a beautiful service and Dan spoke and did an excellent job. Abby played the piano, Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, and she did a great job. Grandma had been to our house just a couple months earlier and heard Abby play that song and said she wanted Abby to play that at her funeral. None of us knew it would be so soon, but it was very special to have Abby play it. On our drive out the kids talked about Grandma and wrote down some things they will miss about her:

• she sent me emails about things she thought were cool.
  
• loved to hear me play the piano and never noticed the mistakes.
  
• Always played Barbies, coloring, and reading with Estee. Always happy to watch Estee for us.
• miss her easy laughter
• she loved to be with us
• Abby remembers her perfume
• she loved to talk to any of us, very interested in our lives.
• she bought us fast food.
• She would make delicious breakfast for us.
• she let me suck my thumb
• we loved sitting around the dining room table and talking with Grandma
• She told us if you put butter and cinnamon and sugar on toast it taste good, it was.
• I remember when we went and stayed with her, and it was so much fun, loved how when we got ready for bed she would talk to us for hours in our beds.
• she would try and give us the shivers
• I remember how we went camping with her in the desert, that was fun.
• when Grandma came to Michigan once the girls went and got pedicures, Grandma's first, and she talked the whole time to the guy who barely spoke English. She asked him "do you like your job?" he said "no, but the money is good" it was funny.
• I remember how she was so nice to me when I was little.
  
• Grandma loved chickens and held them like babies.
• She taught us how to play strawberry point rummy and played it with us.
• she would blow on you and say she wasn't touching you.
• she loved babies especially her grand kids!
• if you told her she could do anything in the world for a day--she would spend the day with us.
  

We had a nice visit with family while we were out in Utah, we saw a lot of relatives we haven't seen in years and it was so great to see them all. The kids had fun seeing cousins they have either never met or haven't seen in ages. It really made us all excited to move back to Utah. We wish Grandma was still there and we could spend time with her. We are glad she is not suffering any more and is peacefully watching over us here on earth. We love you Grandma and will miss you always.


Janine Holmstead Ward (1954 - 2010)

HYDE PARK - Janine Holmstead Ward, 55, of Hyde Park, Utah, passed away suddenly on May 4, 2010, after an extended battle with cancer.
Janine was born on Aug. 27, 1954, six minutes before her twin sister, Jalaine, to Earl Guy "Hap" and Leah Holmstead. She was the fifth of nine children and loved to talk about her childhood spent with her siblings and cousins in Logan. She was proud of her heritage and enjoyed the opportunity to share a room with her twin sister and immigrant Swiss grandmother, whom she loved dearly. She graduated from Logan High School in 1972, and while working at Utah State University she met Preston Beales Ward, whom she married on Sept. 12, 1973, in the Logan LDS Temple.
Janine's life was spent serving those around her. She was a devoted and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in numerous callings, including Relief Society president, Cub Scout leader and Young Women's leader. Her favorite place was in the Primary with the children. She loved meeting her former Scouts and primary children and took great joy seeing them years later and hearing their kind words of appreciation. She loved music and although often reluctant to share her talents, her family enjoyed her frequent piano playing and singing.
Janine loved life and the people in it. She was a friend to all and strived to make the lives of all around her better and happier. All who knew her were brightened by her smile, her kind words, and her listening and patient ears. She was incapable of condemning or judging others; instead she radiated optimism, compassion, and charity to all around her. To know her was to love her.
The last few years of her life were difficult as she endured multiple surgeries, hospitalizations, and treatments for her cancer, all without complaint. She suffered much during this time and her family takes comfort that her pain is now over. The family thanks the physicians, nurses, and medical personnel who compassionately provided her care over the past few years.
She is survived by her husband, Preston; and children, Preston Daniel Ward (Janie) of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Bradley Beales Ward; Lindsay Brooke Ward; and Amalia Marie Mouritsen (Cody). She is also survived by her twin sister, Jalaine, her parents, her siblings, and five grandchildren. Her grandchildren were her greatest joy in life and she was looking forward to living near them again. She was preceded in death by her father in law, Karl E. Ward
Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, May 11, 2010, at noon in the Hyde Park Center Street church. A viewing will be held on Monday, May 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Allen Mortuary of North Logan, 420 E. 1800 North in North Logan, and prior to services on Tuesday at the church from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Interment will be at the Smithfield Cemetery.

Should I be offended?

Take a looksie at this!

They are being super mean about my kitchen! The worst line is "it has seen some unfortunate updates" DANG RUDE!

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/good-questions/how-to-bring-our-mid-century-kitchen-back-to-original-glory-good-questions-113906

For those of you who have been in my house you will see that this is MY kitchen they are discussing here. We just sold our house but we are still living here and renting it for another couple months.

It's so weird to have my kitchen critiqued like this. I mean, I guess they are wanting to restore it to it's "mid-century" glory, so thats a little off with what I was going for.

Probably the biggest reason I should not be offended is that the updates I did in this kitchen were done as cheap as possible. I think it looks pretty darn good all things considered. I just wanted a CLEAN, functional, kitchen with as much storage as possible for as cheap as possible--hence all the Ikea and Lowes items you see. I know the red paint needs to go. I really liked it six years ago, but have been really not liking it for the last two years. Who wants to repaint.

If money were no object here this is what I would do:

poured concrete floors:

http://www.concretenetwork.com/photo-gallery/concrete-floors_1/92672-5451-ca-artcon-decorative-concrete-_34203/

counter tops:

http://www.alternakbh.com/productscounters.php?counters=Concrete

I am loving this concrete looking countertop lately.

stainless steel appliances:

http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/48SSS.html

http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/PODMW301.html

http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/DWHD651GFP.html

I am in love with this glass subway tile backsplash:

I also like it with a green tint to it.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.becoming-home.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/kitchencoloredbacksplash-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.becoming-home.com/2007/06/20/subway-tile-backsplash-ideashave-any-for-me/&usg=__mClXi8cJm5JwYLjx8SHRVO3Hmgg=&h=450&w=600&sz=43&hl=en&start=9&sig2=JwkFkFaOLVGk9m8x0sIqKw&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=LrBA8OtkMei1zM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsubway%2Btile%2Bkitchen%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26ndsp%3D18%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=DUbKS6mQD4asNsLvnckE

lighting:

http://www.ylighting.com/sid-bigmec-so.html

But then again, if money were not object I would just buy a new house......

Pinewood Derby

Jake's car #22

Estee and her friend loved the pinewood derby. :)

Jake's car did really well! His award here was for the "most intimidating" car. Good Job Jake you were a good sport and we had fun watching you race your car.

Catch up

The time has come for an update. It's actually way past due, I feel guilty every time one of my kids does something wonderful, or has a birthday etc. and I don't post something about it. I obviously don't feel that guilty or I would just post more. Anyway, I think the main reason I haven't been posting is because life has just been hard and not really that fun as of late. No one wants to read about that including my posterity someday so I just haven't posted anything and once you get out of practice you wonder how on earth you ever had time to keep up a blog. Maybe I am the only one with such thoughts, probably.

So, Jake turned 9 in November has been on the swim team and swam a mile without stopping, he's also been playing indoor soccer, and just built his first pine-wood derby car. I am telling ya, it looks pretty fast. I will let you know how it goes, the race is tomorrow night, I think he 's got a good chance of taking the whole derby.

Estee is my 3 year old who really thinks she is a princess. Not like oh, you are pretty as a princess, but she actually believes she is a princess. We asked her today what it takes to be a princess and she replied "you have to be pretty, you have to be smart, you have to like to clean (I love this one you better believe I will be using it later to get her to clean her room), you have to be nice, you have to be Abby's sister!" Sorry all of you who thought you had a chance of being a princess (in Estee's eyes at least) Abby only has one sister.

Andy is gone from early morning to late at night most weekdays and I kind of miss him. He is a joyful teenager, most days, and I wouldn't mind having him around more. He has been in early morning seminary all year. He rarely complains, but I have to tell you I cannot wait to move to Utah and this is one of the major reasons! Andy has been in some kind of sport all year at Pioneer, he is currently in Track and has been recruited to the pole vault team, he also runs sprints. He had a personal best at his track meet on Saturday and cleared 8 ft 6 inches. He was the highest jumper for a freshman and 9th overall with seniors and everything. Can you tell I am his mom??

Abby has recently developed an interest in Star Wars movies which has pleased her brothers very much. She said "these are so much better once you get the plot, I just thought they wanted to save the galaxy or something." Family movie time is much easier now, Estee loves Star Wars too. I am raising some kind of nerd girls, I know, I like nerds they get in less trouble. Abby has been swimming this winter, playing volleyball, playing basketball, playing cello at Hill Auditorium (which is the 3rd best auditorium in the USA--according to Abby's teacher, Mr Bailey), and playing lots of piano including competing in the SATD (no idea what that stands for) and being good enough to qualify for the next level. Can you tell I'm her mom??

Dan has been studying for boards. That pretty much sums up his last three months. I guess he's also been working. Same thing to me. He takes Oto boards this week. Hallelujah. I don't even care if he fails, lets just get it done already. Ok, I care if he fails. That means we will have to hear about it more. I sound like the most un-supportive wife in the world. It's all talk, I am really super supportive--just ask me, I will tell you. He has facial plastic boards in June. I have just about had it with all the test taking (16 years later). It's not like he goes to the hospital and an hour later comes home with the test all done. Oh, no we get to pay THOUSANDS of dollars for the privilege of taking the test. Oh, and did I mention it's a four-day three-night trip to another city, in our case Chicago and Washington DC, respectively. And guess who covers all the cost for hotel, flight, meals etc? Did I mention I am super supportive?

To vent my frustrations with Dan's money spending career path, I have taken to mile upon mile of running. I just finished my first half marathon and it felt pretty good to have accomplished that goal. Thanks to my friend Elizabeth for having the goal too, because it got me going along with her. She posted about it if you want more details. http://elderfam.blogspot.com/2010/04/martian-half-marathon.html

Over the long, cold months of winter here in MI I was working hard getting my house ready to sell. Including painting (thanks so much to wonderful friends for helping me), packing up enough of our stuff to fill a storage unit and moving it all to the storage unit, throwing out or donating mounds and mounds of junk we have collected over the last six years, and countless other fix-it projects (thanks to Dan's parents for coming to help with fix-it projects!). Now, it's all done and we sold our house without a realtor! In less than 2 weeks on craigslist!!!! We are so happy to be done with it! Now we are renting it (for less than our mortgage payment!) until Dan is finished with his fellowship and the kids are out of school. We are all ready to enjoy our last couple months in Ann Arbor.

Looking back over the last year I can see that we have been so blessed even though it's been the hardest year. I can see that our Heavenly Father was with us every step of the way helping us get through it. I am so glad to have my four pretty close to perfect kids, my good, hard working husband, and a better perspective on what really matters in life. That was probably what Heavenly Father wanted me to learn from this year. I hope I am all done with that lesson.

The End.

Abby's Night!

Abby had a piano recital tonight. She played beautifully and always does. She is so talented on the piano. I am so proud of her. She played "Variations on a Russian Folk Tune". Dan and I were able to go and listen to her with no interruptions thanks to the boys who stayed home and watched Estee. After the recital we took Abby to dinner at The Quarter Bistro, she wanted to order something really wonderful. She ordered the ALLIGATOR!! I hate reptiles and the last thing I would want to do is eat one, however she thinks it is cool that she has done something Dan and I haven't ever done--eat alligator meat! It actually looked a lot like chicken strips. Here she is eating her alligator!

She brought the alligator left-overs home and Jake was upset that we supported her buying and eating an endangered species!

Abby also had a cello AND choir concert in the last couple weeks.
She is MEGA talented girl! We are so glad she is ours and are so proud of her.

Estee's First Dance Recital

Estee had her first dance recital! I loved watching her so much. She is so excited about the whole thing it is infectious! Here she is on the first day of her dance class, with some of her cute little friends who took the class with her.
And.........the day of the recital.


Does it get any cuter?? I just love this little girly, girl doing her ballerina moves. Can you see her stitched up forehead? I did my best to hide them!
Estee LOVED this class so much, she was always so excited to go to ballerina class.



In case you still want more....check out the two videos. It might be just because I am the mom, yeah probably, but I think this is one of the cutest things I have seen! They did their routine twice, so I recorded it twice :) Estee was running circles around the other girls for probably half the time she was up in front. You can see her doing it in the first video.

Ouch!

Estee got 8 stitches yesterday!! She jumped, or rather dived into a bean bag playing around in the basement. The edge of the coffee table on the other side of the bean bag was right in the way of her forehead. It bled a whole bunch and you all would be so proud at how calm I was. Jake was home from school because his school had a power outage, and he was crying. Poor guy. Blood was everywhere and gushing from this deep gash on her head. We also had a friend over playing and he was super calm, even more than me. He must have seen something like this before, he should be a doctor someday if all that blood doesn't bother him.

Luckily, Dan was able to meet us at the hospital and stitch Estee up. She sat on my lap in the chair so I could help hold her down and calm her down. She was really upset by the needle poking her to numb things up. The two nurses and I finally got her calmed down by talking about ballerina class, promises of a play date with friends, and I also promised her a new sleeping beauty dress up dress. By the end of the stitches she was almost asleep! She had worn herself right out. She was a brave little three-year-old.
She wanted some eggs for breakfast this morning so they could "help her owie get all better". Cute!

Sisters Trip '09--Michigan

I was lucky enough to have another sisters trip this year. I talked my sisters into coming to see Michigan for the trip this year. I don't know how I lucked out to have such great sisters, but I must have been in the right line in heaven when they were handing out sisters! I admire so much about each one of them--they are the best! I can't leave out my mom here either, because she raised all of us into the great people we are today and that is enough said about how great she is! :)

We started out the trip with a little beauty night at the U of M clinic. We all got microderm abrasion and other various things to make us beautiful. It was so much fun! This is a shot of us pre-beauty treatments.

Cuties!

We are pretty crazy and decided to leave for Mackinac Island right after our beauty stuff. Beauty stuff went until late and Mackinac is a 4 1/2 hour drive--even with me driving! We scared ourselves on the way because we almost ran out of gas. At 2:30 in the morning. In the middle of nowhere. SCARY! We finally found a remote gas station really in the middle of NOWHERE. There were two men, by themselves in separate cars--seemingly waiting for a car full of women to attack. One of them wouldn't look at us the whole time. The other one stared at us the whole time. It totally gave us the hibbie jibbies! Then we started driving and talking about movies where scary things happened on the freeway, after stopping at gas stations in the middle of nowhere. AAAAHHH!

However, we made it safe and sound to Mackinaw City at 3:30am. After a good nights sleep (minus seagull noises) the next morning found us exiting the ferry to Mackinac Island. It was the most beautiful day ever--so perfect.

Watch out Mackinac Island! I love this picture that Jill took of these two.

My sisters and mom LOVED Mackinac Island, which I knew they would but I was still kind of relieved that they liked it so much! We rented really cool cruiser bikes with cute little baskets and rode all the way around the island. Slowly riding and stopping very often for LOTS of photos. The water was so beautiful and blue. The weather was perfect. You can't say that very often in MI! My sisters don't believe me now when I say how awful the weather is here, it was so perfect all weekend for them.

This might be my favorite picture from the whole trip! My cute mom cruising on her bike!! I LOVE IT. We got her these new sun glasses and told her she looked sassy. When I see this picture I can totally just hear her doing her breathing out thing she does when she exercises.

Me and Julie at one of our many photo ops!

Downtown drag in Mackinac. We should have taken a picture in front of the fudge shop which we visited THREE times in our short time on the island. It's just off to the right. :)

Jill and Josie trying out the bikes before our big ride.

Julie looking cute on her cruiser!

This looks so fun, I want to go back and spend a month there and do this everyday--or twice a day!

After leaving Mackinac Island we drove over the 5 mile suspension bridge so my sisters and mom could say they have been to the UP (upper peninsula) of Michigan. I don't think they will ever be back, so good thing we did it!

I am sure the highlight for all of them was seeing "The Big House" (I am being sarcastic). But really could their be a better picture??

We all have on Michigan shirts. Just don't tell my sisters husband who is an Ohio State fan through and through. I'll never tell. The best is my mom's Michigan Gymnastics shirt.
Later in the day (see pic below) we went to the cupcake station and someone asked my mom if she was on the Michigan Gymnastics team! She is in her 70's!

The tailgating here is out of control. We walked all over the place and saw a lot of FANCY tailgating. Wine and ham dinners all spread out. Here we are checking out the tailgaters.

This picture is from Mackinac Island. Here we are at the cupcake station in AA. So delicious! We walked here after eating at Pizza House, one of my favorite Ann Arbor places.

We celebrated Julie's birthday with a caramel cake! YUM!

We also walked around campus a little and saw the law quad which was beautiful. The buildings are so amazing.

More campus shots. It was a perfect day in Ann Arbor and at the Ward house. Michigan won in a close, good game against Notre Dame. I had my sisters in town. Weather was perfect.

I had so much fun and the time went WAY to fast. Can't wait for next year!