The Ward Family

Post Date: 2011-08-07

Ryan and I are getting very excited about our upcoming vacation. We are heading to Washington D.C.! We have always wanted to go see all the memorials and sites in D.C. AND to make the trip even better Mike and Megan (Ryan's sister and husband) live there too!!! We are excited to see them and the place that they call home.

School starts up soon also. I am excited that Ryan and I get to take a vacation before school starts. We have not had a real vacation since our honeymoon in November of 2008. I am taking a MIS class this semester. I am nervous and excited to get things going again. I am always nervous before class starts. Once I figure out the professors and the outline of the class I feel much better.

Oklahoma is still hot. Nothing much has changed except everything is drier and the cracks in the ground are bigger. There have been some recent showers and thunderstorms but the most we seem to be able to get is thunder and lightning.

While we are on the subject of lightening, Thursday morning the boys received a phone call around 3:00am that one of their fields were on fire. They ended up fighting and dealing with the fires until 7:00pm that night. Poor guys, the fire just kept starting back up. The fire is now out and everyone was safe.

Sometimes I feel like there is nothing interesting for me to write about, no story to tell, nothing to capture an audience. I take pictures to tell our story, to record memories, and I hope the pictures are what bring you back to my blog... and not my writing.

Onto the pictures!

Addison went swimming for the first time in June... and she LOVED it!! Below are some pictures from her first swim.

Below: Mom and Dad are keeping a closer eye on Addison.

Below: Addison was concentrating hard on splashing.

Below: Addison screeching... she was having so much fun.

Below: More splashing = more fun!

Below: Ben popped up in front of Addison with goggles on and it scared Addison.

Below: Goggles are off... Addison is much happier.

Below: Dad and Addison having fun!

Below: Up she goes! Love that grin on her face.

Below: Relaxed and floating on her back.

Below: Addison's first swim family picture!

Below: Tad is helping Ma fill cups with ice for dinner.

Below: Tad mowing the grass with his bubble mower.

Below: Addison gazing up at someone.

Below: Ava trying to eat the camera.

Below: S0 I knew Ryan and I had gotten Mom a Valentine's Day card... it just took us until June to find it!

Below: While Ava and Ashley were posing for a picture... Ava thought she would go after her Mom's nose!

Below: Looks like Ryan is being silly... and Tad is looking at me thinking what is wrong with this guy!

Below: Ma and Addison playing.

Below: I have no words for this picture... other than I love it!

Below: Addison is just a happy little girl.

Below: Tad and Ashley swimming. I am pretty sure Tad was saying "Get Boo" in this picture. He kept jumping in and trying to splash me.

Below: Tad's ornery face!

Below: Tad talked Boo into swimming... not sure what we were doing here, but I just love that smile and laugh of his.

Below: Ava missed out on the swim party.

Below: A wind storm came through in June and knocked a huge limb out of our tree.

Below: More broken tree...

Below: Tad needed some snuggle time with his Daddy.

Below: Angie was singing a monkey song to the girls.

Below: Then Tad joined in on the monkey song!

Below: Ava cheesing for the camera.

Below: Who needs a pool... Tad is jumping off the couch to Bradi.

Below: Ava's natural hair. I think it looks similar to Elvis!

Below: Tad helping me open my birthday cards.

Below: Jake opening his birthday cards.

Below: I said smile... and Jacob gave me this face.

Below: Then I got a real picture. :) So happy for these two.

Below: Addison posing for the camera.

Below: Uncle Ben adding bubbles to Tad's mower.

Below: Gigi and Addison waving at each other.

Below: Poppa sucking his thumb like Addison.

Below: I just love these guys! They just celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary. What an inspiration they are. I strive to be just like them.

Below: Ryan sent me flowers for my birthday. I love them! Thank you so much babe!

Below: I also got a new lens for my camera for my birthday. I was playing with it and took a picture of some of my flowers.

Until Next Time:

Post Date: 2011-07-25

BIG NEWS!!! Jacob and Tiffany are ENGAGED!!!!!!! We are so excited for them! We just love Tiffany and can't wait until she officially joins the Reinschmiedt clan! Right now they are thinking about a January wedding. I can honestly say I have never seen my brother this happy. I am just so happy and excited for him (and Tiff too)!

I went on the annual river trip with the girls and had a BLAST! Crazy thing happened though... we were a few miles down our 12 mile trip and saw a Ranger standing on the side of the river. Our raft was talking to him and giving him a hard time typical of the group I was with... and before we made it past him he said... "Please stay to the left, there has been a drowning victim and there is a rescue boat and divers searching for the body. When we made it to the rescue boat, they had found the body and had pulled it into a raft. The victim ended up being a 32 year old male that had drank to much. He stepped off a drop off and was unable to touch and the current pulled him under. Five people have died in the Illinois River since Memorial Day. Besides the drowning victim, our raft of girls had a blast! If you are ever in Tahlequah... you need to order some pizza at Sam and Ella's. It is AMAZING!!! Kristen kept calling it Salmonella and I was refusing to eat at a place named after something that will make you sick. Thank goodness when we got there it had a different name!

Most of you all reading this blog are in the same weather condition we are (although some people received some rain today). DRY! When I went outside today I could smell the rain for the thunderstorms... but no rain came our way! Our grass is dead and crunchy, the leaves are dying odd our trees and filling our pool skimmer bucket up daily, roads are buckling from the heat across the state, farmer's second crops are burnt, and the 7-Day forecasts for weeks now are consistently over 100 degrees.

Other news: My precious Rudi (16 year old outside kitty) gave me quite a scare last week. She is a very vocal kitty and always comes and meets anyone that comes in the back yard. I got home from work and went to the garage refrigerator to get some beef out to thaw for dinner. Rudi was laying on the garage floor and would not get up and was acting very odd. Her back leg was pulled up to her stomach like she was in pain. She eventually got up and walked around but her back legs seemed to be bothering her. She then tried 7-8 times to go to the bathroom but could only produce a trickle of urine. Long story short, she went to the vet hospital in Enid and was diagnosed with a very bad urinary track infection. Because her infection was so bad, they went ahead and did blood work to make sure the infection was not in her kidneys (really bad for kitties) and it was not. They gave her a shot if cortisone and a shot of antibiotic that lasts two weeks (no pills thank goodness) and I have seen an immediate improvement in her.

This month overall has been a lot less stressful than last month. Work is not near as crazy and life in general seems less stressful. Continental announced that they have most likely moved the last of their employees for the remainder of the year. They also said that they plan to have the rest of the employees moved sometime by the end of July 2012. We are currently working on some minor repairs to the house (we hope are minor anyways) before the appraisal. The appraisal should happen at any time. I'm not good with this whole waiting thing and not knowing what is going on and when. This is a big change for me and I feel completely out of control of the situation... which I think I have actually handled pretty well so far!

Onto the pictures:

Below: More harvest pictures! The boys were getting ready to move fields.

Below: Addison and her Daddy hanging out in the wheat field during dinner.

Below: Ma, Tad, and I were heading down the road to another field to take his Daddy, Momma, and Ava dinner.

Below: We made it! Daddy was working a different section of the field.

Below: If Ava could talk she would be saying "Who you lookin at?" My Mom says she has a defiant look in her eye like her Aunt Julie!

Below: Addison is like "Hey Biff! I am hungry too!"

Below: Ava and I hanging out in the field! Love that hair of hers!

Below: Ben, Angie, and Addison are heading out to cut more wheat!

Below: Addison heading home after an afternoon in the field.

Below: Tad and I hung out in the field after the girls left eating Cheetos and waiting on his Daddy to come give us a ride in his combine.

Below: Cheetos faced Tad and Lisa take a load of wheat into town.

Below: Taking the headers off the combines and heading to another field.

Below: Bryan and Reed working on the header.

Below: Tad and I having fun in the pool!

Below: Ryan throwing Tad!

Below: Ashley and Ava hanging out. She LOVES the water!

Below: Ma and Addison splashing in the water. She was clapping.

Below: Time to go home. This was Jake and I's stroller when we were itty bitty.

Below: Addison posing for the camera.

Below: Addison always cheeses for the camera when she sees it... and has started winking!

Below: Addison with the wind blowing through her hair.

Below: Tad even thinks it has been hot lately!!!

Below: Ava thought Tad spraying his face was funny!

Below: Love Ava's hair in this picture. She has some crazy curls!

Below: Tad was still all wet from playing with the water hose and decided to pet Rudi.

Below: Off they go!

Below: Tad and his Daddy taking a swim.

Below: Tad showing off his athletic abilities.

Below: Tad is getting pretty brave these days... jumps in all the time now!

Below: Angie sent Kason flying!

Below: Ava and Momma relaxing in the pool.

Below: Splashing war!!

Below: Addison was napping (she just woke up) while all the fun swimming was going on!

Below: Ava and her Daddy both look a little ornery in this picture.

Below: Addison hanging out with her Daddy still trying to wake up from her nap and cool off.

Below: Love these two guys! Tad still has dinner on his face!

Below: Addison splashing away in the water!

Below: Tad and Tiff swimming. I think Tad swam for a couple of hours that night. As people were getting out, more people kept showing up! He had a GREAT time!