July 4th

We spent Independence Day at Sam's parents' place in Orem.  

Five of the six Ward kids were there with their families.

We were missing Staci and Kyle, who were home waiting for their first baby to arrive.

Anyway, we had a big family BBQ, played backyard games, etc.

Grandma and Grandpa Ward gave their grandkids each a new outfit.  

Katie, Kristen, Julia, Gideon 

Tyler had fun playing this corn hole game with his cousins, Owen and Wes.

 Sadie

 Sarah, Sam, Julia

 Gideon

Brian was waiting and wishing that we would stay late 

do fireworks with the family.

Lucky for him, his wish came true.  

It was the highlight of the day for the boys.

Katie was scared of the fireworks and thought they were "scary and too loud."

We all climbed into bed around midnight after a day well spent.

4th Annual Fred & Carolyn Family Reunion

We had a wonderful time as a family at this summer weekend reunion.  

We stayed in this awesome cabin way up on the top of a mountain just outside of Heber City, Utah.

As always at these reunions, we ate really well and had fun relaxing as a family.  

We took the kids on a scavenger hunt, Fred and Carolyn spoiled everyone with gifts, and we played other outdoor games.  I was having too much fun hanging out that I didn't get very many action shots this year.  But check out the shots that I did get:

Staci taking Bella and Bauer for a walk

Kevin and Wesley

Hot Tub Time

Sarah and Gideon

He's ready to dive right in!

Sibling teasing

Siblings - Kimball, Eleanor, Simon

Silly Sarah

Owen and Tyler are checking out all of the action from the loft.

Resting up.

Zoey

Maddy

Eleanor

 Kristen

 Katie

 Grandma & Grandpa Ward bought all of the older granddaughters matching outfits, accessories, and baby dolls.

 Cute cousins.

Zoey loves her mommy (Rosanne).

 Exploring their surroundings.

 Sadie

 The 2013 Grandbabies - Julia, Gideon, Sadie

3rd Annual Ward Family Reunion - Day 4

Tuesday morning came and it was time to pack up and leave Heber City. 

We all met up at Vivian Park for a scavenger hunt and a water balloon fight.

 Sam and Brian spent a couple hours earlier filling up the 100 water balloons.

We had lunch at Grandma and Grandpa Ward's place.

Sam and his brothers went golfing.

At 5pm, we had a family party.  

We had yummy sandwiches and other good food for dinner.

It was fun to catch up with extended family, especially Sam's cousin, 

Emily, who was visiting all the way from Boston.

We had so much fun at the family reunion.

We're glad that things went smoothly and the weather totally cooperated with all our plans.

Thanks to everyone who helped out.

Can't wait for next year's reunion!

3rd Annual Ward Family Reunion - Day 1

Sam and I were in charge of the 3rd Annual Ward Family Reunion.
We decided to spend the weekend in Heber City, Utah.
We rented out a rental home and we all stayed there together for 3 nights.
Our first activity was taking a scenic train ride on the Heber Creeper Train.
Aaron and Sarah were in charge of making the t-shirts and did a fantastic job.
We all wore our t-shirts on the train. It was fun to ride on the old train and see
the kids so excited to buy a treat from the concession stand and enjoy each other's company.  

Left this train station for a scenic train ride

#samandiareincharge

 Brian, Lisa, Train Conductor, Katie, Sam, Tyler

 Katie, Sam

 Grandpa Ward (Fred), Uncle Kyle, Aunt Staci, Simon, Tyler, Katie

 Aunt Becky, Uncle Kevin, Maddy

 Owen, Kimball

 Katie

View of Deer Creek from the train

When the train ride was over, we went to check in to our rental home.
Sam and I served dinner 
(poppy seed chicken, corn, applesauce, lemonade, and chocolate zucchini cake).
We spent the rest of the evening settling in.
After the kids were in bed, the adults all played mafia.  Good times.