Road Trip With The Girls!!

I am so proud of these 2!

We just got back from a wonderful family vacation. We went to Pensacola, Fl this past week and had a great time. We could not decide what time we wanted to leave with the girls and ended up leaving at 11:00 pm on Thursday night. We put the girls to bed at their normal time and got them out of their beds and put them in their car seats. This was by far the best way to travel with little ones. They slept all night and did not wake up till we had about 45 minutes left of the trip. It only took us 10 hours to get to Pensacola. There was no traffic driving through the night and you could push the limit just a tad!! :)

We went with a huge group. It was my mom, step-dad, his kids and their significant others, my brother and his wife and their little girl and her friend, and another family that are long time friends of my step-dad. It was a great group and we had a great, relaxing trip. Ate some great food and had a wonderful time!

While we were there, Alyssa started officially swimming all by herself. No floaties or anything. She is like a little fish. LOVES the water and always has. She jumps off the diving board, the side, wherever and just swims all over the place. Under water, on top of water...you name it! We are so proud of her! She is so proud of herself. You ask her what she learned on vacation and she gets so excited and says, "I swim with NOOOOOO floaties!" She is so dramatic!!
She is growing up way too fast but we could not be more excited for her that she can now swim by herself!!

Here are a few pictures from the week!






What a stinker!

Daddy and his little girl!

I love this man!


We ARE one goofy family!!!

The Lord's Amazing Blessings...

We have always known the Lord is good to those that love him. He has shown himself faithful to our family, time and time again. So last week we noticed that our front tire on the Tahoe was really worn on the inside. The rest of the tire looked brand new (well, they are) but the inside of the tire was really worn. Matt decided he was going to take it to the dealership where we purchased the tires to see what was going on. They took a look at the tire and other tires and noticed the wear on all 4 tires. We had only had the tires a year so there should be no problems, right? The person that we have been paying to rotate and balance the tires had not been doing their job so right then and there we had to replace all 4 tires. As you all know tires are not cheap. Especially on a SUV. But the Lord allowed us to get the tires and we felt blesses that we noticed this before we left and now our car is ready to go on our trip!

WELL, at least we thought so! So Sunday I am heading out after church to make my weekely wal-mart run and I start up the tahoe and head down the driveway. I notcie the car is not wanting to go. Matt took it for a drive and he said it felt like the transmission was messing up. So he took it in on Monday to get it looked at. He ended up having them do a few other things to the car to get it ready for our trip. When Matt came back to pict up the car the service manager said, "You're taken care of!" He handed matt the bill that was 1200.00 but said he did not owe a dime. We were just overwhelmed! That is a lot of money for someone to just "take care of" for us. No one, but the Lord, knew we had taken our car to the dealership to get worked on. We felt so blessed that the Lord would choose us to bless in that way! It was a huge blessing for us and a major relief to not have to pay 1200.00.

The Lord paid our debt on the cross and he chooses to pay our debt throughout life too. He has blessed us in so many ways, but this one was the most recent and I could not help but share it! Trust in the Lord and he will always provide in one way or another to those that love and serve him!

Aren't they precious?!?!

Here are a few pictures of the girls! Bella is now 6 1/2 months and crawling all over the place. Alyssa is 3! Wow where did time go?

It was a HOT one!

So I had the bright idea to have family pictures made yesterday! Well, when I scheduled the session, I did not know it was going to be 103 degrees outside! Man it was hot. The girls did great considering and conditions. Matt had a burp cloth wiping his head and face about every 2 seconds! He was on fire! Well, we all were. Please excuse the stringy headed 3 year old and the distracted 6 month old! We will just blame it on the weather!!! No, it went great and we had a good time!

This is just a preview of some of the pictures!!

www.photographingsound.com/blog2/

Fun Filled Weekend!

We had a great Memorial day weekend here at the Ward house!!! Saturday we got up and I started working on the inside of the house and Matt started on the outside. He put in a french drain by our back porch, cleaned off the back porch, power washed everything, and I cleaned the inside of the house. Then we ran to the nursery and got some stuff to plant in our big planters. The back porch now looks so pretty and clean!

Saturday night we went on a date and it was so great! I love getting to go out with Matt. We always have such a great time. I love my girls, but there is something about just spending time with the man you love! It just makes the week go better! I love you Matt! You are the greatest husband and daddy in the whole world. God has blessed me more than I could have ever imagined by placing you in my life! You are my best friend and words cannot express my love for you!!!
We followed the date with a high school graduation and after party! It was a great night!

Sunday we had church which is always great! I love having a place to worship the Lord. He deserves all the Glory and Praise!
We had all my family over for a cookout on Sunday afternoon. It was a great time. I miss getting to see them! Life gets so busy and we just let so much time pass before we see each other again, and that is just wrong!!:)

Then yesterday!! We woke up and headed to Tulsa for the day. We took the girls to the zoo and they had a blast! We had never taken Alyssa to the zoo! I know, Horrible! But, she loved it and can't wait to go back again! We finished the day with a little Cheesecake Factory! That is always worth the drive to Tulsa! It was a great weekend!

I am tired, but it was so worth it!

Here are a few pictures from the Zoo!

Hips...

So Alyssa is into posing! Quiet a little model I must say! I am pretty sure she is just what modeling agencies are looking for. I am waiting for the phone to ring any minute with an offer! :)

So out of no where the other day I said, "Alyssa smile at me so I can take your picture." She said, "Ok, Hips!" I was with my friend Chrissy and her little girl Maddie and chrissy and I looked at eachother like where did she learn that!! It was pretty funny. Something she does quiet often now! So, I will leave you with little miss Hips herself!!:)

Please excuse the garb she has on. There was no prompting here. None!!

look at that precious little face!! Please stop growing so fast!!

5k and Mother's Day

This was a busy weekend for us. I have been training for a 5k that took place this weekend. It was so much fun. A few girls from our small group class, and Jody (my sister-n-law) ran this race and it was such a great time. I can't wait to run another one in two weeks. I know it is just a little over 3 miles, but it is such a sense of accomplishment for me. To have trained for something and completed it feels awesome!

Yesterday was a great day! Went to church as usual, and then went out for a Mother's Day lunch with Matt and the sweetest girls ever! Alyssa is just so precious and hilarious, and Bella is just the happiest, sweetest baby I have ever known!!:) I am sure Alyssa was just as sweet, but now she can talk back;) I am so thankful for the blessing of two amazing little girls! God has truly blessed our family and there is no greater joy than to raise these little girls!!