The Bill Ward Family

Summer 2009

2009-07-13T20:09:00.005-05:00

Summer is half-way over and the heat has definitely hit Texas. Here's a recap of what's been going on with the Ward's:

Nick is at summer school up at K-State. He came home for a few weeks in May. Bill went up for the weekend of July 4th. They played golf and had some nice time together. Nick gets done on July 31 and will head to Estes. More on that later. Nick has loved his first year at Kansas State. In fact, he mentioned that he had an easier transition to college than many of his high school friends. He's very happy with his fraternity, Delta Upsilon, and the friends he's made at KSU. He enjoyed playing intramurals, and I think he might even be playing baseball this summer. (Well, it's just that he said he was, but hasn't mentioned it in a while...so I don't know for sure!)

Connor has been rehabbing his shoulder, and doing general strength and conditioning for football. No, your eyes have not deceived you...Connor is going to play football. It's a calculated risk and we'd certainly appreciate your prayers! He will have a special brace for his shoulder and will (I think) only play offense, specifically quarterback. I know! That's a surprise, isn't it? He's never played QB before, but he's been working very hard. In fact, Legacy just won the consolation bracket of the Texas Private Schools Coaches Association's 7-on-7 football tournament. We were probably one of the smallest schools there...certainly every team we played had different sets of boys for offense and defense, while we only had 10 players total. After going 1-2 in pool play, we were put in the consolation bracket where we went on to win every game! It was very exciting but very, very hot! Over 100 + humidity kind of hot.

Kelly went up to camp at Kanakuk Colorado on July 7. Our plan was for me to pick her up on July 19 and head to Estes Park, but last Saturday night we got a call that we needed to come get her because she was sick. She and about 50 others. She was negative for flu but had a fever and flu symptoms. I left Sunday morning to go get her, and am with her right now in a hotel in Pagosa Springs, Co. She is feeling better and has a great attitude about it, but was very disappointed about having to leave camp. Kanakuk has been hyper-vigilant due to the swine flu (media frenzy). I can't really blame them. It sounds like they'll be reasonable regarding refund prorations, and we've already signed her up for next year (at her request). So tomorrow Kelly and I will head to Estes.

Connor is going to the Bahamas next weekend for a 4 day trip with a school family that he loves (on their private jet!). Our kids lead more interesting lives than their parents do :)

We hope to all be together for about one day in Estes! Kelly and I will be there from July 13-Aug 6ish. Connor will come around the 23rd-Aug 1. Nick should come on the 31st-Aug 6ish. Bill, the 29th-5th. Sounds complicated, doesn't it?!

Connor is home!

2009-03-25T19:21:00.003-05:00

Before the surgery...not too happy to be there!

Connor's surgery was long, about 3 hours, but the doc was able to repair everything through the scope. He did report that it was much worse than the MRI showed. He is stable and "over-tightened" in an effort to keep him stable. The injury did cause a little divot on the ball his shoulder that the surgeon shaved the edges down a bit to try to soften it. We will be praying that it will completely fill in so it won't be the source of future problems and arthritis. We do appreciate your care, concern and prayers!

At home with the ice machine, 20 mins on/40 off around the clock :)

Connor to have surgery again

2009-03-23T18:27:00.005-05:00

Connor re-injured his shoulder Friday night. It popped out while he was playing basketball with some friends. Then it popped out again in his sleep that night (that was an experience I hope we never repeat!). An MRI shows extensive damage so it's back to the OR for him. Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 7:30. Please pray with us that the surgeon will be able to accomplish the surgery arthroscopically...that will reduce his healing/PT time by about 4 weeks. Either way, the goal is to have him back and ready for senior year football season (his MRI was even looked at by the team doc from the San Diego Chargers, a former colleague of our surgeon/LCA team doctor). We thank you for your prayers and will keep you updated.

Unfortunately, baseball is now over this season for Connor. But here is some of what it looked like:

It's been a while...

2009-02-14T11:51:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone. I haven't posted on the blog in a while, mainly because I'm using facebook now and those of you who are on facebook are keeping up with us (and us with you) that way. But (unfortunately) not all of you are on facebook, so I wanted to give you an update of what's been going on with the Ward's.

State Football -- the last time I posted we were headed to state. It was a good game but we came up 3 points short - 33-30. Unfortunately there were a couple of very questionable calls that could have had us win by 10 points, so it was a tough loss. Connor definitely enjoyed rejoining the team.

Christmas - we so enjoyed having Nick home. Unfortunately, all 3 of our guys were sick with some very nasty stomach virus during the break. Bill missed 3 days of work -- the first time I can ever remember that happening. It kept Nick home for a while but he was able to see all his high school friends before heading back to KSU early to catch the K-State/OU basketball game. It was a really good game and he said it was worth it to come back early, though KSU lost. Nick loves K-State and his fraternity, Delta Upsilon. He has been able to connect so quickly do to pledging. DU is a dry house (which means no alcohol allowed on the property -- something Nick's mom and dad like :)and has some great guys in it. Nick is thoroughly purple and seems to have a new motto: EMAW (for you KSU grads :).

Basketball - Connor went straight from football to basketball. He had a good season and his coach has told us that he is receiving 1st Team, All-District honors (though that hasn't officially been announced yet). I filmed the last home game and put together this short (3 min) video of some of his highlights -- especially a buzzer-beater to tie the game -- and an impromptu shoulder-hoist by his friends. I don't think he'll ever forget that night.

Kelly - recently made the JV tennis team so that will be keeping her busy. She is a good student and enjoys doing a lot of writing in her spare time, as well as community service. We've been serving together in National Charity League, a mom-daughter service organization.

Valentine's Day -- Bill and Connor are standing in line outside the K-State basketball stadium right now waiting to go inside for the KU game. Nick and his fraternity bros have been taking shifts since yesterday to keep their spots in line...for them but not for Bill and Connor. Bill, Connor and Connor's friend, Brooks, have student tickets that we purchased. Bill reports that he is the oldest student in line! It should be a great game. I'm glad Connor was able to go as he had the flu and had been sick for a week. Go Cats!

Baseball -- it's started although Connor hasn't caught up with the team yet due to basketball and then the flu. Next week!

Hope all is well with you and your families!!

Correct link for Connor's highlight/interview

2008-12-01T19:05:00.001-06:00

http://www.lscsn.com/secondary.php?page=includes/video_13.htm

Copy and paste into browser.

We are going to STATE!!

2008-12-01T13:20:00.005-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Nick came home on Sunday and was able to spend the entire week home. Of course, he spent half his time visiting friends, but that's to be expected. We are thankful that he's happy and well-adjusted to college life.

Connor's football team has been progressing in the playoffs. We were surprised (and alarmed!) that his doctor released him to play football just as the team was entering the playoffs. As the doctor said "Connor far exceeded expectation" regarding his healing and rehabilitation. We can only thank God for this unexpected blessing. Connor has played in 3 games now. We did have a shoulder scare with the 2nd game, and he did hurt it, but not in the same dislocation way as before. So it has withstood the pounding.

On Saturday, Connor's team played in the semi-finals. We got a kick out of an impromptu fly-over right as the game started by Connor's uncle (Karyn's brother) who is a Careflight pilot. Every one thought it was a planned event because it happened right when the Star Spangled Banner was over. I wish I had a photo of it because he was rather low! Anyway, almost immediately into the game, Connor intercepted a pass and ran it back for our first score! You can see that and a snippet from his interview after the game here but be aware that Connor is mortified by it and will shoot me for sharing it! The other two boys interviewed are Connor's really good friends.

Kelly just finished her first trimester of high school, and as expect she did very well. At this point in time, she has decided that she wants to attend a military academy, so she is working toward that goal. Her brothers keep telling her she is crazy for even considering it.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Enjoy your holiday season!

Much to be thankful for!

2008-11-01T22:21:00.004-05:00

The KSU Wildcats weren't the only ones who had a tough day at KU today. Nick went to Lawrence on Friday night to see a friend from high school. He spent the night with him in the dorm and then left around 8 this morning to go meet some of his Delta Upsilon brothers for breakfast at the KU-DU house (it's only about an hour from KSU so a lot of the guys had come over this morning and they were meeting with the KU DU's). Anyway, on the way from the dorm to the KU-DU house, 3 guys mugged Nick, who was walking alone. He was shoved around, but wasn't hurt. They did take his wallet and game ticket. Fortunately, they did not take his phone, but his battery died (after he called us) and he was pretty much stranded with no wallet, no cash, and no working phone. He had ridden to KU with some DU's so he had no car there. Bill and I definitely felt 500 miles away, because there was little we could do. I did call a DU mom I know, and she called her son who was on his way to the game, and they somehow found Nick and fed him lunch and took him back to KSU. No one was too interested in watching much of the game (KSU lost 52-21). Right now, I don't think Nick ever wants to go back to KU again! We are just thankful he was not physically harmed.

We had some other excitement this weekend, as Willie, our new pug, decided to go on walkabout about 5 yesterday. The lawn guys did not close up the gate properly, and he escaped. We spent a lot of time searching for him, and hanging "wanted" signs, and going to the shelter. We were so happy to get a call from the shelter around 1:00 today that he had been found. Turns out that a lady found him on the street IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE yesterday probably right after he got out. She almost hit him. She did not live in our neighborhood, but she did drive around a little to see if anyone was looking for him. Then she took him to the animal clinic where she works and he spent the night there. They called the shelter. We were so worried about him, but the funny thing is that he never went anywhere! She probably had him in her car before we even knew he was gone (and he was only out for 5-10 minutes before we realized it). It was so hard to sleep last night, not knowing where he was. So we are just thankful he is okay! Still, he seemed tired from his jaunt!

Homecomings!!

2008-10-20T16:53:00.007-05:00

Two weekends and two homecomings! We started with Connor's at Legacy Christian. Connor is still on the mend with his shoulder, so he didn't get to actually play football. He was, however, elected to the homecoming court, as was his girlfriend. Before the football game, the homecoming royalty was announced, and Connor and his girlfriend, Patricia, were elected Prince and Princess from the junior class!

The next night was the homecoming dance (I had no idea Connor would show up with black Nikes for shoes!!).

Nick had actually come home (sort of) that weekend. He came in on Thursday night and left Friday morning to go see his friends at Texas A&M and watch the K-State/A&M game (KSU won:). He came back Sunday and spent the afternoon with us before flying out in the evening. Somehow, in all the excitement, I didn't think to take a photo of him! But he wasn't the only one in town...my (Karyn's) dad had come to town also. So he got to see Connor's homecoming court...and I have not taken his photo either (I need to do better with photos).

But I did take Kelly's photo this last Saturday as she dressed up for her first homecoming. I must confess that I was pretty happy just to see her in a dress! She actually had a very good time.

A Quilting Getaway

2008-10-05T16:57:00.004-05:00

Lori and I had fun last weekend on our quilting-getaway. We stayed at the Westin in Frisco, where we had a free night and a deeply discounted second night. So the cost may have led us to forget what a top-notch hotel we were staying in, but we were reminded on Friday night when we stepped into the elevator in our t-shirts and jeans, and were surrounded by couples dressed to the nines!

We decided that any money we saved on the room was spent on tips! We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies with our sewing machine luggage, and all the assorted extra bags with fabric and other necessities that we brought along. It barely fit on one (large) luggage cart!

After we were in the room we began the quest of getting it sew-ready. We: Can we have another table in the room? We: Thank you for bringing the extra table. It's a little too tall to meet our needs. Would you mind bringing another one, just like the one that came with the room? We: You found one! Great! Could you please bring another lamp so that table will be lit? We: Thanks for the table and the lamp. Would you happen to have any fans you could bring to the room? Of course, every delivery came with a tip. We would would be the worst-dressed tippers of the evening! Finally, we were set up.
We were surprised when we got back to our room Friday night after going out for a quick dinner. There was a gift basket and a large gift bag (which you can see in the photo) filled with fruit, crackers, other snacks, plates, and napkins...courtesy of the best husband in the world!!

On Saturday night, we paid Connor to pick up sushi and deliver it to us. The photo above was taken by Connor's girlfriend. It was a fun weekend...hanging out with my sister and working on quilts.

We have a new addition to the family!!

2008-09-21T20:18:00.007-05:00

Connor has been pleading with us for years now to get another dog. He's really wanted a bulldog or a pug. We've managed to say no, until now. It all started last Sunday night. Connor called on his way home from his girlfriend's to tell me there was a dog in the road. We told him he could bring it home just to get it out of the road. While he tried to get the dog, a speeding car almost hit Connor, and did hit the dog. Connor was devastated. It really upset him (as it would anyone), and we began to discuss adopting a rescue dog. Well, I put my foot down and said no to the bulldog...(I am not a big dog person even though Bill and Connor love big dogs) but agreed to a pug.

Today we adopted a pug from DFW Pug Rescue. Willie (the Wildcat :) was found in the Dallas pound. They think he's' 4-5, but he's very playful. Connor loves the fact that Willie's tongue is too big for his mouth! Bill and I thought he should be called Deisel because he sounds like a truck idling :) He snorts and snores. He is really sweet and lovable. Connor is very, very happy!!

2008-09-06T20:14:00.005-05:00

A big "thank you" for your prayers and well-wishes when Connor had surgery. He seems to be healing well and will visit the doctor again on Monday. He is hoping to begin rehab in another week. It has definitely been hard for Connor to sit out of football, but he has really been a good sport about it and we are very proud of him. The photos are of the scrimmage game that Connor got hurt in. The man he's walking off the field with the orthopedic who did his surgery.

Kelly is settling into high school and seems to be enjoying it. She is taking French for her foreign language and really likes it. She is also taking Honors History/English, Honors Geometry, Pre-AP Biology, and Honors Digital Art. It sounds like a heavy load, but so far she' managing it well. Kelly also recently spent a Saturday training at Equest, a therapeutic horsemanship place. She will spend several hours each Saturday being a side-walker or leader for a horse and child. She will also tack her horse.

We are currently up at K-State for Nick's fraternity's Family Day. Bill, Nick and Connor are at the KSU game right now. Kelly and I are hanging out in the hotel room. (It's rainy and chilly out there!!). Connor is excited to sleep at the fraternity house tonight. The photo was taken at the Delta Upsilon house today during lunch.

Surgery done!!

2008-08-20T10:32:00.000-05:00

We are in the recovery room with Connor. His shoulder was more badly
damaged than anticipated. His bicep was detached as well as some
cartridge. They did some extensive repair. He is coming out of the
anesthesia really well. Thanks for your prayers!!

Sent from my iPhone

Connor surgery update

2008-08-20T07:58:00.000-05:00

The nurses just told me that they had not begun the surgery although
Connor is fully sedated and on the ventilator. Please pray foe the
power to come back on!!

Sent from my iPhone

2008-08-20T07:51:00.000-05:00

We are at the surgery center and Connor has gone back foe the surgery.
It is storming outside and the electricity keeps going out. We may me
on a generator right now. Please pray, not only for the surgery, but
that they will be able to do the surgery. They have already done the
interscalene block to keep his shoulder dead for a day after the
surgery and I wouldn't want him to have to go through that again.

The nurse just confirmed we are on the generator. Connor is in surgery
but she isn't sure if they have begun. If they has not begun, they
won't start on the generator.

Sent from my iPhone

Oops, he did it again!

2008-08-16T11:25:00.002-05:00

Well, it's really not a singing matter. Connor re-dislocated his shoulder in a football scrimmage last night. He is having an MRI today, but the team orthopedic feels certain he will need surgery (which we are tentatively scheduling for Wednesday, Aug 20). Recovery time is 3-6 months for sports, so needless to say, everyone is very disappointed about this.

Back in Texas, Back to School

2008-08-13T14:57:00.002-05:00

We have been home for almost two weeks. It's always good to get home but we really love the mountains and miss them a lot. We are busy getting Nick ready to head up to KSU. Lots of shopping involved with that! Connor has 2-a-days in football. Kelly is getting braces tomorrow and finishing her summer reading for high school.

Nick and I will leave Monday to drive to K-State. I will come back late Tuesday night. Kelly starts school the next morning, on Wednesday. Nick is moving into the Delta Upsilon house rather than the dorm, and it looks to be a lot of fun (hopefully not too much fun :)!

Another summer is almost over.

We are in Colorado!!

2008-07-23T09:17:00.002-05:00

Kelly absolutely loved Kanakuk Colorado (she's asking me every day if I've signed her up for next year yet) and we have made it to the cabin. We drove up from the west and it was really beautiful. We did stay in Keystone for two days and the guys really enjoyed the two golf courses there. Nick and Connor played the Estes Park course yesterday. We ate at Ed's Cantina on Monday night, and last night we had some great pizza at Village Pizza. Bill and I are watching the hummingbirds and woodpeckers from Estes Perk, a coffee place up the hill from the cabin. The photo shows the deck where we are sitting, and Deer Mountain in the background.

July -- iphones, kamp and vacation

2008-07-16T09:03:00.006-05:00

Hello everyone. Well, I say everyone, but I'm not sure how much this thing gets read...so please leave a comment if you do read it :)

I'll start with the new iphone. I love it, but don't like the battery drain. I wasn't planning on get it until after we return from our vacation because the 3G network isn't available where we are going and I did not want to stand in line for it. I already had the iphone, but the plan was that I would give it to Bill (who had lost his phone) and get the new one. My sister-in-law had spent about 7 hours at the Apple store on Launch Day (Friday) and was unsuccessful in activation and left empty-handed. She was back up there on Saturday and after several hours they still coulldn't get her activated. I was on the phone with her as she asked about their stock levels in case her sister-in-law (me!) wanted to get one over the weekend and they told her if I came up there right then they would put one on hold for me and I could get in the line. I impulsively dashed over there. It was kind of cool getting in the store. I went up past the line, to the 'bouncer' and gave him my name. He nodded knowingly and had someone escort me to the back of the store. I think this is the closest I will ever come to VIP treatment!! The guy in the back working with my SIL told me he could hold it for me but I couldn't jump the line. I said "of course" (I hate line-jumpers). He then looked at me and said, "but if you want, I can activate it right now." I said "of course" and I became a line-jumper! They apparently saw it as some sort of benefit to my SIL for the way-over-the-top trouble she'd had in activating her phone. Anyway, I now have the 3G phone, and Bill has my 'old' phone. It's been fun playing with it! The photo above shows all the applications I've added to it...most of them are free.

Kelly is at Kanakuk in Colorado. She is our only camper this year...helpful for the checkbook, but kind of sad nonetheless. I counted it up yesterday and over the years with the 3 kids, this is our 20th term at kamp! We haven't heard one word from Kelly. I hope she likes it. K-CO is a lot different than the Missouri camps and this is her first year to go to it. She did take a 3 day horse trip, which hopefully went well. Nick went to K-CO last summer and loved it (actually liked it much better than Missouri) and was planning on going back this summer. That is why Kelly decided to go to there instead of her standard 25-day term (this one is only 13 days :), but then we had to cancel Nick because he was supposed to go on a 10 day road trip with a bunch of guys he graduated with, up to the All-Star game, and that ended up falling through. So Kelly ended up in CO without Nick! Some have asked why Connor didn't go to camp... I don't know what to say except he's 16 :)

We pick up Kelly on Friday and will go to Keystone for a mini-vacation of 2 days before getting to our cabin up in Estes Park. The guys will play both golf courses, and Kelly and I will shop and hang out. We are driving up to the cabin from the west side of the mountians which means we will drive over Trail Ridge to get there. I have this thing about HEIGHTS and am not looking forward to driving over the top. We will have 2 cars (we are actually meeting in Keystone) and that means I need to drive one of them, or maybe I'll ride with Bill or Nick over Trail Ridge. I need to get over this heights thing, but really...the road is very exposed in some places and cars have been known to, well, you know...

Hope your summer is going well!

June recap

2008-06-30T09:28:00.005-05:00

Today is the last day of June, so for most intents and purposes, the summer is about half over. Connor starts football on August 4, which means we have to be back in town from Colorado the weekend before.

June's been good! Kelly went on a Dino Dig trip with about 20 kids from school and 3 teacher/staff chaperones. They went (and camped) to New Mexico, Colorado (yes, she's already been to Estes once this summer :), Wyoming and South Dakota. They saw Mt. Rushmore, and actually dug for dinosaur bones at an excavation site in Wyoming. The dig is run by a Christian college and they approach it from a creationist worldview.

Connor's been recuperating from that dislocated shoulder. He's begun playing 7-on-7 football, although I'm still unclear as to whether the doc has approved it :) He is currently at Beach Camp in Florida with the youth from Prestonwood Baptist Church.

Nick and I went to Kansas State for orientation and enrollment. He's enrolled for 15 hours for the fall, and we are having an ongoing conversation on whether he should just take 12 as he adjusts to college and pledges a fraternity. He is pledging Delta Upsilon and will be living in their house. I toured the house when we were up there and it's pretty cool: 3 levels plus a basement, sleeping dorms, study rooms, an industrial kitchen... they have a full-time cook and the pledges do all the cleaning! Nick did Wildcat Warmup, a welcome weekend for new students. I had a relaxing weekend at a hotel in Topeka while he did that. A tornado had hit the campus just 36 hours before we arrived, so there was a lot of debris around. However, the school did a great job of keeping the weekend going.

Nick had all four of his wisdom teeth extracted at the beginning of the month and it was a difficult week. Now, 4 weeks later, he has developed an infection under his gum and is just as swollen as the day after they were pulled! He's on a stiff antibiotic and the doc says he'll be feeling fine in no time.

Last week, Nick, Kelly and I volunteered at West Dallas Community School in the mornings. We enjoy doing that every summer. We may try to work it in for two weeks next year. The kids are great, and it's easy to bond with them in a short period of time.

Nick has been playing golf almost every day. Kelly has been writing stories. Connor has been hanging out with his friends, and looking for a job. Kelly leaves for Kanakuk Colorado on July 7. We all pick her up from camp on the 19th and head up to the cabin. Bill is taking two weeks off, so that will be nice. And Astro...well he's just been hanging out!

Kelly's 8th grade graduation

2008-06-07T13:41:00.003-05:00

Kelly graduated from the 8th grade last week. She has loved middle school and is somewhat sad to leave it behind. Some middle school highlights: Wildnerness Trip (with all the 8th graders in the Ozark Mountains), Academic Awards for Science and Latin, National Latin Exam awards - 7th grade and 8th grade (gold medal summa cum laude), State Recognition for SAT score taken as in 7th grade under Duke Talent Identification Program, 6th grade Physics Camp by Women in Physics at University of Texas at Dallas (selective admission), and just enjoying school. (Hope this didn't sound too much like a Christmas letter! We are very proud of her and thankful that she enjoys learning and have a strong curiosity).

Nick graduates!!

2008-05-18T18:47:00.007-05:00

Nick has graduated from TCA!! It was a wonderful ceremony and we are very proud of him! We were thrilled that his grandparents from Phoenix were able to attend. Nick leaves tomorrow, Monday, to work on a friend's ranch for 2 or 3 weeks. He is looking forward to college at Kansas State (go Wildcats!) where he has already pledged Delta Upsilon fraternity and will be moving into their house. They seem like a really good group of guys and we are excited for him.

Kelly wins two 8th grade Academic Awards!!

2008-05-14T22:26:00.002-05:00

We are very proud and excited for Kelly as she has won two Academic Awards. When we learned she was winning an award, we guessed it would be for Latin. She did win a Latin award, but she also won a Science award! She loves both subjects and we are thrilled to see her rewarded.

Legacy goes all the way to state!

2008-05-14T22:07:00.008-05:00

It was a fun ride for Connor's baseball team as they had an undefeated district season, and won all of their playoff games until the state championship, which they lost 11-7. Connor had a great playoff run and was named to the all-tournament team. Unfortunately, he completely dislocated his shoulder during the championship game. Next week he will begin 12 weeks of therapy. His summer has changed now that summer baseball, summer basketball, and 7-on-7 football are off the radar!

April update

2008-04-24T09:41:00.004-05:00

Typical busy Spring in our home just as it is in everyone else's. Nick is winding down at school. He and Bill went up to K-State last weekend for the spring football game, university open house, and fraternity rush events. Amazing that the fraternities actually are recruiting the high school seniors before they graduate from high school! He did receive a bid from one of the houses that he likes, and several are still in contact with him. He will probably make a decision soon. AP exams and TCA prom coming up in the next week or so. Graduation is May 16th. His announcements have been delayed, but we should get them this week! This photo is of Nick up at K-State for the open house.

Connor has been playing lots of sports this spring! LCA finished district with an undefeated record and won their first play-off game 10-0. Connor had a great game at the plate, going 3-4. Connor is also on the track team and has advanced from district to regional and now to state in 3 events (high jump and two relay races). The state track meet will be held May 2 and 3 in Waco. He even did a stint with the tennis team! Connor went to the LCA prom a couple of weeks ago with his girlfriend, Patricia. All of this activity keeps him really busy, so he has to catch a few z's wherever he can (that's Astro with him in the photo).

Kelly has been playing on the middle school tennis team at TCA and is really enjoying it. She has improved quite a lot. Unfortunately I dont' have a photo to post, but I'll get one! They only have one match left so I better get it then. (The only reason we have so many sports photos of Connor is because there is a wonderful volunteer team photographer. ) Kelly did just win a gold medal for scoring in the summa cum laude level for the National Latin Exam, an exam taken mainly by high school students around the country. TCA uses the Latin I curriculum (which is usually a freshman Latin course) in the 7th/8th grade years. I promise to post some pics of Kelly soon!

Connor's team plays in professional stadium

2008-04-03T21:38:00.005-05:00

Connor's baseball team, Frisco Legacy Christian, played a district game in the AA park of the Frisco Roughriders today. We won 13-0 and remain undefeated in district (5-0) with 3 games to go.

Nick sat in the press box with his friend, Matt, who announced the game.

Kelly in a dress?!

2008-03-31T09:05:00.003-05:00

We don't often get Kelly in a dress, so I had to post this photo. Kelly and I (Karyn) went to a National Charity League function yesterday. NCL is a mother-daughter service organization. Kelly and I did win an award for serving 30 hours during the last year.

It's baseball season!!

2008-03-17T10:17:00.003-05:00

Connor got a late start with baseball (due to basketball) but is enjoying playing. The Eagles just went 3-0 at the Dallas Lutheran tournament, and didn't give up a single run! They outscored their opponents 42-0. They are currently 1-0 in district, and are on spring break this week.

Nick and Bill go to K-State - Baylor game

2008-02-24T11:01:00.003-06:00

Bill and Nick drove down to Waco yesterday for the game. Unfortunately, K-State lost, but they had great seats (right behind the scorers' table) and enjoyed seeing Michael Beasley and Bill Walker play. Beasley is the leading scorer in college basketball right now. Nick is lobbying to go to Manhattan tomorrow to see the Cats play Texas at home (TCA is on break this week). He'll have to settle for ESPN :)

Kelly makes the tennis team!

2008-02-22T09:09:00.001-06:00

Kelly is excited to make the TCA Middle School tennis team! Matches begin in the 3rd week of March.

LCA loses Area playoff game 82-78

2008-02-20T07:36:00.004-06:00

After leading the game for 3 1/2 quarters, by as much as 17 points, the Eagles lost the game in the final two minutes. Plagued by interesting 'fouls', the Eagles lost two starters and had 3-4 more players with 4 fouls each. We also had a lot of turnovers. But the team is young (except for our team leader, Johnny, a senior -- all the other starters and most of the bench were sophomores) and they should come back strong next year.

What's next for Connor? Baseball! The Eagles are already playing and doing very well.

Legacy wins first play-off game, 76-48

2008-02-18T18:41:00.002-06:00

We went to Temple on Saturday for the Bi-district play-off game. It was raining most of the way down. We had some hydroplaning issues that kept the heart in overdrive, but we arrived safely. Here is a link to an article about the game found in our opponent's local paper: Hawks run into a wall in postseason .

The boys play the Area round on Tuesday in Longview.

Basketball update

2008-02-10T12:47:00.000-06:00

Connor's team, LCA Eagles, has finished the regular season and will begin the playoffs on Saturday. See short article here (with a nice little kudo for Connor and some of the other guys):
http://www.friscoenterprise.com/articles/2008/02/07/frisco_enterprise/sports/49.txt .

January recap

2008-02-01T07:18:00.000-06:00

Well, I've been asked to update (you know who you are) so here goes:

Kelly: She's been playing basketball on the 8th grade team at TCA. They only have about 6 girls actually playing right now, so she's getting to play a lot (which she loves). It's kind of funny to see the 8th grade cheerleaders when they come to the game becuase there are over 20 of them, and there are so few playing basketball :) Kelly visited Legacy last week and she liked it, but she's decided to stay at TCA for high school. TCA is quite a bit larger than LCA and is able to have a much greater selection of courses. Kelly will be going on Dino Dig this summer with some kids from school and one of the science teachers. They travel, and camp, in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. They will see Mt Rushmore and dig for dinosaur bones for two days at a site in Wyoming.

Connor: He's still playing a lot of basketball on the varsity team at LCA as a point guard. They are playing really well right now and are set pretty well to get a playoff spot from their district. He thinks he had a "double-double" in last night's game. He had 12 points and may have had 10 rebounds. It was a good game. He is, of course, enjoying having his driver's license. You might say he has a tight leash right now with regard to drving priviliges :) but he is doing much better. Connor's already made a lot of good friends at Legacy and is enjoying hanging out with them. Most of them live in Frisco (where the school is) and since we are in Plano, it is giving him a lot of opportunities to drive. Baseball is right around the corner, and LCA's team looks pretty good. You can keep up with LCA's sport scores on hsgametime.com/dfw. They aren't large enough to be listed as a separate school, but if you go to
http://www.hsgametime.com/dfw/schoolinfo.htm?infoType=schedule&schoolId=1235&sportId=6&propertyId=1&y=2008&m=1&eventId=141414
that should take you to their basketball schedule and you can click on any score for additional info.

Nick: He's having a fun, relaxed senior year. He's excited about going to K-State. He spends most of his time hanging out with his friends and going to TCA basketball games. He is co-leading a bible study for 7th grade boys early on Friday mornings at TCA. He is also participating in a couple of bible studies. One is a group of senior guys. They've been meeting with the same leader since they were in 7th grade. The other one is brand new, it just started last night. Both of them are through K-Life. It looks like Nick will not be going back to camp at Kanukuk Colorado this summer (note to self: cancel reservation) and will be going instead on a ROAD TRIP with about 5 other seniors up to the north east and culminating in the MLB All-Star game in NYC. It should be a lot of fun. (Cousin Justin, do you have room for 6 guys to sleep on your floor ?! :) Of course, we are also working on convincing Nick that getting a j-o-b would be a good idea!! Nick will be going on the Mexico mission trip again at TCA this year. They are going in March. Hopefully his passport will be back before then!

Bill: He is very busy at work (which is a good thing!) and busy on the K-Life board pulling together this year's fundraising golf-tournament. Bill has a pretty big birthday in a couple of weeks. We haven't quite decided how to celebrate, but I've been sworn to no parties.

Karyn: I am still teaching the Moms 'n Mosa!cs program at church twice a month, and serving in Young Men's Service League (wth Nick) and National Charity League (with Kelly). Of course, I also have my CPA business, which is seasonal in the amount of time required.

I feel like I've just written a Christmas letter! Well, since we didn't send out cards this year, maybe I have :)

New Math

2008-01-18T10:04:00.000-06:00

Does
+

=

Connor turns 16!!

2008-01-09T19:51:00.000-06:00

Today is Connor's birthday. We started out the day at, where else -- the Texas Department of Public Safety! We had done the parent-taught driver's ed using an online course. There is a mound of paperwork to supply but thankfully we had it all. So Connor is now a licensed driver!

We've been looking for a car for Connor to drive ever since we got back from our trip to Colorado. We even bought one on Monday, and returned it Tuesday (don't ask!). We've looked at cars all over the metroplex...it's been hard to find a decent car at a decent price. Connor really wanted a Ford Explorer and we were focused on finding a black, white or silver one from 2002. There just aren't that many around. There are plenty of green (it must have been a popular color that year).

Hopefully our searching has come to an end (although we have 3 days to return it :). We ended up buying a 2004 with a little over 50k miles on it. Our thinking is that Nick will take it to Kansas State in the fall when he goes up there. Then Connor will take Nick's car.

Connor was pretty bummed that we hadn't found anything by his birthday. And we expected him to be tied up in school, and then at basketball practice until 6 today. But he got an extra birthday surprise when the water main to the school was ruptured in a construction accident and they closed the school around 1:00 today and cancelled all after-school activities! So Connor was able to go with us to get the car. He claims this is the best birthday ever! Of course, we remind him that the car does not technically belong to him...we can take it away for any number of reasons :)

White Christmas! Part 2

2008-01-02T18:37:00.000-06:00

We did awaken to a white Christmas! It was beautiful! It snowed pretty much all day. It was wonderful to celebrate Christmas with such a beautiful scene right outside the window.

We awoke to another surprise Christmas morning. Bill's cousin, Kristin, was in labor! The fun part for us was that we got to keep (3rd) cousins Ethan and Decker while their moms (Kristin and sis Karen) were at the hospital. Kelly and Ethan built a snow penguin!

Baby Isaac was born on Christmas Day, just a smidgen under 5 lbs, but perfectly healthy. UPDATE: Baby Isaac and family made the front page of the Estes Park Trail Gazette! See article here.

We had a wonderful Christmas dinner at Marys Lake Lodge with Bill's cousin, Barb. Several of us had the salmon, which was very good. So was the desert buffet!

We went by the LC Ward cabin several times. The first time there was snow on the snake fence and it was really pretty. Looks like the damage from the blown down trees this fall has been fixed. Snow completely covered Fall River.

We took Bill's car into a local mechanic. He said that the Acura people had not put the spark plugs on correctly. Could it be that easy? He charged us $38 and neither engine light came back on while we were still up in Estes and we could tell the difference in how well the car ran. He warned us that it may have caused permanent damage to the engine (catalytic converter). But we were excited to have the car running better and with no lights on! However, on the way home, just outside of Denver...bam, the lights came back on. This time the car ran ok all the way back so we didn't worry too much about getting stranded. Bill took the car in the day after we got back and guess what... the dealer took responsibility for causing the problem! Hopefully they will stay true to their word and fix any additional issues it may have caused.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. We were able to visit with some of Bill's cousins that we don't see very often. We saw enough snow to last us a while, but mostly we were able be together as a family in one of God's greatest creations, the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

What a Christmas!! Part 1

2008-01-02T16:34:00.000-06:00

For years, Bill and I have wanted to spend Christmas in the mountains, and this year we did. I think the kids were sort of 'on the fence' about it. They love Estes Park, but they didn't want to be away from their friends for 10 days. Of course, that was some of our motivation for doing it :)

The trip started out eventfully. We serviced Bill's car before leaving. It has 125,000 miles on it and we wanted to be sure we wouldn't run into any problems. So we were a little perturbed when about 30 miles out of Plano, around 6:00 a.m., two different engine lights came on...the one that had been on before servicing as well as a new one! But the technician has told Bill that sometimes it takes a few cycles for the lights to go off (he'd called the night before when the lights were still on after servicing), so we tried not to worry about it. (This is called foreshadowing :))

By the time the dealer opened and we could call the service tech, we were well into Oklahoma. We fully expected to run into snow. We had gone back and forth on which route to take because we knew we'd hit snow either way (the Amarillo-Raton-Colo Springs route or the I35-I70 Okla-Kansas route). We went with the route that gave us interstate the entire way. So we called the Acura guy and he told us that it was probably just the light and not to worry about it. If we really wanted to get it checked, we should try a Honda dealer if we couldn't find an Acura one.

By the time we crossed the Kansas line, it was snowing and blowing so heavily that we could barely see. We found an open Honda dealer in Wichita and slowly made our way there (I do so love my new iphone and google maps!). We figured it couldn't hurt to sit out on the storm for a little bit. The Honda people changed something that frequently causes one of the lights to come on (that new one we were experiencing). We had self-diagnosed it based on google (thank you iphone) and the Acura service tech. So we spent an hour and $255 at the Honda dealer while the snow fell heavily outside.

We left the dealer with no engine lights on and set out on I-35. We were quickly in sporadic white-out conditions and pretty soon both engine lights came back on. We were hungry and couldn't see any places to stop as we inched our way up the interstate. I was afraid we were going to be one of those families in the news that get stranded with no food or water! We could barely see the snow plows on the road, but we tried to stay near them.

We finally pulled off the highway (which was pretty scary as we couldn't see the road) and decided to wait it out for a while. A lady traveling by herself was stuck up ahead of us. Of course, we'd seen countless people stranded on the side of the road but Bill decided to see if he could help her. Bill and Connor and another gentleman were able to push her out, and she promptly got stuck again :)

Conditions improved as we drove north and by the time we made it to I-70 it was no longer snowing and the road was pretty good. We headed west. We had originally planned to make it to Denver by 7:00 so the boys could watch the Cowboys game. In fact, I'd gone to great lengths (thanks again to google) to find a hotel that provided the NFL network. It was actually a pretty good hotel, but we got there after the game was over. Of more concern was that something was obviously wrong with the car...it wasn't just contrary engine lights (wishful thinking). We were torn about what to do -- leave it at a dealer in Denver or Boulder, or try to make it 'up the hill' to Estes. We were concerned that since it was December 23rd by now (Sunday morning), we couldn't get the car looked at until the 26th. Things always look more hopeful in the light, and Sunday morning we decided to get go on up to Estes. We knew we could count on AAA! The car was idling roughly and surging, but it did ok going up the hill to Estes.

We were excited about getting settled into our rental house. It had been a stressful ride up. So you can imagine how we felt when we found the rental locked! It was supposed to be open for us. We decided to go eat lunch, and of course we had some discussion on whether we were 'meant' to be on this trip. As the kids pointed out, everything was seeming to go wrong! Thankfully, that was the turning point and things went up from there (except for the car, but we'll get back to that). We got into the house, and it was wonderful with a great view. It also held fast to the side of the mountain that night as the winds gusted to 80 mph! I'll fast forward through the rest of the trip.

Bill's cousin, Kristin, (well 2nd cousin but who's counting, and who by the way was 8 months pregnant) and her husband own a great restaurant in town, Ed's Cantina. You must eat there if you are ever in Estes Park. They hosted the annual Christmas Eve get together for their side of the family, and graciously included us in on it. It was so much fun! It started with touch football (and it was a gloriously beautiful day -- probably the mid-30's and sunny, well a little windy too but we tried to ignore that). Even I participated in part of the game.

After football, we went back to Ed's for the big stocking exchange...well more like bag exchange. We were newbies and quickly saw that we were nowhere as prepared as we thought we were! These Mosiers are very generous. This pic is of all the gift bags lined up on a counter in the bar area -- too many to even fit up there.

There is a sign hanging in the bar from Bill's mom and dad's business probably 60 years ago. We had our photo taken under it. We had some wonderful corn chowder and enjoyed visiting with Bill's cousins, spouses and children. Then we went back to the rental for the night. We wanted to go to church, but the trip up, as well the sleepless night from the wind, caught up with us and we went 'home' for the evening, wondering if we could get the forcasted snow.