Altus.. Airplanes.. Adventures

While we were in Altus, we were able to see the KC-135. Clay showed us the simulators where he is currently training. Then we looked at the real deal! We couldn't get up close and personal with the KC-135, but we admired her from a far. And boy is she perdy! Laura is proud to announce that after some good instruction from Clayboy, she can now identify a KC-135! It's hard to tell one big plane from another, but after a little practice and a finer eye - the C-17, c-5, and KC-135 started to look different!
Since we couldn't get up close to the KC-135, (and we had already told CJ we were going to look at Daddy's plane) we looked at a ...Oh boy....here is the true test for Laura. Can she remember what plane we looked at? I want to say it was a C-141? ..uh oh..Is she right? I am either going to have a really proud husband because I got the plane right, or a really embarrassed husband because his wife got the plane wrong and now it is on our public blogspot.... We shall see. but anyway back to the plane, we looked at this big plane and realized just how small we are and how big these planes are! We even found out that they make good umbrellas...yes, a rain shower arrived and we took cover under the wing. CJ then had fun dancing in the puddles.

CJ and Preston decked out and ready to hit the pools!
CJ receiving his knighthood at the local park in Altus!
CJ driving his first rig. Clay says you have to start them out young.... then they can help Papa and Grandma on the farm by age three. Look out!

Father's Day with Daddy

Since Clay couldn't make it home for Father's day, his family decided to come to him! That's right, the whole Ward Crew bunked up with Daddy in his one room "hotel" for a week...yipee. We had make-shift beds for the boys (the play-n-pack for Preston and a sleeping bag for CJ) however, by morning we all ended up in the same bed. Hey, it's together time, right..quality time with Daddy!
Yes, we were sleeping like this, however, don't be fooled - there was not a fifth person in the room taking pictures! It was Clay and Laura having fun jumping in and out of bed, taking pictures of the funny situation, laughing at themselves, and not waking up the boys! The Adventures we have!
The little men finally stirrin' (and Laura making a funny face) getting ready for another big day in Altus!
CJ catching up on a little bit of Daddy time!
CJ helped Laura make a special Father's Day breakfast in bed for Daddy...toast, bacon and cereal. When you are limited to a only microwave...you have to make do with what you've got! CJ sure enjoyed it, as he ate most of Daddy's breakfast while he was sitting next to him. What can you say?

Those Precious Moments

There are those precious moments in life that make parenting all worth while.... The first "I love you" or should I say "Wuv Ou", kisses, hugs, smiles, coos and giggles. Luckily, we were able to capture some of Preston's first smiles. When you see that little face look up at you and grin, all the sleepless nights, poopy diapers, spit-up mishaps, screaming fits, etc. all seem to melt away and disappear. CJ is such a good big brother. He is so proud of Preston. He is always asking about him and making sure he is okay. He loves it when Preston talks to him or touches him. CJ just giggles and smiles. We are so blessed to have two healthy cute boys.

You brought home a WHAT?

Clay came home Friday night with a special house guest! Apparently, Clay and his carpool buddy had acted as a good Samaritan, or so they claim. A turtle was on the side of the road next to a dead turtle, who apparently became this girl turtle's dead husband. And since the turtle was so sad that her husband had gotten smushed, she was now contemplating suicide herself on the side of the road..but thanks to Clay and his buddy, they found her and rescued her from her fate. The Next obstacle, which was much more difficult than the first might I add, was to convince Laura that she really wanted a pet turtle....




Laura was not quite ready for another pet attempt (she is still recovering from her mishaps with the dead fish; for those of you not familiar with that story, oh boy. Well in a nut shell - we thought it would be a clever gift for our 4 year old friend' s birthday to give him some gold fish. Yeah well, Laura ended up killing 7 fish in two weeks. Not all her fault mind you - but the scar still remains! If you want more details check out the Kilgore's blogspot on Zach's birthday) So, long story short.. Laura wasn't too thrilled to meet Clay's new found friend. However, Laura isn't completely without compassion and charity. She let the turtle stay inside overnight, well almost overnight, the turtle got kicked outside in the middle of the night when it woke up both Clay and Laura because it was making too much racket in it's box. The next morning, we took a nice family outing to the duck park where she dove into the pond. We are ALL glad that she is in a happier place...right Clayboy?

2 Crazy Boys and their Parents

How do people do it? How can you get a family picture with two squirming boys? AGHH. Sorry, we haven't posted in a while, it's been busy, but I think we are getting life under control. Also, sorry for all the posts in one day, BOTH boys are sleeping (I can hardly believe it!!) and I am taking advantage of the moment. I'm not sure when I will get to it again...Mommy time!!!

Mother's Day and Preston's Blessing

How often do you get to spend mother’s day with your mom after your married? Not often, so Laura was excited to have her mother with her. Mother’s day started out perfectly! Papa and Clay made breakfast in bed for Nana and Laura –Pancakes with strawberries and coolwhip (Nana’s staple food – she’s crazy about the stuff), and a side of wheat bread…yum. Everything was cooked perfectly, it was delicious. Then, we took family pictures outside (which is very important to Laura) and headed off to church where Preston was blessed. What better way to celebrate motherhood than by witnessing your husband and father giving your new son a name and blessing. Wow. It was beautiful. Later that afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful meal of barbecued chicken and shrimp (thanks to the Thorups who let us borrow their barbecue and thanks to Papa and Clay who went over in the dark the night before and cooked it for us!).

Here Come the Men!

After the girls had been alone in the house eating raspberry and orange slime, soup, bagels, and wheat bread (all the things our men don’t particularly like, but we love – and amazingly Laura and Nana like the same things) the men were coming home. It was an exciting day! Clay drove up from Altus and picked up Papa from the airport. Nana and Laura were excited to be reunited with their men; CJ and Preston were excited to see Daddy and Papa. It was a great reunion by all. We had a full house for the weekend. We did yard work, went to Leonardos (which is a hands on kids museum…it’s awesome!), picked out flowers for the yard, barbecued, went to the park, and just loved being together.

Nana Comes to Town

CJ was a little confused, is it Nana or Santa? Sometimes when grandparents come into town it's hard to tell!!! Laura loved having Nana around to talk to, clean, shop, eat, walk, help with babies, and just keep her company.

The first night that Nana was here Laura and her stayed up until past midnight just talking! It was soo much fun. Slumber party for the next two weeks! Girl talk…fabulous. They also had a great time eating all the foods that they loved and their husbands don’t. CJ also enjoyed Nana – she brought a whole set of CARS figures and CJ got a new one every day. Nana played cars with CJ non-stop. What a life! We also got Nana hooked on our new tradition: Popcorn and Everybody Loves Raymond!

The Whole Claywardcrew poses for a picture!!! It's a miracle we are all looking at the same place! Whew!
Proud Daddy with his two boys!
Proud Mama with the two boys!
Here at Vance, when a new baby is born, they put their name and birth date on a sign to announce their arrival. As a family, we went and captured Preston's debute!
Here is just another cute picture of Preston!

More Pictures of Preston

After things had settled down a bit, Clay went home to get CJ and introduce him to his little brother. for the past couple of month's we've been trying to explain to CJ that he was going to be a big brother, and he must have understood because he took no time warming up to Preston.
Apparently he's not yet suffering from 'Attention Diversion Syndrome'.





OK, so maybe dad is a little bias!

Three Men and A Tough Lady!!!

He's Here! Little Preston John Ward was born this Afternoon, 11 April, at 2:55p.m.
He is 8 lbs, 12 oz and 20 inches long. All looks good and the ClayWardCrew will keep you updated on the updates!

Easter Bunny.......Hunting?

Despite the snow on Friday, and the significantly cooler temperatures since, it was a fun weekend with all of the Easter festivities. On Saturday we were happy to get paid a visit from Mike and Adrianne Richards and family, who are currently stationed down at Tinker AFB by Oklahoma City. Except for a quick visit by Laura and CJ a few month's go, we hadn't really seen them since the good 'ol days at BYU. It was a short visit, but we managed to all attend the Base Easter Egg Hunt (although the hunt was more of a toddler shopping spree that lasted about twenty seconds!).





This afternoon after church CJ had another little Easter Egg hunt here in the backyard with Brian. There were much fewer kids and the eggs were a little better hidden.

Visit From The Smith's

Last week we were visited by Mom & Dad Smith and Bryce for a couple of days. Clay went up to see Bryce graduated from Army MP School in Ft. Leonardwood, Missouri along with Stan and Nancy, then afterwards they all drove down together to hang out with the ClayWardCrew. We were able to go for a ride in the T-1 simulators, check out a rather disappointing Assignment Night, and head down to Oklahoma City to check out the Bombing Memorial. It was their first time on an Air Force base, and the first time Clay had seen then in a year and a half, so it was nice just being together.