A Ward Family...

Living away from my immediate family has its UPS and DOWNS.

One of the UPS is that I've had to extend my family circle.

I'm tremendously blessed to be living among FANTASTIC people who make me and my family feel part of a whole.

Thanks family, for taking time out of your very busy lives to make a youth activity so stinkin' fun!

Each of you bless my life.

Julie & Julia

I'm not a fan of the movie.
Saw it and was unimpressed. (is that a word?)
I was impressed with Meryl Streep, however.

I am also impressed with Ree Drummond.
My dream is to be her next door neighbor.
And because I do realize that some dreams are meant to be only that...
I settled on buying her cookbook.

The Pioneer Woman, as she is known in blogland, made a stop in my neck of the woods for a book signing.
I figured this was as close as I would get to my dream so I went and took fun Vickie with me.
We waited for a L O N G time.  Which would have been much longer but thanks to fun Vickie's darling nieces, we got in line with them.

It was such a great evening.
Chatting.
Taking some photos.
Enjoying a refreshing beverage.
Chatting lots more.
Finally our turn came.
And I got my book signed...

She is real and down to earth and funny and took time for each person there.

So after having a signed cookbook in my hands I was going to really get into it and start cooking every single recipe in there!  I was going to turn myself into her sidekick.  I was going to do the Julie part of Julie and Julia. 

But then LIFE happened.

So three months later my energy has changed and instead I'm just going to cook SOMETHING out of her book ONCE a week.  My week reference will be Sunday to Saturday.

Week #1

Brent and I picked out her Roasted Beef Tenderloin for a special Valentine's Sunday dinner.  As she notes in her book and on her blog - this is pricey!  The recipe on her blog differs from that in her book slightly.  The seasoning in her book is kosher salt, pepper, sugar and olive oil.  And in her book she mentions to cook it to a lesser temp.  We took it out when the temp read 134 which is inbetween the two cook times.  The kids took the ends (not so red) and Brent and I devoured the center pieces.  It truly was melt in your mouth delicious.  And if you are scared away from pink meat, please think again.  Some years ago I made the switch.  I never knew how beautiful beef could be.  Even ask my dear friend Maggie, who is slightly older than myself.  She discovered the delights of a filet mignon a few weeks ago.  Her smart daughter Kristi helped her make the switch.  It's never too late!!

Stay tuned next week for recipe #2.  I have no idea what it's going to be : )

Celebrate GOOD TIMES ~ Come on!

The Freshman Lady Hawks ended the season with only one loss.

Who knows what the coming seasons of basketball will hold for Maddison.

But for right now it's been pretty darn FANTASTIC!!

We love you Sis.

Congrats on a winning season!

A winning season that began 7 years ago...

When Maddison was about 7 years old she played on a little city rec basketball team with her friends Hannah, Haley and Lexie.

They were so cute with their hair in a curly ponytail which was often adorned with a fun little flower or the Bo Derek braids that covered their heads and bounced up and down as they ran around the court.

Dribbling here and there, tossing the ball in the air and hoping it would land in that basket that seemed so high and out of reach.

They smiled and held hands and after the fun few weeks of some good exercise Maddison never thought of basketball again.

Her recreational sport of choice was dance.

And she spent her summers doing tricks off the diving board for the city dive team. When Maddison was 12 and in the 7th grade she decided she was going to try out for the junior high basketball team.

Excuse me??

Where did that come from??

Some 7 year old dream that was never quite fulfilled??

But she did it.

The coach kept 12 girls.

Maddie was girl number 13.

Coach said something like this to her, "I have a deal for you. I'd like to keep you on the team but you need to understand a few things. You will work out with the team, practice hard with the team, run the drills with the team and be expected to be at every game with the team BUT you wouldn't be able to actually play in a real game with the team. I see some real potential in you and would like to give you the opportunity to develop yourself as a player. With some hard work and lots of practice I think you could do it. So that's the deal. You don't have to say yes. I understand it would be hard to put in all the work and not get to play. I'll let you think about it over night and you can let me know tomorrow."

We talked Maddie through it over and over.

The good. The bad. The ugly.

She took the deal.

It's amazing what it does for one's confidence when someone believes in you. (Coach Little is a smart man...both on and off the court.)

 She had a great season and learned a lot about basketball and about herself.

She tried out for the 8th grade team the following year.

Coach Little put her on the team and again fueled her confidence with good, fair playing time and believing in her to get the job done.

 The team became the District Champions!

Now here we are at the present...

A freshman in highschool and another basketball season under her belt.

Wings are a beautiful thing.

10 miles

I love these two boys in my life.

One because passing off scouting stuff is very important to him.

The other because he wants to help his son succeed.

Dad checks on son...

Son checks on Dad...

Off they go.

But 10 miles is nothing compared to the miles they will cover

on the road to Eagle.

I'm glad they have each other.

And I'm glad I have them.