New arrival in the Ward family

Well,Baby Reese finally made it!!!!! Dallas is so excited to have another cuz around. Jesse and Brooke are blessed to have such a beautiful little girl all themselves, or at least when all the family decides they've had enough and hand her back to them (which is typically when she has a full diaper)!!!!!

Christmas was awesome. Jyl got me a new camera that takes some wicked pics. Dallas got his four wheeler and Jordanne bought him a great helmet. The kid is set. We had great food, visited with family, and had a blizard that rivals all snow storms I've ever seen.

Also, there's a video clip of our next American Idol, pulling a rockstar move singing in his underwear. The funny part is we didn't teach him this song (Oh Holy Night). He just started singing it one day. I guess it's no surprise that we listen to a lot of Christmas music at our house.

Sofi is starting to make her presence known. My wife has turned into a vegetarian fruit loving woman. It's been rough on the boys.

Take care, and Happy New Year!!!

-Ace

So this is Dallas Jay at Halloween. I think he is the blond version of Clark Kent. I know I am totally biased, but what can I say, I'm his mom. Everything around our house is good. We have all of our decorations up. I love decorating for Christmas, it has to be one of my favorite things. I love the Christmas season and all it represents the spiritual, the physical and well I love it all. I pretty much love winter. I wish we had more snow and bad weather all of the time. I think it's fantastic. I am sorry to all of you who don't like it. I still love you ;). Sofia is doing well. Jess and Brooke should have their baby pretty soon and Andrew is doing great in Lima. Ace bought me all of the Chronicles of Narnia and I have started to read them and love them. Truly a fun read. We want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Love the Call family.

Ok here it is...

It's a ... GIRL!! Her name will be Sofia B Call. You might wonder as do all who ask what does the B stand for? The B stands for the three amazing women in our lives Lizbeth (my mom), Bea (my grandma), and Betty (Ace's grandma). All amazing women in their own right and hopefully she will live up to their examples. We also chose Sofia for two reasons, first: it means wisdom and second: Ace had lived next door to an awesome family in Argentia. Their youngest daughter spelled her name with an f and so we thought it would be a good way to remember them. So there you have it! We are very excited and Dallas Jay is truly thrilled. The whole time he knew it was going to be a girl and he was right. Funny how they know so much more then we realize.
Speaking of Dallas he has just had his third birthday and is full of vim and vinegar. He is so much fun, but man he has energy to spare. He was riding with my mom and they were listening to the song by Kenny Chesney, "Everybody wants to go to heaven", and asked my mom if "Everybody wants to go to heaven? Everybody?". He listens and remembers so much more then we realize. That is pretty scary.
As usual the calls have been at it with projects again. On Thursday I came home from a continuing ed with dental hygiene (good job girls on your presentations) and Ace had started to paint the kitchen! It was a color that we had already chosen and I had been putting it off, but he decided to do it. I am a lucky girl. That night we went to bed around 1 am. The next night we decided we would paint our room. I wanted to do light blue to lighten it up a little, so we went to the store, got the paint and returned home to start taping and painting around 8. By 1 am we realized that our room was baby blue and looked like a nursery. Needless to stay we decided to go back to the store the next day at 7 am and get a new color. By the end of the day it was back together and beautiful, but what would a call project be without some ups and downs and 1 Am's! Don't forget to vote!

Another Palin Video

It's also a bit off-color, but after the Katie Couric interview, I'm a bit concerned!!!!! Jyl and I are really watching this political charade with open eyes. At first, we liked the idea of Obama, because it appeared that his energy for change was good. However, the further we got into his actual policies, especially his tax policy, well we've looked the other way. It's just great to see democracy in action and that the right to vote is given to every citizen. It's a great nation we live in, and regardless of whether you agree with our views or not, please don't miss your chance to vote in the upcoming election. By the way, did we mention that we find Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (spelling???) absolutely entertaining? Baby Mama was hilarious.

The small (big) joys in Life

On Saturday we thought we would buy Dallas his Halloween costume because as those parents of toddlers know the sizes and number of available costumes are small and go fast. We asked him what he wanted to be and he said a hero. Ok a hero sure, why not! We bought him a superman outfit with a cape and let us just say he wants to wear it everyday, he sleeps with it, I mean I have to make him take it off just to wash it. I think it is pretty cute as he has never been one to dress up. The kicker is that it is about three inches to short already. So by the time Halloween rolls around it won't fit. Oh well what are you going to do.
Today Dallas and I went to the doctor and were able to hear the baby's heartbeat. What a joy. With Dallas it wasn't as surprising to hear his heartbeat because we could always hear it and I just really expected it. I know that is so silly. I shouldn't have been cavalier, but that's just me I guess. I have always been very healthy and strong and so I just expected it. After this time with the doctor and all that mess and how sick I've been and all the stuff he said to me I am just more worried. We haven't been able to hear the heartbeat the last couple of times, because the Dr. told me that the baby is very active. But I was worried since he kept having me come back every two weeks and I am only on the 14th week, so what can I say, I was worried. I was hoping and praying that this time I could hear the heart beat and know the baby was ok and lucky for us we did hear the heartbeat. Best thing, besides Dallas saying, "I love you mommy too." I have heard all week. The funny thing is that when I was barley 8 weeks pregnant they did the ultrasound where you can see on the tv and Dallas went with me to that appt. too. So when we had the ultrasound this time he kept asking me where the tv was so he could watch the baby go "around and around". He was a little disappointed, but happy to hear the heartbeat anyway. I was impressed he remembered that.
We have discovered that the Wards and Bailey's are abounding in new babies! 6 on the Ward side and 4 on the Bailey side this year. Exciting! This last Saturday we were able to see two brand new babies that our friends had and the peace that surrounds these little ones was overwhelming. Just beautiful little boys. I am so impressed that we get to lead these ones on their life journey. What a blessing, challenge and responsibility. I am incredibly grateful for prayer and good examples. Also Ace. He makes all the tough days totally worth it.

Thank you Portland

Well, we made it through our long weekend up to Portland and back. Kathy and Russel's wedding was awesome. We had a great time. It was nice to get to see everyone, but we wished we had more time with everyone. We haven't seen the pics from Portland yet, we're excited to forward those on when we can. For now, enjoy this SNL clip about Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton. It's so stinking funny. It may be a bit off color, and well, if you don't know me by now, so am I.

Have fun, take care,

-Ace

PS. Sorry if the advertisement is an R rated movie. I tried to change that. Can't. It's still dang funny.

Beware and always listen to heart

Finally Ace got the jeep back! It looks beautiful! After 3000+ dollars worth of work it is brand new, except the engine of course!
After Ace related to everyone how I have been sick and so many of you expressed much appreciated concern. I thought I would let everyone know I am feeling so much better. My story begins in March. I was feeling ok, but had some issues so I went to my GP and saw of course the PA. Well after seeing him twice and still with the same issues, I decided to go and see a specialist. This doctor, who shall remain nameless, pretty much yelled at me the first two appts. and told me I should not get pregnant. He started me taking outrageous doses of medication and I was sick. About the same time that Ace and I decided maybe we should wait, I ended up pregnant. I know it's murphy's law and truly is our life. Although it definitely makes our life more interesting. Anyways, I was afraid to tell him that I was pregnant, but knew based on the medication I was taking that I needed to tell him. By this point I was taking Prenatal's, 2500 mg of Metformin, 1500 mg of Methaldopa and 81 mg of Asprin. He thought I had high blood pressure etc. I felt awful and I was sick from the pregnancy. It literally took all my energy to make it to work everyday. I had nothing left. I knew that I did not have high blood pressure so I started taking my Bp at work and it was sooo loooww. I would take in the readings and he would not even look at them. As a side note, my pregnancy with D was so smooth no problems, not even one. Next he sent me to the specialist who looked at me like why are you here?! At my next appt. with the Dr. he told me I should really consider not having anymore children because of all my health problems. I was so upset. I knew that I am a pretty healthy person. One of those that gets sick maybe once a year, if that. Let's just say sick days always go by the wayside. I also knew that I had never felt worse then I felt on those medications and wasn't functioning. So after my friends at work convinced me to change doctors I finally did. I went to my GP and he just looked at me and was pretty upset by how much medication I was taking and told me no more. I no longer take any of the medications, I do not have high blood pressure problems and I feel great. Yes I am more sick with this baby then I was with D, but I hear that is par for the course. I am grateful for those who helped me and tell all of you that have questions about what your doctor is telling you to get a second opinion. Most important listen to your own body.

Well, no sense in hiding it, as I'm sure you can tell, we're expecting number 2 on March 24, 2009. Dallas Jay is going to be a big brother, and not quite sure how he feels about it. Some days, well, he'd like to have a baby girl living here, and others he's wiser and wants a baby boy. But, at no time are they ever to be considered his brother or sister. If you ask him if he's going to be a big brother, he says "No, I'm Dallas Jay." So, we're working on that. Seems like there's something in the water lately because a ton of our friends are pregnant!!! Beware of the H2O!

We've been busy since our last posting. We took Dallas down to SLC and went to the zoo with Tony and Lindsey. We had a great time. Here's a pic of Dallas Jay and I and some geeky dude and his bald eagle. It was huge!!! On the way back to Idaho, Dallas wanted Jyl to sing songs. Well, once she had gone through her song list, she said it was Daddy's turn. Every time I opened my mouth to sing a primary song, he told me to stop singing because it was bad. So, I'm pretty sure that I'm not supposed to sing around him.

We stayed with Rachel and it was fun, but we missed the boys as they were all off playing in Nauvoo. Dallas liked their toys, but would have had much more fun with Zander and Keagan (sorry on the spelling).

Dallas is doing well with the potty training. He has a few accidents now and then, but mostly when he is having too much fun to stop and take care of business.

Speaking of too much fun, Dallas got to see all his cousins within a month's time. He saw Julian in SLC when she was up, he saw Peyton, Paige and Ellie when they were here and he got to see Landon this last week in Stanley. He's had so much fun with his cousins and he is really good with other kids, of course, I may be biased. He was so sad each time he had to leave his cousins. It's great that there'll be so many new cousins for him to hang out with, as well as one that is somewhat more permanent!

Well, for my last anecdote, we were up for our usual August trip to Stanley when we had another one of the "worst weekends ever!" I'm pretty sure VH1 could do a show on our mishaps alone! We got up there just fine and had a good time, but when we came home, we had realized that something had gotten to the Jeep. We had heard the dogs barking in the middle of the night, and didn't think much of it. Well, come to realize that the dogs were barking at the bob cat that was in our camp, and scared it up over the side of the Jeep on to the roof, where it hung out for a few seconds before sliding down the glass and to the hood. Needless to say, there's some serious damage done. They estimated $3,500!!! The hood, roof, and doors are going to have to be re painted. Luckily for us, it's covered under our comprehensive deductible of $100! So, I'll have a new paint job for a $100 and they gave me a midget-hearse (PT Cruiser) to drive in the mean time.

In this second picture, you can see the size of the paw print. It's as big across as my house key. Of course, Terry is still convinced it was Winnie. But, a guy I work with is sure it's a cat because the claws aren't out all the time and only cats have that ability. Plus, I know Winnie is athletic, but she couldn't ever make it on top of the Jeep.

When we got home from our disastrous encounter with the feline on steroids, we found our glass picnic table was smashed to thousands of pieces. Evidently, the bob cat had traveled back on top of the Jeep and when we got home, bounded over the roof and landed square on the table. Don't you worry, my head won't be cold this winter, I've got me a bob cat fur hat!

Actually, we think the wind picked up the umbrella, and when it slid out of the table, the table came down with such a force that it shattered into a thousand pieces. No fun. No fun, at all.

Well, other than that, I'm taking my tests over again, and about as excited to do such as a cat likes a bath. Bob Cat, that is. By the way, the guys at the firm are now calling the Jeep the Cat Mobile. And, to add insult to injury, when I took it in Monday, the window fell off the track!

Jyl has been quite sick and can't find anything that is appetizing. It's tough to see her so miserable. Everyone is telling me that it is a sign it is a girl. That would mean she would see me be miserable for 25 years!!!!! Just kidding. I'd let up around 24 1/2.

Take care, and thanks again for all your love and support. You all mean so much to us.

-Ace, Jyl, Dallas Jay, Lima Bean (not official), Winnie, Wyatt and Scooby Doo!

Ahh, Long boarding!

So here we are in July and Andrew has been gone for about 2 weeks ( and doing well based on his happy happy letters) and well Ace is missing having his long boarding buddy and guitar playing buddy, so he has been working with Dallas and teaching him long boarding and the guitar. Dallas did his own version of "I am a Child of God" and playing the guitar. It was pretty adorable if I do say so! He also really likes long boarding with Ace and Winnie and pretty soon will probably be on his own long board. They do grow up quick don't they!

Dallas has officially entered his toddler teenage years. The other night at dinner we were having steak and macaroni salad courtesy of my mom and the picky eater (kind of like his mom) looked at me after viewing dinner and said in his deepest most pleading voice "POTATOES"! A true potato man at heart! His Poppa has raised him well. He will always eat potatoes, they are our fail safe. Another cute, funny story about D. The other night I was reading to him at bed time and he was looking around and saw Andrew's picture on one of his other pictures and asked me where was Andrew. I told him he was on his mission, kissed him goodnight and left the room. The next morning I was making his bed and sure enough there was Andrew's picture in bed with him! He does love Uncle Andrew! Don't worry all of you other Aunt's and Uncle's, he loves you too.

Ace is loving his new job. Everyday they tell him how well he is doing and what a great asset he is to the firm. I am pretty proud of him! Funny, well ok, a pat on the back story for me. Today Dr. Snow told one of my patients that he knew I was a farm girl (meaning I had been taught to work) because I was always going above and beyond what was expected of me and that I knew how to work hard. So kudo's to you mom and dad.

Funny story about Ace and I. We are the perpetual doers. There is always some new way we can spend our holiday or weekend working, mind you as a family, but working. This weekend we took it upon ourselves to spend it working on staining our deck and picnic table. Ace sanded it on Friday and then we stained it Saturday morning and again Saturday night - late, late Saturday night. We finished at 12:00 a.m. In the meantime we had gone boating with Jesse and Brooke who let D drive the boat, and yes he wore a life vest the whole time, and Ace was wake boarding and cleared the wake several times! I am so proud of him. As always Jess and Brooke are amazing at all things, including wake boarding. Following wake boarding we went to dinner at the Pizza Hut in American Falls where we walked in they asked if we would come back later. I said no and then thought to myself, seriously?. And yes she was serious. Funny. Anyway, after boarding we went home put D to bed and stained. Fortunately when we looked at it Sunday morning it actually looked good! I was happily surprised. So that was our crazy Fourth of July. Happy Fourth to all.

What a crazy month!

June has been the craziest month for us! Andrew (my youngest brother) received his mission call to go to Santa Cruz, Bolivia and was scheduled to leave for the MTC on June 25. His farewell was the first weekend in June and it was amazing. He did such a good job! He talked about the atonement and its affect in his life. It is so powerful to hear someone talk from the heart. The next week Andrew, Ace, and my Dad went to sun valley and went long boarding and golfing for the weekend. You can imagine how much fun they had and I am glad that Ace got to go. I know he really enjoyed it. The next weekend Ace went to Island Park with his work and went water skiing on the reservoir. He really enjoyed that. He even got up at 5am to go and said it was freezing, but worth it. Andrew, Andrea and Grandpa Bailey drove up to Island Park and met with Ace.They went fishing on the river and unfortunately didn't catch anything but had fun. The next weekend we went to Rexburg to see Ashley (my cousin)'s baby Ella blessed. It was so neat to see and fun to see all of our family again! We love you Ash!

And then the day came for Andrew to go to Provo. You know I was so proud and happy when Jesse left and even though it was hard when Ace left I was excited and when I left on my mission I was just so excited that it didn't seem sad or hard to say goodbye, but then it came time for Andrew to leave and this one was really hard for me. I think part of it is knowing how much Dallas Jay loves Andrew and how much he will change in that time, but I am glad he is going and proud of him, but this is a new experience for me. The sad part is that the day before he was leaving we found out that his horse had been stolen and Dallas Jay kept asking Andrew where Dusty was! Poor Andrew. But he told me that he knew he wasn't supposed to worry about it and it would be okay. After saying that he looked at Ace and I and said that doesn't mean that you don't have to worry about it! Hopefully we will be able to find his horse in the next two years! So that has been our crazy, but wonderful month. I love June!

Ace's New Job

Here is D and I at the Utah game. So Ace started his new job at Van Orden's today and he loved it! Yeah! I am so glad, because after he was so miserable at ISU I didn't know how he would make it through a bad day. I am so proud of him because I know it is hard to persevere to meet your goals sometimes. It was hard today, though, when I went to lunch by myself and realized that not only could he not have lunch with me, but he was in a different city! Granted it is only 20 minutes away, but I still felt a twinge of OH NO! Don't worry I am fine now! Suck it up Princess as I always say.

We are still working on Dallas's potty training at the moment. Let's just say that it is really tough. My mom says he is doing well, and she should know, but I was a little frustrated when we still had not got it down by day three. I know many of you are laughing right now and saying way to be realistic Jyl. What can I say! Part of learning as a mom is that just because I am determined it is going to work and do everything I can, does not mean that it will work! Dallas actually has to decide for himself and make a choice. Man that is a tough one! But he is doing well and I am learning a lot from this experience as well, so in the end that is what life is all about.

Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president.
Johnny CarsonUS comedian & television host (1925 - 2005). So funny huh!

Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.
Johnny CarsonUS comedian & television host (1925 - 2005) I hope that this is something that we can all achieve is some shape or form. Love you all, Jyl

Life at the Call House

I have two funny stories to tell about Dallas Jay. The first one was his first all day day at the farm. Ace was helping move Grandma Call and so Dallas went out with Dallas Senior that day. He loved every minute of it and would not come home, even though Nana tried! When I went to pick him up all I could see was Andrew driving in the tractor and something hanging down from the fork on the front of the tractor. As Andrew got closer I could see that he was holding Dallas Jay in his arm and driving the tractor. Andrew opened the door and there was Dallas Jay asleep in Andrew's arm with a swim diaper on and no pants. I asked Andrew where his pants were and he told me to look at the front of the tractor. Dallas's pants were hanging on the fork because they were wet! Dallas was so tired that he was finally ready to go home when I asked him. I also found out that on that same day he had been with Uncle Jesse by my parents home and had fallen and landed on a cactus. So Dallas came home with bloody arms, no pants and a swim diaper and I bet if you asked him that was his favorite day ever!
My second funny story is when Dallas decided that his Toy Story figure, Woody, needed a bath. He took him into the bathroom and washed his head with soap and then told me he needed to brush his teeth! Then he asked me for lotion to put on Woody's face and he got out a q-tip to clean Woody's ears! And that in a nut shell is our routine.

Changing Jobs...Again?

Well, a year after the first interview, VanOrden, Lund & Cannon, PLLC, called me back for a second interview. This time, they invited Jyl, also. They are an accounting firm in Blackfoot that handles all facets of small business accounting. Well, they offered me the job and starting June 2, I'll be their newest staff accountant. I'm not looking forward to the commute, but this firm has some incredible experience and I am very much looking forward to the education.

Jyl and Dallas are doing well. Jyl has bought a book, Potty Train them in 3 Days or we'll buy your child, or something like that. She is determined that it is going to work. Dallas has not yet been interested at all, so we'll see how that goes. I'm on Jyl's side. No more dirty diapers!!!!! Plus, he's almost tall enough to get his learner's permit, and I think you can't get one if you're still in diapers...I'll have to check the state regs on that one. I think he's not going to love those three days, but I have faith in Jyl, and as a Ward, once she sets her mind to it, well excuse the saying, hell or high water she'll get it done!

We've been working in the yard which always seems like a never ending process. However, tonight we had dinner at our picnic table on our deck, and it finally feels like we've been here forever. It always seems to me that when I get comfortable in a place, I can't imagine not having lived there. I'm finally there here (somehow I hope that makes sense).

I'm wrapping up another semester, hallelujah. I am going to tackle the CPA exam this summer, two classes in the fall, one in the spring, and then I'm done studying-forever. Lots of people go to school for twenty-two years, they're called doctors. While there was a brief moment in time that I considered a PhD, I figure an MBA and CPA are sufficient. After all, I'd just be a long string of initials, A.C., M.B.A., C.P.A., and then PhD? Don't thinks so. I'm already going to sound like some code name for the military.

We're so excited for Liz and Dallas to move into their new home. This will be the fifth move I've helped with in the last 9 months. That's not counting when I forget to check the caller ID before I answer a call from the Elder's Quorum President. I think I about have enough time under my belt that I could be licensed and bonded as a professional mover. However, for those of you that are considering me as help, I am hanging up the belt and enjoying a sabbatical of at least 8 months!

Well, Jyl and I really appreciate all of you and what you mean to us. Thank you for sharing with us your lives, as we share with you ours.

cute picks of d

Dallas with his cousins! Peyton, Julian, Paige, Ellie.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

dallas at work

Dallas Jay has been busy at work helping his dad! If Ace has a tool Dallas has a tool. It's good to see he has a good work ethic already! Hopefully it continues on into his teenage years. Not to much to report here in Pocatello. We are excited for my parents to move into their beautiful new home. I think they are too! Ace is working hard on his MBA and will only have 3 classes left after this semester! We are so excited. I am keeping busy at work. Dallas has started going to play group with Grandma Bailey and loves playing with the kids. He also loves nursery too, which is nice for us to be able to enjoy church. Poppa Ward loves to take him out to ride in the tractor. The last time he took Dallas out, Dallas Jay fell asleep! Nanna has been teaching him how to lasso and winnie and wyatt and scooby are not enjoying this new trick, but it's pretty cute. Winnie (our lab/ border collie mix) and Dallas Jay are attached at the hip and the other day I caught them both peeking through the fence watching our neighbor work in her yard. I guess the apple never falls far from the tree, because when Jesse and I were little and we lived in Blackfoot we would peek on the people that rented the basement from our parents, so what can I say! Dallas has learned the alphabet, but we are still working on the potty training thing. I hate it and truthfully so does he, so we just mostly talk about it and he tells me no he does not want to be a big boy and sit on the potty. I can't blame him I guess.

I don't know about you, but I loved conference. I loved the talk where Elder Haight talked about how Heavenly Father had created a symphony and loved every instrument in the symphony, not just the piccolos. It's good to know that there is love for those of us who march a little to their own drummer, such as me. I also thought Elder Bednars talk about active prayer was a wonderful refresher. It's so easy, at least for me, to get into a routine and remove the thought process. If you didn't get to hear the talks you can go to lds.org and read them. That's all that's new at the call house for now. Btyl (blog to you later)!

Dallas Jay's new favorite thing to do is to go with Poppa and daddy to feed the cows. He gets so excited he starts talking about it on Thursday and can hardly sleep Friday night. He is usually grumpy in the morning until we tell him he can go feed cows and ride in the tractor with Poppa.

Well our family made the big move we actually are a truckless family! We decided that with the way things were going with the truck(lets just say at 200k+ and needing oil every fill up, things were not good) and the cost of fuel prices and the cost of a new truck we decided to buy a VW Passat Wagon. We were really excited when after hours of online searching and research we found the perfect one in our back yard! It has leather, heated seats, dual exhaust, cd player, wood grain, etc! Luckily Dallas jay loves to ride in it and he can ride in Nanna'a truck if he needs a truck fix, Ace too!