News Flash! - What We Do For Our Kids!

The Daily News Team!

Corky Davenport - Head Anchor: Cassidey Harward

Stone Henge LeFever - Investigative Reporter: Stoney Harward`

Cotton McMurphy - Sports: Gunner Harward

Pixie VanPelt - Weather: Peighton Harward

Announcer / Sheriff / Dave "Smelley-socks" Strykes: Brett Harward

Videographer / Opening Theme Song: Cammie Harward

Bet you didn't know our kids were T.V. Celebreties did you? Yes, well neither did we until Cassidey so conveniently mentioned a few days ago that she had a Power Point Presintation (say that 3xfast) due for school. How wonderful! We shouted praises of joy over the fact that we didn't have weeks to compile her report, instead we had just 3 short days! I'm so glad Cassidey was thinking of us and not wanting to bother us with time. According to Cassidey, this report wasn't due for a LONG time, well this LONG time happens to be tomorrow! Can you say, "HOLY CRAP!" and because she waited so long, she changed from using Power Point to just wanting to video tape it. What a GEM!

Tonight, after Cassidey so willingly leaped up the stairs to work on homework, she sat right down and began working on her presentation, which happens to be a report on adoption, and adoption thru the Black Market. She decided to do a news report, which I thought was a creative idea -at least that was my feelings last week. Today, I was ready to find the first article on adoption or Black Market and plagerize the crap out of it. Finally at 9pm the script was done. I quickly editted it and we set our acting skills in motion. Well, it worked out AWESOME!

Her brothers & sister were such great sports to pitch in and be anchor people (is that the politically correct phrase?). We tried to get them to ham it up, but we didn't start recording until 10pm! The kids were EXHAUSTED! We finally finshed at 10:40pm, the kids were dragging themselves to bed, with a smile on their face for a job well done.

The News Report turned out great, and who knows, maybe someday you'll see one of them on The Today Show with Matt Lauer, or Good Morning America, or CNN. Hey, it could happen! Either way, it was a great way to spend our Sunday evening together as a family (except Brody who went to bed early - maybe next time Bro.)

I'm Baggy Eyes signing out!

SPRING BREAK - 2008!

Ahhhhh Spring Break. A time for a much need rest from the labors and stresses of school life. A time of staying up late, a time to PAR-TAY with friends, and if your lucky, a time to go somewhere warm -say like Hawaii- especially if you live in the Rocky Mtns., and have had the winter we have had. And if you have really cool parents -which Brett and I so aren't.- Disneyland or better yet, DisneyWorld would make the ultimate Spring Break vacation!

Well, I'm happy to say, the Harward Gang did it ALL! except go somewhere warm, cause well, we're lame and we have 5 kids, bills, and clothes and food to buy, so we stuck with the surrounding attractions. My kids are so jipped. :P Here are our top 20 things we'll remember about SPRING BREAK 2008 !

SPRING BREAK TOP 22 COUNTDOWN!
#1: Spending time together as a family! THE BEST THING OF ALL!

#2: American West Heritage Center's L'il Buckaroo Rodeo & Mutten Busting (in short, cheering for our kids as they hung on for their lives as they rode for over 16 sec. on the back of a sheep!)

#3: Hearing each of the kids BEGGING for us to BUY an animal - any animal, it didn't matter. (sheep, rabbit, chicken, calf, llama - I kid you not, these animals were all for sale.)

#4: Watching the boys try and CATCH a turkey, a chicken, and all other sorts of birds.

#5: Brody's SMILE from ear to ear as he road a horse for the very first time.

#6: Watching Peity RE-INACT scenes from the movie, "FLASHDANCE" as she got her "GROOVE THANG" on at the water fountains at LAGOON!



#7: Seeing the look on Cassidey's face when we told her she was allowed to go off ON HER OWN -WITHOUT parents!

#8: Feeling every MUSCLE in Brody's body SHAKE on each decent of the tidal wave. (I'm thinking he's going to need therapy after that ride.)

#9: Hearing Brody scream, "I WON!" at the end of his turn on the bumper cars!





#10: Laughing our heads off when Stoney, Gunner & Shanna were being CHASED by a wandering GOOSE.

#11: Seeing the excitement on Gunner's face when he realized he was TALL ENOUGH to go on all but 2 rides!

#12: Watching Stoney run through the park like he was on a never ending sugar high - excited that he had made every "HEIGHT RESTRICTION"!

#13: Happy that Brett didn't end up "SPEWING" in one of LAGOON'S trash cans from going "around, and around, and around......"

#14: Seeing the barred white teeth of a SIBERIAN TIGER as he growled, and crouched down, like he was ready to pounce.

#15: Hearing Peity giggle & say, "I have a FUNNY IN MY TUMMY!" as she dropped down from the Dino Egg & Lady Bug Drop rides.



#16: Seeing the LOOK on face as we rode side-by-side on a LAGOON icon - THE CAROUSEL - PRICELESS!



#17: Riding on RATTLESNAKE RAPIDS, again, and again, and again......

#18: Forgetting that the temperature was only 55-DEGREES AFTER we were done riding Rattlesnake Rapids.

#19: Seeing LAGOON'S biggest MONEY MAKER as we came off of Rattlesnake Rapids, a gift shop filled with DRY sweatshirts, DRY t-shirts, DRY ponchos, etc. How convenient!

#20: The LONG WALK back to our car in DRIPPING WET clothes! (I swear we walked over 5 miles!)

#21: Feeling LUCKY we didn't come down with pneumonia. Hypothermia... YES! But pneumonia... no!

#22: Having made some AWESOME MEMORIES with our kids! Again, THE BEST THING OF ALL!

As you can see, Spring Break 2008 was a success! Unfortunately, the kids got ahold of my camera and deleted ALL my pictures, but luckily I still have a few videos to remember this great weekend.

OWL SKAT!

Gunner is in 2nd grade and such an inquisitive little guy, always wanting to know how things work, where things come from or how it was made, especially when it comes to animals, so needless to say this last unit of study he did in class was right up his alley.

His class has been studying a few different units; 1. the body, which included: bone structure, shape, how they grow, and how to keep them healthy; and 2. studying the habits of different animals, and learning if they slept during the day or at night. They were able to combine these two units while they studied Owl droppings! You heard me right, Owl droppings, better known as POOP!

Gunner talked about this for days, and was worried when we decided to go out of town for a few days that he was going to miss the day when they would dig through the droppings to find out what they ate. Fortunately he didn't.

A few days ago, when I picked the kids up from school, Gunner immediately jumped in the van and couldn't wait to show me his latest picture. I looked at it, and couldn't believe what I was looking at, a skeleton of a Vole, which apparently is a cross between a mole and a mouse. This is what Gunner found in his owl's droppings.

Gunner thought it was the coolest thing ever, and I, well, when I was his age, I would have felt the same way, but now, it's a little wierd to be preparing dinner and as I go to open the fridge there, staring me in the face is the skull of a Vole (it still has a little bit of fur on it - excuse me as I shudder).

I'm not sure how long we need to keep our "Pet Vole" up, but it's been fun watching Gunner's excitement day by day as he learns more and more about the body and animals.

Learning is AWESOME!

A SOLEMN ASSEMBLY!

What a wonderful weekend it has been. So many memorable things have taken place over the past two days, the best, hearing from our newest prophet, Thomas S. Monson speak to us for the first time as prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

What a blessing it has been to watch the 178th LDS General Conference, and be part of the Solemn Assembly where I raised my hand along with member's throughout the world as we sustained Pres. Monson, his counselors, and other leaders of the church.

Although I've heard Pres. Monson speak many times thoughout my life, hearing him speak to us today as our prophet was something I will remember throughout my life. What a remarkable man he is, and what an incredible prophet, and president of the LDS church he will be.

Each talk that was given was truly inspired. At times I felt as if their words were being spoken directly to me. Hearing the testimonies of so many of our church leaders was uplifting. They increased my testimony, and gave me knew insight on what I need to do to increase and strengthen it.

How I love this gospel. How I love that we have a true and living prophet who speaks to us today, one who is in constant contact with our Father in Heaven. What a time to be alive and be able to raise and teach our children, -the "chosen generation", helping to prepare them to fight and endure the temptations of this world.

Yes, this has truly been a memorable and wonderful weekend.

BARTHOLOMEWS! - BFF!

Ahhhhh, the Bartholomew's! - Brian, Jozianne, Andrea, Jane & Emily! These are some of our most favorite people ever and they happen to be our best friends!Since our move from Colorado to Utah 3 months ago we have missed them soooooo much. Our families get along so well, and Jozianne and I are like sisters! Man I love that gal! Well, this past week we are lucky enough to have them spend a few days with us.

We decided to go to Eden (just outside of Ogden) to Wolf Mountain Wyndham Resort. Although it was cold and snowy we all had a great time sitting around playing games, eating, laughing, playing the Wii, wrestling, playing raquetball, pool, staying up late, and just plain having a good time.

On Saturday, Jozianne and I were able to take Emily & Cassidey to the General YW Broadcast. Jozianne had gotten us tickets to attend it live at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. I had never been there before and was not prepared to see the immenseness of the conference room. If I remember right, the conference center seats over 100,000 people. It's incredible.

We were able to hear from the General YW's Board (Sis's. Susan W. Tanner - Pres., Elaine S. Dalton - 1st Coun., Mary N. Cook - 2nd Coun.) as well as from Pres. Henry B. Eyring (1st Coun. to Pres. Monson). The theme for this year's meeting is "I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable" (Mosiah 5:15). The spoke of standing strong in the face of adversity and temptations. To have the light from within to guide and direct us in the way God and Jesus Christ would want us to go. They were wonderful talks, as well as inspired words which Heavenly Father wanted his daughters to hear. It was a special night to spend with Cassidey and to bond with her and spend some quality time together.

After the broadcast, we went to a place called "Spoon Me." It was sort of like an ice cream place, but the "ice cream" was nothing I've ever tasted before. It's kind of like a very tart sorbet that is very, very cold. Apparently they say this "treat" comes from the asci (ahh - sigh - ee) berry found in the rainforests of Brazil. They say it has a lot of antioxydents so it's actually healthy for you to eat (plain that is - not with any of the toppings you can put on it). It was pretty good. Apparently Cassidey & Emily thought it was so good that they had to have seconds. All-in-all it was a great evening spent with my daughter and friends.

Today is not such a great day since we will be saying good bye to our dear friends. They won't be heading home today, but we won't be able to see them for quite awhile. The Bartholomews have played such a huge part in our family. They have been there for us through good times and bad. They are always there with open arms and making us feel a part of their family. We have been so blessed to be their friends, and are grateful this is a friendship that will last FOREVER!LOVE YA! BARTHOLOMEW'S!

Of course one of the entries that would do well with pictures will not happen because I forgot my stinkin' camera - AGAIN! I swear I just need to clip the thing onto my key chain, that way I'll always have it with me.