On Friday, my dear sister is moving to Luxonburg to be with her Scottish boyfriend Louis.  It’s a good thing we like him, otherwise that would make things harder! Aren’t they a good looking couple though?

Stephanie and I were born two days and two years — no, not twins — apart.  She was bit by the traveling bug and shortly after Tim and I were married, packed her bags and moved to Prague to study at UNYP for two years.  She returned to Vancouver for school, sold with APX in San Francisco and Calgary, and after suffering from burnout, decided to head to Thailand for a breather.  Her first week in Bangkok, her friends met some guys from Europe.  Later that day, in a city of 20 million people, they randomly bumped into these same guys again.  Louis was one of them.  Isn’t it incredible the way people are brought together?  That was Halloween 2008 and Stephanie plans to be with Louis by Halloween 2009 so they can celebrate their one year together.

Since we had two unexpected trips to Canada this year for Grandma’s funeral and Joe’s mission farewell, it was great to have extra time spent with Steph.  She rocks.

As an ode to Stephanie, here i’s a fun photo montage of Stephanie and company over the years.

Steph & Sarah @ Thanksgiving

Steph in Thailand

I was tickled pink when Steph brought me back a cool sarong from a temple in Thailand!!

Steph by Diana Wong

Nina, Kane, Steph

Henry and Steph

Strike a Pose!

Steph & Joe

Steph and Angela

Sarah & Steph at teh airport in SLC

Jen, Sarah, Becky, Steph, Diana

A joint birthday party

We used to ALWAYS share birthday parties, so when Steph came back from Prague, we had another join bday party.  This year she smashed cake in my face.

Going further back... The Ward Girls

Going WAY back! Sarah & Steph @ Popos

One of my favorite pictures of the two of us! Looking SO happy

This is our ode to Stephanie.  Farewell, sweet sister!  I love you!  We’ll miss you lots but it would be AWESOME to come and see you abroad!

Hugs, kisses and love bites

At least we're not moving secretly... Illustration c/o nataliedee.com

After living in Saratoga Springs for two and a half years, we have finally taken the plunge and will be moving (though not to Vancouver… yet) to Orem where we’ll be minutes away from work and school.  We’re looking forward to a fresh start, a new ward, a new neighborhood and a revitalized commute.  As of November 1st, we will be new residents of Orem.

As the happy owners of a calico cat, Ginger, I have heard the best way to move a cat is to move everything ELSE first and then bring the cat last.  That way, upon arrival, the cat will smell the familiar furniture and it will be a smoother transition for her.

What tips do you have for moving?

Photo c/o Yaletown Wedding Gallery

Tim and I just celebrated our fourth anniversary at the beginning of September.  Here is a little insight to how Sarah and Tim became Sarah and Tim.  You may be surprised.

One August night in 2001, I was invited by a friend to go to www.ldschat.com with her, a chat room specifically for people of our faith.  After a few minutes online, I started chatting with Tim.  At the time I was living in Vancouver and he was in Portland.  We soon found we were the same age, shared similar interests and got along quite well.  We ended up chatting for four hours that night, exchanged email addresses and started emailing, chatting and racking up crazy phone bills on a regular basis.   Because of the distance between us, we had the opportunity to develop a strong friendship that was an excellent foundation for what was to come.

New Years 2002, Tim and his band came to party and we finally met.  The chemistry was there and shortly thereafter, we began dating officially.  We took turns coming to visit back and forth (luckily there is only a six hour drive between Vancouver and Portland) and then that summer Tim received his call to serve in the Chile Santiago North mission.

The last time we saw each other before Tim's mission, July 2002

I was devastated.  Of course I wanted to support Tim but knew I was going to miss him while he was gone.  Tim asked me not to wait for him, and I wasn’t planning on it.  While I dated up a storm while Tim was away, the feelings I had for Tim (and vice versa) didn’t go away.

That said, I had skipped out writing Tim for the last six months of his mission and Tim thought I’d gotten married by that point.

At the end of his mission, we talked and were both a little indifferent of our relationship.  He decided to come visit before leaving for school at BYU the fall of 2004 and before we knew it, we were exactly where we left off.  Tim wanted me to come to Utah, to which I responded something like “over my dead body” (fate has a cruel sense of irony) and we decided to call it quits.  We both thought it would be forever, but in February of 2005, I called Tim to tell him I still had feelings for him.  He was dating another girl at the time, but before I knew it, he had broken up after mulling over our conversation.  Tim told me that he had been comparing me to every girl he dated at BYU and none of them had measured up.

Our engagement photo by Stephanie

By spring of 2005, Tim had planned a roadtrip with his school friends to Vancouver and we had several days together.  At the time I was planning to serve a mission for our church and he was fully supportive of the idea.  But by June, the thought of putting our relationship on hold for a mission was hard to swallow.  We started talking about getting married and were engaged soon afterwards.

How did Tim propose?  We were at the Seattle Temple and he says to me, “Maybe we can go ring shopping this weekend!” and I’m thinking, “You don’t already have the ring?”  As we”re sitting in the parking lot, then he pops this gorgeous diamond on me and asks me to marry him.  I said yes, of course.

One stressful summer engagement and two receptions later, we were married in the Cardston, Alberta temple and then rode off into the sunset.  It was perfect.

So there you have it.  I met the love of my life on the internet.  How is that for God bringing two compatible people together that may have never met otherwise?  It’s beyond chance and makes me immensely grateful.

How did you meet your husband/wife/partner?

Last week the entire Ward family descended on Utah and we had a fabulous time.  One of the definite highlights was our family photo shoot with Justin Hackworth Photography.  After you get a glimpse of some of these photos, you’ll definitely see why we highly recommend Justin.  He’s awesome to work with and produces unforgettable photos, no flash required.

On Tuesday, we picked Stephanie up from the airport and drove to downtown Provo to Justin’s studio for the first round of individual/couple pictures.  Then we piled in the car and Justin led us to this industrial park where we took the remainder of our photos.  It was perfect!  Here’s a sampling…

Aren’t they unbelievable?  If you can’t get enough, click here to see a slideshow of some of the best pictures from the photo shoot with Justin Hackworth.

This totally takes me back to a past life.  Allow me to introduce Mark Wilburn, my previous co-worker at Tom Lee Music in Vancouver, a music store on the west coast of Canada.  We worked for several years side by side utilizing these Clavinova Yamaha digital pianos to the max.  You have GOT to see Mark’s rendition of Danny Elfman’s Batman theme.  You will NOT be disappointed, but you may want to purchase a Clavinova when it’s done.

Isn’t that UNBELIEVABLE?!  You should hear his rendition of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter.  Unreal.  Go Mark Willyburn!!!

In a matter of days, the entire Ward clan will descend upon Utah.  This is some of the tomfoolery you can look forward to.

Photo c/o Kai Wong Photography

Recently I had a lunch with a girlfriend at Flour Girl’s and Dough Boys in American Fork, Utah, and had their pesto, mozzarella and tomato sandwich on a baguette.  It’s definitely one of the tastiest things on the menu!  Upon returning home, I still wanted more pesto, so Tim and I decided to plant an herb garden so we could make our own pesto.

We headed out and picked up some herbs from Highland Gardens and Home Depot and brought them home.  Included in our to-be herb garden were sweet basil, lemon thyme, Greek oregano, rosemary and purple sage.  We rolled up our sleeves and got our hands dirty by planting our herb garden as a family home evening activity.

We also discovered the authentic way to make homemade pesto.  Would you like the recipe?  It’s simple and absolutely delectable.

• Bunch of fresh sweet basil
• Few cloves of garlic
• 1/4 C pine nuts
• 1/4 C Parmesan cheese
• Tablespoon of olive oil

1.  The trick to make pesto the authentic way is to not use a blender.  Instead, chop a some of the basil with a knife, gradually adding more basil as it gets cut.  Also, fresh basil is best!

The trick to authentic pesto? Cut it the old fashioned way!

2.  Add the garlic and pine nuts, chop some more. Add the Parmesan cheese, chop some more.

3.  Add the olive oil and mix it all together.

For best results, serve on a baguette with balsamic vinegar, fresh tomatoes and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

For best results, serve on a baguette with balsamic vinegar, fresh tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese

Enjoy!

So Friday morning was a little traumatic.  As I put Ginger in the car to take her to the vet to be fixed, I accidentally locked her and my keys and purse in the car!  ACK!  Talk about freak out!  Thankfully the firemen up the street came to the rescue and unlocked the car in a jiffy.  I always knew living next door to the fire department would come in handy!

As I left her at the vet, I have to admit that I was an emotional basket case and felt on the verge of tears.  My dear life coach, Lisa, says, “See?  You’re already a mother.”

Thankfully, everything went super smoothly.  When Tim picked up Ginger at five, the “nurses” told him some stories about the day.  They said that Ginger did NOT want to be there, did NOT want to be touched and did NOT want to go under.  The gals there are wonderful and love animals and said, “All we wanted to do was to hold and snuggle with her but she did not want that!”  That’s Ginger for ya.  Fiercely independent through and through.

Tim picked up the kitty carrier to say hello and said that she recognized him immediately — “it’s you!” — and was so happy to see him!

When I got home, Ginger was walking around, albeit gingerly (no pun intended).  She’s been laying low the last couple of days but is still doing the silly things Ginger always does, like sweeping around her kitty litter.

Tim and I both thought that she would be more out of it — hiding, walking funny from the drugs — but we saw none of that.  The incision was also very small, so they took excellent care of her at the Saratoga Springs Animal Hospital.  I highly recommend them.

One of my favorite books is “A Return to Love” by Marianne Williamson.  While I can’t find my copy of A Return to Love anywhere, I recalled this week that I did copy some parts that resounded with me in my journal.

As I’ve been re-reading these thoughts from A Return to Love about faith, they have resounded with me and I hope they will resound with you, too.

Here’s an excerpt from A Return to Love:

What if we truly believed there is a God–a beneficent order to things, a force that’s holding things together without our conscious control?  What if we could see, in our daily lives, the working of that force?  What if we believed it loved us somehow and cared for us and protected us?  What if we believed we could afford to relax?

The phyical body is at work every moment, an array of mechanisms with a brilliance of design and efficiency our human efforts have never begun to match.  Our hearts beat, our lungs breathe, our hears hear, our hair grows.  And we don’t have to make them work–they just do.  Planets revole around the sun, seeds become flowers, embryos become babies, and with no help from us.  Their movement is built into a natural system.  You and I are integral parts of that system, too.  We can let our lives be directed by the same force that makes flowers grow–or we can do it ourselves.

To trust in the force that moves the universe is faith.  Faith isn’t blind, it’s visionary.  Faith is believing that the universe is on our side and that the universe knows what it’s doing.  Faith is a psychological awareness of an unfolding force for good, constantly at work in all dimensions.  Our attempts to direct this force only interferes with it.  Our willingness to relax into it allows it to work on our behalf.  Without faith, we’re frantically trying to control what is not our business to control, and fix what is not in our power to fix.  What we’re trying to control is much better off without us, and what we’re trying to fix can’t be fixed by us anyway.  Without faith, we’re wasting time.

Externally, the universe supports our physical survival.  Photosynthesis in plants and plankton in the ocean produce the oxygen that we need in order to breathe.  It is important to respect the laws that rule the phsical universe because violation of these laws threatens our survivial.  When we pollute the oceans or destroy plant life, we are destroying our support systems and so are destroying ourselves.

Internally, the universe supports our survival as well–emotionally and psychologically.  The internal equivalent to oxygen, what we need in order to survive, is love.

–Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

Have you read A Return to Love or any of Marianne Williamson’s work before?

Ginger nuzzling with Tim

Tomorrow we’re taking kitten Ginger to be fixed — sad!  The one we call Ginger is actually 2 years old and we have gone through many a heat with the hope that Ginger would have her own kittens someday.  Yes, I know that Bob Barker tells everyone to have their animals spayed and neutered.  Yes, I know that there is animal overpopulation.  But Ginger.

Ginger has the most incredible personality in a cat.

• While she isn’t a snuggler, everytime we come home, she headbutts us and nuzzles our faces and that’s how she lets us know how glad she is we’re home.
• If our voices are raised, she’ll come running and come right up to your face to make sure everything is okay.
• Wherever we are in the house, she’ll be within a close proximity of us for the company.
• As a calico, she coons!  You’ve got to hear it, she’s very vocal.

And the whole idea with breeding Ginger was so that there would be more little Gingers in the world!  I’m not sure I’m ready to let go of this pleasant thought.

I feel like she doesn’t know what’s coming and is going to hate us, that I am deserting her.  Ah!

Will she forgive me?  Am I doing the right thing?  This is pretty permanent… It’s not too late to back out…

Although to have not-in-heat-Ginger would be really nice…

Have you had similar experiences spaying or neutering your animals?  Do they change?  Do they stay the same?