Norma Siddoway Ward

My husband's Grandma passed away this past Thursday. We will miss her a lot. We can only imagine what a reunion she is having right now. We love you Grandma!

Norma Ward

Norma Siddoway Ward, age 79, passed away peacefully on Jan. 29, 2009, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, of causes related to Alzheimer's.

She was born June 25, 1929, in Teton, Idaho, the oldest child of Ernest R. and Geneva Irene Parker Siddoway. Her siblings, Harold (Noreen) Siddoway, Carol (Keith) Hansen, and Erna (Cal) Whitaker, were some of her best friends.

She married Byron Charles Ward on June 4, 1948. Their marriage was solemnized in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple on June 14, 1949. She grew up, raised her family and created a lifetime of memories in Teton. Norma was an active member of the Teton LDS 1st Ward and enjoyed singing in the ward choir. She served on the Fremont County Planning and Zoning Board and the County Library Board. She helped start Teton's Fourth of July Fun Days and was a willing worker at all church and community events. After her husband's retirement, they spent time each winter making memories and friends in Keno Bay, Mexico, and Desert Center, Calif. Her hobbies and talents included sewing, crocheting and quilting, bowling, walking for exercise, gardening, doing puzzles, skiing and golfing. She was and excellent cook and delighted in doing things for her family. She often worked alongside Byron on the farm. She was diligent in making sure their daughter, JoAnn, had every opportunity to experience all of life that she could. Norma was a hard worker, a peacemaker and a sweet friend with a very tender heart who had an incredible ability to love everyone. She was always helping people and had a strong testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

She is survived by three children, Delvan (Connie) Ward of Teton, Kristine (Keith) Pryor of South Jordan, Utah, and Neil Ward of Northridge, Calif.; nine grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents; daugh- ter, JoAnn; brother, Harold; sister, Carol; and brother-in-law, Cal.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 2, in the Newdale LDS church, 350 Church St. in Newdale, with Bishop Blair Poulson officiating. The family will receive friends from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Monday before the services at the church. Burial will be in Teton-Newdale Cemetery under the direction of Bert Flamm Mortuary. The family suggests contributions be made to the LDS Humanitarian fund.

Savanna Grace Nichols

Look at my beautiful new niece, Savanna. She was born January 21. She weighed in at 5 lbs 11 oz, and was 17 inches long.

Congradulations Johnny and JaNay!

Painting

It must be the 7 year itch. We decided to do some painting in our upstairs. So far we've done our bedroom and down the hall and stairs and one wall of the living room and one of the dining room. It is darker than what we had originally, but it will hide all the little dirty handprints and stuff. It makes everything look new again.

Ice Skating

We finally made it ice skating on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. A little cold, but a lot of fun. Kaylee and Bo did really well. Although, they did end up on their rear ends quite a bit, but it was because they were being brave and trying new things. Raegan had no idea what she was doing. She would just stand on the ice and let her skates move as we held her up. It was kinda hard on my back, but I think she had fun.

We skated for about an hour and then went to JB's for dinner and hot chocolate.

Last 3 weeks

Wow, what happened to the end of December? It got a little busy so I'm a bit behind on my posts. Here are some fun things we did during the last couple of weeks:

Kids got out of school for 2 snowdays before Christmas break started. They did have 1 day inbetween snowdays that they had their Christmas program. It was a very cute program. I wish I had some good pictures of it, but it was so dark and I was far enough away that all the pictures are too dark to see anything.

Went to several Christmas parties with friends and family.

Saw the train diplay in Idaho Falls - very cool. I think Bo could have stayed there all evening.

Spent Christmas Eve day at my parents and had a nice dinner before heading home so Santa could come.

Christmas Day - What a fun day. Santa was good to us, although the kids only got 1 Santa gift and a letter reminding them to be good kids for next year. Santa almost didn't come this year because the kids decided they didn't really need to mind us. We got up and opened our presents and had our traditional sticky buns for breakfast. Then the kids played with their new toys for a while and then we headed up to Ryan's parents house for Christmas Day dinner. Then we came home and took a nap.

We had our Smith Family Christmas party on Saturday at the Coltman church house. The weather was pretty crappy, but everyone braved the snow and came anyways. There was, once again, a lot of good food. It was a lot of fun to see and visit with everyone.

We had our Christmas program at church a week late because there was a propane smell in the church the week before so they cancelled church that week. It was a good program. I got to sing Mary, Did You Know?, with 3 of my friends for one of the special numbers.

My sister and kids came up from Utah Sunday afternoon. They stayed until Wednesday. Me and the kids went down to my Mom's house Monday and played. We stayed overnight that night and then headed up to our house Tuesday afternoon. The kids just had fun playing with their Christmas toys that day. That night me, my sister, and my neice went with some of my other friends to see Twilight finally. Ryan got the snowmachines out Wednesday morning. We had a good time riding them in the field behind our house.

New Year's Eve we went down to our friends, Doug and Jennie Sharp's, house for a party. We ate, of course, and played some fun games and just had a good time visiting. We didn't get home until 2 am. Next year, we're staying closer to home. The 20 minute drive home at 2 am was not very fun.

The following Friday, we got to go to Island Park with some other friends. We stayed at Island Park Village until Sunday. We watched movies, rode snowmachines, played the Wii, ate lots of good food, and went swimming. It was such a fun weekend. We were all worn out by the time we got home.

Ryan also got to plow snow for like 10 days in a row. He was exhausted, but has gotten to take a break for the past week. Bring on the marathon snowplowing again.

Kids got to go back to school yesterday, hallelujah! Now, maybe, just maybe, life will get back to normal. Well, as normal as we get.