Gideon got his first "gait trainer" on Monday from the therapists. This is a device to try to help him understand walking and give him the confidence he needs. Today (Wednesday) he finally figured it out (sort of) and totally made his mama's day.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Signed- Your Majesty
I don't know why some of the more prolific bloggers in the family don't have a picture in their profiles! (-: The elegant crown I am wearing and the matching scepter came on the birthday cake that Theo got for me this year. We don't have much in the way of princess gear around here!
Mom and Dad, I am excited to hear more about your new assignment. I know you are up to the challenge! Do you have much time during the week to make visits to the members and stuff like that? Keep the posts coming!
Mom and Dad, I am excited to hear more about your new assignment. I know you are up to the challenge! Do you have much time during the week to make visits to the members and stuff like that? Keep the posts coming!
Temple President
We received our Church News today along with our August Ensign. I opened the Church News and couldn't believe my eyes. There was Dave and Louise Udall. They are going to be the president and matron of the Asunción Paraguay Temple. I shared my excitement with some visiting dignitaries, and one of the men who lives in Trinidad had served his mission with Dave, jr. Small, small world.
The visitor, Kay Briggs, is an ex-Salt Lake mayor. He is now living in the Dominican Republic working for the church as the Director of Temporal Affairs. He buys property for the church and must approve all purchases of land and buildings in the Caribbean area. He is very tall and sounds just like John Wayne with his deep voice. We are trying to find property for a stake center.
Sunday evening we received an email from our mission president telling us we were being assigned to Arima until we become a stake. The numbers are falling below 80 (65 last week) for the month of July and he wants it back up over 85. That means we have to abandon our Teacher Development class that we were so excited to teach. We had 10 class members the first week and nine of them last Sunday. Someone came in after class and asked if she could come next week. We spent the time getting to know each one and took a picture of each one so we could remember their names. Our 4 elders were bummed to hear that we were abandoning them. We will probably still have to do their apartment inspection.
Yesterday we drove out to Arima, which will take us 30 min to and hour to get there each Sunday, and checked out the area and the building. It is the opposite way of Port of Spain where we have been attending. Monday will become our P day and Tues and Sat we will spend on the branch. It should be a fun challenge. The times may be flexible since the office work comes first.
The visitor, Kay Briggs, is an ex-Salt Lake mayor. He is now living in the Dominican Republic working for the church as the Director of Temporal Affairs. He buys property for the church and must approve all purchases of land and buildings in the Caribbean area. He is very tall and sounds just like John Wayne with his deep voice. We are trying to find property for a stake center.
Sunday evening we received an email from our mission president telling us we were being assigned to Arima until we become a stake. The numbers are falling below 80 (65 last week) for the month of July and he wants it back up over 85. That means we have to abandon our Teacher Development class that we were so excited to teach. We had 10 class members the first week and nine of them last Sunday. Someone came in after class and asked if she could come next week. We spent the time getting to know each one and took a picture of each one so we could remember their names. Our 4 elders were bummed to hear that we were abandoning them. We will probably still have to do their apartment inspection.
Yesterday we drove out to Arima, which will take us 30 min to and hour to get there each Sunday, and checked out the area and the building. It is the opposite way of Port of Spain where we have been attending. Monday will become our P day and Tues and Sat we will spend on the branch. It should be a fun challenge. The times may be flexible since the office work comes first.
Princess Nic
I may be the last one to see it... But if you have not seen the photo attached to Nicole's profile, CHECK IT OUT! LOVE IT! Hee hee. (Under contributors, click on Nicole)
Friday, July 18, 2008
Dose of Realism
Keryn and I embarked on our Jerusalem Trip Goal with lots of idealism and little math. Witness the statement in my first post on the subject where I said, "I haven't a clue how much it will cost." Since that time, the more sane among us have asked the question about price. Even as we threw around numbers like $2,000 for airfare, it didn't really sink in how that number looked when multiplied by the six members of my family that I'll have in 2010.
Realistically, we're probably looking at a total cost of at least $18,000 for me to take my kids on a trip like this. That's the cost of a car for a single two-week trip that my kids won't even remember in five years! If we start saving now and divide the cost of the trip over 24 months, we'll need to save $750/month. Hmmm...
None of this includes the cost of paying for a tour guide service.
As I was talking to my boss about the staggering cost of such a trip, I said, "Well, I might be able to take out a bit of my home equity to help foot the bill." She reminded me that the prophet hasn't really encouraged us to go into debt to visit the Holy Land. Touche.
So there are four options available for my family with respect to this trip. (1) Stumble upon a large bundle of cash in the desert which we can turn in to the authorities and claim a sizable reward. (2) Work an extra job for the next two years to help finance the trip. (3) Leave the kids at home and pay for babysitting help instead of plane tickets. (4) Find a way to get smokin' group rates by having a larger group all go together on a homemade tour.
Are there other options I'm missing? As I look at the retail cost of flights across the Atlantic, I'm not sure what other options I can consider short of going on a cargo ship!
If just Keryn and I go, we'd be looking at $6,000-$8,000 which is still steep, but achievable over the next two years. I welcome your further thoughts, particularly on options 3 and 4.
Realistically, we're probably looking at a total cost of at least $18,000 for me to take my kids on a trip like this. That's the cost of a car for a single two-week trip that my kids won't even remember in five years! If we start saving now and divide the cost of the trip over 24 months, we'll need to save $750/month. Hmmm...
None of this includes the cost of paying for a tour guide service.
As I was talking to my boss about the staggering cost of such a trip, I said, "Well, I might be able to take out a bit of my home equity to help foot the bill." She reminded me that the prophet hasn't really encouraged us to go into debt to visit the Holy Land. Touche.
So there are four options available for my family with respect to this trip. (1) Stumble upon a large bundle of cash in the desert which we can turn in to the authorities and claim a sizable reward. (2) Work an extra job for the next two years to help finance the trip. (3) Leave the kids at home and pay for babysitting help instead of plane tickets. (4) Find a way to get smokin' group rates by having a larger group all go together on a homemade tour.
Are there other options I'm missing? As I look at the retail cost of flights across the Atlantic, I'm not sure what other options I can consider short of going on a cargo ship!
If just Keryn and I go, we'd be looking at $6,000-$8,000 which is still steep, but achievable over the next two years. I welcome your further thoughts, particularly on options 3 and 4.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
WOWZA
$30,000 is a little too rich for our pocketbook. (That is our food budget!) Ha ha. Take lots of photos and post them for us to enjoy!
Steve said once the kids are done with missions and college we might be able to swing it! Call us if you go back in 2018. ;)
Steve said once the kids are done with missions and college we might be able to swing it! Call us if you go back in 2018. ;)
Count me in
I have always wanted to go to the Holy Land. I am not sure I can convince dad to go, but, I will start saving my lunch money. I would love part of it to be a guided tour because you learn so much more that way. However, I am sure all of you will be so knowledgeable by then that you can provide the guide information. Michelle is correct, we have a large enough group to be a tour group.
Will this be the reunion for 2010? Providing most families go, of course. It all sound very exciting except for Brad living there for a couple of years. That isn't fair to deprive us of 4 years of grandchildren.
Will this be the reunion for 2010? Providing most families go, of course. It all sound very exciting except for Brad living there for a couple of years. That isn't fair to deprive us of 4 years of grandchildren.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Dream to Live
I love the idea. I am going to put posters on all my mirrors and repeat affirmations;"We are going to Jerusalem, we will save enough money." positive thinking, right! I would love to take all my children to the holy land. What a great opportunity to build testimonies. The plane time is still a little raw in my mind and we were only on the plane for 6hrs, but it seemed like days. We will have to see. Thanks for expanding my view of what is possible!
The Gillelands too are very interested. We have traveled on planes with young children and I have to say...it's difficult. Our kids will be a little older, but if we all work together I think it would be do-able with Brad's little kids. I would be interested in looking into tour guides for some of the trip. With a group as big as our family, we might book our own freakin tour! My guess is that the Deseret Book tour is a fair idea of cost. What do you think Brad? Worth it? Not worth it? John and I differ on our love of organized tours. I checked airfare a little and it looks like NYC has the best airfares to Tel Aviv. Depending on the airline, we could have daytime layovers in London, Paris, Amsterdam, etc. Fun thought. Our kids will be 13, 12, 10, 6 1/2, & 4 1/2. If you are really going to move there, maybe we'll just wait for that and we'll stay at your place! ;)
Price Check
Just for fun, I looked on the travel link on deseretbook.com. They had a 12 day trip that really seemed to hit all the high points. It included hotels, meals, entry fees, tour guide, etc, but NOT airfare starting at about $2600. Were you guys considering going with a group like that, or were you going to be your own tour company? It sounds sooooo awesome. I just don't know if we can figure out how to afford it. We'll see. We would want to take our kids, but as we are 6 people, YIKES! Gotta think on it.....
Ball-park estimates
Heh, heh...estimates...right, you mean we're going to have to pay for this stuff? Oh yeah.
We are 90% likely to take the kiddos. Ezra will be almost 7, Mercy 5, Gideon 3.5, Baby Awesome around 18 months--it's a little overwhelming to think about, but thinking about leaving them behind isn't fun, either. Anyway, that's the plan right now--with 18 months to 2 years to go, we have a lot of mind-changing time.
We're also trying to decide between spring 2010 and fall 2010--we want to avoid the rainy season (Dec-Mar) and the hot hot season (May-Sept). Oh, and I guess we probably want to avoid both Easters--the traditional one and the Orthodox one. It gets REALLY crowded in Jerusalem then, apparently. But we are flexible, especially if there are conflicts with dates.
Round trip tickets from SLC to Tel-Aviv (Ben-Gurion Airport), for say next April, are about $2150 (that is not counting checked bags fees, but is counting all applicable taxes). Who knows what the price of gas will do between now and then, but I'm certainly not counting on it to go down. So I would estimate AT LEAST that much for the plane ride alone.
I'm totally unsure about the whole lodgings thing--you really can go ritzy or cheap. Ditto on transport while we're there--Bradley says the taxis are good, and they have taxi vans and stuff as well. But who knows? Plus factor in passports for everyone--most of the kids probably don't have one, and I don't, either.
There's a ton still to even explore, but there are my thoughts on the subject. I'm excited that you are even thinking about it, Kim...we'll see what happens!
We are 90% likely to take the kiddos. Ezra will be almost 7, Mercy 5, Gideon 3.5, Baby Awesome around 18 months--it's a little overwhelming to think about, but thinking about leaving them behind isn't fun, either. Anyway, that's the plan right now--with 18 months to 2 years to go, we have a lot of mind-changing time.
We're also trying to decide between spring 2010 and fall 2010--we want to avoid the rainy season (Dec-Mar) and the hot hot season (May-Sept). Oh, and I guess we probably want to avoid both Easters--the traditional one and the Orthodox one. It gets REALLY crowded in Jerusalem then, apparently. But we are flexible, especially if there are conflicts with dates.
Round trip tickets from SLC to Tel-Aviv (Ben-Gurion Airport), for say next April, are about $2150 (that is not counting checked bags fees, but is counting all applicable taxes). Who knows what the price of gas will do between now and then, but I'm certainly not counting on it to go down. So I would estimate AT LEAST that much for the plane ride alone.
I'm totally unsure about the whole lodgings thing--you really can go ritzy or cheap. Ditto on transport while we're there--Bradley says the taxis are good, and they have taxi vans and stuff as well. But who knows? Plus factor in passports for everyone--most of the kids probably don't have one, and I don't, either.
There's a ton still to even explore, but there are my thoughts on the subject. I'm excited that you are even thinking about it, Kim...we'll see what happens!
Kids or no Kids
Wow, Jerusalem! Are you taking your family or leaving kids behind? Fall of 2010... Lauren will be in her 3rd year of college, hopefully about to become a dental hygienist, Ty will be preparing to leave on his mission, Eric will be playing football for Bingham, Nate will be deep in AP classes...
It would be a great experience for them. How much is your estimated cost per person?
It would be a great experience for them. How much is your estimated cost per person?
Sunday, July 13, 2008
O Jerusalem
Keryn and I have a long term dream to live in the Holy Land for a year or two. As part of the "auditioning" process, we are planning a two-week trip. We're shooting for Fall, 2010. That gives us a good two years to plan, prepare, and save money.
We hope the trip will give us time to see the highlights and give us a feel for what it would be like to have our family there. We'd like to invite any of you that are interested to come with us on this two-week journey. I plan to invite Keryn's family to participate also.
I haven't a clue how much it will cost and we don't have a set itinerary yet. We want to see places that are important for Old and New Testament History (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Galilee), as well as the history of civilization in general (Jericho, Caesarea and other Roman stuff, Dead Sea Scrolls Museum). We also want to see places that are important parts of the current political world over there (Holocaust Museum, Western Wall, Dome of the Rock). It will be a whirlwind trip.
I think the Gillelands are thinking about going over there in the near future. Some others of you might also have plans to go sometime. If you don't already have something in mind, I hope you'll consider going with us.
We want to do a bunch of preparation before we go. We're going to read some important books on the ancient and current world. We're going to write up field trip guides for each site we plan to visit. We want to frame the whole trip as the filming of a documentary. We'll interview each other and take video of the various sites and then edit it all together when we get home. It will largely be for a family keepsake of the event, but it would be fun to post a version online as well.
I expect that most of you won't want to--or be able to--participate. However, if you'd like to do it, it would be fun to work together on the preparation for the trip. We could read the various books at the same time and we could divide up assignments for reports on different locations. We could share all of that online in a new blog if enough people are interested. (Separate blogs work like separate channels. Having a lot of them isn't a problem and it helps people filter out stuff they aren't interested in.)
If you can't make it for the trip in 2010, then perhaps you can come visit us someday if we can pull off living there.
We hope the trip will give us time to see the highlights and give us a feel for what it would be like to have our family there. We'd like to invite any of you that are interested to come with us on this two-week journey. I plan to invite Keryn's family to participate also.
I haven't a clue how much it will cost and we don't have a set itinerary yet. We want to see places that are important for Old and New Testament History (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Galilee), as well as the history of civilization in general (Jericho, Caesarea and other Roman stuff, Dead Sea Scrolls Museum). We also want to see places that are important parts of the current political world over there (Holocaust Museum, Western Wall, Dome of the Rock). It will be a whirlwind trip.
I think the Gillelands are thinking about going over there in the near future. Some others of you might also have plans to go sometime. If you don't already have something in mind, I hope you'll consider going with us.
We want to do a bunch of preparation before we go. We're going to read some important books on the ancient and current world. We're going to write up field trip guides for each site we plan to visit. We want to frame the whole trip as the filming of a documentary. We'll interview each other and take video of the various sites and then edit it all together when we get home. It will largely be for a family keepsake of the event, but it would be fun to post a version online as well.
I expect that most of you won't want to--or be able to--participate. However, if you'd like to do it, it would be fun to work together on the preparation for the trip. We could read the various books at the same time and we could divide up assignments for reports on different locations. We could share all of that online in a new blog if enough people are interested. (Separate blogs work like separate channels. Having a lot of them isn't a problem and it helps people filter out stuff they aren't interested in.)
If you can't make it for the trip in 2010, then perhaps you can come visit us someday if we can pull off living there.
Friday, July 11, 2008
What's wrong with Ralph?
Wonderful news. We are so happy Brad and Keryn and the little guy. What is wrong with Ralph? There are several books about a mouse, with that name, that my children enjoy. All you would have to do is get him a tiny motor cycle and he would be the hit of any neighborhood.
We are all missing you guys. My kids are having withdrawals. That family reunion was awesome. Thank You Keryn and Brad!!!!
We are all missing you guys. My kids are having withdrawals. That family reunion was awesome. Thank You Keryn and Brad!!!!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Congrats!
Congratulations Brad and Keryn...although I guess I would congratulate you equally enthusiastically if you were having a girl...:). I Guess one girl per family in the Ross Clan continues to be the max. Weird. I wanted to say thanks again for all of your work on the Family Reunion. I have yet to receive an invoice on all of our stuff... Have we decided how we are going to picture share? Are we uploading or downloading or some other technology I am not up on? Let us know. Fun memories...
Love seeing the Hannay's Hawaii post! I am checking Kim's blog for more ;). Don't forget to post California too!
Love seeing the Hannay's Hawaii post! I am checking Kim's blog for more ;). Don't forget to post California too!
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
And his name will NOT be Ralph...
Grandbaby 21 is now officially grandson number 17.
And he is healthy, strong, and just as he should be. No sign of any troubles, just one heck of an adorable fetus (well, as much as any fetus is adorable on the grainy black-and-white screen of an old ultrasound machine). He's a great size, and the due date remains November 16, just before Thanksgiving.
And no matter how often Bradley nominates the name, we will NOT be naming him Ralph. (I wonder what he would do if I actually pretended to agree?)
And he is healthy, strong, and just as he should be. No sign of any troubles, just one heck of an adorable fetus (well, as much as any fetus is adorable on the grainy black-and-white screen of an old ultrasound machine). He's a great size, and the due date remains November 16, just before Thanksgiving.
And no matter how often Bradley nominates the name, we will NOT be naming him Ralph. (I wonder what he would do if I actually pretended to agree?)
Monday, July 07, 2008
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