Finally!!!

Yes, I have really been working on this quilt for three years! Okay, more not working on it than working on it. So I got a new fun quilt rack with this quilt in mind, and hence the motivation to finally get it done. Yay!!!!

More Mouthwatering Morsels

Did I mention how much we are enjoying our Bosch?!!!
Theo uses his pizza making skills. Just like riding a bike, you never forget....

Cinnamon rolls, need I say more about these....

Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Deligthful Dinner

Thanks to generous parents and a loving sister, I am now in baking heaven! One of our family favorites is to make bread bowls with Michelle's yummy broccoli cheese soup. In my BTB (before the Bosch) life, I had to make the bread bowls in stages since I mixed all of my dough in my bread machine a loaf at a time. Now, I have entered a breadmaking utopia. Here are some pictures from the maiden voyage of the Martin Bosch machine!

Here I am mixing a whole bunch of wheat bread dough...

The delicious bowls, fresh from the oven....

The creamy and flavorful soup awaiting the freshly steamed broccoli....

The satisfied consumers. Yummmmmmmm!!!!

THANKS MOM AND DAD AND GILLELANDS!!!!!!!

Thanks to All

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family. It was special to hear from each of you during this wonderful time of year when we reflect more frequently on our Savior and his great love for us. We are so blessed to live in the great country (with all of its flaws). The Lord has truly watched over us this year. Thank you for all that you do for us.

Christmas Eve

Happy Birthday, Gideon

Look what Grandpa has!

Christmas caroling to Grandma Peters before dinner and the party

Everyone loves birthdays.

He loves balls of any shape or size. This was perhaps his favorite gift.

Gideon is a pro at blowing out his candles!

Here's Ours

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Merry Christmas from the Bradley Ross Kids

Reunion

Brother and sister reunited after about 15 years. Grandma Peters is 91 and Uncle George is 88. Mom hadn't seen Jean or Janice, two of Uncle George's 6 kids, for many, many years. It was fun to see them again.

Cousins

Janice Davis is younger by four years and Jean Hansen and I are the same age. Janice and Mike live in St. George (Santa Clara) and Jean and Marlowe live in Payson very close to where we considered buying a house. Janice and I became friends when we were both at BYU. Jean wrote to us every month while we were on our mission. Jean looks a lot like her mother Stella.

George and I went to Uncle George's 86th birthday celebration before we went on our mission. The girls both remarked how much one of Jean's girl's daughter, Heidi, looks like me. She was at the party and I snapped a shot of her that I have been unable to find so I could post it.

Last football pics

State Champs

Mormon Helping Hands

Have you ever seen those media spots that show a natural disaster and a bunch of people in yellow t-shirts that say "Mormon Helping Hands"? Did you ever wonder about the propriety of that? I have. I've wondered if it wasn't a little too... boastful. A bit like the fellow who gives his donations to be seen of the world.

I just listened to Sharon Eubank talk about her work with LDS Humanitarian Services. She helped me understand.

They work really hard in the Humanitarian group to keep proselyting and humanitarian work strictly separated. We don't ever wanted to be perceived as providing help only as a door to get in missionaries, or else we will find that many people won't open the door at all.

So why the t-shirts? Aid organizations are encouraged to have t-shirts like that to help identify the members of the organization to other workers, to help gain access to affected areas, and to help volunteers find each other. Also, it is important for the church to build up a reputation for its ability to help, and to respond quickly, so that we can continue to have access to disaster areas in the future. So more than a proselyting tool, it is a tool to further our ability to contribute to humanitarian causes. In the official church guidelines for the program, we read that, "When used properly and consistently, it will become a recognized symbol of the Church’s good works."

Now you know.

Giving Thanks

To the Hannays, thanks a ton for a wonderful Thanksgiving visit! The food was delicious, the house cozy and beautiful, the conversation stimulating, and the laughs delightful! You are always so gracious in welcoming us into your home!
To Mom and Dad, it was great to see the both of you are hanging in there as you adjust to this new phase of life. We love having you back in the USA. The kids are missing you already.
To Laurene and Skip, you are both troopers for making your respective traveling sacrifices. The long drive and the short turnaround flights were appreciated in that we got to have you with us! Jack, it was awesome going to the temple with you!
To Michelle and John, be aware that our kids are already planning our next family trip in YOUR direction! They love you too much!
To Debbie, it is fabulous to see you so happy and healthy. What a difference a year makes. (Still waiting on that picture message. wink wink)
And last, but certainly not least, to Brad and Keryn, we are so grateful that you got up early, dragged your kids to Kim's, and joined us in the temple. We love being with you there! So far, we have had only one child succumb to the germs your children so kindly shared. We are hoping that will be all! (=
We are thankful for our big, loud, crazy, fun, exciting, hilarious, loving family!!!!!!!

An "Indian Ballerina Princess"

State Champions (Bingham 35, Davis 24)

Yay Ty! Congratulations!

(And you made Ezra's evening when you went over to say hi to him. Thanks for that!)

(Psssssst, News on Theo)

If you don't get on Facebook a ton, you may not have read what I posted about Theo. He ran a 50K this last weekend (yes, Fifty, not a typo) in Moab. That is about 31 miles for those of you like me who don't do the metric system. It was his favorite kind of race- long, crazy terrain (apparently there were ropes involved at one point!), and did I mention long. He hasn't been hardcore training lately, mostly running with his x-country team, but he really wanted to do an ultra. The one in Moab was ideal as he had a free weekend, (rare for him in the fall), and it was relatively close to Page. Otis tagged along and ran the 20 mile distance. Theo finished the race in 4:06, destroying the old record of 5:24. The race directors were a bit chagrined as he blew through the check points, maintained his blistering pace, and finished strong(ahead of the guy that won the 20 mile distance I might add)! (What is up with all the parenthesis in this post?! I digress.) He is very sore, but also very happy to have done so well. I sure do admire that guy! What a competitor, tough guy, stud! He is a keeper! (; (Don't tell him I wrote this, he will be uncomfortably modest about it all! hee-hee.)

Confusion

Heber wasn't quite sure what to do with his birthday cake.




He did finally get a little chocolate on his face.

Speaking again

We are speaking in our own ward on Sunday at 9:00 am. We have had to prepare a new talk for each time we have spoke since we have been home. I had hoped I could rerun one of the talks!

Life Spans

I couldn't resist posting this for you all, since I've done simpler versions of this calculation before.

Predicting Who Will Be Church President

Grandma Peters has arrived in Salt Lake

Brad headed for Laguna Woods early Wednesday morning and he was picked up at SNA by Wes and Jan. Everyone finished packing up Grandma's belongings and loaded them in a truck. Brad headed to Las Vegas to spend the night and the other three headed to a motel near the airport to spend the night in preparation for the Thursday flight to Salt Lake City.

Grandma traveled well and was very excited to be arriving at her new home. She couldn't believe her bedroom. She sat and watched while the Hannay's, Deb, and the Ross's helped unload the truck and start putting her belongings into her new room. Ezra chatted to her for several minutes to keep her company.


The stress of the trip and her overall health caused her to be admitted to the ER on Friday night about 11:30 pm. (Jan, George and I were able to attend Ty's game and cheer the Miner's to victory). We finally had her situated in her room by 5:00 am and headed home to get some shut eye.

She is doing well today. We visited her on the way to take Wes and Jan to the airport and then again this afternoon. She will be in 2-7 days depending on how quickly she stabilizes and loses the fever.

Football!

I just saw the live update for Ty's game today against Syracuse--it's the third quarter, and the score is Bingham 38-Syracuse 3. Heh. Kim was right, this was the game to skip. We're definitely going to next Friday's game against (probably) Alta, who is leading Cottonwood 37 to 6 in their third quarter.

So, what are Bingham's colors? What is Ty's number? We want to dress appropriately for next week, and maybe bring a sign or two!

Reunion Reset in 2010

We are sure enjoying our visit with Grandma and Grandpa Ross. While they have been here, we got to talking about our annual Ross Reunion. Technically, we have run through all of the siblings (Deb got off easy with Lauren's wedding! (-; ) So, do we start over again? My thought was, we have been on the Wasatch front the last two years. What do you guys think about going in together to get a houseboat on Lake Powell? Although the days of Forever Resorts freebies are but a sweet memory, we could all plan ahead and maybe chip in resources to make it happen. If the Hannays and Gillelands are willing to bring their boats, I would be happy to coordinate the planning efforts down here with reservations, meal planning and the like. The Ross boys and Deb's help with execution of the event would be great. One big concerted effort...What are your thoughts? Make a comment in the lovely comment section that is now functional! Love it! Love you!

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!

Fact of the Day

One third of companies on the Mormon Trail had no fatalities. 7% of companies suffered over half of the fatalities. Did you know that?

Happy Halloween!

And so it begins

http://www.uhsaa.org/football/2009/5Abrack.pdf

Today is the first game of the tournament Ty has been practicing for for the last 10 years. GOOD LUCK, PLAY HARD, WE LOVE YOU!

Six

50th HS Reunion

I had a great time at my reunion. Dad was a good sport through it all. They didn't do all the "most children", "grandchildren", etc. like they did at the 40th. The only prize was for the person who came the farthest to the reunion. The people at my table encouraged me to stand up and report even though we really came from SL. I won! Elizabeth Dahl Evans is with me. She and Brian are headed to Florida on a 6 month mission at the beginning of November.

There were about 500 graduates in my class. We had over 100 people at the reunion, of course, that counted spouses. Many came without a spouse, well over half. There were 2 couples at our table and 4 without their spouse. I was abke to visit with many people that either didn't come to the 40th or I didn't get to visit with them at that time. We had more visiting time for this reunion and we used it to the max.

Dad and I went to Olive Garden with Jan and Wes, and Alan and Connie while we were visiting Mom in Laguna Woods. She is all packed and ready to come on November 5th.

Double Digits

Happy Birthday Elise!

Great Minds

Just to show that great kids think alike, check out these two entries posted just minutes apart:

Claire Cooks (Laurene)
My New Favorite Cooking Show (Keryn)

Children of Eden

Tickets go on sale tomorrow for BYU's production of the totally fun Broadway musical, Children of Eden. (Same guy that did the music for Wicked, Stephen Schwartz.) While not even close to doctrinally correct, it is a thoughtful look at the relationships between parents and children, tracing the story of the creation, the fall of Adam, and Noah's flood.

I've probably purchased fewer than five CDs in my life. This was one of them.

Keryn and I are going to try to purchase tickets for a Saturday matinee on Nov. 21. Anyone else interested in coming? Even if you don't drop in for the same show we're going to see, I think you'd totally love the show. I sure did when I saw the last BYU production of it while I was still a student. (The community theater production I saw later left something to be desired.) If the choreography of the animals getting onto the ark is anything like the last time, it will be awesome, and amazing what they can do with a limited cast.

Autumn Mountains

Mission Report

We will be speaking in the River Ridge 6th ward (Kim's ward) this Sunday at 1:00 pm. We report to the high council at 3:15 the same day. We are in the new River Ridge 9th ward that meets at 9:00 am so we will also attend our own block. It will seem like a marathon. We have been attending a two hour block for a year. However, we would go an hour early to set up and the feed the missionaries after the block so it will probably even out!

Thoughts and Feelings

Life still doesn’t seem real. I can’t believe we are home. Suddenly Tobago seems so far away, yet my thoughts are still there wondering if there was bread for the sacrament, who taught the classes, did Alison and Maria make it to sacrament meeting, did Perez get the job, etc.

It was so hard to leave. I didn’t feel like we were finished yet. But then, when are you ever finished?

It was awesome to have so many of you at the airport and at our house at 11 pm when we arrived Wednesday night. It meant a lot to us. We have missed all of you considerably.

A special thanks for your prayers on our behalf. The Lord truly watched over us and angels went before us on so many occasions. I will miss the extra guidance and protection that come with the call to be a missionary. I grew so much in unexpected ways and realize I still have so far to go. We still need your prayers.

We appreciated the blogs and emails from you. We have a greater appreciation for the heritage and blessing that come by our citizenship in the US. The gospel is so strong and vibrant here. The blessing of the temple are easily available here. It was wonderful to be able to feel of your spirits and thoughts through those emails and blogs.

Pictures or Words

We loved Keryns blog about Grandma and Grandpa coming home! We would love some pictures or some other thoughts about it:) We wish we were there with all of you to share this happy time. Unfortunately we couldn't get there. Thanks. We love you guys!

Travel update

Mom & Dad called to let me know they landed safely in Houston. They are back on American soil waiting to board the plane to SLC in a few hours. Can't wait....

ERIC
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
WE LOVE YOU TONS!
Grandpa & Grandma

Happy Birthday, Michelle
We love you!

Mom & Dad

Happy Autumn!

Three big pumpkins...

...and one little pumpkin.

2 Votes for Comments

It is far more cumbersome to login to write a post than it is to click on the comments link to read them. I vote for comments!

Comments

Kim, the reason we don't turn on the comments for individual posts is because they aren't as easy to read as main posts. I think the best thing to do is just respond with a new post, like you did.

I clicked through on Nicole's "Blast from the past" and I can say that one of the tender mercies is that they don't include photos with those old articles. :)

rrrrruby!

wow... she is sooo adorable! and puppy breath is the cutest thing ever! hope you all remain allergy free :)

ATTN: BRAD

Can you add a comment section to our family blog please?

I wanted to tell Nic I think her new puppy is SO cute. GOOD LUCK with that! Hee Hee (evil laugh)

An Announcement

We decided to finally take the plunge and get a puppy. I have been researching allergy friendly dogs for a while (Corbin is allergic to many breeds), and this weekend there was an adoption fair in Page. We found this sweet little terrier mix, and brought her home to become the sister we never had. Meet Ruby.

Happy Birthday Grandma! from laurene ross on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Grandma

We love you Mom! Happy Birthday.

Cross-Country

Drake and Corbin are both running cross-country with the middle school team this year. They had their first meet last weekend in Kayenta. Corbin had a terrific debut placing 11th in the JV race. Drake , unfortunately, was sick and was way back. He was a trooper to even race! This Wednesday they had their second meet on the rez in Tonalea against some of the same teams. Corbin was 4th and Drake 15th! Way to go boys!

Blast From the Past

As a YW presidency, we take turns teaching the lesson on fast Sunday. This week it was my turn, and the topic was service. I shared with the girls a story from an old New Era. Does this look familiar to anyone? Thanks for being a great example Brad.

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=7ec50e2cbc3fb010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=024644f8f206c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Texas or Bust

The Hannays are off to Texas! Ty's game will be on Fox Sports Network (FSN) at 10:30am Texas time 9:30am Utah time and 8:30am AZ time. Pray for us and that Ty will remain healthy and have a great experience.

A message to our grandson, Tyler

Ty,

Words can’t express how proud we were as we learned of your outstanding accomplishments on the football field. We know that you have worked hard to develop the skills and strength to lead your team to victory after victory. Now, as your missionary grandparents, we are prompted to share a special message with you.

We have read the story of Ammon in the Book of Mormon (starting with Alma 17) many times. But as we read it today, it had a special meaning. We encourage you to read it soon and consider some important truths. Ammon was blessed with incredible strength and skill. In many ways he reminds us of you. You, like Ammon, have been given a wonderful opportunity to bless the lives of many others. You are becoming a hero in the eyes of your peers. I’m sure the girls are giving you special notice and that you are enjoying the attention. A word of caution – never forget who you are and what your purpose in life is. Keep your guard up and know that the girls that pursue you really only want to share the spotlight and their affection is shallow and fleeting. The girl that will one day go with you to the temple of the Lord will be impressed not only with your strength and skill, but will be most impressed with your humility and righteousness.

You have been wonderfully blessed in so many ways, from loving parents (and grandparents) to being given a mind and body that serves you so well in the field of athletics. Never forget and always appreciate where those blessings came from and why they were given to you. Be a hero, an example, a leader, and indeed a missionary. (What else did you expect to hear from your missionary grandparents?)

We can hardly wait to get back home where we can watch you play. Win or lose we know you will always do your best. Stay humble in victory. Stay happy in defeat. Stay focused on who you are and why you are here on Earth. We love you!!!!!!!

Hole-in-the-Rock

How much do you know about Hole-in-the-Rock? I remember being in an airplane with Dad flying up-lake for some training events. Dad let me go with him a time or two. The pilot tried to point out to me the location from the air, but I never could make it out.

Listening to a favorite podcast, the Cricket and Seagull, I learned about a new book from Gerald Lund that will focus on the story of the pioneers that cut that hole. Did you know that one of the people involved in that experience was also a part of the Willey/Martin handcart companies and that he thought the experience at Hole-in-the-Rock was more challenging?

There is a web page for the book that also has some maps and photos. I'll look forward to reading the book one of these days. I still haven't read the previous series that Brother Lund released that also looks interesting, so I guess I have my work cut our for me.

Nicole and Theo, it looks like you've got your next youth conference all mapped out!

WOW

Nice win Bingham!!

Live-blogging kindergarten, part II

New clothes on...check.
Homework in backpack...check.
Backpack on back...check.
Pictures taken...check.
Tummy full...check.
Time to leave yet...not for 45 minutes.
Over-excited five-year-old boy, roaring like a dinosaur and literally knocking over furniture...double check.

Live-blogging kindergarten

Ezra is berating me that I didn't put him in morning kindergarten. Because then he could be in school RIGHT NOW.

He woke up this morning, and before he even got out of bed he was caroling "First Day of School! First Day of School!" This woke up the baby, but it was charming nonetheless.

We did his first homework last night. (A get-to-know-you booklet.) Ezra needs to learn to stay on task. Mommy needs to learn to let Ezra do his own thing, even if it looks raggedy and messy.

More later! (With pictures!)

Gone Camping, Back Later...

"And 'X' never, ever marks the spot."

Gideon discovered that he can move the little trike backwards AND forwards.
And turn it around.

Mercy is just excited to be alive.

Ezra and the amazing marshmallow-toothpick structure.
(He made it all by himself.)

"Whatcha cooking, Dad? Can I see it, can I see it?"

A very tired Heber, gazing at the campfire.