Well, its been a while since we were able to complete a posting. We are here in Virginia in the new house, and still trying to get settled in. We are really struggling right now since we have no broadband internet available here. We are on a dialup account that is PAINFULLY slow. Therefore, we don't get online as much as we're used to. Hopefully in the next week or so, we'll be able to get either a satellite or wireless broadband connection set up.

We're pretty excited to be here all together now. We are slowly getting unpacked and organized. Our house in Colorado was packed and loaded on November 27-29th and then we flew out here on the 30th. We moved in to the house here on December 4th, and have been unpacking boxes ever since. The boys are enjoying the house and surrounding woods. They have lots of room to run and ride their bikes. We're starting to get to know some people here. Our ward seems great and we've met quite a few families who live out here near us.

Its great to be able to catch up on the news from everyone else. We think of all of you often and hope to do a better job at keeping in touch, even though we are farther away. We'll especially be thinking of Brad and Keryn over the next few days. We'll post again in the coming days and be looking for updates from all of the rest of you.

Defining Beauty

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this subject. First, you'll have to watch the video clip from Dove that simulates the process of taking a model from makeup to billboard.

Next is an article published by the Wall Street Journal opinion section. It is a defense of the beauty industry and takes issue with the notion that there ought to be such a thing as "natural beauty."

Any thoughts on the subject?

Checking Into the Hotel Hannay

Keryn and I have checked into the Hotel Hannay. Last night Keryn was having some strong contractions and this morning she had to call her sister over to watch the kids so she could lay down while I was teaching a class. I was planning to stay for the whole day at work, but I took off immediately after my class to help Keryn get packed and ready.

Keryn is still not sure if we're going to end up in the hospital tonight, but at least we're close to the right place so this baby will be in good shape. We called and left a message with the doctor that we'd like to induce on Monday instead of Wednesday (if we make it that long) but they never called us back. We'll call tomorrow and see if we can figure out what is going on.

In the meantime, Kim is already taking great care of us. Thanks so much to the Hannays for opening their home to us!

What about December 20th?

We finally have a scheduled induction date--December 20th. If the baby stays put that long, that is. He is definitely by far the most active baby of my three. I am so grateful for all your thoughts and prayers.

Hope you are all having a Merry Christmastime!

Blog changes coming

Some of you have noticed some flakiness getting your posts to "publish" occasionally. Google is currently in the process of moving all Blogger users (like us) from the old system to a new system that has fewer problems and more functionality. We'll be forced to switch eventually, so I thought it would be better if we did the switch on our own timetable.

The big change will be the login name for the site. You won't be able to use your Blogger login after we make the change; you will have to use a Google account. If you have a gmail account, you can use that. Otherwise, you will have to create a Google account to be able to post.

To create a Google account, check out the instructions here. You can use any email address to create a Google account. Your login will be that email address and a password of your choosing. If you'd like to get a gmail account to use for this purpose, let me know and I will send you an invitation to sign up for one.

We'll give everyone a week or so to create an account with Google and then we'll pull the switch to start using the new system. I'll put up another post when that actually happens. In the meantime, you can continue to post as you normally would.

Our family had a good experience fasting last Sunday and we look forward to more news from the Rosses of the impending addition to our clan. We are planning to go to SLC sometime during the week preceding Christmas and welcome any updates that would help us know the best time to be there.

We had a good trip to Mexico for Thanksgiving. We drove to Rocky Point and enjoyed the beach and sunshine on Turkey Day. We did have a liittle trouble on the return home, and we are very grateful this year for the miracle of modern antibiotics! I hope everyone else had a nice holiday too.

re: Christmas Fast

Thanks for the suggestion, Kim. Mom and Dad also called with the same suggestion around the time you posted this to the blog. We so greatly appreciate all of your faith and prayers as we approach this very precarious point in our little son's life.

To give the update on time lines, the baby is due on Dec. 28th. The plan has been to deliver him one week early so that it could be done in a very controlled environment up at the University of Utah hospital which is right next door to the Primary Children's Hospital. That put us up to the 21st.

Keryn's regular OB suggested that, since both of our other kids came one week early and because the last one was born so quickly, it might not be wise to wait all the way until the 21st. He recommended the 14th. That is at 38 weeks.

Since we'd rather let him cook as long as possible, we're going to try to have the baby as close to the 21st as possible without waiting for that date. Kim has graciously agreed to let us stay at her house for a few days so that we can wait a little longer to have the baby and still be close enough to get to the hospital if he decides to come on his own.

Keryn's mom and sister will be coming to stay with us for a month after our boy is born.

I spoke with our bishop during tithing settlement and he said that we can give our boy a blessing in the hospital without doing the formal "name and a blessing". So we will still do that probably a month after he is born. Knowing that some of you would like to be present for the blessing (you're all invited as always), we'd love to hear any feedback from you on dates that absolutely won't work for your family. If we have any wiggle room in timing, we'll try to accommodate everyone.

I love you all so much!

Christmas fast

There is no more special time than Christmas. There are no more special people than Brad & Keryn. Please join our family in fasting for them and their baby this coming Sunday. We are praying that the Lord will bless them with the strength they need to face their upcoming challenges and to let us know how we can best serve them at this exciting and difficult time.
WE LOVE YOU!

your editor

Dad,
If you want me to continue in the capacity of reluctant editor/proofreader for you, you may want to be careful about criticizing my poor spelling in a public forum! I was under the impression that the FAMILY blog was an INFORMAL place to post thoughts, ideas, news, etc. Sorry to the rest of you if I have offended your sensibilities! I guess I still have lots to learn. Back to school I go...

your spell checker

Nicole,
If you're going to earn a master's degree in English you must first learn to spell accommodate (accomidate).
Love, Dad

Planning Ahead

Believe it or not, I have already had more than one inquiry as to the dates of the 2007 Ross family reunion! As you may know, Theo and I are in charge this year, and we are hoping to share with all of you one our family's favorite pastimes, camping! We have not settled on a definite location, but are leaning towards one of our favorite spots, Duck Creek in the Beaver mountains. Wherever we go, it will be able to accomidate tents as well as trailers or RVs (whatever you bring to house your family). We have lots of gear, and can get ahold of more if need be. Right now, it looks like the first week of July will be the target time. So, everyone, we have tons of time to weigh in. Are you all okay with camping? How does that date work for you all? Any suggestions, problems, comments....now is your chance!

One other totally unrelated note...Brad, I follwed your link. Great little story, but what the heck are you doing reading a SUNSTONE blog?!!! Aren't they supposed to be that renegade, intellectual, APOSTATE, group?! (; Well, I guess we all like to walk on the wild side in our own way every now and then. Hee hee.

Reflections of a Shopping Mall Santa

I just read a delightful piece by a man that did a stint while he was 18 as Santa in the mall. Read the article, if for no other reason, for the story about the deer.

RE: Nate

Oh, my goodness, Nate! That is such an amazing honor! And a really great poem. Congratulations!

Congrats Nate!

Nate recently entered a poem in the Reflections Contest at school. It is a nation wide program to enter orignal works of art and literature. Children compete on a school level first... then there are 5 winners which go on to Council level... five winners go on to Region... then to state... then to nationals. Nate's poem was one selected from his school to go on to Council. This is the poem....

My Favorite Place

There once was a place,
Where there was only kindness.
It was wonderful, spectacular, yes indeed,
There were beautiful plants and never a weed.
People danced, people skipped,
Frowning faces soon were flipped.
Grandparents were sweet even though they were old,
Gossip was something that never was told.
People said "Hi" and never had hate,
No one would get mad even though you were late.
But then one day everything went wrong,
People didn't sing any more happy songs.
Now everyone was rude and never nice,
Disgusting things roamed the streets such as mice.
Everyone was grumpy and never showed smiles,
Instead they showed disrespect for miles.
This way of life was dying and everyone knew,
All of the wonderful places were closed, even the zoo.
I wonder if their posterity will ever conclude,
That being nice is better than being rude.

Friendly Reminder

Hi everyone! With Thanksgiving right around the bend, I just wanted to remind everyone to get their cousin gifts. With lots of us traveling here and there for the holiday, hopefully we can get that checked off the to-do list. Our kids are having so much fun as they are trying to come up with just the right gift. I love that it keeps giving on their minds and makes them feel closer to their family members they don't get to see as often.
Lauren, I am not sure if you could be any cuter! Ty, you rock the rock.
As for us and our holiday plans, I believe we will just be staying home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hopefully, we'll be able to come up to SLC to meet Brad and Keryn's newest one closer to New Years. Theo's brother, Donavan is coming with his wife, Ellie, son Josh, and mother-in-law, Bjorka, all the way from Germany. They will be arriving around Dec. 7th and are staying until Jan.1st. This will be the first time we've seen Josh(age 3 1/2) and Ellie in 3 years, and Donnie in almost 4! How time flies!! We are really excited they are coming home for a good long visit.
Skip and family, good luck with your upcoming move. What a big and exciting change!
We love you all and of course, we thank Heavenly Father for putting us all together in this big, crazy, happy, wonderful family!

Awesome grandchildren

I have awesome grandchildren!
I am sure none of you knew that. It is exciting to hear about Lauren and Ty, way to go both of you! Lauren, you look awesome in your dress. Ty, what an all round athlete.
We were in Durango visiting the Gillelands last weekend. It was fun to go to Gabe's parade and concert at the BFW hall. He sang his heart out along with the rest of the 4th grades in the program honoring Veteran's Day. Seth is working on mastering one of grandpa's card tricks. He and Elise are awesome at concentration.
We are looking forward to being in Salt Lake for Thanksgiving.
We will be thinking about Skip and Laurene as they start their move to Virginia. The boys are going to love the plane flight. Laurene is loving not doing the packing, how would it be!

Where we're at

Congratulations Ty! That is fun news! Hey-who's the dude with our Lauren? I hope you ran a thorough background check on him Steve! ;) You sure look beautiful Lauren-pretty dress too! John is currently in Mexico on the Baja penninsula and we are meeting him this weekend in Phx so we can all go to Rocky Point for Thanksgiving. We are currntly planning to be in SLC the week before Christmas so we can ski, see the lights, and most importantly, meet the new Ross addition coming on the 21st (yeah!)--but you know how we are with our plans! We are excited for the gift exchange and hopefully we will be able to deliver our gifts in person. Hope everyone is doing well!

Big news for Ty

108 kids (largest number Bingham has ever seen) tried out for 12 spots on the basketball team. Ty made the sophmore team. He was one of 6 freshmen to make it. We are so proud of him!

Pretty in Pink

Lauren -
Bingham Ball
November 2006.

Christmas is coming

Oh, I'm so excited about Christmas! Thanks for figuring out the cousin gift exchange, Nicole.

So what is everyone doing for Christmas and Thanksgiving? We're going to Kim's for Thanksgiving, and I know Mom and Dad will be there...anyone else? And of course, we're going to have a baby and hang out at the hospital for Christmas. So we'll be here from now until who knows when.

Fun Gift Giving

The Hannay's are so excited to do a gift exchange with our Ross cousins! We have been exchanging with our Hannay cousins for years. The $5 limit makes it fun. Take time and get the kids involved. We actually started this tradition to teach our kids the joy of GIVING. It is so fun to make or hunt for the perfect cousin gift. It is so great to see them thinking just what that cousin would love to receive. My favorite is seeing them come up with the perfect plan to make someone else have a great holiday!
Best of luck...

Checkin the List

Here it is all you happy shoppers! Everyone has agreed to participate in the gift exchange. Just a reminder, the gifts should not exceed $5! Have fun with it! And please try to complete your purchases soon, so they can get to their destination in time for Christmas! (:

Giver... Receiver...
Lauren to Elise
Tyler to Bowen
Eric to Drake
Nate to Jack
Jack to Jackson
Sam to Corbin
Blake to Seth
Claire to Mercy
Gabe to Tyler
Seth to Blake
Elise to Lauren
Jackson to Rex
Jebb to Claire
Drake to Gabe
Corbin to Eric
Bowen to Ezra
Rex to Nate
Ezra to Sam
Mercy to Jebb

We're In

Count the Gillelands in. The sooner the better. Although I won't be done by Turkey Day, it's nice to get a headstart.

Christmas Cheer

Hi again! I see Keryn has responded to my question of gift exchange. As for the rest of you who may be in the dark, I had made a post that seems to have been wiped out. To reiterate, our family would like to do a cousin gift exchange, and we want it to be totally random rather than families this year. Kim has also made the suggestion that we set a $5 limit to get our creative juices flowing, and to keep the costs down. I would be happy to spearhead the effort of name assignment. I just need to know who is in and who is out. I'll look for your answers by Thursday Nov. 9. Thanks everyone!

Gift exchange

I love this idea, Nicole! My only concern is: can we do it ASAP? I'm trying to get all my Christmas stuff done before Thanksgiving (that would be a first for me, but I'm trying!).

Halloween Gilly Style

We were planning to go to Page this Halloween but kristine got in a car accident the Friday before. We have moved her into our house until she is better (she fractured a vertibrae) so we decided to regroup and hit the Bayfield holiday happentings. We went to the Bayfield ward trunk-or-treat and got a sickening amount of candy in a very short time before we hit a Bayfield neighborhood that our friends the Kennedys call home. We went door-to-door for a while then enjoyed hanging out with several families at the Kennedy's. It was a lot of fun although we missed Page. Our costumes were: Gabe-football guy, Seth-army guy, Elise-monkey, Jackson-alligator, Jebb-dragon, and Mom-desperate housewife ;)

Unscheduled Landing

This was the view out of our front door this morning. Every year, Page hosts a hot air balloon regatta. For three days, they lift off in the morning and give us a great show. Then, to our delight, we had a balloon land right in front of our house this morning! The crew said they misjudged a little, as they had been aiming for the golf course. They even had some of our neigbors help them bundle the balloon to get it back in their trailer. On Saturday night they will have what is called a glow. All of the ballons will be tethered on main street, and then they light up the balloons with their fire after dark. It looks so cool! And who doesn't love looking at hot air balloons?!

Halloween in Page

Any one of our boys could have been called upon this year to help those in distress. We had a crowd full of heroes of various sizes and genres. All of them got into character and hauled in the loot!
Drake was the valiant Harry Potter with a wand on loan from a generous Grandpa Ross. Corbin was the man of steel, yes Superman was there to save the day! Bowen was the swashbuckling Jack Sparrow, complete with a dreadlock hairpiece, and of course a pirate's sword. Finally, Rex was none other than Buzz Lightyear (the only other costume he even considered was Woody, but that will have to wait until next year as the size isn't quite right yet).
We hope you will all show off your costumes for us on the blog! We can't wait to see you!

Halloween Photos

Let's see all your scary Halloween Pics!

News you can use

Duct tape no substitute for a babysitter, police say

Ya think?