Orange Curtain Photos

Here are the orange curtain photos.

For Fun From FR06

Here is a fun pic from 06. Does anyone have the orange curtain photos? Did any turn out...?

I am very anxious to see photos from both Nic and Kim and their Spring Break Extravaganzas!

Reunion Photos from '06

So, you remember how I gathered up all the photos from the '06 reunion to distribute to everyone on DVD? Well, gave Mom a copy and I guess I never got out the rest of the discs. How scandalous! The master copy has been done forever, but I just never got them out.

Since Michelle was looking for photos, and since there are a lot of photos on that disc that people might want, I've put up the T-shirt pictures in a private Picasa web album. You can browse them online, see a slideshow, or download the full quality images.

Reunion

The Hannay teens are very busy with camps and trips & EFY this summer. Lauren will be working full time to save for college. As for the dates you mentioned... Eric & Ty will be gone until June 28th. There really is no week until Aug. that all our kids will be home. So plan around everyone else... most of us will see you there!

Reunion Date Feedback

I didn't get a lot of feedback from people about bad times for the reunion this summer. (Nicole gets the prize for providing the most info.) Based on her schedule, we've tentatively selected June 26-29. That is one week before July 4th weekend when we've usually done it. Any thoughts or push back on either date? I'm particularly interested in hearing how this will work for the Virginia Rosses.

Waiting

Well, we are just marking time before we start packing. We have completed all the major items. Most of the things left can't be completed yet.

We will start in Tabago. There isn't a couple there currently, so they are searching for us a place to rent. We will move to Trinidad the end of August when another couple goes home. If we go to Trinidad first, before going to Tobago, they want to show us the apartment. She says some of the couples have nicer apartments, but ours is less expensive and in a nice neighborhood. It is is Arima, which in the upper third and in the middle of Trinidad, so no evening dips in the ocean. It is a good sized city. We borrowed a map from someone who was there on a humanitarian mission in 1991. She shared lots of stories and information with us. We still know very little about Tobago, except is has some really nice resorts. I imagine a lot of the members are the maids, cooks, etc, in those hotels.

Be sure to have the kids bring swim suits for the farewell weekend. Deb is coming at 9 pm on Friday and flying out at 9 pm on Sunday. We will just do Sacrament meeting on Sunday and have lunch in case anyone needs to leave to go home.

Counting the days,

Mom

truck for sale

Hello, Ross Clan,

I'm afraid Mom and I are going to have to sell my precious truck. Mission preparation expenses and an enormous tax hit this year have made it necessary. But we are okay with it. I look at it as a sacrifice that will come back to us in many ways on the mission.

So, if you know anyone who wants a "perfect" 2003, F-150, Ford pickup, let me know. Kim is posting it on KSL.com. I am asking $13,500. It really is like new. Ask around.

Love, Dad

Priesthood Ban

We noticed that Mom and Dad had been reading up on the Priesthood Ban in preparation for their mission. I thought I would share a couple of online resources that I've particularly liked.

• An article from Meridian Magazine.
• A blog post about the subject, with an especially touching story in comment #5.
• I attended a conference where we say the trailer for the movie Keryn mentioned in a post below. I blogged about that session of the conference which included commentary from Darius Gray, one of the first members of the Genesis group in Salt Lake. The post gives my summary of what I heard, and then there are a couple of follow-up comments from one of the creators of the documentary that are also very informative.
• Finally, here is a book review of the book that started the discussion for us at Mom and Dad's house.

If you'd like to e-borrow a book from me, here is a temporary link to a PDF (40 MB) of a recent biography of President Kimball. It was one of the most informative books on church history I've ever read. It includes a few chapters on the lead-up to and aftermath of the revelation on the priesthood.

Gideon Update

Mom mentioned that she wanted another Gideon update on the blog. As a proud father, I'm all too happy to oblige. He is doing so well! He is quite mobile these days, crawling around the house. He doesn't do stairs yet.

We have a therapist come to work with him once a week to work on strengthening his muscles. He wears little plastic boots that help him stand up. He loves to stand up on your lap or on the pew at church. We're trying to help him learn to stand up and to cruise around on the furniture, but he doesn't yet have the muscle strength and control to do it. He is improving, though.

Gideon still has, and may always have limited bowel control. There may be things that can be done to strengthen those muscles, but it is hard to tell at this point. Always having a poopy diaper can cause quite the diaper rash on occasion, though he doesn't seem to have much feeling in his bum, so it hasn't been a source of serious discomfort for him. (Hey, you said you wanted to know!)

He is doing lots of babbling these days, he just learned today to identify his nose on command, and he's got a few words which seem to include amen, mommy, and yeah.

He has a very good temperament and we feel ever so blessed to have him in our home, even when he tears the leaves off my plants and eats them, causing him to throw up on the carpet where dad has to clean it up. :)

Authoring on the Blog

I'm happy to make as many accounts as we need to post to the blog. I sent you an email to mail@slross.com with an invite. If that email doesn't work, send me a note with another email I should use to send you the invite. Once you get the invite, you should be able to post to the blog under your own name.

Help Brad...Please

Brad I was wondering how I can get a sign in on this blog under my own name, instead of Skip's. I have an account with blogger and I think that would work but, I'm not sure how. Anyone is welcome to visit my blog, mostly pictures and thoughts on our family, http://lewisross.blogspot.com .I was hoping Brad could help me with a few technical things...Please? Laurene

Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons

Mom and Dad--when we were at your house on Saturday, Bradley mentioned a movie about black Mormons called "Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons". It won't be released on DVD before you leave for your mission, but providentially enough, it will be premiered at the Foursite Film Festival in Ogden on Saturday morning at 11am. I thought I'd let you two know in case you wanted to go see it. Apparently at least one of the directors (Margaret Young and Darius Gray) will be there for a Q&A afterwards, too. All the information about where to go and such is at the film festival link. Advance tickets apparently can be purchased here.

Photos

I am looking for photos!! If anyone has any reunion photos from 06 or 07 can you send them? I have lots of random shots from both years, but no good group shots. I would like one from 06 either with our t-shirts on or in front of the orange curtain. I would like one from 07 with the brown and pink shirts. I am going to print out 8x10s of both of them so I'd like good quality if anyone has it! Thanks! :)

trip to St. George

Reunion

So we were looking at everyone's preferences about the reunion (except Debby--do you have a preference?), and it looks like--especially if the Virginia Ross Family can come, yay!--we'll try to do it in the summer. So, now, give your preferences for timing, or even tell us when you CAN'T do it...we'll look those over and choose a time, pretty quick here, so it can get on everyone's calendar.

And if it helps, we'll probably be doing it here along the Wasatch Front.

Thanks, everybody. Can't wait to see you all at the farewell!

Virgina Ross Opinion

We vote for the summer. We would probably drive and would need to take at least ten days to get there , have fun, and drive back. I know everyone has jammed packed summer schedules,but hopefully we could figure something out. We miss you guys and want to see you.

Martin Vote

I guess one family has to be difficult. We do not have Spring Break right before or right after the farewell. Theo also has a track meet on the Friday before the farewell in Chinle. That said, we can probably come up Saturday the 29th and stay through maybe Monday? Or I can maybe come without Theo (which I can do even though I'd prefer not to) and be there a little longer. No matter what, we will be there on the Sunday of the farewell to support mom and dad. We are all SOOOOO EXCITED and so proud of their willingness to serve the Lord!

As for the summer, we are filling up our calendar quick. We still have some time available, but it needs to be spoken for. Right now I have girls' camp the last week of May, youth conference the second week of June, and running camp the second half of July....

Thanks to Mom, Kim, Michelle, and Lauren for a FABULOUS time in St. George. Heavenly Father must have known that I would need a getaway at just that moment in time and softened all of your hearts so you would be willing to run away with me! (-: It was just what I needed and I feel so much the better for it!

Let us know what the final decision is on the get together in March.

Reunion

Gillelands have Spring Break the week before the farewell, so we would love the reunion to be during that time. We can also do summer with some exceptions--we can be flexible. Thanks for working on it. Airfare from Virginia is quite reasonable at the end of March too as compared to summer. ;) Hope everyone can make it!

On another note, I really enjoyed going to St George last weekend. I zoomed to Page and kidnapped Nicole, then we met Kim who kidnapped Mom and Lauren too! It was great to see you all and Parade around! Maybe Mom will post a photo!

Hannay Vote

We are excited to see everyone! Our vote - March 28-31. The Hannay kids don't have school on Monday the 31st. So let's party and make it a long weekend!
Our summer is going to be SO crazy we'd love to see you all in spring instead!

Farewell

We are so excited!
Our farewell talks will be on March 30th at 11:00 am. We report to the MTC on April 14th. We will be there a whole week.
We will be in Tobago through the summer then when a couple leaves, we will go to Trinidad and move into their apartment.
If you want to learn about the area, Google Trinidad Tobago and you will get a nice listing. We liked the Wickipedia and the CIA articles.
We are scurrying to get our visas, extra shots, international drivers licenses, etc. The list is huge! Today is shot day for as many as they will give us. The yellow fever one has to be 10 days before the MTC. We will feel like pin cushions before it is over. We have already had some, believe it or not!
Mom

Reunion planning

I know you all have lots of thoughts about the reunion. I'd like to encourage you to call me or post them here. I'm thinking that since many of us are planning to come up for Mom and Dad's farewell talks, it might be a good time to do a mini reunion over that weekend. First I guess we need to get Mom and Dad to ask their bishop if/when they will be speaking so we can know the right weekend to plan around.

I understand they go into the MTC on Monday, April 14. That leaves March 23rd (Easter), March 30th, or April 13th as the most likely speaking dates.

If you're bummed that I'm considering a shorter reunion and you'd rather do a longer reunion during the summer, please feel free to voice that opinion as well.

I HOPE THEY CALL ME ON A MISSION!!

Wow, how exciting. Congratulations on your mission call. Thanks for letting us know. The boys loved hearing it over the speaker phone. Thanks again for your great example. We will start to research as much as we can so we can know all about the country you are going to. You are awesome!! Please post the details of your call. The boys would love to know.

"Wish You Could Stay Forever"

We just took Grandpa and Grandpa to the airport. The kids screamed "We love you!" from the van as they walked through the airport doors. I am afraid they didn't hear us. We were so blessed to have them with us for five days. They were able to be here for Sam's baptsim, and we got to do some other fun things with them. I most enjoyed just talking with them. Jack kept trying to get them to share stories of their lives at the dinner table, he didn't get to far. Maybe they are saving all those stories for the bestseller they are going to write after their mission, The Great American Novel , " Life, The George and Eva Story" we are highly anticipating it.

We realize that living so far away keeps us from seeing all of you very often, so we are again grateful to this blog to help us feel somewhat in touch.

I hope you each savor the time you get to spend with these two as they will be gone from you also for 18 months. Sometimes you don't realize how important people are til you are far apart.

We love Grandma and Grandpa very much. They are a great example of how to live life. I am eternally grateful to them for my Husband and his willingness to follow correct principles and treat our family with love and kindness. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for your example and love you have for us. We wish you could have stayed here forever.

Fun with Grandpa and Grandma

We had fun At the miniature golf course and the science museum. I think we wore them out a little. The boys were just so excited they fought over who got to ride in the car with them. They are pretty popular here at our house.

Sam's Baptism

Sam had a wonderful baptism. He was beaming from ear to ear. We were so glad Grandma and Grandpa could be here. They both spoke and Jack played a musical number. Skip gave Sam the Holy Ghost and a wondeful blessing. I am so grateful for the gospel and the chance to teach my children about our Heavenly Fathers plan. I asked Sam today if he still feels clean, he said "Yes, but a little not, I didn't come when you asked me" If this is the worst we are doing pretty good.

A Work in Progress

Here are the latest pictures of our house. We finally got the last layer of the stucco put on this week as the temperatures have finally climbed a bit. We are thrilled with the way it looks. As for the interior, we are done hanging the drywall, and ready to mud the joints and texture. That may be a job for the pros as Theo is about to start track season next week, and hence will be far more scarce around here on the weekends. We really want to be done in the near future so we can have all of you come and visit us in our expanded accomidations! (-: We'll put out the welcome mat.

Here are a couple more pictures for you to see grandma and the quilt I made for her. She was tickled.

90th Birthday report

Grandma Peters had a great 90th birthday. All of your cards came on her birthday. She ended up with about 17-18 birthday cards. She loved it! The daisy basket and balloons came from the Gillelands and the basket of roses and mixed flowers came from the Ross, Gilleland, Hannay and Martin grandkids and greatgrandkids. Kim made the Valentine pillow, which she adores. Three men came from the church and sang "Happy Birthday" about 7:30, which they do for everyone in the ward who turns 90. We were all there. At the last minute, about 4:00, she decided she would go to dinner. Julie and Brian, Wes and Jan, Janelle and Alan and Connie went with us to dinner.
The weather was in the 60's when I got there and was up to 76 on Sat when I left. They had been having lots of rain prior to my arrival. The skys were unbelieveably blue and you could actually see the mountains and the snow on them. I was bothered somewhat by the smog, however.
Prior to my arrival, mom had been sleeping quite a bit. Alan thought she would be taking at least one nap a day. To my surprise, she wouldn't let me go anywhere alone. We went out each day for 1-2 hours shopping at one place or another. By Friday she was beat! (Her birthday was on Thursday) After we returned from the store, she sat in her chair and fell asleep with her purse on her lap. She later commented that she hadn'd even taken a nap that day.
Connie came over on Wed and we took her to get her hair cut while we went to lunch. We bought her 4 pair of pants and 3 shirts and a bedspread. She hadn't been clothes shopping since I took her a couple of years ago. She tried them on and then she went with me on her birthday to exchange for a differnt size on the pants. So Thursday was a really busy day for her to go the the mall then out to dinner, no wonder she was exhausted by Friday noon.
I am sorry for those of you who might have come over! We didn't dream we could get her out to dinner, since she hasn't been for a few months, and the weather was great to boot! I did take recent family pictures to share with everyone.
She has great difficulty getting up and down and has pain as she does, and her hearing is bad and she isn't seeing well. The macular degeneration is getting pretty bad. I heard many of the stories several times in my few days there.
I am writing this message on our new laptop for our mission. We are just waiting for our call! We finished with the stake president on last Sunday so sometime between now and the 20th ish.
We leave for Virgina for the baptism of Sam late the 14th. We return on the 20th, hopefully with a call in our mailbox!

Sister Ruth Faust

Sister Ruth Faust passed away this morning. I'm sure she's happy to be back home with her husband.

Flip Out

Aaron Fotheringham, Keryn's cousin, was featured in an ESPN SportsCenter story this week. You can read the story and watch the video here. Keryn posted a bit about Aaron before in a story on our PonderIt blog before Gideon was born.