Seth is now a Deacon

Thanks to the Martins for making the drive for Seth's ordination! He was so glad someone came for him (2nd child complex ya know). :) We are sad the Rosses couldn't make it too! We love all of you guys and are so glad Seth has so many terrific Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins to look up to!

Compare to Prepare

I have started an new weekly blog. See it HERE.

We are all gathering great ideas for preparedness in our home towns. I though we could share ideas and tips to help each other! Please leave a comment if you have any ideas on this weeks topic.... Year Supply.

Thank you!

Martin boys, Great Grandma Peters absolutely loved your thank you notes! She has commented on them 2-3 times each day. She said, "Isn't that wonderful that they could buy what they wanted". She is always thrilled to get mail.

Ezra, she told us all about your going into her room and talking to her on Monday. She thought is was so cute and she really enjoyed it.

We took her for a pedicure on Wednesday, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Friday we made a trip to the doctor for an eye infection. The medication seems to give her side effects like she had in the hospital so we have had to discontinue it, hopefully the infection can clear up on its own.

Grandma Peters birthday is Feb 7th. She turns 92, so if anyone is so inclined, she would love a card.

We'd love to have you

Seth is turning 12 at the end of the month (27th) and he will be ordained the next Sunday. We would like you all to know you are invited to come. :)

Keryn
Happy Birthday!
We love you!

Happy New Year, Everyone.

2010 will be a great year.
We love you!

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?