Money, Money, Money, Mon-ey

Hey fam.

The reunion is less than a week away. I still need cash to get the tickets etc.

S. Ross - $260
Gilleland - $305
Martin - $260 paid thanks!
B. Ross - ?? Not sure what you are participating in.
Deb - $0 just come to whatever you can.

I will be posting each day to help in our preparation.

I still need head shots from Martins and Gillelands too!

Calendar

Is there any way to add events to the family calendar? Jackson's b-day is July 17th. :) We are getting so excited for the reunion!!!!!!!

Our New Summer Family Cabin

What do you all think? We can swing $29 million together, can't we?

Brian Head Ski Resort Listed for Sale Again At Reduced Price

Schedule Update

We are adding a "Family Fun Run" on Friday and combining the temple trips. Here is the updated Friday schedule.

Fri. July 23
8am	Breakfast
9am	Fun Run
12pm	Recreation Center
		swimming, basketball, volleyball, soccer $3
3pm-5pm	Temple
		12 & older (bring your recommends)
6pm	Dinner
		BBQ at Hannay's
7pm	Ancestor Spotlight
8pm	Game Night
		Minute to Win It

Also, each family will be asked to "spotlight" an ancestor. (5 min or less) Be creative and try to involve the whole family.

Reunion Update

Please check your email. I have sent out updated schedules for reunion 2010. Please let me know what your family plans to participate in. I am also starting to collect $$. You can send me a check....

Kim Hannay
9515 Shellywood Circle
South Jordan, UT 84095

The costs are as follows...
Lagoon $35 per person
Crafts $3 per person
Kids Pizza Night $2 per kid
Additional Food $1 per meal (5 meals total)


Thanks!

Is This the Same Kid?

Corbin has had long hair for several years and for whatever reason he decided it was finally time for a change.

Before......
After......

A New Project

Hello family,

For those of you that don't know, I've been working on a few new "projects" lately... and I'm finally ready to share it a little more widely. :)

Rather than trying to explain it here, you can read about it on my new site, Mental Rewire.

If you don't really care to read it, that's totally fine. I still love you. :) If you read it and like what you see, I encourage you to comment and get involved - even share it with others if you're feeling sassy enough. I would also love feedback on the site, and content if you feel so inclined.

Thanks!

Under Wraps

Have you ever wondered what it looks like when they ship a headstone? Wonder no more. Today, I'll borrow some tin snips from dad and we can actually cut the metal straps and see what it looks like.

Tyler Steven Hannay

Watch for Ty on the green screen... Then hear his name read as he receives his diploma! YAH!

Greeting created with Smilebox

First grade, first grade...

Moving

Grandma Peters has decided to move to the Alta Ridge Assisted Living facility .7 mile from us. We will execute the move on the 22nd of May. It is going to be hard to see her go over there.

She has made a good decision, however, since it is getting more difficult for her to function on her own. She wants to be settled before anything major happens to her. She, too, is wondering if this is really what she wants to do. She is realizing all the little extras she gets here that won't be available in that setting. I have assured her I will be visiting daily to be sure everything is going well and do some of those things she likes done.

For Non-Mormons Only

If you are a Mormon, you're not allowed to view this video. I'm afraid you'll turn me in to the authorities. But for the rest of you, you might find it cute. Mercy is on the left in the front, frequently leaning over the rail. Gideon is standing just in front of Ezra, with only his head visible. Ezra is the one who raises his hand near the beginning of the song.

I wasn't planning to film this, but after the first verse it occurred to me that this was the cutest thing ever--and I did have a camera in my pocket. Don't tell President Monson.

Rocky Mountain Oysters

This weekend for a scout activity, Drake's troop went out to a ranch to help brand cattle, tag new calves, and castrate the males. We talked to Drake about what they would be doing before he went out so he wouldn't be caught off guard. (Although, Drake really liked doing the veternary badge a few months ago when he got to see a cat being neutered. Weird. I digress.)

Theo told Drake that the cowboys eat the "rocky mountain oysters" after they are done. When Theo proceeded to explain to Drake that the oysters weren't really oysters at all, Drake exclaimed, "There is NO WAY I am eating a cow's private parts!" All of our boys were wide-eyed and giggling as we were discussing this over dinner (I know, great dinner conversation. We have all boys; it is not always kosher in our dining room.) We told Drake, he should just try it. To our surprise, he said, "Ok, I guess I will just have to do what dad says and be a man about it." We tried not to laugh, and to just be encouraging about trying new things.

Drake spent most of the day Saturday working hard at the ranch. They ended up having so much to do that they didn't have time to fit in the much anticipated eating of the "oysters". Drake seemed relieved when he told us. I wonder if he really would have tried them. I am glad he seemed at least willing to "be a man about it". (=

Grandma Bertha's Headstone, Take II

It looks like we'll be ordering Grandma Bertha's headstone from a place called headstonesandmemorials.com, and here are some options. The stone is the basic "grey" granite, and, as seen above, any of these designs would cost the base price of $285. To get the stone set in the cemetery, we will have to pay one of the headstone places around here to place it (this will be around $250). So the price, right now, is around $535.

Which design do you like best? (Click on the collage to see the options up closer.) Vote below! (With the caveat that Eva and Grandma Peters get final say.)

Which headstone should we pick?
	A
	B
	C
	D
	E
	F
pollcode.com free polls

Yay for Piano Recitals

I loved watching those video clips from the piano recital. Way to go, guys! I reminded me of a great video from Benjamin Zander at a TED conference. He emphasized the importance of "one buttock playing."

Grandma Bertha's Headstone

Bradley had me call around to some gravestone places, and it seems we can get a "adult" 24"x 12" stone in a black and white granite (think the Salt Lake Temple, it's actually not granite but a quartz monzonite) (not that it matters) for about $675. (That's more expensive than I was thinking, but we can still do it, I imagine.) If we want to go to the "infant" or "child" sized stones, the price goes down moderately.

It takes about two months to make it and install it, so we'll want to get this rolling sometime in the next two weeks, just to be on the safe side. Let me know what you guys think! We're thinking WAY basic--no pretty flowers or fish or sunsets engraved into the stone; just her full name and birth and death dates. But give us your opinions, because this is from all of us.

Deadline to have your opinions considered: Let's say next Monday, May 3. That way we can order it next week on Monday or Tuesday or something like that.

Also, Kim had me call and reserve a very nice pavilion in Canyon View Park for Saturday, July 24, so we can have a picnic dinner with all the extended family after going to the cemetery to see the stone. Does anyone have a history of Grandma Bertha? She isn't in the DUP stuff, because she isn't considered a pioneer, having not come over until after 1869. But it would be way awesome to have a history or some kind of information about her to read and talk about at the cemetery.

Boys Spring Recital

Sam and Blake's Spring Recital from laurene ross on Vimeo.

This was Blake's first recital. He was up first and was on pins and needles. Sam was on auto mode, he just kept on going. I think he was pretty nervous. I was really happy that they didn't freak out under the pressure and kept their composure when things got a little rough. I was really proud of them.

Jack Ross Recital Spring 2010 from laurene ross on Vimeo

Jack has been on this song for months. This is the best he has played it. I am glad he did so well, but I am ready to move on to the next song and so is he:) All and all they all did great!

Reunion Crazy Thought

So here's a crazy thought. What if we had a little luncheon at or near the cemetery (or just somewhere in SF) and invited all of the descendants of this ancestor????? How cool would that be? We could do it on the day we all go to SF or something??? Just throwin it out there. I personally am very curious to meet our cousins and think a little ceremony at the new headstone would be an excellent excuse!!!

We Need a Headstone

After being inspired by Keryn's Daughters of the Utah Pioneers meeting this morning, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and visit the historic Spanish Fork Pioneer Cemetery. It was tricky to find since it is on a road that doesn't show up on Google Maps. (Here's a house next door that you can plot on Google Maps, even if they don't currently show the road.) We placed a couple of phone calls and got some good directions and we were off.

It was beautiful and fun. Part two of our adventure was to drop by the regular Spanish Fork Cemetery (a few blocks from our house) and try to find the grave of Bertha Ericksen Larsen. She is the great-grandmother of Grandma Peters. Michelle mentioned in a comment earlier that she was buried in Spanish, and we wanted to find her. We found her in the online cemetery records, but we were unable to find her plot in person.

We think we found the exact spot where she's supposed to be buried, but there are no headstones in that spot. We think she was buried without a headstone. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that they don't have a picture of her headstone in the online database either. We ought to remedy this! I don't actually know what a headstone costs, but I figure it is a couple of hundred dollars for a small one. Maybe we can do something before the family reunion and anyone can come visit it during the family reunion.

Keryn will double check with the cemetery officials to confirm our finding. Then we'll price out a small headstone. If anyone would like to chip in, I think it would be cool to do something for her.

LOT-O-BIRTHDAYS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THEO! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY BRAD! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW LAUREN! LOVE YOU ALL!

Let's Party

Here's a link to an article on the front page of our Sunday Paper...

Big Kid Easter

The week leading up to Easter we read the scriptures Michelle so generously posted for us. We had a wonderful day watching General Conference. Then after a few days of Spring snow, we finally had a nice night for the HUNT. I love Spring, and all the symbols of new life and a fresh start. (Atonement & resurrection...) Enter the egg hunt. When the kids were little this was a fun easy tradition. As they got older, they were a little too cool for some of the kiddie traditions I love.

I found a fun new idea... and we had SO much fun doing our big kid's Easter Egg Hunt. Here is what we did.

Wait until dark. Each hunter needs a flashlight and a basket. Everyone is assigned an egg color to hunt for. Then you assemble on the back porch until Mom says "GO!"














You look for your egg color and leave all other colors for their owner to find.















It's dark so eggs are a little harder to find.















To add an element of fun and competition, there are also hidden a few GOLDEN eggs. Inside the golden eggs are things like movie passes and iTunes cards. WOWZA!

But there is a twist. Take confetti eggs from Mexico and throw them in the mix. If you crack a confetti egg on someones back, then you can steal one of their golden eggs!















Now things get interesting. You have to run and hunt quickly. Try to avoid getting confettied. Try not to slip and fall, dropping a golden egg...















Eric managed the most golden eggs. But, because everyone had 8 of their own colored eggs to find, Mom got to put some fun treats and cash inside for everyone to find. We had so much fun, we are going to invite all our older cousins and friends to join in next year!

Happy Easter everyone!

Photo deadline

I need a head shot of everyone TODAY please. (Thanks for the reminder Laurene) Send the JPEGs to kimhannay@gmail.com

A Sacrifice

Today, we celebrated Easter in our ward. Keryn and I are on an every-other-year rotation with choir. One year she gets to participate, the next year I get to participate. It's my year.

I sat up on the stand for the entire sacrament meeting. I gave the opening prayer and then sang several songs with the choir with a couple of talks mixed in. It was a great meeting. The talks were great and holiday appropriate. The music was soul-lifting and spirit-feeding.

At least, that is how I saw it.

If you ask Keryn, I think you will get a very different report of the meeting. She spent much of the time wrestling different children and trying to keep everyone quiet. Heber really has a lot to say, even if he doesn't have many words to offer. The exasperation was evident on her face several times as children tested the extent of their free agency. It wasn't a very fun meeting, and probably not very inspiring. Even so, she smiled up at me at the right times and gave it her all.

Sometimes, having little kids at church isn't too uplifting. I think today, it was even less uplifting than normal for my wife. It was a sacrifice she made for me so that I could have a great experience. How cool to be part of a family that is willing to sacrifice for each other. I see that in my own little family, and in our broader family. Thanks to all of you for being so wonderful and setting such good examples of sincere love.

Blog Migration

Because of some changes in Blogger, we have had to move the family blogs to a new address.  The entire blog will move, with all the archives and pictures and all.  There shouldn't be any differences, just a new address to set your bookmark to.  This will take effect by tomorrow morning, March 18.



Instead of:


lavalane.org/ross


Set your bookmarks to:


ross.lavalane.org


Easy as pie.  Nothing else is changed, so you still go to Blogger.com to write a post, etc.

Happy Birthday, John!
We love ya!

Head Shots

Hello All,

I need a "head shot" of everyone for the reunion. Could you please email me a recent photo of each person in your family? kimhannay@gmail.com

If the photos are not received by 3/22 I will be forced to photoshop crop you out of a goofy family reunion picture. So, please... send me some great shots of each family member!

Thanks!

PS - Our family b-day list to the right of this post is missing... Blake, Jackson & Bo. When are their birthdays???

Reunion Evite

Personalize an invitation

Birth Order and Ross Granddaughters

Lauren is the oldest child in her family.
Mercy is the second child in her family.
Elise is the third child in her family.
Claire is the fourth child in her family.
Ralphette is the fifth child in her family.

And there you go.  That's some pretty precise placement on girls, there.

And don't worry about the name.  She won't be Ralphette forever, anymore than Ezra was Kronk, Mercy was Yzma, Gideon was Dule, and Heber was Baby Awesome.

What she WILL be named...now that's another story.  You know us and naming babies.  Everyone is welcome to give suggestions (remember:  unusual, spellable, and pronounceable), but don't expect to hear anything until after the birth!