Darwin and the Kite

You're probably familiar with the annual Darwin Awards. I was amused by this entry.

Kennon, 26, replicated the conditions of Ben Franklin's experiment, but sans safety precautions. He was flying a kite with a short string that he had extended with a length of thin copper wire.

The copper made contact with a high tension line, sending a bolt of artificial lightning down the wire towards the man. To cap the story off, Kennon's father told listeners, his son was an electrician and "should have known better."

Reading this story makes we want to hear dad's retelling of his own childhood kite story. What do you say dad?

End of a year and an era

As 2006 closes down, I have had a reoccurring memory running around in my head, perhaps it is old age. It was 1966 or early 1967 and Opal Allen was addressing the Relief Society, or perhaps bearing her testimony in RS, but it was in the RS room. I had on a red plaid maternity dress. She was talking about how many years she had been a visiting teacher and various other jobs, etc. I was thinking that the most I could say was that I had been a visiting teacher, for not even a year, had been a YW advisor for a year or so, was currently holding a couple of jobs with the youth, had taught high school English for two years, but that was about it. I had no credibility. At that time I thought it would be forever before I could say I had been a visiting teacher for 5 years, let alone 35 or 40. Needless to say, the time has come and I wonder where the time has gone.

Another time comes to mind, I had recently had my 5th baby and someone in the ward commented that I should cancel a scheduled tennis match because it conflicted with a time they wished to have an event, and this happened more than once. I am glad I didn't give in because tennis was an outlet for me, an esteem builder, as well as good exercise. I limited the number of times I would play during the week, as some ladies played every day and sometimes twice a day. It would have been easy to follow suit if I hadn't decided where I would draw the line. Soon dad was playing and we had several years of enjoyment from tennis with our friends. Had I listened to someone who said that I could do that when my kids were raised, I would have missed a very satisfying part of my life.

Tennis has not been a big part of our life in Page because of lack off partners and facilities.
In July, we will have been in Page 20 years. What an exciting and fulfilling 20 years! We came here with four children, as we were in the downsizing phase of life. We married off five children, gained five incredible sons and daughters, and had 20 awesome grandchildren (with a little help from our children). I went back to teaching, got my ESL endorsement, received my special education endorsement, and earned a master’s degree in administration.

There is a time and a season, and it is different for everyone. For recreation we played a little tennis, took up racquetball and golf and grandparenting. Of course, we didn’t do them all at the same time and some of them not very well. It has been a good 20 years here in Page.

2006 was rougher than usual on our family, each family unit has its own crises and trials with many prayers answered. My testimony has grown through it all. We did get two beautiful new grandchildren. 2007 is looming before us with new challenges and victories.

I am grateful for my testimony of Jesus Christ and all that he does for us when we ask. I am thankful for a super marriage and a loving husband without whose support, I would not have accomplished half of what I have been able to do. I am very blessed.

I am almost ready for the next phase, leaving Page, going on a mission, etc.

I love you all,

Mom

fall semester project

well, i chatted with kim for a bit this morning online and she requested that i post some of my latest school stuff...since i haven't really been posting anything. for those of you that don't know, i'm in my final year (i guess its down to the final semester now) of my second bachelor's degree. the good news is, i have a much better grasp on what this degree is and what it entails. although i'm a little nervous, i'm applying all over the country and with any luck, i'll get a job somewhere and move.

so anywho. this project is actually a year-long one. we are sponsored by intel and have been asked to come up with products to improve the daily life of elders, specifically 45+. we spent the first semester doing research by reading books, journals, reports, etc, as well as interviewing people. we used this research to come up with numerous product opportunity gaps, or areas within the market where we felt there was a potential for a product. this led to hundreds of crazy ideas. we had to select 20 of these ideas and develop them a little further. out of the 20, we chose 5, then down to 3 for the final presentation of the semester. i'm not going to post all of the pages i had to show at my final presentation (there are approx. 25-30), but here are some of the pages of the most visually interesting things.

the forms are a bit rough...so forgive me. we spend the entire second semester developing the form and engineering the product, so this is just a preliminary step.



i know the text is small on here, and difficult to read, so i apologize. this is basically a system to track your nutrition intake. the piece that attaches to the silverware tracks calories, sugar, protein, and sodium and reports the information back to the main unit.

this page is pointing out the main features of this product.




again, i know the text is hard to read, but with a little understanding of what the product does, the pictures should tell most of the story.


this is the storyboard, basically showing how the product is used. again, i know the text is hard to read, but with a little understanding of what the product does, the pictures should tell most of the story.



the second product is to assist elders with difficulty remembering to take their medication. the pill storage device dispenses the proper medication at the designated time. the lights throughout the house then begin to flash slowly, to alert them to go take their medication.

this is the features and functions presentation board.



this shows the process of how the product works...the pills are loaded in and the device is programmed as to what medication to dispense at what time. when the medication drops, the user is alerted and they take the medication.

once again, here is the storyboard.



the third product is a glove that gives assistance to individuals with difficulty gripping things. it could help a 74 year-old woman with arthritis open a jar, for example.

this shows the features, which include a rubberized texture to reduce slippage and an open design for easy handling.



the process of this product is rather simple, but it has to be shown nonetheless.

this shows the process of having difficulty, putting the glove on, and opening the jar with ease.


so there is a peek at what i have been up to in school. sorry it is so giant and long. hopefully soon, i will be able to get a website of my work up and running so i can just put a link in here instead. :) until that day, thanks for taking the time to look at my stuff. if you have any questions about it, feel free to ask.

love you guys!

Happy New Year

2006 is nearly gone and 2007 looms wonderful on the horizon. So much has happened this year it is hard to digest it all. We are all thrilled to learn that Gideon is doing so well and we continue to pray for him. Mom and I will celebrate our 42nd anniversary tomorrow! It's hard to imagine! I continue to marvel that this incredible woman would have agreed to be my eternal companion. She is still breathtakingly beautiful, intelligent, caring, and capable (the best Relief Society President in the Church). When she retires this year, Page Schools is going to be in trouble. We are looking forward to our move, although we can't imagine how we will be able to live without the Martins being only a block away. We will have to visit often. We also learned that a flight to Richmond, on Jet Blue, only costs about one half what it costs on a major carrier. Get ready Skip and Laurene. And remember, we will have at least two or three extra bedrooms. Thanks to Kim, our new home's basement is turning into a real show-place.

Well, I shall stop rambling for now. I'm not even sure if this will be posted.

I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dad

Naming Gideon

Naming kids is a traumatic affair for me and Keryn. We put a lot of thought into the process because we believe your name gets to shape a little part of who you are. Keryn and I both liked Ezra Taft Benson as a prophet of our childhood and we know that Ezra was a good Old Testament prophet too who tried to bring Israel back to the true worship of Jehovah. While waiting in the labor and delivery room, just prior to his birth, we settled on giving the name to our first son.

When we found out we were having a girl, we tossed around a lot of names. She ended up being born on Good Friday, the Friday before Easter. That is the traditional date of the crucifixion, the culmination of the ultimate act of mercy ever performed. Since we also like the different Mercys in church history, we were able to settle on the name of Mercy for our little girl, though we didn't really get there until 12 or 18 hours after she was born. The date of her birth really had a lot to do with the final selection of that name.

Naming Gideon was a different experience. We bounced through several names that we liked and Gideon just sort of rose to the top of the list. Shortly before he was born, one of the nurses asked us what we would name him. We looked at each other, and then answered that we would name him Gideon Michael Ross. Of course, the Michael is to honor Keryn's father who passed away earlier this year.

It wasn't until later, while talking to a social worker in Primary Children's, that the appropriateness of the name Gideon really struck me. She asked what his name was. I told her it was Gideon. She said it reminded her of a faithful Nephite warrior. I told her that Keryn too most associated the name with the Book of Mormon character. I mentioned that I liked the association with the biblical Gideon. She couldn't think of the story right off, so I started to tell her about Gideon raising an army to fight for Israel.

Many men joined the cause, but the Lord didn't want them to believe that they would be victorious on their own strength alone, so he reduced their number through various tests until only 300 remained. With such a small group, they wouldn't be able to rely on their own power, they would need the help of the Lord.

And then it hit me how similar that story is to my own little Gideon. He is facing his battle at a natural disadvantage and he will be required to lean on the Lord more than he otherwise might have. And that won't be a bad thing. We're so blessed to have him join our family.

Switch Your Account

I finally figured out how to switch your account from the old Blogger login to the new Google login so that you can post to the blog. Just visit http://www.blogger.com/migrate-login.g (there is a huge link to it on the homepage that I totally missed) and you will be able to sign in with your old Blogger account and then choose a Google (often gmail) account that you'd like to use to sign into the blog in the future. Let me know if you have trouble with it.

Welcome Gideon Michael Ross

For those of you who have not yet been lucky enough to meet our little Gideon, here are some pictures sent to you courtesy of the wireless internet access they provide in his hospital room.

This first picture is of Keryn just before Gideon's birth. She wasn't smiling this big during the birth, if you were wondering. The smile returned when she got to meet her little boy face to bruised face.


Gideon's life starts with a very bruised face. Keryn thinks of him as her little prize fighter. Apparently this sort of bruising is not altogether uncommon. In any event, I'm sure Gideon will enjoy showing this photo to his friends someday. This photo was taken a couple of hours after his birth just before he was transported from the Labor and Delivery area at the University of Utah Hospital to the Infant Surgery and Medical Unit at Primary Children's Medical Center. The two hospitals are connected by a bridge that makes it easy for mom to visit baby. They each have their own room. Dad gets to shuttle between them. :)


Keryn reports that Gideon was her most active child in the womb. Evidence of this can be seen in the complete flip that he completed at some point, leaving this perfect little knot in his umbilical cord. The OB said this happens once every hundred births or so. He was showing it off to all the residents, so of course I had to snap a photo.

We expect that his surgery will be tomorrow morning. Your prayers are already paying off. He is doing as well as we could have hoped. This back surgery is the next big hurdle where we hope we don't lose any of the abilities he currently has. We'll keep you posted as things progress.

Blog Changes Completed

After two days of Blogger not publishing correctly, I finally switched our family blog to the new version of Blogger. When you log in to publish, you will be prompted to switch your account to a Google account so that you can post. I think you have to sign in once with your old Blogger credentials. After that, you will just sign into the Beta version of Blogger and hopefully things will work a little better over here.

Thanks for posting, Skip. Looks like you squeaked in just before the switch.

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