So we had spina bifida clinic a little over a week ago, and it was pretty boring. YAY! That's what I want--boring is really, really good. He's doing great on weight (19.4 lbs), gross and fine motor skills, neurology stuff great. His feet are really responding well to the brace...AND we get to take off the braces during the day starting on August 10th. (It's funny how excited and impatient I am for that. When I didn't know how long we'd have to wear them all the time, it was no big deal, but now I CAN'T WAIT to lose them.) Urology is the only unknown--not bad, just we have a test scheduled for mid-August and we won't know if he's still doing great until then--and if he ever has a fever of just about ANY kind, I'm supposed to take him to the doctor because it might be a kidney infection. Gah. He should start teething here and how am I supposed to know if it is a kidney infection or just teething? Oh, well. At least my doctor is just down the road.
Anyway, just thought I'd update y'all on my adorable, cute, sweet, wonderful baby!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Page is Everywhere
I noticed as a BYU student that everybody I ran into has some sort of connection with Page. They'd know somebody from Page, or their car had broken down in Page, or they'd eaten at the McDonald's in Page.
The trend continues.
I'm going to be moving into new office space in a couple of weeks (along with the rest of my department) and I've been eagerly checking up on the progress of the remodeling over the past month. I went down into the room that will be my office and I heard someone assembling the desk. I called ahead into the room, so as not to startle the worker, and then poked my head around the door. Imagine my surprise when Brother Thatcher looked back at me!
His son Ryan's company is a contractor for BYU to put together the furniture. It was fun to chat with him for a few minutes. He is serving as a bishop in a married student ward right now and loving it. He'll spend another two weeks or so toiling away on our furniture and then I'll get to enjoy the fruits of his labor!
The trend continues.
I'm going to be moving into new office space in a couple of weeks (along with the rest of my department) and I've been eagerly checking up on the progress of the remodeling over the past month. I went down into the room that will be my office and I heard someone assembling the desk. I called ahead into the room, so as not to startle the worker, and then poked my head around the door. Imagine my surprise when Brother Thatcher looked back at me!
His son Ryan's company is a contractor for BYU to put together the furniture. It was fun to chat with him for a few minutes. He is serving as a bishop in a married student ward right now and loving it. He'll spend another two weeks or so toiling away on our furniture and then I'll get to enjoy the fruits of his labor!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
GREAT REUION DVD
Thanks for the fabulous DVD of the reunion Nicole!
I know many hours must have gone into it. We sure had fun and appreciate your hard work and love.
I sure am excited to see the DVD from last year too BRADLEY!
He insists that we will enjoy it more as time has past.... I hope to find out if that is true very soon.
hee hee
I know many hours must have gone into it. We sure had fun and appreciate your hard work and love.
I sure am excited to see the DVD from last year too BRADLEY!
He insists that we will enjoy it more as time has past.... I hope to find out if that is true very soon.
hee hee
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Thanks for the reunion
I wanted to give a public thanks to Theo and Nicole for all their work on our recent Party in the Pines. Our family had a great time. Ezra and Mercy had fun getting to know their cousins and Keryn has warmed up well after her dip in the pond. We sure missed the East Coast Rosses and we hope you continue to keep us posted on what you're doing. I'm still waiting for more of Jack's Photoshop work!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Sunday, July 01, 2007
cross-country travels
The Martin family has just returned from a marathon cross-country journey as we drove out to Indiana to visit Theo's brother, Tim. We departed for our trip last week and took 2 days to make the trip. We crossed through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and then into Indiana. Tim and Anne have been in Corydon, Indiana for a year now which is about 40 minutes from Louisville, KY. While we were there, we got to go to the Louisville Zoo, Holiday World (an amusement and water park), and a science museum among other things. Tim and Anne live in a brand new house on a beautiful piece of land surrounded by trees and lots of wildlife. The kids had a blast hunting for frogs, turtles, salamanders, and other critters. On our way home, we went through Carthage, Illinois and then on to Nauvoo. Our drive home took us through, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah. Our trip ended with a visit to Grandma and Grandpa's new house in Salt Lake. We miss them already! We are now home just in time to regroup so we can gather with all of you Rosses for our reunion! We are so excited that it is finally here!
One last note, Happy Birthday Drake, Double Digits!!!
Monday, June 25, 2007
We are in our last few (4) days in our Page home. It is hard to believe this is really it! A lot has happened over the past 20 years while living in Page. We married off 5 children and added 20 grandchildren and retired. We couldn't be happier with the additions to our family. Each person has brought something special to the family.
Last weekend to went to Salt Lake, not to move, but we did take a truckload with us, but to attend an El Monte Ward reunion. In the El Monte ward was a core of youth during high school and each of us has kept in touch with parts of the group, so Lee, who lives in California, wanted to get all of us together at once. He and Carol come to SL every year to visit Carol's sister Jean and the girls' mother. There were 6 girls, 5 of us the same age and Carol 1 year younger. The 4 boys were one year older than us. Two of the girls weren't in attendance, Elizabeth on a mission in England and Don-Etta whom all of us have lost contact with her. Each come with spouses, except Susan, who didn't marry. We also had Susan's mother and Jean and Carol's mom. We started about 3:30 and ended at 10. The ground rules for the formal part was to share what we had done, nothing about kids, grandkids, etc. We got to ask questions of each person as we rememeber special incidences or share something about the person. We were in stitches all evening. It was interesting how our lives had influenced each other lives. The amazing thing was that all of the 8 of us who were there had at least a BA with at least 1 PhD, Susan. I think almost, if not all, of the spouses had at least a BA as well, with at least one PhD. We had all gone into fields related to teaching. Susan is the 0-3 sped person for Utah, me a sped director, a spouse a school psych, several teachers, other administators. We did have an attorney but he gave that up and is now in a related field. He also taught at BYU. All are still married to the same spouse and are active in the church. Don-Etta had a AA and we are all pretty sure she is still inactive after her divorce over 30 years ago. Elizabeth and Brian were both teachers. Those are some incredible statistics.
The common bond for us is the church. Our friendships are still aligned similarily to the way they were in high school. Believe it or not, dad had a great time, too as did the other spouses.
We still aren't sure who is really buying our house. We have another interested party, actually the first couple to look at it in March. They are coming back for a 3rd look tomorrow.
We owe a huge amount of thanks to John for the use of his horse trailer and then the family coming over and moving the last of the big things to SL. Kim has been awesome with her assistance with the basement. The rest of her family has been involved as well. We finally got the electrical finished last weekend. Now we have to tackle 9 doors and 14 door trims and molding around all the rooms. Oh, yes, and the entire bathroom. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come help. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can put in those mission papers. The Martins helped tons getting the Page house ready to sell. Dad was soliciting help at the El Monte reunion, since many of them had done renovations, etc.
Page will always remain an important part of our lives. We aren't sure why we are leaving, but it will come clear one of these days.
Love,
Mom
Last weekend to went to Salt Lake, not to move, but we did take a truckload with us, but to attend an El Monte Ward reunion. In the El Monte ward was a core of youth during high school and each of us has kept in touch with parts of the group, so Lee, who lives in California, wanted to get all of us together at once. He and Carol come to SL every year to visit Carol's sister Jean and the girls' mother. There were 6 girls, 5 of us the same age and Carol 1 year younger. The 4 boys were one year older than us. Two of the girls weren't in attendance, Elizabeth on a mission in England and Don-Etta whom all of us have lost contact with her. Each come with spouses, except Susan, who didn't marry. We also had Susan's mother and Jean and Carol's mom. We started about 3:30 and ended at 10. The ground rules for the formal part was to share what we had done, nothing about kids, grandkids, etc. We got to ask questions of each person as we rememeber special incidences or share something about the person. We were in stitches all evening. It was interesting how our lives had influenced each other lives. The amazing thing was that all of the 8 of us who were there had at least a BA with at least 1 PhD, Susan. I think almost, if not all, of the spouses had at least a BA as well, with at least one PhD. We had all gone into fields related to teaching. Susan is the 0-3 sped person for Utah, me a sped director, a spouse a school psych, several teachers, other administators. We did have an attorney but he gave that up and is now in a related field. He also taught at BYU. All are still married to the same spouse and are active in the church. Don-Etta had a AA and we are all pretty sure she is still inactive after her divorce over 30 years ago. Elizabeth and Brian were both teachers. Those are some incredible statistics.
The common bond for us is the church. Our friendships are still aligned similarily to the way they were in high school. Believe it or not, dad had a great time, too as did the other spouses.
We still aren't sure who is really buying our house. We have another interested party, actually the first couple to look at it in March. They are coming back for a 3rd look tomorrow.
We owe a huge amount of thanks to John for the use of his horse trailer and then the family coming over and moving the last of the big things to SL. Kim has been awesome with her assistance with the basement. The rest of her family has been involved as well. We finally got the electrical finished last weekend. Now we have to tackle 9 doors and 14 door trims and molding around all the rooms. Oh, yes, and the entire bathroom. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come help. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can put in those mission papers. The Martins helped tons getting the Page house ready to sell. Dad was soliciting help at the El Monte reunion, since many of them had done renovations, etc.
Page will always remain an important part of our lives. We aren't sure why we are leaving, but it will come clear one of these days.
Love,
Mom
end of a era
We are in our last few (4) days in our Page home. It is hard to believe this is really it! A lot has happened over the past 20 years while living in Page. We married off 5 children and added 20 grandchildren and retired. We couldn't be happier with the additions to our family. Each person has brought something special to the family.
Last weekend to went to Salt Lake, not to move, but we did take a truckload with us, but to attend an El Monte Ward reunion. In the El Monte ward was a core of youth during high school and each of us has kept in touch with parts of the group, so Lee, who lives in California, wanted to get all of us together at once. He and Carol come to SL every year to visit Carol's sister Jean and the girls' mother. There were 6 girls, 5 of us the same age and Carol 1 year younger. The 4 boys were one year older than us. Two of the girls weren't in attendance, Elizabeth on a mission in England and Don-Etta whom all of us have lost contact with her. Each come with spouses, except Susan, who didn't marry. We also had Susan's mother and Jean and Carol's mom. We started about 3:30 and ended at 10. The ground rules for the formal part was to share what we had done, nothing about kids, grandkids, etc. We got to ask questions of each person as we rememeber special incidences or share something about the person. We were in stitches all evening. It was interesting how our lives had influenced each other lives. The amazing thing was that all of the 8 of us who were there had at least a BA with at least 1 PhD, Susan. I think almost, if not all, of the spouses had at least a BA as well, with at least one PhD. We had all gone into fields related to teaching. Susan is the 0-3 sped person for Utah, me a sped director, a spouse a school psych, several teachers, other administators. We did have an attorney but he gave that up and is now in a related field. He also taught at BYU. All are still married to the same spouse and are active in the church. Don-Etta had a AA and we are all pretty sure she is still inactive after her divorce over 30 years ago. Elizabeth and Brian were both teachers. Those are some incredible statistics.
The common bond for us is the church. Our friendships are still aligned similarily to the way they were in high school. Believe it or not, dad had a great time, too as did the other spouses.
We still aren't sure who is really buying our house. We have another interested party, actually the first couple to look at it in March. They are coming back for a 3rd look tomorrow.
We owe a huge amount of thanks to John for the use of his horse trailer and then the family coming over and moving the last of the big things to SL. Kim has been awesome with her assistance with the basement. The rest of her family has been involved as well. We finally got the electrical finished last weekend. Now we have to tackle 9 doors and 14 door trims and molding around all the rooms. Oh, yes, and the entire bathroom. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come help. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can put in those mission papers. The Martins helped tons getting the Page house ready to sell. Dad was soliciting help at the El Monte reunion, since many of them had done renovations, etc.
Page will always remain an important part of our lives. We aren't sure why we are leaving, but it will come clear one of these days.
Love,
Mom
Last weekend to went to Salt Lake, not to move, but we did take a truckload with us, but to attend an El Monte Ward reunion. In the El Monte ward was a core of youth during high school and each of us has kept in touch with parts of the group, so Lee, who lives in California, wanted to get all of us together at once. He and Carol come to SL every year to visit Carol's sister Jean and the girls' mother. There were 6 girls, 5 of us the same age and Carol 1 year younger. The 4 boys were one year older than us. Two of the girls weren't in attendance, Elizabeth on a mission in England and Don-Etta whom all of us have lost contact with her. Each come with spouses, except Susan, who didn't marry. We also had Susan's mother and Jean and Carol's mom. We started about 3:30 and ended at 10. The ground rules for the formal part was to share what we had done, nothing about kids, grandkids, etc. We got to ask questions of each person as we rememeber special incidences or share something about the person. We were in stitches all evening. It was interesting how our lives had influenced each other lives. The amazing thing was that all of the 8 of us who were there had at least a BA with at least 1 PhD, Susan. I think almost, if not all, of the spouses had at least a BA as well, with at least one PhD. We had all gone into fields related to teaching. Susan is the 0-3 sped person for Utah, me a sped director, a spouse a school psych, several teachers, other administators. We did have an attorney but he gave that up and is now in a related field. He also taught at BYU. All are still married to the same spouse and are active in the church. Don-Etta had a AA and we are all pretty sure she is still inactive after her divorce over 30 years ago. Elizabeth and Brian were both teachers. Those are some incredible statistics.
The common bond for us is the church. Our friendships are still aligned similarily to the way they were in high school. Believe it or not, dad had a great time, too as did the other spouses.
We still aren't sure who is really buying our house. We have another interested party, actually the first couple to look at it in March. They are coming back for a 3rd look tomorrow.
We owe a huge amount of thanks to John for the use of his horse trailer and then the family coming over and moving the last of the big things to SL. Kim has been awesome with her assistance with the basement. The rest of her family has been involved as well. We finally got the electrical finished last weekend. Now we have to tackle 9 doors and 14 door trims and molding around all the rooms. Oh, yes, and the entire bathroom. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come help. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can put in those mission papers. The Martins helped tons getting the Page house ready to sell. Dad was soliciting help at the El Monte reunion, since many of them had done renovations, etc.
Page will always remain an important part of our lives. We aren't sure why we are leaving, but it will come clear one of these days.
Love,
Mom
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Gettin' Around
The Gilleland crew had a lovely tour of the southwest this last weekend. As everyone knows, G & G Ross are moving to Utah as they are in the midst of retiring. We hooked up to our trailer Thursday afternoon and made the drive to Page where that evening we loaded up many of the last belongings to move to SLC. We then spent the night in Page and the kids had a ball hangin' with the Martins!
After spending our last night at the Ross home, we took off Sat. morning to head North. Gabe and Seth rode with G&G which was nice since our truck is getting tight as our kids have gotten older. We made it to SLC and arrived at G&G's new house. A car full of enourmous teenagers pulled in behind us and it took a minute to realize it was actually Kim and her kids! They are huge!! Needless to say, with all the Hannay muscle helping, we had the trailer unloaded in no time flat.
As usual, the Hannays were fabulous hosts and we had a lot of fun wrecking their home. We even got to swim at Steve's parent's pool. Our kids had so much fun and worked on their video game skills probably too much. I don't think Elise let poor Lauren out of her sight. The only thing that would have made the day better would have been to have Brad's crew around (we heard they were in Vegas).
After going to Sac Mtg in G&G's new ward (coincidentally the Hannay's ward too) we headed home to Durango Sunday afternoon. We had to be home for Gabe and Seth's football camp which started Monday, or we'd have been tempted to stay and wear out our welcome.
We enjoyed seeing everyone and are excited for G&G to start a new chapter in their lives. their home is really nice and Kim has done an amazing job on their basement. I am thinking of hiring her to do a few home improvement projects I have in mind since she is such a great contractor! Who knew?! We are looking forward to the reunion and hope to see you all there!
After spending our last night at the Ross home, we took off Sat. morning to head North. Gabe and Seth rode with G&G which was nice since our truck is getting tight as our kids have gotten older. We made it to SLC and arrived at G&G's new house. A car full of enourmous teenagers pulled in behind us and it took a minute to realize it was actually Kim and her kids! They are huge!! Needless to say, with all the Hannay muscle helping, we had the trailer unloaded in no time flat.
As usual, the Hannays were fabulous hosts and we had a lot of fun wrecking their home. We even got to swim at Steve's parent's pool. Our kids had so much fun and worked on their video game skills probably too much. I don't think Elise let poor Lauren out of her sight. The only thing that would have made the day better would have been to have Brad's crew around (we heard they were in Vegas).
After going to Sac Mtg in G&G's new ward (coincidentally the Hannay's ward too) we headed home to Durango Sunday afternoon. We had to be home for Gabe and Seth's football camp which started Monday, or we'd have been tempted to stay and wear out our welcome.
We enjoyed seeing everyone and are excited for G&G to start a new chapter in their lives. their home is really nice and Kim has done an amazing job on their basement. I am thinking of hiring her to do a few home improvement projects I have in mind since she is such a great contractor! Who knew?! We are looking forward to the reunion and hope to see you all there!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Save the Date
Hello Rosses! As the reunion rapidly approaches and our summer seems to be melting away, we have been reviewing our calendar and wanted to extend an invitation to everyone. Corbin will be passing the eight year milestone in July and we hope that some of you will be able to come to his baptism. As of now, we are planning to do it on July 21st which is his actual birthday. This is a Saturday as luck would have it, so hopefully those of you who are close enough might swing it. We realize mom and dad will be long gone by this time, but we will make whatever arrangements necessary to house those of you who might come. We may even be able to play on the lake if that interests anyone (we will shamelessly do whatever it takes to lure you here). One last bit of info., we are leaving next week for a trip to Indiana to visit Tim and Anne. We don't plan to be back until the 30th or even the 1st. This means that any reunion questions need to be addressed before we depart. We are so looking forward to seeing everyone. Love you all!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Braggin' on Deb
I taught a class to school teachers this past week and I gave them a CD with video clips I made of some of the tasks we learned to do together. When I was showing them how to do graphics in Word, I used the photos of the Barbosa photo and threw in the little tidbit that my sister had designed the trophy. Man, I felt famous. :) And now there are a bunch of school teachers running around that know how famous my sister is too.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
T-shirts for the Brad Ross Family
Hey, Nicole! We are SO SO excited about the family reunion. Here are our T-shirt sizes:
Bradley XXL
Keryn L
Ezra 4T
Mercy 3T (if possible. Naturally, 4T or whatever will work just great too)
Gideon 12 months (but I doubt that will work, so whatever size is smallest would be great)
And I'll get back to you on the stirfry food order and stuff--I haven't worked out the numbers. Do we know how many adults and adult-type eaters we'll have? And how many kiddos?
Bradley XXL
Keryn L
Ezra 4T
Mercy 3T (if possible. Naturally, 4T or whatever will work just great too)
Gideon 12 months (but I doubt that will work, so whatever size is smallest would be great)
And I'll get back to you on the stirfry food order and stuff--I haven't worked out the numbers. Do we know how many adults and adult-type eaters we'll have? And how many kiddos?
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Party in the Pines Feedback
Hi campers! You should have received by this time a mailing with all the details for the family reunion. Please return the form that was included ASAP. If you prefer, feel free to post your answers here on the blog. The thing I need the quickest is the t-shirt sizes so we can get those ordered. We are down to less than a month. We are getting excited to see all of you.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Sky King
Drake and I thought you might like to meet the next Sky King. We had the opportunity to take a ride in Doug Gardner's airplane and I got these photos. Drake loved it and is looking forward the the next time. We got the ride in exchange for a favor I did for Page Steel recently. If you want to know what that favor was, call Page Steel 928 645-3166, after hours and listen to the message. Now the problem is that Corbin wants to get a ride too. We'll see.
Dad
Monday, May 21, 2007
BEE Careful
Hey, Debbie, that is the coolest thing ever! I really like your design, and even though I've never heard of Barbosa before now he's my favorite player because he won "your" award.
On another subject: One great thing about traveling is how it broadens your horizons--you can learn so many things when you step out of your home comfort zone and seek adventures in new places. Or, you know, when you and your three small children accompany your husband to a conference in Missoula, MT. For instance, I learned that Missoula has one of the fastest merry-go-rounds in the country, that children can be just as happy in a little neighborhood park with one slide and gravel as in an elaborate dragon-guarded two story wooden castle, that I have the cutest kids in the world (oops, I already knew that!), and that honey bees get really mad when the semi truck hauling their hives leaves a rest area.
Want to see some pictures? And an explanation of that last bit about the honey bees? I wrote about it on our scrapbook blog.
On another subject: One great thing about traveling is how it broadens your horizons--you can learn so many things when you step out of your home comfort zone and seek adventures in new places. Or, you know, when you and your three small children accompany your husband to a conference in Missoula, MT. For instance, I learned that Missoula has one of the fastest merry-go-rounds in the country, that children can be just as happy in a little neighborhood park with one slide and gravel as in an elaborate dragon-guarded two story wooden castle, that I have the cutest kids in the world (oops, I already knew that!), and that honey bees get really mad when the semi truck hauling their hives leaves a rest area.
Want to see some pictures? And an explanation of that last bit about the honey bees? I wrote about it on our scrapbook blog.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
p.s.
the link brad put in his blog is for the 6th man award, which barbosa also received. however, i had nothing to do with the design of that trophy. :)
the mr. hustle award
my goodness. so impatient! mom has been hounding me to post this stuff but i've been so dang busy with school and graduation and everything related. to bring you all up to speed, the company i work for, fry fabrications, was asked to design the trophy for the mr. hustle award. this award is given to one suns player each year by dan majerle (former suns player, whose number was 9-hence the shape of the trophy). so, since i am the designer at fry fabrications, i designed the trophy.
this is the computer model that i generated for the design:
this is a photo of the completed trophy, taken in the office:
and here is a picture of barbosa getting the award:
it was pretty exciting to think that something i designed is sitting in barbosa's house somewhere. so anyway. that's the story with all of that. here's the link to the site if you want to read the article: http://www.nba.com/suns/playoffs/barbosa_hustle_award.html
this is the computer model that i generated for the design:
this is a photo of the completed trophy, taken in the office:
and here is a picture of barbosa getting the award:
it was pretty exciting to think that something i designed is sitting in barbosa's house somewhere. so anyway. that's the story with all of that. here's the link to the site if you want to read the article: http://www.nba.com/suns
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Barbosa's Award
Okay, the word on the street is that I'm famous. Apparently, my sister designed the trophy that was given to somebody Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns. C'mon, Deb. Fess up. We want photo verification of said trophy. I found this article which has a photograph, but Mom doesn't think that is the trophy you designed. Clear up the mystery and give us a link, oh great designer!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Quilt Market
I had the great experience of being a vendor at International Quilt Market last weekend. It was an exhausting but rewarding adventure. People from all over the country purchased my patterns for their quilt shops. I even had orders from Canada, Spain, Australia, and the UK! Three of my best friends helped me work in my booth, as well as stitch up samples! I couldn't have pulled it off without their help, as well as the help I received from Nicole and Mom (the stitching maniac). Lauren also pitched in at the booth. Steve & Ty helped to build and set up/take down my booth. All in all it was a great success!
Monday, May 07, 2007
Questions and Answers
I also enjoyed the post about the church manuals. In the last year, I have been in YW with a sister who has very negative opinions about the manuals. She felt they were too contrived and/or unbelievable in the anecdotes they gave (at least in the young women books). I have to agree with dad that we have been blessed to have these wonderful lessons to teach the gospel. It was interesting to read a bit about their development, and to be reminded that there are real people behind their production that have a very real and genuine desire to help the church and the work go forward.
In response to the breakfast question, never fear. The Martin family will be in charge of most meals that are not assigned to the other families. We want to eat the majority of our meals as a big group. That said, there may be a morning or two that will be families on their own, presumably cold cereal and the like. However, we are planning to have some hot breakfasts as well. There will also be a rotating assignment detail for various duties around camp such as trash and dishes. One of those duties will also be kitchen assistants. This means that at some point, your family may be asked to help in some way with food prep. The meals will be planned and the shopping taken care of, but you might be peeling potatoes or stirring a pot for example. I am hoping to mail out a preliminary itinerary (including meals) as well as a supply list of suggested items to bring. I hope this will help you to know how to prepare, and what to ask for if you need assistance. Thanks dad for the question; if anyone else has some, this is a great format as well as the best time to ask them, with plenty of lead time. It's getting closer Rosses; we can't wait!
In response to the breakfast question, never fear. The Martin family will be in charge of most meals that are not assigned to the other families. We want to eat the majority of our meals as a big group. That said, there may be a morning or two that will be families on their own, presumably cold cereal and the like. However, we are planning to have some hot breakfasts as well. There will also be a rotating assignment detail for various duties around camp such as trash and dishes. One of those duties will also be kitchen assistants. This means that at some point, your family may be asked to help in some way with food prep. The meals will be planned and the shopping taken care of, but you might be peeling potatoes or stirring a pot for example. I am hoping to mail out a preliminary itinerary (including meals) as well as a supply list of suggested items to bring. I hope this will help you to know how to prepare, and what to ask for if you need assistance. Thanks dad for the question; if anyone else has some, this is a great format as well as the best time to ask them, with plenty of lead time. It's getting closer Rosses; we can't wait!
Thank You!
Brad,
Thank you sooo much for the interesting post on Church manuals. I have often wondered who or how they were created and what sort of care was taken to be sure they are correct. As one who has had many calling to teach using those manuals, I can testify that they are not only inspired but also inspirational.
I must say that I was impressed with the high level of care that is put into each lesson. I have also often used old manuals to help create talks. They are an excellent source... well organized with losts of supplemental quotes and information.
Mom and I are getting excited to see you all at the family reunion. Nicole, I notice that breakfast is not yet assigned. Who will be doing those, or are we all on our own for breakfast?
Love, Dad
Thank you sooo much for the interesting post on Church manuals. I have often wondered who or how they were created and what sort of care was taken to be sure they are correct. As one who has had many calling to teach using those manuals, I can testify that they are not only inspired but also inspirational.
I must say that I was impressed with the high level of care that is put into each lesson. I have also often used old manuals to help create talks. They are an excellent source... well organized with losts of supplemental quotes and information.
Mom and I are getting excited to see you all at the family reunion. Nicole, I notice that breakfast is not yet assigned. Who will be doing those, or are we all on our own for breakfast?
Love, Dad
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Appreciating the Church Manuals
I wanted to share a special experience we had recently. In our last ward, Keryn became good friends with a sister who served for a few years on the curriculum writing committee of the Church. I'd asked this sister to let us come over for a Family Home Evening and hear about the experience. She immediately consented, but it had been a long time and we just hadn't gotten around to it. A couple of weeks ago we finally got together. (It only took us two and a half years!) She shared with us a few of the experiences that she had in working on a couple of projects she was involved with.
She got to work on improving the footnotes for foreign language editions of the Bible. She also got to work on some of the Priesthood/RS manuals that we use, including the current one for Spencer W. Kimball. The project to create these manuals of Teachings of the Presidents of the Church was President Hinckley's idea and it had two goals. The primary goal was to create a library of books that the Saints could have in their homes with the teachings of the gospel. The secondary goal was to create manuals that could be used for the Relief Society and Priesthood lessons.
We told this sister how meaningful lesson 2, "Tragedy or Destiny," from the Spencer W. Kimball manual was to us when we first read it in December, around the time Gideon was born. She told us a little about the person who put that lesson together. Most of the topics were assigned to curriculum writers, but this sister had specially requested to get to work on that lesson. Her attention and sensitivity to the subject certainly came through for us.
I was surprised to learn how many drafts most of the lessons went through. It appears that many of the lessons went through multiple drafts. For some particularly difficult lessons, the committee arranged for a room in the Salt Lake temple where they met to discuss and work over the material.
Each lesson is worked over by a committee of church members who serve on a curriculum committee as their church calling (as opposed to it being their employment.) The work of the curriculum committees are overseen by a member of the Seventy who must approve everything that goes out of the committee. The lessons must also be approved by the correlation department of the church. After the editing and correlation departments of the church approve the lessons, they are approved by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12.
Approval at each step is far from automatic. The lessons are continually bounced back to the curriculum committee for further refinement. This sister said it was really weird to get a draft of something she had prepared come back with hand written notes from several apostles.
Knowing all the work that goes into these lessons, she said it was difficult to watch people make so little use of the lesson manuals sometimes. After our talk, I'm particularly looking forward to lesson 10 about dealing with the Adversary (Fortifying Ourselves against Evil Influences) and lesson 22 about the 1978 revelation that lifted the ban on blacks having the priesthood (Revelation: “A Continuous Melody and a Thunderous Appeal”).
She got to work on improving the footnotes for foreign language editions of the Bible. She also got to work on some of the Priesthood/RS manuals that we use, including the current one for Spencer W. Kimball. The project to create these manuals of Teachings of the Presidents of the Church was President Hinckley's idea and it had two goals. The primary goal was to create a library of books that the Saints could have in their homes with the teachings of the gospel. The secondary goal was to create manuals that could be used for the Relief Society and Priesthood lessons.
We told this sister how meaningful lesson 2, "Tragedy or Destiny," from the Spencer W. Kimball manual was to us when we first read it in December, around the time Gideon was born. She told us a little about the person who put that lesson together. Most of the topics were assigned to curriculum writers, but this sister had specially requested to get to work on that lesson. Her attention and sensitivity to the subject certainly came through for us.
I was surprised to learn how many drafts most of the lessons went through. It appears that many of the lessons went through multiple drafts. For some particularly difficult lessons, the committee arranged for a room in the Salt Lake temple where they met to discuss and work over the material.
Each lesson is worked over by a committee of church members who serve on a curriculum committee as their church calling (as opposed to it being their employment.) The work of the curriculum committees are overseen by a member of the Seventy who must approve everything that goes out of the committee. The lessons must also be approved by the correlation department of the church. After the editing and correlation departments of the church approve the lessons, they are approved by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12.
Approval at each step is far from automatic. The lessons are continually bounced back to the curriculum committee for further refinement. This sister said it was really weird to get a draft of something she had prepared come back with hand written notes from several apostles.
Knowing all the work that goes into these lessons, she said it was difficult to watch people make so little use of the lesson manuals sometimes. After our talk, I'm particularly looking forward to lesson 10 about dealing with the Adversary (Fortifying Ourselves against Evil Influences) and lesson 22 about the 1978 revelation that lifted the ban on blacks having the priesthood (Revelation: “A Continuous Melody and a Thunderous Appeal”).
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Friday, May 04, 2007
We have a winner
I'm pleased to announce that Michelle has won the bunkbeds. She was the first to lay claim. I'm extra pleased because this means she will have to come to Page to get them. This means we will get an extra visit from the shelleyg clan. Life don't get no better than extra visits from my family.
Love, Dad
Love, Dad
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Serious Texas BBQ
I spoke to Michelle, they are going to bring some meat from Serious Texas BBQ for their meal assignment. I wanted to post the info here for all of you to see. (-; We're still waiting on a menu from the Skip Ross family and the Hannay family. Thanks! So far, we have a yummy variety.
free beds
Now hear this!
Mom and I have decided to get rid of our bunk beds (no room in the new house). So, if you want them, let us know. First request gets them. Also, I'll deliver if it's on the way to South Jordan from Page. I guess that narrows it down to Nicole, Brad, and Kim. Skip, Michelle, and Deb will have to pick up. (Skip, you'll have to want them really bad!)
Love, Dad
Mom and I have decided to get rid of our bunk beds (no room in the new house). So, if you want them, let us know. First request gets them. Also, I'll deliver if it's on the way to South Jordan from Page. I guess that narrows it down to Nicole, Brad, and Kim. Skip, Michelle, and Deb will have to pick up. (Skip, you'll have to want them really bad!)
Love, Dad
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