Ross Family Reunion 2010

Well this post can't do it justice, but I'll try. For at least the last 9 months, my sister Linny and I have been planning this reunion. Its the first one we have really done since 2004, so it was much needed and fabulous. We went to Cascade, ID and rented a huge beautiful cabin.

Here is the entire crew.

The sisters and Shawn (JJ couldn't come)

My favorite part was probably the rafting. The son of the folks' cabin we rented took us down the river. We had a blast and Mark fell out twice!

Next favorite was going up the reservoir and renting a boat. This is GJ at the end of the day when he was exhausted and we ditched him for our last boat ride and came back and he was out.

Changing up the riders. We had a great boat and I even got on the tube, but was too wimpy to try the skis. But Tad and SM also went on the tube.

Family boat picture

Some of our old friends from FW came down to see us as they were having a reunion the same week and switching cabins. I didn't get any great pictures, but it was great to see them, some of them after many years!

The cabin had a huge backyard with tons of space to run and play.

We had an olympic night with lots of group games (go yellow team) and one was donut eating which Julie won. I used my hands just a little. And of course felt sick all night. Who has a picture of Lisa covered in chocolate pudding?

My granparents were able to come up for a day along with my cousin little Marq and his family (thanks for hanging out and taking pictures for us!) and of course brought some guns to shoot.

This is from the first night where we had a huge unbirthday party were we exchanged white elephants gifts and toys for the kids to play with all week.

And of course had cake to go with it.

All the grandkids.

GJ's favorite activity by far, along with most of the kids, was the little four wheelers. We rented a big one, but Mark broke his leg on it and totaled it and after that trip to the hospital, that fun was over. (he has had surgery and is healing, we hope quickly!)

The 2nd day we went to Silver creek plunge which is a natural spring pool that was about 100 degrees. So nice and clean up in the mountains!

So much fun with all our cousins! Here is Ethan who was born the day after SM.

Pinata time (Lindsey really had all the great ideas)

We went through the lines several times before any candy came out.

Again, they love the 4 wheeler.

My sweet GJ loved going fast on the boat!

And we ended the last night with sparklers, which SM says he loves when he sees the pictures, but was scared to death. GJ did as many as he could, he loves fire!

Thanks to everyone who came, it was a great trip and I can't wait till the next one, though I am glad I don't have to plan it!

Peach Days!

We got to go to Peach Days yesterday and we had a great time. They had a great parade with enough candy to satisfy SM. Lots of firetrucks, and an awesome tank that SM loved! ON the downside, we saw a little boy get ran over by a trailer right in front of us as his mom wasn't watching him, but luckily there was nothing heavy on the trailer and it just squished his legs and he was totally fine. Crazy!

Tad and SM got to go on a little helicopter ride, GJ wanted to so bad, but I doubted he would even remember it. Next time. SM loved it though as he loves any flying object. He goes back and forth between Scientist and Astronaut when he grows up and I think he is settling on a Science astronaut (so I can work on the hubble, right?) We'll hope its still up there and going by the time he is ready to go to space.

I got to eat some peach cobbler which was delicious and we walked around and saw the booths and rides and carnival type food and smells!

Look Ma, no hands!

Well not really, but no training wheels!

We had a little time the other night and the weather is still nice so I told Tad to go out and practice with SM on the bike (which he does not usually enjoy so we have only done a handful of times)

I put GJ on the bike seat and we rode around the block and to my surprise, I came back to him doing it!

I think one of the best parts of being a parent is watching your kids learn new things. This was on Wednesday but he just learned to balance and we were only out for 15 minutes. On Thursday we went to the church parking lot where he learned to start off by himself and this weekend we practiced riding in a straight line (down a sidewalk, we had failed at that before) and then making 90 degree turns at a corner. Its so cool to see them progress and they are so proud of themselves. I just love that!

First Day of Preschool

This week GJ started preschool! He is going to the same place SM went last year, so nice its only 3 blocks away and 3 days a week! He's only gone twice, but so far I am loving it! The first day she said he didn't really say a word, but hopefully he will start to talk more. Two kids in school, how lucky am I?

Antelope Island

On Sat we decided to drive over to Antelope Island and check out the Great Salt Lake up close.

We went on a hike.

Tad floated in the salty water and tried to convince the kids to do so as well.

I watched.

We played. It was a little stinky and there were brine flies EVERYWHERE, swarms, but the kids had fun.

We had a picnic and drank lots of water.

We had a great time! The kids each slept for about 2.5 hours when we got home! Now for labor day we spent the morning picking pears and are now playing with cuz Linc and just relaxing!

Family Pictures

We got some photos taken for Grandma and Grandpa's Golden anniversary and here is my favorite:

First Day of School!

SM started Kindergarten today! Can't believe this day is finally here, we have been counting down for weeks!

To celebrate, we had a special FHE party last night and had a special dinner and SM chose to have chocolate cake for treats, which I put a big K on. Then I woke up at 6am to make 1 hour cinnamon rolls per his request. Then he got up and choose his clothes and did his chores and we were off walking one mile to school ( I walked, they strolled). He was so excited he could hardly contain himself! You can't really cry or be sad when he was so happy to finally be a Kindergartener! I hope he has a great first day (I am glad its only half day) and I can't wait till he gets home!

The Beast

Shelly will be here in a couple hours (drove all the way from Maryland) so we can start out on our way to our family reunion tomorrow in ID. She paid and picked out all the fabric and I used a Denyse Schmidt pattern to put the whole thing together. I hope she is surprised (in a good way) when she sees its finally done!

First off, no, I will not be doing a king size quilt again anytime soon. It was a monster to peice, a mosnster to quilt, a monster to baste and by since I had a deadline, I didn't even hand stitch the binding. Its huge.

I do love how it turned out though. I had my doubts at first, I didn't love the fabric (Moda- Lamour, Sandy Gervais), but it really came together and I like how it turned out. I just quilted loops across vertically as I knew that was the only way I could fit it on my machine.

A few things I have learned:

1. I am going to pre-wash everything now as this shrank WAY more than I expected and or I need to measure a 100 times. I was short over 10 inches and I still can't fathom if it was a shrinkage or a calculation error.

2. Cut the edges after quilting but before sewing on the top binding. I got into trouble which I don't care to expound on.

3. I really need a machine that had a 'needle stops down' feature, and also one that tells me when the bobbin runs out, so I don't keep on my merry way for a long time and not realizing I am not even sewing.

4. When you go through 5 bobbins in one sitting, its time to take a break.

Rockets and Robots

I finished SM's quilt a while ago but I finally ordered a new charger for the camera battery that got here this week. So here it is:

I love it! I used a striped border on the top and a blue border on the stripes. He loves it too! I did a big stipple all over and love this David Walker fabric.

Has it been that long?

I swear I had another post in there since the last birthday, but blogger ate it when I changed my format. Its been a fun summer, I am so thankful for not too much humidity! We still have one big reunion left in Idaho and I can't wait. Here are some shots of what we have been up to.

Our first trophy. He was more than thrilled.

We were so IMPROVED! I had a great experience coaching and am glad to sit this next season out. Sawyer scored a 3 times, but needs more aggression!

If they could, they would eat watermelon all day, everyday. It makes everything so sticky and I (yes, even me) have had to mop so often. I love watermelon, but I am tired of the cleanup. Here GJ decided to get really crazy and had it all over his hair. All I could do was laugh.

While at Tad's reunion (these are totally out of order) we went to Minnetonka caves and it was cool, but so cold (40 degrees) and SM just had a tshirt and shorts. Way to be prepared, parents. Luckily, GJ stayed back with Grandma and Grandpa.

Plantarium visiting Mars. They saw their first 3D move and no, they are not ready for 3D glasses. We'll wait a few more years.

When its too hot, we go to the Discovery Gateway children's museum. GJ spent about 45 minutes feeding this little baby.

We love hiking! We went with some friends to Lake Solitude, and the kids did 3.5 miles total, they were amazing! And tired, but I was so proud of them. It helps to have other kids they can play with and follow, much less complaining. I only carried GJ about half a mile if that on the way back.

GJ started swimming lessons and potty training. I wouldn't say he is successful at either yet.

We all hiked up Donut Falls which no longer seems to be a donut.

But it was fun to get out and glad the kids can walk by themselves :)

We try to go to the zoo at least once a week.

I think SM likes this fake elephant better than the real ones. GJ does not agree.

Spanish Fork Fair frozen banana!

Surprisingly, GJ LOVED this fast little roller coaster. Cousin Linc is not so sure!

We have worked a little on a community farm.

SM loves jumping off the diving board and runs all the way down! He is such an improved swimmer! Now lets hope he doesn't forget it by next summer.