Family pictures

Tracy wasn't feeling too well for some reason, but he was trying to stay in the front room and he is still a kid magnet. My camera batteries died shortly after these pictures, so I couldn't get any more.

Nativity and home decor

This is the front table. The kids can't leave the Nativities alone--but here they are.

Outdoor lights

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

You probably can't see these very well, but here are our trees. We do a nice one upstairs in the Living Room. A cute little snowman one downstairs and a fun group of trees with all of the kids crafts through the years. I came home yesterday and put these all up--we are now ready to have Christmas. I even wrapped Whitney's birthday present today--so we are really ready.

Ross Family Christmas Party 2008

While we were all out to Lanny and Kathy's house for Thanksgiving, we had our Christmas party on Friday. Kathy wanted to take pictures of all of the grandkids while we had them all there. As you can see, there wasn't much co-operation. So I just put them all on and hoped that you could see one good pose of everyone. The kids all got to open one gift from Grandma and Grandpa. We all had a good time and they got some good stuff. Whitney and Alexa got magnet boards, Katie got a littlest pet shop animal, Hayden got a small transformer and Landon got cold hard cash!!
I can try to identify everyone, but I know I will probably spell some names wrong--you can correct me and I won't feel bad. On the back row, there is Cole, Brady with Keaton, Landon with Davron, Katie and Hayden. On the couch: Brylee, Briana, Kyra with Koryn and Jace (in some), Whitney with Danny, Jaiven and Alexa with Raylee. I hope I didn't miss anyone.

Twilight Review

Angie wanted a Twilight review, so here is my opinion. I do have to preface this by saying that I usually try to be in bed by 11 p.m. I have never done anything like going to a movie at midnight (CRAZY). I never felt like it was worth it--and I now think I am right. The only reason why we did that is because my neighbor called and booked out the whole showing and then she opened it up and sold tickets to neighbors/friends/family--I just thought it would be something different and fun for Whitney. She did assigned seating which was nice and I was one of the first ones to go get my seats, so I chose the front row just above the bar (Provo). She happened to have 5 on the end there, so I called Whitney and asked if she wanted to bring a few friends and she said she did, so I bought all five. Landon started complaining that he wanted to go (he read the books too) so I called and was able to get the one seat below us--in the handicap area. So, we went to the big debut.
I didn't care for it as much as Dana did. Whitney hated it. Landon was about the same as me--we could take it or leave it. I guess we all just get pictures in our heads of the characters and how it should go and when it doesn't, you are disappointed. Whitney didn't like the casting at all--the scenes when they first come in to the cafeteria are laughable--their skin is talcum powder white (hillarious) when Edward runs with Bella on his back it is a comedy (I don't think the movie is supposed to be funny). When I read the books I really wanted her to choose Jacob. I liked him a lot more (Whitney said that she has too the second time reading the books). They don't show much of Jacob and he was ugly--not at all the picture I had in my head.
Overall, I think it was ok. I would probably go see it, just not the midnight showing. It was a little quirky.

The saddest game

Landon played a Basketball game tonight against Provo Canyon School. This was such a sad situation. The kids came out with another kid in street clothes as their coach. They all had different colored shorts and just dark colored t-shirts with tape on them for their numbers--by the end of the game, half of the numbers had fallen off. Some guy came out at the beginning of the game and said thanks for coming, we are glad you are here to support the kids, but this is a treatment facility and we ask that you stay in the building, mainly for privacy reasons. When it was over, he came back and said Thanks for coming, now everyone needs to leave.
The refs were letting almost everything go on their end and the refs were also trying to help coach the kids and they would tell them that they were getting close to 3 seconds in the key so that they would move. They would let them travel a lot. It was pretty much jungle ball. Landon got to play quite a bit though and it was never really close. I think that was really good to show his coaches how good he really hustles. He was a little off on his shot (since I took him with me to Twilight at midnight--such a bad decision) and he only got about 4 hours of sleep. He did have several assists though and overall he played good. These pictures are so bad, but you get the picture. The final score was 26-70. You can kind of see the taped on numbers and everything. I felt like crying several times and I just wanted to go out and hug these poor boys.
They had a few parents there to support their school and one of them had a little Asian/Hispanic boy who did hustle pretty good. I turned to his parents and said "good hustle" and she said in broken English "he is so good, we are so proud of him. He passes the ball to everyone and he does good". So sad. I have really good kids--hug your kids tight and let them know you love them and keep them out of places like this.

Tabby

Whitney called me Saturday as I was heading home from having lunch with mom and dad and said she had something very important to ask me. She had gone to Wal-mart to pick up a few things to make a cake for a friend and as she was walking out "a door I would have not usually gone out", someone asked if she or her friend would like a free kitten--her friend automatically said no and they started walking and then Whitney turned around and said "wait a minute" and she went back to look at them and "it was destiny, she looked right at me and I knew that I had to take her home". Nice--just what I needed a cat. I do agree that she is cute and the kids are having so much fun with her, but she is also one more mouth to feed and I am just imagining the vet bills. If it wouldn't break all the kids hearts at this point I would take it back and give it back away.
Whitney has named her Tabby.

BLESSINGS

With all the trials that we have had lately, I thought that it would be good to also take some time and count the many Blessings we have been given:
We have a great Family! and wonderful Friends.
We have a beautiful Home that is warm.
We have the Gospel in our lives.
We have plenty of Food to eat.
We have plenty of Clothes to wear.
We have been Selling equipment even in a bad market.
Our Children are learning some great life lessons.
We verbally speak the words I Love You more.
We have some really great Memories of some really good times and we are making new ones.
Our cars all have new Tires so we should be good for a while.
The city now came back and said they would pay $300 toward Whitney's repairs.
We live in a wonderful Free Country.
We are experiencing relatively good Health.
In short, Tracy is a hard worker. He loves what he is doing now and I know that he will work hard. We have been selling equipment and we are happy to be moving on--less stress. We still have a home, cars, food, family, friends and each other. Heavenly Father has really been answering our prayers. I have 5 great kids who are trying to help ease the stress. Neighbors who give me 40 lbs. of chicken, Friends who call to check on me, A friend from the ward who is a counselor who came over to give me a little free counseling and to teach me some breathing techniques. Life is good and we will come out of this better on the other side.
Thanks for your help, support and prayers. We love each of you and we really appreciate the support.

STRESS

I don't know that this is something that I should share, but I figure that you are all friends and family and you already know that we are going through some rough times right now.
We are trying to liquidate a business that we have built up for the past 15 years. We have had numerous financial set backs this year and it just blew us out of the water.
We had to replace the tires and rims on Whitney's car due to something she hit in the road (Nice).
We had to replace the tires on the Suburban because Chevy did a horrible job of aligning the car coming out of the factory and the guys who rotate my tires didn't say anything until they were completely shot.
The Honda is getting new tires tomorrow--another nice surprise.
Our oven went out and I am cooking mostly in the downstairs oven.
We had to repair holes in the wall from one certain child--$150.
With this and several other stresses right now, my body said ENOUGH!!!
On Tuesday/Wednesday of last week I had a bad pain in my back that would not go away. On Friday, it had spread to my left shoulder/arm and by Friday afternoon, my whole arm had gone numb and the left side of my face was going numb as well. Tracy took me into the ER because my Dr. was worried that it might be a stroke or Bells Palsy. They did an EKG and a CT scan with contrast--4 hours later (good thing I wasn't dying) they determined that I am under stress (REALLY??). The ER Dr. asked if I wanted anything for the stress and I said no.
After getting home though, I just felt worse. The pain has now spread to my chest and I feel like I am going to be crushed. My head feels like it might pop. So, I decided that at least for a while I need to have some help. I went to my Dr. today and he gave me some meds to chill me out.
I am sure that I will be fine--things have actually been selling and they should be calming down.
Tracy is a hard worker and we have been very blessed. Thanks again for all of your love and support and prayers--I know I couldn't do it without you.

Hayden and Katie

I should have taken a picture of this, but I missed it of course. Hayden and Katie play so well together when they do and they fight like cats and dogs when they fight. On Saturday, they were having one of their times when they were helping each other and playing so nicely. They came in the house and wanted me to come look at their cool "trick" they can do. As I am watching from the porch, Hayden is walking to the swingset and he says "This might look dangerous to you and you'll probably tell us to not do it, but we've been practicing a long time".
Hayden proceeds to climb up on a big, empty, water barrel and start to twist the swing. when he gets it to where he wants it, he sticks his upper body through the swing and gives Katie the signal to go. Katie drops the barrel and rolls it out of the way while Hayden sits there and spins around and around.
Katie comes back when Hayden is almost done spinning and she says "I'm Katie and this is Hayden and that was our cool, cool trick".
Those two are too cute.

"Comfy"

 

Katie and Landon have the sweetest relationship. She loves to hang out with him and sit on his lap at church. After church yesterday, she came home and sat by him while he was playing a game and she fell asleep on him. When she woke up, I told her that she was silly to fall asleep on him and she said "that's because Landon is comfy"

Christmas job

Whitney got a job for the holidays. She is going to work at Bath and Body Works in the mall. She is pretty excited to earn some money to get her friends some Christmas. She will earn $7.11 an hour.

SNOW!

We wake up to a new President (drats) and we wake up to snow. The kids are excited for the first snowfall of the year--I am happy that it will melt soon.

 

 

 

Basketball

Landon tried out for the Basketball team at his school. They are such a small school that they only had 10-12 boys show up to try out. They said that they are not going to cut anyone unless they don't run like they are supposed to, or don't show up. So, Landon made the team!!! They have their first game on Friday and he is pretty excited. It will be a good experience for him even if it is a small team--and maybe even more so. He will probably be one of the star players and he will get some good experience and coaching so if he decides to go back to the other high school next year, he might have a good shot at that team too. They play other Charter schools and 1A high schools.

Halloween 2008

Here are the kids enjoying some Halloween fun. I was frazzled trying to get stuff done that day, so I didn't get very good pictures. I didn't get any of Whitney--she just dressed up like a gangster for Cosmetology school. Landon was a zombie. Alexa was Pippy Longstockings. Hayden was a scary skeleton and Katie was a "nice" witch. The kids had a blast because they had Ammaron, Haven and Annica here to celebrate with them--of course I forgot to take pictures of that. I usually really like Halloween, but I was glad to have it over with this year.