Maybe Christmas, he wondered, means a little bit more!

Merry Christmas everyone! The picture show is of things we did through the month of Dec.
We had a great one up in the Northern country. Actually Josh and I had a big traveling weekend and got to spend some time with a lot of loved ones. We started our journey Fri night and made it to up to Idaho. Then Sat morning we drove over to Vancouver to visit some good friends. We have a dear friend who is battling an illness, and that is another story, but we were so excited to spend some time with him and his family. On Sun. we headed back to Idaho to spend Christmas with Josh's family. It was fun and the kids had a blast! We have not seen Grandpa Dave in a long time, it was great to spend time with him. Kenna actually stayed in ID while Josh and I went to WA, because she wanted to see Grandma and Grandpa! We had a wonderful Christmas Eve filled with good food and good company. The kids had fun listening to the Christmas story, read by Aunt Cheri, and Kennedy had fun setting out the cookies (vanila wafers), milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer. Imagine her face the next morning when Santa left a note for her! She was so excited! Christmas morning was great! I love to see the excitment on the kids faces as they unwrap their gifts. It was all sorts of fun and chaos at the same time! The first gift was a small Nativity, to remember why we have Christmas, to celebrate Jesus' birth, Heavenly Father's gift to us. It has been fun this year, Kennedy has been so excited about everything Christmas. I think a lot of things she has done at school has expanded her mind and imagination!! Boston loved everything and wanted to play with everything, even if it wasn't his. Needless to say he and his cousins need to work on the sharing aspect of things. But if a quarrell ever started it seemed to end just as quickly. Kids, gotta love em! Griff was just excited to see all the people. He cut another tooth and didn't sleep well, but you would never guess it during the day. He is such a happy baby!! Ken and Pat came up to visit on Christmas day. They are some great friends of Dave and Audrey's from Buhl and we have become great friends as well. We always love seeing them. Then Wed. came and feelings of sadness along with it. It is always hard to say good bye to Dave and Audrey. A bright side is that we were able to stop at my mom and dad's on the way home. Over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go! It was great to see mom and dad and mom's beautifully decorated home. After a few hours it was on back down to where we call home. The kids are excited to be home and play with their new treasures. We loved seeing everyone we saw and missed everyone we didn't! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!! (I feel like sleeping for a month.)

My Griff turns 5 Months!!

My little Griffin is 5 months old. I cannot believe it!! And I cannot count how many times I have said that about him and the other kids. Griffin is so so sweet and such a good baby! He sleeps well and is rather happy and complacent. He loves when Kenna plays with him. She scares me a little when she carries him around, but he doesn't seem to mind a bit. He has been drooling like crazy the last few weeks and a little grumpy every once in awhile and low and behold I felt his first tooth coming through. Before I know it I will be posting pics of his first birthday (sigh), if only I could program my brain to remember and enjoy every moment!! Well I guess that is what scrapbooks are for, only I will probably have his done in say 10 years! I love you Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Griffindor! (Nikki's nickname for Griff)

Kicking off Christmas!!

I decided that we needed to kick off the Christmas season with a fun movie night. When there is a movie there has to be popcorn. So the kids and I made "Grannie Goose Popcorn". Yummo! Colored green it just got me in the spirit. Although I had to threaten everyone that if they ruined this, by acting naughty, they could go to bed and I would watch the movie and eat all the popcorn by myself! Oh yes, and the movie was "Muppet's Christmas Carol". Some might think I am crazy, but I love that movie. I thought the kids would like it too, they had never seen it. Kenna said she got scared of the ghost of things yet to come (the future). I actually think this version of "A Christmas Carol" is less scary than others I have seen. So as the kids and I watched and ate our yummy popcorn, Josh took a nap. I have to admit I wasn't surprised, he had a long day with it being the last day of the month. Oh well, his scrooge days will be eliminated if I have anything to do with it! And as Scrooge and Tiny Tim say "God Bless us Everyone". What a great way to start the holidays. And Sunday we got to watch the First Presidency give their Christmas Devotional. It was awesome. It really brought perspective back to why we have Christmas. To celebrate our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ's birth. You know "Away in a Manger" always seems to make me cry! I love this time of year!

The First BIG Snow!!

So it came, it finally came!! Well I don't know that everyone is happy for the snow, but my kids sure are! They went to sleep with none and then woke up the next morning screaming, "snow, snow, it snowed"! Then Josh called and said how bad the roads were! That is the bad part. But anyway, the kids had a fun time playing in that much snow. Vancouver got a little snow last year, but nothing worth playing in! This was great snowball snow. Ask Josh as he whizzed them by all of our heads. He actually got Kenna in the face, yeah not so fun after that! Well, winter is here. I hope that everyone drives safe in the snow, and that we can have a safe White Christmas. Oh, white Christmas, time to break out good ole Bing and Rosemary!! My Fav!

Beginners Luck? Not this time!

So, I really do believe that I have beginner's luck in new ventures, most of the time, but not this time. The weekend before Thanksgiving I decided I wanted to bring pies to dinner, how hard can they be, right? Well, I little harder then I thought. As you can see the cream part didn't set very well, so when I put the meringue on it just kind of souped out everywhere. Ah well, on to the next adventure in the kitchen. Someday I will try a pie again, but for now Marie Callendar's will do. (Now just a side note, it tasted pretty good despite the look but Josh wouldn't eat it) I took the picture in tradition, for Dave. We always need a picture of our new recipes!

Thanksgiving, Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We were so blessed to be able to spend this Thanksgiving with my family. It has been 3 yrs since we have been able to be with them on this holiday. It was a fun weekend, and it was great that Josh was able to get Fri. off so we had an extra long weekend. As always mom has everything perfect from table settings to great food. Her rolls are legendary in our household. After dinner our cousins came over and we played games. I forgot how much fun "spoons" is, and how violent it can get. You do not want to go up against Mindee and Todd. Then a bunch of played "Movie Scene It" and of course not many can contend with Nikki, Chris and Josh Ross. Mom does come in pretty close. Movie junkies!! Kennedy has been so excited for the Thanksgiving feast. She asked will Grandma even have turkey? I was able to attend her school feast for just a few minutes. It looked like a lot of fun. Her teacher said she couldn't beleive how many children have never tasted cranberries, or pumpkin pie. Ahh, pumpkin pie, that was another of Kenna's favorites. Mine, well, all the pies were my favorite, topped with whip cream and a little slice of love. This Thanksgiving I am most thankful for my families. Josh and I are blessed with healthy beautiful children, wonderful parents, siblings, and neices and nephews, and last but not least my wonderful friends. I am also very very thankful for the Gospel in my life. I don't want to think where I would be without it. A lot of times I forget the blessings in my life and need to pause for a moment to remember all that I do have. My Savior helps me do that.

Boston turns 3!

Our little Boss man turned 3 on Sunday! I can't believe it. He has grown up so much in the last 6 months. I guess he had to, he is not the baby anymore. I treated him like one for so long that he has been kind of pushed into being a big boy. (although potty training is still not happening) We went up to Brad and Jen's house Sunday after church to celebrate. They are so cute. Brad made southwest chicken and a "Funfetti" cake for Boston's birthday dinner. He had a ton of fun opening his presents and Brooks (their dog) had fun trying to take them away from him. Sad to say he chewed up the teeth to Optimus Prime Potatoe Head, ah the loss. We stayed up in Lehi so we could make it to Griff's doctors appt. the next morning. We stayed up late watching Transformer's and Jen helped us take some pics for our Christmas card. It was a great day, and Brett and Cheri added a new addition to the Ross family and another birthday on Nov. 11th. Lillian Jeanette (spelling) was born Sunday afternoon. Congrats, Bob and Cheri.
Doesn't Boston look so big in these pictures? Oh, my little man.
PS If you ask how old he is, he will tell you "4".

Sat. Morning

Well I am sitting here at the computer checking out all the blogs. I finally got to Meagan's familie's blog despite the detour to some other person's blog who swore all the time and his wife is cheating on him, good times. It looks and sounds like the Bennett clan, WA, CO, Germany, and VA are all doing well. Boy do I miss them! And now that Josh has been gone the entire morning paintballing with Brad, I have been trying to prepare for our landlords to come and spray for bugs. Crickets everywhere, and you should see the size of the wolf spiders. OOOOHHHH! I seriously am having some arachniphobia! I know, Calm down Ashlee, Calm down. Kenna and Boston are in the front rooming playing some kind of game, hopefully it doesn't end in the same disaster as Boston's room, but then again I am not really paying attention once again. Sometimes I find it easier to just tune out, just for a little while. Griffin, my angel, is alseep in his bassinet. Kennedy has had a busy week with her Birthday and then she got invited to two other parties. Boston is feeling a little left out, but hopefully tomorrow will make up for that. We are going to party it up at Brad and Jen's house for Boss man's birthday. We missed everyone on Kenna's big day and will do the same for Bossi's but thanks for calling. Love to all Ash (I better go be a mom now)

I turn my back for one minute. . .

Well maybe two or three . . . okay so I was a little preoccupied while I was making Kennedy's birthday dinner so I wasn't paying too much attention to what Boston was doing. Yes I knew where Griff was, he was out playing with Kennedy. Anyway, some time went by and I thought Boston was back in his room messing his pants because that is his favorite place to do such things. As you can tell potty training hasn't been to successful. Josh came home an hour or so later and said "Have you seen Boston's room"? I replied with "No, I have been a little busy". Then I hear Brad say "He is a tazmanian devil"! Okay so this had me wondering what had happened. So Josh took some pics for me. As you can tell everything, I mean everything except the dresser had been turned upside down and inside out. Yes, that is his toddler bed upside down half on the dresser and half on the floor. Notice he did take the mattress off first. Now consider that his bed was on the opposite side of the room that you cannot see in the pic. The boy is nuts! If he doesn't get naps he does things like this, very much a silent terror. I don't know how he was silent with this venture, but honestly I wasn't really listening at that time. Josh was great and went in and helped him pick up and threatening to throw all the toys away if Boston didn't get in their and help. Now he is asleep and peacefully dreaming of tomorrow and what else he can destroy. What a funny kid!

Kennedy turns 6!

Today was Kennedy's sixth birthday. Wow, time really flies! She has been so excited for this day to come, and then tommorrow she will be excited to turn 7. Ah, the years of wanting to turn older. Well we started the day out with the breakfast of champions McDonald's, Kenna's choice and then home to get ready for Kindergarten. She was so excited to pass out "fruit by the foot" treats for her class. I told her I would make anything she wanted for dinner and she said a Chinese Feast, yes she said feast! So I spent the day preparing for dinner. Chicken Chow Mein, fried shrimp, sweet n sour pork, and fried rice. MMMMmmm Good! Brad and Jen came to the festivities and it was so fun to have them here. I think all in all she had a great day! It was fun to celebrate with her and enjoy her spunk and zest for life. She cracks me up, one minute she is the best helper ever and the next she is pouting and stomping her feet to her room, and the next she is crying for the most odd reason. She is quite the little lady!

Halloween 2007

The Pumpkin patch was my least favorite experience of the season. It was Josh's idea to take them and I should have let him do it all by himself. It did not help that we were not having the best day, but I thought it would be a good outlet WRONG. With Griff in the front pack, Boston running in and out of moving and parked cars, and Kenna sad that her stem had fallen off, I had had it. Never again to an unorgnized venture like that again, until the next time. Ah well, at least we got the pumpkins right? Griffin was an angel!

This Halloween was really fun. The kids went as Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. Not pictured is Momma bear aka me with pigtails for ears and a nose. Daddy was a bit of a fuddyduddy in the costume department.
On Sunday we were invited to have a Fall Celebrations with Rob Epperson's family in AF. It was a lot of fun, and we are greatful that our friendships have followed us to Utah. On Halloween we went up to Lehi and spent the evening with Brad and Jen. The kids were so excited to see them, and I was greatful to have some help. The end of the month is always a hard time for Josh and so he made it to the celebration a little later. Better late than never. We splurged and ate the ever famous Carne al a Mateo (ask me later). It was so much fun!

Introducing our newest addition - Griffin

Jumping on the bandwagon!

After seeing a lot of other blogs I decided that we had to do this. What a fun way to share our lives with everyone we care about. And now that the World Series is over, Go Boston!, I have a little extra time to create a story about the Josh Ross Clan. So in between laundry, never ending poopy diapers, meals and mountain of dishes, to spank or not to spank and the ever so sweet bedtimes this will give you a look into our lives and hopefully a few laughs along the way. It is official the Red Sox have won the Championship. Go Sox!

Always,
Ash