Daniel and Richard are posing patiently so I can begin the chronicle of Daniel’s rise in height during the next few years. Paige and I have our photo taken before General Young Women meetings, so I’m starting the tradition of photographing Daniel and Richard each October before the General Priesthood meeting. They went out for pizza with his Young Men leaders after the the broadcast. He said to Richard as they drove away from dinner, “I think this is going to be a good year.”
Here’s the person of the day. He’s smart, creative, athletic, handsome, and carries tools.
I call him Dan Man…even though I don’t really want him to be a man just yet.
Daniel is missing in a lot of our photos because he’s usually blazing the trail for the rest of us. It’s nice to have a boy who is independent but will still give me a hug at night before bed.
He’s twelve and he’s a good boy. I feel so blessed to have him in our family.
This is my new big hat. This is also what I look like when I am watching Cub Scouts scaling slippery rocks on the mountain.
This is Daniel and his friend. They’ve been friends for 6 years but it’s rare to get them together.
This is one of 600 photos Paige posed for because she’s so beautiful and well worth photographing.
This is Timothy on a hike with the Cub Scouts.
This is my Markie. He likes to snuggle anywhere.
This was our picnic and Richard who carried everything up and down the hill.
Thanks, Susan for sharing so many family photos with us. I really loved the ones of Violet and Joe. Looking at this picture makes me want to have my photograph taken more often in the hopes that somebody will remember me as young and not just an oldie.
When was the last time you had your photo taken with your sweetheart?
When was the last time you sat outside together like this?
Sigh. We’re due for some of that.
We went camping this weekend on Mount Lemmon with our church.
What is that you have, Mark?
Oh, a tiny horned lizard!
Timothy found one, too, but it was much bigger.
Daniel whittled.
Paige was great at tent setup and cleanup. Yes, she IS that incredible.
Everything was packed and ready to go, but we lingered. The pleasant temperatures, the pines, and the company kept us there. Just ignore that odd expression on my face.
I have a tradition of decorating the birthday child’s bedroom door. This year, I enlarged and printed some of Paige’s dance photos. I cut out the dancer, traced the cutout on dark paper and cut out again.
We decorated sugar cookies, went out to eat, and went shopping for clothes.
We ended the day with a chick flick with Paige’s best friend. We munched on Paige’s signature gourmet sandwiches and sat down to watch the 2009 BBC version of Emma.
The little brothers contributed sweet and thoughtful gifts. Timothy made a mouse out of Sculpey clay for her. Mark wrapped each gift… several days early.
Here is Paige playing Mazurka in G Minor by Chopin:
and Minuet in G Major by Beethoven:
Our Paige is quite a person.
artist
great big sister
helpful daughter
peacemaker
dancer
pianist
math wiz
beautiful
great sandwich maker
well-read
righteous
kind
Today we said goodbye to many of Paige’s childhood toys and dress up clothes. Tears were shed. She has kept them around for all the neighbor girls to play with when they come over, but this summer it became clear that we are out of space. Most toys were carefully wrapped and donated to special people and to our church thrift store. Other things were packed away in deep storage for me to pull out and play with when Paige moves out and I’m the only girl in the house.
This photo was taken in 2002.
Goodbye pink Kelly castle with the little dragon.
Goodbye dollies. You are loved.
Goodbye ponies.
Goodbye twirly pink dress up clothes.
I’m crying my eyes out.
Goodbye tea parties with princesses.
Goodbye little things and glittery treasures.
Goodbye baby girl.
Did you read that article about playgrounds being so safe that they are boring? The see-saws are gone, as are most swings, merry-go-rounds, or anything with moving parts. When my boys play on the playground, I usually catch them climbing on the Outside of the tube slides because it’s more manly.
This summer we tried to be really deliberate in our choices for the kids. We chose our vacation and summer activities with the idea that we wanted to provide adventure and opportunities for them to grow. In other words, we didn’t want a homogenized curvy-edged playground summer; we wanted an old fashioned teeter-totter-jungle gym-monkey bridge summer.
For Paige, this meant some time with grandparents on her own and a two week ballet camp where she lived in the dorms.
For Daniel, adventure meant a tennis camp around the corner and then 9 days with my parents on his own. Daniel kept a journal of his trip which he read to me. Wow. What a good, busy time.
Most of Timothy’s adventures involved rocks, water, and cousins. This kid loved riding the tube behind the wave runner and really improved his swimming skills.
And now we come to Mark, who found adventures aplenty.
As the summer activities come to an end, I reflect on the value of getting out of the desert so we could spend time outdoors, build relationships with extended family, and experience adventure and even risk to help us grow and develop. It has been a good summer for the Ross family.
True love means surprising your wife with a new set of pillars at the family cabin. It means hauling your saw and tools and shopping for lumber. My dad did good this year with his building project at the Weber.
He worked so fast and so well that one pillar was finished before I could photograph the “BEFORE” picture.
My brothers helped. They were Thrilled to have their pictures taken.
This is what the cousins were up to.
Here is my mom painting her pillar.
Magnifico!
Daniel brought me flowers he collected during a hike on the mountain. This kid is so thoughtful.
These made me so happy. I held them in the van during our drive back to Provo. Everyone sneezed and I was covered in pollen. We decided that the flowers I wasn’t able to press would decorate Lady’s grave. So that’s where we left them.
Have you ever opened a book only to discover there are pressed flowers inside? That is one of the happy discoveries in life.
I pressed the flowers in a book I have been carrying around in the car: The Secret Garden. How fitting!
