The Ross' Go To Assateague Island

Here is a small picture update from my weekend in Delaware/Maryland. Saturday, we drove up to Assateague Island State Park to see the ponies and the ocean. Before, we went to the Visitor's Center so the boys could do the touch tank.
I brighted Ian with the flash, but here they are going to town!
I touched a conch shell! I think it's weird things actually live in those!
We saw so many horses today! These horses were actually right next to the trail we wanted to go on. You are not supposed to go near them, but I think they've gotten used to people staring and taking pictures of them. They didn't even look up as we went by!
Me and the brothers. Dad says they make faces in any picture that is taken of them. They were okay with this picture!

The boys and Dad walking out to the Bay.

The Bay. It was a little gray today, but the water was cool because it was so smooth and glassy.

The sand dunes. It was so windy outside! It was also snowing a little bit as well. Ian and Jake were excited. They were hoping to get out of school!

The ocean! So pretty today, it was kicking up so much seafoam. It was still bitter cold out there!

The family's new dog, Sally. It was her first trip to the ocean. She loved to chase the seafoam that started to roll across the beach. She had no idea what it was, she just knew it got stuck on her nose!

Anyway, that was our day! I always love going out here, especially when no tourists are around and we have it all to ourselves!

Deferring to Someone Who Can Say It Better Than I Can!

For the reasons why I will probably vote for Mitt Romney, please go here and read his post on Mitt Romney (it should be at the top).











(P.S. I really just enjoyed his post. I hope Todd has hair like Mitt's when he gets up there in age! I really don't know who I am going to vote for yet. Romney is at the top of my list. I really wouldn't mind Giuliani either. I am not a big fan of Huckabee or Thompson or Paul. Geez, as long as its someone Republican!)

Best of the 19940

It's so funny to come home to Delaware (I still call it home, that's okay, right?). I've noticed that every time I come back here, I have a completely different perspective on this area. I love how hindsight works that way. On the other hand, there are some things that have never changed, and those are the reasons I keep coming back:

1. My family. I love my family to death. I consider us close, and it's fun watching my brothers grow up. They are so funny. I can always count on Jacob saying something funny. For example, tonight, on my mom's birthday, he asked her if she knew she was old. Tactless, but funny. We'll forgive him, he's 10! My mom and dad are the greatest, and my two sisters--real and adopted--are fun to be around (and soon they will both be mama's!) We all get more kooky as we get older :)

2. I have never adjusted to the dry air of the West. I was born to live in humidity. Even though its sticky and wet, my skin and hair breathe better here. I didn't understand why people bought gobs of lotion until I moved to Utah.

3. I REALLY like the weather. It's in this perfect part of the East Coast, where the hurricanes stay to the south, and the heavy snow stays to the north. There are four distinct seasons. It is wonderfully hot in the summer, colorful and leafy in the fall, cold and wet in the winter, and rainy in the spring. I MUST live somewhere with seasons!

4. Our neighbors aren't breathing on us. Compared to other homes out our way, we live closer to our neighbors. However, we still have three acres to roam (or mow, if you look at it like my dad does). It takes a bit longer to get to church and school and grocery shopping, which is sometimes inconvenient, but its not a whole ordeal to pack up and run errands. I love having space, having a huge backyard, and now having to see what the neighbors are doing when I'm outside.

5. Being near the ocean. Holy cow, I miss it. It's so cliche now, but there really is nothing like listening to those waves crashing, protecting your fries from the seagulls, or trying to ignore the rowdy people at the umbrella next to yours. The ocean is beautiful, the sunsets over the ocean are beautiful, the wild horses roaming Assateague Island are beautiful, as are the old lighthouses, blue herons, and salt marshes. Plus, I know all the best places to park for free in the summer ;)

6. Chik-fil-a. Can we say heavenly chicken breakfast biscuits??!! It sounded a bit gross at first, but I got over that quick. The best breakfast item ever created. I also go back for their waffle fries, chicken sandwiches, and yummy, yummy lemonade. There is no Chik-fil-a to be found in Boise. I did, however, go out of my way to go to the one in Layton, UT if I was ever driving from Salt Lake to Provo. Definitely worth the extra gas mileage.



Like I said, things, though, change everytime I come back. A lot of things are for the better, like the addition of Kohl's, Old Navy, Chili's, and the new Wawa gas station (although I think the QT's in Oklahoma finally beat out Wawa for best gas station ever). Here are some things that have changed for me:

1. Compared to other places I've lived, the schools are terribly underfunded. As a teenager, I would have loved to go to a big, safe high school that offered classes like drafting or ballroom dance or a full-blown orchestra, like Todd did. My brothers are lucky enough to go to some of the better schools. Now that I can look back at my high school experience, I know that I could have had it worse, but I also could have had it better. Some of my high school teachers weren't very good, and there was too much politicking and crony-ism in a school as small as mine was. I'm grateful to be working in Boise, though, because the schools there are great, and education is important to the state's leaders. I talked to a man from San Diego on the plane who moved his family to Boise because of the great reputation of the schools.

2. Salisbury isn't the safest place anymore. We moved from our Homer Street address because the homes were turning into rentals, which in turn drew drug dealers. I hear this is a huge problem now, because the population is more transient, and more, um, "criminal." It's sad to see this in a small town of 50,000 people. Many are moving out into the suburbs. There are places that aren't safe to be in at night. C'mon, this is Salisbury, not Philly.

3. I just have to gripe about the three cars that I saw blatantly run stop signs, one of them which caused us to throw on our brakes. Most of them pulled that thing where they just follow the car ahead of them right on out, or what we refer to as the "California stop." I think it took me a lot longer than two days to see that many people run stop signs in Sacramento!

4. Oh, the country accents. Granted, I had a bit of one when I came to Provo, so I can't gripe too much, but the accent just sounds a bit...uneducated. I'll stop it at that.


As you can see, the things I like about being home outweigh those that bug me. I have loved growing up here, and I'm grateful from what I learned by living here. Sometimes, though, I can't believe I made it out of this place with my morals intact! It is a really hard place to grow up LDS, but on the other hand, I think it strengthened my faith.

I have really grown to love living in the West. There are certain places I would prefer over others, for example, Boise over Rexburg (the weather there KILLS me!), but in general, I have come to call Idaho home (and Utah at one point, well, Oklahoma and California too. I AM a gypsy!). After living out here, where our LDS friends are few and far between, it has been an awesome respite to be surrounded by good LDS people on every side. In addition, I think the people out here, LDS and non-LDS are friendlier and happier, healthier and more family-oriented. Todd and I have been exposed to some great opportunities and experiences being west of the Mississippi (Yosemite, the Redwoods, Big Jud's hamburgers, Yellowstone, BYU, skiing, nearby LDS temples, Cheesecake Factory!, the Oklahoma Aquarium, San Francisco, etc.) and we hope to continue having these experiences and loving life wherever we are!

Funny

Saw this on a local news blog site, it made me laugh.

Update

It's a bit late, and I should be going to bed because I am on "take Jacob to school" duty tomorrow, but...has it really been two weeks since I've blogged? Anyway, I can't really resist, and although I don't have any cute babies to blog about (geez, Kaylene, how can us non-babiefied people compete with that?), well, I want to try to catch up!

As you saw, Todd and I had a great Christmas. We came back from Rexburg on New Year's Eve, and settled in for the night happily with a Pizza Hut Pizza (Double Deep? It wasn't that great) and some Martinelli's. Then I did something dumb. I waited until midnight, excited for the ball to drop, but watching something else on another channel until midnight. Just before midnight, I turned excitedly to one of the main cable channels to watch the ball drop...and realized that the ball had dropped in New York two hours earlier! I had forgotten the time difference! I thought I was still in Delaware! Well, that was disappointing to say the least, as I look forward to the tradition of seeing the ball all lit up, and the confetti thrown everywhere, and kissing Todd along with the rest of the crazies in New Yrok. This year, I have made a resolution to pay attention next New Year's Eve!

I went back to work on the 2nd of January. The first day back I worked at the toddler site, and while I loved it, I just KNEW I was going to be sick. Mothers were dropping their kids off, and as they hurried off, they would mention their baby had "just a slight fever yesterday." Which means, "they still have a fever today but I have to work and don't really care because I don't have to be with them all day." Okay, maybe this is a little harsh, but after spending the day wiping up gross runny noses and reminding kids to cough into their hands or arms, I think I have earned the right to be a little harsh. Anyway, I worked at a regular elementary site the next two days, and I felt fine. Well...I made it to the gym after work on Friday, and even made it through the laundry before getting a sore throat and a horrible earache in my right ear.

Saturday I woke up with bodyaches, a fever, and a really sore throat, and knew I was done for the week. Early Sunday morning...well, I'll just say that the flu turned into the stomach flu. Pleasant. I spent Sunday in bed, and by the time Monday rolled around, I was feeling really good and thinking that maybe it wasn't the flu. Todd and I spent the day getting ready for our ski trip (I got new skis and boots, yay!). Monday night I went to bed thinking I was better, but my stomach struck again early Tuesday morning. However, I am hardcore (right?right?), and after sleeping in a bit to recover from the nausea and dry heaving (pretty picture), we left later from Boise and made the 6-hour, snowy, miserable drive to Logan, and then onto Ogden. Luckily, the stomach part of the flu disappeared over the course of the trip, and all I had to contend with during our ski trip was a runny nose and itchy throat.

Ugh, did I really just bore you with a whole paragraph about my stomach flu? Wow, I'm sorry. Anyway, once I get back to Idaho and get my pictures up, I'll describe the ski trip, which can only really be experienced through photos...you will see why later!

We drove back to Boise Friday afternoon, I unpacked, repacked, and then Todd drove me to the airport for my 8 o'clock flight. After getting on the plane on time, everything looked great, until the flight attendants told us something had gone wrong with a fuel line. This apparently means, "We are going to make you sit on the plane for an hour and a half while we call in a mechanic to get this fixed. You will miss your connections and we hope the babies on this flight stay asleep." However, the airline handled it fairly well by giving us vouchers for money off flights and free meals and snacks. Half of us did miss our connections, and were given more vouchers, as well as receiving new flight connections ready for us when we got to the airport. I protested my 5 hour wait in the airport and got on an earlier flight to Detroit and then on to Baltimore. Suffice it to say, I made it to BWI three hours later than planned, with one less bag than planned. Northwest, however, came through again, by delivering my bag, unscathed, at 5 in the morning, full of my church clothes for that day :)

Unfortunately, my visit to Delaware isn't really a fun one, because my mom is having surgery, but I'll just say she went in yesterday, and came out looking darn good for a woman on a morphine drip! It looks like she will have a speedy recovery with no long-lasting ill effects. This has made me really grateful for the strength of our family, for good family and friends who have supported us during this time, and especially for the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was given a comforting blessing by our home teacher and my dad, and I know that my Heavenly Father is looking out for her and our family. I have a testimony that priesthood blessings work and that as long as we are obedient to the commandments of the Lord, our family will be able to be together again for eternity. We are all looking forward to the time when she feels 100%, and I'm grateful for the spiritual strength I am receiving from being here with my family at this time.