Extended Ross Family Pictures

We count ourselves blessed to have a talented cousin who was willing to take pictures for us. Thank you Melissa McAllister!

For those who may be wondering, here's the quick version of who is who in the above picture: Lindsey, Alyson's family (5 boys), my family, Brandon's family (2 boys - both next to Morgan, and 1 girl - on Grandma's lap), Ashley's family (2 boys and 1 girl - on Grandpa's lap).

When I look at this next picture, I find myself thinking about all the fighting on family trips to California. :) Now we all get along great! I am so grateful to have the family I do!

Above: Lindsey, Hilary, Alyson, Ashley

Below: We had to have Michelle join us! She's our 5th sister. :) Michelle and I have a lot in common when it comes to in-laws; I am the "5th sister" in Lee's family too. I hope Michelle feels as loved and accepted as I feel when I'm around all my sisters-in-law!

Yes, this is the same picture as above. I just wanted to show you a black and white version of one of the pictures. Who would have known how nice a black and white picture would look in the snow? Love it!

It occurs to me that I have some beautiful sisters! (It also occurs to me that Alyson looks taller than the rest of us - I guess we forgot to have her step off her soapbox before the picture. Ha, ha...) I am absolutely in love with these last pictures of Lindsey. I figure the last one will one day appear on a book when she becomes a published author!

Sisters Vaction With Mom

Last week I got a much-needed vacation. I went to Disneyland with my three sisters and my mom. Do you remember last year when I blogged about a similar vacation? Well, we decided to do it again; only this time Mom came along, and we didn't tell Ashley (my youngest sister who lives in Fullerton right now) we were coming. We worked with Ash's husband, Derek, to make all the arrangements; and then we showed up and surprised her. It was the perfect surprise!!! We showed up at 10 pm and informed her we'd be leaving the next morning at 8 am for Disneyland.

Here's a picture of all of us just after we arrived at Disneyland (Alyson, Mom, Ashley, Me, Linz):

I realize I am posting a blackmail picture here, but this is me and Aly riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. In my defense, I was screaming because I was imitating my dad and the noises I remember him making when we rode this ride 25 years ago. That's actually one of my favorite memories from Disneyland when I was younger -- listening to how excited my dad got on the rides!

We couldn't resist a picture with Indiana Jones when we were in line to get on that ride. My sisters tell me it was just a worker dressed up as Indiana Jones, but I know the real thing when I see it! :)

Here's a picture of me with Ashley. We're thinking of moving to Montana together...

In the middle of the day we took a break and went for a ride on the Mark Twain riverboat. Here are pictures of each of us on the boat:

There's no such thing as Disneyland without a break for some yummy ice cream!

Mom was the martyr on Splash Mountain. We were all very grateful that she was willing to sit and front (where you get the wettest on the ride). Looks like Ash got a little wet too. :)

Derek and Marshall (Ashley's son) joined us for part of the day. I just love this picture of Marshall and his mom.

We were actually in Disneyland on Derek's birthday. He was nice enough to spend his birthday watching Marshall so Ash could spend all day with us. While Derek was there, though, we made sure that he had plenty of fun. We also took advantage of his willingness to be our second martyr on Splash Mountain:

This is the picture they took of us our first trip down Splash Mountain. We were all trying to look sleepy. I remember screaming and thinking, "Okay, I have to close my mouth before the picture takes; then I'll be able to scream again..." It appears I didn't quite get it shut in time...

And here was another time down Splash Mountain (Mom, Ash, Linz, Hil, Aly):
It was a long, fun day. Here's a picture of all of us on our way home at the end of the day...

The fun didn't all end there, however. On Friday, we got to just completely relax. We took turns going to the temple and watching Marshall. Then we spent Friday night relaxing in the hot tub and watching Psych episodes. Here's Alyson and me in front of the Newport Beach Temple.

Ashley will never be able to say we didn't take good care of Marshall while she was at the temple. Here he is enjoying a "ride" on Alyson's feet. (Then he went on to help me make dinner and requested I take him into the backyard to see the birdies...)

Bright and early Saturday morning we had to wake up and head home. Since we didn't get a picture of Ashley being surprised when we first showed up, we posed this picture as we were leaving. :)

I will admit that the vacation was a little too short, but it was loads of fun while it lasted! (And a SUPER BIG THANKS to my friend Denise and all my neighbors who helped watch my girls while I went and had fun!)

Horray for Wicked!!!

Here are the pictures I promised in my last post about our wonderful "Sister's Vacation!" Here's a picture of all of us (Me, Ash, Aly, Linz) outside Ashley's house just before going to Wicked.

Here's a picture of Ash and me in front of a Wicked ad/sign at the theater. This picture proves that we made it safely even though I was driving. It turns out Utah drivers who learned to drive on their mission to Toronto can really hold their own in the California craziness. :)

And here's all of us again outside the theater. I had no idea how good of a production I was about to see! Alyson had better seats than the rest of us, and we all offered to trade her seats at intermission so she wouldn't have to keep sitting by herself. For some reason, however, she didn't want to trade with any of us. :)
As a side note: I was the only one with dark hair growing up -- all my other sisters had blond hair. In time, however, Ashley's and Lindsey's hair also grew dark. Now we look like triplets with a cute blond sister. :) (Stay tuned for the picture in five years when all of us have white hair...)

A Sister Vacation in California

Wow, what a week!! The girls and I spent four days in Rawlins with Lee and my parents (my sister Lindsey also went with us). Then Lindsey and I drove back to Spanish Fork where we met up with my sister Alyson. The three of us left early Wednesday morning for one of the best vacations I've ever had! We went to California to see Ashley, and the four of us sisters lived the life for a few days.

We got to California in time for Derek's birthday (Ashley's husband). Yea! :) Then we spent all day Thursday (8 a.m. until after midnight) at Disneyland. We took bunches of pictures, but I selected only a few to share. The first one is all of us as we arrived at Disneyland. We had Ashley's son, Marshall, with us for the first half of the day. That kid has been in Disneyland more than anyone else his age, I bet! :) In the picture it's Alyson, Ashley, Marshall, Lindsey, and me.

This next picture is of Ashley and me. It was actually taken later in the day --you can tell by the fact that my hairdo has about had it. :) This picture was taken during the one time we stood in line for a long time -- it was the line for Space Mountain and we waited 65 minutes. Other than that I don't think we waited much longer than 30 minutes for most things, and a lot of the waits were less than 15 minutes (thanks to fast passes and staying there late).

Here's Lindsey and I at the beginning of the day. The funny thing is that when I saw this picture, I didn't recognize the dinosaur in the background. I finally figured out this was in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which we rode on three or four different times, but I somehow never really noticed the dinosaur. Oops.
Here's Alyson and me riding on a boat. I think it's the Queen something or other. I'm sure one of my sisters will comment with the correct name. I have an awful memory (and am apparently not very observant either). We rode the boat around Tom Sawyer's Island, which you can see in the background.
And here's a picture of Lindsey, Alyson, and me all together on the boat (I think it's the Queen Mary???). Ashley had gone to meet up with Derek so he could take Marshall, and she got back just in time to snap this lovely picture for us.

After this ride we went to Splash Mountain for our first ride of eight for the day. I'm going to have to do another blog when I get more pictures from my sisters because I don't have any from Splash Mountain. We went on it four times in the last hour, and we all took turns sitting up front and getting drenched. We figured it would be okay to head home totally wet. Very fun!!!!!!

The next day we slept in, went for a run, showered, and then went to watch the Broadway play "Wicked." Alyson and Lindsey have been wanting to go for a long time, and Ashley and I agreed to go along. Little did I know what I was getting into...I haven't been able to get those marvelous songs out of my head since that night. I have got to find a place to buy the sound trek because it's really frustrating trying to sing a song and not knowing the words!!! (Right now You Tube is my best friend!) It was well worth the cost of the ticket and then some -- absolutely wonderful!!!

I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed our trip. I fell asleep at the end of our ride home and woke up about 30 minutes before arriving back in Spanish Fork. When I woke up, I just wanted to smile. I felt so happy as I thought back over the previous days. It was a perfect vacation, and I LOVED being with my sisters!!! (Now, if the transition back to motherhood could go just as smoothly...)