Zane & Laura Ross Family

Kianna's 4th Birthday

2011-09-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed celebrating our little girl's 4th birthday this weekend. But before I post anything more on that, here are some random pictures and videos of the kids from the last few months.

Starting on the top left and going clockwise, 1) Kianna caught a small snake and played with it all afternoon. 2) Kianna doing the Crane Kick overlooking a rock formation in South East Idaho. 3) Wyatt refused to go down for a nap, but it eventually caught up to him, and he passed out on the floor. 4) Some random Mule Deer bucks that I found, all had just lost their felt and had impressive racks.

And here is a small collection of videos taken over that last few months, starting with Kianna playing on a bouncy castle that was converted to a water slide at a family reunion.

Here the kids were riding the dog like a horse. I didn't get my camera in time to see the actual riding, but you can see Kianna telling the dog to sit, get down, and then jumping on his back hoping for another ride. Maybe we should get him a little saddle...

We went to the opening Monday Night Football game here in Denver to see the Broncos vs Raiders. The game was disappointing, not only because the Broncos lost, but it also rained off and on throughout the game. But we had really good seats, and the Pre-game 9/11 Tribute was pretty amazing.

We finally got Wyatt a pair of drumsticks so he could actually play on his mini drum set. He really seems to enjoy it. Him and Kianna have both logged in a lot of drum time over the last few days.

Here is the video of Kianna's Birthday part. We had a lot of fun with friends and family, and Kianna (and Wyatt) love the main gift we got her. We love it too, since they can now play outside in the back yard for much longer periods of time.

We're still Here! Camping with the Kids.

2011-09-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

We have been seriously slacking on keeping the blog up to date, but are going to try and do better from here on out. Rather than try and jump back and cover half a year, I am just going to post a few things from the end of the Summer.

It has been a busy summer between vacations, family reunions, camping trips, and weddings. One place that we went camping was Karval, CO. The only reason we really went there was because I am getting into Astrophotography, and it is one of the designated "Dark Skies" sites in Colorado. Dark Skies sites are areas that have absolutely zero light pollution, and the stars can be seen with incredible detail. This map shows Colorado from Dark Sky Finder. We were at that red blurp in the eastern part of the state. We went there because it was the closest Dark Sky zone from our house. Next time we will spend a few extra hours driving and get up to a Dark Sky zone in the mountains.

I was able to get some pretty amazing pictures, and watching the Perseid meteor shower was well worth it, but the camping part was not as much fun as it normally is.

It was really hot, and the area was almost devoid of trees, but the kids still had a good time exploring their surroundings, catching bugs and critters, and doing a bit of fishing. Laura was able to catch a big turtle, and the kiddos had a lot of fun with it before letting it go. Our puppy Blue, also decided he needed to investigate this strange animal.

Fishing was not the best as the lake was very low and the shore was choked by thick algae growth. Almost every fish we hooked was lost in the algae and the line would snap. The only one to get through was a tiny one that Kianna reeled in. She was still pretty excited. Blue didn't mind the algae too much, and was in the water pretty much the entire trip.

Here is a video of the kids with messy faces, and the dog enjoying the water.

Camping 2011 - Blue loves the Water from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Wyatt and Kianna liked just playing around in the tent, cooking food with Mom and Dad, sitting in their camp chairs, and especially playing in the hammock.

It also was a great place to take a cool afternoon nap.

Birthdays!

2010-12-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

Kianna and Wyatt celebrate their birthdays just one month apart, so I will combine them in a single blog post with pictures and videos from each of their parties.

Kianna's 3rd Birthday

Kianna had a Princess themed birthday and had a few friends over to help her celebrate. Everyone had a great time, and Kianna constantly had a huge grin on her face.

A quick video of her party.

Kianna's Birthday Party from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Wyatt's 1st Birthday

The first birthday is always a special one, and Wyatt put on a pretty good show for us. He thouroghly enjoyed destroying his cake as can be seen it the pictures and video below.

Wyatt's Birthday 2010

Wyatt's Birthday - 2010 from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

The Summer in a Blur

2010-12-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

Well... I don't want to say that I have been lazy when it comes to updating the blog, just very busy. As an attempt to try and "catch up" I am posting one large blog entry that contains various pictures and video from the entire summer. Here we go.

Hiking

We did quite a few hikes year. My brother Kaylon and I climbed a few 14ers as well. Here are a few picks of our Pikes Peak climb. It was rough, and ended up being just over a 20 mile hike with 6,000ft elevation change. I cramped up a few times, but we made it.

Here is the view from Mount Bierstadt, and a pic of a Pika that kept eating sunflower seeds I would throw at it while eating lunch on the summit.

While spending the weekend in Breckenridge, we hiked to Lilly Pad lake. In the past it has been really pretty but this year was kind of a let down because of all the dead pine trees on account of the Pine Beetle infestations, and the lack of Lilly pads this year. We still had fun playing in the water and catching "Mud Dogs" which are a kind of salamander found in higher elevations.

July 4th

We had a good time watching fireworks with the kids. Wyatt seemed very amazed as what he was seeing. Kianna watched the show, but covered her ears the entire time. She doesn't like "loud noises".

Alaska

I went with my brother Kaylon to Alaska over the summer. He was attending an Army friend's wedding, and we had a few days to mess around and do some fishing on the Kenai Peninsula. The scenery was beautiful and the water had that aqua blue look being that it was glacier run-off. We were amazed at how many Salmon we saw in the spawning areas. Sushi in Alaska was also really good.

Parker Days

Every year we enjoy taking the kids to Parker Days. Kianna rides the kiddo rides and had her friends with her to enjoy the fun this year.

The adults also had fun, and if you watch closely in the video below, you will see where Emma almost gets sick and has an close up-chuck moment.

Parker Days - 2010 from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Random picture of Laura with the kids on the trampoline, and the sunset from that same evening.

Here is a video that also contains lots of the fun stuff we did this summer. Enjoy.

The Summer in a Blur - 2010 from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Labor Day & Camping

2010-09-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since we have had a chance to post anything, but that's how busy this summer has been. I plan on making one big blog post in a few days that has more pictures and videos of the summer, but for right now, I'm just going to focus on Labor Day and our Camp Out.

This was the first time we have taken Wyatt on a camp out. He loved the fire, and eating Smores, as did the rest of us. Kianna liked the Smores too, but after eating her first one, decided that one is enough, and said they were too sweet. (Remember to click on the pictures to see them in a larger size.)

Kianna had no problem getting into the tent and her accompanying pink "Princess" sleeping bag. Wyatt on the other hand, did not want to go to sleep. He does really well at night when we put him in the crib to go to bed. He usually will just lie down and go to sleep, knowing that it is bed time. Problem was, in the tent, he didn't have anything like the crib to contain him, so he would NOT settle down to go to sleep, as the picture below will testify.

We spent our Labor Day in Longmont, CO and had lunch with my Aunt & Uncle and their family. It was fun to talk with everyone and catch up, and afterwards, we went to a park to let Kianna have a try at Crawdad fishing. They were pretty easy to catch with the method we developed, and we eneded up with 93 after about 15min of "fishing". Kianna enjoyed it immensely. Look to the very bottom of this blog post for a video of Kianna in action.

Here are some pictures of us all in our Sunday clothes. Kianna has on an outfit she got on her birthday.

Here is the video of Kianna fishing for Crawdads.

Labor Day Crayfish Hunt from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Easter 2010 and Mesa Verde Trip

2010-05-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

Easter was a lot fun this year. With Kianna being a little bit older, she really got into the egg coloring ritual, and kept asking when the eggs with candy in them were going to come in to the picture. Here are some pics of Laura and Kianna hard at work decorating the eggs, the kid’s Easter baskets as well as a picture of Kianna and Laura in their “Easter Dresses”. They sure do look pretty.

We went down to SW Colorado for the 15 annual Dirk & Colt Ross Memorial Basketball Tournament and were able to spend time with family during the event. We also had a chance to visit Mesa Verde which is located just West of Durango, CO. The structure to the left is the most famous of the National Park and is called “Cliff Palace”, to the right is the “Spruce Tree House”.

I haven’t been back since I was around 12 years old, and everyone had a lot of fun wandering through the Anazasi ruins, and visiting the various Museums. Kianna loved climbing all the ladders that take you to higher levels, and Laura had a chance to try out an authentic Puebloite Mill Stone. She got a workout in the process.

The next day we went to Timble Hot Springs in Druango, CO. They were mineral springs so the water was a brown/red in color, and it felt great. Wyatt and Kianna really enjoyed themselves, and we all got some sun. Kianna also liked playing the “cold pool” with Daddy. Overall it was a really fun trip.

Day at the Museum

2010-03-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to get a Family Membership to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It is really tough to get through the entire museum in one day, and if we can go as many times as we want with the membership, we won't feel as rushed when we go. Plus our daughter Kianna LOVES Dinosaurs. She has a pretty good collection of Dino Books, and can already rattle off the names of quite a few species of Dinosaurs. We brought some friends with us and had a fun time at the museum.

Kianna was wide-eyed the entire time (as can be easily seen in one of the pictures above), and her excitement grew with each new Dinosaur she encountered. Although she loved the experience, there was one part that she did not like. One of the "Prehistoric Habitats" they had set up showed a Dinohyus which was a large Prehistoric Carnivorous Pig, that was 6ft tall and roamed the grasslands of North America.

I took Kianna up close to get a better look, but I guess it was a bit too life-like for her and she wanted to stay back. Just as I was trying to explain that it was only a statue and wasn't alive, the Dinohyus started to snort loudly with some internal speaker system. Kianna FREAKED OUT and wanted nothing more to do with the Giant Hog Habitat, yelling at the top of her lungs; "I don't want that!".

We had a great time, and were glad that Mark and his family could join us. And now some random pictures of the Kids looking really cute.

Family Update - Feb 2010

2010-02-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since we have updated the blog, but things have settled down a bit, and we hope to be back to posting on more of a regular basis. Kianna is now 2 1/2 and keeping her mother on her toes. She is a VERY active child, and seems to have inherited a bit of hyper-activity from me. But we still enjoy her very much, and she is a doll. Below you can see her modeling a new dress for church.

Wyatt is a very happy baby. When feeling well he is always talking and cooing at us, and is constantly wearing a big smile. Two weeks ago he had a rough time dealing with RSV Pneumonia and even spent a few nights in the Emergency Room with Oxygen tubes stuck down his nose and throat. He slept and ate very little for a few days (at one point he went over 9 hours without eating during the day). Once he as able to breath better, they sent him home, but he remained on Oxygen for over a week. Below you can see him sleeping with the tube coming out if his nose.

He is doing much better now and is back to "all-smiles" like normal. Kianna loves to play with him, and he seems to enjoy her company. Here is a picture of the two of them enjoying bath time together.

The pictures below are just a few that Laura took on her cell phone. Nothing in particular, but you can sure tell that Wyatt likes to eat.

Enjoy the video of the two kiddos playing together and clips of Wyatt "talking" to us.

Kianna & Wyatt - February 2010 from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Christmas Message for Uncle Kaylon

2009-12-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

We wanted to give Kaylon a special message as he is spending this Christmas away from home, serving in the US Army at FOB Wilderness, in Afghanistan. We have two videos, the first of which is of Wyatt making smiley faces. Kalyon has yet to meet Wyatt, so we thought it would be nice to include that for him. The second video is of Kianna, who has a special message for her Uncle KK.

Wyatt Making Smiley Faces from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

This one was taken Christmas morning.

Christmas Message For Uncle KK from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Keep safe, and see you soon buddy.

Its Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

2009-12-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

Laura has been busy decoration both our place and my parents house. As always she has done a really good job. In addition to decorations, she has also been enjoying how cute our kids are while dressed up for the Christmas Holiday.

Here are some pictures of my Parents house that Laura was busy decorating. We had more than 25 people over for Thanksgiving, and a few days later, my Mother hosted the Ward Relief Society Christmas Party at her house. Everyone loved the decorations, and apparently multiple people asked her who decorated the Christmas tree. Laura does a great job with that stuff.

Kianna loves to play with the Christmas tree, but she is getting better about not taking the ornaments off the tree. This year she is not afraid of Santa, and we hope to get some good pictures of her sitting on Santa's lap. She seems to really like everything that accompanies this time of year. Every time she sees deer at my parents home, she yells out: "Look Mom, Santa's Reindeer..."

Wyatt is getting bigger everyday, and already doesn't fit into 3 month old clothes. He is starting to coo and smile a lot more, and we will post a video soon so everyone can see it.

Halloween & October Snow

2009-11-01T12:14:00.000-08:00

This week has been a lot of fun. Monday night we were told that a snow storm would be hitting Colorado, and to expect between 20-32 inches over a 48 hour period. We ended up with around 26" and had a lot of fun playing in it. I really love a good snowfall. When I walked outside the next morning and saw the while blanket covering the terrain, I immediately had flashbacks from my youth of snowmobiling, building snowmen, sledding, snow forts, and neighborhood wide snowball fights. I probably wouldn't like it as much if we didn't have access to my Father's Skid-Steer to plow out the driveway, but as it is, I love snow.

Kianna has also become a bit of a snow nut, and was constantly asking to go outside to play, and eat snow. We enjoyed our time outside, even though she had a tough time in the deep snow, and we made sure to make lots of Snow Angels. Luckily even though there was a lot of snow, it didn't get really cold so we were able to enjoy our time outside.

This was the first year that Kianna really caught on to what Halloween is. Once the light-bulb went on and she realized that these people were giving out free candy, she was excited as could be.

Wyatt is a bit too small for any costumes, so we went with some simple Halloween pajamas.

Kianna went to the ward Halloween Party as a Witch, and while we ate the many vairations of chile and sweets, she played in the air castles. Everyone decided it was a bit too cold for Trunk-Or-Treat, so the adults lined the hallways inside the church and handed out the candy to the kids.

The next night we went with some friends and did some more candy gathering on MainStreet in Parker. All the local businesses hosted a Halloween night for younger children, and they were able to replenish their candy reserves. It has been a fun week.

Wyatt Comes Home

2009-10-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

Laura and Wyatt came home this Friday, and Kianna was very excited to see both of them. There is a video at the bottom of this post showing a bit of interaction between the two of them.

Here is a picture comparing the size difference of Wyatt and Kianna. Kianna turned two (2) in September, and sometimes doesn't understand that Wyatt is much smaller, and she needs to be gentle with him. They sure look cute together.

I guess you can call this the "Silly Sibling Face" picture. We are trying to remedy this, but for some reason Kianna equates the word smile with "make your teeth and gums look like a Great White Shark".

This gives a you a good idea of what both Kianna and Wyatt looked like just minutes after they were born. See any similarities?

Here is the video of Kianna meeting Wyatt.

Wyatt Comes Home & Meets Kianna from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Wyatt Dean Ross - He's Here!

2009-10-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a long night, well night & day, but I wanted to get something posted before I went to bed.

Last night (Oct 21) Laura started having contractions around 1AM. They came on quick and strong so we called my Mother to rush to our place so she could watch Kianna while we went to the hospital. Because of H1N1 they are not allowing anyone under the age of 18 in the Baby Center at the Hospital, hence the reason we had to call my Mother to watch Kianna.

Laura was in a lot of pain when we arrived at the triage center around 2Am. They quickly checked her out and found that after only 1 hour of contractions, she was already 9cm dilated, which was causing the contractions to be so intense. Laura desperately wanted an Epidural, but they said she was probably too far along to get one. That did not sit well with her, and she continued to ask for one. Luckily for her, although at 9cm, her water had not yet broke, and they were finally able to administer the Epidural. It took quickly and she was ready to have the baby.

Everything continued to happen at a rapid pace, and within 4 sets of contractions/pushing Wyatt was here. Total labor time from first contraction to birth, 2 hours 29 min.

He is a strong and healthy baby boy, weighing 7lbs 13oz, and is 20in long. He also has his Sister's nose.

It has been rough on Kianna not being able to be with us and the baby. She really wants to see "Baby Wyatt" as she refers to him, and doesn't understand why she can't see her Mom either. Grandma Tammi brought her to the hospital lobby, and I used our notebooks to show Kianna a video of her Mom and Wyatt via Skype. She seemed to enjoy it, but I could tell she really wants to hold him. She just needs to hold on for a day or two more and she can have some up-close time with Wyatt.

Here is a video of the delivery. It's not graphic at all, so don't worry about being grossed out or anything of that nature.

Wyatt Dean Ross - Delivery Video from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Update - New Video for Seaside & Kianna's Birthday Party

2009-10-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

I added a new video that is an addition to the previous post. Enjoy.

Robinson Family Reunion & Kianna's 2nd Birthday from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Seaside Vacation & Kianna's Birthday

2009-09-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

We were able to spend the first week of September in SeaSide, OR for the Robinson Family Reunion. The weather didn’t cooperate, and made getting into the water really difficult, but we still had a fun time playing on the beach. Anytime Kianna wasn't playing in the sand she was chasing Sea Gulls.

We made a pretty massive sand castle, and signed the back of it so passers-by would know who constructed this wonder. Too bad the tide took it out that night.

Bonfires on the beach were fun, and so were the accompanying Smores. We also visited he local aquarium. The seals were a hoot, and got most of us wet. The other animals ranged from interesting to right out scary looking.

We were able to see Kaylon for about 2 weeks as he came home for leave from Afghanistan. It was great to see him, and Kianna loves to play with Uncle KK. While he was here, Kianna celebrated her 2nd Birthday on September 11th. We had around 15 people at our place to celebrate. Kianna loved her cake & presents, and enjoyed playing with her friends. Trey who is just a few months older than Kianna had a huge knot from falling down and bonking his head, so we had to get a picture of it.

We have some video of both the vacation and Kianna’s birthday, but I haven’t finished editing it yet. As soon as its ready I will post it here. In the mean time, here is a small clip of Kianna rocking out to the Beasite Boys while driving in the car.

Kianna Rockin' Out to the Beastie Boys from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Butterfly Pavilion & Camping with the Family

2009-08-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

Kianna seems to have developed a fond love of bugs and picks up everyone she comes across. We decided to take her to the Butterfly Pavilion to get her fill of creeping and crawling things. She had a blast, and was able to touch most of the insects. In addition to the Butterflies, she also touched a Star-Fish, and Horseshoe Crab.

She almost stepped on this one, but luckily she noticed it in time as it fluttered away. There was also a really neat display that had cocoons from all around the world in all shapes, colors, and sizes. Many of them were emerging from their cocoons as we watched.

In the gift shop they sold all kinds of bug novelty items. My favorite were the Scorpion and Cricket suckers. Yummy. Kianna wanted to get a really good look at the Hissing Cockroaches and kept asking why they were so loud.

The Arachnid room was pretty cool, and Kianna loved looking at all the spiders. They also had a petting area where you could hold Tarantulas. She was below the age limit to do so, but she really wanted to as you can see in the picture below.

We also snapped a few pictures of Kianna in Pig-tails. She's pretty cute.

We decided to take advantage of the nice summer weather and went camping for a few days in the Flattops Wilderness, located about 4 hours West of Denver. We quickly found out that nice weather in the Denver Area, doesn't translate into nice weather in the Mountains at 10,000ft. It was a bit windy, and the nights got pretty chilly, but we still had a great time. Fishing at 6am was especially chilly, but the fish kept biting, so it was worth it.

We did catch and release with all the fish we caught, but one swallowed the hook too deep, so we took it back to camp and cooked it up for lunch. Kianna kept wanting to hold it so we snapped a few pictures of her in the act.

Emma had a hard time because her sleeping bag wasn't especially warm, and she didn't really pack clothes meant for Mountain Camping. After we got back from fishing, the girls wanted to take a nap until it warmed up a bit. I let Emma use my sleeping bag which is rated at 0 Degrees C. She woke up 2 hours later a bit too hot and perspiring. She was exhausted on the drive home, and it made for a good sneak picture.

Enjoy the video.

Kianna's Hair, Bug Bite, Fishing from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Parker Days

2009-07-27T22:26:00.001-07:00

Every July here in Parker, CO there is a fair called Parker Days. It has all the normal things you would find at a fair/carnival and everyone seems to have a great time. Kianna tried to enjoy some of the rides, while Mom and Dad ate a bunch of yummy, but extremely unhealthy food. Kianna knows that Grandpa will always give her sweets as long as she asks in a cute manner.

Kianna played on the playground with the other kids and decided that she really wanted to play with the steering wheel attached to the playground equipment. She also had fun waving the flag for everyone to see. The picture in the middle is of a cool Bonsai tree that I got from one of the many booths at Parker Days.

The rides were a lot of fun. For the most part Kianna really enjoyed herself. But there was one ride that she really didn't' t like as you can see in the video at the bottom of this post.

We really did think she would like the all the rides, but there was one in particular she didn't care for.

Parker Days - 2009 from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

High Adventure 2009

2009-07-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

I was able to go on the High Adventure this year again with the Scouts, and it was great. This year we went to the Flattops Wilderness about 4 hours NW of Denver. We camped near the shore of Ram's Horn Lake.

It was nice to get away from the office for a week and be able to enjoy the great outdoors. We did a lot of relaxing, eating, shooting, fishing, swimming, and even had a raft building contest and raced them across the lake. The raft built by the adults was pretty impressive, and we quickly pulled away from the scouts.

But on the way back, they cut us off and decided that since they couldn't beat us, they would try to sink us. At that point I stripped down to my undines, and jumped in to help the adults and save our precious raft. I succeeded in untying the logs from the scouts raft and forced them to surrender. They agreed and we all swam back to the start line together on the adults raft.

As I mentioned before, we did some fishing as well. The lake we camped at was pretty bad fishing, so on the last morning before heading home, I got up early with one of the other adult leaders and we hiked to a different lake. Fishing was much better there and I walked away with 3 Cutthroat Trout. We all ate them for lunch. It was a good week.

April showers bring May flowers.... and June Tornadoes

2009-06-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

The weekend started out pretty good. We found out that our second baby is going to be a boy, and are very excited about that. Things changed quickly when we had a run in with a Tornado while at an outdoor mall and things went downhill from there. No one was injured, but both of our vehicles were in the parking lot when the tornado hit and had multiple windows blown out. We took shelter in a TJ Maxx. Everything was really loud and at one point the funnel could ripped the big HVAC units off of the roof and ruptured a gas line. Tornado outside, gas leak inside... great. The funnel could was on the ground for over 30 minutes, but we made it out injury free, although a bit shaken up.

Here are some pictures of the damage caused to our vehicles. Here you see the vehicles right after the funnel could passed through, and our ghetto clear plastic / duct tape job that will be on our vehicles until the insurance adjuster pays us a visit.

Here are some pictures of the tornado and a ball of hail I found in my car after I drove it home. It was still that big 30 minutes after the tornado had passed by. You can imagine what this did to the hood's of our cars.

This video taken with my cell phone shows some of the havoc that ensued before, during, and after the tornado. I was able to see debris and paper circling in the parking lot during the funnel cloud's formation, but unfortunately you can't really see it on the video. All you can make out is how windy it is. At one point I was trying to shut the front doors to stop stuff from flying in at high speeds, but the wind kicked up and tore the door from my hands throwing it into the parking lot, sending glass everywhere. At that point I decided it was time to join Laura and Kianna in the back of the store huddled under a table.

Tornado - June 2009 from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

It was a crazy weekend, but we got through it and are moving forward. For those of you that just visit the blog to see more of Kianna, I have a picture just for you.

Kittens !!

2009-05-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

We were able to go over to Grandpa & Grandma Ross' to show Kianna the new Kittens that Grandma picked up this week. She was pretty excited, and I was able to capture a bit of the action on my phone. It was night time and in the basement so the lighting was poor, and the video looks really grainy, but you can still see what needs to be seen.

Kianna Playing with Kittens from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

She was a little bit too rough with the kittens, and was holding them really tight, but she is learning fast, and doing well with them. We will get more pictures and maybe some video of Kianna this weekend. Here are a few more pictures of Kianna loving the kittens.

Mother's Day & Zane's Birthday

2009-05-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

We would like to start this post off by saying HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !!

Kianna has been enjoying making some videos to help us celebrate Mother's Day, and she even let us dress her up in a cute outfit and take some pictures for the occasion. Here are the pictures, and the video can be found at the bottom of this post.

In addition to Mother's Day we also celebrated my Birthday this week. We had a good time, ate some good food, and went to a Rockies game with our friends Tim & Robin to celebrate.

Here is the video.

Mother's Day 2009 from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Easter 2009

2009-04-12T12:47:00.001-07:00

We started off this Easter Morning with an Easter Egg Hunt for Kianna. There is a video below and here are some pictures of her baskets and the cool Star Wars themed Easter Eggs we made.

The cow was from yesterday. We were out shopping and running errands, when Kianna noticed the Cow dancing on the sidewalk. She kept yelling; "Moooo!" so I took her over to check out this dancing Cow. Turns out it was to draw attention to a new ice cream store called Maggie Moos. Its similar to ColdStone where they mix flavors and extras into the ice cream, but it tastes much better since they make the ice cream on location in the back of the store. We have found our new favorite ice cream shop, and hopefully the dancing cow will always be there to entertain Kianna.

Laura got another outfit for Kianna to wear to Church today for Easter Sunday. She even painted Kianna's nails for the special occasion.

Here is a video of Kianna's Easter Egg Hunt, as well as some random clips of her goofing around with her Mom. Thanks for visiting.

Easter 2009 from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Baby # 2 Is On Its Way!

2009-04-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

We had our first baby doctor visit yesterday, and Laura is actually farther along than we had suspected. The baby is 11-12 weeks along, and the due date is October 23, 2009. The initial ultrasound didn't have the option for video, but the one at 20 weeks should, so we will be sure to post the video when that time comes around. We added a "Baby Tracker" to the side bar, and here is a picture of the ultrasound.

Since it is now Spring Time, Laura and Kianna went shopping for some new spring clothes. Here are various pictures of Kianna in a few of her new outfits.

We will post some video of Kianna soon, so keep checking back.

March 24, 2009

2009-03-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

We have been kind of slacking lately in the picture and video department. Kianna and her Mom have been enjoying the Spring weather (its been in the high 70's lately) and have made many excursions to the park these last few weeks. Unfortunately we haven't been taking any pictures or video at the park, but we hope to have some more exciting stuff to post in the near future. For now a few pictures and a short video will have to do.

Here is a picture of Kianna enjoying a leftover Valentine’s Day cookie that her Mom made her. Cookie is now one of Kianna’s favorite words.

Here is a collage of pictures. One is of Kianna in a Sunday dress with a bow in her hair. The others are of a recent family outing to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant where they prepare the food in front of you. It was very entertaining, there were lots of flames, and the food was really good.

While Kianna and her Mom were visiting her family in Washington, they were able to capture a short video on a point & shoot camera. The video was then put into slow motion and sent to me. I cleaned it up a bit, and thought that it would be appropriate to post on our blog for a good laugh.

Kianna - Animal Sounds in Slow Mo from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Thanks for visiting.

She Can Fly!

2009-03-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

Laura and Kianna are in Seattle for 2 weeks visiting Laura's family. Since they are away, I don't have any pictures to post, but I do have some video that Laura has been capturing off and on for the last month or so. Enjoy.

Kianna - Flying and Eating Snow from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Thanks for watching.

Expo Weekend

2009-02-12T14:37:00.000-08:00

Two weekends ago we were able to attend 2 different Expos. But to start you off, here is a totally unrelated video of Kianna eating breadsticks. The video was taken with my cell phone, so don’t expect much.

On Friday we went to the International Sportsman's Show that was here in Denver. Kianna pointed to every Deer and Elk mount she saw and said "Mooo". Anything larger than a dog that walks on 4 legs was a cow to her. She now knows the difference and can name and make the sounds for most farm animals, but at the time, "Mooo" was all we got. We tried to get a picture of a Golden Eagle sitting behind Kianna and her mom, but that bird was just too big for Kianna to turn her back to it.

On Saturday we went to the National Western Stock Show here in Denver. We found out that Kianna REALLY likes Cotton Candy. We enjoyed the Rodeo, but Kianna had much more fun petting all the animals. Here she can be seen petting a Rabbit and a Mule. She did really well around all the different animals, but when she walked by a big Tom Turkey and it gobbled at her, she quickly ran away.

Kianna loves to brush her teeth, and when we get done helping her do it, we say "Show us your teeth" and she bears them for the world to see. Now when she smiles for pictures, she likes to also show us her teeth, as can be seen in various instances below.

A New Year

2009-01-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the New Year we decided to go the the Denver Zoo Lights. It was really fun for Kianna. The number of lights they used was mind blowing, and Kianna especially liked the moving lights they had set up. She was excited to see the different animals at the zoo, and at times would bark at them like a dog to try and get their attention.

Laura loves to take pictures of Kianna whenever she gets a new outfit. Here is one of those outfits, and a cute smile to go along with it. You will also see kianna in her pajamas and a hat we got her for cold days.

We were pleased to find out that Kianna really likes to play in the snow. She loves to eat ice, and as soon as she had it in her hand, the snow was going into her mouth. We made sure she would be nice and warm in her snow suite, and gave her time to explore the winter wonderland behind our apartment. She's so cute.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-29T08:34:00.000-08:00

We had a very Merry Christmas this year despite the fact that Kianna and Laura go sick with a stomach bug on Christmas day! She played a lot and was so worn out one day that she just crashed on the floor. The other picture is of her sleeping with her singing/dancing Reindeer. Sometimes she will sit in bed with that thing for half an hour just pressing the button over and over again that makes it sing and dance to “Santa Clause is Coming to Town”.

Here are some pictures of Kianna in her Christmas dress sitting on Santa’s lap. She was OK at first, but I guess he was a bit too scary for her.

Here is the rest of the family all in our Christmas outfits, and another picture of Kianna in her cute Christmas dress.

Kianna was sick of being in her car seat, so to help pass the time here Mom decided to decorate Kianna’s face with Christmas stickers. Just like all the rest of the Ross family, Kianna is a huge fan of Rootbeer Floats. Here she is sharing one with her Uncle Ren.

Here is a family picture taken on Christmas Eve. And here you can see Christmas morning at the home of Grandma and Grandpa Ross.

Here is a video showing various Clips of Kianna and the rest of the family enjoying our time together.

Christmas with Kianna - 2008 from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

'Tis The Season

2008-12-29T07:23:00.000-08:00

Kianna loves playing with her toys, and some of her favorite toys are the various sized bouncing balls in her room. They range from grapefruit sized all the way to the big fitness balls that bounce really high. Whenever we walk into the Super Target buy our home, Kianna screems out "Ball, ball, ball" at the sight of the large cement red shperes lining the front entery. And she loves to climb around on them as can be seen below.

We were over at the grandparents house, and Kianna found some of Grandpa Kirby's old glasses that he wore back in the late 70's / early 80's era.

We have all been enjoying the Christmas season, and as an added bonus we have been able to have the entire family here this year. Kaylon is home for 2 weeks before shipping off to Afghanistan, and for fun, we all went shooting on Saturday. It was kind of chilly outside, but we still had a lot of fun. Our Uncle Steve made a makeshift shooting bench, but Kaylon and Ren used other methods to stabilize their shots.

After zeroing in our scopes we were easily nailing clay pigeons at over 100 yards. If you enlarge the picture below, you can see the little orange clay pigeons we were shooting at.

How We Spent our Thanksgiving

2008-12-07T15:42:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Solvang, CA to visit Laura's Brother, and spent time with her family which came down from Seattle. Kianna actually did pretty well on the plane, and we all had a good time. As you can see below, although she doesn't have very much, she does have some hair.

Kianna was mezmorized while watching a movie on my notebook on the left, and to the right, she is grinning for the camera, with her pants around her shoulders.

While in Solvang I caught a lizard outside and decided to show it to Kianna. Below you can see her reaction.
She really wanted to touch and play with the lizard. We tried to let her hold it, but she was a bit to rough, and we were afraid she would squish it, so we took it away.

Kianna enjoing "Tubby Time" along with her friends Trey and Ava. She likes to sit inside anything she can fit into. Wheather its a suitcase or a tub like the one below, she is happy inside it.

Here is Kianna all ready to go to Church, and a few minutes later she started to get all "pouty faced", because we wouldn't let her pull the bow out of her hair.

Happy Halloween (Almost)

2008-10-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Halloween a bit early this year at our Church's Halloween Party. There was food, games, and the kid's favorite; Trunk-Or-Treat. Kianna went as a little Lamb and was soo cute. Here are some pictures of her having fun at the party.

These are some of the various Trunks where the kids would stop by and fill their bags.

Here is a video of her running around in her Lamb costume and a clip of her getting dizzy with her Mom.

Halloween 2008 from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Kianna had a hard time today getting ready to go to Church. These pictures were taken literally as we were trying to walk out the door. We tried giving her animal crackers to calm her down (which usually works well), but the tears continued to stream. She really needed a nap.

Here is a video that we took of her while she was supposed to be sleeping.

Kianna - Bed Time & Eating Ice from Zane Ross on Vimeo.

Fall in Colorado

2008-10-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

Fall is here and we are enjoying the change in scenery and weather. We wanted to drive up to the mountains and get some great pictures of the fall colors, but the weather did not agree last weekend, so we missed out. Aside from last Saturday the weather has been great, staying around the mid 70s. But Laura says she is still partial to Washington's fall season.

Kianna, Papa Kirby (Papa is how Kianna says Grandpa), and I had some fun in the parking lot of California Pizza Kitchen. She seems to be a bit of a thrill seeker, which worries her mom. Click on the picture at the bottom of these three to see her big smile while flying through the air.

Laura and Cherish went to the park, and Laura helped Cherish out by taking pictures of her for her new CD cover. Here are a few of them, plus some pictures of them both holding Kianna. (Isn't Laura Hot!!)

Kianna took the time to investigate some of the leaves that have begun to fall to the ground.

Kianna's First Birthday

2008-09-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

Kianna's Birthday was on September 11th, and we threw her a little party at her Grandparent's house. The was cake, presents, and a bit of dancing. Everyone had a lot of fun.

Here were her cakes and presents. She destroyed the little one as you will see in the video at the end of this posting. She really liked the cake.

Here is a video summary of the fun we all had celebrating her 1st Birthday.
For a better quality and larger version of this video go to:
http://vimeo.com/2011541

August Was a Busy Month

2008-09-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

We are finally starting to get settled into our new place. We had some friends come over with their twins, who are only 2.5 months older than Kianna. They have fun playing together.

We flew up to the Seattle, WA area in the middle of August for the Mounts Family Reunion. We also had the chance to take a lot of family pictures, and we would like to share them with everyone visiting the blog. First off; Zane, Laura, & Kianna.

Kianna & her cousin Elizabeth, and then the two of them being held by their aunt Mia.

The Girls, and The Boys.

And now the whole family.

And now for everyone's enjoyment, a 4min video of Kianna attempting to walk, while showing off her limited vocabulary.

Time to Play Catch-Up

2008-09-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lengthy amount of time that has passed since we last updated the blog. August was a crazy month for us. Between all the camp outs, vacations, family reunions, moving into our new place, and me starting a new job in Commercial Finance, we haven't had much time to mess with the blog.

But, everything has now settled down a bit, and we will be keeping it up to date more frequently from here on out.

I had a great time taking 15 young men up into the mountains for a week. Here are some various pictures from the camp out including our main eating area, some shelters we built that the boys slept in, as well as a damn that I taught the boys how to build for the Pioneering merit badge.

In August we also went back up to visit some friends in Idaho, and to attend a wedding in Rexburg. Kianna found a new friend in Daisy. Here is a pic of them together.

Kianna also got kind of goofy one night and started acting like a little Indian.

Hiking with the Bros

2008-07-09T15:17:00.000-07:00

Ren and Kaylon are both home from Iraq now, and were here for the 4th. Here are some pictures of them with or holding Kianna.

Over the 4th weekend my brothers and I decided to go for a hike near Pagosa Springs, CO. I am taking 15 youth boys into the mountains this week for 5 days, but I had yet to find the perfect camping site for them. With the help of some family that live in the area, I was able to locate a place that will be perfect. But seeing it on a Topo Map and being there in person are very different. So we took off for a day of hiking and got some really good pictures along the way.

Ren is the little brown spec amongst the tall Aspen forest.

The three of us near the lake that we will be camping at. The lake is unnamed on all the maps, so we have decided to call it "Ross Lake". What a perfect camping location. The water is even clean enough to drink right out of the stream. I decided to test it and drank 1 liter of water right form the stream coming out of the lake. I didn't get sick, so I'm claiming its Giardia free!

If you click on the picture to see it bigger, you can see Kaylon dangling off the edge of a cliff overlooking a beautiful valley near Pagosa Springs.

Happy Birthday America!!!

2008-07-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July weekend, we went down to Durango, CO for a family get together. It was fun to see everyone, and to let Kianna mingle with her 1st & 2nd cousins.

Things started off with a Parade with all the grand and great-grand kids to celebrate Independence Day. Kianna had a princess outfit on and looked very cute. Here are some pictures of the parade and her mom pushing her around in a little Pink Plastic Car. Kianna even decided to pose for the camera at one point.

She had a chance to ride around on a pony, with Daddy's help of course. As you can see from one one the pictures, she was really excited to take hold of the steering wheel on a golf cart.

Kianna Gets Her Crawl On

2008-05-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Kianna has been scooting around backwards for over a month now, but now she is officially crawling forward. Its still kind of wobbly, but its a crawl nonetheless.

May 18, 2008

2008-05-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Kianna and her Mom. It wasn't planned, but they seem to have matching pants.

Kianna had a hard time sitting still, but the pretty toe nails were worth it. She also really likes her new Gummy sandals from Baby GAP.
Kianna in her pajamas getting ready to go to bed. But first she needs a goodnight kiss from her Dad.

More Pics of Kianna

2008-05-11T19:46:00.001-07:00

More pictures of the World's Cutest 8 month old.

Just looking so cute, and playing the piano with her Uncle KK who was on leave from the Army this last week.

Daddy holding Kianna with a really messy face after eating, and a picture of her tooth sticking out. The picture is about a week old and she now has two (2) teeth protruding from her bottom gum.

She looked so adorable after she fell asleep in her swing pulling her toy into her cest. And for some reason, she likes to sleep with her butt up in the air. Now I call her my little "Stink Bug."

Her is a video of her scrunching up her face in frustration.

Zane's Advanced Combustion Spud Gun

2008-05-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

I work with the 14 & 15 year olds in our Church's Boy Scouts program. They had heard rumors of some of the stuff I used to do in high school, and they wanted to experience some of the fun I had. Among the many "fun" and usually dangerous things I did was build Spud Guns (also known as Potato Cannons). I instructed them on how to build their own basic combustion cannons, and they had a blast (literally) doing it.

I also built one to get them excited. Mine is much more complicated compared to the basic combustion cannons that they built, but I wanted to create a more advanced combustion cannon than I have ever built in the past. So here it is. There are various pictures and even a video of me shooting it off at the end. Click on the pics to make them bigger. Enjoy.

The cannon was constructed of ABS SCH40 pipe. It has a metered propane injection system to accurately allow me to get just the right amount of propellant into the chamber.

I built a circuit that allows a fan to blow inside the chamber and circulate the fuel/air mixture. The ignition system consists of a electronic grill ignitor and a dual spark gap inside the chamber.

My brother Kaylon shooting the Spud Gun from the hip.

Here is a video of me firing the cannon. Its a bit small and hard to track the spud flying through the air, but were estimate my cannon was firing the potatoes 300-400 yards.