I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Tori was baptized yesterday at Banana Bay in St. Kitts. She wanted to be baptized in the Caribbean sea and this is also a favorite spot of our family to come and snorkel.

This is looking from the water to the cove

Grandpa took this picture when we got there. As you can see the sun was getting ready to set and luckily the winds died down some.

Dad and Tori are all ready. They just had to take off their flip flops.
The Burt Family, a final picture of all of us together in St. Kitts
It's a Tori sandwich!

Grandma and Grandpa travelled nearly 4000 miles to come and support Tori in her choice to be baptized.
Many branch members also came to show their love and support. Thank you to all of you for making the drive and sacrifice to come.

Getting in place. This is the one and ONLY time we were lucky enough to see Pres. Benjamin in the water. Let's just say the water is not his favorite place to be, but as he said to Tori, he will do anything for her!

The newest member of the St. Kitts Branch! She truly is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

We are pleased with her choice to be baptized and hope it will be a day she will always remember. A big thank you to everyone who made it so special for her!

Tilapia Farm

For the last week of summer camp we went on a trip to the tilapia farm. This isn't just any fish farm though. If you know anything about Tilapia it's a fresh water fish. The people here are doing research to try and make them grow in salt water (since there is an abundance here of that). The fish start out in fresh water when born and breed, then they gradually introduce them to salt water. They are doing good so far with the research. At first glance the place looked like a junk yard, but then when they start in tell you about the process it's fascinating. Everything they use for the farm is recycled. They collect items from the local dump or donations of items have been made.

Tori's Birthday Fun!

Tori got to celebrate her birthday twice. She decided she didn't want a big party with all her friends from school. She only wanted the Allred's, Benjamin's and Kitsmiller's to help her celebrate. Beth and Adrian were nice enough to let us sneak into the Marriott and have an afternoon of fun in the pool.






Beth stayed up until the wee hours of the night to make this sandcastle cake for Tori. It was super cute! Thank you Beth!



On Sunday for her actual birthday, Tori wanted to invite her teacher from school for the past 2 years since Jeanette and Jeremy are done here and will be going home next week. She also wanted our good friend Jill over for dinner. Her cake wasn't as fancy but Tori had a good time dishing it up for everyone.

Happy Birthday Tori

It's hard to believe that 8 years ago I was telling the Dr. that I was not going to be pregnant or in the hospital with a new baby for my birthday. So Tori came into the world 4 days before "my day". The years have flown by and it has been such a joy to watch Tori grow and learn new things.

Basketball Champs!

Friday night, Windsor (one of the medical schools on the island) challenged Ross to a basketball game. The Ross boys (or all they all thinking they are 'old men' after that game?) walked away victorious with a score of 68-62. The game was close and tied up in the final seconds but Ross pulled ahead and showed Windsor who was the boss!
Proof that old, white man can still jump! Look at that #13 get air :) WooHoo!!
Please excuse the blurry picture. Remember I'm working with an injured camera so there is no previewing pictures during the action :(

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Desperate for the beach

As promised a few days ago, here are the pictures from our Tuesday outing at the beach. You know your desperate when you go the level we did to get there!


We had planned to go out snorkeling on Tues. but the Allred's car was in the shop and Chad had ours at school. So to not disappoint anyone Jaimie took all 10 of us in her car! We were laughing the whole time about how we looked like a clown car.












We just kept pulling stuff out of the car...it seemed to never end!





















The kids and Adrian had a fun time jumping from the dock!











































Jordan enjoyed being the oldest and took the duty of Damon watch