Chancee's Chicken Ranch

Early in the morning the sun was all ablaze and Chance headed out to take care of the chickens.

A gorgeous sunrise in Wayne County.

I love how the chickens gather in the window to gossip and soak in the sun.

One morning as we sat around the Breakfast table we discussed the way in which Chancee's mind works. You need to know that the chickens are the full responsibility of this five year old and by the time breakfast was over we were giggling at the thought of this poem that emerged with in minutes of our conversation.

My Chicken Ranch

My Dad bought me some chickens; he got ‘em when they were young.
They’d sit there in my little hand and peck me on my thumb.
And then they all got bigger and do you know what they did?
Well, they started laying eggs for this chicken growing kid.

So, I decided it was time to brand my chicken brood.
I wasn’t sure if they’d let me or even act to good.
It wouldn’t hurt to try it, though I wasn’t sure just how.
But, I had watched my daddy when he’d branded our ol’ cow.

So I grabbed a chicken, took the stick that I’d got hot.
And I surely tried my best, but to brand it, I could not.
I’d never heard a chicken make that awful screeching sound
She began pecking and scratching, I dropped her to the ground

And as I turned my chicken loose, her tail was in a flame!
That smell of burning feathers told me this was not a game!
That chicken ran squawking to the haystack so’s she could hide.
I really love cooked chicken but them cows don’t eat hay fried.

I panicked, and I started yelling with a scratchy voice

‘Cause Chickens don’t speak human, so’s I really had no choice.
And though I squawked and bellered like a chicken probably would
That chicken kept on hiding and things just weren’t looking good.

The smoke was getting thicker and I headed for the hose
I cranked it so hard that the water hit me in the nose.
Flustered and quite anxious I really tried as best I could
To catch that dancing hose, but that durn hose misunderstood.

But then finally, by some pure luck, I caught that flying snake
And thanked my lucky stars that I had got a little break.
That’s when I turned to see red flames a coming from the stack
And I started in spraying and a praying in my track.

The flames they started dying and I took a long deep breath
When all the sudden something nearly scared me clear to death.
That chicken flew straight at me with some smoke still on her tail
Like a real hungry coyote on a frightened rabbits trail.

I don’t know how she done it but I landed on my back
And I opened up my eyes ‘neath that smoking old haystack
Standing right there above me and looking not too happy
Was a man I know quite well, there stood my good ol pappy.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?” came the words out of his mouth.
All I felt like doing was getting up and running south.
“I’m just trying to brand my chickens, so’s people know they’re mine.”
“I want to be like you dad!” and I nearly started cry’n.

I described my situation I could see the rage die
Luckily the fire was out in the haystack and dad’s eye.
We cleaned up from the mess I’d made it weren’t and easy chore,
Because I’d burned up three whole bales and I’d singed many more.

And as we turned to head inside, I brightened at a thought
“Dad,” says I, “I’m thinking with all these chickens that I got
If may be sometime really soon or even clear next year
Instead of branding all my hens, let’s mark ‘em on the ear.”

©Cathy Brian 2010

I love Christmas!!

Christmas eve after the festivities at Grandmas house and seeing Rudolph come and peek in her window, as usual, with glowing red nose and all. We hurried home to open our Christmas eve presents- New PJ's for everyone. I didn't have my camera with me at Grandma's ;( and Chance fell asleep on the couch before I finally found it and started taking pictures.

And then Christmas morning came dark and early

Oaklee wasn't sure she was even happy about the whole situation. She'd been sick since Tuesday and this was the first Morning she hadn't woke up with a temperature.

Waiting at the door of Moms room for Dad to turn on the Christmas tree. and Oaklee on her new Pink Bike.

The most exciting present of all, both for the giver and the receiver. Aubree had asked for a toy dog that cost a lot. She'd been asking all year for a real dog until I finally told her if she wanted one she could save her money up until she could buy one. She had 70.00 dollars saved and it didn't even occure to her to ask Santa for a real dog. Santa didn't bring her one though. Dad did. He had Braden run outside by the hay stack and get the dog, when the dog was on the front porch it started whining so Caib and I started talking really loud as Dad had Aubree open up a small package with a dog collar in it. At the appropriate time Caib and I quit talking but the puppy was silent we all laughed and Aubree stood there with a confused look until Braden opened the door and the puppy came running in. It was fun!!

She also got a bb gun which she did ask Santa for.

Caib with his new gloves and fencing tool.

Braden a new belt buckle and some ammo







And then there's Chance, He's quite a kid! He's been telling everyone that when he grows up he's going to be a Paleontologist. So Santa brought him a rock with dinosaur bones in it. He'd been digging away for hours and then a couple of days before I got tired of the little gravel scattered all over the table and floor.

I finally cleaned up the mess and put the rock and bones in the cupboard for a few days. Oh, but we had a GREAT Christmas. Braden was sick all day and then Sunday he was worse and finally Monday I took him to the clinic and he was diagnosed with strep. UGGH!!! Chance and Aubree came down with it that Monday and Caib woke up this morning with a Major sore throat. sigh. Hopefully we'll all be better for the New Year holiday and the rest of the winter months.

Santa Claus

We must be the luckiest people around here in our tiny, little town. I know there are a lot of impostor Santa Claus's out there but, not ours. Ours is the real life, dyed in the wool, true blue through and through Santa. It all begins with a notice in the paper letting us know that Santa will be coming for a visit to the fire house. He parks his sleigh out of town and meets the fire truck. One of the firemen picks him up and brings him into town with sirens blaring. They circle the town so that all the kids know that Santa is here and the kids rush down to the fire house to wait for Santa.

Here He is!!!

The kids are so excited that as soon as the fire truck is parked they Run to Santa. Santa steps out of the fire truck with wide open arms and his hearty HO HO HO!!
These kids know that this is the real Santa. They can feel it.
He visits for a minute while the fireman sets up a chair for Santa to sit in and then..
Santa leads them in a song of Rudolph The Red nose Reindeer


In our family Oaklee was first We got a quick cheese, she squeaked out that she wanted a pink bike ,and jumped down to get her treat from Santa.




Chance was next. Santa reminded the kids that Santa may not be able to bring exactly what they want but he'll do his best. He asked Chance if he would do him a favor on Christmas eve. Santa then proceeded to tell Chance that Rudolph and the other reindeer get a little tired while flying all around the world and he asked Chance if he would be willing to leave a little piece of celery or a carrot out for Rudolph. Chance was of course more then willing to do that for Santa.



And Aubree was the last one in our family to sit on Santa's lap. She asked for the
things she wanted most and grabbed her treat and we headed home even more excited then ever for Christmas!! It was so fun to see Such a neat person who loves kids and is the perfect example of caring and giving. Yep, we are the luckiest little town in the world!!

Antics of Oaklee

OK, I have a question. Do you have to be a boy to be a daddy's girl? Seriously.

We have the pleasure of spending an extra one to two hours a night with the little est daughter She is definitely a night person. She's so pleasant and happy at night but a bear in the morning. So... last night we'd gotten all the kids to bed except the little one and we sat down to watch the only show we ever watch on TV, The Mentalist, Dad was feeling lucky because he was getting Oaklee to let him hold her and snuggle her(That's not gonna happen in the mornings) I was enjoying the fact that I could actually follow the story line of the show with out being interrupted by the little ones when dad went and screwed everything up. He was holding Oaklee and playing with her and taking her to the new kitchen to eat crackers and cheese with him when he made his little mistake. He grabbed Oaklee in a big bear hug and said something like this: "Mom, This is my little Daddy's girl" uh oh! You could see the stiffening and the stubbornness emerge from the tip of her head to her little toes..

"I not a Daddy's girl!!! I not a boy"

HUH? was the almost audible expression on my face.

"Yes", says Roger she keeps telling me that, watch"

He turns back to Oaklee and says, "come here Daddy's girl"

Whoa, for the frost mingled with determination that flew from her eyes.

"NO, I NOT A BOY" she says, as firmly as she can.

So, the question: Do you have to be a boy to be a daddy's girl?

I'm pretty sure that's what's going through her little mind.

Chancee's Chatterings and Antics of Oaklee

Amidst the excitement of Christmas life still moves on. We've had some fun memories made and not just with putting in the tree, although that is always a fun memory. This year Braden wanted to put the silver garland on the tree. We haven't put it on for a few years. In the past Dad has always done the lights and garland because no one else was tall enough. This year Dad put on the lights but handed the garland to Braden to put on. He did a great job of putting the garland on but dad did step in at the last minute to help. This year there was quite a bit of snow on the mountain so we couldn't get very high up to give ourselves a better choice of tree's but, I don't care. I love every tree we get. The memories are made no matter what shape the tree is.

One year we got a Christmas train from Uncle Bart and Aunt Mindi. The kids LOVE it. It plays beautiful Christmas music over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over....and I love that even that is a good memory.

As we walked home from church today in the cold weather, Chance as usual, was in front and behind and here and there and as he walked up ahead at one point we could tell he was intrigued by something at the side of the road. As we got closer he looked up at me and said, "Mom, Look at that ant hill, all those ants must be at Church." Sure enough no ants were out. "Well, I guess so." says I. Chance stood there for a minute and then kind of chuckled as he said almost to himself, "Hm that's funny ants going to church." and he turned and took off for home. Caib, looked over at me laughed and said, "Chancee's Chattering!" "Yep!"

Antics of Oaklee: Dad was home from church for Sunday dinner and a few minutes of rest before he had to go back up to church and while he was home Oaklee brought him one of Chancee's swords and said, "Here Dad, let's fight."

She kept one for herself and they began to fence. They were having a great time until Dad reached down with his sword and flicked Oaklee's hair up. "Hey", says Oaklee, "Don't do that."

Not able to resist Dad once again reaches down with his sword and flicks the other side of her hair up. "Don't mess my hair" says Oaklee as she drops her sword and runs for the bathroom. She was back in a flash with her hairbrush and brushed her hair for a minute, set the brush on the table said, "There." and picked up her sword and began fighting again. Once again not able to resist Dad reaches in and flips her hair with the sword. Oh the disgust, "Dad!, STOP! DON"T mess my hair." again the sword goes down and up comes the brush.

Who says girls are the same as boys? I believe you are sadly mistaken!!

Chancee's Chatterings

Church is a trial for Chance It's "SOOO LOOOOONG!!!" and it's soooo hard for him to sit still. But he's learning.

A couple of weeks ago his primary teachers were not at church. That's a hard thing for a five year old, to walk into singing time and see that his regular teacher is not there. But He made it through singing time, after coming up front to me a bazillion times to give me a kiss and whisper I love yous into my ear.

All was going well as he headed off to class. There was a new kid in his class named Chance, too. His substitute teacher is the first councilor in the bishopric. After church this normally somber serious man was giggling quite a bit as he found Roger and told him of his experience teaching the 4-5 year old primary kids. Aparently their teacher usually has a snack for them. Brother Petty, the substitute, had, more then likely, been asked 2 minutes before singing time to teach this class so of course he didn't have a snack and this didn't go over very well. Towards the end of class, one of the kids abruptly asked him where their snack was. He got just a bit flustered but with a quick recovery he said to the class that today they were going to use their imaginations and pretend that they had a snack to eat. The new kid looked at the teacher and said, "My imagination is to tired"

That's when Chancee piped up, "Mines Not' says Chance, "My imagination has a force field around it, it never get's tired!!"

How true that is!!!

the whole month of November we had a Jedi in training living at our house

Check out this move!!

He must be a full fledged Jedi knight now because today he wore his spiderman suit all day.

Thanks giving and Christmas trees

I meant to blog these two pictures last but I forgot. I just thought they were such cute pictures. After a good nap this little guy wakes up happy and excited that we are out getting Christmas trees. "by, Mom!"

We started off Saturday into the mountains near our home every one was so excited to go get Christmas trees. So much so that the two littlest fell asleep. While Aubree started in complaining that her tummy hurt. We didn't think to much of it because Aubree is prone to car sickness but this was something more. Chance catching a quick nap on our way out. Oaklee was asleep in my lap. When she woke up she started in complaining about a sick tummy, too. SIGH


And they're off, ax in hand.

What, you've found one already?

Oaklee playing a few minutes in the snow before deciding it's to cold and her tummy really does hurt.Be vewwy vewwy quiet, we're hunting Christmas trees!

Hmmm! what strange tracks!!What could they be!Ah HA!! Looks like he's got oneTime for inspection. Each tree they cut and bring back and hold up for Mom to see.

We always get extra trees for the widows in the ward.

So to finish the story, Oaklee and Aubree were both sick for the rest of the day. Chance and Dad were sick all night and Dad still looks like death warmed over. aparently we picked up the flu at Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great Thanksgiving despite the flu and had a good time visiting with family. Thanks to all those that put in extra time to make Thanksgiving fun!!

Kitchen cabinet fronts and Aubree's 3rd grade play

Aubree and three other little cranberries in their Thanks giving play. I love to watch Aubree perform she's so dramatic and she carries all the others through.

you can see the laundry room cabinets In the back room. I still lack the sink and counter tops in there but everything is still functional and I have SOO much cabinet space.

One angle

Same angle. Notice my bar stools that were almost half price so I bought one for each person in the family. Then of course we had to try them out so for Sunday dinner we ate around the Island. It was great and we all had PLENTY of elbow room.

Another angle.

Little by little I'm starting to feel like my house is slowly coming together and it's nicer then anything I imagined. It amazes me. I'm so thankful for the talents of my cabinet maker. He really did an amazing job with what he had to work with. He still needs to put up the crown molding and the handles I will of course blog again when he does. But, If you want to your more then welcome to come down anytime at all and visit It's much nicer in person.

We had our third Sunday get together with the other families in the bishopric and it was amazing that 15 kids and their three mothers didn't seem crowded at all. there is a lot more room in this house. It's so nice.

Living up to Her Name

Sound asleep.

Did we name Oaklee right or is she, simply, living up to her name? Hmmm

Heber City Cowboy Poetry, Chancee's Chatterings

Once again we spent a week end in Heber City at the cowboy poetry gathering there.

This year we had another family from Loa come as well, the Lymans. They have 5 kids also. Nine out of the 10 kids all recited poems. It was a fun year. Yes Oaklee(2) even did a poem this year. Caib wrote a poem three years ago for Chance to do when he was two years old and Oaklee decided 2 days before we went that she needed to work on her poem, too. So every time the kids would run through their poems some one would go through that poem with her. It goes like this:

I wanna herd a cow

But Dad won't show me how.

Because I'm only two,

I don't know what to do.

But I can hoop and Holler

While on my horse I follow.

-Caib Brian-

Yes, she had it memorized and she did an excellent job.

Chancee's chattering

I often feel a little bit of guilt when my kids come home with a spelling test and have only missed one or two words "ARG!!!!" I think, "If only I had taken a few minutes and gone over their words with them they could be getting hundred percents." The guilt only lasts until they come home with a hundred percent on their next pre-test allowing them to not have to take the final test. (brag, brag, brag)

so when I WAS feeling guilt I picked up Aubree's pre test and was reviewing some words with her.

"Naughty" says I

Aubree: "N...A...U...G...H...T...Y."

Chance: " nnnn, N..... augh augh augh, O.....dee dee dee, D, It's a short word, Aubree. N....O...D...

Luckily Aubree didn't have to flaunt her spelling skills and just laughed.

and then.....

Meet our new bird, "Daisy" yes, I know she's blue but 5 out of seven picked the name Daisy so that's HIS name (shhh don't tell it's a him) It took us from Orem to Nephi to finally agree on a name for uh..ahem...her.

None the less, Chance was NOT happy with the name.

"I want an awesome name for him. Daisy isn't an awesome name it's a pretty name, I don't like pretty names."

Oh well, I guess Reggie would have worked, too but we had the final vote and Daisy it is.

Amos likes having a buddy and Daisy seems to like Amos, too. until Amos starts acting a little hyper and then Daisy puts him in his place with a thump on the head and Amos calms down and they snuggle up to each other and "sing" together.

Hunting,Potty Training, Halloween, 'N Counter tops.

Here's the Hunting, Braden got his but Caibs (which was A LOT bigger) got away.

Here's the Potty Training (It's not working very well)

Halloween dinner in a pumpkin

Oaklee trying to decide what to be.

Aubree in her Puppy Costume the elementary always does a parade around the school block and all the parents sit get to come and watch.

Caib? He actually dressed up as Indiana Jones he had a jacket hat whip and gun but he'd taken all that off and put on my costume. I was an ape at the crossing guard.

Oaklee trying out the ape mask

And finally...Saturday night after we all finished trick or treating I got my new counter tops. I really debated posting this because I think the pictures don't show how pretty they really are.

And they REALLY don't show how BIG they are. you're just going to have to come see them to get the whole effect. they really are beautiful.