Merry Christmas

Santa showed up at our house, That jolly old ELF!!

Still, The Christmas Star

“I see it, Mom,” Came a little voice from the back seat of the car.

It was cold and dark as we travelled home, the distance not too far.

“It’s a pattern in the stars, Mom,” He voiced from the back.

“It doesn’t change it’s always there. I’ve watched and I’ve kept track.”

“See, Mom, right above us,” he said, his voice filled with awe!

“I can see the very thing that those three wise men saw.”

“The Christmas star is up there, shining bright to guide our way.

It’s leading us back home mom,” I heard his tender voice say.

Emotion overcame me as I glanced towards his face,

He was staring into heaven. The stars were shining in their place.

How profound my little child, such wisdom for his youth.

Yes the stars in heaven guide us. He knew that simple truth.

It was a guide for those so long ago, and for us, it still can be.

If we follow where it leads, I’m sure heavens where we’ll be.

©Cathy Brian- Dec. 2012

Merry Christmas this year from Roger, Cathy, Braden, Caib, Aubree, Chance, and Oaklee

Chance's Chatterings

Just lost in a world of his own. The weather has been so uncommonly warm!!

I glanced out the window a couple of days ago to see this...Yes the car is hanging from the tree, yes he has on safety goggles and yes he finally decided that he'd try to climb up in it.  Luckily when he did climb up in it it was only a foot off the ground.  It lasted maybe 30 seconds before his not came loose and he fell.  Braden then went out and helped him raise it to this level.  Luckily it hurt him enough falling 12 inches that he didn't try it again....Smart kid!!

And., for the final Chance activities... 

Yesterday I was busy making dinner about, oh say, halfway through Chance comes upstairs and says, "Mom, you gotta come see what I did!!"  

"Give me a minute, Chance." says I

"No, Mom, you gotta come now!" He was literally bouncing with enthusiasm and beaming with pride. "Oh alright"  I say as I wipe my hands on my beautiful, ruffled  home makey apron, NOT"( I was just trying to conjure up images of the perfect mother)

We headed down the stairs.

"Close your eyes , Mom"

I dutifully close my eyes and stumble down the two remaining stairs, into the hallway and around the corner to the door of his room....It's shut Why was I closing my eyes? says a little voice in my head that I don't acknowledge. I open my eyes, Chance opens the door, I stare in amazement at an almost perfectly straight shelf made from materials that Chance has found out in the garage.  I said ALMOST!!  how did you put it up I say as I step in to closely examine his handy work.....He sheepishly points at a bucket of screws and a large power drill that even I find a bit heavy to use....  and...neatly, in a perfect row right there on his beautiful new shelf sat his miniature plastic replicas of dinosaur skulls.  He definitely needed a new shelf in his room.  I've always told people when they raise their eyebrows in questioning wonder at the antics of this particular child that...well..... "He's got a LOT of potential"

It's more the poster that is crooked, really, Not so much the shelf.

My Scandinavian Cook

Chance has been on a recipe Kick........I'm not sure why......but then again......It is Chance I'm blogging about.  He has given me numerous recipes this week right from his own recipe book.  One of them was strawberry cake..It went something like this.... 7 strawberrys
                                                                       cake dough
                                                                        then we put in the oven 25 minits.



another couple I'll share with you that I'm sure you'll enjoy...

I'm not sure what this one is called but he wrote:  Moms make the dough.
                                                                          7 red raisins and fold the dough
                                                                           cook the dough in the microwave for 21 minutes
                                                                           eat and enjoy.

Here's another favorite:  1 bnanu and 3 scoops of ice cream,
                                      14 chockolits.  

here is one for Christmas tree cookies:  Sum peesis of dough
                                                            make the shape of a (christmas tree) he drew a tree

This one is my favorite

I was told it was for pizza but when I read it I was really getting a Scandinavian sound.     the little circle that we "poot" on is a pepperoni.

I was so proud of the kid for spelling Mushroom right, but noticed there was a scribbled out letter and then a P on the edge of the paper. Curiously I asked him what the P was for.
"That's the end of the word mushroomp." he said with a serious...very serious... expression.   "AHHHH!" says I




Oh and here's an apple juice recipe to wash it all down.
4 apples, blend the apples, Dun.

I do believe I should have this book professionally bound for posterity.  Each recipe is illustrated by the chef and quite colorful...

Let me know if you'd like a copy......29.99 each (remember it is beautifully illustrated and hand written by the chef himself)

Halloween parade.

 I hate Halloween and My kids know it.  Thankfully, Braden and Caib don't care for it either, no dressing up for them.  But I try to be a good sport and dress up the little ones and we go to the costume parade.  Here are my few pictures. I know I Know..... I'm a poor sport but.....guess what dinner was last night while Roger and I spent the night out for our anniversary.......,I had planned with Aubree what she could make and left her with the responsibility of dinner.  They had Halloween candy.  I got suspicious when I got home and there were no dirty dishes and the kitchen was spotless......."Hmmm," thinks I, "I'm pretty sure they didn't clean up THAT good."  I was right.  They weren't hungry so they didn't eat dinner.  But 3/4's of their candy was gone.    I'd even made Home made whole wheat bread that day and it was untouched.  See why Mom's are so important and HALLOWEEN is NOT!!!!! ah well it only comes round once a year.  and yes (sheepishly) I loved halloween when I was little.    

That spooky little dracula

Suddenly spread his wings and flew away.

almost last in line Pippi Longstocking holding a fairy princess's hand.  I added this one because it's the only picture that shows her cute socks.

It makes me laugh because the hair fits the personality.  The skirt jumper was thrown together from some old wranglers (Thank heavens there's a need for old Wranglers and the stacks and stacks that I have.=)

Close up.

Grandma trying to keep all the spooks under control. and an excited dad in the background. I'm not sure who he is but I love the excitement radiating from his whole aura. 

volleyball

Well, State Volleyball is done.  we didn't place very high but this was one of those years....a few changes here and there with the coaching and such.  But We played St Josephs first who went on to take second place we beat them two out of the five sets. We are a great team!!!! It was just us not being able to keep our confidence levels up high enough to make it happen.  If my girls new how good they really were.......in other words this year we had a lot of teams packed with seniors and we held our own with our one senior.  Through it all. (The season).

Happy Birthday Chance

Here's a birthday cake for my little marine biologist. 

Tomorrow is his birthday.  We got him a puppy for his birthday.  His dad was feeling bad that he was turning 7 and had never had a puppy of his own.  Well, he does now =) you've never seen a happier kid.

well until he see's his cake that is.  This is the kid that finds GREAT joy in everything!!!! that's what I love so much about him. 

A thousand things to work on!!

I was born to a family who thrilled at the joy of language who thought deeply and contemplated the mysteries of life.  I remember as a child the excitement and joy I felt as my family sat around the dinner table or wood stove or perhaps just stood around in the kitchen while dinner was being prepared and enjoyed the beauty of discussion.  I don't remember ever feeling like what I said was of no value.  I never felt mocked or ridiculed by others. Teased, yes but with the understanding that I had said something worth being teased about, and I learned to laugh at myself.  I'm so grateful to have learned to speak to think and apply the lessons of life to my life.
I have had an amazing experience with the girls volleyball team.  Truthfully, I haven't loved it.  It's been a hard three months, with the understanding that things that are hard help us to learn and grow.  The girls have had a ruff season.  They are an extremely talented bunch of girls with a lot of ability and potential.  The thing that I hadn't anticipated or remembered about high school girls is what has made it difficult for me.  I forgot how emotional and moody high school girls are.  They are at an age where they are developing emotionally. They are trying to learn where they fit in this world.  You have some girls that are reserved and quiet who sink into the background and seem to be the brunt of meanness   You have some that think they are somehow extremely important and have to make all the decisions in life for themselves and all those who want to be considered special enough to have their attention or leadership.  You have some who are tender hearted and full of compassion and love for those around them who aren't really considered part of the "group"  It hurts them but it's not that important.  You have some girls who spend their time brown nosing all the people who seem to be "cool" and never seem to be happy when they get their attention.  You have the girls with immense dreams who deep down know that they aren't quite as good as they would like but nevertheless continue to work hard and dream big.  You have the girls that cover up their hurts and pain with loudness.  Those that cover their pains with pouting.  and on...and on....
So, yes this has been a long and trying three months that I wouldn't trade for anything.  I've remembered how hard it is to grow up.  I've remembered who I was as a teenager. I have tried, perhaps a little to hard, to teach these girls that despite their age and maturity it is possible to work together as a team.  At our last game we were on our third set.  we play up to five sets with the winner winning three of the five.  Our first set we lost 24 to 25 very close and exciting set.  The second set we fell apart and were clobbered I called a time out at one point and had the girls circle up and then told them to turn around they looked at me kind of strangely but did it.  I explained to them that they were coming together as a team but they were doing it with their back to each other.  I asked them if they could see how useless it was to try to solve their problems with out facing each other and really communicating..  The third set we played neck and neck with the opposing team being down most of the game. At one point we were down by two or three so I called a time out.  I asked the girls if winning the game took as simple a thing as talking to each other on the floor and encouraging each other and really coming together why wouldn't they do it.  when the score was 25 to 25 the girls refused to quit and began fighting as a team.  They wanted to win...BAD.  because you have to win by two points we had a rally that went back and forth for probably 30 minutes...or so it seemed... the final score ended up being 35 to 33 (I think) with us loosing.  Not a bad thing.  I was so excited to see these girls finally look each other in the face and seem to figure out how to pull together and let go of all the inequality amongst them and start to play together.  It was, simply said, beautiful.
We now face Region on Friday and Possibly state the next weekend.  I hope and, yes, pray that these girls will be able to remember what they learned and apply it in these last games of the season.  It has been a long and difficult season, with a lot of learning involved.  I just hope that the girls know that it has all been worth it.   I hope I can remember all the lessons I've learned  and be able to do as I learned in my youth and apply these lessons to my life and use them as I continue to raise my children.

My Girls

the rest of the doors done....sort of.

three of the four doors that I've painted 

and the fourth door at the end of the island.

                          All I have left to paint are the outside doors.. yay!!!!   oh and some windowsills.   = )

General Conference

Aubree turned 10 this year and so we are headed up to the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference. Somehow we started a tradition of going each time one of the kids turn 8 we finally are going even though we're a couple of years late.  It's a fun experience.  This year Chance and Oaklee are going with us even though they can't go in with us.  Jan graciously, said that she would be willing to take them to temple square and watch them for us during the session.  Those two little ones can hardly contain their excitement they are just sure that this is the best "family b'cation" ever!!!  funny, cause I think it's because Jan's going.  So thanks Jan!

a hard decision

Yeah, It's been over two years since our remodel and I haven't painted the doors in my kitchen.  this is what they have all looked like.  I decided today that I was going to choose a color and paint the doors.

This of course dose not show the true color but....I think I like it.  It's not to bold but it isn't just plain white either.  

There what do you think?  Should I have gone red or less brown.  I also have to remember that these doors are open most of the time, except my pantry door. I actually kinda wanted something bold and colorful but with five doors it would be a bit much.

Chancee's chatterings and a few more pictures

                                                   

                                                                        Trying to decide if I should cancel the school pictures packet and just go with what I've got.  

This one is the one Chance picked of himself.  So  I guess it'll do.  I love this kid.

  

I finally decided to go with this one as the one that hangs on my wall all year.  I love Oaklees Cheese smile.                                      

So if you look close at this one you may get Chancee's little chattering.  We were sitting at the computer looking at pictures.  This one was my favorite.  Chance stared at it for a minute and then said. "HMMM, Look at that you can see both my brains."  WELL, no wonder the kids so smart.  Who knew he had two brains?

After the last picture I thought I'd post these

A Good friend of mine decided to help me save some money on pictures this year and took these of Oaklee    

while she was tending for me.

 I've always thought Oaklee had an extremely pretty smile.  I don't know maybe I'm biased

 Pretty little close up

 Except for this one which I took  So which picture do YOU like the best.I'm having a really hard time picking just one!!

Perfect portrayal of her personality

Fall ride on the mountain

I think this is a beautiful time of year we had a rare opportunity to go on a Sunday drive and we went.

 Our first stop was a pretty view of the desert and the Henry mountains My camera just dosen't capture the real beauty.

 Seeing as how Grandma was with us and my camera I tried to get a good family picture.  this was the best out of the three.   SIGH Caib never really does like to pose for the camera.  

  We stopped at a pretty little lake called Snow Lake

 Of course Braden took on the roll of irritating and teasing big brother and pretended to throw Oaklee in.

 This one made me laugh after  his teasing, Oaklee wasn't about to let him get away with it.  It looks better when you click on it to see it bigger.

 Chance and Aubree didn't get out of the big brother teasing younger siblings and of course Caib had to get involved as well.  All in good fun.

Proof that Grandma came along.

As we headed back to the car I thought this would make a cute picture. 

I love the light, and shadows at this time of the year.

16 years....almost.

It's Sunday, a day of rest. As I've sat here resting from a busy week I've had time to think about my almost 16 year old.  He'll turn 16 on October 1 I'm pretty proud of this kid.....and it's not because This morning at about 7 AM his dad Hollered down the stairs and asked him and his brother to get up and go check on the cows up at Fish Lake and he popped up and got ready and headed up with out any complaints and then was back in time to get ready for church.  It's not because when I hobbled in from church (My ankle still hasn't completely healed) and found him putting the last pieces of silver wear on a the completely set table so that we could eat a quick dinner before Dad and Caib had to run to Richfield to get Caib's Braces put back together, and then he went out and saddled two horses so that when Caib returned they could head back up on the mountain to keep the cows off the fence He may have made them a couple of sandwiches to take with them as well.  It isn't because he hit two doubles yesterday  at his baseball game plus a few singles and an almost home run while I was inside the high school coaching the girls volleyball. and then when the baseball team finished playing their games he comes in with team and cheers his loudest as the volleyball girls play their hearts out and then pitches in to help when the Baseball team cleans the gym,  Or because he manages to do fairly well in school without any help from his mom. I think my favourite thing about this kid is that he's fun to be around and joke with.  That he loves his little brothers and sisters and though he teases them a bit much...when he's gone they all tell me how much they miss him.  I think it's because he's a good example to them and life has been so much better these last 16 years because he's here to share it with.  Thanks Braden for helping life be a whole lot better then it ever had been.  Happy Birthday in a few weeks.

What is it about this time of year?  Late Summer/ Early Autumn I think it may be the light.... I love the angle of light during this time of year.

Now one more year is winding up
Life is pressing on.
summer left us in a swirl
a flash it's here and gone

The kids are inches taller now
they all grow tall and straight
Anxiously I watch them grow
and In silence contemplate,

about their youth the things they know
Are they learning what they should
all the things we've taught them
have they understood?

We sit at dusk with dusty clothes
the days work now all done
satisfied and happy while we
watch the setting sun.

So it is with life and things
the seasons come then go
and life seems satisfying
Through work, as our children grow.

-Cathy Brian-

Home, after 12 hours on a horse gathering cows

What a Job

So... I've been really busy...or at least it feels like it.  Just to let everyone know. I Love Volleyball.  I love coaching.  I even Love high school kids.  But I'm sure learning a lot!!!  I've just got to figure out how to build a Volleyball program that's successful and beneficial to the girls who play high school ball.  I've got to figure out how to manage my three little ones so that they are succeeding in school and at home.  I've got to make sure the house stays in order and that everybody has clean clothes to wear.  I've got to figure out how to convince high strung players that we really need them. and convince them not to quit the team. I've got to help Freshmen understand that they now have be to be responsible and accountable (I LOVE the freshmen)
I have to learn a whole new set of rules for Volleyball with three different positions for each player for each serve rotation AND receiving rotation.  I've got to remind my body how to serve, pass and hit the ball.  I've got to know how to give a pep talk before the game and what to say after a game if we win/loose.  I've had to learn what a Libero is and how to use her in a game if I decide I want to.  I've got to figure out how and when to call time outs......  And believe it or not I'm really enjoying this whole experience.  Even though I never imagined I'd be a High School Volleyball coach

remember the blessings

Hobbling around for 10 days has been...to say the least.... quite annoying.  Saturday I was in a bit of a bad mood because I was so tired of having to deal with crutches and get around.  We were on our way to Orderville to watch Braden play in the championship game at a tournament they'd been in for baseball.
We'd stopped to use the restroom at one point and I was hobbling around being miserable as I tried as best I could to help Oaklee use the bathroom and clean up.  She finally looked up at me and said.  "Well, mom good thing you can still use the bathroom."

How right she was.  sigh... sometimes I forget to appreciate the things I can do with a messed up ankle.

They lost the championship game by a few runs but it was fun to watch Braden scoop up a ball way out in left field and throw it clear in to home plate to get the runner out.  he also had a couple of great hits

.

UUHHGG!!!

No I didn't do this playing Volleyball.  It was softball and second base.  I'm guessing that any serious softball player has had an encounter with second base if not home plate...sigh

 the swelling.  It's kind of hard to see all the bruising but it's black and blue halfway up my leg.

 Aubree thought I needed to show the back side of my toes because they were so purple.
I just hate being unable to get around on the volleyball court.