Lights at Temple Square

By absolutely NO FAULT of their own, our two oldest children, Caitlyn and Zach, have found themselves teenagers. And in so doing, they live their lives attached to cellphones, Ipods, and social networking sites. More than once I have found myself having a COMPLETE conversation with Caitlyn, not knowing that she can't hear a single word I've said, but has watched for cues and has succeeded in nodding and grunting at the appropriate times. It's a little strange and stressful as a parent, but Brook and I look at each other helplessly and can't blame them for trying their best to tune us out. It's just what teenagers do. Spending quality family time together has become increasingly difficult and challenging. While we (Brook and I) see the years ticking away, we want to spend as much time with them as possible. At the same time, however, THEY (Caitlyn and Zach) see that there's more life than what's waiting for them at home (imagine that) and want to hang out with their own kind.
Ok, we get it. But that doesn't mean we (Brook and I) don't still try.
We decided that we wanted to take them to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square a couple days before Christmas. We braced ourselves for their resistance and managed to trick get them into the car. We had planned it out well so that they really didn't have any excuses. There wasn't school the next day, so I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much homework didn't work. There weren't any practices, meetings or commitments. HA! They were pretty much stuck. I did hear Let's just turn around and go home so I can hang out with my friends, spoken halfheartedly about 20 times, Why do we have to go? asked about 15 times, and Ugh, this is stupid, uttered maybe eight.

But Brook and I managed to keep our cool. Brook concentrated on the road as he maneuvered through the snow storm, I sang Christmas carols with Brynn, and we turned the movie volume up really loud. Really loud. Pretty soon I had forgotten about the two disgruntled people in the back and actually believed that we were having a fun family outing. We happened to choose the best night for Temple Square. There was a light snow falling so not only did the snowflakes look beautiful, but they also frightened off scaredy-cat families. BYU was also playing in their fancy-shmancy-shut-down-the-state-of-Utah bowl game that night and JACKPOT...... No Mormons!!!!! While a normal night at Temple Square is spent shuffling shoulder to shoulder with about 20,000 other people, this night saw us walking wherever we darned well pleased and being the first in line for everything. We loved it. We saw cousins. We smiled. We laughed. We held hands and threw snow at each other. And Caitlyn may have summarized it best when we had almost made it home. "That was fun," she said with a smile. "It didn't suck that bad." No Caitlyn, it didn't suck that bad at all. :)

The Spirit's Gonna Get Ya!

Sometime in October Brynn jumped into the car after school and shoved a crumpled green paper into my face. She then announced that she was auditioning for the Ridgeline 3rd Grade performance of "A Christmas Carol."
"Fun," I said.
"I have to memorize a speech and tryouts are next week," she informed me.
"Fuuuuunnnn," I said again, trying to muster a little more excitement in my voice.
Sometime that night she showed me the passage she had to memorize.
Oh brother, I thought. This is too long. And it sounds funny. Charles Dickens? Ugh. I don't have the energy for this tonight.
Luckily it wasn't ME who was auditioning. Brynn had it memorized lickety split and graced us with her memorized passage every chance she got. We heard it done cowboy style, British style, hip hop style, and my personal favorite, pirate style.
It wasn't uncommon to hear, "BRYYNNNNN, STOP! We're sick of it!" coming from her sibling's mouths. Plum pudding and holly through the heart gets kind of tiring after 400 times.
Well, the day finally arrived (thank goodness) and Brynn was rewarded for all her hard work with a SPEAKING part! I need to make sure you understand the honor here. There are SEVEN 3rd grade classes at Ridgeline Elementary. Yes, we live in Utah County.
December soon showed it's wintery head and "A Christmas Carol" was performed for all to enjoy. I don't think there has EVER been a more excited and happy Business Woman #1 than there was this year. Brynn performed her two lines flawlessly and had many fans to support her. Thank you to all her grandparents for coming down to support her. It meant the WORLD to her.
She announced that night that she's finally decided what she wants to be when she grows up. She's gone through various phases with this. She's wanted to be a McDonald's worker, a Build-A-Bear employee, a princess, a veterinarian, a dancer, a teacher, etc. But now, dim the lights and raise the curtains: she wants to be an actress..... (please whisper wistfully when you say these final two words).

Late But Still Thankful

I know, I know. November is long gone and Thanksgiving is but a memory. I feel that I still, however, need to post about our Thanksgiving. This blog is our family journal, so I would hate to not have this entry.


We spent Thanksgiving 2009 with my side of the family, the Allreds. My mother and father provided a wonderful dinner and we were all blessed to be able to spend it together. I LOVE seeing my siblings and my nieces and nephews. Although Vernal isn't all that far away, it's still far enough that we aren't able to get together all that often.

I am very thankful for my many blessings. I won't bore you by counting them one by one here. I am, though, mindful of them and ever so grateful.

Go Bee-Anne!!

I guess, just once in a while, you gotta cut loose.....footloose. So our family packed into our car and made the treck to good ole' Roy, Utah to watch our niece and cousin, Breanne, perform in Roy High's musical, Footloose. I don't believe we are biased at all when I say that Breanne stole the show.
Helllloooooooo...... Breanne STOLE the show!!!
It was so obvious (in our completely neutral eyes) that Breanne had the BEST solo and voice of anyone up there (not to say that there weren't other nice voices and a lot of talent on stage).
Breanne played Ariel's mother, Mrs. Preacher's Wife (can't remember her name here) and did a magnificent job. She truly has Buhrley blood running through her. I don't know if I've ever written about how talented Max and Lola's children are. They all do different things in their own fabulous way. It's as if Max and Lola told them, "Just do YOU." And they did. They're all very good at the different things they do and I wish I had just a smidgon of their talents.
So thank you Breanne for adding just a little bit of culture to our humdrum lives last Friday night. Kara has been attempting it for years. We love you and are so proud of you. You are awesome!

Good Leaders

We recently attended an "Evening in Excellence" for Caitlyn. Our church has a program called Personal Progress which is designed for its young women to understand and apply different values to have in their own lives. It's a wonderful program which can enrich and bless the lives of each girl. The Evening in Excellence was a night where the girls gathered with their parents to share different projects they'd worked on. It was so much fun to see some of the neat projects and talents these girls had. The reason I'm writing this, however, is not to sing the praises of Personal Progress and such. Truth be told, Caitlyn hasn't been "so hot" - her words - at working with the program. No, as I sat and watched Caitlyn with the other girls and with her leaders, I instead felt a deep respect and heartfelt gratitude for each of her leaders. She has incredible women in her life who love her and who give of themselves selflessly. Caitlyn has always loved her YW leaders and it's never been a fight to get her to go to church or to Young Womens. She wants to be there. She wants to be near them and like them. A trusted advisor is more important to a young girl than a mother sometimes. While I "lecture," her leaders "listen." While I talk AT her, her leaders talk with her. And while I LOVE her, her leaders love her, too. It's so nice, from a mom-point-of-view, to know that Caitlyn has other women who love her and recognize her many talents and her incredible worth. It's nice to share a vision of her future with other women who also see what she can become and what exciting, wonderful road lies ahead of her. I am so grateful for these women in her life. I love them as dearly as she does.

Caitlyn with Miss Julie, one of her favorite people on earth!!

Halloween 2009

Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen/ Voices whisper in the trees, "Tonight is Halloween!" - Dexter Kozen

Oh, how I wish Halloween would have been scarier and more frightening. The scariest part at our house happened when Caitlyn and Zach left for their friends' homes at 3 in the afternoon! Halloween with teenagers is a MAJOR BUMMER!!!! Brynn wouldn't even let us take her trick-or-treating. Being the self-motivated busybody she is, she managed to attach herself to some neighbors and went trick-or-treating with THEM instead. "Mom," she asked, "can I go with the Jacksons?"
"I guess........." I started.
And before I could even finish my sentence she hightailed it out of our house and wasn't seen until 2 hours later when things were winding down. Halloween basically consisted of Brook and Sophie (the dog) handing out treats between watching a football game, and me typing on the computer and getting ideas for future lesson plans.
B.O.R.I.N.G!
I heretofore call DIBS on Halloween next year. Do you hear that Caitlyn and Zach? We've got 363 days and counting.....

Bronco Pride

When Denver Bronco fans and San Diego Charger fans dwell in the same neighborhood, there's bound to be a goodhearted hiccup once in a while. Our sweet neighbors woke up to find their home Broncofiled in anticipation of the Monday night Broncos-Chargers matchup. Oh Aceves family, how we love ya. Thank goodness Paul had enough time to clean up before his flight to San Diego for the game. Now tell me, what kind of fans would dress in black and sneak around in the middle of the night to adorn a house in such a way? GOOD fans in my opinion. Now hopefully the Broncos can pull out a win (we have our fingers crossed). Go Broncos!

Fall Break

Fall is our FAVORITE time of year, and we finally got a good dose of it this past weekend when we went to the cabin over Fall Break. Technically, it wasn't our Fall Break, but a break of any kind is nice once in a while. And we all needed a break!
The air was cool and the leaves were beautiful and snow even ushered us out of Bear Lake Valley on our drive home Sunday.
On Saturday the brave members of our party went on a rather long 4-wheeling trip to visit Old Ephraim's grave. Old Ephraim is legendary in our part of the country. He was a humungous bear (over 9 feet tall) who finally met his death sometime in the early 1900's. He had not been a nice neighbor to ranchers and their animals and was eventually tracked down and killed. There is an actual gravesite for him and a monument which stands as tall as he was. He was TALL. No wonder the ranchers didn't like him. Those who went had fun and returned home only half frozen to death.
It was a nice weekend for relaxing and listening to conference and of course, eating. Unfortunately, I think I did more eating than anything else. What is it about a cabin which has my body believing I need to be eating every waking moment?

And check out this handsome bunch attending Priesthood Session together. Love them!!

Happy Birthday Brook!

I can't help but smile a little when I look at this picture of Brook at two years old. I just want to pinch his chubby cheeks and squeeze his fat little legs. What is it about 2-year-olds that I just love? I can't decide if he's smiling because he's happy or smiling because he's getting ready to do something sneaky. Hmmmmm. Probably the latter.

How I love this guy.

We just celebrated his birthday in an uneventful, sadly planned way. He always does such a great job of making us feel special on our birthdays by making cakes and buying gifts. This year his birthday kind of crept up on us (me) and we (I) didn't get anything planned. We ended up squeezing a family dinner in before a football game he had to coach. I guess WE'RE not injured, just Zach. Brook still gets to coach while his favorite player stands on the sideline. Not much fun, but what can you do.?

We are each so grateful for Brook. There are many, many reasons we're thankful for him, but we'll try to just highlight a few. He is such a great dad and husband and manages to keep our family going. He supports each of us in our activities and obligations and works harder than anyone else in our home, yet never complains. We love his goofiness and easy going attitude. We love his hip-hop moves. We love his work ethic and "can-do" attitude. Caitlyn loves his sense-of-humor (and she's "not just saying that. I really do"). She also loves the way he lets her stay out later (unlike her other parent) and tells her to "have fun" without "asking a ton of questions". Brynn loves Brook because he makes breakfast for her every morning and calls her lots of nicknames like Bennett, B, Beatrice, Beans, Yuletide, and oh the list goes on and on. Zach loves Brook because "he's fun". He enjoys spending time with him golfing or 4-wheeling or playing sports or just watching tv together. I love him for all the above AND MORE. I love him because he helps me be a better person. I adore him because he'll call me or text me in the day just to tell me he loves me. I enjoy going for evening walks with him or just stealing away from the house and grabbing a Costa Vida salad together. I couldn't imagine life without him. I just love him. Happy Birthday Brook! Next year I promise we'll (I'll) do better :)

Bounce Back Zach

Give me just a minute Zach!!! BEFORE I could even post about football season beginning and how excited we all are, and BEFORE I could take pictures of you in your Lone Peak 8th grade uniform throwing some touchdown passes or intercepting on the defense, and BEFORE I could even register in my brain that the season had begun...... you get hurt.
Ok, alright, in all fairness, it didn't happen until late in the 4th quarter, after all of those things had already taken place, but still.

Thursday night marked both the beginning of football season AND the beginning of a knee recovery for Zach. Dang it. Sometimes life just throws you junk.
Zach's team was on their way to their first victory of the season when a player from the opposite team crashed through and tackled Zach. We in the stands knew something was wrong because if Zach goes down, he doesn't stay down for long. This "down" was different though, and the longer we waited the more nervous I grew. I'll freely admit it. I'm not proud. I'm the worst "owie mom" in the world. I absolutely HATE it when my kids get hurt. Many things begin to happen to me: my brain suddenly quits working, I get sick to my stomach, and I freeze up completely. I just don't like owies, period. When Zach was finally helped off the field, we could see that it was his knee. I felt so bad because he was in a terrible amount of pain and I just wanted to cry for him. A visit to the orthopedic hospital revealed that he had a torn MCL (whatever that means). I just know that I'm supposed to be happy it's not an ACL and that things could be worse. The doctor said he's out for 6 weeks (we'll see about that) and that he's in a brace and on crutches for the first little while. I must admit though, I shouldn't feel TOO terribly bad for him. He's been showered with more ice cream, peaches, cookies and attention from friends and neighbors than I can count. His injury is going to affect MY waistline. Grandma and Grandpa Allred drove down last night with a cookie bouquet that read, "Bounce back soon, Zach". And I wholeheartedly agree. Bounce back soon Zach!

Together Forever

We had the most wonderful day this week and I don't know that we've stopped smiling since. Many of you may know that our family has been preparing for a wedding. Well, the day finally arrived last Wednesday, and my brother Aaron married his sweetheart Meghan. It was a truly beautiful, wonderful, special day for all of us. It was filled with love and happiness as we reunited with family and friends and celebrated their big day with them. What a day!
They chose to be married in the Salt Lake temple which is a beautiful and special place. It was a tender and sweet ceremony we got to witness. Meghan looked so radiant and beautiful and Aaron could hardly keep the tears from flowing. I didn't know my brother was such a softie. What a joy and honor to be present at such a special occassion. The wedding ceremony was followed by pictures and congratulations and then a lovely dinner at the Joseph Smith Building, right inside Temple Square. When Aaron and Meghan began planning their wedding, a dinner was decided on rather than a reception because they wanted to "make it simple." It was hardly simple. They know and love WAY too many people. It was such a delight for all of us to see all our family members and old friends again. My big regret of the night is that I didn't get to everyone to say hello.
Dinner was delicious and the speeches given by the fathers were touching. I LOVED hearing them talk about Aaron and Meghan. My favorite part was perhaps a wedding video which we watched. It showed them each growing up and them culminated with pictures of them dating and becoming engaged. It was so cute, and it's fun to realize that the best is yet to come. When Aaron decided to serve a mission, I was so emotional and teary. He was grown up and all the things I enjoyed about watching him grow up (high school friends, sports, etc.) were gone. It was the end of an era. The tears I shed on Wednesday were much sweeter as I realized that it was the beginning of an era now. I hope the very best for Aaron and Meghan. We love you two!

Morning Run

As Brook and I began our morning run, we had to pass our neighborhood mailbox. There are always things posted on it....... babysitting signs, lost kitty signs, neighborhood parties, etc. So my interest was tweaked as I approached the brightly colored paper, wondering what was going on the neighborhood. As I got closer and read the words "The Glitter Girls" my stomach somewhat dropped and dread entered my heart. BACKSTORY: For the past couple of days, Brynn and her friend Emily have been singing like crazy in my house. They'll go into Brynn's room and sing at the top of their lungs... any High School Musical or Hannah Montana song they can think of. I'd even heard the words "Glitter" and "Girls" being said together but I thought nothing of it. Until now.
"Wellllllllllll," Brook mustered.
As I approached, this is what I saw.....

Brook and I enjoy Brynn so much because she makes us laugh. Neither of us are the type to want any extra attention from people or to want the spotlight shining on us. Brynn is a different character,however, and thinks that the world loves her and that people want to watch her sing and dance and perform. I know that a few years down the road will change her and that her carefree attitude will harden, but it's fun while it lasts. Unfortunately, Brynn will not be available for her performance this Saturday night. She didn't check with her manager evidently. She has prior engagements. So unless Emily wants to be a solo act, please don't bring your blankets to the Jackson's backyard for this summer concert performance. The Glitter Girls will have to reschedule.

Pioneer Days

Woo Hoo and Giddy Up!
July 24th marked Pioneer Days here in Deseret (....umm....Utah for those of you not familiar with the term). Pioneer Days is our state holiday and celebrates the first pioneers coming into the Salt Lake Valley, ready to call it home. There are always big parades, rodeos, and of course, fireworks. While we didn't make it to any of those things, we did use the holiday weekend as an excuse to have a Buhrley family reunion. Grandma and Grandpa supplied the giant water toys, food, and campsites, and the rest of us provided charming conversation and willing stomachs. Someone had to eat all that food! What would they have done without us?
The kids had such a blast playing with their cousins and using every ounce of energy they could muster. Kids can go forever!!!
And no reunion is quite complete without camping under the stars. "Buhrley Flats" had just enough space for 4 tents and many excited campers. The party poopers who decided to sleep in the house (we won't mention any names) definitely missed out. Grandma came out and told scary bedtime stories until the girls were scared out of their minds and sure that the ghost of Old Ephraim, a bear the size of a truck, was going to get them in their sleep.
Luckily for us, they braved it out and were too exhausted from the day's activities to wake up in the night crying.
We're so glad that the family got together and had so much fun with one another. We love them all! We definitely missed Auntie Kiki (her absence was noted and mourned), but hopefully she'll make it next year for the grand excitement.

Meghan's Bridal Shower

Summer is quickly passing by and August 12th is quickly approaching. Those of you who have been reading our family blog know that we had an engagement in the family not too long ago. My brother Aaron and his sweetheart Meghan are tying the knot soon, and that can only mean one thing: bridal shower. My sisters and I threw Meghan a bridal shower this past weekend and my mom was gracious enough to let us have it at her house. Besides having a beautiful yard, she's a good "midway" for many of those invited.

We invited both sides of the family: the Tingeys and the Allreds, and Meghan got to meet what she's marrying into. I hope she wasn't scared away. No, I'm JUST KIDDING! I absolutely LOVE my family and was so happy to see everyone again. I've decided that it's just not good enough to see someone for 3 hours at a family Christmas party or for a few hours at a funeral here and there. I love my aunts and cousins and have so many great memories and feelings toward each of them. I just can't express how happy I am to know them all. The family part is just an added bonus. Three of my aunts can testify that we don't let go of them (even when they divorce my uncles..... there's literally no way out.... they're pretty much stuck with us). We had such a great turnout and I think that I can speak for my sisters and mom about how touched we all were that they came out, in 100-degree heat mind you, to support our little branch of the family tree. We're so thankful for them.

We had the traditional bridal shower with food and socializing and games. Everyone took pictures with this gawdy ring we found. I never realized there was so much dramatic talent in my family. My favorite part, however, was the game that Amy and Jess put together. They filmed Aaron answering questions about himself and then we asked Meghan the same questions to see how well she knew him (she did GREAT by the way). After each question, when the screen was paused, the image of Aaron on the tv screen was so cute. I loved just looking at him. I could tell how genuinely happy he is, and it made me all the more happier for him. These two make a great couple and it's beautiful to see.

Pat Hollow Crash Site

For the past 20 years, the Allred side of the family has been going to a family cabin at Bear Lake. Needless to say, we've done just about everything Bear Lake Valley has to offer. Been there, done that. So it's been nice to add ATV's into the mix. We have new adventures to go on and it's been fun. Last Saturday we embarked on a 3-hour ride to see a crash site. In January, 1953, a military transport plane taking Korean War vets home went down, killing all 40 passengers on board. The plane was traveling from Seattle to a scheduled stop in Rock Springs, WY when it crashed in the mountains near Bear Lake. It's sad to think that these individuals survived a war, only to die on their way home. The crash site itself is in a beautiful wooded area. Some plaques have been placed there to tell the story and to honor those who had died there. We would have loved to have stayed longer and explored a little bit, but it was impossible. We had been there all of 3 minutes when Brynn started dancing around (which is very common for Brynn so I thought nothing of it). Then Hailey started, then Zach, and so on. When Brook started doing a jig, I knew we were in for trouble. I don't know who the lookout was, but an allied force of mosquitoes, gnats, and horseflies descended on us so quickly and thoroughly, that I knew that things were not going to turn out well. For those of you who have ever been attacked by gnats, you know how irritating it is. We fought back valiantly, swatting at whatever we could get our hands on until we were covered with smears of bug guts. But in the end, retreating was the only option. The swarm followed us for a short distance before it got bored and retreated. We returned home FILTHY dirty and hungry, but with another Bear Lake memory under our belt. Good times..... I think.

The 4th of July

While most of you were enjoying this......

















or cooking this.......















or lighting these.........






















the Buhrleys were doing this.......

We're learning that putting in a yard is HARD work and we spent the holiday weekend getting the yard ready for sod. Brook sets such a good example to the kids of how working hard can have great benefits and be fulfilling as well. Brook figures that if there's a project to be done, HE can figure it out and do it. In our 18 years of togetherness, I've watched him tackle one project after another after another....... and figure it out. He just has a wonderful "can do" attitude. The latest project is a yard. He's had all of them out there working beside him and helping in different ways and they've been GREAT. We hope they learn that work isn't something to be afraid of or avoided. It's been fun watching the yard take shape and begin to look like a real yard and know that they had a part in it. I hope they're each proud of themselves in the ways they've helped. They should be!
We're also learning that working together as a family can be fun as well....especially if there's a camera around. You should see the thousand and one pictures they took of themselves. On second thought, they're probably better left unseen.