June 2011

The Grand Mesa, Cedaredge, Colorado

My grandma, Mary Margaret Knox Kiser, passed away on June 18th in the evening. She was at home, surrounded by her two daughters, her two son-in-laws, and good friends. I will miss her so much. She was an amazing woman: strong, dynamic, loving, generous, full of service. To me she was a caring and fun grandma. I always knew she loved me. I loved to listen to her stories of family--she had a gift for connecting this generation with the past generations. I loved to eat anything she cooked. I loved to visit her at the ranch and follow her around. I loved to stay up late with her, talking of everything. I loved to shop with her. I loved to feel her hands stroke my hair. I loved to hear her laugh. I loved looking over her many collections--she knew where everything came from and had a story for every treasure. I loved the way she cherished my children--her great-grandchildren. I think she made every member of her family feel special; she was good at that. She was one of my most-loved people ever. It was a privilege to be able to share in her care over these past three years since she had a stroke. I felt close to her in a way that I never had before. She took care of me when I was little--I loved visiting her at her homes in San Diego, in the desert town of Ocotillo, and finally, at the ranch in Colorado--and I got to help take care of her for these last few years. What a blessing that was!

These aren't very good pictures--just photos from photos in a book (I don't have the originals), but here's my grandma and grandpa shortly after they got married. Isn't she beautiful? And he was just as kind, charming and full of fun and love as he looks. And also here is a photo of them on their 50th wedding anniversary. What a wonderful couple they are. And now they are together again! THAT is something to celebrate!

Isaiah and his cousin James had boy scout camp during the time that the rest of us traveled to Colorado for the burial and memorial service. So James came to stay at my house and Cliff stayed home to take care of the both of them.[Side note: the boy scout camp that Isaiah and James attended flooded out while they were there--the bridge separating their campsite from the rest of the camp buildings, including all the food!!, was washed out. They were trapped on one side of the camp for a day. The forest service was called in, food was pulley-ed over the river and that night when the river receded all were evacuated--along with their soaking wet gear--to the other side of the river, the side with the food and the other official buildings AND with the camp staff. Such excitement!! The boys still came home with 4 or 5 merit badges each!] Meanwhile, the rest of us made our way to Colorado. I drove up in Cliff's truck with my Allegra and my nephew Scott (Reed and Dorothy's oldest). I came a few days before the burial and memorial service so that I could help cook and clean and pack. We loaded up the truck with things my mom wanted to take home. Rayne picked up my brother Ben and his son William at the airport in SLC on her way from Rexburg. The three of them drove in Rayne's car to Cedaredge, so I had my two girls with me for the burial and the memorial service.

Here's my Raynebow. We visited all our favorite places in Cedaredge. I don't know if I'll ever return. It's so far away from my house and with my grandma gone, there is really no reason to go there again. Here Rayne and I (and my brother Reed and two of his sons) visit the Grand Mesa. Allegra and I visited it already and Rayne was disappointed we had gone without her. So back up we went.

Here's Reed and his son Vincent, throwing pine cones at each other--too small to do serious damage and light enough to go far when thrown. This is what boys do when girls come up to look at the view and "bond", right?
Here's Rayne and me, in front of one of the largest lakes on the Grand Mesa. It was beautiful up there--there was still snow (!!!), but it was warm and sunny.

The burial was on Saturday, the memorial service was on Sunday. The burial service took about 5 minutes. Short and sweet. Here's Mom with grandchildren Scott and Allegra at Grandma's grave. She's buried right next to my grandpa, of course.

My mom took all the flowers from the memorial service and arranged them in Grandma's front room around her portrait. My aunt laughingly called it "the shrine". Beautiful flowers. Beautiful grandma.
Here's my sister and her husband. I really loved visiting with her and wished we had more time together. Hopefully I can go to Seattle in August and visit her and the used bookstore that she just opened. She and I share a great love of books.

June is a month full of birthdays in our family. Allegra's is on the 25th, mine is on the 27th, Scott's and Jacqueline's (Ben's oldest) is on the 28th. Unfortunately, Allegra shared her 16th birthday with Grandma's burial. Her 16th birthday is a special one and we had planned some fun celebrations, but sweet Grandma's death precluded those. Allegra didn't expect anything special on her day, but her daddy and brothers sent her flowers. And the sweet relief society (church) ladies who fed the whole family after the burial also made a special birthday cake for Allegra--complete with her name, red roses and 16 candles! So sweet!! She was surprised and touched.

On the way home from Colorado, I stopped halfway in Las Vegas to spend a few days with my very good friend Becky. We were roommates in college, best friends then, and we have been blessed to have a relationship now that grows closer every year. She is a source of love and strength to me. How lucky I was to meet her all those years ago!



While in Las Vegas we visited the beautiful atrium in the Bellagio:


























It was a trip full of stress and fun times and emotion and love. I was glad to be there in Colorado and glad to be in Las Vegas too. And I was especially glad to at last return home with my full truckload of treasures intact and with me, Scott and Allegra safe and sound. All the rest of my family traveled safe as well, a great blessing. It's been a very busy month!

One final note: Chase and his district all got matching t-shirts and he sent us this picture. I love it! Look at my boy! I think he's lost about 30 pounds. He looks healthy and oh so happy. What a blessing a mission is! I miss him like crazy, but I wouldn't have him anywhere else. I LOVE MY CHILDREN!

May 2011

May: the month of Isaiah's birthday and the month we're all tired of homeschooling and can't WAIT to be done. We set a goal to be done by the end of this month and Isaiah RACED through his work and finished by the end of the first week in May. Very impressive. Allegra worked steadily through May and finished just about everything by our goal date. I alternated between keeping Isaiah busy with non-school projects when he got bored enough to start BUGGING Allegra and I, and gently reminding Allegra of the school projects she still needed to finish. At the end of May we all breathed a sigh of relief. Cliff, meanwhile, is in the thick of finishing up all the internship paperwork for the 116 student interns that he places and supervises. He is counting the days until June 16th, when he'll be done and FREE for the summer.


Every week, Cliff posts the menu. This week the kids shanghaied the menu board and wrote down what they'd LIKE to see on the menu. He retaliated with the menu you see here. Yum yum.

Our Expedition has been our dependable bus for 11 years now. We have put over 250,000 miles on it with our many driving trips here and there, often filling all 9 seats with family and friends. It has been comfortable and strong and we have loved it. But! It's aging and is developing problems that are not worth fixing. This month we have finally decided to get rid of it. So, good-bye to a wonderful car! For the next few months I'll drive Chase's car while we decide what to get to replace the Expedition. (Something that uses a LOT less gas, for sure!)

Isaiah's "red-headed Irishman" blossoms. He takes such good care of these cacti!

My dearest grandma begins to fail. On this day we thought we were going to lose her, she seemed so absent from us. Mom called all the family and most of us gathered to say good-bye--one cousin even flew in late at night from Utah. By afternoon, Grandma was unresponsive to everything. This was all new to us. Early this month she went to the hospital with pneumonia, but she recovered! They discovered, though, that one of her lungs had collapsed and they told us that she would not live too much longer--it was inevitable, they said, that the other lung would slowly fill with liquid and she would slip away. They sent her home and put her on hospice care. But she seemed to rally! She was her old (post-stroke) self again and even started to regain some of her pre-pneumonia strength! But here, at the end of May, she dramatically began to fail. It was sad and stressful. On this Sunday, Grandma, before she became unresponsive, didn't want to be alone, so my momma and I sat with her. Here's Mom, slipping into a little nap by Grandma's bed. My beautiful mom. Losing her mother will be so difficult for her.

Happily (and surprisingly!), when Mom went in on Monday morning to check on Grandma, Grandma greeted her with a bright "hello!" Wow! We all expected that she wouldn't last the night, but there she was, back with us! We enjoyed her company all that day and she faded in and out of strength for the next few days. Finally on Thursday of that week Mom and Dad decided to get her to Colorado immediately. Colorado is her home and is where she wants to die. They loaded her and all her stuff (oxygen, meds, clothes, wheelchair, etc etc) into the car and drove straight through--18 hours--to Colorado where she perked up a little more. She was so glad to be home! The oxygen company and the hospice people made the switch from California to Colorado SO very easy! They are so wonderful!

On a happier note, Isaiah turned 13!! I have no more little children in my immediate family--they are all teenagers or adults. I never imagined this day, and here it is--reality! Here is Isaiah with his birthday loot.


And here is his birthday dessert: butter pecan ice cream pie with homemade praline topping. VERY sweet and rich. He loved it!


So May has been full of happy times, lots of schoolwork, and some worrisome and sad times with Grandma. I guess that's sort of what life is all about: happiness, hard work and some sadness too.

March and April 2011

I love the rain. I always have. So this spring was heavenly to me. Here's a bit of what went on for us this rainy spring:


Isaiah had a bunch of his friends from church over for an airsoft battle. Our yard is perfect for airsoft battles--lots of hills and open spaces. Isaiah and his cousin James set up various and assorted obstacles to be hidden behind. But it was really raining that day. I thought for sure they'd all want to cancel because of the rain. So muddy and wet outside!! But I forgot who I was dealing with: BOYS! They all showed up and my friend Jana and I decked them all out in garbage bags (the boys that had brought their own rain gear shucked that good stuff off in favor of the garbage bags--there's the herd mentality at work for you!) and they were off! I thought maybe they'd be out there for an hour at the most before they became uncomfortable and wished to move the party indoors. But no! They battled out there for HOURS. We provided pizza and cookies and drinks and the herd trampled in (into the GARAGE, mind you. I'm not a total martyr and I really hate cleaning muddy floors) and decimated the food in about 10 minutes. They had a lot of fun. They are a nice group of boys.



We had our Easter egg hunts: one in the daytime for the little kids and one at night for the older kids (with glow-in-the-dark eggs!). This hunt has sometimes included ALL the cousins--Cliff's side of the family and mine--but this year I decided not to plan the hunt. Mom was kind enough to include my kids in the hunt she planned for her local grandchildren. I did the traditional Easter basket hunt for my kids on Easter morning and Mom planned all the rest. Here she is with Isaiah.




My brother Gerald, who lives in Taiwan, came to visit with his wife, Frances, and their two kids Angelica and Seth. I love it when they come!! Here's lovely Angelica and cute Seth. Seth, by the way, has indulged in the pastime of picking up the airsoft bbs scattered across the yard--popular with the under 10 set. Here he is ooohing and aaahing over his collection.


At every family gathering--and I mean EVERY family gathering--this is what my baby brother Ben can be seen doing. He is always either on his phone, on the ipad or on the computer. How blessed he is to LOVE his job. I've started to take photos of him at each family thing with his nose in whatever electronic gadget he's brought.... Why can't I read my book at these family gatherings like he's allowed to play with his toys? Could this be a youngest child thing? Hmmmm....

Isaiah got a birthday package from his brother Chase, who is on a mission in Boston. It's mostly edible, which is just what Isaiah likes. Chase is keeping in good touch with his little brother and I think Chase will always be Isaiah's favorite person in the world. Well, until a woman comes into the picture.

Finally, here's adorable baby Bruce, getting fatter and more squeezeable every day. Why is it adorable to be fat only when you're a baby? I don't know, but I love chubby babies! Bruce is Reed and Dorothy's youngest and he's a very good baby. We are all in love with him.

It's been a wet and beautiful few months, full of family and activity. Just what we like!

Winter 2011

I love living here! I know I've said it bajillion times. Living in a more country setting has really changed something inside me. I feel more grateful for life. I feel more connected to nature. I feel deeply interested in what lives and grows outside. I feel more at peace. I am so grateful to live here!

Here's the setting sun cradled in the cleft of the hills. What perfect placement!

So, here's some of what was going on around here for the last few months.

Stuff we made:

Ally made cupcakes. Here's the one she decorated for me.

Cliff got a rock tumbler for Christmas. It's something he's been interested in for a long time--his Grandfather used to tumble rocks and make beautiful jewelry with the results. Here are some rocks somewhere in the middle of the polishing process.

Cliff made this arbor for our friends Vicki and Josh's wedding. It was our wedding gift to them--they plan to put it in their garden when they move into their first house. My Vicki planned the whole wedding herself--and she supervised every detail of it. Quite a feat!


Isaiah is really into making ice cream these days--he has one of those "ball" ice cream makers where you pour the stuff into it and roll it back and forth until the ice cream's all solid and delicious. It makes about a pint, which is perfect for sharing. He's made some really delicious combinations so far.

Allegra's made tons of stuff, as usual, but I guess I'm so used to her extreme creativity that I fail to take pictures! I'm gonna right that wrong. She's very interested in selling her creations on etsy. I told her that as soon as she perfects 10 things that are easy to reproduce, then we'd start an etsy shop. She's excited. I'll let you know when she's online.

Well, we didn't make this guy--but Reed and Dorothy did! This is Bruce Theodore Galbraith and he was born in January (on the 15th). He's SOOOO adorable. I just want to smell him and squeeze him. And then hand him back if he cries. Here he is with Allegra. He was blessed in church just yesterday. He's growing so fast. I think it's because he pretty much never stops eating. Maybe Dorothy will have ONE child who's not a skinny little thing. So far Bruce is going the right way to tank-hood. Or would that be tank-dom. Whatever it is, he is a.dor.a.ble. Think he and Carmen high-fived as he was walking out Heaven's door? It's a nice thought, isn't it.


Creatures we encountered:

Tangerine was caught trespassing on my neighbor's roof and earned herself a trip to the slammer. I had to bail her out to the tune of $45. Boy did that make me mad. Paying for my own cat!! Questions I asked: why didn't my neighbor think to call me? Why are people at animal shelters and vets so unnaturally obsessed with the personification of pets? Why must I feel like a criminal because my cat gets lost? Epithets I'd like to scream: Well, on second thought, let's skip those. Anyway, here she is, back where she belongs (cuddling up with her sister, Cherry). Was she glad to see us? No. Was she grateful for her rescue? Not hardly. Cuz, see, she's a cat. Yeah. But! We're glad to have her back anyway!


A blatant invitation. Yes, love has been in season at my house. This has involved, yowling, spraying, posing, moaning and assuming "the position". And that was just Cliff! hahahahaha. I couldn't resist it. Just kidding. Anyway, the girls were hungry and the boy was willing and it was our job to maintain everybody's high standards until a couple of spays were accomplished. Hundreds of dollars and a fun and punitive trip to the vet later, the girls are safe and the boy is forever frustrated. At least with my girls he is. He can sow his wild oats elsewhere. I'm so glad THAT'S all over. Now all the cats are outside cats. My rodent-catching team is springing into action!

Speaking of which, here's Lily with a HUGE gopher she caught. It must have been a bigger portion than she could eat, cuz she took a few bites and set the leftovers aside for later. And, typically, someone else ate them before she could (I hate that! "Where are those leftovers from the restaurant last night?" "Oh, Dad had them for breakfast!" "DARN!"). Some daring vulture came and carried off the remains for his dining pleasure. Go team!


We went to Seacliff beach in March with our great friends the Evans. I love the beach in winter! It's so different from the summer beach, and often the weather is more pleasant than it would be in summer too! This year there were tons of these little jellies washed up on the beach. The kids rifled through the recycling bins and pulled out cups and bottles to fill with ocean water and little jellies. They were so cool to watch!! The Evans took them back to their beach house for the night and released them back into the ocean (from the pier) the next morning. They were still blooping away!


Do cacti count as "creatures" (what a wonderfully alliterative sentence!)? Here is Isaiah's cactus collection. He is so into these spiny plants--he checks their water levels, he keeps watering calendars, he monitors their growth, he scours the plant shops for more.... pretty cool, eh?

Me:

I found my street! It's in Pleasant Hill. Shall we move, do you think?


I looove shopping. And I'm addicted to "the deal". My philosophy is: if it's not on sale, it's not worth it. This is closely related to the "if it's cheap, it's good" idea or the "if it's under $10 I'll love it no matter what color it is" school of thought. Cuz my idea of a sale is not the same as some other people's ideas of a sale. If it's not less than $20, I don't think it can be considered a "deal". If it's less than $10 and it looks good on me, I'll be floating out of the store amid a choir of hallelujah angels. This wool pea coat was $15 at Old Navy. Sigh. Nirvana.


I'm trying really hard to improve our eating habits. I have always considered myself a "healthy" eater, but I'm starting to be more observant and honest with myself. I do really like healthy foods but I don't think we've been eating them nearly as much as I've been imagining that we do. And I worry. So we've been making some changes and smoothies like this are part of those changes. We have smoothies every morning now for breakfast. They look so beautiful layered in the blender like this! Of course, once you blend it all up, that lovely spinach turns everything kind of... well, not so attractive a color. But so delicious! Just one step on a better path for us, I hope.

I Miss My Girl

I miss Rayne! There is no woman who knows me better and is more accepting of me than my daughter. She listens, she laughs in all the right places, she smiles, she makes thought-out comments and she makes it clear that she loves me no matter how stupid I think I am. I miss her!

December 2010

So, here starts the craziness.

We decorate.


We hang the stockings, not quite "by the chimney with care", but on the stair case carefully with ribbons. Is that poetic?


We find the best deal on a live tree, buy it--no chopping this year--bring it home and trim it.


The kitties especially like the tree.



We begin our "12 Days of Christmas" on the 14th. On each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas we do something as a family.

We mark Cliff's custom-made scripture chain in our scriptures and pop Christmas crackers. We agree that the crowns are the best part!


Years ago we decided to try and make our Christmases more meaningful. This is when we started our "12 Days of Christmas". Another of our decisions at this time was to have fewer gifts--only 3 modest gifts for each person. And we decided to spread the gifts out so we could have time to enjoy each one. So 2 of our "12 Days" preceding Christmas are gift days. Our final gift day is Christmas day itself. Here is Isaiah on one of our gift days. He gets a few more cacti to add to his collection.



One peaceful evening I tried to catch this magnificent sunset with my camera. It was breathtaking.




For one of our "12 Days", we made the trip to Temple Hill to watch my mom and dad perform in the Nutcracker. Our good friend Rachel Tan spearheaded this amazing project: a free performance of the Nutcracker. She runs a dance school and her students were to be the performers, so we were all prepared for an amateur performance. But this Nutcracker was absolutely beautiful. It was an incredible treat. THANK YOU, Rachel. My Mom and Dad were the Grandparents of Clara. Here's a video (very small cuz it's off my phone--sorry!) of Dad doing the Grandfather Dance. Love it!




We made gingerbread houses with all the local cousins. I don't make a house myself anymore, I just sneak candy out of the candy bowls and end up feeling a little queasy by the end of the afternoon. Here is Ally and Zay's house.


Here's the cook. For the last 6 or 7 years, he's made actual gingerbread cookie houses. Well, he bakes the walls and the roof (not too soft, but not too hard either) and the kids glue them together with white chocolate (YUM) and decorate them with candy. This year I bought a gingerbread house cake mold and he baked delicious gingerbread cake houses. I think they look great and taste even better than the gingerbread cookie houses did.


Rayne works like crazy to top off her savings in preparation to supporting herself AND her new car at school. She also buys great gifts for everyone since she has such a generous budget! Very nice! (p.s. She knows JUST what I like!!) I'm indebted to my good husband, whose family traditions included the kids buying gifts for their parents and for each other with money they saved up themselves. He passed that tradition down to our children. My kids are very good at this. They save for months beforehand and choose carefully in order to please everyone. I love this!


And, oh gosh. Is that cat sucking on someone again? On his EAR? Weird.


Some other of our 12 days that aren't pictured:
Bethlehem dinner (headdresses mandatory, eating utensils NOT), baking day, nativity day.... So many traditions, so little time. Sigh.

Christmas morning dawned beautifully foggy.

I love the fog. It makes me feel so cozy, so enclosed in my warm, safe house.

As usual, we waited for Rayne....then opened our presents, then looked in our stockings, then played with our presents. All in the quiet before the chaos of our Galbraith family Christmas was to descend....

And before they come, the fog begins quietly to lift.


We also got to talk to Chase on the phone.


That was really fun. He was very careful about not going over his time. He and his companion are very committed to being as obedient as possible--wonderful! I was worried I might feel sad after talking to him, but after we hung up, I felt a only little lump of tears in my throat which quickly melted. He's right where he should be.

It was a wonderful Christmas.

I ended the season doing something that was a real challenge for me. I was invited to join a piano performance group. 4 of us play on 2 grand pianos. We're called "8 Hands, 2 Grands of Pleasanton". Of course my first reaction to this invitation was "Who ME???" I was very excited. And hopeful that I could actually DO it! After many weeks of practice, both with the group and MANY hours of practice at home, we performed on Temple Hill on the 26th. I must confess that for many years I have been petrified of playing the piano in front of people. I have played in public many times, mostly accompanying singers or other musicians. Sometimes I can play flawlessly, sometimes my nerves grip me so hard that it seems I cannot play anything right! For the past 2 years when I play for the Temple Hill Quartet at Christmas time, I have felt this terrible paralysis. After last year's performances, I set a goal to overcome this. I prayed regularly about it. I wrote down, posted and repeated positive affirmations about my competence and confidence on the piano. I studied piano technique and theory books. I practiced so many hours. I hoped I was putting in my best effort at getting better and that the Lord would make up the rest for me. "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." (Mark 9:24) On the night of the performance, my husband gave me a Priesthood blessing. He blessed me not to feel nervous. The time of the performance came. I felt no nervousness. I certainly did not play flawlessly, none of us did--we sounded great all the same, I think. And I felt so JOYFUL! It was so much fun! I was so grateful for absence of that terrible paralyzing fear that has caused me so much trouble over the years. What a blessing that was. I hope I've left that fear behind me forever. I find such happiness in playing the piano--whether I'm performing in a group like this one or whether I'm accompanying children singing, it doesn't matter! Finally I felt like I was able to feel that happiness actually DURING a performance. A personal milestone. And really, so much fun too! It was a beautiful way for me to close this season during which we pay special attention to our Savior.


Allison, Andy, Kathy and me--8 Hands, 2 Grands (of Pleasanton)!

So much stuff packed into one short month. It's been a bit of a marathon. I've loved almost all of it. And I'm looking forward to the new year ahead of us. What a beautiful life.