Growing Up Gulbranson

Picking Sticks!

2011-04-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

Picking sticks was a right of passage for us.

After the first few days, you didn't care that you got a paycheck.

You just wanted to be able to stay at home again.

I think that these two may have got an earlier start than some of us!

But by the time it was their turn Jana, Jared, Kara and Karli were married and gone.

Kaelen was probably on his mission.

Kyle and Garyn were out working the cows.

So the task fell to these two.

But they were proably just happy to be treated to a Slurpee afterwards.

Good memories in the making.

And now they have fields to look over and appreciate.

Dad's dream come true.

Consequences

2011-04-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad always believed in consequences.

For EVERYTHING!

But I guess it turned out okay.

But I noticed over the years that they got a little lenient.

So I would have hated to see what they would have done to us if we got kicked off the bus as Kasey and Korlyn did way back when.

Their consequence?

Walking all the way home from Prariedale Elementary.

In the cold and snow.

Now as a parent, I think, AWESOME!

But those boys were tired when they got home.

What is that? About 5 miles?

What grades were you boys in?

And why did you get kicked off the bus?

Family Pictures Over the Years

2011-04-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

Oh how photography has changed.

How we have changed.

And thankfully, how clothing has changed!

Enjoy a walk through time.

This may be the only time Jared and I got along as children.
Don't we look happy?

Someone should have taken the curling iron away from Mom.
I imagine Jana got hit with a comb or two for this picture.

So many things wrong with this picture, the biggest one being Kara's hair
paired with Kara's glasses.
The rest of you did all right.
Well, there are Kaelen's glasses.

Parent Teacher Conference - Gone Awry

2011-04-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

I don't recall this happening very often for us girls.

I think the pressure of Jared and other boys down the line erased a lot of pressure for us.

But parent teacher confereces left us madly cleaning Jared's room.

We knew the impending doom and we knew it would accompany a trip upstairs.

Just to check his room and see if it was a disaster - we tried to avoid this.

Later it was the other boys.

But us girls? - Never!

We brought home excellent report cards.

In the words of Dad's teacher - "You done good Mel!"

Heads Up For Landry

2011-04-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Landry,

I just wanted you to know that the apple doesn't always have to fall far from the tree.
You have choices here.
Karli and I will help you.

Love,
Aunt Kara

Okay, I guess it's not that bad to follow after her. She was pretty darned cute!

Pioneer Days

2011-04-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite childhood memories has got to be Pioneer Days.

I loved camping out, usually at Brophy's ranch, Westwoods or McKee's down by the river.

I remember the whole ward being there - at least it seemed like it.

Karli barrel "racing" with Shalako.

Watermelon and sodas cooling in the stream.

The primary games organized by Sister Germer, Peterson or Schumann.

Bro. Roblyer telling stories.

The men playing horse shoes.

The food! Why is it always the food for me?

The tents and sleeping under the stars.

And of course the Primary costume parade.

Oh, the fun we had.

Dandruff

2011-04-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

A common childhood ailment in our household was dandruff.

But it did not stand a chance against our mother and her tools!

Of course another necessary element were these boys :

I imagine they have fine looking scalps now thanks to Mom.

The Dogs of the Past

2011-04-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

We have had many a dog at the Gulbranson household/farm over the years.

The earliest one I can recall was probably Muffin.

Why name a dog Muffin?

Well being a St. Bernard, what other name could you come up with?

Then there were April, Maggie, an entire congregation of lab/mixed puppies.

And of course Cassie.

How can we ever forget Cassie?

I'd be interested to know how many dogs have come in and out of our childhood home.

Most of them left via the highway ...

These two...

2011-04-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 40 years since these two got married.

40 YEARS!

And their still willing to pose for a picture!

I had to catch myself ...

2011-04-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like Nephi,

Having been born of goodly parents.

Then I feel badly for my own children.

But at times, more often than not, I have a blast from my past.

For instance.

This last week I had asked and asked and asked Tate to do something.

Put away his clothes and clean his room.

Is that to much for a 7 year old?

I didn't think so!

After coming into his room and finding it in even worse condition before I let loose.

It all came so quickly.

Something so familiar.

Flowing so easily.

I was half way through when I realized ...

I AM MY MOM!

"Tate, that is it! I have had enough.

Next time you do a job half way,

I will drive you half way to lacrosse practice and see how you like it."

Do any of you remember hearing that exact phrase.

Only input whatever practice, YW, Cubs, etc you were going to.

Ahhh, the memories!

What do you find yourself saying to your kids that comes straight from the book of Mel and Kathi?

Nostalgia

2010-08-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

As I was getting things ready for school to start this year I was making cookies to freeze and put in lunch kits. I wrapped the cookies in packages of 3 and started wondering why I do that. Why three cookies?

Because that's how mom did it!

Everyday for lunch we had three homemade cookies - sometimes peanut butter, sometimes snickerdoodles, sometimes oatmeal - but most often chocolate chip.

Funny what things are passed down and repeated from generation to generation.

Mother's Day Thank You

2009-05-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

I know it's a day early but I wanted to thank the Brother's, Dad and Sweet Hubbies for the Mother's Day dinner. Early this morning the phone rang at the Jensen home, it was early for a Saturday yes, but I was already up, had ran my 3 miles for the day and was naked ready to shower. You can all wipe most of that from your minds, I was just giving details. Anyway, I heard a very secretive conversation about the Mother's Day dinner being planned for tomorrow. Start time 5:oo pm, bring kid's bikes and your food assignment. After Russ rambled on with my Daddykins they hung up so I asked, "What are we suppose to bring?" The answer was, "Mind your business, don't worry about it, it has all been taken care of." How sweet they are, the men in our lives, I love them all and I am thankful already for the meal that they are already preparing. I like being a Mother's day meal recipient. And even though my Bros will never read this post, I love them and thank them. And how about that Dad of ours, he's good stuff, I love him. And nobody compares to my Russ, I love more than anyone in the entire world. Long live Men!

Spring Run Off

2009-04-29T21:11:00.001-07:00

Okay siblings, I know I am not up there to witness the spring run off and have the joy of vacuuming out basements with all the flooding going on. But my mind was turned back today to the joyous spring run off around the house. When we donned our gum boots and jumped on the inner tubes with paddles and paddled from pond to pond. How we ever lived after those adventures is beyond me. We survived both the frigid cold water without knowing how to swim and we seemed to elude any suspicion from Mom (thanks to Jana washing all our soaking wet clothing). I remember hiding our wet clothes in the fort until mom made it into town and we would quickly run out and bring in our now musty, muddy and half frozen laundry for Jana to do before Mom got back from errands. Thank goodness she needed her break from us and enjoyed People magazine and a bag of M&M's at the park for an hour or two. It gave us plenty of time to wash the clothes and get more of them dirty!
I can't believe we would "swim" in those filthy ponds and quite enjoyed ourselves at that. I am just glad Kyle survived his close call, he didn't even get sucked into the culvert! We were not always smart, but we have always had fun! Miss you all this spring, wish I was there!

Missing it...

2009-03-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

Wow, I miss Vanderhoof right now, miss the family, miss the store, miss the people, even miss the farm.... Came accross these photos today, my kids need to get back on the ranch. Tate won't go 5 minutes without washing his hands, can't stand to have them sticky or dirty. How did that happen?

What ever happened to....?

2009-02-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

Okay, ignore the dashingly handsome man and adorable child in this picture. Instead focus on the tree in the background. Who remembers this tree? It was around for every occasion at the church, in later years it did not look so good, the affects of many a nursery child taking the rocks out of the bottom and youth clinging to its branches. I wonder where that old tree is now, maybe Jana could shed some light on this question for the ages....

Winters a Comin'

2009-01-29T17:21:00.000-08:00

We've pulled in the garden, put up the hay and pulled out coats and gloves, now onto the wood haulin'. When we built the new house we put in geothermal heat which cools and heats the house through coils of water in the ground (don't ask, I can't tell you) but we also put in a large wood burning fireplace which has both cooked and saved our bacon from freezing. We love the crackle of the fireplace on cold days and the red glow in the evenings and those of you who know Russ know he just plain can't stop making fire. So before things get too cold we chop and haul wood for the winter months. It may look like I don't work around here but hey, someone has to take the pictures and boss and there has to be some sort of perk for being the only girl in the house.

Gage???

2009-01-13T12:28:00.001-08:00

Does this look like Gage to anyone else? I thought the resemblance was amazing! Korlyn, you were an adorable kid, the puppy is not too bad either!

Christmas ?

2009-01-13T12:16:00.000-08:00

For some reason I remember Kaelen not wearing pants in the picture, thus the pillow on his lap. Does anyone else remember this? Or am I thinking Kaelen just never had pants on? Also, pretty sure mom made most of these clothes for us, some of the fabrics and patterns are probably still in the "sliding door closet" upstairs, all cut out and ready for sewing!

Forever Young

2009-01-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

I believe this was when we were all here in Utah for Karli & Mike's wedding. We went to Lagoon to celebrate the wedding while they went on their honeymoon. Some one correct me if I am wrong on this timing. Mom and Dad, after much coaxing and mocking, rode the rocket launcher! Here is the proof.

BAVMORDA!

2009-01-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

Mom has always been a good sport putting up with all of our teasing. Well, I was going through my pictures and sorting them and came upon this gem! It quickly took me back to calling Mom Bavmorda! "Pigs, you're all PIGS!" Pretty sure she was right as I try to keep up with my little piggys now! Thanks for letting us have fun with you Mom!

Basketball for FHE

2008-12-26T15:56:00.000-08:00

Does anyone remember watching Dad play basketball for Family Home Evening? In my mind I seem to remember watching Dad and cheering for him many a Monday night as they played basketball. I remember thinking Dad was so good and we had so much fun playing on the bleachers, running up and down. Pretty sure they won a lot and it was fun to play with all the other kids there to watch their fathers play.

Any Memories Triggered?

2008-11-03T19:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, this may not be "the" three wheeler from our childhood. But I wanted to get every one's memories from this sweet little machine. My memories were triggered today as I took my friend dinner who was recently in a four wheeler accident and is very bruised and banged up. I have two specific memories from our blast from the past. One involves Mom and the other Kaelen.

Mom - I remember being told we were not able to ride on this "dangerous" machine until Mom or Dad had given us a safety demonstration. Well, for some reason, and I for life of me cannot imagine why, but Mom gave us that demonstration. She mounted the three wheeler and successfully navigated her way out past the hay shed and turned around. But on the way back the fence line had moved and she hit the barbed wire fence of Peppers Pen took out several fence posts and several lengths of barbed wire. She was bruised and battered, but the biggest damage was to her ego as we have never let her forget this little mishap. For some reason, this is the ONLY memory I have of Mom ever on a three wheeler or any ATV for that matter. Her safety lesson was very effective and lasting, I don't believe I ever got in an accident for fear of the fence. Also, I am pretty sure that is as fast as I have seen Dad come to the aid of Mom, an over all good and fun memory!

Kaelen - my next memory involves Kaelen and a minor accident, that was probably his fault. Actually, this can probably be blamed on Uncle Aaron. I believe we were told that under no circumstances were we to use the three wheeler unless Mom and/or Dad were home, but like so many other warnings/threats, this one went unheeded. Aaron and I were on the three wheeler and Kaelen came running out, or away from us, I can't quite recall. Somehow he tripped and landed sprawled out right in our way. In lieu of tipping over, we ran over Kaelen. He cried like a baby about a little hurt arm. Well, turns out he may have broke it and we knew we would be in big trouble. So, like the good children we were, we banded together to make up a very plausible story. Kaelen simply tripped on the hose on the steps outside and fell on his arm. What is not believable about that? We even made sure the hose was positioned correctly, CSI style. Well, our story was not believed and the truth came out later that night as Kaelen had to be taken in for x-rays, he just couldn't stick with the story! Sorry about that Kaelen, but no harm done, right?

Everyone go ahead and post their memories from this wonder of a machine, Jared, I believe you should have a few just from your own experiences!

Welcome Gulbranson Kin

2008-10-01T19:29:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I am finally getting my blog going for us kids to post some of our memories of our childhood. Of course we will be blogging about all of our escapades, I am pretty sure Mom and Dad know most of them by now! But I would also like to put pictures up and have people post their memories of that event, it can be anything. Of course our memories will differ because what we "experienced" will differ from sibling to sibling because of the way we "lived" it. So pull out your old photos and get ready for some good old knee slapping fun. Hope you all enjoy doing this!