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l eat lots of ellow bomamas dipped in chocolate of course to stifle the sad feeling of another baby growing up posted by kirstin at 1 27 pm no comments saturday december 26 2015 2015 makes me tired january 2015 started with a new calling as the young women s president it s busy and challenging and emotionally taxing at times but how i love those girls and the leaders i serve with february birthday season commenced benjamin turned 9 and is into dinosaurs business and how dinosaurs can make a good business he s in 4th grade now and growing like a weed sam s birthday was next she is 7 now looking forward to being baptized got her ears pierced and was invited to join the pre competitive gymnastics team march birthday season continued with reillee turning 5 she is brilliant and organized and basically a mini me except cooler she is also on the gymnastics team emj then turned the magical 13 and i died inside a little realizing that i have a teenager this month also brought us the news that our landlords were going to sell our house which initiated a full 6 months of negotiations keeping the house clean dealing with realtors and other injustices that i won t go into but weren t very fun thank goodness we got to take a trip this month to seattle to attend alivia s wedding april i celebrated my 33rd birthday and kaylyn celebrated her 3rd she is as cute as a button but still doesn t talk much even so she is constantly asking for homework and wondering when she can start school may a challenge we started by celebrating joshua s 11th birthday he was happy to join 11 year old scouts but happier still to be the star player on a championship baseball team he rocked the season to the point where the other teams were scared of his pitching win toward the end of may luke herniated a disc in his back while he was flat on his back literally didn t move at all for 16 days i prepared for and attended all the end of the school year activities concerts and graduations baseball playoff games carried out our yw conference kept the house show ready for our oh so thankful landlords and nursed poor luke turns out i am not a very good nurse and he is an even worse patient even now his back still gives him grief but we are thankful that he has mostly healed seriously though that was an awful few weeks june school ended and we kept busy going to various doctors chiropractors and surgeons oh so fun we also spent part of every day at the pool because of course the house had to stay clean and spent the rest of the days discovering every hiking trail in the area july we headed up to seattle again this time for a family reunion it was a great break and chance to spend time with both sides of the family july also brought girls camp for emj and scout camp for the boys august i spent the month getting ready for school as i am now homeschooling both emj and joshua we also continued to spend as much time as possible at the pool except for emj who spent the summer apprenticing at a ranch all her best friends are horses september a new year of school was ushered in k 2 4 6 8 and our days grew crazier than ever school gymnastics tae kwon do horses running club piano science class dorky homeschool co op scouts seminary young women whew by labor day we were exhausted just in time of course for our landlords to finally sell our house so we spent the month packing and moving all while pretending we could keep up our normal routines lesson learned fortunately we found a large house right down the street and while we don t love the house the neighbors are outstanding and the landlords have been more than fair and generous october we moved everything in to our new home and skedaddled off to the bahamas this was a surprise trip for the four older kids and i m pretty sure they loved it we got to see my grandma and aunt go to st augustine and then eat ourselves silly on our cruise the beach at nassau was gorgeous and i wanted to stay forever except we were missing a third of the family reillee kaylyn and matthew stayed home with my angel mother making memories that i hope they never forget at least reillee won t forget them my mom came and played hard with the kids for 10 days barbies magic clip dolls books stories and hours at the park she taught matthew the ever important skill of turning around backwards to climb down the stairs suffered through each child s bout with the stomach flu and unpacked the kids bedrooms and the kitchen she got to attend reillee s first ever gymnastics exhibition can i be more grateful for her i think not when we arrived home she welcomed us home and then kissed us all goodbye in a quick exchange as she headed off to her next grandma assignment that was the last time we d see her in this life october continued with lasik surgery and recovery what a miracle and then dressing up as snow white and the seven dwarfs for halloween luke was prince charming of course november we finally got settled into our new place and new routines and we celebrated all that we were thankful for we had both a traditional thanksgiving dinner my gravy turned out beautifully and our traditional lunch of finger foods and turkey sandwiches overkill surely but festive december on december 3 my mom passed away suddenly i headed right up to seattle and relish the time i got to spend with my dad and siblings luke and the kids came a few days later and we spent nearly a week up there this christmas has been somewhat muted but in a spirit filled kind of way which makes it sweet we ve said many times that our hearts are empty but full and so we head into 2016 with a renewed commitment to emulate the example of mom in service in obedience in faith clearly this goal doesn t start until jan 1 because let s be honest i m sitting here yelling at the kids to leave me alone for just 5 more minutes please merry christmas to you and warmest wishes for an amazing 2016 posted by kirstin at 3 37 pm 1 comment merry christmas night in jerusalem christmas jammies we bought each other puppy jammies haha not quite gift of the magi but it cracked us up nonetheless live nativity or something like it seeing santa with cousins no christmas cards were sent this year and i simply couldn t choose from the oodles of hilarious family photos so here are a few christmas wonders a year in review will come soon posted by kirstin at 3 13 pm no comments saturday december 19 2015 catherine s burnham 1 30 1959 12 3 2015 anybody who still reads this blog should there be such a soul has surely heard that my angel mother passed away a few short weeks ago below is her life sketch that my sisters and i gave at her funeral it s pretty darn good but that s because she gave us some pretty darn good material thanks mom catherine s burnham life sketch mom had a phobia of throwing parties especially for herself she thought that no one would come so she is relieved to see that people attended this one this week has indeed been sad but it has also been full of tender mercies comfort from angels seen and unseen and sacred experiences that allow us to feel gratitude in our circumstances mom s story is one of triumph it is an absolute testament to the reality and power of the atonement of jesus christ to heal to find place for forgiveness to change our hearts and to become all that she was divinely destined to become in and through our savior jesus christ she broke a cycle of abuse created an eternal family and began a new tradition one of faith and covenant keeping isaiah 58 8 12 then shall thy light break forth as the morning and thy righteousness shall go before thee the glory of the lord shall be thy rearward then shalt thou call and the lord shall answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here i am and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday and the lord shall guide thee continually and thou shalt be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not and they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach the restorer of paths to dwell in catherine was born january 30 1959 on long island new york to faye and william souhrada she has two older siblings debbie billie and two younger libby and joanie she had a special relationship with her grandmother dede and frequently talked about how it was dede who gave her a rosary and taught her how to pray she always said that that kept her close to the spirit and was the reason she was able to recognize truth when she found it later at a mormon church her family moved to north carolina when she was 13 she had dreams of attending college even though nobody in her family ever had she saw a picture of the rocky mountains on a brigham young university brochure and said that s where i want to go she sought out an lds church and showed up smelling like smoke from the steakhouse where she worked she found two boys both named elder who told her she d get cheaper tuition if she was baptized she readily agreed and was baptized into the church of jesus christ of latter day saints on november 27 1976 she left shortly after for byu where she became immersed in the gospel and her testimony grew and was solidified she d been a member 2 ½ years when she got called to be a relief society president she graduated from byu in april of 1981 and married dime jeffrey burnham on june 26 of that same year after putting my dad through law school she fulfilled her dream to go to law school she graduated from seton hall in 1992 she had a number of colorful jobs in her life that all added to her experience and wisdom working in tobacco fields in north carolina waitressing at her dad s steakhouse going undercover with byu police she was a janitor did phone sales defended juvenile delinquents and clerked for a judge in newark nj and worked part time with a few law firms over the years when she worked she did so while her kids were at school or late at night after we went to bed alivia said it wasn t until she was 21 that she realized she had a working mother her favorite job though was as a mother to her four children kirstin lindsey zack and alivia and to her favorite son in law who shall remain nameless an even better job and the one she frequently reminded us was the most rewarding was as a grandmother to her 11 grandchildren emmeline joshua benjamin coleson samantha amelia reillee annabelle kaylyn matthew and elouise catherine her namesake it s amazing that all that came after spending her adolescence not wanting to get married one day in college while on the grounds of the los angeles temple she received a witness that the everlasting covenant of marriage was a necessary and wonderful step toward further spiritual progression she met my dad the following semester that experience was the start of her eternal family they loved with a love that was more than a love and set an amazing example of what marriage could be they never fought around us anyway or ever spoke negatively about each other she strived to make our home a safe haven for us and is second only to the temple as a place where i always felt comfortable and found peace mom s mortal body was riddled with ailments like the kind we all must endure in this life but that didn t stop her from constantly being a force for good i can only image what her perfect spirit will now be able to accomplish and what her perfected resurrected body will one day be capable of mom was incredibly strong independent opinionated if something needed to get done she did it if something needed to be taught she taught it if a battle needed to be fought she fought it on the day i was born my mother went into labor at home drove my brother to the hammer s home and then drove herself to the hospital she dedicated her professional life to helping those who couldn t help themselves representing children there was one occasion that perhaps won t mean much to many in the congregation but to those who know the law and the 6 th amendment it might be significant she once convinced a judge that a certain father was so vile he shouldn t even be grated a hearing the judge approved her motion so in her determination for good that man was denied his constitutional right to due process when my mother and father were newly married they lived in upstate new york during the winters it becomes very cold and snowy one day their old car wouldn t start so she bundled kirstin up and walked the few miles it was to the grocery store in the snow she had made it home when she discovered that the cashier thad given her something like 5 cents more than was due my father who had by then returned home suggested that next time she went to the store she return the amount she insisted that she needed to be honest then and not later and walked back to the store to return the miscounted change though she was incredibly independent and strong willed she was even more gentle kind and loving she had a gift for teaching and especially story telling her stories were vivid and detailed with her grandkids she was constantly playing make believe turning simple walks into dragon slaying adventures she would also often claim that a new movie coming out was indeed her idea first she had many aches and pains through the year some keeping her in bed through the day yet during those times i remember that she would call me into her room and i would lay next to her in bed she would hold me close and read books or tell stories while i sucked my thumb and twister her hair around my finger mom like so many of the rest of us was never able to see her good works we would often thank her for being such a great mother or ask how she did it to which she would begin to cry which wasn t an uncommon occurance and say you just came that way i just hope i didn t mess you up too badly she couldn t see then but perhaps she can see now that it was her teaching her encouragement and most importantly her deep never ending love that has molded each of us children refined my equally angelic father and impacted so many lives for the better mom was home alone on the day that she died but over the last few days we ve been putting together a picture of how she spent her day we think it is the perfect summary of her life of service day in and day out on thursday december 3 she read her scriptures and was on moroni 7 took dad to the airport did a substitute shift at the temple taught a class via skype to two of her grandchildren delivered christmas presents to some children in ward talked on the phone to alivia because alivia was scared to walk to her car in the dark without being asked offered advice to a friend who s daughter was experiencing a health challenge wrapped and packaged gifts for the missionaries serving from the willows ward truly she went about doing good we d like to conclude with mom s testimony...