The 4 Bryans!!!

Well, it finally happened. All the Bryan siblings (Roger, Susan, and Laura) got together for a photo shoot on the last day we were in Austin to visit Maxine Bryan (our Aunt) in the hospital. We actually had the concierge take our picture in the plaza of the Embassy Suites where George Keeney had us all installed.

Thank you George, not just for the room but for letting us have Susan for a few days!!!

I enjoyed our time together even though there was lots of work to do. They all look great don't they? I'm proud of the people that they have become. It is good after all these years to see that with all that has happened in our lives they have chosen to be great and awesome people.

When visiting Maxine, she told me that Chuk and the kids should come by and I told her, "Maxine, I have 6 kids and 13 grandkids," to which she said, "oh, they don't all need to come at once!!" LOL!!! I told her that everyone was praying for her and we loved her.

The Race!!

Here are some still pictures of the grandkids as we were filming some of our movie, "The Race" on our latest trip to Utah!

Sarah, Zac, and Ellie!!

Michael helping Chuk get the shot set up!! Crew and runners waiting in the wings with Christy!

A fun moment after feeding the masses!

Well, there is more to come but that will have to wait until next post!

It's A Wrap!

We have shot our last "roll of film" so to speak and are packing to come home. It has been an awesome visit with our kids and grandkids. Today we went downtown and filmed the kids running around the mirror pond on Main street between the Temple and the Church Office Building. We also met up with Allison Showgren and Annika for lunch at the Lion House Pantry and will try to post a picture. I didn't get one of her with Cathy like I wanted so hopefully we will come up with one at the restaurant. She looks great and we had a wonderful visit with her.

We can't wait to get home to see our family and friends but it is hard leaving our family here. We actually found that we liked the Kaysville, Farmington area and thought it would be great to move there. We would be close to family and in a very picturesque place. Old fashioned goodness, antiques, ice cream shops, 50 cent movie theaters, mountains, farms...we love it all. Bountiful is great but we like more space to move around in. We'll see how things go this year.

Just a note, we have been keeping up with some special friends who are battling cancer. Jerry and Dawn Davis. Our prayers continue to be for the Lord's guiding hand to be with them and their doctors. Things are looking better for Jerry this week and we are very happy for them.

Life is so precious. Take the time to tell someone you appreciate them, care about them, hug them, forgive them....life is too short to let things get in the way of friendships and relationships. We love you all. See you soon.

In UTAH!!!!

Hey all....we are in Utah and have been everywhere....Park City (where it snowed on us IN MAY!!!), Gateway, a 50 cent theater (wooohoooooo) in the Sugar House area and started filming our movie "The Race." We will have pictures to post when we get back home. Sorry about the confusion for those of you who didn't know what movie we were doing. We do shorts for our family and friends to watch. Our very first movie was called "Noon Train," and starred Ernest, Sandra, and Christian Chan. We did a lot of filming with green screening. This movie (The Race) includes all our Utah family and we are filming them running all over the mountains in a race. So far it is way fun!!!! (Well, the kids do get tired after about an hour of running all over town.) Today we are filming more of our grandkids, doing interviews, and filming the beginning sequence with the whole "crew!"

Chuk has been taking classes and studying filming for the past two years and I am taking classes to do animation to add to our movies. It is our hobby and we absolutely love including our family in what we do. The grandkids are so excited to be a part of what we are doing!!! We have another script in the works which we put together after an extended family meeting a few months ago but probably won't begin filming for a while. When we get it together we will let everyone know!

Off On a New Adventure

Yep, here we go....off to see the grandkids and film a new movie. Chad is going to colaborate with us on this one so it will be exciting to learn some new filming tricks from him. We are on the verge of buying some really cool equipment and I will be taking some classes in the Summer and Fall that should give me some insight into how I can help Chuk with some of his filming and such. I can't believe that we are doing so much with our art......learning that we can do more than we ever thought we could and letting our creative juices go. It is exciting to be getting the support we are from so many of our new friends at school, students and teachers alike. You all are so awesome!!!! We are trying to get our kids on board with alot of what we are doing and the grandkids are really excited. This is so FUN!!!!!! Michael has called us at least a dozen times in the past three days and can't wait to be helping out (he's 14 now!!!). Well, hopefully we will be able to post some pics when we get back....in the meantime I thought I'd post a picture of our green screening from out last film. (And yes, that is the middle of our living room!)

Barbara's Final Pieces!

Here are my final two projects for Design 1. I am so going to miss this class. Besides having the best teacher I 've ever had....the students in this class are awesome and supportive as well. I felt like I learned so much. Theresa, thank you so much for all you have done to help us!

I am posting my last two projects below. The one on the left is my analogous with anomaly and the one on the right is my muted color with texture. I loved learning to do these two. I found out I like geometric shapes more than organic ones but I am still trying to work with organic shapes so the last piece in the middle is one of my experiments. Don't you just love how one shape looks like it is trying to speed out of the composition? LOL!!!!! That would reflect the PANIC I sometimes feel when I am trying to get these design principles down!!! I am doing better though and finding myself able to come up with designs that are not subjective!!

Jen's Art Projects

Here are Jen's latest art compositions. Her print in orange and blue with gestalt and her muted colors with texture! Way to go Jen!!!!!

Whew!

Well, only two more days to finish my last two projects. I decided to take a break tonight due to the fact that I knocked my paintbrushes over and spilled water all over my bristol board. I'll probably get up early and dig in again. ......ah well.....Monday is my design porfolio final so it will all be over with soon. I got a chance to catch up with Sandra today for a bit. I haven't seen my girls in two weeks and I'm missing them...Christine called tonight worried about Meagan. I remember the woes I used to feel as a young mother....the concerns and struggles to try to figure out what was the right thing to do. Sometimes the answers didn't come very easy and as I look back I realize a lot of things were just the ebb and flow of life. Nowadays there is more to be concerned about. Keeping a good perspective helps....I really liked this quote from President Thomas S. Monson from the April conference......

"Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prove ourselves worthy to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. In order to be tested, we must sometimes face challenges and difficulties. At times there appears to be no light at the tunnel’s end—no dawn to break the night’s darkness. We feel surrounded by the pain of broken hearts, the disappointment of shattered dreams, and the despair of vanished hopes. We join in uttering the biblical plea “Is there no balm in Gilead?”

"We are inclined to view our own personal misfortunes through the distorted prism of pessimism. We feel abandoned, heartbroken, alone. If you find yourself in such a situation, I plead with you to turn to our Heavenly Father in faith. He will lift you and guide you. He will not always take your afflictions from you, but He will comfort and lead you with love through whatever storm you face."

Two More Projects Done!

Here are two more projects.....one is a Monochrome blue that was designed to create a mood and the other is my Gestalt Print (yellow and violet) which is supposed to set your eyes to jiving!!