Life With All Boys

Boys & Their Toys

2009-04-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Last year for Griffen's 8th birthday, his dad gave him his first BB/Pellet gun. In the months following, the gun really didn't make much of an appearance (much to my delight) but in the last few weeks with the warmer weather trying to emerge, the gun has been a bit more visible than I care for. The talk around the house recently has been about shooting the annoying neighbor's cat, who uses our flower beds & my garden boxes as a liter box, the birds & possibly the yapping dog that lives behind us, who as John says makes us prisoner in our own house. Everytime we go in the backyard or on our deck that thing starts barking. Now I'm off track. Yesterday after returning home from a 5k run I did for Second Chance Organ Donation, the boys were all hyped up about going to the mountains to shoot the gun. I had no problem with it, but asked that they not shoot any animals. I also thought it a great father/son outing & stayed behind.

As you can see buy Dallin chugging his pop that cans were used as target practice.

John said Davis hit the can everytime from this position.

Dallin is all business.

The boys had a blast & are already asking when they can go again.

I can't finish this post without a cute picture of Maggie, who is still doing fabulous for a puppy. So far the only major indescretion has been her caught chewing on John's golf bag.

Maggie

2009-04-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

For once luck was on my side. Last week we had the opportunity to get a dog. Yes, I was sooooo excited, probably more than the kids! After some serious begging, John said OK & on Thursday evening I brought home the newest addition to the Fullmer family......Maggie.

Maggie is a Golden Retriever, she is 8 weeks old & we love her! For me it is a dream come true. She has been so good & has slept (I'm sure from exhaustion) all night long. She plays well with the kids & crashes soon after. I know we've only had her for three day, but she really has been so good for a puppy.

The kids & I are so thankful to my friends, Josh & Julie for letting us be her family.

They're Five!!!!

2009-01-09T14:14:00.000-08:00

On January 5th Davis & Dallin turned 5 & I cannot believe how fast the last 5 years have gone. Most of the first few are still a blur, but life with twins gets easier & for that John & I are thankful! The boys decided they wanted to have a party this year & as nervous as I was about the whole thing I think it turned out pretty good. I mean 5 extra boys in the house really isn’t a lot different than how things usually go around here on a daily basis. Two weeks ago we had 9 boys here at one time, so the difference with the party was mostly the cupcakes.
For the party the usual neighborhood gang was present, Jaden, Aydan & Dylan. As well as Ty & Connor their pre-school buddies. We played a couple games where the kids could all win prizes. Mostly noisy toys that we could send home with them & torture their parents. We had cupcakes, opened presents & let them run wild until it was time to go. The kids had a great time.

Davis & Dallin are both infatuated with “getting bigger”. Dallin asked John why he wasn’t as tall as Jaden (neighbor buddy) now that he was five. Jaden was right there & he answered before John with, “because I’m almost six, but you’re getting close”. The morning of their birthday & after many attempts to get both of them out of their jammies, Dallin asked how many minutes until it was his birthday so he could be bigger. I told him all day was his birthday. He said, “so right now is my birthday?”. They need to know things in terms of minutes by holding up their fingers. They think 20 minutes is longer than 1 hour. I tell them what the numbers on the stove need to say before they can play with friends or if we are going somewhere. They do days, by asking how many sleeps until this or that. And without fail when they are tucked into bed both ask, “what is after this sleep?” How they come up with this stuff cracks me up. For Christmas they got binoculars that came with a small pocketknife. After hearing what happened with our friends The Davies’ son, Spencer & his first pocketknife incident, John told Davis & Dallin that when they got a little older they could have them. I knew this would happen when he bought them, but he felt they would forget about them once he had them hidden. Without fail Davis asked to have his because he was five now. John gets to deal with this one……I’m out of it.

I can't imagine life without these two & they always keep us going. They adore Griffen & want to be everywhere he is, especially Dallin. Those two are exactly alike, they could have been twins. They love going to pre-school & Dallin is in a speech class over at the Elementary School & he likes going to "Griffy's school". Davis is turning into our little artist & loves to draw. For Christmas John & I almost bought him his own ream of paper, because he goes through ours so fast. This fall they will start Kindegarten & it just seems so weird that they aren't our little curly-haired, binky boys anymore.

Here are a few pics of the boys through the last five years:

Bring on the next 5!

The Sun'll Come Out......Never

2008-06-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

Who could have imagined such a thing? Snow on June 11th? Welcome to Cache Valley & don't forget to cover your flowers & veggies! The kids & I are tired of being trapped inside & who wouldn't be after months of snow & being trapped inside? We now know how Aunt Jan, Uncle Dana & the kid feel living in Vancouver. I suppose the "Pollyanna" thing to do would be to play "The Glad Game" & say something like at least the mountains are really green & pretty, but I'd rather be ornery old Mrs. Snow & tell Pollyanna to go take a hike!

Griff is out of school & finished with piano for the summer. He is going twice a week (with cousin Jaxon) over to the school for the annual Fun & Fitness Camp. I'm sure we'll be venturing into swim lessons as we do every summer, but that will have to wait until it is warm enough to swim. Davis & Dallin started T-Ball last week & that proved once again how different the two of them are. Davis hit the ball, but refuses to run the bases. At last nights game after batting he picked up his glove & went to play in the field with the other team. No amount of explaining could bring him back. Dallin is all for it. He has asked daily since the first game when his next one would be. He hits the ball & loves to run the bases.

As you can see they both like to wear their hats low.

On Monday we hit the good ole Lagoon. We headed down in time to arrive promptly at opening with the Harris Family. The kids were super excited & the parents were.......well John was excited too. We hit a couple of the smaller rides to introduce Davis & Dallin to the joy & then moved up. To prepare them for bigger & better we hit the "Log Ride". They loved it, so it was on to "Rattlesnake Rapids" or Rattlesnake Rabbits as Davis calls it (it is to cute to correct him). Shelly & I opted to wait this one out & stay with Brynlee, so the dads took all the kids while Shell & I stayed dry. Later while the dads took the older kids on some bigger rides the best moms ever, let the boys play in the water fountains. There is a possibility that Davis was in Heaven. The three boys got soaked, but is was fun watching them. Lagoon wouldn't be any fun for John without playing any games. So, after spending what a family of 10 in Asia could live on for a year the kids were stocked with an arm load of stuffed animals we didn't need. Lucky for me we called it quits & said our goodbyes to Lagoon for another year. Ok, I'll admit we all had a really good time & even though I felt we were there a few hours to long, it was still a fun day.

John, Dallin, Griffen, Davis, Livvy, Addison, Jaden & Scott after Rattlesnake Rapids.

Left: Shelly, Griff, Jaden, Livvy & Addison on the Dinosaur Drop (Dallin is on the other side of Shelly). Davis wasn't interested in this ride at all!

Below: Dallin getting soaked in the fountains.

After feeding ourselves at The Training Table in Layton we did a surprise stop, for a quick visit with my parents. The kids were so excited to go ring the doorbell & hear grandma scream when she opened the door. They then had to show them all their new prizes & tell about the rides. And if the boys weren't already dead tired my dad made sure they would be in a coma shortly after leaving their house by chasing them around the yard & "kicking their trash". Dallin did a nice "guilt trip" when it was time to go, he hid in the house & started to cry telling grandma he didn't want to go home. If that isn't a sign they need to move back.........

Hopefully the weather will get better & if it does the boys & I will be heading to Bear Lake for a highly anticipated weekend! They have been asking endlessly since the snow melted when we can go & I'm just as anxious to visit our beloved lake.

Indiana Jones

2008-05-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Last week John DVR'd two of the Indiana Jones movies because he thought the boys would like them. John, not me. I thought they were a bit much for their age. Anyway, they watched & loved them & watched them some more. There hasn't been any nightmares or any negative reactions because of them viewing these movies. However, I now have in my home three miniature Indiana Jones wanna-be's. They have great imaginations when it comes to this & for example I'd like to use an incident that happened today. As I was back in my closet hanging up some clean clothes Davis starts yelling for me to come help Dallin. I go walking out in the kitchen & he says to hurry, Dallin's shorts are ripped. Huh? I go in Griff's room & Dallin is barely touching the floor while a bungee chord in hooked on his very ripped pants while the other end is hooked on the top clothes rod in the closet. I had to lift Dallin up & try to undue the chord hook at the same time to free him. Dallin is now minus a pair of shorts. No, I didn't even ask what they were doing because the possibilities right now are endless. I just took away the chords & told them they were not to play with.....ever. Davis' reply was, "but we need them for our whips". Whips? Yes, if you remember Dr. Jones carries a whip with him & uses it for many different life-saving, & heroic events throughout all his movies. I now live in constant suspense of what will happen next. Please send you prayers.

Not much new here at the house. Griff will be out of school in two weeks for the summer & we only have two soccer games left. Davis & Dallin's last day of pre-school is this week, although they will continue to go to Susan's while I am at work. I made it to my six week post-surgery, anniversary & am now officially back among the land of the living & working my way back to a fully functioning life. I did some weeding yesterday & helped John clean out the garage. It was nice to be tired from actually doing something. John was released last week from the Young Men & put in as a Sunday School teacher for the 15 year olds. I think he has been with the Young Men for four years now.

The sun still rises in the East & sets in the West at the Fullmer House.

The New Addition

2008-05-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

Looks like these boys all need a tan!

I'd like you all to meet the newest addition at the Fullmer Home. Yesterday John bought himself a new bike (he must have felt left out with the boys all getting new bikes). I guess it is really a scooter & Davis calls it a motorcycle, but whatever you want to call it, I call it $150 a month raise! This little sweetie get 80 miles to the gallon. On days that John is not at the fire station he makes two trips a day to Bridgerland & since the truck gets such bad gas mileage, this purchase was really a "no brainer". The kids are lovin' it, so are a couple of the neighborhood kids as well, but I think the biggest fan of the scooter is John. Yes, he does have a helmet.

Yesterday we had our weekly, Saturday morning soccer game for Griff. He does a great job as a defender, which happens to be my favorite position to play, but he likes to play forward too. So while taking his turn as forward he scored a goal & it was a pretty sweet shot too. He also scored at his game last Tuesday also.

It isn't an action shot, I'm not sure what the photographer was doing & I was busy coaching, but here he is in full uniform.

If any of you are wondering, Dallin & Davis did get the training wheels off of their new bigger bikes & took off without needing any practice. That has to be one of the easiest bike learning experiences ever, especially when you times it by two!

Tomorrow Dallin starts his first day of speech class over at the Elementary school. He will go three days a week until school is out & then twice a week during the month's of June & July. He seems to be excited about getting to go to Griffy's school, & he does know what he is going for. Griffen & Davis tell him he gets to go to a special class to help him talk better. Hopefully all goes well & every one will be able to understand him very soon.

In other big news, last week John finally took down our Christmas Lights & I'm pretty sure we were the last ones in the neighborhood this year. This was very big for me, because the kids & my mom think that it's funny to turn them on at night. He also mowed the lawn for the first time & I will admit I was a little on the jealous side. Two more weeks & I'll be back in business & will be able to mow the lawn, get some yard work done & hopefully start building my vegetable garden. Then again it will probably snow in June & kill everything I plant.

Happy Birthday Dad!

2008-04-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Today is my dad's birthday & I just want to tell him that even though he won't be getting an awesome, one-of-a-kind, homemade birthday card, I still love him. Holiday's & birthday's are one of the many reasons that I miss my parent's living away from us. So, instead of having dinner or cake & ice cream tonight in honor of dad's birthday all he gets from us is the standard, Fullmer boys singing "Happy Birthday". It is pretty dang cute & priceless if you ask me.

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!

Trying To Catch-Up

2008-04-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I haven't been the greatest at this, but I'm vowing to do better......at least weekly.

We recently had Spring Break, so John & the boys travelled to LaGrande to visit his parents. The boys had a great time & got to play with their cousins, go to the park, bowl with Grandpa Gene & eat Grandma's delicious homemade rolls & cinnamon rolls. What lucky boys.....I am still jealous. They left on Sunday & drove as far as Boise where they stayed in a hotel & swam in the pool. After swimming hard dad took them to Chuck A Rama (yuck) which they loved & stuffed themselves, well all but Dallin who got sick. They also had a room without a working air conditioner & it was in the 80s that day. Poor John. On Monday, I beat them home from my mom's house & was so excited to see them. Of course I only received a quick hug before they were out the door to play with their friends......it's ok, I know they still love me.

My mom has spent the week with us while I continue to recover from surgery. I think I'm doing great & I think mom has had a great time, being in charge of her 31 year old daughter again....actually I don't think that is much of a change from the norm. Just kidding mom. Anyway, it's been a good week & I love being back in my own house, with my own stuff, my kids & John. On Wednesday, mom travelled back down to Layton to pick up Baby Jack & bring him back up here to spend a few days with us while Lindsey & Riley are working. The boys love to play with him & I think it is safe to say he has gotten plenty of attention while staying with us. Mom & Jack will go back to Layton later today & we will miss them.

Now for the the BIG news. On Thursday, John went & got new bikes for all three boys. They were sooooooooo very excited & immediately took off. The only problem was the training wheels on the two bikes, didn't come close to the ground, so if they leaned to far over they would crash. John was going to fix them, but that is how Griff learned to ride his bike, so they were left as is & he told the boys to just keep trying. Well all was fine the rest of the day, but Friday morning when they wanted to go out & ride, both boys were really frustrated. So, Grandma took the training wheels off their little old bikes, took them to down to the sidewalk, gave them a push & they took off riding. It was amazing! They just did it with out any running behind or crashing & went all the way around the circle. I was a proud parent & we immediately got on the phone to call & tell John. They have been riding almost non-stop ever since & were fed, dressed & out the door this morning before 9:00. Those two can't wait for John to get home from work tomorrow because now they want the training wheel off of their new bigger bikes......this is where it could get scary.

Thank You Easter Bunny, Bawk, Bawk

2008-03-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Lets see last weeks interesting events consisted of a visit to the dentist for Griff, which brought him a small war wound. After coming home from the dentist I told him that he should lay down in his room & watch a movie while the "medicine" wore off. Well, he couldn't feel his bottom lip or the biting & pinching he was doing to it. He emerged from his room with a lip 4 times bigger than usual with blood all over his lip, chin & shirt. Being the meanest mom in the world I made him go to school the next day with it looking like hamburger, but at least it was smaller than it had been the day before. Of course he was upset & worried about kids making fun of him so his dad told him to say that it got hurt while they were wrestling.......he did! I tried to get him to let me take a picture, but he wasn't going for that at all, so you will just have to take my word on how bad it really was.

On Monday, for Family Night, we had a lesson on prayer. Everybody took a turn telling something that they would thank Heavenly Father for in their prayers. After all the "usual" comments, Dallin said that he was thankful for people's heads..............yep, he is a keeper.

Mason, Lindy, Klair, Dad, Riley at the top of the Dream Lift. Photo courtesy of Uncle Tab.

The Easter weekend brought my family all to Cache Valley. Saturday morning my parents arrived with Riley & Baby Jack. Dad, Riley & I then left the kids with grandma & John to head up to the The Beav for some skiing with Mason & Lindy. It was a great day with perfect weather & wonderful snow! I realized that I'm out of sync with skiing, because I actually couldn't bring myself to ski down a run that wasn't groomed. Back in the day that is not something I would do, I guess I'm getting old or becoming a wimp. Mom brought the four kids up at lunch time so we could all have a picnic together. It was very thoughtful. It is amazing how fast you discover what terrible shape you are in just by flying down a mountain of snow! Dad, Riley & I all did a good share of whining about being tired, but it was so much fun we would probably be up there again this weekend if we could. One thing is for sure.......we still have the great "form & technique" that our dad taught us! Thanks Dad.

Saturday evening brought, Easter Egg coloring & some Guitar Hero on the Wii. I'm not ashamed to say that I am obsessed with playing a video game, but I am just joining ranks with the other "addicts" in this family. For some reason John can't figure out why we like it so much, must be because he isn't any good, Hmmmmm?

On Sunday morning the Easter Bunny was running late, alright he forgot, so luckily some elves (we'll call them grandma & grandpa) helped him out by hiding the eggs while we were at church. Thanks for saving us mom & dad. We had a great lunch after church & everyone came, but we did miss Jaxon-Man & Dan. It is always fun to have everyone around & just as fun to clean up after they all leave.....NOT! It just makes me realize all that my mom did for us growing up & I'd like to take this opportunity to tell her thanks for great holiday's & Sunday dinners. It sucks to be responsible, but bless the person who invented the dishwasher!

Jack loved looking at our "pop-up" books. Isn't he just the cutest? He is loved & mauled by all of us the entire time we are with him. I love you Jack!

Weekend Events

2008-03-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

John thought it would be a good idea to explain a couple of the song selections on the blog. When looking for songs I thought it would be fun for the kids if they were involved so I picked ones that they like & can actually sing the words to.

Life Is A Highway – From the movie Cars.
Move Along – From the movie Firehouse Dog.
Jackson – Because they listen to the Johnny Cash CD when they ride in the truck with Dad. It is soooooo funny listening to them sing!
Had A Bad Day – This is one Dallin likes & he sings only the chorus……over & over & over.
Home – Is another song Dad rubbed off onto the kids.
Better Together & Upside Down – Because I like them.

Ok, so now we have that out of the way on to our Friday night “drama”. I had put Davis & Dallin the tub & had just finished washing hair. I told them they had just a few more minutes to play & then they were getting out. First I should say that these two ask to get in the tub every single day, sometimes in the middle of the afternoon! So tub time is a huge hit at this house & they do not like getting out. Anyway, I was gathering pajamas when I hear them start screaming. So I run in there & apparently Dallin wouldn’t share the cup (I had forgotten to take out after washing hair) so Davis proceeded to dump the shampoo over his head. Now were not talking a little dribble, Dallin looked like he was wearing a semi-transparent helmet. Davis was quickly removed from the tub & I started the process of removing the shampoo………..it took forever! Each time I thought I had it all I would rub his head & it would foam up again. At least I know Dallin’s hair is really clean?

Yesterday John & I traveled down to Salt Lake to meet Shaun & Candi for dinner. We all had our hearts set on eating at the new Cheesecake Factory that just opened at the Fashion Place Mall. After waiting in line for 15 minutes just to get our names on the waiting list, then to find the wait was another hour and a half we decided to find somewhere else. We ended up at the Texas Roadhouse. The wait there was an hour, but to curb our hunger Shaun shoplifted a basket of rolls for us to eat & they were very good! We had a great time & the food was just as good as the company……….WOW, that was something John would have said! It was fun to hang out with the Martin’s & both couples decided we need to do it again & not wait 10 years for the next time.

Tomorrow starts another week of adventures at this house. So far the only things on the calendar are, dentist, piano & school for Griff. Pre-school for Davis & Dallin. Work, work & more work for mom & dad.

We Are Official!

2008-03-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

The Fullmer Fam has joined the Masses! Now, there are no promises that I will be diligent, but I will do my best to get our lives posted for all to enjoy....eventually. I say this because I've had our blog setup for about a week without anything posted on it.

Hope you all enjoy our adventures & get a good laugh occasionally.