Warmth in the bitter, winter cold...

There really are no words to describe the emotions and feelings I felt today. Chet and I had planned on going to the viewing of Pres. Hinckley but Chet really didn't think he would be able to get off work either day to go. I was feeling really bummed out this morning because I really wanted to go. I just felt like it was such a great opportunity that was given to us to be able to pay our respects and say goodbye to a wonderful leader. There are millions of members around the world who would probably give anything to be able to attend this viewing/funeral and here we are fortunate to live just minutes away. I would've felt terrible if I did not take this opportunity to go. At the last minute I decided to find a baby sitter for the boys and take the girls on the trax train and go. I prayed in my heart that everything would go smoothly, with a sitter, parking etc. My friend, Sonda, was more than happy to take the boys and after we rushed getting ready, dropped them off and headed to the trax station I was just hoping to get a parking space. With as many people expected to attend the viewing as well as the regulars who take Trax up to work I was worried I wouldn't find a parking space. As I prayed in my heart that I would....even if it was far away and we had to walk in the bitter cold...I didn't care. As we made our first loop around the parking lot I noticed someone pulling out of a space that was right up in front of the trax. I was able to get it and was so happy! I was a bit worried about the price of the tickets. All I had on me was $10 and I didn't know how much the tickets were. (I don't take trax that often and I didn't have time to stop and get more cash) Well, as I looked at the prices my heart started to pound. They were a lot more than I thought they would be. However for the tickets we needed I was .50 cents short! I started rummaging through my purse in the bitter cold (did I mention that it was BITTER cold?) for whatever spare change I could find and all I found was a quarter. I was checking pockets for any change. I was not sure what I should do b/c I didn't want to lose my good spot to go get change for .25! I was praying in my heart and then the thought occurred to me to go check the van. I thought I had seen a couple of coins in the cup holder. I ran as fast as I could to the van and sure enough there was one quarter in there! Wow...talk about feeling like someone was helping me out...haha! We got to the conference center and everything flowed so smoothly. The line was not bad at all and we never stopped walking through until we got up to the Hall of Prophets and had to wait for one minute to be able to get up to view Pres. Hinckley. The feeling in that room was incredible. I was overcome with such warmth and peace. Especially as you look around and see him surrounded by busts of all the prophets including himself. He looked so wonderful! Very peaceful and almost glowing. I was so overwhelmed and just began to cry. I know...surprise, huh! We had to continue walking by the casket but very slowly. Though it went by very quickly it was a very humbling experience. As you walked out of the room and into the conference auditorium the walk was lined with flowers from his well wishers and family. We read some memories and thoughts from his grandkids that hung from a beautiful spray of flowers and then in the middle of another spray from his great-grandkids hung a message saying "Dear Grandpa, We will always..... Be Clean, Be humble, Be Smart etc." Wow...I thought I was crying before. As I tried to gather myself as we walked out and towards the escalators I noticed a camera crew by the window. One of the men smiled at me and I smiled back. Then the next thing I knew he was tapping me on the shoulder asking me if he could speak with me for a moment. Ummm...Sure? So the girls and I walked over and I was so panicked b/c I knew I must've looked like a mess...just finished crying and all...and my emotions were still everywhere. Now add a big camera in front of your face and a large microphone hanging over your head to that! haha. I was feeling quite scatterbrained. I hardly remember what he asked me or my answers to them! He must've thought..."That crazy lady made absolutely no sense!" Anyway, I can't remember who he said he was with. I thought he said World News but then he mentioned that they would air it in between conferences or in the conference report (something like that) and the release waiver I signed had the name of the church on it so I really don't think it was The World News. Anyway, I'm not expecting them to show it b/c I don't think I really made much sense to the questions he was asking...haha! It was such a wonderful experience to be there and I'm so grateful for that opportunity and it is something I will never forget. It all went quickly so the girls and I spent some time walking around the visitors centers at Temple Square and The Joseph Smith Memorial building. I really hope the girls remember this experience and remember the type of person President Hinckley was! I know I will always love and remember him and try to "Stand a Little Taller" because of him.

Aww, isn't she "Precious"!

My parents decided to get themselves a new puppy and brought her over on Sunday night to introduce us. I didn't even notice her sitting in my mom's purse as she said they wanted to introduce us. For a minute there I had no idea what she was talking about. Then I noticed this little black face poking out of the bag. The dog is a Shih Tzu and her name is Precious. We were talking about breeding them with Lhasa Apso's and of course Chet had to throw in his wise crack about breeding them with Bull Dogs. When I asked why (silly me) he said, " So then you get a Bull Shhh..." well you get the idea and have probably heard that one before, especially if you know my husband. (It was quite funny though) The kids absolutely loved her and are, of course, now begging for a puppy of their own...or a baby. Hmm that one's a toss up...they are both tiny, both leave poopy messes , cry all night long and need constant care/baby sitting. Maybe I'll choose the dog because then I won't have to go through the whole pregnancy/labor thing. She is a cutie though. How could somebody NOT love that face.

We Thank Thee, O God for a Prophet...

What a bittersweet time this is for all of us right now. Last night Kylee and I enjoyed a great fireside by John Bytheway when after the closing prayer our Stake President stood up and told us about the passing of our dear, sweet Prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. It was somewhat a shock at first. I knew this day would come but still he seemed invincible in some way. Regardless of his declining health he still kept going. What a great example he was to all of us. A man with great wisdom, humility, love and humor. He was a Prophet in which I felt I had a great connection with and I love him with all my heart and feel as if I knew him personally. He almost seemed like my very own grandpa. We are all so sad that we will not hear him speak to us or see him smiling and waving his cane to all. As Talon blessed the breakfast food this morning he "blessed President Hinckley that he will be happy up in heaven with his wife." So sweet! Can you imagine the reunion he had. Oh to be able to witness that. Not only with his wife but with the Savior and previous prophets. For that we are so happy for him but will miss him greatly. How thankful I am to have lived during his leadership. I'm grateful to have been old enough to understand and remember him. We love you President Hinckley and thank you for your life, example, service and love!

Orthodontics!

Brace face, train tracks, metal mouth....Kylee has been preparing herself to be called all of those names! The much dreaded day came today...BRACES! The poor girl has some really messed up teeth and after a horrible experience with another Orthodontist we finally found another one we liked and started the procedure. She is so afraid that with her glasses AND braces she is going to look like the biggest dork ever. Actually she's being quite dramatic about it and I can't help but laugh because of how horrible her life is now...haha! Poor girl. She's quite upset about what she can't eat anymore. Chewy things like gum and one of her favorite snacks, popcorn, are on the NO list. She's got to brush a lot and, OH NO, at SCHOOL even! Oh well...One day she'll thank us for it. I wish my parents would've put me in braces!

Before

After

Flu Blues...

Well the title just about says it all. We have had a bout with the flu and so far it's kicking our tail. It started last week with Hunter being sick with a fever/cough/vomiting. Then Talon came down with it. Friday, Kylee started to not feel well and Makayla followed within hours. They had the worst of it with the vomiting/fever/aches/cough and sore throat. That lasted about 4 days. They are finally feeling better but Monday Hunter started with the fever again and now the cough. For a couple of nights there 3 out of the 4 kids were sleeping with empty ice cream buckets next to them (just in case they didn't make it to the toilet). I hate this stupid thing! I've cleaned really good, washed and Lysoled everything I can think of hoping that it ends with this little thing that Hunter has. I'm running out of puke buckets to give them at night!

A long lost love...

My best friend told me she thought I should post this so here I go...
From the time I was little one of my favorite things to do (besides dancing in front of a mirror or down the grocery store aisle) was draw and color. I loved finding pictures and drawing them freehand the best I could. I loved art in every form. I wasn't good at it in every form, however. Like painting...unless it was paint by numbers whatever I was painting ended up looking like a big messy glob of different colored paint! I loved sketching most of all and would sit for hours drawing in my sketchbook anything that would sit still long enough for me to draw it. After I got married I don't think I picked up a pencil and paper and drew something seriously other than drawing letters and simple pictures on posters for the kids school projects. Life just got busy and I just didn't think about it a whole lot. Kylee is quite the artist herself and loves to draw and color. The other night she made Makayla sit and model for her so she could draw her face. That got me thinking about it and I wanted to give it a shot. See if I still had anything left that I could claim as talent in that direction. I found a picture of Hunter when he was still very new on the mirror in my bedroom and decided to try it. Well, here are the results. I actually was very happy with the way it turned out. It made me feel like I wasn't a complete loser after all...haha. And it was nice to feel like I could still do something I loved without being to old or causing myself some serious physical injury! Now I wouldn't say it is an identical likeness to the picture but fairly close...at least you can tell it's a baby, right? I had forgotten how much I loved to sketch and I think I will have to do more of it now!

The paper got a bit crumpled in places so when I scanned it it really pulled the off the shadows of the crumpled parts. Not all of the dark gray spots on the forehead were put there by me.

Sharing Time!

Kids say the darnedest things! It came to our attention on Sunday that our wonderful little boy, Talon, made us look like such good parents! (Sarcasm intended!) Apparently the Bishop was doing the sharing time and they were talking about body parts and somehow the subject of taking care of your eyes and not watching bad movies came up...(Not really sure how it went). Anyway, at that point Talon raised his hand and said "Sometimes my mom and dad watch rated R movies!". Shellie said the room went really quiet. You can probably imagine the crickets chirping in the background at this point! Then some of the teachers started to laugh a little and the poor Bishop probably didn't know what to say. Sheesh...all I know is that we'll probably have another interview with the Bishop sooner than later. Maybe we won't be Ma and Pa on the trek after all...haha. Well...they do call it "sharing time" and Talon definitely SHARED!

Just to clarify though. We have Dish and sometimes they will play movies on channels like USA, CMT, TNT etc. but all of them are edited. The kids know that they can't watch some movies even if they are on those channels without checking with us first. So, first thing Talon always does is checks the rating of the movie by pushing the info button on the remote. So, Saturday Chet and I are watching "Urban Cowboy" on CMT which is so edited it's funny and Talon checked the rating on it and saw that it is originally rated R. Funny thing is Chet was just released 2 weeks ago as a Primary teacher so he wasn't even there to defend us! Actually, maybe it was better that he wasn't in there...haha! What horrible examples as parents we must look like now...haha.

Ma and Pa Fullmer?

Last week we got a phone call from the ward secretary asking us to meet with the "Bishopric". Chet has just been released from his calling in the Primary so we were debating on what it could be. He mentioned that it was the "Bishopric" and not just the "Bishop" so that threw us for a loop. Later that day Chet came up with what he thought it was and he was right. As we met with the Bishopric yesterday they extended a calling to both of us...

"Ma and Pa" for our ward trek coming up this July. Yep! When Chet mentioned that he thought that is what it might be I seriously stressed about it. It's a huge responsibility and I was so worried. As I thought about it more yesterday I really felt like it might be a really neat experience to do together. It's much better than going by myself and another bonus is the Ma's and Pa's don't pull the wagon!!! (At least they didn't on the previous trek) I wasn't sure what I'd do with my kids but Shellie sure didn't hesitate to offer watching them...thanks Shellie! I guess I need to start making some phone calls to other Ma's from the previous trek and start getting some ideas on what I need to do. So, what do you think? Do we look like we could pass as the next Ma and Pa Ingalls?

Fullmer Family Fun!

Nothing like partying all night and all day =) We started off our New Years celebration by going out for our traditional dinner at "Black Angus" with the whole Fullmer Family (minus kids). Then we went to Shareen's house to play our deathly match of "Password"...male against female. This game seriously causes some major fights and even divorces! (Just kidding but could!) We play male against female and those men cheat every time! HORRIBLY...the women were winning for the majority of the game and the men came back by some miracle to beat us by one question. They win just about every year but like I said, they CHEAT!!! We brought in 2008 with kisses, hugs and sparkling cider and the kids ran around outside banging their pots and pans and shooting off poppers. Then we decided to break out the Karaoke! Hey, I had to show them how Filipino's party...Lol! We did that until about 3:00 am and met again at 2:00 in the afternoon on New Years Day to play more games. We just can't get enough of each other =) Needless to say I am SO exhausted!!! Time to go back to real life tomorrow...yippee!