Cash-isms

Our little Cashy...what a character!  He is continually saying the funniest things and for my memory's sake, I am going to jot them down here.

St. Patrick's Day is a fun holiday in our house, where we try to catch that dang leprechaun, we have corned beef and cabbage for dinner and find green toilet water and milk.  Cash and Hunter were intent on catching that little bugger this year and set up a trap.

 When the kids woke up the next morning, the trap was down, the money was gone and NO leprechaun, only a note laughing at the kids for failing to catch him, again! Cash was not very happy about it. He was looking forward to his wishes!

Later in the morning he made the comment: "I want to catch that Leprechaun! Hunter could wish for a limo and then we could be classy people!"

Apparently, we aren't very classy.

In school, Hunter had to come up with a Leprechaun limerick. This is his...

There is absolutely no question who his dad is!

Now, back to some of the things Cash comes up with.  About a month ago, I got a text from Chet who was downstairs, telling me that Cash was coming up with a question for me.

Cash: "Mom, how do babies get in mommies tummys? It's like they eat them! (precedes to make an action and noise of putting something in his mouth and eating it)  And how do the babies come out of mommies tummys?  Do they come out of the bum, and are they covered in stinky?"

Thanks Chet!

More Cash-isms:

From FB Post - "When your very mad 6 yr old tries to get back at you by opening every drawer and cupboard in the kitchen and scatters utensils all over the floor. Then, refuses to clean it up until he gets what he wants. I am scared for his teen years...if he survives that long!! Gah! ‪#‎hardheaded‬ ‪#‎wontnegotiate‬ ‪
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"Cash asked to leave his dinner to check and see what Hunter was doing. As I am in the middle of explaining to him, "No. You can't. You need to...."
He plants a huge kiss on my mouth mid-sentence.
Cash: "I did that because you were being annoying."

Apparently he doesn't like being told "no" and has figured out a good way to shut me up. If I keep getting a big kiss out of it, I might be telling him no more often"

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Cash: Guess who I am in love with?
Me: ME!!!
Cash: nope.
Me: what?! Who? Samantha?
Cash: Nope. Scarlett!
Me: What happened to Samantha?
Cash: She's just not cute anymore.

I totally just love that kid!  He makes me laugh and smile every day.  He is also doing so well in school.  We went to his Kindergarten PTC and he is such a bright boy.  He is reading at the end of 1st grade level.  I wish like crazy he wouldn't grow up so fast. 

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May 2016, 7 years old

Me: "Cash! Stop standing on my camera bag!  If you break something, you're going to be in really big trouble!!!"

Cash: "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I forgot.  See this thing? (points to a plug outlet) I only have three of those in my brain and I have 3,000 things to plug in.  And that wasn't plugged in."

Goodbye Girl!

I never, EVER thought it would be so hard to say goodbye to a car. A CAR! That's right, a big scrap of metal on wheels.  

On March 13th, yes, that would be Friday the 13th, my daughter Kylee was driving home from work.  She had her phone in her lap, big no-no, she got a text and looked down at her phone to check it out. Even BIGGER NO-NO!!!

BAM!!!

She looked up, traffic had stopped and she hit the car in front of her, destroying the front end of my red, Ford Escort.  Now, this car was my baby.  She was my High School graduation present to myself and first "big girl" purchase. (Let me mention I also bought her on Friday the 13th).  I drove her off the lot with 3 miles on her. She has been in my life longer than my husband. There were so many memories in that car...she drove us away from the reception center on our wedding night, she brought our first baby home from the hospital.  She was always dependable and reliable and was such a great car for me and my family.

We were hoping that my brother in law could maybe save her for a few hundred dollars...but, not to be so.  Chet got the phone call a few days ago that we were in over what she was even worth. The tears came....and haven't stopped.

 

Kylee and I went to the body shop on Friday to get stuff out of the car and to say goodbye...well, I needed to say goodbye. I held it together until we got back into my van and then I had to have a moment and cried...cried hard, started to drive away, took one more look at my little red car and cried until I was almost home.  

I know, it's so silly to be so sad over a car.  I am the kind of girl that is very sentimental and in all honesty, for me, it was a very hard loss.  I loved that car, I had her for 22 years, and she was good to me...and my family. 

Goodbye little red.  You deserve a very special place in car heaven. :(

Cash is 6!

I just have to give you a rundown on where it all began with Cash.  Just so you can get a sense of how much I love this little boy, and how sad I am that he is growing up!

7 years ago, we had 2 girls and 2 little boys, ranging in age from 12-4 yrs old. We were happy and very comfortable and content with our four littles.  I began receiving this nagging feeling that we weren't done, and with Hunter being four years old, I knew that the space gap was only going to grow bigger and if we were going to have another, then now was the time to start.  For a while before I started really feeling this way, I had prayed about whether we should have another...for about a year...I did this.  I really didn't get a huge "WOW - BAM" answer, but I just felt that something was incomplete.

Chet felt the same way, we knew we should have another and so we tried.  Like my other kids, we were pretty lucky to have positive results on that first month of trying.  The stick was pink, and so it began.  We weren't exactly excited about it, like we were with the others...we just began to prepare.  The sickness came and I began to start looking at buying baby items. (I had gotten rid of a lot!) I had the strongest feeling we were having a girl and I was due in October...the same time of year the rest of us girls were born AND besides, the pencil said my last would be a girl and that magic pencil has NEVER been wrong!

When I was close to 12 weeks along, we had my first Dr visit.  I had the exam, and as he listened for the heartbeat, it wasn't heard.  No biggie, it wasn't the first time we weren't able to hear a heartbeat at the first visit.  My cycle is never regular, so I always have an ultra sound to figure my due date.  We went in to the room and as the Dr began the ultrasound and I saw the image on the screen, my heart sank.  This was my fifth child and I knew what I should be seeing at this point... and I wasn't. There was no heartbeat.  There was a sack and some sort of mass...but no heart beat.  My Dr. said that it could be that I was a lot earlier than I was, and things could change in a week and to make another appt then.  Although, he only gave me a 50% chance that this pregnancy would stay.  I knew he was trying to give me some hope that I was just earlier than expected, but I knew that wasn't really the case.  As we were leaving, Chet hugged me in the elevator and I began to cry.  We told our family and they held a fast for me, that all would work out the way it was supposed to. The day after the fast, I began to bleed and within a couple of days, I lost the baby. I realized then how badly I really did want another baby, and after 2 months of healing and waiting, we were able to try again with success.

Being my last baby, and the tie breaker, we decided not to find out.  With this pregnancy, I really had no feelings on what the gender was going to be. It was just a waiting game, but we all were hoping for a girl. I also wanted a good natured baby, that was easy and slept good, had lots of thick hair and dimples! I even prayed for these things, hoping Heavenly Father would grant me everything I wanted b/c I was such a good and faithful daughter. I was given the due date of February 25th...and with my history, I was afraid it would come on my anniversary, the 19th.  I did NOT want an anniversary baby.  On Feb 18th at approx 11:30pm, Chet and I were laying in bed when I felt quite a bit of fluid leak. I jumped out of bed knowing it could only be one thing. I said to Chet, "I think we're having an anniversary baby. My water just broke!"  So, off to IMC Hospital we went and at 5:00am, on Feb 19th, the morning of our 15th wedding anniversary, we had a healthy and beautiful baby boy...with no hair, no dimples, and later, I would find out that he wasn't the best sleeper and not so easy natured.

Immediately, I felt the doors of heaven close, and I knew that our family was complete. , I felt in some small way, bad, that I didn't give Chet the baby girl he hoped for. It was almost immediate that I was in a "funk"...so many emotions with with being the last baby, last labor, last everything and that I would never experience this again in my life. After leaving the hospital, I was hit with the baby blues. With my other babies, I always had the baby blues which typically lasted about 2 weeks and then I was great.  This time, magnified by my "funk" and possibly age and even more changing hormones, the baby blues turned into postpartum depression.  For FOUR months! Four LONG, hard months I cried. I wondered what I had done. I wanted things to go back to the way they were. I couldn't bond with my baby.  I didn't feel that starry eyed, in love, infatuation with this beautiful, perfect little baby boy.  I tried, I got shots, but it was really one of the worst things I experienced and I never want to feel that way again. Cash wasn't even really a horrible baby either, he wasn't the easiest I had, and I blame Hunter for spoiling me, but he was certainly not horrible,  or colicky baby...he was a normal, average baby, who didn't sleep as long as I would've preferred...and who didn't have the super easy temperament that I had hoped for. Finally, the darkness lifted, and even though he was still not the best sleeper, or the easiest baby...it happened.  I fell in love.  But, I was angry! Angry that four months of my last baby's life, four months of those first newborn moments that I should have been relishing and savoring, were taken from me.

Although, I had prayed for all of these things I had wanted in my last baby, and even though I got the opposite of everything I had prayed for, I am so grateful that Heavenly Father saw fit to answer my prayers differently.  He knew that I needed my little boy and I am so, SO happy now that I do NOT have a little girl...(Gah, no more teen girls, please!)...  My little Cashy is so funny, cute, cuddly, crazy and stubborn, but he is mine...and I am SO grateful for him. I know that then, I didn't want an anniversary baby, but it didn't take me long to realize that I could not think of a better way to celebrate 15 years of love and marriage, than bringing our last baby, something we created with that love, into the world.

My baby is 6.  It's not the easiest thing for me, and it makes me terribly sad everyday.  I want to share my post on facebook:

"A while ago I read an article about "last times" with your kids. Last time you give them a bottle, last time you spoon feed them, last time you read them a bedtime story, last time you pick them up and carry them on your hip etc.! Many of those times we don't even realize it is, indeed, the last time. I have thought about this a lot and as time keeps sneaking away from me faster and faster, and as I watch my children get older and older, I have been relishing "every time" with my little kids. Today is the last time I will have a 5 year old. EVER. My heart is so sad that time is stealing my kids away from me, and there's not a dang thing I can do to stop it. But today, I am going to enjoy and savor this time with him, because tomorrow he will be another year older and on his way to turning into a big boy."

I absolutely cannot be excited for this little guy's birthday.  Time is just going by way too fast! Cashy had a wonderful birthday from his side, though.  He had his first birthday party with friends, that I am so happy is over with, we went to Build A Bear after and got a TMNT, that he named, Jacky.  He got Lego Batman 3, clothes, toys, and his Iron Man cake! We went to Culver's for his birthday lunch, and he had such a fun day.  I'm happy for him...but sad to see him grow up.  It makes me realize how many "last times" are coming up for me, and I hate it.  It depresses me. Especially, when I think of how old my older kids are.  I love you Cashy Poo and I hope you know how grateful I am to have you as part of our family, through all the rough times I went through, I cannot imagine what life would be life without you!

Happy 6th Birthday little man!

Talon is 14!

How in the world did that happen??? My oldest boy is growing like a weed...tall and skinny, but growing.  His voice is dropping and I can see the evidence of a man, brewing underneath.  My Talon, my first baby boy, is 14!

He has brought us so much joy in life, is such a good kid and getting good grades.  He still loves playing guitar and is getting so good.  Talon loves hanging out with his dad and they share so many of the same interests.  I hope he will always be close to him and choose to have good friends and make good  choices.  It is my fear that middle school, High School and hormones will change him.  I can only pray that they won't!

Tal celebrated his birthday with lunch at 5 guys...great choice... we had family and friends over later that night and had the usual cake and ice cream.  He got a new foot peddle for his guitar, some clothes and games.  Such a great kid... time stop already!

Rough Start

As we enter a new year, as I somewhat suspected, 2015 has gotten off to a rough start.  Later in January, Chet's young cousin, Kade, died of a heroin overdose.  Even though we have known of his addiction for years, and can pretty much predict where that road leads, it has still been so very hard on all of us.  The funeral was beautiful and we can only hope and pray that there can be some good to come of this.  That others who are struggling will learn from Kade's death and seek the help they need.  It was a beautiful funeral, filled to the very back with standing room only.  His brothers were very open about his addiction and how he died...again, hoping that some good can come from this and other lives can be saved.

We are also struggling with similar issues with my husband's brother.  He is over 53 years old, single, living with his elderly parents, and struggles to stay sober. His addictions are alcohol, pills and even harder drugs such as meth.  It has been so hard on all of us to see what he is not only doing to himself, but what he is doing to his parents, without any care in the world and no desire to change.  He lies continually, steals, has no desire to work and has drained them emotionally, physically and financially.  We have tried to step in and help, but when they refuse to kick him out and continue to enable him, it makes it very difficult to solve the problem.  Addiction is such a hard and terrible thing for everyone involved.  It not only affects the addict, but everyone else around them.  It ruins relationships and tears apart families. It is brutal, and so hard to watch.

I am so sad for the loss of Kade.  He was a wonderful person who battled a terrible demon.  At least, he is now at peace and whole again, and that brings comfort.

We love you Kade Tuff Fullmer.  Give your dad a great big hug and kiss from us!!!

2014 Year in Review

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

Well, since it's only been a year since my last post, I will just review what has happened in the year 2014 for each member of our household.  My new resolution for 2015, is to stay on top of my family blogging. 

It seems like the years 2010-2013 were very hard and full of trials.  However, 2014 felt like a great year full of lots of big milestones and adventures.  Since, my last post was about Talon and his surgery, let's start with him.

TALON : Turned 13 on Feb 13th!  His arm healed really well and was able to have his rods taken out around his birthday.  It's good as new and despite a couple of scars, he is all healed up and had a great season playing football this year on the Midget White team.  He had to have his arm in a long cast for about 6 weeks, a short cast for another 4 and then he was good to go.  Talon could not wait to get back to playing his guitar, which he is doing quite well!  He started the 8th grade and on his first quarter he achieved a 3.85 GPA.  We are so proud of him!  He is getting taller day by day and is SO close to getting his Eagle Scout.

KYLEE:  Wow, Kylee....   So many exciting things happening for her this last year.  First, her High School cheerleading team was incredible.  They had a very difficult routine and took first place in all of the state and region competitions (that mattered!).  They went to the USA Nationals in Anehiem, CA with vengeance on their minds.  Throughout the state competition season, there were some really sketchy results against Herriman, creating some animosity and a strong desire for Ky's cheer team to KILL THEM...on the mat of course!  AND they did just that... becoming back-to-back National Champions!  It was such a sweet win and a great feeling.  I don't know that I was ever so anxious and scared.  During prelims and finals a stunt was dropped in each and some minor deductions.  Herriman's routine was pretty clean except for a couple of bobbles.  Even with the drops and mistakes both nights, BHS still killed Herriman by 8 pts, which is HUGE in the cheerleading competition world!  It was such a fun trip.  I actually flew out with one of the other moms this year and stayed in the hotel with the team.  It made it a lot more fun on that end of things.  Chet, being such an awesome dad, wasn't going to go b/c he didn't think he could get off work.  However, just the week before, he made arrangements, rented a car, drove out to CA on Fri night, getting there in time for prelims on Saturday, watched the finals on Sunday and drove back home right after the awards.  I hope she realizes what a great dad she has and how much he loves her!  We all celebrated with dinner at the cheesecake factory and had fun at Disneyland over the weekend.  It was really fun being able to play with just some of the other moms. :)

Then, on June 5th...my oldest, my baby girl with big brown eyes, GRADUATED!!!  Gah.... I was such an emotional wreck.  I don't feel old enough to have a graduate.  Especially from my own High School!  Where did time go??? How did she grow up so fast?  The ceremony was held at UVU and then we all celebrated at dinner afterward at Salsa Leedos.  Kylee looked beautiful in her new dress and I could not be more proud of her!  She is a great girl and has so much to look forward to.  We are so blessed to have such amazing support from family and friends, who sent cards, gifts, money and also came to dinner. After dinner she went out with her boyfriend, and when she came home at 2:30am, she and I stayed up talking until 4:00am, decided to get some ice cream and pull an all nighter watching movies.  NOW, lets just say that my body reminded me that I am no longer 17 and cannot be pulling all nighters on graduation night...but what fun memories for her and I!

Kylee also turned 19 in August and we celebrated by going to St. George and I surprised her and took her to The Little Mermaid Broadway Musical at Tuacahn.  It was so much fun!

MAKAYLA: My sweet beautiful Makayla... she is growing more beautiful every day!  She graduated from 9th grade with a 4.0 GPA for all three years in middle school! She ran for sophomore class president at BHS but she didn't get in.  The way they held the sophomore elections was really tough.  The candidates weren't able to use any pictures, handouts, speeches or videos.  They were allowed 4 posters and then the HS took the top two from her middle school and the other one in the boundary. Kinda crappy.  However, she has such a great attitude about it all.  Makayla is still the BIGGEST One Direction fan and listens to her music every opportunity she has.

On Sept 6th she turned SWEET 16!  I decorated the house and even made her a cake with FONDANT!  It wasn't the most perfect, but it was good for me. :) We went to lunch at Macaroni Grill after the boys' football games and then opened presents. Now, back in late Nov, we bought her 1D tickets for the concert on Sept 12th. in Pasadena with her cousin, Gianna.  Makayla, of course, had no idea about this b/c we were waiting to surprise her with them on her birthday... and it was definitely a surprise!  We disguised  them in some 1D sheet music that she wanted.  We also gave her a suitcase, 1D shirt, and some clothes.  It was so fun to watch her open them...she cried and I cried.  I think that was the biggest I have ever seen her smile! We also gave her the air fare tickets and just a few days later, I checked her out of school and she and I flew out to Cali! It was her first plane ride and I think she had fun? We had such a great time while we were there.  We stayed with my brother and his family of course.  We went to dinner, to my nieces gymnastic competition... then on the day of the concert, my sis in law and I drove the girls to Pasadena.  We waited with the girls until they went into the stadium for the concert and then Christina and I took a shuttle into Old Pasadena, walked around, shopped, went to a movie and got back just in time to hear the final songs and encore of the show.  Makayla was full of tears the whole time and so grateful. Love that girl so much!  My brother took really good care of us at the airport while we waited and we are so grateful to them for making our weekend trip so much fun!

Makayla also went on her first date to Bingham Ball.  Can I just say she looked absolutely STUNNING!!!  I may have cried a little bit.  She asked one of her best friends so that her first date wouldn't be awkward and she really had a lot of fun.  Thank you to my awesome Aunt for the beautiful dress!  Makayla is also working at Mary's Bridal every Saturday, which helps her bring in just enough money for what she needs.  She is also still on her straight 4.0 streak!

HUNTER:  Hunter Jay is still the funnest, cutest, hilarious little kid.  We had an awesome summer playing at 7 Peaks almost constantly and he also played his 2nd year of Gremlin Football making the A2 team.  We had a really tough division and didn't do so hot, but he had a lot of fun and made lots of new friends.

Hunter also started the 5th grade and is loving on some girls!  Now, if you knew Hunter when he was really little you would never think that he would be the social, joke cracking kid that he is.  His teacher told us that he has a lot of friends and they usually go to him in class.  This makes me feel so good, b/c I was so worried about him being as shy as he was when he was younger. Hunter loves his X-Men and Super heroes...especially Batman. He is such a good boy and I just love him tons!

CASHY POO:  Oh goodness! what can I say about this boy, except that he is constantly keeping us in hysterics with the things he says and does! He is just growing up way too fast and learning so much.  He graduated from Pre School, which was super hard on mom.  It didn't help that I couldn't attend his graduation b/c I was on the trip of a lifetime...but we will get to that later.  Cash also started Kindergarten in the fall, which was also hard.  He had to adjust and we had a couple of phone calls from his teacher, Mrs. McDougal but all is good now.  Cash is reading SO good and loves to try and spell words.  I am amazed at how much he knows.  With having big brothers, his vocabulary has expanded as well. Not always good!  haha.  He played a little bit of soccer, but pretty much just messed around with his cousin, Lincoln.

Cashy is so much like his dad. He is stubborn, likes to test the limits, thinks he is funny and in charge.  I hate to admit though...he really is kinda funny.  He is just my little buddy.

CHET: We have been working hard to finish our basement, under a budget.  Which means, we are going through our friends and their skills, b/c we don't seem to have any.  Although, we did learn how to lay tile! Words cannot even begin to describe how happy and excited I am to finally have a basement that is done...for the most part.  We still have some finishing work to do, but it is at least liveable!  Chet continues to coach little league football and works hard to provide for our family.  We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this year.  We decided to rent a convertible mustang and drive down to Vegas for about 4 days.  We stayed at the MGM in a beautiful suite, went to shows like "O" and David Copperfield. We had a wonderful time together and I always look forward to alone time with him.  20 YEARS!!! That is a huge accomplishment anymore these days.

KIM: This has been a HUGE year for me, other than all of the accomplishments and milestones I have experienced with my children this year, I have had some BIG events for myself.  Such as, my wonderful and very generous (step)mom, giving me and fulfilling one of my biggest dreams. She took me to the Philippines in May for 2 weeks.  I will have to journal all of that in a later post, but let me just say it was INCREDIBLE. It was everything, and more, that I always dreamed it would be.  I think I cried every day, and the closeness I felt to my mom and my heritage was phenomenal.  It is something I will never forget and will forever be grateful to my (step) mom for!

I've had the fun opportunity to take some small trips. I flew out to Aneheim for the Cheer Nationals with Kylee.  It was so fun to have a day at Disneyland by myself, with some of the other moms.  Let's face it, all mom's need some "me" time, and what better place to do that than the happiest place on earth?  While we were there we experienced a small earthquake...I think it registered a 5 on the R scale.  Chet, the cutest dad ever, wasn't originally planning on coming to nationals.  He didn't think he could get off work, but decided that since this was Kylee's last year, he wasn't going to miss it.  So, he rented a car, drove down all day Friday, went to the competition on Sat and Sunday, and drove home Sunday night after the awards. He gets Best Dad of the Year award, in my humble opinion!   I also got to go to fly out to Cali with Makayla in Sept for her One Direction concert.  It was so fun to spend some one on one time like that with my girls and also get away and have some "me" time.

Now, for one of the biggest things that happened to me this year...aside from my PI trip, I had a BIG birthday!  I turned the big 40!  I, have to admit, that in a small way, I was kind of looking forward to this birthday.  There's something about a new chapter and time in my life that excited me a little bit.  I don't feel 40 and I certainly hope I don't look it, so... I'm okay with being 40.  Age is a number...it's how we feel that matters most, and I am determined to grow old gracefully (and stylishly)! My cute nieces decorated, or destroyed my yard, however you want to look at it... Chet had a big banner made and he put it up right on the road in front of my house!  He also had a surprise party for me at Salsa Leedo's where my family on both Fullmer and Diamse sides came.  My talented aunt made me the best cake ever!  OH, I cannot forget to mention what my amazing husband gave me... I diamond ring!  It is actually a 20th anniversary/40th birthday gift... but still, I am in love...with the ring, and my husband!  It is a 2.1 ct princess cut with three round diamonds on each side of the band totaling 2.85 tcw.  Lucky, lucky girl!

So that is a run down of our 2014.  It was a good year for me...I'm kind of scared that b/c we finally had a good year, the next couple are going to be tough again.  I kind of seems to go that way these days...BUT here's to being hopeful!

Now, hopefully I can keep my resolution and keep up with this blog more faithfully!