Paul Harvey-"Good Day"

When growing up, Dad would shower (in our one bathroom home) with the radio on.  We could all hear the radio throughout the home as he listened to Paul Harvey give a spill on news and stories for the morning.  At the end he would say "this is the rest of the story, Paul Harvey, good day!"





Our beautiful home in Kimberly, that we designed and customized from beginning to end, including the landscape.  We lived here from October 2013 to July 2016.  Not long enough...now for the rest of the story...



In Fall of 2015, Nathan began searching out jobs, really searching. Often times he talks about it, but the itch was intense enough, he began scratching.  He received a solid job offer with Prudential in California, working Ag Loans.  He was very excited and tempted.  We went house searching and met with his "boss".  Needless to say, he turned it down, three times.  They beefed up the offer that many times!  (I never felt right about it)

Fast forward to November of 2015, I was in charge of our awesome Fuller Family Rebellion in St. George.

Busy and chaotic time, for sure!  But the Reunion was an incredible memorable awesome hit.  One, that each of us will remember for years.

Mom and Dad were serving a mission in St. George.  Mom had been diagnosed with Lung Cancer in July so we concluded November reunion was the time and St. George was the place. Mom felt pretty good and joined us for most of it.

Miss Sadie Jane (age 3)

 Aimee Fuller's husband, Carl Mazur took our family pictures.  He did an amazing job and with ease.  We will always treasure these special pictures and what meaning they have behind them.

Mom came and we hurried and took pictures with her and Dad, while mom was freezing, then we got her in the car to warm up.

a group of  handsome boys, Jaden, Brycen, Mac, Corbin, Body and Carter
at Grandma and Grandpa's apartment near the temple.
The visits were short and sweet to no overwhelm Grandma.
Special feeling inside the apartment.

We also took a guided tour of downtown Leeds, including the Tithing House, Cemetery and School House.  Dad, as always, did a great job sharing his knowledge.

Our TownHouse we stayed in had a pool.  The kids enjoyed playing and swimming in the pool.

Don took whomever wanted to join out to the sand dune and drove the jeeps everywhere.

Aunt Karen and Uncle Mckay and many of their kids joined us for some and also we shared Thanksgiving dinner together.
Uncle Kenny and Aunt Diane and some of their kids joined at the Dixie Canyon and tour of Leeds.
Special Reunion that we will hold dear for years.

The Rock Car behind the Tithing House and where Grandpa
Stanley's home was.  I have visited this site since I was little.
Corbin and Callie maybe?

The famous Indian Steps up Dixie Canyon.  When I was young, the Indian Steps
did not have deep foot holds nor a rope to help.  It is a drop off into the water.
(I hope Nathan has Sadie!)

The Leap for Life! Grandpa Stanley explored Dixie Canyon often as a boy
They have to jump this area to continue up the canyon. Now it is sort of a
rite of passage to belong to the family, have to jump it!
Savannah contemplating, yes she did it. Tanner watching in the back.

Kids playing in the beautiful leaves at the Brigham Young Winter Home.
Sadie, Brycen, guessing Alex and Eli and??

Two best cousins. Corbin and Mac.  Love them both to pieces

Mom and Sadie at the top of the Indian Steps waiting for others to traverse the steps

The Sisterhood and my dad.
How I love these people dearly. 

My siblings.  Just after this picture was taken, Don shoved us all like Dominoes.
Carl took pictures of the whole thing. Sweet.
(Jessie, Janie, Colette, Melissa, Curt, Marci, Dan and Don)

Our reunion theme was "I am Me Because of We".
Now for the rest of the story...

During all this Reunion planning, Nathan was offered a new position within Rabobank.  It was to be over the Northeast territory.  Which means Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and all the states around that.  We said yes, and he would begin January 1.  We did not have a town chosen yet, let alone a state.  No idea when we would move, like Spring Break maybe? Or after school was out.
Decisions coming out our ears. When do we put the house up for sale. Fix the minor things needing fixed...

Nathan and I took a few house hunting trips to Indiana and Ohio.  Focusing mainly on Ohio.  I knew we were to move, not sure where. In fact never did I feel like we were suppose to move to a certain location.
He began January 1.  Flying out and staying for a week then come home then fly out.  All the while life and school and house for sale decisions and Church callings. (me in YW's and Nathan as executive secretary) just writing this makes my insides churn.

About March, Nathan received word that the structure of the country was going to be changed. New areas assigned. They assigned Nathan to the entire East.  From Michigan down to Georgia over to the coast.  Wow! Now, our choices of places to live (towns where the current offices are located) increased to include, Florida, Gerogia and North Carolina.  How do we make that decision!
We eliminated Florida and Georgia. I said NO WAY to both.  So, we made another trip out to NC and Michigan.  Grandma and Grandpa Thomsen kindly watching our family and all the chaos that involves.

Michigan, was great, we could get a lot of land.  But, far away from the rest of the East.  Also, just seeing three homes, I nearly stepped on 3 snakes. That did me in!

Ohio had extremely high property taxes.

Our new (used) home in Clayton NC

I told Nathan I cannot make this decision. I am maxed out. With my mom and the cancer and the kids and their lives (baseball, piano and recital, end of school madness, scouts, mutual etc) I was done.
He chose NC. So...the rest of the story...


Here we are!
We sold our home by owner (well I sold it), sold our rental. Had to move in with our wonderful neighbors for a week to finish school.  Then we were homeless for 7 weeks as our NC home was not empty yet.
Having said that, was a blessing it was to be homeless for 7 weeks.  A wonderful majority of the summer spent with cousins and grandparents. I had some special mom and dad time.  I will forever remember.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Since school began, it has been Thing 1 and Thing 2 versus me at this house! They scheme and plan then ATTACK! I am their culprit and they love it. My two little blondies!














Don't let this cute face pull you in like it did me. He is sneaky!
In Church last Sunday, he could not get a pretzel out of his baggie, so he just let me know, scream style! He threw the bag on the ground. I immediately put my hand over his mouth knowing he was not going to stop, we awkwardly climbed over Nathan to get into the aisle, having to take my hand off his mouth, he let it rip again, I glance up and there is the congregation looking at us, smiling. Ugh. (empathy right?)
We go out to the foyer for some tie down lap time, I talk to him about books/toys/food inside and out here I just hold you tight (you all know the game).
Venture back into the chapel sit down, he cannot find his car/train or whatever it was and BOOM he played me on it again! (about 30 seconds passed from when we sat down) I climb awkwardly over Nathan again and head back into the foyer for more tie down time. He laughed and laughed. SNEAKY!
One other Sunday while Nathan was across the chapel counting people. Brycen stands up and yells, "Daddy where are you?", I quietly tell him Daddy is over there he will be back. Brycen did not accept the answer, "Daddy (pointing at Nathan waaay over there) Daddy where are you?"



When Nathan is able to help put kids to bed (THANK HEAVENS!) he reads this Thomas catalog to Thing 1 and Thing 2, both in train jammies. They may be cute, but oh how they work to either fight all day or attack me. Trains around here are a love/hate relationship. They LOVE LOVE Thomas, but argue over who has what train and what track and who missed what switch ect. Then they will play great together and I love them again.

We went to WinCo for some major grocery shopping and Thing 1 and Thing 2 thought it would be super fun to yell/scream in the store then laugh and laugh! Corbs is in the cart and Brycen is in the baby part of the cart. Corbs yells then Brycen does, like an echo. I was leaning over Brycen's body asking Corbs to please stop and his echo let it rip right in my ear. Oh these boys!



Thing 2 LOVES to copy and imitate everything Thing 1 does. If Corbs is dancing, Brycen immediately join in. If Corbs heads out to play, his shadow is right behind. If Corbs eats a chicken nugget Brycen will look over at him and set down his food and picks up his own chicken nugget. When Corbs wants milk, Brycen does....all day long.


Oh, how I love these two boys. They received these big wheels from our sweet neighbors and the three of them had a race around the cul-de-sac. Thing 1 was definitely in the lead, Thing 2 working his little feet (like Flintstones) so fast! They play and play together (with some fighting of course) they scheme together, chase each other, bathe together and all out live for each other. I guess I will keep them both! I find myself watching them sleep thinking about what they could be dreaming/scheming up for tomorrow. I better put my armor on and be ready! Anything goes!

A little of me, it is only fair!

It is high time a mother gets some blog time, right?

I deserve it right?

So, to start, I borrowed most of the pics from Janie's Blog, so thanks Jane Bird!

This picture of my sisters is pretty special to me. They are my closest teammates. I can call, text or drop in on them whenever!

So, that I did back in April, Savannah and I surprised Colette in Seattle. I needed her and she was obviously 'floored' with my "drop in visit!".















We had a wonderful time together. We 'motored' down to see Jess in Portland. She is awesome and we had a great time playing the game called sissa's.

This summer, I had a couple goals....to run. That being said, I committed to a dirty 1/2 marathon with Jane Bird and Colette. Dirty, meaning I was nervous and not positive I could pull the thing off! I trained, as did they, our guts right out, (no pun intended). July came as did our race. In fact it was on my wedding anniversary. Go Nathan and I!

The race was in Payson Canyon, it was a beautiful run and I really did enjoy running, until I hit mile 10. Then it was like a brick wall. I CAN say I finished a 1/2 marathon, but not the way I wanted.

Me kicking it hard the last 100 yards....some positive sides from climbing this mental mountain, I got some of the most delicious orange slices I have ever had, after my race. The other, I caught an extra running shirt they were throwing out. YES! I am a fan of freebies!


Colette running the last 100 yards. She was like a never ending sure going machine.
Janie was a powerful machine who passed me like a bird in flight! Go Jane! (which by the way, has turned into an addicted to running runner!)







Another fun race my running sisters and I did was head to the famous Dayton 4th of July 5k. We were pumped, jazzed and ready to rock-n-roll baby! That we did!




Check out my form (despite my Dad's kind words), I have a kick it and blew Colette in the dust. (it is just that Jane Bird was not breathing hard by the time I crossed the finish line!). Check out the new high school track. I ran on gravel (an uphill, in the snow both ways) during my track years-if you call them that.




We took 1, 2, and 3. Oh yeah baby! Also, the raffle at the end?? I won a case of oil! Now that is worth it!

I had to redeem my horrible 1/2 marathon outcome so I ran my own at the end of August. I ran to the canyon, down and back up and home. I felt MUCH better with my finish!

My last goal of the summer, The tough Rim2Rim run here in 20-Falls.
Did I mention a tough run? Yep it is. The race is 7.8 miles which was not the killer part...
The runners begin down in the canyon then run up a 6% grade out of the canyon, another mile of slow up hill then eventually across the bridge (which was cool) then back down in the canyon across a narrow foot bridge then back UP a small BUT steep hill at the beginning of the last mile. My legs were jelly when I saw that blasted last hill. Bout killed me right off! But, I finished and loved it! AWESOME! Missed the chance to win a freebie because my very seasoned runner friend needed to get home. But, I WOULD have won something cool for sure!

Here I am running across the awesome bridge and down the steps to join the canyon rim running path (Nathan's cell pics) The kids were with Nathan and Brycen totally fell and scraped his nose. When I ran past the kids (I am 199 NOT 76), Tanner yelled to me "Brycen fell and got hurt" as I gave him a high five. So, I had the rest of the run to think about his possible injury. It was a bad fall!

Anyways, there you have it, my list of accomplishments this summer that only have to do with ME! I have loved running and the way I feel after.

this and that

We have not disappeared, promise. Just temporarily unavailable. Summer was busy and summer was fun, but school has beckoned the kids back. (yahooo,) So, I purchased the thousand Ticonderoga pencils (we are broke now), crayons, notebooks, dry erase markers and billions of glue sticks and kissed each child onto the school bus! A little taste of freedom!















The rare moment of 4 very happy kids playing together. Tanner of course took the lead and was the source for this. They were protecting the queen. There was no chance she was escaping? or getting captured!

I have to confess, our oldest has been banned from a bedroom. He was not ready for the big basement and Brycen had taken over the 'boys' room. So, Tanner, most of the time Corbin and Savannah all slept in this very girlie room.

The room was ALWAYS a mess! One day I called it a day! I moved Tanner downstairs (pics to come) and found Savannah's floor. She has rather a cute girlie room. AND, she has kept it pretty clean as well!

(maybe confining her collections to only this cute little cubbie drawer bench helped.)


Her cute bedspread that Grandma made. I love it! My future plans, to make cute curtains and a shelf above her window. (she has been asking for 2 years, be patient my dear!)
I had to take pics to prove she has a clean room!

Speaking of my sweet girl, she had a birthday! Big 7 now. I cannot believe it! She had a "Beach Party" and the girls decorated flip flops. They really worked on them. It was fun to see their creativity come out!
Savannah is a wonderful helper and loves to hum her way around the house.








We did a lot of swimming this year. Corbs can float on his back for like 5 feet and swim for like 5 feet! Yahoo! Brycen, poor little tyke, was babysat every swimming day, but one. So, he only got to dream of the pool!















We snuck food into this very fun swimming place. For our birthdays, our wonderful neighbors gave each person in our family a ticket to Roaring Springs. My favorite ride is the Avalanche. I loved it! So, we went up for the day and had a wonderful time together! Plus MJ and Clay joined us and love to babysit Brycen!

(on another note, they are moving and my heart is so sad!)



A taste of what we have done, more to come cause I know you are all dieing to know we did not die!