Carver's first game of the Fall!

Carver has been SO excited to start soccer this Fall. He has been having practices for a couple of weeks, but could not wait for the actual games to begin. He is on the same team as in the spring (The Sharks) with awesome Coach Bobby. Carver is so excited this season because he gets to play with his best buddy Luke Rose. They had their first game Friday night and it was so much fun. I love to watch these cute kids run around the field. They won the game 6 to one, and we had some pretty excited boys on our hands.

There was a score directly after this toss-in. Way to go Carver!
I love how in the picture below, all these little boys are just kicking their little legs, and getting all tangled...looking like they are just trying to be the first one to kick the ball, but notice...no sign of the ball.
Best Buds Luke and Carver enjoying a little rest during half time.
I love the joy on Carv's face just to be giving the final high fives.
Some cute spectators were cheering Carver on. Carver got a huge grin on his face and jumped up and down when he saw that Kinsey was at the game (she came straight from a club meeting at high school). Emma Rose (Luke's sister), is also one of Carver's biggest fans, and best friends...and hopefully future wife (a mom can always dream).

Fountains of fun!

I know that many of you are getting into the "fall" feeling of things right now. Well, a friend asked me recently if we have "Fall" here. The answer is...not so much. Actually, we have still been having weather in the 90's lately, and that will last through October. As much as I miss Fall, I really don't miss what
Fall leads to. WINTER. So, as I am missing the crispness of fall, I figure we might as well enjoy the extended summer. Our kids love this splash pad near our house and so we have taken them there the last two week-ends and we got some fun shots.

Just hanging out!

This chair in my bedroom has become one of Cooper's favorite new spots. I can tell when he just wants to "chill" or hang out because he will run to this chair, climb in, and just relax. He likes to watch his movies in there, or sometimes just hang out and watch me. Sometimes he will grab his blankie and wants a sippy cup to make it complete. When I set him in that chair, he sometimes just lets out a sigh of relief like he is de-stressing. What a cute little man.

Sometimes both brother's get into the "chilling" chair and relax a little. Cooper loves to do ANYTHING with Carver.

Relay Team

This past Saturday I participated in a Relay for the OUC Triathlon in Down Town Orlando. I am training for a Triathlon taking place the end of October, so I didn't really want to do a full Tri right now, but I liked the idea of doing "part" of it. I was the swimmer for my team, and I think I lucked out with the easiest part. Only a 1/4 mile swim (1/2 the distance I swim regularly). We had three Tri Relay teams from our ward, and then two of my friends did the whole race. It was fun to be there with so many people and to see the race from a different perspective. I got the swim over with and then I got to actually be a spectator and take pictures of my friends with my fun new camera. I loved it. John and the two middle kids came a long and it was fun to cheer our friends on.

But...about the swim. I just have to say, even though it was not the longest distance I have ever swam, it was a pretty difficult swim. Let me tell you why. I was swimming through weeds tall enough that they touched me the whole swim. Every time I took a stroke, I had to drag my arm through all sorts of weeds. Seriously weird. And I could see them all clearly too. Creepy. Our friend said he felt like Harry Potter in the tri-wizard tournament...swimming through all that murky green stuff. Thought I might see some mer-people at any point...or at least an alligator looking up at me.



Anyway, the whole event was fun and it was neat that the race ended down town. I loved watching my friends come in. I also loved seeing the kids having so much fun watching for their mom's or dad's. Cute stuff. Unfortunately, the biker on my team (Mark Goodell), got a flat tire, but all three of us still got to participate.

So many memories...

I am the kind of person that wants to remember all the wonderful moments we have had as a family...especially the ones that are void of cranky, whiny, fighting kids. Our Utah trip happens to be a time when my kids are SO HAPPY to be with cousins and grandparents and friends, that they forget to be bothered by their siblings. It is a beautiful thing. So...since we just got our computer up and running after a month of not being able to use it much (thank you Chris Dowdy...you are a rock star), I now feel the need to record all the memories that happened in Utah. I know this is all "so yesterday" and I am kind of late doing all of it, and frankly...probably kind of boring and redundant to most of you, I still can't stop myself from talking about just a few more highlights from our Utah trip for my own sake. Feel free to scroll through it all. But...if you are a family member, you might just find yourself starring in one of these pictures.

A few highlights of Utah...besides the ones previously posted...

-riding the new commuter train (The Frontrunner) into Salt Lake to go to Gateway. It was me, and my mom, Wendy, Jodi and Jon, and our kids. The kids played in the fountain, we had something to eat, and it was a fun adventure. And then when John came to Utah for his week, we as a family rode in again and enjoyed the day.

-The swim party at my sister Brenda's house. I love this party every year. We all just get together and swim and eat (what else is new), but it is so fun to be at Brenda and Larry's house.

-The drive-in movie with Amy and her kids and Jon and Jodi

-Staying at Jon and Jodi's house for a week. I loved being able to hang out with Jodi so much. She is such a close friend,...besides being my sister in law. Our kids played so cute together and I just loved our time there. Their house and yard are beautiful and we loved getting to spend the every day moments with them. Loved the killer bike rides with Jodi (she likes to go straight up the mountain). I also loved it when she and I were talking and talking and getting nothing done.

-Outdoor movie in Mom's back yard on the 24th of July

-shopping with BFF Amy, Heather and Jodi. Shopping with Wendy. Shopping with Wendy and Jodi(looking for the perfect dress for my highschool reunion), shopping with my mom ,...OKAY...WE DID A LOT OF SHOPPING!

-Being at my Mom's house and getting to just chat with her and my Dad and see how much my children love interacting with them. They love Grandma and Grandpa's house and love being with them.

-the fun jewelry party that Jodi threw for me in her back yard. It was perfect. All her friends came, all Wendy's friends came, and people loved the jewelry, bought a lot, and then everyone stayed around and enjoyed the party. What a fun night.

-the way my kids just love their cousins so much. They honestly just couldn't get enough. Every night they were begging for another sleepover. Grandma Fulks even made a cool fort for Parker and Carver to sleep in one night. What a cool grandma. Carver and Madi had so many fun sleepovers at her house (they are the cutest friends even though they are two years apart) and he loved playing with Hyrum. Kennedy and Brooklyn were joined at the hip. Kinsey loved being with Joy and Dylan and Lexi and Martsie...and james and Melissa. It was so great to see them all enjoy each other so much.

Future cougars!

Our kids wanted to know all about the "Y" on the mountain. They were kind of fascinated by it.


So BYU is where John and I met...and now we are back visiting with our 4 kids. Kind of weird, but really neat too.


My cute true blue boys



We had such a fun day taking our kids to our old stomping ground at BYU. I loved my years at BYU so much, and John did too, so we love it that our kids get so excited to visit the campus. Things have changed a lot since we graduated, but some things are just the same. Kinsey wants to go to BYU more than anything in the world, so she just loved being there. Only 4 more years and we could be bringing her here to campus to start her Freshman year. How did time fly so fast? We had fun walking around, seeing the new buildings, eating in the Cougar eat, and shopping at the book store. We drove the kids by the places we used to live and had so much fun reminiscing about our days at BYU...while I am sure the kids were rolling their eyes and thinking "our parents are so old".

Catching up with friends

Every year when we go to Utah, we make a point to see our good friends that live in Elkridge Utah (near Payson, up on the Mountain). We have been friends with the Stephen's since I was a teacher. Onna and I were teaching partners and we have been friends ever since. Our husbands hit it off and we did many things together as couples and with our kids. Onna and Travis have since divorced, but she remarried a few years back and we sure enjoy spending time with her new husband Glen and his kids. Our kids and the Stephen's kids have been friends their whole lives (Onna and I were both pregnant with our first kids one of the years we taught school together), and even though now we only see them once a year, we enjoy our visit so much. The kids act as if they have never been apart. They live in such an amazing spot, up on the mountain where you can see the entire valley from every view in the back of their house. And then in front, the view is of the mountains and canyon. It is so beautiful and relaxing. The kids love to play outside, jump on the tramp, run around, watch movies and just have fun together. We always spend the night and it turns into a couple of really fun days. Onna and I could always talk for hours, so it is so nice to see her once a year. What wonderful friends.

See him "SLIP AND SLIDE"

I just love this sequence of Carver on the slip and slide. It kind of freezes in time the kind of little boy Carver is right now. Just full of joy and excitement. I just love this boy of mine. I love how his face can tell the story. He is so expressive and he gets so much joy from small and simple things. A slip and slide in Jodi's back yard, on a beautiful hot Utah summer day. What could be better.

A bunch of girls...waiting for "Breaking Dawn"

So I have to say that I am a true fan of the "Twilight books". I read all sorts of things, but these books are a fun escape for sure. Kinsey and her friends love the books, so I finally read them all last winter. Since we knew we were going to be in Utah when the new book came out, we thought it would be fun to go to the party at Barnes and Noble and get our books at midnight. I knew that some of my family (Wendy and Jodi and Joanne) were on board, plus we all invited friends, and it turned into such a fun big party. The young girls dressed in red and black (to match the book cover) and we started out the night by eating at Cafe Rio. We headed over to the Barnes and Noble party and had fun doing trivia and being a part of the excitement. Jodi and Kinsey had waited in line the morning before to get the wrist bands to get the books, so we were grateful to them. The crowd was AMAZING. So many fans. I think we were in group three to get our books. Each book was 50 people, and there were 30 groups. Wow. We headed back to Jodi's house and made scones, and Kinsey and Mia and Jodi stayed up reading for part of the night. It has been fun to talk about this book with my family, sisters, nieces, and sister-in-laws. Pretty much everyone loves the stories. My brother even read them all. Fun stuff.

Annual Girls Night Out!

I LOVE GIRLS NIGHT OUT! Every year when I am visiting in Utah, me and my mom, my sisters, my sister in laws, and my grown nieces have a fun little girls night out where we go to dinner and a movie. We always do it at Gateway Plaza in Salt Lake. It is one of my favorite summer family traditions (though I say that about a lot of things...cause I love it all). This year we ate at Rumbi Grill, then saw the movie "Mama Mia". But the best part of the night is always all the talking and laughing we do. And if you know my sisters...and me...then you know that we can TALK. It is so fun to be together once in a while without the kids all around.
This year Kinsey graduated to "Girls Night out". She has never come with us before, and it was fun to have her along this year. This is Kinsey and Alexia, her 18 year old cousin. They are so close and spent a lot of the vacation together.
Front row: my sister Wendy, my sister Brenda, me, My mom. Back row: My sister in Law Jodi, my sister in law Colleen. We missed my sister Linda who also lives and Florida and didn't make it out to Utah this summer, and we missed quite a few grown nieces ....and niece in laws (one was about to give birth...and some of them live out of state)
The cousins (well, a few of them). Kinsey 14, Martsie 20, Melissa 22 (just graduated from BYU Idaho...can't believe it), Joy 14, and Joanne 32 (Joanne is my oldest niece and she actually has kids some of my kids ages...and yet, she still looks like she could fit in with these young girls. She is more like a sister than a niece)

I AM SO GRATEFUL TO HAVE ALL OF THESE WOMEN (AND MORE) IN MY LIFE. THEY MAKE ME LAUGH, TEACH ME THINGS, AND UPLIFT ME.

Issues!

Okay, our computer has issues. I have been basically without the Internet for the past four weeks. Our computer needs to be sent into the manufacturer to get some sort of new card...and it will take another couple of weeks before it is up and running. We have an old laptop, but it is too slow to do any blogging on, so I finally came over to my friends house to get a little done. I have so much to blog from this past summer and our trip to Utah, and I have been without a computer. So frustrating. Anyway, I started today, posted a bunch of stuff, and will continue when I can. It may be jumbled and out of order, but I am getting back to it little by little. I have missed so many things about the computer. I guess I really do love technology.

Swimming, swimming, and then swimming some more!

My kids are FISH! They love the water, and good thing...because we always seem to be near it. I grew up with a pool, taught swim lessons as a teenager (for ten years actually), I love the ocean, and now I swim in triathlons. John was a swimmer and a water polo player in high school, so we are glad our kids like to swim. When we are in Utah, one of the MAIN EVENTS...is SWIMMING! My mom and dad have this pool that was built a good 30 years ago...and it still gets so much use from all the cousins. These kids can swim for hours, and it is so nice to sit around the pool with my mom, sisters, sister in laws, grown nieces, and friends, and we just all watch the kids swim, and jump in here and there to keep cool. Cooper loves the water as well and I am teaching him a little swimming, but hope to improve that over the year. So many memories have been made in this pool. I get nostalgic just thinking about it. Cousins and friends and neighbors all enjoying the Fulks pool. John was standing on the roof of my Dad's garage to take this shot. Kennedy is doing the famous "backwards fall" into my mom's pool. The kids love the diving board and love jumping in...usually doing some sort of trick first. One of their favorite pool games is called "toothpick", which involves trying to jump in and grab a tiny toothpick while others are trying to do the same...or something like that. This was actually at my sister Brenda's pool. We also have a pool party there every year, and Carver was having the time of his life chicken fighting with uncle Jon, and Uncle Charlie and his cousin Hyrum.
"NIGHT SWIMMING" is one of our favorite things to do. Lots of times family members will just show up to swim in the evening, and before you know it, we have a party going on. I love the glow of the light in the pool, I love the dark night, I love how much fun the kids have. this is Kinsey, Kennedy and Kinsey's BFF Mia. "Toss the kid" was played regularly at my mom's pool. Uncle Darin seemed to be the favorite "tosser". He would get those kids so high before they went into the pool. This picture happens to be the famous "FLYING CARVER".
AHHHH...the hot tub. We love to get in the hot tub at night. This hot tub does not look very big, but we have had record amounts of kids stuffed into it (and teenagers...if I can remember back to the good old days of my youth). The kids love to get warm and toasty, especially during night swimming.

Going Home

We have lived away from Utah now for eight years, but we still love "going home" to visit my family. John and I lived in Utah together for quite a few years, plus John lived there before and after his mission, (I think about 14 years all together for John) so we really kind of feel like it is our home town. I grew up in Farmington Utah, a town that is about 20 miles north of Salt Lake City. It was a great place to grown up. My kids love going to my parents house and love being near them and their cousins. We have so many friends and family members in Utah so we make our trips long enough to see everyone. It is hard living so far away, and we miss both of our families so much, so we appreciate it when we get to see them. We wish we could see John's family more often. This is the house that I grew up in since I was 7. The original house was a pioneer house and my parents expanded it, remodeled it, and put in a pool and landscaping. This was about 30 years ago. This picture only shows about a third of the house, as that tree has gotten so big, but it is a big rambling house that my kids love to run and play in. Great for family parties, the perfect spot for backyard barbecues and swim parties. I loved growing up at the base of a mountain, with lots of land around us. Farmington is a bedroom community, but parts of it are still rural looking, though it is close to everything. I know this property and old house are getting to be too much for my parents to take care of , and so they will not be there forever. We are all sad about this but support their decision. We will just cherish the memories we make in this home for now. Thanks for all the amazing summer memories Mom and Dad!
This is the view across the street from my parents home. They live on "Main street", which has actually gotten kind of busy as there is much new development in Farmington especially up on the mountain...but right here, it still feels a bit rural.

I didn't get a great shot of the back yard, (though it happens to be the back drop to many of my Utah pictures), but this shows a little bit. This is Kinsey jumping on my mom's trampoline. I just love all the trees, and then up above them is the view of the mountains.

I truly loved our three week visit in Utah. I stayed at my mom's for two weeks, and then stayed at my brother Jon's house for another week. We love Florida so much, but when we are back in Utah, we sure love it. Each morning while I was in Utah, I would take a long run, about 5 or 6 miles. These runs are always a really neat thing for me. I run along a beautiful trail close to my parents house "Lagoon Lane), and then weave through the old down town of Farmington, and then loop back. The air is crisp and cool in the morning (unlike the hot mornings in Florida), the trail is always misty and cool, the foliage is beautiful, and I have a view of the mountains usually. People along the path say Hello, I pass over my favorite old bridge, farm animals, and the back side of Lagoon (an amusement park in Farmington) and it is just a happy time for me as I run this path and the tree lined streets of Old Farmington (Wow...what kind of person gets sappy about running). But sappy or not, I love this part of my vacation...and I also love it that these runs allow me to eat pretty much everything that my family keeps feeding me.

Could it really already have been 20 years?

I don't know how this happened, but yes...my 20 year high school reunion just rolled around for Dear Old Davis High School in Kaysville Utah. I used to hear about the people going to these reunions and think..."Gee, those people are SO OLD". Hmm, guess I am now "SO OLD", but it doesn't feel like it. It feels like time just flew by. I was actually really excited to see old friends and catch up a little. I knew I would be attending with my two BFF's from high school, who I still see all the time, so that made the whole thing way more do-able and fun. Since we head to Utah every summer for about three weeks anyway, it worked out well to attend.

I have been friends with Heather Taylor Hansen since we were in 6th grade. I mean "best friends". Never apart from each other all the way through college. Heather and I were always so different in so many ways, yet we just had this connection. She is super outgoing, kinda crazy, very competitive, a prankster, so funny, very into sports, loud, has a quick temper, and is the most loyal friend I could have had. She kind of brought me out of my shell, and I kind of brought her back to reality. I have to say that much of high school and college was spent cringing as Heather went about being crazy and pulling pranks on people, but I never laugh as hard as when I am with her. Never a dull moment for sure. She is an amazing person and so strong and has been through so much. She is such a success story and I am so thankful that she was a part of my life growing up. She taught me to stand up for what I believe, take care of those I love, and work hard for what I want. She was on the show "The biggest Loser a couple of seasons ago", and I was amazed to see all the hard work she did there (and cringing to see her craziness as well).
Amy Oaks Stevens and I have been BFF's since our junior year in high school, when her family moved here. She fit right in with Heather and I, and the three of us became inseparable (which is a miracle in and of itself). Amy and I are kindred spirits. Sometimes our brains work exactly the same and it really amazes me. I feel like I can be my real self when I am with her. She is so talented (sings, cuts hair, makes everything around her beautiful), and she is one of those people that everyone wants to be around. She and I have stayed close since high school and she is so important to me. When I go to Utah each summer, I spend so much time with her and even our oldest daughters are best friends. Carver actually just thinks that Amy is one of is aunts, and that her kids are his cousins. It kinda seems like that. Amy and I were those kind of friends that just meshed. Never fought, never had jealousy, and we just have so many memories together. I was an avid journal keeper in high school and college, and Amy always tells me that it just as well could be her journal, because she is in almost all the entries. Amy is so witty and she makes me laugh all the time. Amy and I and Heather had such fun in high school together. We each had lots of other friends, but it was great to have these two close friendships that would never change. It was so fun to go to the reunion with them. The first night of the reunion was just for classmates and it was kind of a mingle sort of thing. It was so weird to feel kind of nervous, but it ended up being so fun, and kind of surreal.

John was a great sport at my reunion and the perfect date. It was fun to show off my cute husband. He gets along with Amy and Heather's husbands, so it was fun to be there together. He was so cute the whole night and kept telling me how good I looked...and said he didn't know that I knew so many people in highschool. I thought that was really sweet. I think the thing that surprised me the most about the reunion was just how everyone was so excited to see everyone else. I had all sorts of people come up to me and they seemed to know all about my life (there was a high school website that you could put your current info on), and I wouldn't have realized that they would have remembered me. It was so fun to catch up with people and see how they are doing. It seemed surreal that we have been out of high school for so long and some of our kids are getting so grown up. The night was great, and we really had a fun time.

Jenny Pratt and Adrianne Dunkley. Good friends that I caught up with for a while.
Me and Amy and Heather were our old high school selves again. We laughed so hard and had a great night. I only had to cringe from Heather's antics a couple of times.
Okay, so my idea was to post a high school picture next to this...but now I am not on my own computer and don't have the picture. Maybe I will update this at a later date.

Yes...in some places...the 24th of July is a holiday!

I realized that we have lived away from Utah for a long time when my kids thought I was joking when I told them that there is a holiday called "pioneer day" in Utah on July 24th. They couldn't believe that people would have work off, towns would have festivals, and that we could watch fireworks...and it all had to do with celebrating the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in the Utah valley. Well...we happened to be in Utah this year on the 24th, and so I proved this theory to them. We ended up having such a fun day. We started the day by hanging out with cousins (what else). My sister in Law Jodi and I decided that we wanted to pack the day full of fun and so we took our kids and some of Wendy's kids to the town festival in Bountiful. The kids had so much fun riding ponies, eating snow cones and hot dogs, doing a few pioneer activities, and going on the bounce houses. Their favorite part was the entertainment.

Later that afternoon we headed to Grandma Fulks's house and we had a swim party, barbeque. We watched fireworks and then we projected a movie onto the side of the garage and had an outdoor movie (one of my all time favorite Utah traditions). The view is perfect from my mom's back yard for Lagoon fireworks. The whole family had such a great day and my kids loved spending "pioneer day" with their cousins and grandparents.

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