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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Computers...aarrgghh

Okay, I love this technological age and all, but when something goes wrong with the computer or anything to do with the computer...I feel crippled. You never realize how much you depend on something until you don't have it. We have spent almost a month in Utah, and we just returned about a week ago, so I have SO MUCH TO BLOG ABOUT! (seriously, we had such a great time in Utah). Well, ever since we got home, something has been wrong with our Internet, or something to do with the computer. We finally got the laptop working, but I don't have any pictures on it...so here I sit frustrated. Our computer is now working...sort of...(after John has spent way too many hours talking to someone about it), but now it only sends my e-mails once in a while, it doesn't like to open most websites, and I can't post a thing. So I feel stuck. As much as I love the computer age, I feel so cut off when I don't have access. Anyway, much to blog, much to catch up on...but I must wait a little longer until we get this thing figured out. We are feeling the effects of Tropical storm Fay, and school is closed tomorrow for the second time. Not so fun considering we just started back this week. We have had so much rain fall, but no flooding for us. Lots of wind, but nothing to do any damage. We are grateful...though the kids are sick of the constant rain. Hopefully I will be back to posting my pictures soon.

John's new BFF...Brendan Fraser

Okay, so my husband is way too understated and he tends to play things down. Let me explain. Last week John told me I should come and meet him at work on Friday (he works on the back lot of Universal studios). He said Brendan Fraser was coming to do a little promotion for "The Mummy" and John knows that I am a huge fan of Brendan...especially his early stuff (a bit of a crush for sure) like Encino Man, and School Ties, and With Honors. His production company was doing a little camera work for this event. I thought that sounded pretty exciting...but he left out a few details.

So me and the little kids headed over to Universal, met John at his office, and walked into the park with him. We were just planning of playing for a while until the presentation started. John and his company were setting up cameras and John had this list in his hand. When I asked him what it was for, he said, "Oh, it's just the interview questions for Brendan". WHAT? Then he proceeds to tell me that his company is interviewing Brendan and sending the footage to news stations and Access Hollywood. So I asked him who gets to do the interview...and he says, "Oh, me". WHAT! HELLO! He never told me this part before. This is definitely the kind of info I thrive on and get all excited about and kind of obsess about...and apparently the kind of info that doesn't phase my husband (like meeting and talking to a big star is just everyday business...Hello). So me and the kids watched the "Mummy" presentation with the rest of the huge crowd,and then we hung around because we knew John was doing this interview. The crowds dispersed because they were told Brendan was not coming back out (but I knew different) and so me and the kids inched up to the little roped off area that John was setting up in. Brendan came out and before you know it he was shaking hands with my husband and saying, "Hi John, how are you doing". Can you imagine that? "George of the Jungle" getting all personal with my hubby. By then we had a big crowd around us watching Brendan. Carver was pointing to John, and someone in the crowd saw him and then they yelled, "Hey, his Dad is doing the interview. How cool."

I couldn't really hear what the interview was about, but I think I have a good idea of what Brendan was saying.

"What an honor to meet you John Lopez"

"Yes...I saw your wife in the crowd...she is beautiful"

"Of course I want to be your new BFF and meet your family Dude".

This is a little behind the scenes video that one of John's co-workers made. You can't really hear anything, but it is kind of fun anyway.

Meet me at the Beach!

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love living in Florida...and a big part of that is THE BEACH! I love the beach. This past week at church, I just told a bunch of friends to meet me at the beach on Tuesday, and voila...BEACH DAY! The beach is only about 40 minutes from my house and so it is the perfect little get-away. We had 8 moms and 28 kids there that day. We set up our own umbrella city, played in the water, ate lunch, and just had the best time. The teenagers hung together and played volleyball, keep away, or went boogie boarding. The tween girls dug some holes, played in the water, and became the beach divas. The little boys were all over the place (but mostly boogie boarding), and the babies just played in the waves. I looked around, seeing all my wonderful friends, seeing my kids having such a perfect day, admiring the sand, the water, and the sky, and I just felt so blessed to live here. I have loved all the places I lived, and I guess good friends and family make that possible. Here...my friends become my family.

"THE TEENS"

"THE BEACH DIVAS"

"THE SURFER BOYS"

"THE WATER BABY"

Leisurely Lizard

Yesterday was pool day...one of my favorite days. All our friends meet at our neighborhood pool on Wednesdays and we just hang out for the whole day. Usually about 10 moms and 30 kids or more. Anyway, toward the end of the day, I remembered a trick I saw someone do on TV with a lizard. I had all the kids try to catch a lizard for me (they are everywhere here). I picked him up, rubbed his tummy about four times, and then he was hypnotized or something. He was breathing and blinking, but he wouldn't move. So we set him in this little boat, an he just held onto the steering wheel and did a little boating...for about five minutes. It was so hilarious and the kids were just going crazy. To snap him out of his "trance", I just picked him up, and then he ran away. It was quite the entertainment for us.

Fantastic 4th of July!

This year we spent the 4th of July here in Florida. Almost every other year of our kids lives, we have spent the 4th in Kaysville Utah... where I do the 5 or 10K race, then we do the chuck wagon breakfast and the parade, then BQ and swim at my Mom and Dad's house, and then Lagoon's fireworks. Well...this year we had to postpone our trip to Utah (we are counting down and will be leaving on July 19th), and so we had the 4th in our own town. The kids were so sad to miss their cousins and all the Utah festivities...but they ended up having SUCH A GREAT DAY! We invited some good friends to spend the day with us (The Roe Family) . We headed to our pool, (met the Hillis family there) had a great time splashing around, then had a BQ in our back yard, then headed over to our neighborhood festival in our own little town square. Bounce houses and all sorts of fun. We had front row seats for an AMAZING fireworks show over the town square. We then headed back to our house for "fireworks in the street", (thanks to Jeff Roe). We had so much fun with our friends, the kids made new memories, and it was fun to see how festive our neighborhood gets for the 4th.

Girls Camp!

I got to go to part of girls camp this year! Yea! I am in the Young Women's presidency for church and so I went to help out. I have been to so many girls camps as a leader, but this was the first time I was there with Kinsey. Girls camp went great and all the girls had a great time. I love the girls in my ward. They are so wonderful and they really all just love each other. I was so impressed at the way they got along. No fights, no drama, just lots of fun. Girls camp was located on the LDS church ranch (about 45 min. from my house), and the girls stay in cabins. I have always been in a tent at girls camp, so the cabin thing was new to me. But when you live in Florida, and the heat and humidity are so high, air conditioned cabins are a must. Here we are having a nice game of apples to apples in our cabin (above).
We had a nice covered porch to eat our meals on...and good thing that it was covered, as Florida's afternoon rain liked to hit at lunch time.

Kinsey and Savannah Raskey
I was in charge of the "craft" for the whole stake. I helped them make fun colorful chunky bracelets, and it seemed to go over really well. It was fun to see the girls wearing the bracelets throughout camp, and afterwards.
This was a HUGE alligator that wandered into camp one night. Okay, not so huge, but still a gator (never had this problem in Seattle or Utah). The bishop of our ward tried to shoo it away, and it wouldn't budge, so he grabbed it around the mouth and carried it into the woods. We now call him the "alligator wrestler".

Just for the "cuteness" of it!