Gentle is relative

 I am still laughing about this. 

I wanted to send my siblings a picture of an envelope I sent out, which I knew they were going to be mailing too. I just wanted to be "first" or something so I took a picture. 

Later, when I went to actually send it, I noticed the details in the background and can't stop laughing about my "share". I thought it might be a good time to let them know of a surgery I was going to be having the next day and needed to prep for, lol. 

If I go back in my pictures long enough, I'll find a similar funny picture I sent to Curt a few (5) years ago. My intent was to share a book title, what I WASN'T intending to do was to share my bookmark, which was from the doctor's office and related to compensation exercises (also relate to the surgery I just had last week). 

I hope things are going smoothly for everyone.

Concussed

I didn't even really know "Concussed" was a word.

My teenager is always keeping me on my toes. For one thing, he joined the swim/dive team at his high school without me even knowing it. Sure, he was gone after school for a little while (consistently) but I wasn't worried about that since I know he enjoys socializing with his friends.

I think he'd been on the team over a week, when I learned from one of my friend's moms that he was on the team (her son was also on the team). When I confronted him about being on the swim team, I must have done it offensively (ok - so my eyebrows really were raised when I questioned, "Can you swim? -- of course I know my three children can swim, I took them to lessons. But there is a difference between knowing the concept of swimming and competing in races). Carson's response was, "Mom, that's personal."

Then, you can imagine my surprise when I found out, a week or so later that not only had he joined the swim team, but it was actually the dive team he was on! So, again, I questioned, "Can you dive?" I am picturing olympic divers here, not poolside diving, so maybe my question was misplaced.

Well, it turns out, he is on the dive team and did compete in one meet over the course of the season. However, last week, he came home saying his head hurt. I thought that meant he had a cold. The next day, I got a call from the athletic director saying, "Your son has had a mild concussion. After his head stops hurting, he needs to take it easy for at least five days before returning to dive."

Carson definitely milked that "take it easy". He let me know he just couldn't take the garbage out, because, you know, concussion. This is what he wrote to his teachers:

hey teachers…

At dive I got a concussion and I will have limited intelligence for the next couple days. I might have some trouble on Friday but hopefully I’ll be better for Monday and Tuesday. I don’t want to lose IQ by thinking too hard, so is taking the finals later an option or should I just tough these next couple days out? (I’m mostly talking about Friday finals)

With regards,

Carson 

Fortunately, he is going to be fine. The pain went away after just a couple of days. A couple responded with:

Hi Carson,

  I’m sorry to hear that! Your overall intelligence shouldn’t be affected by a concussion, but your ability to think clearly definitely could. For our Astronomy class we’re just turning in the projects and looking at each other’s projects, so I think you should be fine (I think you and your partner were either done or very close to being done already).

  I hope you recover quickly!

Biology & Astronomy teacher

Hi Carson and parents,

I am so sorry to hear that as well, and terrible timing with finals  You do have your Spanish final scheduled fo tomorrow morning... Have you been to the doctor and what did the doctor say? Concussions can vary in how severe they are so I'm wondering what the expert thinks. If he/she advises you to take the day off, or the next several, you of course can makeup your final at another time.

Let us know! Crossing my fingers for the best of a bad situation.

Gracias,

Spanish Teacher

I just love this teenage-d eating machine. He keeps me smiling for sure!

He loves playing the piano - and NO, the concussion didn't affect piano. He memorizes sound tracks to his favorite video games. I like seeing/hearing these songs so much more over the piano vs over the computer.

Mom Gets the Last Laugh

This is my 2018 First Day of School post :-). The very best way to start off a school year is to have an epic Labor Day with your family (and kind/awesome/fun boat-owning friend). Lake Washington's waters were spectacular. We all got in. It was a blast.

First Observation of Son Driving Boat - good times

So, after that fun day, of course I didn't get my family all in bed before 9 Monday night :-). Tuesday morning was just another day, right? I didn't take too much thought in my outfit as I went through the motions of getting the kids ready and out the door. By the way, Carson started school the Thursday before so it wasn't even a thing for him on Tuesday the 4th.

My three kids leave at different times each morning so there would be no side-by-side family picture, like I wanted and like my mom miraculously captured in my youth.

I need to do a whole blog post about first day family pictures - every single one makes me so happy to see.
I chose this one for this post because - I mean, look at my outfit. Could there really be anything better than red fake pearls, white flats, and matching fuzzy hair with Marci? 

Let me get back to the morning of the first day of school. I woke up my sweet Callie Cat, as I like to call her every morning. We had a great time getting her ready and moseying around. At about the time she discovered she had taken too long, she turned into Bobcat Callie.

She realized she was going to be late for patrol and things kind of went downhill from there. Hopefully, these pictures (and funny text messages) will capture the morning.

I just laughed and laughed all morning. Those pink sweats really were pretty awesome. And, the look on my neighbor's face as she pulled out of the driveway, realizing she witnessed Bobcat Callie and the Pink Panther Mother, was priceless. I texted her later that morning. She is such a good sport and understands the nuances of my bobcat pretty well :-).

When I went to pick Callie up after school, she immediately put her hand in mine and apologized for "being a little mean this morning". Oh, and
it was about this time that I saw another neighbor friend I hadn't seen in quite a while. She bluntly told me I've put on weight. I wasn't even wearing the pink sweats! On that note, this is going to be a great year!!

Keep on Diggin - Fuller Family Reunion 2017

The Neil Fuller Family descended upon Franklin County in a big way the first weekend of August, 2017 (and yes, I know it is nearly August 2018 - it has been quite a year).

The Neil Fuller Family - minus a few nephews selling in TX and missionaries in Caribbean and California

The reunion was "officially" one day and intended to be as close to Mom and Dad as possible so they could be a part of things. The cool thing about it was that we all wanted to gather the day before and the day after doing other area-activities! And, even the next week, Monday, we had another meal together (those that were still around) at a buffet in Logan! It was truly awesome.

Reunion Prep Crew - burrito-making boys

I will try and relate these days together in chronological order. We had such a great time together, a really special feeling pervaded everything we did. Unfortunately, we missed Janie and her family for most of it (except just Janie, for day-of) as they all came down with stomach sickness. It nearly broke my heart to think of her family missing this fun time.

Day 1
With all of the little kids and minds to teach, Greg and Marci offered a tour of their farm in the morning, complete with Gossners milk -- haha (their farm is Organic Valley).

The funniest of all funniest 2017 family memories was made here. After the tour, the large group gathered at the end of one of Greg's clean barns. We were all just chatting and the two youngest cousins satisfied their curiosity by checking out the gigantic manure splats (that in reality did look like it was hard-packed). After the first step, they both fell to their knees. They were covered from belly to toe in wet manure slop. They came crying to their mothers, who were horrified! We all tried to keep our reactions to ourselves but the image of manure-covered little bodies running to the group will be long remembered. Fortunately, the farm had places to clean manure off little kids :-). 

After a fun lunch at Marci's, Uncle Gaylin has a really great spot on the Bear River for gatherings, called, "The Grove". He suggested we float the river, finishing off at his place, and following the fun with a cookout. We did just that. The floating was really slow but so relaxing and enjoyable. The weather was simply perfect. This was an activity perfect for a large range of ages.

These two girls played in that hot trailer day after day.
They were like two peas in a pod.

The cookout afterward was everything I remembered about cookouts growing up because our mom and dad were both there! I love cookouts. The Grove was neat, Uncle Gaylin and Aunt Edna joined us too.

As for lodging, Jess and Melissa and kids were staying at Mom and Dad's.
Marci, so kindly, set up her camp trailer in Curt's field for my family. I think Dan may have stayed at Mom and Dad's too. His kids were in Arizona with Tricia. Janie's trailer was already in Curt's backyard (I think she had a summer parking pass with that trailer in Idaho).

Day 2
The reunion started bright and early. Basically, everyone showed up at the right time! We wanted to hit the "race-track" pretty early with our first-ever "Fuller Family 5K-ish". The distance doesn't really matter :-) but the race route was from the red brick home to the cemetery. Dad even had his starting gun ready. Everything was very official as you can see.

Dad fired the shot and off we went! Chase was the overall winner and Kayla took first for the females (2nd overall). Janie came in soon after Kayla, taking the oldie goldie award. We also had awards for the "Youngest Finisher" - Aubrey, "Oldest Finisher" - Don, "Best Sportsmanship" - Mom.

We gathered at the North end of the cemetery to enjoy breakfast burritos, race awards, and some fun family chatting to begin the day. This is where t-shirts were handed out, also a first for the family. I introduced the family reunion theme: "Keep On Diggin" - a family saying from Uncle Kenny where he talked about "falling down and getting back up and diggin and diggn".

Master StoryTeller

Cutest Little Seamstresses EVER

We walked back down the hill to the pavilion. I had set up puzzles, a sewing service project for a local hospital, games, and of course more food. We discussed and carried out a family service project for the community which was to spend about 20 minutes (with a group our size, that was all that was needed) weeding and cleaning up a yard in the community. The recipient was so grateful and expressed words of kindness.

Lunch was good, there at the pavilion (even though the bread was pretty hard). The kids played over on the swings and in the "gaga pit". Dan set up a fun slip and slide. We had Sno-Cones and outside games going on.

Before we knew it, our catered dinner showed up, which was definitely delicious (Thank you Smarts!). Then, the big event of the evening was to have a volleyball match between the "Oldie Moldies" and the young teenagers.

Those young girls didn't stand a chance :-)

The game was a blast. Those not playing watched from the sidelines (or played more gaga ball -- seriously, that game was being played nonstop) as the Oldie Moldies took it to the youngsters. Dan brought up how this was reminiscent of being children watching our Uncles play against the older teenage boys. What a fun memory!

Lots of pictures of kids pushing Grandma - she was such a good sport

Day 3
The next day was Sunday and we all showed up in the Clifton ward! It was really special, to all be there together.
We gathered for dinner at Don's afterward.

We finished with a family devotional/skit where I had recorded the uncles (and Dad) giving a saying or singing a song. The kids were supposed to lip sync it and we would all guess who was delivering the prompt.

Maybe it was most fun for me to gather this (and listen to it over and over) as the audio didn't work especially well. Mom was there with us for the potato bar dinner.

Be careful with your eyes, what you see - mm, mm

We finished the evening with watching family movies up in Don's loft. He had us all kneel in prayer before leaving. It was a moment/weekend/none of us wanted to end, it seemed.

8 Siblings in the kitchen of our upbringing
after 2nd Funeral 2018 -- Keep on Diggin - indeed!

Now, fast forward almost exactly a year and, WOW, none of us had any idea what was in store for our family for the next year. The best way I can end this post is to say, "We can do hard things". Families are Forever.

Beautiful dresses of our Mom

Colette Goes to the Dump

This is the first time in my married life that I have taken a trip to the dump, so it is noteworthy. First of all, up here, I don't think people call it "the dump". The posted signs say, "Transfer Station" and there is a big mural of green trees and green grass on every side of a covered open shed. In the middle is a big pit. I backed into it and literally threw my stuff over the ropes into the pit. It was great fun. A man dumping yard waste beside me helped me with the big stuff. 

But, before I got to the big pit, I learned I would be charged an additional $25 if I didn't cover and tie down my load, according to Washington state law. So, I headed back home. Fortunately, Callie remembered one of the items in the load was a trampoline cover (don't even ask). Brilliant!! So, we pulled over to the elementary school that is just a few blocks away from the dump. We easily tied down the load and covered the whole thing. Oh, and in case you are wondering, signs were posted all over the place about making sure the load is covered and tied down. I must have been too busy enjoying the mural and wondering what could possibly be behind it!

Before all of this, I had stopped at the dump on the way home from a nice lunch with friends, to find out logistics (cost $24.25 minimum, hours of operation - closes at 5:30, procedure for dumping - "if you take your microwave and lawn mower to Factoria, you can recycle them for free", didn't find out about the covered load part though). I rushed home and loaded up the rental truck, excited to be getting rid of things, and only considered for half a second driving during rush hour to Factoria to recycle vs dumping to middle earth, or wherever that pit leads.