Reunions with relatives that we knew only by name inspired us to spend quality time getting to know each other better.
An idea blossomed to have a weekend for the female cousins in the hope that we could come to know each other better as we spent time together just being girls; with the responsibilities of wife and mother briefly set aside.
Each year brings us closer as friends rather than merely cousins on a first name basis.
A Few of Our Favorite Things
Each person brought something to share with the group. Even though Robyn couldn't make it she had cupcakes delivered from her favorite bakery. Before our evening gift exchange our basement was turned into a mini women's expo. A few of us offered our favorites for others to experience. Sandra shared an introduction to the personalities and ideas from "Dress Your Truth". Fawn gave massages while Melisa provided the supplies for a Mary Kay Silky Feet soak and Shantay offered Mary Kay facials.
Kara guided us through a stack of magazines to make a yearly collage or vision board.
In our favorite colors we created vinyl "Be*You*tiful" blocks to celebrate our individual beauty.
The food was delicious and plentiful.
The chatter, along with laughter and tears, was non-stop into the late hours each night.
Kyson, Rhyse and Christian tugged at our motherly heart strings as they wooed us with smiles, giggles, and cuddles.
We have overcome the formalities of a reunion and gone right into silly faces, belly laughs that leave us in tears, sharing our intimate joys and struggles, and exchanging recipes to fatten each other's recipe books. I can't wait for next year!
Hyrum's graduation program was themed Big Big Dreams. They each got to dress up in the career of
what they want to be when they grow up.
Hyrum walked confidently up to the microphone and said, "my big dream is to be a chef 'cause I like making food".
My baby has graduated from kindergarten!
Mrs. Ivers and Miss Rigby
I am still in denial that I will be all alone from 7:45am to 2:40 pm on weekdays starting in August.
Even when Justin went to first grade I was pregnant with Nathan so this is new territory for me.
Derek graduated with honors on May 29th.
Top left: Jacob, Allyn, Derek, Sierra, and Sierra ~ Top Right: Nathan and Derek
This tall young man will always be my little cuddle boy.
Derek has been accepted to Utah State for fall 2014 but has already filled out the deferment information so that he can serve a mission first. His summer is being spent working overtime hours as an apprentice electrician with LeRoy and Levi.
May had my head spinning! Every date on the calendar was packed causing us to do our best flips, flops, and tumbles just to keep up. Some minor things were forgotten or purposefully overlooked but overall we took it day by day enjoying our full schedule.
Airbound Gymnastics Recital
Bottom picture: Justin and Michael, one of the kids he coaches.
Justin and Nathan absolutely LOVE tumbling! Nathan has progressed at the same rate that Justin did seven years ago but he has also picked up a few of Justin's tricks because Justin coaches him at home. Justin has also spent the last few months coaching a beginner boys class which has been perfect to give him more time around gymnastics without putting the full stress on his joints. He has missed doing to full apparatus routines but doesn't miss the extra pain associated with it. Taking one class a week to keep up on and learn new skills, combined with coaching, gives him the best of both worlds.
Justin's routine at the recital was crazy!! I think I held my breath the entire time.
The quality is terrible (thanks to my first gen, cheap, digital camera that is not really intended for distance video) but if you watch the tumbling pass on the tumble track in the background you can see Justin's glowing body flipping back and forth and back again. He is amazing!
Justin and Nathan with ValaRae - each at age 8 - at their first gymnastics recital
ValaRae helped Nathan and Camdyn put together a routine for their school talent show.
2nd Grade
The tumbling and jumping goes on outside of gymnastics as each summer day is spent on the trampoline,
occasionally in costume.
It was entertaining to watch them from the window but when I went out to take pictures I laughed right out loud. As they would bounce into each other they would holler banana split! and if they fell they would call out smashed banana! while doing a fruity death scene.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My daily costume usually consists of a ponytail and cozy socks. With summer in full swing I felt it was time to get rid of the elastic hairstyle and doll up my toes.
Letting go of four inches left my natural waves bouncing free.
Erika and I had a toe party at her apartment. The result was coral twinner toes with our own version of daisies and dots. Not bad for beginners.
I guess we do look alike. Except my toes show the wrinkly signs of a few extra years.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hyrum still maintains that he wants to be a chef. He even finds books at the library that include recipes and then we have a kitchen date to try out his new found recipes.
When his creative kitchen juices are flowing he pulls ingredients from the pantry, cupboards and/or refrigerator to blend together his very own snack.
Apples, peanut butter and marshmallows. Recipe for "Delish" (as he named it).
He's still trying to convince me that he's old enough to cut apples on his own but his chubby little hands wielding a knife
is just too much for me at this point. I'm not ready to let my baby go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Derek has been studying sleep disorders in school and came home with his self diagnosis. We have always know that he has a hard time falling asleep and is a sleep walker and sleep talker and he usually complains that he is tired no matter how early he goes to bed but after studying about sleep patterns and disorders he was determined that he has a sleep disorder (and I don't remember what it's called, just the symptoms).
Around the same time I got a Fitbit which tracks many things including sleep. Just to see how well he really does sleep, Derek wore my Fitbit to bed one night. He has not had any caffeine for a few days, went to bed at a decent time and, as usual, he was tired. The next morning his results shocked us!
The poor kid is right. He probably never does hit REM stage. As he describes his dream patterns it seems that when he should be in REM stage and be in a deep enough dream/sleep state that it practically forces his body into a type of paralysis to rest, he acts out his dreams. That's when he wanders the house, fights the enemy of his dreams, laughs at his dream state conversations or carries on conversations (and Justin is witness to all of this). We're not sure at this point what to do about it but it gives us a start point to have it looked into. We don't want him to go on a mission and never sleep while he's there. He and his companions need more energy than that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The final 2nd grade project for Nathan's class included geometry, measuring, sewing and oodles of parent supervision.
Each child took scraps from home, then cut, measured, laid it all out and learned how to iron, use a sewing machine, and sew on buttons. The final product was a place mat for each child to proudly display and use at home. Nathan was thrilled to show me his finished work and then went around the house comparing his place mat to each table runner that I have made. My crafty heart burst as he exclaimed that we are just alike! Our great grandmothers would be so proud.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A senior at the high school was doing a photography project to show professionals at work. He contacted LeRoy because he had helped him with a scout project and asked if he could take pictures of him in his electrical shop.
LeRoy thought it was just going to be a small picture handed in as a class assignment but when I went to the school for Derek's project citizen presentation I walked down a hallway of 11x17 canvas photos displayed by photography students and there was LeRoy's picture.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Derek's final project for his senior year was to break his wrist.
Our family was gathering the ward Memorial Day flags and Derek hopped off the tailgate of LeRoy's truck. With all of his science knowledge it didn't cross his mind that if he jumped off the end of a moving vehicle that he would need to run in the same direction of the truck. Instead, he ran the opposite direction of the truck and it forced his 6'4" frame to stumble and fall back, catching himself on his wrist.
Initially, he assumed it was just sprained. He is an expert in that area. But, after going through his last day of finals and still not being able to move his wrist at all, he agreed to have an x-ray done. The doctor wrapped his wrist in a cumbersome splint to allow the swelling to go down and we scheduled an appointment for Friday to have a cast put on. By Thursday, the day of his high school graduation, he had had enough of the "bulky, incovenient, ugly thing and was not going to cross stage with it on". He threatened to unwrap his arm for graduation and would still go in Friday morning for a cast. I called the doctor and they agreed to look at it and if the swelling was down they would cast it for him. He chose a red cast to match his red graduation robe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While the rest of us were winding up the school year, Vivien was looking at another month in school and she was not happy about that.
It's hard not to have her close to offer support or to have her part of our craziness, which, ironically, can offer comedic relief. I'm proud of her for sticking with it, even through projects that take forever and math that only super humans (like Vivien) would understand. High school is not easy but from what I've learned from Vivien, American high school is a whole lot easier than European secondary school.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first item of summer business was camping. Derek, Justin, Bret, Erika and Aaron called Uncle Dean to set up a camping night in Menan at the Fullmer family homestead.
It's good for these young adults to do their own camping so that when we go as a family they have already followed through on their dangerous ideas like standing on a pallet over an open fire or sleeping in a tent when it's still in the freezing temperature range or taking guns with them. That way, they tone it down to a G safety rating when we all camp together. I do give them props for the meal planning. None of this hot dog business, they go for tin foil beef and veggies from fresh ingredients.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While the others were roughing it in the great outdoors, Nathan and Hyrum put together an indoor camp.
They slept on the floor of their bedroom for nearly a week.
Nathan could not wait to be baptized. From his birthday on April 7th to his baptism on May 3rd, he counted down the days. I expected him to be nervous but he just kept smiling and doing this little Tigger type excited dance, never once showing signs of worry about the water or being the center of attention.
He was the only one from our ward being baptized that day so it was just our family for the baptism and confirmation. The bishop shared a few thoughts which were significant to our family and Nathan beamed as the bishop had him look around the room to see all those who love him and those he is an example for. Nathan, Hyrum, and Nathan's friend Camdyn were the only primary age children there. The rest of the group consisted of his teenage and adult siblings and their friends that have become part of our daily family.
He did a whoop and holler as he opened his very own "real" scriptures with his name on them. Throughout the day he would go to his scriptures, read a little bit and carefully put them back in the case. As he got ready for bed I heard him cheer from his room, "I'm FINALLY baptized!" and then he asked if he could read his scriptures until he fell asleep.
After the baptism we all went to Pizza Pie Cafe for lunch.
Are those handsome young men the new PPC models?
Top: Nathan, Erika, Bret, Levi, Justin, Aaron (Bret's brother), Hyrum
Botton: Derek, Mom, Dad, Allyn, Chris, Sierra
LeRoy and I felt like young parents again as we gathered around the table with our little boys to color eggs. It's so odd, and quiet, to have all the older kids gone but sometimes it is nice to have the activity focused solely on Nathan and Hyrum instead of trying to meet the needs of such varying ages.
However, when it comes to an Easter Egg Hunt, age doesn't seem to matter. Levi, Daymia, and her sisters hid all of their eggs and all of our eggs at Daymia's home and we gathered there for the hunt. Those tall teenager and adults became little kids again!
Daymia called me from a store one day begging sizes for Nathan and Hyrum. She was standing in front of boys Easter suits and was adamant that she had to buy them.
Once my older boys saw them they decided that they wanted vests also and a trend was set.
Daymia dresses these handsome boys up so well!! They spent a couple of days shopping, finding good deals, raiding the colors in Levi's closet and as a result my scruffy boys found their inner model.
As Daymia was taking pictures of them outside I was working on Sunday dinner inside. Levi came walking in, took my arm and insisted that I be in a picture with them. As they fought over who got to put their arm around me or could stand by me and who loved me more I had to hold back tears. These boys bring so much joy to my life and have taught me unconditional, true love!
LeRoy could hear the ruckus outside and even though he was against the color for church (he felt it was disrespectful) and refused to wear a vest with them (because that was so 1975) he couldn't handle being left out of the photographic moment. He snuck out the door just in time to peak his head in the picture as Daymia was taking candid shots of the boys lovin' on me.
We started the month with a General Conference Party. Feed the body, feed the spirit.
When Daymia asked Hyrum if he was excited for conference he responded in excitement, "Yah! Who wouldn't be?" I'm glad the kids get excited for the food and family time while we camp out in the family room for hours. However, it all becomes so worth the work and mess when they start to really enjoy conference for the talks. Derek couldn't stop talking about it. Weeks later he was still commenting on certain talks and bringing them up in family home evening lessons.
Daymia sent me a text one morning and asked if I could teach her how to make a quilt. Two days later she called from the fabric store asking what kind of fabric to get and then relied on the clerk to help her decide a size. She showed up with fabric, batting, yarn and even her grandma's quilting frames. I was a little hesitant to teach how to use the rotary cutter because of the missing section of my own finger but she watched me once and did the rest all on her own, with extreme caution since I was kind of holding my breath the whole time. I showed her how to use the sewing machine once. After that she did all of the sewing and was so proud of herself when she could thread it and fill the bobbin all my herself. I was proud of her too!!
She got it cut and sewn during the first day and then brought her sister Jordyn over to help her tie it the next day. I showed them how, went upstairs to get dinner ready and before I could go back down to see how they were doing and take a picture, it was done! The binding was a little tricky but again, it didn't stop Daymia. As she got to the last section she paused the machine and, clapping her hands, exclaimed, "it's so pretty and it's almost done!" She finished it just in time to wrap Levi up in it as they headed off to opening night at the drive in.
Nathan started piano lessons in September and by April he was ready for his first festival at BYU-I.
He had his songs memorized, his scales ready and with nervous excitement he walked in with the judge, introduced himself, played his best and was done. It was a great four minutes that boosted his confidence and solidified his determination to continue practicing and playing, he even asked to have lessons during the summer. For a child who started life so hesitant and afraid of people he sure has blossomed as he shares his talents and confidently tackles each new situation with surprising ease.
Nathan, Hyrum, Erika and I took a field trip to Utah for Kellie's baby shower and a Cousin Carnival that my Aunts were doing. The day began with the baby shower during which we tucked our kids away in a room with a movie. I wasn't sure Kate's bedroom would survive nine kids under the age of eight but they did very well! During our two hours of mommy time we only had a couple of quiet interruptions and not one fight or crying kid. My boys have the best cousins!
We had a great time pampering Kellie and visiting together. We played Baby Bunko, wrote encouraging messages on diapers for those late night changes, tested our shopping knowledge with a Price Is Right Baby Version game and ate.
Kate and Brooklyn were perfect Hostesses!
I like the picture of Erika and I in the top left corner. Though it's out of focus, it is a brief glimpse at how alike we are. People tell us that we look alike but we don't really see that. However, as we sat together barefoot in our glasses writing near duplicate messages on diapers without knowing it I felt that I was sitting with one of my sisters. We chat easily, call each other on rough days, think similarly but have varying opinions to help the other see a new perspective and we really like spending time together. I love my Erika Jo!
The shower was to pamper Kellie and to celebrate baby Madelyn.
Madelyn Quincy Boyd
May 10th
After the shower we quickly cleaned things up so that we could get over to the church for the cousin carnival. My Aunts, Kathy, Colleen, and Carol have been spoiling us since we were little kids. I remember summers at Lagoon with them, their vast book collection that they would let me borrow from, their complete Disney collection of movies and the posters of John Schneider and Tom Selleck that decorated their fridge. Now, their spoiling continues for the next generation. Each month they hold Crafternoon for all the kids of "the cousins" (meaning me, my siblings, and any of our cousins in the surrounding area). I have really wanted to make it to Crafternoon but because of the long drive we haven't been to one. Now, my kids are wanting to go every month!
It was initially planned that the Cousin Carnival would be outside but with intense winds and a major downpour Kate made a few calls to reserve the church for us. The gym was set up with nine different carnival style games. The kids were all set up with a buddy and they rotated through the games, collecting tickets as they went.
After everyone had been to each booth they counted up all their tickets and went to the "store" to trade their tickets in for prizes. See? These Aunts are Amazing!
I thought that was the end but then they pulled out Rice Krispie Treats and we all sang Happy Birthday to anyone who had a birthday during the month. And, (yes, there is more) they brought out a box of VHS movies for us to choose from and keep. They are converting their VHS library to a DVD library and we get the spoils of that labor. Nathan was thrilled to bring home Three Musketeers and Hyrum picked a 60's Disney movie simply because the character had a sword in his hand. Thank You, Thank You to these ladies! We might have to make monthly trips to Utah.
Nathan requested spaghetti with meatballs, salad and homemade breadsticks.
Finger lickin' good!
He did not want cake for his cake so I added eyes to a fruit pizza covered in strawberries.
He was thrilled with his "cake" and loved the Tootsie Roll nunchucks on the side.
We used our chopstick skills to rescue Lego ninjas that were buried in rice.
Each thirty second of determined concentration resulted in cheers, laughter and flying rice.
We attacked the "bad guys" with plastic throwing stars and our best roundhouse kicks.
The sticky, stretchy ninjas had our full attention as they flopped down the wall hand over foot.
Levi and Daymia gave Nathan a kite and lessons on how to fly it.
He caught on so quickly that not once did his kite hit the ground, even when he was reeling it in to put it away.
Nathan's birthday was on Monday and two days later he had his first Cub Scout activity.
He was thrilled to participate in the Pine Wood Derby.
I loved watching him cross his fingers and cheer for his friend Camdyn.
Nathan drew his car design on the block of wood and Derek cut it out for him. Nathan then did all of his own sanding, painting and sticker applications. When his car kept getting third place (out of three cars) he was losing his excitement for the races and frustrated that his car wasn't doing better. Before tears started coming I invited him into the hallway for a couple of minutes of encouragement. I reminded him that if his car was electrical that he and his dad would have built the fastest car ever and that I was proud of him for using his own wood skills to build a great looking car. The two cars that kept winning were carefully supervised and adjusted between each race by the fathers of the two scouts and both of their fathers do a lot with cars and would know how to make them faster so they have a better chance of winning. He quietly accepted what I was saying and we went back to the races.
I've always struggled with Pine Wood Derby races because my boys do their own cars and they are never fast. However, I was most impressed with Nathan when he walked over to me after the races were done and said, "Mom, my car ALWAYS gets third place! That's so cool! And I know if my car was electric I'd get first place because Dad would wire it the best."
