Our week in Utah

We took a whole week to be in Utah to spent some time with our family in addition to being there for the funeral. We toured the state capital, visited the Salt Lake public library which has the whole bottom floor as a children's section, played lots of family games and my boys got to play with their cousins. We had a great trip and are glad we were able to go.

We were lucky to be in Utah while the Draper Temple was having it's Open House, and we took the opportunity to tour the temple and teach our children about the temple. Since my boys won't be able to go to the temple until they are older, and the chances of being able to attend another open house in the next decade are quite slim, we felt this was an opportunity not to be missed. Brian was dutifully reverent, although his mischievous side continuously tempted him as we walked through the various areas of the temple. Paul walked through with Aaron and tried to explain to him what takes place in a temple, in language a 4 year old can understand. When asked what he remembered about the temple, he mentioned the celestial room, and the sealing room. In 10 or 20 years he may not remember this experience, but we hope his heart remembers the impressions, and importance of the temple. (Paul's recollection of the Jordan River Temple Open House in 1981 is pretty fuzzy, but I believe that it was good for me to go then too. Jen doesn't remember much of anything from the Dallas Temple Open House in 1984.)

Here's a few fun pictures from our trips.

Jen visited the California State Capital in Sacramento

We all visited the Utah State Capital in Salt Lake City with Aunt Sara

Brian sitting in the Senate Chamber

Aaron looking up at the Rotunda

We drove past the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in the West Salt Lake Valley. It's not done yet, but looks beautiful already.

Aaron playing on the computer with his cousins Kate and Abe

Brian and his cousin Lucy

Grandparents and Funnerals

Paul and I know how lucky we are to have known so many of our Grandparents.

I lost Grandpa Cole (77) in High School and Grandma (92) was just in the summer of 2007. The funeral for Grandma Fuller (92) was at the beginning of this month and Grandpa (93) is still in great health and we expect him to be around for a long time.

Paul's story is a little different. Grandma Thomas (52) died before he was born, but Grandpa Thomas remarried, so Paul still had 2 grandparents on that side. Grandma Baker (60) passed when Paul was an infant, but again, Grandpa Baker remarried, so he knew 2 grandparents there too. He didn't loose Grandpa Baker (85) until he was in college and Grandpa Thomas (97) passed early this month. His 2 step-grandmothers are both still alive.

Due to the funerals, we've spent some time lately traveling and visiting family and want to share some of that with you. I'm the one writing about my Grandma and Paul is writing about his Grandpa.

(Jen) I went by myself to Grandma Fuller's funeral in Sacramento, California, but Paul stayed home with the boys. (It was the first time he had ever had the boys all to himself for 4 days and he had a great time, but was glad to have me come home.) I was in Sacramento with my siblings, their 2 children, and my sister in law and mother. My 2 cousins who live in LA and my Aunt and Uncle that live here in Houston were there as well. Her service was at the Presbyterian church she and Grandpa had attended for 50 years and it was a lovely service that showed how much she was loved and what a wonderful woman she was. Grandpa had picked some wonderful scriptures and I read a beautiful poem one of their friends had written before his own death. People spoke about how much they enjoyed playing bridge with my Grandma and how she spoke her mind. She was interred in the town she was raised in, Placerville, CA and many members of our extended family are also there. It is right across the street from her Grandmother's home, the Bennet Home, which is now the Sequoia Restaurant. I had a great visit with my family and we helped clean out the house a little, although Grandpa is still living there. I was able to bring home some fabulous children's books for our library here and Grandpa let me have some of Grandma's jewelry which I will treasure and already wear often. Up until her death, she was in great health and still traveled to Houston to see us once or twice a year, so I got to see her often. I love my Grandma a lot and am glad I had so many years to get to know her.

Here's some pics I took while I was there.

Grandma's casket

Grandpa and my Uncle Tom

My mom, Aunt Nancy and cousin Ryan

My brother Marc and cousin Lindsay

My sister Marcia and nephew Brycen

(Paul) Shortly after Jen returned home we learned of my Grandpa's passing so we then went to Utah and Idaho for Grandpa Thomas funeral. His funeral was held in Pocatello ID. Despite the cost, I felt it was very important to take the entire family since I had grown up pretty close to all of my cousins on my father's side and knew this would be a great family reunion. In total there are 85 grand and great-grand children and almost all of them came.

My grandpa’s funeral was awesome, as far as funerals go. Grandpa wasn't necessarily a successful man as far as worldly standards are concerned. He was college educated, trained to be a teacher, but provided for his family by working as a switchman for the railroad. The funeral certainly had an unintended underlying theme. Love. My Grandpa loved, unconditionally. He showed that love to his family and in his church service. With all of his children and grandchildren living out of town, my grandpa volunteered, at age 80, at the local elementary school and became a loving grandpa there for 13 years. During the course of his nearly 100 year life he repeatedly said that the greatest invention of his lifetime was the telephone. I tried to call my grandpa often during the last few years. I would talk to him about family, the railroad, baseball, things that he loved. But the message that rang true to him was knowing that we loved him. Ultimately that was the only reason I would call, to tell him that I and my family loved him. Even though I didn't live close to my grandpa, I felt very close to him my entire life. Each time we talked or went to visit he would say "I'm glad you're mine." He meant it, and we knew it. Grandpa’s funeral was a moment to honor him that I am glad I didn't miss. And it changed me, motivating me to love more, and to invest more in treasure that has true value.

Here's some of the family pictures taken after the funeral.

The David Thomas Family

The Harold Thomas Family

We miss our Grandparents, and hope we don't have any more funerals for some time, but are glad we are so close to our families and that we know how important they are.

Happy New Years...we hope!

Christmas is over, but we had a great time. All of my family was in town and we spent a lot of time at mom's house. All 4 of the grandchildren were there, along with the six parents, my Mom, Aunts and Uncles from both sides of my family and also my grandparents. Things got a little crazy sometimes, as it always does, but I am glad we were able to spend so much time together.

13 Stockings Hung by the Chimney with Care

Brian, Jackson, Aaron and Brycen

This year both the boys really "got" Christmas, both the Santa Clause side and the celebration of the birth of our Savior. All month the boys would randomly begin singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus", which was unprompted from us and we don't know where they learned it, but it was cute nonetheless. We were very lucky to have Santa Clause stop and visit on Christmas Eve and we got some cute pictures of all the boys with Santa. Too bad Uncle Marc wasn't able to see that ;)

Aaron and Brian with Santa

Christmas Day was the normal hectic busy enjoyable day. Santa brought Aaron a camera and he loves taking pictures then promptly deleting them. We have yet to get any pictures saved, they get deleted immediately. Santa brought Brian an easel which might look familiar to the Huff family. They "used to" have one just like it! Paul and I framed some art we purchased on our cruise last January and that was our big present to each other. My mom and siblings gave us games. One card game and a Wii, Wii Fit, and Wii Tony Hawk. We all love it and have been playing everyday!

Christmas dinner at Mom's house consisted of Mom, her sister Aunt Lou, Grandma and Grandpa Fuller, my Dad's sister Aunt Nancy and husband Uncle Tom and cousin Lindsay, then of course the 3 Fuller kids with spouses and children. It was a full table and lots of fun! Grandma and Grandpa Fuller (92 and 93 respectively) stayed with Mom for 2 days and we really enjoyed the time we were able to spend with them. The following Monday we drove down to Kemah and played with Nancy, Tom, Lindsay, Marc, Kayleen, Jackson and Grandma and Grandpa Fuller. We are so glad we took the opportunity to spend time with them.

Christmas Dinner

Marcia with Brycen
Marc and Aunt Nancy with Aaron, Jackson, and Brian
Lindsay, Marc, Jackson and Kayleen on the Kemah Boardwalk Train

On the Kemah Boardwalk

Gandma and Grandpa flew home to California right after lunch in Kemah, got home safely, but had some medical complications and didn't survive the night.  It seems very sudden.  But, as much as we will miss her, we are glad her last days were spent with her family. We saw how happy she was just being with us. I know that she is now surrounded by other loved ones who have already passed on, including my father. I can only imagine how joyous of a reunion that was! The funeral service is on Monday and I will fly out while Paul stays home with the boys. I am very grateful for the knowledge I have of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the peace it gives me.

Aunt Nancy and Grandma

On another note, Brian probably has Streep Throat. He started feeling feverish on the 30th, and it just progressively got worse. On New Years Day we took him to Katy Urgent Care clinic for some antibiotics. I hate having my baby be sick and I really hope he feels better soon. We spent New Years Eve taking turns cuddling with him and trying to help him sleep. Not the best way to ring in the new year, but we do what we have to!

As for New Years Resolutions, we have lots. We are very resolute. Let's just say that we really hope this year brings us lots of joy. We are grateful for all our family and friends and hope we can spend time with them all in 2009.

Christmas Cards

Every year since we've been married we've sent out Christmas Cards. This year we did too, but on a much smaller level. Since blogging has gotten to be our creative outlet for sharing what we do, we decided we didn't need to send Christmas Cards to those we know read our blog regularly. After all, you already know what we've been up to this year. But we'll post our Christmas letter here anyway for those who want to read it.

Also, if you got a Christmas card from us, but do read our blog regularly, let us know so we can put you on that list for next year. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Letter 2008

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family,

The year 2008 is almost behind us, but we wanted to say hi to those we love and share what we've been doing this year.

In January we were able to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary by taking a week long cruise just the two of us to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, then back to Cozumel, Mexico where we spent our honeymoon. We had a great time and it was very relaxing as there was no worrying about food, entertainment, travel, taxis, schedules, phone calls, work, not to mention kids. We definitely recommend cruising to others. In fact, next time we cruise, we'd like to go with some friends, so if you are interested, let us know!

In October we flew to Utah for a week. We were able to enjoy some gorgeous Autumn weather and see beautiful scenery as we hiked in several of the canyons. We also were able to attend the temple with other friends from Houston and attend one session of General Conference. We planned the trip to coincide with Paul's birthday and really enjoyed celebrating with his family and participating in the Thomas Family Invitational where we made a good showing!

We were pleased to have almost all of Paul's family come visit us at some point this year. We were also able to spend time with Jen's siblings and their families this spring, though under trying circumstances to be explained later. We treasure our time with our extended families and were excited to show them all our new house. Speaking of which, we both still love our house and can't believe we've been here a full year. We're all moved in now, but the projects will begin this winter.

During the middle of the summer, the air-conditioning in Jen's car died. We weren't quite ready for a new car, but necessity prevailed. We were able to find a good deal on a 2005 Honda Odyssey with low miles. It's fully loaded with lots of extras like a navigation system and a DVD player which the boys still don't know about. We never thought we would be mini-van people, but we really do love it!

An unwelcome visitor this summer was Hurricane Ike. At one point it was headed straight for us and we were all a little frightened. It landed east of us though in the middle of the night, and all we got were heavy rains and very heavy winds. The boys slept in our room (and tossed and turned) but missed most of the storm so they weren't too scared. We lost power for a day, and lost several dozen shingles from our roof, but had no real damage to speak of. We were glad we were prepared and spared more damage.

Now some info on us individually. Aaron (4.5 yrs - don't forget that extra half!) is in his second year of preschool and loves it. He loves circle time where he recently read a story to his classmates, and always talks about stretch-n-grow time. Show-and-tell is also a weekly highlight. He still loves learning and reads lots of books and plays with his calculator constantly. This fall, Paul coached Aaron's first soccer team. Aaron and 7 other kids made up the Silver Streak soccer team. Aaron loved going to practice and participating in the drills and games. Game time was another story. While a 3-on-3 format ensures that every kid gets a lot of opportunities to play and score goals, Aaron was un-motiviated to score goals. But he loved being a part of the team, doing the team cheer, and most importantly, the refreshments. He wishes Paul can "be his coach always!"

Brian is 2 and continues to grow like a weed. He talks so well, still signs some, and has even started to read. Brian loves to play with, as well as antagonize his brother. For the most part they get along great, and they certainly love each other. He has picked up on Jen's pet names for them, and calls Aaron "Air-Bear" and often refers to himself as "Bri-Bri." Brian loves to sing. We often hear him singing his "talent" Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes, and many of the Signing Time songs. As Brian explores his world he continually comes back to us and asks for 'a cuddle.' He amazes us so much.

Jen still works teaching baby sign language and her business is slowly growing. Her classes are in high demand and balancing teaching classes with spending time with family is a challenge. She loves teaching, and can truly attest to the benefits of teaching sign language to children. She also continues to work part-time for URS, her engineering company. They correctly think she is indispensable. At church she works with the Young Women age 12-13 and loves it. The girls have such energy and watching them grow and helping them develop into young leaders is just one of the many benefits.

Paul is still at ExxonMobil and is enjoying the challenges it presents to him. He has moved through several different assignments and projects this year and is happy with what he is working on now. As our ward mission leader he works with the missionaries in our church often and still find time to help out with the Boy Scouts in our area. He has done numerous home improvement projects this year and loved being able to use his chain-saw to help Huricaine Ike victims in our area.

Most of you know, but for those that don't, Jen's Dad, Richard Fuller, passed away this past March after battling cancer. Up until the end we were hopeful that he would pull through. His passing came suddenly and as quite a surprise to us. This event consumed our lives before and after his passing, and has caused us to stretch and grow with new emotions and responsibilities and has deepened our understanding of our Heavenly Father's plan. We miss him every day.

This time of year reminds us of the blessings we enjoy and how much we can learn and grow through giving, and thinking of others. As we drive around neighborhoods this season and look at the lights, we think of our Savior, the light of our lives. We pray you are all well and able to enjoy this Christmas Season. Know that we love you and hope to get visits from you all this next year.

Paul, Jen, Aaron and Brian Thomas

Another terrible smile from Jen

We've been slacking!

We just haven't gotten around to blogging much lately(it's been over a month!), and with the holidays here we probably won't for a week or so, but I'm making the time today to do it!

For Thanksgiving we had some friends and family over to our house for dinner and we had a great time. There were enough adults for good conversations and some kids to keep our kids out of the way and happy. There was lots of good food and everyone brought something for dinner and a pie. We ended up with LOTS of pie to eat for several days after! It was a lot of fun and we are glad everyone was able to come over. We hope to do it again next year and take pictures, which we failed to do this year.

The beginning of December came and went fairly uneventfully. We got our Christmas tree at IKEA for only $20 and love it. They had stacks of them all wrapped up, so you don't know exactly what you are getting until you get it home and cut the strings on it. It's beautiful though and worth a lot more than we paid for it. We got one at IKEA last year too and hope they continue the tradition for years to come. Here's a picture of our tree!


Aaron got to have his pictures taken at school and they took 3 different images. He didn't smile very well in any of them, but we think they are cute regardless.






Paul's sister Sara came to visit us for a weekend and while we didn't really do much that was exciting, we enjoyed just hanging out and playing games with her. Again, I forgot to get the camera out, but luckily she took pictures for us and shared them with us. Here's just a few from her trip.

Hideous smile!

Lastly, here's some pics of our Family Home Evening last night. We talked about the Christmas story from Luke 2 (Aaron was very attentive to reading the scriptures with me) and I got down our nativity scene for the boys to look at. I still wouldn't let them play with it, but they were excited to have it down none the less.








We're excited to have all of Jen's family in town for Christmas starting today. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Aaron's soccer party

First of all, I want to let everyone be proud of me for learning how to scan in pics using our printer! I was even able to use it for work today. I'm proud of myself.

Anyway, Here are some pics from Aaron's soccer party. We met at Chuck E Cheese and played games, ate pizza, gave out trophies and medals, ate cake, and played some more. Aaron's game, by far, was the Deal or No Deal Game. He was VERY into it and must have played it 6 times or so. I think everyone had a good time! We are glad Paul had the opportunity to coach and I see more coaching in his future someday! Here's some pics of the evening (the official looking ones are scanned in!)

Aaron Playing Deal or No Deal

Aaron played it very intently

Aaron receiving his trophy

Aaron loved his trophy and medal and play with them at home

My 2 boys chillin at Chuck E Cheese

Aaron's official soccer picture

Aaron's soccer team - The Silver Streaks!

Primary Talent Show

This past Friday night was the Westlake Ward Primary Talent Show. There were many varied talents, from a back bend and cartwheel, to reading a poem, to some very talented pianists! The Bishop even rode his unicycle for the finale.   Aaron picked his talent by himself and both played the piano and sang "I am like a Star." He did a very good job, but later told me that he made some mistakes.  I made sure he knew we were proud of him.  

Incidentally, Brian was prepared to play and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." We let him do it at home instead. We thought he was just a little too little for the talent show!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner. We are excited about the friends coming over and are starting to get ready.  Here's what I'm planning on doing for decorations/name cards/party favors.  (if I get around to it!) I found the cutest article about Thanksgiving etiquette and while I don't necessarily agree with every nuance in it, I thought I'd share with others! Hope you are getting ready for all the turkey and gratitude!

New Blog Link

My Friend Kim loves giveaways. She posts on her blog about different giveaways all the time. She's gotten me hooked! A lot of these giveaways ask you to blog about their websites, but Paul wants to keep this blog primarily about our family and the boys in particular. So, with no further ado, I present my new blog for all the giveaways out there! There is a link in the link menu on the right so you can check over there whenever you want. Then again, if more of you enter the giveaways, the less chance I have of winning! Oh well, hope we all win!

Latest Antics

I played around with my blog background for the first time EVER and am really excited about it, and am glad Paul wasn't mad! Hope you like it too!

I'm going to share 2 stories today, one about each kid. We'll start with Brian. I actually got a picture of it too. This kid loves anything to do with balls, but I found it hilarious this week when I found him playing golf with a baseball and raquetball racket. We've played "putt putt" a few times this past month and I guess he knows what to do! Even more funny, or disappointing, depending on your point of view, was that he was chanting "BYU, BYU" as he played! I think it's time for me to buy more USU paraphernalia!

Aaron's story was not quite so funny. Today he told me he wanted to ride his "bike" to our friends the Torbit's house who live 4 houses down and then come back. I helped him strap on his helmet and off he went. Although I've never let him go by himself before, I decided I could quickly go back in the house to print out my recipe for dinner. When 5 minutes passed and he hadn't returned home, I walked down to their house expecting to see his bike outside (I assumed he had gone in to play with the girls), but when it wasn't there I came back home and looked for him. I then called the Torbits who informed me Aaron wasn't there.

By now I'm freaking out a little. Paul was off running an errand so I put Brian in the car and began driving around our neighborhood. When I still couldn't find him after making the rounds, I called the Torbits again to have them check again, then called Paul who immediately headed for home. Now in panic mode I started driving the subdivision again, and saw a police cruiser so I stopped him and told him my situation. The officer took down Aaron's description and said he and his fellow officers would immediately start looking for him. Luckily Paul found Aaron just minutes later, a block or two from home.

Evidently, according to Aaron, he rode to the Torbit's, then came back and rode all the way to the neighborhood playground which is several blocks away. He had to cross several streets, and part of the way doesn't have a sidewalk. Once he arrived at the park, he tried to chat with some teenagers, then got back on his bike and rode home. He was probably only gone 20 minutes, but it felt like forever and I was scared to death.

Once I knew he was safe, I just began sobbing! I held him and didn't let go. He didn't know what the big deal was, but was very empathetic to me and told me "I'll stay by your side always" and "I'll take care of you Mommy." As I explained how worried and scared I had been he tried to reassure me several times that "But I was very safe." He's such a sweetheart. I'm SO GLAD he's safe and that Heavenly Father watched over him as he had his adventure.

Halloween

I hope it's not too late to post our Halloween pictures. I've been kinda slow lately at blogging. There's just so many other things to occupy my time! Anyway, we had a great Halloween thanks to our Ward Activities Committee.

I'm going to start our Halloween entry with our Jack O Lantern which we did on Thursday. The boys and I looked online at different faces to carve and voted on each element and came up with the picture you see below. I took the top off and pulled everything out while Paul was at work, then we worked together to carve it after our traditional dinner of Sloppy Joes. We think it turned out pretty good, but I was surprised that it was moldy by Monday so I couldn't turn it into pumpkin pulp for cookies. I'll have to buy another one if I can find them!

Friday, Aaron got to wear his costume to pre-school and to the grocery store with me and was dressed up all day. That evening, after getting myself and the kids ready, packing the car with all needed items for the ward party, returning to the house for Aaron's shoes (I was not happy with him!) we finally met Paul at the church, where I provided him with his costume. We were a pretty cute family if I do say so myself. Paul made a great Conehead, I wore a poodle skirt, Aaron was a police officer, and Brian was a horse and cowboy.

The church party started off with a Chili Cook Off and there was lots of good food! Once the food was eaten, I took off with Aaron to the carnival. He loved all the activities, including the duck pond, face painting, spook alley, basketball toss, cupcake walk, lollipop pull, bean bag toss, and making a bag to put all his loot in. (I wish I had done the bag first though, instead of carrying all his stuff that first 45 min!) Paul took Brian around too and both kids had a great time. Brian loved the basketball toss, and I think Aaron liked the cupcake walk and the face painting the best. Brian got tired of the cupcake walk and just stole one when he didn't get picked!

Once all the carnival activities were concluded, there was the Trunk or Treat in the parking lot. I stayed at the car handing out candy while Paul took the boys around. Aaron got right into it and loved it. It took Brian about halfway before he really figured it out, but by the time he got back to me he was ADORABLE saying "Trick or Treat" I loved it. The kids got lots of candy which we have all been eating, and enjoying.

Although Paul is a self proclaimed Halloween Grinch, I think even he had a good time! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went. Happy Halloween!

Now for Thanksgiving....