Gross, Disgusting, and Remarkable!

When I was younger I enjoyed doing normal little boy things - spitting, farting, burping...  Unfortunately, my younger and (at the time) more mature sister Teisha (shown shredding on the wake skate below) would usually be the butt of my disgustingness.  One day, after a particularly offensive outburst from me (I can't remember what it was), Teisha, wanting to sound as mature as possible, yelled this stern reprimand:

"That was gross, disgusting, and REMARKABLE!"

She had no idea what remarkable meant, but she sure sounded mature and adult like!  

And so was born one of the most cherished phrases in the Fuller family.  Despite Teisha's creative use of the English language she is the best little sister a guy could ask her and I love her to death!

Merry Christmas!

This year we really procrastinated on our x-mas cards and we just sent them out on Friday. Alas, they are on there ways. I hope everyone has or had a great Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and/or Happy News Years. And we hope your year has been as good as ours.

Love,

Tim, Kirst, Gus & Tug

Worst Week Ever

Inspired by my good friend Tiffany's post about her lost dogs, I thought I would recall a funny story/depressing story about a man that tried stealing my beloved Willy:


BEWARE: this story is long - but quite funny.

ABSTRACT: Many of you know Willy - the greatest Keeshond in the world - you may not know, however, that he was once abducted from our family for a week. Those who do know, it is still a good story.

Willy is a bonafide work dog. He has spent more days on construction sites than me. Actually, that is not true. He typically spends the mornings on the site and the afternoons wondering the neighborhood in which we are working. Anyway, each afternoon we would typically find Willy hanging out in some puddle of water, somewhere. One afternoon, however, Willy was no where to be found. Hours of searching turned up nothing. I went home depressed and dogless. The next day yielded the same result. Three days after he went missing, Nathan, Kirsten, and I canvased the neighborhood, stapling fliers to every door and every jobsite we encountered. Then, the next day... NOTHING! But finally, after almost a full week I got a call from a man that told me that one of this crew members had Willy. Later that day the guy who had him, named Cesar, called me. The next few events that unfolded were crazy, to say the least.

We arranged to meet Cesar at his house that night. Later he called and informed me he wouldn't be home. No problem, I thought, he could just bring Willy to the jobsite the next day. Nope, no dogs allowed in his car. So, we arranged to go meet him the next night at his apartment. We got his address and drove to meet him. When we got there we called to make the swap and he didn't answer his phone! Five calls later and nothing. Finally, I called a friend who called from his phone and Cesar finally answered. At last, we arranged to meet Cesar.

Five minutes later, Cesar came out to meet us with Willy's collar in his hand. He told us that dogs were not allowed in his apartment complex (lie) and that Willy was at his friends house. He couldn't tell us his friend's address, but he could tell us how to get there. However he didn't know any street names, so we very hesitantly offered him a ride (but not before Kirsten frisked him down and made him turn his pant pockets inside out to prove he had to weapons). Our dear beloved Cesar had taken Willy's collar off because he thought he didn't like it! So we go to his friends to finally get Willy back. But guess what??? The gate was open and Willy was no where to be found. Depressed, we called the police to try to scare him into "finding" him. No dice. At one point in the phone call the police asked them to give their names and Cesar asked his friend in spanish what name they should give (little did they know that Tim could understand every word they said).

Anyway, we went home that night completely demoralized. Meanwhile, Cesar promised us that he would not sleep, eat, drink, etc. until he found Willy (comforting huh?).

The next morning we woke up early to catch the bastards by surprise. We drove straight to Cesar's friends house to grab Willy while they slept. Unfortunately, Willy was still not there. We proceeded straight to the nearest animal shelter. We saw so many cute dogs that needed a home - but no Willy. The morning was slowly coming to a close and Nathan had to go to work. We decided to go try Cesar's friend house one more time. It had to be the most depressing morning ever.

As we pulled up the street, much to our surprise, we saw Willy hanging out in the front yard! We opened the car door, called Willy into the car and got the hell out of there! We called Cesar to ask if he had found Willy yet, he told us that he was out in the neighborhood just searching his little heart out (with the T.V. in the background). We never told him that we found, perhaps he is still out looking for him!

So concluded the worst week ever. (posted by Tim)

Underwear War!

Sometimes Kailee and Tim will get into these little hyper moods. Usually it results with paint all over faces, swirlys in the toilet, or cat and mouse chases all over the house. This time, however, I found them like this.

We got a new car!

Although we have been talking about getting a new car for almost two years now, this car was a rather quick buy. As many of you know we just put almost $6,000 into my subaru last year when the engine blew going up Parley's Canyon. Well, on Saturday after a nice relaxing day of skiing up at Deer Valley we were coming DOWN Parley's Canyon and my transmission decided that it was kaput! So we immediately pulled into the REI parking lot and contemplated on what to do--do we drive on it any longer, do we have it towed, do we leave it put and have someone pick us up, do we drive up into the mountains and push it off a very tall cliff? These were all thoughts that were going through our heads. Needless to say, we opted to drive to the nearest car dealership and turn that sucker in and get a new vehicle. Now, we had thought about buying a Nissan Rogue, but we had also thought about buying a Hyundai Veracruz, Toyota Highlander, Honda Pilot, and a Honda CR-V. However, the closest dealership was a Nissan and we pulled in and set our eyes apon the Rogue. You are probably thinking--that was rather impulsive? AND, I would answer "yes" to a certain degree. We needed a new car bad and the subaru was on it's last leg. Had we decided to fix the transmission we would have had to put more money into fixing it than it was worth. Anywho, we now have a brand new car and Tim is in love with all of the nifty high tech options.

Addendum: If you look real close you can see little Gussy gazing out the driver's side window :)

Happy Birthday Bros!

Tim and I both have brothers whose birthdays are TODAY! Brian turned 22 and Nate turned 25!10 favorite things about Brian:

1. He knows his dorm room really well (because he is a studying machine)
2. He's super shy with the ladies (and actually finds most annoying)
3. He puts up being the only male sibling in the family real well
4. His dislike for Sean Hannity and most republican talk radio.
5. His long flowing locks of precious brunette hair (before he cut it)
6. His patience (especially with all of us female siblings)
7. He knows weird facts about EVERYTHING
8. His ability to cook really well
9. The fact that he is a total Momma's boy (so cute)
10. He is one of the kindest most patient men you'll ever meet.

10 favorite things about Nate:

1. His sexy beard (Tim's words)
2. His way with women
3. He rocks harder than a granite slab
4. He has exquisite taste in music
5. His Vespa is the besta
6. His flowing locks of sandy blond hair
7. He doesn't have a beer belly - "it is a fuel tank for a sex machine!"
8. His older brother (Tim) is one sexy man
9. He's (really) the nicest dude in the ranch
10.Nate can be counted on for anything

Happy Belated Birthday Dara!

So I'm just about a day behind and all of my family member's and friend's birthdays. :) Dare Bear just turned 24 on November 11th! Dara is my sister that is currently in law school in Minnesota. I have SO MANY memories from my childhood with Dare Bear! When my Dad and Step-mom lived in North Carolina, while my dad was doing his residency, we would play in the thick green and very wet forest behind the house and pick blackberries from the landlord's farm. In the evenings we spent the majority of the time catching and collecting fireflies in glass jars (that were not ventilated, and we were always so sad when we woke up the next day to discover they had died).
We were also notorious for putting on "poopet shows" (AKA puppet shows). When we were very little our plays would take place behind the big round boogery (thanks to Brian) papasan chair. When we got really good at the poopet shows we would make elaborate sets and charge the parents to attend these well practiced shows. At some point, Dara and I decided that we were too old for the plays and we became apart of the audience to some of these "lovely" plays, of which we have some recorded footage, and if I ever get my hand on it, I will post it!
Currently, you'll find Dara living in St. Louis, going to school, studying like a mad woman, and playing with her very naughty, but cute, oversized miniatured dachshund, Sophie. Happy Birthday Dara, I love you!

Happy Belated Birthday Erika!

Reeky turned 26 on November 10th! I thought this would be an appropriate time to take a walk down memory lane. Erika and I met when we were 8 years old and have remained best of friends ever since. We met on the ice at the Bountiful Recreation Center just weeks before the ice show. We were in the same flapper show program and Erika had the solo for our group (such a talented ice skater she was).
When we were little we would have "week-overs." We would literally live each other's homes for weeks at a time (during the school week and all). I have some great memories of our sleep-overs. We would call into Disney Radio and request outrageous songs in disquised voices. We would rearrange our furniture, sometimes breaking our beds and then we would try to discreetly hammer them back together. We would attach pillows to our bottoms and pretend to ice skate on the hard wood floors and would use the pillows as butt pads when we would fall.
Also...many of you don't know this, but Er and I are were once crowned the glory of the Fiesta Figure Skating Championship Ice Pair Shadow-dancing Competition. We had lovely red and black Latin dresses and we choreographed our entire number the day before we competed (this was after our parents paid to have it professionally choreographed and then we turned around and redid it ourselves).
Besides our Latin skating get-ups, Er and I liked to dress alike a lot. You would have probably seen us in the same attire almost everyday. We would shop together at the Gap and our parents would appease us by buying us the same thing. I would say we were attached at the hip.
Later in life, we would pretend to be sisters from England and when we would order food at restaurants with our oh so sneaky accents (they never knew we were American). When we woudl go on vacations together, people thought my little sister, me and Erika were either triplets or sisters close in age. We never disagreed and always played it up.
In our college years, Er and I shared an apartment together and found ourselves staying up all night with raging heat and a broken fan. Erika thought that by putting water on the fan it might make the propellars go around--we quickly found out that that doesn't really work well. :) Erika and I went onto graduate school together and currently you'll find her working for St. Marks as a clinical therapist and on the side making beautiful cards for her company, Plain Jayne Cards. But out of all of these memories, I remember laughing with Erika almost everytime I'm with her. Happy Birthday Er, I love you!

The Spooktacular Boo Crew!

Cutie Patootie Logan Grant as a little itty bitty Kangaroo
Tiny Gus as a little creepy crawly crab
Marucs and Jack as deadly reapers.
Tug from the dark side as Darth Vader

Nikki as a "boo"-tiful Glenda--good witch of the East

"Grandpa" Kanavel

Edward Grover Kanavel Jr.

Novermber 13th, 1926 - October 26th, 2007

Although "grandpa" Kanavel is not my real g-pa, he has been an important male figure in my life. When my mom graduated from her small town high school she found herself wanting to get out of New York. She started her journey across the country and somehow ended up in Utah (I know she's told me the story, but I always forget it). While in Utah she started dating the Kanavel's son and actually got engaged to him at one point. After realizing that he wasn't the "one" she decided to break it off. However, during that engagement she became very close to his family and she remained in in contact with his parents, and to this day we still consider them grandma & grandpa Kanavel.

My grandpa never missed an important event in my life. He was there for my baptism and actually confirmed me the following day at my church. He also sat as my witness during our wedding and filled in for my late grandpa Cox in all of our wedding photographs. When I was little I remember having sleep-overs at their house and my g-pa would help me pick out a movie from their huge personal blockbuster library and my g-ma would teach me how to crochet and press flowers between wax paper. I learned many things from my grandpa, but most importantly he taught me the power of repentance. I have a vivid memory of my g-pa sitting me down on my baptism day and talking to me about the importance of the covenant I just took. He also taught me that old age doesn't have to stop people (certainly it will slow them down). Even up until this past year you would have found him in his wood shop making shelves for family and friends. In fact, just a few months ago he practically amputated his hand off while working on a project for someone else. He would have done anything for anyone even if he didn't have the muscle power to do so--he would have still tried.

This past summer, we had the opportunity to celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. I watched him as he sat their slumped down in his big comfy chair and I realized that he wasn't going to be around for much longer. On the other hand, my g-ma was still going strong, running around like a mad woman making sure she greeted everyone with a happy smile. Just thinking about them I feel so grateful to have them in my life. My grandpa has been the purest example of patience and service and I can only hope that I will be one fourth of that for my grandchildren.

Ahhhhh Happeee Birfday!

Meg turned 22! The above picture was taken moments after Kailee and Tim got into a spit wad fight in the restaurant. Of which one of Kailee's amunition got away and landed on the table next to us.
I thought this picture was funny so I had to post it. Probably the most pathetic puppy dog face ever! :)
I thought I would take a few moments to say how much I love my little sister (and possibly conjure up some good memories from our childhood). When Meg and I were little we would build elaborate forts in our formal living room with our baby grand piano, coffee table, blankets galore, pillows...etc. etc. etc. (you get the point). We could play for hours with each other. Most of you remember our backyard on Woodmoor street and how the hill to the back yard sloped down pretty steep. During the winter months we would build tracks in the snow and use our sleds as bobsleds. When the snow was deep enough we would build underground caves and we were always saddened with the snow would begin to melt our hard work. Even earlier in the life we loved to build little people and towns out of clay. I don't remember watching TV when I was little. We were always outside playing fairies in the "forest" with braided flower crowns from our neighbor's garden (we thought we were so sneaky, but they knew we picked all of their flowers). When we got older, Meg was always my biggest ice skating fan. She never missed a competition or ice show and was always the loudest cheerer. But, on the flip-side...I am Meg's biggest dance fan. She is probably the most amazing dancer I know. Many of you don't know this because she is so humble about it. In high school, she was the only girl allowed on the cheerleading squad and the dance team. Both groups needed her and allowed this rare exception. Currently, you'll find Magoo (Meg's nickname) serving people sushi at Mikados, studying like a mad woman (she wants to be a nurse), rock climbing at Momentum, or hanging out with her adorable puppy Moku. Anyone that knows Meghan knows that she has a zest for life and is always looking for the fun in it. She's adventurous and is always up for just about anything. I love you Meg! Happy Birthday!

AMENDMENT: I have been made known that there were several dancers on the cheer squad. However, I still think little Meggers is the best in the west. :)

Gloom and Doom

Tonight the Rockies lost their third World Series game. It saddens us that they have come so far and yet are struggling to even stay in the game. This is going to be painful series to watch. The pictures above were taken during happier times, when they swept the Diamondbacks. Our poor dogs put up with us more than they would like...I'm sure!

Welcome Logan Grant Fuller!

On Wednesday the 17th Sabrina and Tad had their baby after a long and hard delivery. Due to the long delivery Logan was immediately placed in NICU and was watched for 24 hours until his blood tests came back clean. When born, he was 8lbs. 7 oz and 22 inches long. When we were looking through the NICU window we attempted to take a picture of him (see below), but this picture doesn't do his cuteness justice. He is definately a Fuller baby. He was large in size and had the Fuller nose. Do I dare say that he even looked a bit like Teisha when she was a baby (that's what Peggy said)? We are so excited to welcome him to the family. He's the first baby to be born into the family that carries the Fuller name!!
We're so excited for Tad and Sabrina. They are going to be the cutest parents.

Fall in East Canyon

Last week we had a work retreat up East Canyon and the leaves were beautiful. I just had to take a picture of them to show my Dad how amazing the mountains look in Utah. I feel so lucky to live in such a stunning city. How often can you rock climb, kayak, snow ski, and water ski in the same state? I LOVE UTAH in the fall!

Burritos & Banditos!

This past weekend, our friends invited us to a murder mystery party. We had a blast dressing up and playing our parts. Some were better than others. If any of you have ever been to one of these parties you know the names of charaters are quite clever. My name-- "Seniorita Bonita" and Tim's name-- "Warren Peace." As you can cleary see above, Amy was a photographer and Wes was a Mexican gangster (with arm/sleeve tattoos and all).
Tim was suppose to be an American writer, but he just had to grow a sweet stache for this occassion (even though it didn't fit his character).
christina was a Native American medicine woman and her husband Chris was a hill billy Mexican sheep herder...etc. etc. etc. Chris is a pro at this game and keeps us all entertained with his great accents. Speaking of accents, Wes does a great distressed German one. :)

Cleaning Day!

While Tim was at home due to Fall break, he decided tha the was going to clean our house of all our undesirable items. I came home from work one day to find him head deap in our master closet. All of our clothing (and when I say "all" I mean it) was sprawled on the bed and he was carefully picking through the apparel and throwing out the unwanted. During this process Gus found himself a nice and comfy bed on the pile of consignment clothing.
Later, Gus found himself an even more comfortable bag of clothing that was intended for the D.I..
I think Tug was feeling a little left out. Sadly there was not a big enough pile of clothing for Tug to curl up on. :(

HOW SWEEP IT IS!

The Colorado Rockies are going to the World Series!!!!!! They swept the Arizona Diamond Backs last night 6-4 and we couldn't be more thrilled. I have some seriously funny pictures of Tim sitting on the couch holding his broom, and with the dogs dressed up in Rockies hats. However, I'm at work cameraless.

Just messing around

To be fair!

okay to be fair...I'll post a hideous picture of me too! This was taken amidst our construction...yipes...I love that I look most like a litte boy. I also enjoyed that I look 66% like an asian girl. Good stuff.

This is cruel

okay so I had to...I found this hideous picture of meg (which is really hard to do, because she's is so naturally beautiful). Isn't it hilarious though...I love that a couple of the pictures are of men or women that look like men. Too funny! Sorry Meg...I had to, it was too good to pass up. :) Love ya. Oh and by the way...I don't think Meghan looks like any of these people. If I were to post one of her everyday "normal" pictures, the heritage website would surely match her up with models. :)

A Spontaneous 5th Year Anniversary!

This past weekend I decided that we needed to do something special for our 5th year anniversary. So...last Friday morning I called the box office of Coors stadium in Denver, Colorado to see if there were any available tickets left for one of the last Rockies baseball game. Surprisingly the man on the phone said "yes" and within one hour I made all the arrangements for ourselves and our dogs. After this was done, I called Tim at his office and told him to come home and by noon we were on our way. Tim of course was so excited because he has never been to a professional baseball game and the Rockies are his fave.
On Saturday we had the whole day to kill in good ole' Denver. I was really excited to visit the Museum of Nature & Science and knowing Tim I knew he would be on board too. We asked this kind gentlemen at the Library how to get there and he explained the directions and then proceeded to tell us that it was within a mile's walk. So...we began to walk and about an hour and half later we were still walking (come to find out it was about 5 miles). However, the museum was awesome. They had outerspace exhibit that Tim thoroughly enjoyed and they also had numerous exhibits on mountainess animals. After our long journey to the museum we opted to take the bus back for $3 (worth every dollar).
After eating an early dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, we arrived VERY early at Coors Field. It was really cute to see Tim's face light up upon entering the stadium. He was like a kid in a candy story and you could tell he was in awe. We then proceeded to take our seats up in the THIRD messanine (that's all that was available).

The game was so much fun. I wish we had a professional baseball team in Utah, because we would have season tickets. The Rockies crushed the Arizona Diamondbacks 11 to 1 and two days later went onto win a spot in the playoffs. If the Rockies make it to the world series, Tim and I are seriously contemplating returning to see them in action once again. The game was fun and all, but being with Tim made it perfect. These past 5 years have been awesome. Everyday he amazes me and everyday I find myself falling in love with him more and more. I love you babe! Thanks for being such an radical dude!

I'm in heaven!

Yep! No need to rub your eyes...you are seeing what you are think you are seeing. Some of you may have already encountered your very own iPod vending machine, but I just witnessed one for myself last week in the Las Vegas airport. I don't understand it though. They had all sorts of iPods for sale and unless you travel with your iTunes at hand all the time, why would you buy one for your travels? Nonetheless, just the sight translated me to heaven.

Viva Las Vegas!

This past weekend, my mom and I flew down for a girls only "Celine Dion Farewell Extravaganza"! :) It was fun to spend the entire weekend shopping, and eating at awesome restaurants without any boys dragging us down.


Unfortunately, I had to check my camera at the door, so we have no pictures of Celine. However, her show was awesome and the dancers were amazing. If anyone is contemplating the trip down there it is definately worth it.

On Sunday morning we had a huge brunch at the Wynn hotel. After standing in line for almost an hour we then proceeded to stuff our faces for almost an hour. So yummy!

We then walked over to the Bellagio and walked through the conservatory. Right now, the room has a fall theme and different colored apples meticulously placed everywhere...it was amazingly beautiful.Our last night in Vegas, we decided that we needed to see Mystere by Cirque De Soleil in Treasure Island. I was not prepared for what we were walking into, but I was on the edge of my seat the entire show. Again, the dancers and performers were incredible. As we were standing in line to get into the theater we encountered this custom-made bike. You can't tell by this picture, by the woman's head was made from metal and her eyes lit up with a blue hue. I can only imagine how much this chopper would go for.
All in all, we had a great weekend and we have decided that it needs to be an annual event. Our next trip down to Vegas will be to see Bette Midler (she's taking Celine's spot in Caesar's Palace). Thanks for the fun trip mom.