Father's Day 2009

These kids have the best dad in the world. This is a traditional photo taken at a Chicken BBQ that John's Grandparents church host every year. I love that our family has so many traditions and I love the new ones that we have started as well. This will be something that we will miss doing when the time comes, but oh how we enjoy the time now. Jordon, John, Shenira, Dustin, Tony & Gabe

This will be a framed picture in the Fuller home. This is Jordon, Grandpa "GG" Fuller, John, Shenira, Dustin, Dad Fuller, Tony and Gabe all on Father's Day.
Father son pool bonding & Nana and Papa's House.

Last swim spot of the day was at home!

Last but not least. Daddy presents. He got new golf stuff since he has just decided that he was going to give golf a try.

A terrific birthday for a terrific man!

Saturday was John's birthday. He wanted to spend the day at South Haven on the lake so that is just what we did. It was a perfect day and we all had a great time. Gabe thought it was so cool that we got to have a picnic on the boat and then he wanted Daddy to take him up to the duns. This was a very funny to watch as they had to get into the freezing cold water to wade to shore. I use the word "wade" loosely. As at one point while walking up the water went right over the top of John's head. This scared Gabe but they were able to make it to shore and all was good. This is the most amazing man EVER! Right behind Jesus of course!

This is what a the face a good daddy looks like. Gabe had decided two weeks before John's birthday that he wanted to get him a softball because daddy plays softball on the Church softball team. Daddy knew that Gabe had put a lot of thought into the gift but didn't know what it was until he opened it. I wish I would have had to camera with me so that I could have also gotten the look of pride on Gabe's face as he saw how "excited" daddy was to open his present! This is what makes a good dad--GREAT!

Daddy with his crew. It's amazing how much they have all grown in the past 6 years. Time sure passes quick but these memories along with the pictures are what we will continue to Cherish always. John is the best at making memories with his kids and for that we love him very much.

Happy Birthday John....I Love You.

Go Kart Fun

Since Tuesday John has been trying to go to the Go Kart track with some friends. We have had rain everyday since. Today however, John had the day off of work and then made it to the track with just enough time to get a ride in before more rain came. I couldn't resist a photo opportunity so I met them there on my lunch break.

Gabriel is a total nut and as you can see LOVED every minute of the ride!

I'm pretty sure that Daddy enjoyed himself too!

What a great way to spend a lunch break!

The Joy of Ice Cream

Gabe and I decided to take our friend Sarah out for Ice Cream last night. Daddy training to ride his bike from Kalamazoo to South Haven with a group from our Church so Gabe and Mommy had some time on our hand. These two are great friends and it's so fun to watch how they interact with each other. I'm a little afraid that as my little Gabriel grows up I'm going to have my hands full as ALL of Gabriel's friends at this point are females!!! This is Gabe and Sarah taking the first lick of their Ice Cream Cones!

Couldn't resist this picture they thought they were so big sitting up to the counter!
Oh Man this is good stuff!!!


Pure Joy!

First and Last Wedding Cake!!!

Oh the things that I rope my mom and I into. A good friend of mine got married in Las Vegas last month. As soon as I heard they were going to Vegas for the wedding I told her that I would have a reception for them when they got back. I went into full party planning mode and the first call I made was to my mom to see if she would come and help me make the Wedding cake. Neither of us had ever made a Wedding Cake before but, my mother has made several birthday cakes in her life so what the heck we could do this!All finished just have to add flowers to it the day of the receptionThe best part of making a cake is the frosting "Shots" that you get when you are done! Nana told Gabe that when she was all done that she was going to give him a shot. Gabe after just having real shots last week quickly said "Not thanks I don't like shots"! Nana explained that this was one "shot" that he was going to like and as you can see he did!

Our finished product!

Bride "you gonna be nice?" Groom "you gonna be nice?"I think NOT!!!! They enjoyed the cake the most!Hey David you got a little something, something on your lip!!
They both ended up with frosting up their noses before it was all said and done!But in the end still love each other!Everyone had a great time. As for the party planner in me one more party down and millions left to go!!! I'm thinking a girls Spa Night is going to be the next one!! Can't wait.

Teaching a Child the Joy in the Little Things

One of my biggest goals is to teach my son what it is to bring joy to someones day. Yesterday was the birthday of a very special Lady at our Church "Judy". We decided that we would surprise her with a chocolate cake. Gabe was so excited and couldn't wait for Ms. Judy to get there. As soon as he saw her enter the gym he came running into the kitchen to get me. I told him to watch for her to sit down and then come and get me. He watched every step she made and as soon as she sat down he was back in the kitchen "Okay mama come on".

Taking Ms. Judy her cake

Singing Happy Birthday. He was so proud of himself. Watching the joy in Gabe's face was almost as priceless as the joy on Judy's. My prayer for my son is that he will always keep the joy in his heart as well as his love for people for his entire life.

5th Grade Graduation

Today our little girl completed her elementary days! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. How is it that you send your little one to Kindergarten and then POW they are graduating from 5th grade. I hope the next few years will slow down a little but I'm sure it will go by just as fast. Such a serious face.

Shenira with Grandpa & Grandma Fuller & Daddy

Shenira & Daddy

What a face she has. This one at 13-18 isn't going to be a fun trip!! Daddy better start waxing his gun now to help put the fear of God into any boy who even thinks that he is worthy of her!!! I'm so blessed to be apart of this life.

Shenira with her teacher Mrs. Hook. Shenira loved her fourth grade teacher so much that she was very upset about going into the 5th grade this year. But she and Mrs. Hook hit it off nicely and she ended up loving Mrs. Hook too. She is our sweet girl. She may not have won the Principles award today but she sure dose win the proud parents award. What a joy!

Field Day

My friend Carol does "Your gonna miss this moment" post. This post is one of those for me. Yesterday was Shenira's last field day. We spend much of the day in the rain and it was freezing cold. But all in all we had a great day and time. Shenira participated in several events, The high jump, long jump, obstacle course, 40 yard dash, the 440 and the wacky relay. She did her best in every event that she was in and even if she didn't win she still had fun which is all that we ask of. This is an event we miss seeing the boys in and will miss seeing Shenira in as well. We still have one more to go but will have a little break in between Gabe and Shenira.

If you are a parent take hold of every moment the time goes by so fast.

She had to eat two crackers and then Whistle afterwards
Getting ready to kick her ball into the net

Daddy's little girl. She is growing up so fast. She will be in the Middle School next year. So hard to believe.

High Jump. Shenira is a very athletic young lady.

Ever Kidnapped Your Spouse???

If you've never kidnapped your spouse before you should it's the most fun ever!!!! After our vow renewal I made plans for us to spend the night away but wouldn't tell John where we were going. It was lots of fun to keep him guess and the best part was that many of our friends knew what I was up to and would tease John about it! Together we decided that we would go Miniature Golfing as this is what we did on our actual Honeymoon several times. Then it was off to Chilli's for some chips and salsa (my favorite). After that it was then time to take him to our final destination. I started off by telling him he needed to go to Sprinkle Road once he was on Sprinkle I then pretended to be a GPS system "approaching Left turn, approaching Right turn" I did this until we made it to the final destination! He was very surprised where we went was the last place that he had thought of. Our friends let us borrow their cabin for the night. I don't have any pictures of the cabin as I left my camera in the car but here are a few from our golf outing!

Story of my night, "I just missed"!

Having fun!

Hole in One! Show off!

Marrying my Bestfriend for the second time!

As some of you know John and I have been teaching marriage classes at our church. John and I both understand the importance of doing things to keep your marriage a live. We just finished with the Fireproof series and ended the series with a Marriage Vow renewal ceremony. We had five couples that participated in this ceremony with a wide range of how long each couple had been married. We had the high end of 44 year and low end was 5 years. This class touched many more marriages that the ones that you see on this screen but for these 5 that took the "plunge" again it was an amazing day. We shared this event with close friends and family.

Here Pastor Dave is address all of the couples. Judy is the cute bride in the middle. She wore the veil that she wore 44 years ago!
Saying our vows again. I've found a partner for life with John and even though so time are rough with living a life as a blended family. God has blessed us both in ways we will never understand. He is a true Rock and the way that he leads and takes care of our family is never over looked. I'm so grateful to God everyday that I get to spend the rest of my life with this wonderful man.

If you have seen the movie you know that the salt and pepper shaker was an amazing analogy that Michael made in the movie. He explains that Salt & Pepper always come together and then he proceeds to glue the two together. Caleb then picks them up and is about to try and pull them apart when Micheal tells he that if he pulls him them apart he will break either one or both of them. He is talk to Caleb about divorce in this instance and what a mind picture he sets.

A wonderful friend made this AMAZING cake for us to help celebrate our day. She went threw the painstaking task of writing words around the entire cake all three lays and she never used the same word twice. If you look closely you can also see that she used a different font for each word as well. On the bottom layer of the cake she had one phrase "Never leave your partner" which also came from the movie.

When John and I married the first time Shenira and Jordon were the only kids that come to our wedding. Today was so special to us because we were able to have all of our kids there. John's Grandparents, My Mom and John's parents also came to share the day with us.

For us it's only been five years but no matter how many years you've been married it's never to late or early to remind yourselves of the love that each of you have and of why you were married in the first place. Take some time today to appreciate your husband or wife! Your marriage will be glad that you did.