Owen the Big Boy

In honor of Owen celebrating his big birthday, I just wanted to share a crazy story about how big he is getting.

A few weeks ago, Owen was sleeping and somehow lost his binky in the middle of the night. For those of you that know Owen well, you know how much he loves his binky at night (luckily he has always understood that the binky is just for bedtime and naptime--but he definitely looked forward to being able to use his pacifier). After some searching in the night, Kristine couldn't find the little binky and Owen was forced to go to sleep without it. Surprisingly to both myself and Kristine (and probably Owen too) he made it through the night. We decided to use this as a perfect opportunity to get rid of the binky.

Kristine is an incredible mother and when it was time for James to give up his binky, she made up the story (illustrated and all) about the Binky Dragon. When little boys and girls get to be too big for their binky, they wrap it up like a present and put it out at night. In the middle of the night the Binky Dragon comes to collect the binky and then takes it to a new baby that needs a binky.

So when we found the binky the following morning and unsuccessfully hid it, we decided it was time for another visit from the binky dragon. Owen wrapped up his binky--with the help of James of course.

Then we put the wrapped binky on mommy and daddy's dresser (because Owen was a little scared about a dragon coming into his room at night). The binky was gone in the morning and we haven't needed one since (Owen has said that the Binky Dragon took his binky to Charlie--maybe it was easier knowing that his little cuz was benefiting from his sacrifice).

Owen has been going through so many big boy changes that it has made me a little sad that he is growing up so quickly. He has made the switch into sleeping in the top bunk bed above James, he has made some progress with potty training, and it just makes me sad that my little trouble maker is growing up. But nevertheless, happy birthday my little Owie bear.

Battle of the Books II

I have recently posted about a few of these books, but I thought that I would provide you with the entire list. So far, I haven't loved these books as much as last year, but if you love fantasy and science fiction there are several that the students have enjoyed. So feel free to grab some of these and let me know what you think!

Alphabet of Dreams by Susan Fletcher
Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz
Atherton: House of Power by Patrick Carman
Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolff
Call Me Hope by Gretchen Olson
Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull**
Fire on the Wind by Linda Crew
Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary**
Half-moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer**
Minerva Clark Gets a Clue by Karen Karbo**
Peak by Roland Smith**
The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynn Jones
Sea Otter Rescue by Roland Smith
The Stout-hearted Seven by Neta Lohnes Frazier
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
**Books I highly recommend

This year we only chose books that are written by authors that are from the Northwest or the setting of the book takes place here. If anyone read Beverly Cleary's books when you were little, you would enjoy A Girl From Yamhill. It is a memoir written by her. I loved it. Happy reading!

Daddy's Last Week of Summer Extravaganza

So unfortunately this past week was my last week of summer break. I was in a slight depression because after teaching summer school I didn't feel like I had relaxed enough. I know, I shouldn't complain...most of the working world would love to have several weeks off in the summer, so I will bite my tongue. However, since it was my last week of not having to go to work, James and I sat down and decided to plan out a week full of activities that we could enjoy together-just the boys (Owen was included). This allowed me to spend some quality time with my two favorite guys and gave Kristine a nice break so she could pursue all of her sewing adventures and go and look for fabric without two hooligans running and hiding under the bolts of fabric. So here is a report of our adventures.



Monday: We launched our Week of Fun at Chuck E. Cheese. I know, I know, Chuck E. Cheese can be kind of ridiculous and I still am slightly scared of the jerky robotics of the Chuck E. Cheese band, but we love to go--if only to play skeeball, the basketball games, and the new Deal or No Deal game. We had quite a bit of success and the boys were rewarded with some cheap plastic toys, most definitely made in China, that broke or were lost within an hour of being acquired. We finished the night by going to one of our favorite restaurants, Chicken Bonz.



Tuesday: Today we first went to the children's museum here in Eugene called The Science Factory. We played music on all of their new "Noise!" exhibits, screamed as loud as we could in the decibel measuring chamber, and the boys put on a fantastic puppet show. Then we extended our educational fun by going to the library. This is a weekly event anyway, but it isn't often that I get to take the boys. We had a great time looking through the books. Since James is becoming such a great reader, it is fun to try to find easy chapter books that he finds interesting. Owen mostly runs around, not listening, but the minute you hand him a book, he plops down right on the floor and reads. Pretty adorable. I also picked up a book that they had on hold for me, The Candy Shop War (see previous post), and it was a fun read.



Wednesday: We decided to have a movie night party. We went to the store and purchased our favorite treats and then put out a blanket on our floor and watched the movie of their choice, Alvin and the Chipmunks. We devoured licorice, popcorn, sour patch kids, and airheads as we watched those slightly obnoxious chipmunks learn the valuable life lesson that fame and fortune don't necessarily bring happiness....I am sure that is what James and Owen got out of it, not the subtle potty humor and annoying singing.

Thursday: We had planned to go camping, but had to postpone due to some much needed summer rain.



Friday/Saturday: James, Owen, and I took off for the Oregon coast to enjoy some quality camping time. We really wanted to stay at our favorite campground at Carter Lake, but it was full, so we ended up just north at the Lagoon Campground which is part of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. It was a nice place as well. We enjoyed hiking, eating s'mores and hotdogs, collecting shells, birdwatching, and swimming.

I must admit that when I return to work tomorrow morning I will be going through withdrawals of being with my boys. I admit that there are many times when I have run out of patience and get tired of them ignoring me and constantly annoying one another and pushing each other's buttons; but for the most part they are the most brilliant, funny, wonderful people and I am so happy to be their dad.

Long Time Due

This summer I have been spending much of my time reading the new list of books for our Battle of the Books 2008-2009. So far I have been very impressed and wanted to share a few books that I have found especially great.

FABLEHAVEN by Brandon Mull



This is the first book in a series (three have been published, two will come out in the next few years). It is an incredible book full of imagination and adventure. It follows a brother and sister who discover that their grandparents live on a magical preserve. The story is somewhat like Harry Potter in the fact that it contains these fantastical creatures, but somehow it remains relateable and the characters are extraordinary. It might help that the author is a graduate of BYU :) The other two books are also outstanding and it is a great series that I would recommend to anyone. The author has another book out, THE CANDY SHOP WAR, which I am currently reading which is also excellent. Good stuff.

THE PENDERWICKS ON GARDAM STREET by Jeanne Birdsall



This is the second book about the Penderwick family. The first won the National Book Award for youth fiction. I loved both books. They are pretty simple books that are reminiscent of The Boxcar Children series or television shows from the 50s or 60s like The Donna Reed Show or Leave it to Beaver. It centers around a family of four girls, whose mother died of cancer, and their adventures. They are quick reads, well-written, and a beautiful portrayal of a close family that rely on each other. I really enjoyed the first book, but think that the second might be even better.

There is nothing better than having a great book to read. So take advantage of these last few weeks of warmth and sun and dive into a great book, I know that I will. If you have read something great this summer, leave a comment and I would love to check it out.

Do we learn from history?

John Quincy Adams (eerily similar to John McCain?)


I came into this presidential election with excitement for new candidates and a renewed sense of citizenship. Now that it is finally almost time for us Oregonians to have our primary election, I find myself completely frustrated and fatigued with the whole process. I am tired of the same political commentators talking about the same boring things and feeling as if we are getting no where. I have even relegated my previous admiration for Senator Obama to a feeling of exasperation and a willingness to settle for whatever the result is going to be. I would even be fine with the she-devil herself as my President if this whole process could just be over. The thought that there are still months and months to go until the final election is completely overwhelming and our nights spent watching Anderson Cooper are waning. (We have watched more CNN during the past few months than I had previously watched in my entire lifetime)

I wonder if the founding fathers of this great nation ever thought that the presidential election would come to this. But then, I was just teaching about the presidential election of 1824. Back then there weren’t necessarily two main political parties. The Federalist party had disbanded because of the societal outrage at the Alien and Sedition Acts that were championed by John Adams and his followers. The Democratic-Republicans had conflicting interests and we ended up with four main candidates for the presidency: John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William Crawford. All four of these candidates considered themselves a member of the same party and when it came time for the election, no candidate had a majority—in either popular or electoral votes. Andrew Jackson received 43% of the vote and 99 electoral votes and John Quincy Adams received 31% of the popular vote and 84 votes from the electoral college. Therefore, according to the 12th Amendment the House of Representatives would select the President. As you can imagine, there was quite a bit of kissing up, promises made, and back door dealing in the House as they prepared for the vote. In the end, John Quincy Adams would receive the most votes and become the 6th President of the United States.

The four years that followed were fairly tumultuous years in Washington, D.C. as popular opinion against the President was incredibly low (which makes sense since not even one-third of the people actually voted for the guy). He wasn’t able to accomplish much of anything and his four years as President is relegated to one short paragraph in my history textbook. I fear that this might be a similar outcome for the next president. We are so hungry for a change in the executive office, but are now growing rapidly tired of the fighting and bickering that is occurring. I had felt that perhaps as a result of this election, more people would take an active role in their government and we would see a revolution of sorts in the way people feel and interact with their government. Now I am included in the masses of people who want this all to be over so that we can get on with our poor, politically-apathetic lives.

DVR troubles

So Kristine and I have this recurring problem. Whenever there is any sort of a big game on that goes into overtime or is the least bit exciting....we never get to see the end. We had worked so hard to get the kids in bed, to have family time, and were looking forward to finally watching a close game in this tournament that has been riddled with boring blow-outs. We were sitting on the edge of our seats hoping Kansas could pull it out against the cocky (2007 Florida-reminiscent) Tigers of Memphis; there were 15 seconds or so left and there comes that ugly gray and blue screen demanding a choice of "start over" or "delete." Of course we had started the game a good hour or so late and by the time we reached this pitiful end, the game was already over. So here we sit watching ESPN and watching the poor Memphis players with red eyes trying to struggle through ridiculous questions like, "So Mr. Rose, are you going to the NBA?" The poor kid (yes, the same poor kids whose dreams I wanted squashed because they were too self-assured) just saw the chance of a lifetime run through his fingers and they have given him a whole ten minutes to make the biggest decision of his life.

The moral of this story is that there is an ugly side to the DVR. We praise it for saving us and allowing us to watch all of our favorite shows after we have put the buddies to bed, but we loathe it for denying us the excitement of the best of March Madness. Ughhh!

Do you know who you are?

"You are the son of..." James Fuller.

I missed being with my dad tonight. When I lived in Utah, we (myself, my dad, my brother, and occasionally a brother in law or two) had made quite a tradition of attending the priesthood session of conference in the conference center. Tonight I attended at my stake center in Eugene with a friend from our ward. It was a great session, but as I looked around the chapel, seeing fathers and sons listening to our new prophet together, I was struck with extreme longing for one more chance to share in this great spirit of brotherhood with my dad.

My dad is a pretty incredible person. He has always been loved and admired by nearly everyone in his life. My friends would often come over and end up talking to him upstairs (as I sat annoyed downstairs--at the time I found this completely obnoxious, but looking back find it an endearing quality about my father). He is a high school teacher, and a very good one at that. He has inspired many to achieve great things. Including me.

Even though I had my father as a teacher, a bishop, a coach (for a very short period of time--just wanted to make sure that everyone still knew that I continue to hold a grudge about that fact :), it was when I was thousands of miles away from my father that I felt his inspiration nearly every day. As a missionary for my church in Paris, France, I often relied upon my dad and his testimony to strengthen me during rough times. I looked forward to his weekly letters and carried them with me in my backpack. I would pull them out on buses or trains and my vigor for missionary work would be strengthened. I wanted to make him proud of me.

Now, I am a teacher myself. As much as I tried to avoid a career in education (partly in an effort to be different than my dad and partly from greed for a larger salary), I finally accepted it and now it consumes my life. My father has set the standard for what I want to accomplish in my classroom. I hope to one day inspire students in a way that I am sure my father continues to do.

Finally, I am amazed at the memories that I have of spending time with my father. He was an incredibly busy man when I was growing up (and still is). He worked two full-time jobs, always had a demanding church calling, and coached two or three sports during the school year. However, I have many fond memories of working outside with my dad, going on random fishing trips, riding in the big white van to some recreational event, sitting at Brigham City Hall in the recreation department office, and receiving priesthood blessings at the beginning of each school year. I can not explain to you how much my father means to me. I respect him for the amazing life that he has led. I admire him for his wisdom and spiritual strength. I love him with all of my heart. Thanks dad.