Happy Fall, Y'all

Well, we know that today isn't officially the first day of Fall, but nonetheless, today we decided to get out and enjoy the nice Fall weather. We got up early.... (OK, let's define early in the Fulkerson household on a Saturday morning - anytime before 10am) and headed up to Woodland Park and stopped at our favorite spot, The Donut Mill. Mmmmmm!!!! After that, we drove all over some of the best places in Colorado to see the aspen trees change. We stopped here, we stopped there, we took lots of pictures, and basically enjoyed our time together and our day out. Fall up in the mountains here in Colorado is quite beautiful. The trees were turning such a bright yellow color (and sometimes orange and red) that it hurt your eyes! (Yes, of all the days, the clouds decided to come out, so we have a lot of "not so bright" pictures.... bummer.)

Mid-day we stopped and had a picnic by a river.......

Just after we picked up from our picnic and got in the car and got going again, we hit a HUGE rain and hail storm. The hail piled up over an inch deep!

Can you believe it? Crazy...... (We also encountered a rude gas station attendant in Conifer, CO. But that's another story for another time.) Anyhow, after we drove everywhere that we could possibly think of to see the changing aspens, we headed over to Evergreen, CO. (We think that we'll come back in the Winter to go ice skating out on the lake.)



After looking around that fun little city, we finally headed over to Highlands Ranch, CO to an open house for one of our friends. We spent a good hour and a half there looking around their beautiful home and eating some amazing food before we decided that we were really tired and needed to get home. On our way home we took a few other scenic routes, and saw some other parts of Colorado that we had never seen before. Just before our exit to get off, Dad Kelly pipes up from the backseat and says, "wanna go to Saltgrass to get some coffee and dessert?" We were all still chock-full from the open house, but we decided that coffee sounded good. And plus, we all missed seeing Brian, so the vote ended up being a "yes." Now we're home. It's been a long fun day, but it's time for bed and we both have early morning obligations at church.

My "Ah-Ha" Moment

(By Jen)

Almost every Sunday morning we have a guy at our church who reads the morning scripture and shares his personal “ah-ha moment” for the week. (Turning everyday, ordinary situations into a Biblical life lesson) He always has THE best stories for his “ah-ha moments” and encourages us to find ours. I have always had THE hardest time trying to find one and wondered how he can do it so easily. But then last night, sitting around a campfire at Mom and Dad’s, I finally had mine. Short and simple (and one people might have already thought of before), but I finally had one…… yay!

One of the many things in life that brings me great joy is being with the dogs – whether just sitting and cuddling or going out for walks and playing. (Basically, just including them in my life and the various activities thereof.) And that may sound silly to a lot of people, but it really is great fun (and very therapeutic) to have a dog in your life. Kobe and Casey are some of the craziest dogs ever with two vastly different personalities, but they have become so much a part of the family, life would be so weird without them. Anyhow, as we were all sitting around the campfire, of course they had to be included too. And as I watched them yearn for attention, sit and enjoy the fire, run and chase every little noise that they thought they heard, and whine because one thought that they felt more left out than the other, here is what I thought about:

* They (the dogs) meet you right where you are – they come to you when called. God meets you right where you are in life and knows how to fill all the voids and needs that you may have when you call on Him. * They love you unconditionally and forget anything “bad” you might have done to them in the past. Our Father loves us more than we could ever imagine and forgets our sins as far as the East is from the West. * They just want to be with you. That’s all, they don’t care where you are at or what you are doing, they just want to hear your voice and enjoy your company. Same with God…. He just wants to be with you, whether sitting quietly, or cleaning the house, or going on a vacation or hearing you talk to him. * Dogs want your love and attention/affection. God wants your love and attention. * Dogs will sometimes go to great lengths to get you to pay attention to them and love them. Jesus died on the cross for our sins – talk about the greatest length to go to to get our attention and to get us to love and follow Him!! * As I said above, life would be so weird without them as they are very much a part of my life. Life without Jesus would be so weird….. and scary, since He is very much a part of my life. * They can sometimes feel left out. Jesus never makes us feel left out. He is always there, always caring about us. * Dogs have a keen sense of knowing when something is wrong and when something isn’t quite right. They also like to keep a good eye on their "people family." God always knows everything that we feel and do. He is always there, always watching. I could go on and on and on....

So what about YOU? What’s been an “ah-ha moment” that YOU have had?

A September To Remember

(By Greg)

UPDATE - 09/29/2008:

Today was another day for the record books! The Dow Jones, again, what most refer to as "the market", was down 777 points! In terms of points, that is the biggest one-day drop the Dow has ever had. In terms of percentage points, it's not even close to the "Crash of 1929" or "Black Monday" in 1987!

Friday: 09/19/2008:

Most of you may know this time in our country as: "The Credit Crunch", "Financial Crisis", "Financial Meltdown", "Housing Debacle", etc.

The past 12+ months, but mainly September 2008, will be a moment in time that will forever be written in stone and one for the history books! Although it was unbelievable what has happened, I am excited to be a part of history--let me explain. Also, September 2008 and the remainder of 2008 is left to be written...

For September 2008 here's a list of some events:

Merrill Lynch: World's LARGEST brokerage firm bought out by Bank of America!

Lehman Brothers: World's OLDEST (founded in 1850) brokerage firm filed for bankruptcy!

American International Group (AKA: AIG): World's LARGEST insurance company bought out by the federal government!

Morgan Stanley: Another Wall Street darling, is in talks to possibly be bought out by Wachovia!

Goldman Sachs: The only "original" Wall Street firm left, if Morgan Stanley gets bought out!

Also in 2008, Bear Stearns, one of the world's LARGEST brokerage firms at the time, was bought out my JPMorgan! Lastly, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (owners of roughly 50% of the mortgages in the USA) were taken over by the Federal Government!

The Dow Jones, which most refer to as "the market", had volatility this week (9/15-9/19) that hasn't been seen in decades. Here's the daily change on the Dow, with shares traded on the NYSE. Keep in mind that the average number of shares traded on a daily basis on the NYSE is: 1.4 Billion shares.

Monday 9/15: -504 points (1.8 Billion shares)

Tuesday 9/16: +141 points (2.2 Billion shares)

Wednesday 9/17: -449 points (2.1 Billion shares)

Thursday 9/18: +410 points (2.5 Billion shares)

Friday: 9/19: +369 points (3.0 Billion shares)

Even with these wild swings, we still ended the week down 33 points!

Friday 9/19 will be a day I will never forget! Again, average daily volume on the NYSE is: 1.4 Billion shares. 30-minutes after the market opened on 9/19, volume had already reached 1.0 BILLION SHARES--AMAZING!!!!! End-of-day figure: 3.0 BILLION SHARES!!!!! Did you read that?

I saw stocks move today/yesterday with the greatest of swings like I've never seen before and probably never will see again! Our company stock, TROW, saw a daily spread today from: $47-$70, $23, in one day! Honestly, if you played your "cards" right the last 3 days, this market probably made some millionaires overnight!

While most of you were astonished and in awe at what "the market" did this week, I was on the complete opposite side of the spectrum! Today, I got a glimpse of what times were like in the 1930s. When I arrived at work today, Pershing's systems (Pershing: our clearing firm who clears all of our trades and is the LARGEST clearing firm in the nation) were down and over-loaded by all the volume yesterday, last night, and this morning--Pershing does about 250,000 trades on average per day. Yesterday, they processed 750,000+ trades! Instead of submitting everything via our wonderful technology we have access to, we reverted to the days of old: paper trades, time-stamping, and running around with our heads cut-off--wow, what an eye-opener! On a bad day, we may have 15+ calls on hold! At any given time today, we had 80+ calls on hold! It looked like the trading floor of the NYSE--chaos, traders everywhere, people yelling, sweat dripping, etc! A day I will never forget...

This weekend and early next weekend appears to be an extremely busy day within T. Rowe Price. We are in the process of making a spreadsheet to determine how much money Pershing lost on our behalf today and will attempt to replenish those losses soon. The only bad thing, Pershing never takes the blame, even when they are in the wrong!

I'm sure I could continue with what went on in the market this past week, but most of it would not excite you, and most of it you've probably already heard on the news!

HAPPY TRADING!

It's Hard To Say Goodbye....

(By Jen)

Like I’ve said before, how come it’s always all the good people in your life that have to move away, and the ones that you really wish would move away, stay?

It’s been a horrible/depressing 8 weeks for me these past few weeks. One of my bestest friends in the whole wide world told me she was moving, and it came before I knew it. Granted, she’ll only be 2.5 hours away in Cheyenne, Wyoming, but still, things are just not gonna be the same when I am used to her living 2.5 minutes away.

Last Thursday, we got a bunch of her girlfriends together and gave her a going-away party. Awesome dinner, fondue, presents.... the works!! We had WAY too much fun and stayed up WAY too late. It was totally worth it though. =) Today we spent pretty much the whole morning and afternoon together. We met for an early morning breakfast, and then headed to her house to finish up some last minute cleaning, hole filling, and touch-up painting. Tears and laughter flowed, and then we said our goodbye’s - it was a fun, but very sad day. Good thing she’ll have an extra bedroom in her big ol' new house so we can come up and visit a lot!! =)

Breakfast buddies.... REALLY early this morning.... 6 cups of coffee later. ;)

Next Stop: The Grand Canyon

So, for like the past 20 years or so, Jen has ding-donged about how she has always wanted to go to the Grand Canyon. She’s flown over it many times going to Hawaii, but never actually got to go there physically (Greg has though). Not sure why it was always such a big deal to go there, but hey, we all have places we want to go and see, right? Anyhow, when we were approached by Mom and Dad Kelly about our 2008 family trip, Jen piped up and said, “Hey, how about the Grand Canyon!?” Surprisingly everyone was game – which was good, because one, it’s not always easy getting 6 people to make a decision about something, and two, if Greg (a.k.a. “the favorite”) had picked somewhere else, we most likely would have gone there instead. (LOL)

Anyhow, we all packed ourselves and our luggage like sardines in the Tahoe and headed out on one of our infamous road trips. We left on Friday afternoon and made our first stop 6 hours from home in Grand Junction, Colorado. After a quick dip in the pool, we went to bed fairly early so we could get up early and enjoy all that the next day had to offer.

Saturday morning, we headed out to Moab, Utah and then to Arches National Park. It was so stinking hot there, but we got to see a lot of cool stuff. We even stopped at a lot of cool places along the way..... that helped break the trip up a little bit. Late that night we got to our hotel at the Grand Canyon (we thought we’d never make it there) and went straight to bed.

Sunday morning, we woke up to clouds and light rain. What a disappointment that was! That was our Grand Canyon day! But, we went anyway and tried to at least see SOMETHING. At first it seemed futile to even stop and get out of the car, but the clouds let up in some areas and we actually got to see some stuff! We even hiked along a scenic trail, but then it started pouring rain, so we got back to the car as fast as we could. At least we got SOME pics. We almost thought that we had driven over 700 miles for nothing. ;) After that, we made a little side trip to the four corners area, took the obligatory tourist pictures, had a picnic, and then headed out to our next hotel in Pagosa Springs, CO.

Monday morning we slept in, had a big breakfast, and then started home. We stopped a couple of times…. once for a pretty hike by a huge waterfall along the side of the road, and once for a picnic at a playground. We made it home late Monday afternoon and just crashed on the couch the rest of the night. Vacations can be fun – and tiring!

One word would describe last week: BUSY. Wednesday was Jen’s last day of clinicals. Yay! Now all she needs to do is study, sit for her boards, and get a job. She plans on taking her boards at the end of October/early November, and it looks like a job might be opening up here soon at Memorial Hospital. Friday night we went to go watch our minor league baseball team here in the Springs (the Sky Sox) play and got to experience the “Friday Night Fireworks.” It was absolutely amazing! It makes you want to go to every Friday night game that you can just for the show afterwards. They know how to put on a great show! Sunday afternoon we went to the State Fair. We spent a good 4 hours there, seeing all the exhibits and petting all the animals. We even got a little bit of a sunburn! This past week has been busy with running errands, bike rides, long walks at night, preparing for the launch of our new TeamKid year at church, and packing for our trip. Can you believe it’s September already!? Where does all the time seem to go....

A Noisy Mess

(By Jen)

BZZZZZZZZZ……… BZZZZZZZZZ……… BZZZZZZZZZ……… BZZZZZZZZZ……… BZZZZZZZZZ……… that’s the sound I woke up to yesterday and this morning - a jackhammer and a cement cutter. Part of our driveway and cul-de-sac are now torn to pieces (which means 2 of our 3 cars now have to live out on the street instead of in the garage for a few days). We have no real idea what they are trying to fix - which makes us kinda nervous. Brand new houses, brand new neighborhood – what could possibly be THAT wrong already that men are standing chest high in the ground?? Well, at least one good thing might come of it – I could reach one of my “goals” in life by making an imprint on wet cement before I die. LOL. (I’d have to get out at night so no one would see me though – I’m so silly.) Anyhow, here are a few pics that I sneakily took through the blinds throughout the days – before I had to get the heck out of there. The noise can be enough to drive a person crazy!!!!!

BZZZZZZZZZZ!!!! There goes some of my driveway and part of the street.....

What a mess.... I feel kinda trapped.

Here comes the cement! (And by the way, look at that nicely mowed lawn of ours!)

Almost done! (See my car over there?)

It's Good To Go

After almost two months of sitting in the garage and figuring out what to do, the Saturn is finally good to go!

We ordered a BRAND NEW headlamp online through eBay (with shipping, it was still cheaper than going to a junkyard and getting a USED one) and after much waiting, we finally received it this past week! Now it's back to 30+ MPG!

It doesn't look 100%, but better than it did! The frame is still really bent and we spent weeks trying to figure out how to unbend the frame--it doesn't appear that the frame will become straight anytime soon. The last thing we'll do is get a one-piece bra cover for the hood--that should cover up most of the dents!