March 15, 2009
Dear Family,
We got to go to the Draper Temple Open House this Friday!
Here are the children in a few of the lines we waited in--quite a production to host the masses!!--we walked through tunnels to get there, so no scenic shots w/ the temple in the background, but they were happy!...esp. at cookie time (Brent is modeling one, Anne can't take her eyes off of them)
How do we know Spring is coming? We called in Brent for dinner today—he was in the backyard, and before we could get anyone else to the table, he had walked through the kitchen, to the garage, and back outside again. I think he did that 3 times back and forth, without really trying to cause trouble, just drawn to that sunshine, before we all got together to eat! Anne’s enjoying being able to navigate some new territory w/ grass and sidewalks, and always wiggles to get down when we’re outside now, instead of clinging to us through the glacial breezes. The first good day we had last 2 weeks ago, I got the children from school, packed w/ water bottles and "Super Snack", picked up some dollar store kites, and went straight to the park. It was beautiful! I just had to grab that day before the snow came back!!—and it did last weekend, but we could all tell it was weaker than before, and didn’t even bother shoveling. The trampoline is now fully assembled again, "Ladder Golf" has been played continuously, and all the children told me w/ surprise today, "Mom! I didn’t even use my computer game time on Friday OR Saturday!!" (we don’t do rollover minutes, either!)
The beautiful weather is a great reprieve from the basement work too! Early last week, the mudding and taping finished up, so we started cleaning up and priming on Saturday, which quickly discouraged me w/ how much of a project just the painting would be!! I could not see the finish on any near horizon, and was sad to see something I thought was so simple be our delay!! Sunday night though, Spencer came in our room around 5 AM, having wet the bed, and I got up to change him and his sheets, thinking, GREAT!!-what divine intervention! Now I’m up early to paint!, and proceeded to get 2 uninterrupted hours in, where I primed all of the rest of the ceiling (the worst part!!). I’ve since spent every spare chunk of time down getting a room or closet done. I’ve gone through 2 power rollers (we finally returned the last one, and were done w/ them—our paint was too thick or something??!); gone in way too many public places w/ painted clothes, hair, face, etc.,--even to Brent’s class to hear his report for a quick minute; had more than that one extra early morning; and rubbed my hands RAW in all of the cleaning up. If there is such a thing as latex poisoning, we are all endangered as I clean out my buckets, brushes, trays, rollers, etc., so I can then clean up the dishes and eat!! We are getting there though, and we now have our trim guy to work around, so that makes me take breaks to wash the clothes again, or cook some food. Saturday, he was here a while, so we took advantage of a coupon for some bare root strawberries!! We got 50 plants!!—we all worked to get the ground all ready in a spot near our trees and put them in. We’d better hurry on our basement, because soon our time will all be garden time!
We had our RS Birthday Enrichment w/ a special guest who does a gardening spot on a local TV and Radio program here—she was very entertaining, and it was nice to get together w/ our sisters. My cake even turned out for it, despite it’s crumby texture—Kristy’s strawberry cake recipe saved it!! We also bought a freezer during a sale a couple of weeks ago, so we’re really getting things in order here, so much at a time, I can barely keep up!
Other highlights were a visit from Nick last Sunday for dinner and some games; then a trip to the new Draper Temple Open House. It is beautiful, and the children were SOOO excited to actually go inside!! Spencer gave the FHE lesson on temples, and we talked about things to look for when we went, and they were all most excited to see "The Celestial Kingdom—I mean Room." I was glad we’d prepared a little, b/c once we got there, I was completely tied up w/ Anne. She had slept so well, I thought she’d be fine, but it ended up being so crowded that we had a lot of waiting (about an hour altogether), shuttle buses to ride, chapels to sit in, etc. that what I thought would be a quick hour of walking through was more like 2, and I hadn’t brought any snacks or toys! I had one pack of "Smarties" that was gone before we got on the shuttle bus, and by the time we were walking through the temple, she was showing forth a bit of her fast-growing tenacity (she may be more like that Anne Shirley than we thought!). She would cry and wriggle to get down, then ALWAYS go the opposite direction of all traffic—there were 3 cute college girls behind us that kept trying to entertain her, but my what a time! At the end, I just short-cutted to the end and waited for Dad and the rest to catch up. Bless them, they had cookies and water bottles for everyone as refreshments, and I’m not too embarrassed to say Anne happily had 3. I guess she was pretty hungry, and she would NOT be distracted!! We finally got home around 9, enjoying some yummy pizza from a local place that is a client at Brian’s firm (that makes 2 restaurants we get gift certificates to b/c of that!!—SOO luxurious!!). Good thing we haven’t quite adjusted to daylight savings yet! It is a great time of year, swelling w/ life and hope, and we are soaking it up. Hope all is well w/ you too! Love, The Duncan’s
Anne eating supersnack while we fly kites--like the frizz of her hair, or was it just moving, or is it a smudged lens?
The Draper Temple (through the bus window-as close as we could get to the outside)
How do we know Spring is coming? We called in Brent for dinner today—he was in the backyard, and before we could get anyone else to the table, he had walked through the kitchen, to the garage, and back outside again. I think he did that 3 times back and forth, without really trying to cause trouble, just drawn to that sunshine, before we all got together to eat! Anne’s enjoying being able to navigate some new territory w/ grass and sidewalks, and always wiggles to get down when we’re outside now, instead of clinging to us through the glacial breezes. The first good day we had last 2 weeks ago, I got the children from school, packed w/ water bottles and "Super Snack", picked up some dollar store kites, and went straight to the park. It was beautiful! I just had to grab that day before the snow came back!!—and it did last weekend, but we could all tell it was weaker than before, and didn’t even bother shoveling. The trampoline is now fully assembled again, "Ladder Golf" has been played continuously, and all the children told me w/ surprise today, "Mom! I didn’t even use my computer game time on Friday OR Saturday!!" (we don’t do rollover minutes, either!)
The beautiful weather is a great reprieve from the basement work too! Early last week, the mudding and taping finished up, so we started cleaning up and priming on Saturday, which quickly discouraged me w/ how much of a project just the painting would be!! I could not see the finish on any near horizon, and was sad to see something I thought was so simple be our delay!! Sunday night though, Spencer came in our room around 5 AM, having wet the bed, and I got up to change him and his sheets, thinking, GREAT!!-what divine intervention! Now I’m up early to paint!, and proceeded to get 2 uninterrupted hours in, where I primed all of the rest of the ceiling (the worst part!!). I’ve since spent every spare chunk of time down getting a room or closet done. I’ve gone through 2 power rollers (we finally returned the last one, and were done w/ them—our paint was too thick or something??!); gone in way too many public places w/ painted clothes, hair, face, etc.,--even to Brent’s class to hear his report for a quick minute; had more than that one extra early morning; and rubbed my hands RAW in all of the cleaning up. If there is such a thing as latex poisoning, we are all endangered as I clean out my buckets, brushes, trays, rollers, etc., so I can then clean up the dishes and eat!! We are getting there though, and we now have our trim guy to work around, so that makes me take breaks to wash the clothes again, or cook some food. Saturday, he was here a while, so we took advantage of a coupon for some bare root strawberries!! We got 50 plants!!—we all worked to get the ground all ready in a spot near our trees and put them in. We’d better hurry on our basement, because soon our time will all be garden time!
We had our RS Birthday Enrichment w/ a special guest who does a gardening spot on a local TV and Radio program here—she was very entertaining, and it was nice to get together w/ our sisters. My cake even turned out for it, despite it’s crumby texture—Kristy’s strawberry cake recipe saved it!! We also bought a freezer during a sale a couple of weeks ago, so we’re really getting things in order here, so much at a time, I can barely keep up!
Other highlights were a visit from Nick last Sunday for dinner and some games; then a trip to the new Draper Temple Open House. It is beautiful, and the children were SOOO excited to actually go inside!! Spencer gave the FHE lesson on temples, and we talked about things to look for when we went, and they were all most excited to see "The Celestial Kingdom—I mean Room." I was glad we’d prepared a little, b/c once we got there, I was completely tied up w/ Anne. She had slept so well, I thought she’d be fine, but it ended up being so crowded that we had a lot of waiting (about an hour altogether), shuttle buses to ride, chapels to sit in, etc. that what I thought would be a quick hour of walking through was more like 2, and I hadn’t brought any snacks or toys! I had one pack of "Smarties" that was gone before we got on the shuttle bus, and by the time we were walking through the temple, she was showing forth a bit of her fast-growing tenacity (she may be more like that Anne Shirley than we thought!). She would cry and wriggle to get down, then ALWAYS go the opposite direction of all traffic—there were 3 cute college girls behind us that kept trying to entertain her, but my what a time! At the end, I just short-cutted to the end and waited for Dad and the rest to catch up. Bless them, they had cookies and water bottles for everyone as refreshments, and I’m not too embarrassed to say Anne happily had 3. I guess she was pretty hungry, and she would NOT be distracted!! We finally got home around 9, enjoying some yummy pizza from a local place that is a client at Brian’s firm (that makes 2 restaurants we get gift certificates to b/c of that!!—SOO luxurious!!). Good thing we haven’t quite adjusted to daylight savings yet! It is a great time of year, swelling w/ life and hope, and we are soaking it up. Hope all is well w/ you too! Love, The Duncan’s
Anne eating supersnack while we fly kites--like the frizz of her hair, or was it just moving, or is it a smudged lens?
Happy Birthday Dr. Suess! The school celebrates by letting students dress up as their favorite book characters--Brent couldn't find enough Harry Potter paraphernalia, but Emily was Junie B. Jones, and Maddie was Goose Girl (there is a goose on her apron)
Emily w/ her kite
Everyone at the park
Everyone at the park
Brent's hammerhead shark report and diorama
Nick's Sunday visit (the kids took most of the shots)
Why we are crazy to play games when Anne's awake
Nick's Sunday visit (the kids took most of the shots)
Why we are crazy to play games when Anne's awake
Excited Nick w/ the nieces & nephews!
More normal Nick--lucky he's too tall for rabbit ears!
Your family is so much fun. How neat you were all able to go to the temple open house. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteChar, does that kid ever NOT want to eat? Goodness, I hope the rest of the family isn't starving...
ReplyDeleteThat's not Kristen it's me Taylor.
ReplyDelete