Dear Family,
Happy Mother’s Day!, and Happy Birthday Mom today! Brian’s treated me to some delicioso Stringozi Olivia—a fettucine w/ a delicious olive/mushroom sauce—today, and said he wanted to make me waffles for breakfast, but the waffle iron he ordered for me was late in coming! We’ll look forward to it though, since it’s pretty tricky feeding 7 of us one waffle at a time. It’s been a nice day, and fun to think of the great influence we’ve had from mothers. SUCH a blessing our mothers are!!
We had a treat last weekend to have a visit from Brian’s missionary parents! Our niece Makena was getting baptized, and they had permission to come down for that. It was quite a whirlwind, but they got to see Brent play soccer, and were able to enjoy stake conference w/ us where we got to hear from Bishop H. David Burton and his wife. We celebrated Maddie’s birthday that weekend too, and she had a few close friends over Friday night for BLT’s and decorating flipflops and bookmarks. She is at such a fun friend age. I wish they were in our ward or closer, but when they get together, it brings back sweet memories of those years when friendship just starts to be magical---good friends are such a blessing, and these girls love, in their silly 11-yr old way, reading and imagining and creating beautiful things. I was such a wreck getting ready for this party (I have made it a practice to find friends that are "party" people, b/c it does NOT come naturally to me!), but they were an easy crowd, and we all had fun. I was gone that whole day too, since I took the little ones, and joined Brian on a drive down to Vernal, where he had to announce the sale of a property on the courthouse steps (a funny law, but he got paid for the whole trip!). Aside from Spencer getting carsick, and erego, a new Wal-Mart outfit, and Anne fussing most of the way down, we had a fun time. I read Brian The Christmas Jars, convinced him to tour the Dinosaur Museum while we were there (though sadly, the quarry is now closed), and we all enjoyed (though I’m sure I enjoyed them the most!) GREAT (2nd place in the state!) milkshakes in Heber on the way home.
I enjoyed a stake temple session Sat. morning, Makena’s baptism, and a great dinner afterward, Brian had his priesthood mtg (Q/A time w/ Bishop Burton), and then we went together to the evening session. We had Nate and Stacey’s family over for dinner Sunday afternoon w/ Dad and Kathy still in town, and lapped up all that good family together time.
I’m still working on organizing the basement (and my life?!), but w/ Maddie’s birthday, some RS activities I cooked for, and other distractions, I’ve only seemed to make a bigger mess of things so far! It is such a good feeling to finally be sorting through so many years of our lives!
Brian has been going gangbusters on the squarefoot gardening! That could’ve been my gift too!!—He’s built 4 beautiful boxes, complete w/ wooden grids to go on top, and we’ll make a plan this week at FHE of what to plant. While he finished those up yesterday, I mowed the lawn, and then replaced a few tubes on the bikes. Spencer’s been anxious about learning to ride a 2-wheeler, so he tried it long enough to realize what a feat it is, and then I took the children riding all the way to Wal-Mart for some milk (okay, so it’s only about a mile). I felt like I was in a movie for a dreamland—all of us parading through town w/ perfect weather and high spirits! We even forgot locks for the bikes, but after my crafty tying them together, they stayed safe!
I remember as a Beehive, looking forward to Girls Camp w/ a kind of fervor only a sisterless girl could have, and being SOO elated that whole week, as we did things like sleeping in cabins,
making crafts, and singing to everything, that I thought only people in the movies got to do. It was such a highlight, and even w/ the never-clean floors, Anne’s nonstop runny nose, severe arguments over important matters like which chair to sit in at dinner or who has to carry the piano bag, I feel like I am in a Girls Camp stage of my life. I’ve been looking forward, for as long as I can remember, to being surrounded by happy children, and making a home, and here I am—right in the middle of it all! I have to keep pinching myself, when I walk through a yard that’s ours, read books from our shelves, hear my children practicing the piano, or reading to each other, or making their own desserts, or memorizing articles of faith---it’s amazing to me to be living in a place I’ve dreamed of for so long! Yes, I have many frustrations, and many dragging days, but on the whole, we are really living the abundant life, and we love it—well, I hope they all love it anyway, b/c I do! Happy Mothers Day again! Love, A Happy Mother, and her Duncan Family
Emily lost BOTH front teeth in one week! (and she let Dad pull them!!--I had to leave the room!) She was determined though--came home from school w/ a pretty loose tooth, and was sure she'd lose it that night, and she DID--TWICE!!
Is this a calculator? No, I'm pretty sure it's a phone, but it's not making much noise
Brent's self-portrait, and evidence that I know very little about what happens under my own roof!
Anne w/ the calculator turned phone--she turns anything remotely resembling a rectangle into a phone, and says, "I!! I!!! I!!!" (sorry about her face; nothing like a goopy nose to make you feel like a neglectful mother!)
The State Park Dinosaur Museum--Spencer in front of the biggest bone display--one of his nonstop superhero poses
The Vernal Temple, as we drove by
The invitations for Maddie's party (She edited out the part where I wrote "You'll FLIP for Maddie's party....it'll be a FLOP w/o you!"--she didn't think it was a fabulous idea!)
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