June 7, 2009
Dear Family,
If I haven’t written in a while, it’s probably because I’ve been staying outside trying to soak up the perfect weather, which has nearly been the whole month of May!! We ride bikes to school as often as possible (though I still sent in a letter to the school board contending the 1.5 mile walking rule right after a bad morning when Emily got lost and fell off of her bike on the way to school, and I was late w/ a pedal falling off of my bike, and couldn’t help her soon enough), keep up w/ the weeding, enjoy mowing the lawn (mostly), and generally just love being outdoors!! Last Sunday, we went and walked around our city's newest Jensen Park, where there is a big pond/ bird refuge, and beautiful walkway/biking trails, etc. To add to it though, there was a great lightning storm blowing in, so we had WIND, an otter, tons of birds, and a gorgeous afternoon! Spring and fall always seem so quick to flee, that I try to hold on as long as I can—even indoors, our windows stay open, and the breezes off of our Salt Lake nextdoor almost give you a seaside feel! It’s been SO nice, and best of all, we haven’t had to turn on the A/C yet!! (I think I know now, where Dad got his waiting until June 1st idea, but I sure don’t remember a May in GA being this cool!) We all even woke up freezing this morning, w/ our windows opened to a thorough rainstorm!!
The week before Memorial Day, Brent and Maddie had (and survived!) their first piano recital. Their teacher really loves what she does, so we’re glad---Maddie even had her piece memorized. The next morning, the new bowling alley in town was opening up, and they offered free bowing from 6:30-8:30 AM while they filmed for a local news show. The children, were of course, all game for an early rising, so off we went @ 7AM (Brian and Anne stayed home to sleep), and had a great bowling game in the cleanest bowling shoes we’ll probably ever wear (never yet used!). I only regret that we didn’t get our picture w/ "Big Buddha"—the local announcer that was there—but let’s face it, we were there for the free bowling, not for the limelight.
That Friday, we drove up to Idaho Falls for a great weekend relaxing w/ G&G Duncan. We had a nice visit w/ G& G Stewart, visited the grave of Brian’s mom, fed ducks by the Idaho Falls temple, and enjoyed all of the card playing and visiting. Brian and I even got to see Kimber (sister in-law) w/ her new Emergency Medical plane at the hangar—pretty cool!! The children had a blast playing in the beautiful weather and with cousins, and were ESPECIALLY amazed (Brent commented the most) at how "generous" G&G were!! "Mom, I told Grandpa we usually only get 2 bowls of cereal, but he said I’d need more energy for the trampoline, and that I could have 3 AND he gave me 3 gumballs/ candy/ etc., etc., etc. …you’d never let us do that Mom!" J Needless to say, we weren’t quite ready to come home!!
After a 4 day week, the boys all got to go on the Father and Sons Campout, where Spencer befriended Jon (one of Brian’s asst’s—he’s our age—Spencer is really funny w/ who he gets attached to, but he would NOT leave this guy alone—luckily he is very good w/ kids, and provided the pictures of Spencer and his rocket that he made). They came home happy and worn out! We girls ran around at the mall for a minute, splurged on a Subway dinner, and came home to eat it while we watched High School Musical 3. I can barely express what fond memories I have of Father and Sons Campouts!!
The children enjoyed their last 2 weeks of school, Brian repaired the pipe I mowed over, and has built frames for our vine plants to grow up. I’ve set up the budget, organized our file and desk drawers, finished going through all of the basement boxes, and made mashed cauliflower for the first time—YUMMM. Spencer’s been enjoying the Science Experiment book Gpa M left—we’ve "sprung" dandelion stems, tried scaring ants w/ our breath, and spinning water in a cup w/o spilling it. Anne is adding more and more sounds to her repertoire, can touch her nose (sometimes), and loves to clap (though at the piano recital, she preferred screaming, and being taken out). Everyone seemed to finish out the school year strong, though Emily was almost depressed from early that morning of the last day ("I had tears when I first got up this morning, Mom!") b/c it just wasn’t going to be the same not seeing Miss Hellewell every day! We got ice cream cones after school to celebrate, and they all watched Return to Witch Mountatin that night. They already have their assignments for next year, and Brent is glad to find there are about 4 children from our ward in his class! Spencer got a postcard in the mail about his teacher, and he has carried it around in his pocket ever since—HIS mail, HIS Kindergarten teacher: proof positive that he is getting huge. Yesterday after Institute, we had a ward activity to assemble 100 Hygiene kits—fun that the children could be involved. Brian and I picked up some netting for the garden frames. He was looking at some wooden trellises there at the nursery, not aware that some birds were nesting atop, when the mama flew out, and left some droppings RIGHT on Brian’s shoulder!! I, and all the employees could barely stifle our laughter all day, and Brian was a great sport, saying, "It’s a good thing I have more than one shirt!" We all drove up to Hill Airforce Base (right next to us) to see the Air Show, and got to see some pretty cool planes and neat flying. It was pretty warm, and SWARMING w/ people, and we had to leave just as the Thunderbirds were starting their grand finale, but we were glad to check it out, so we’ll know better for next year. Last night we finally took out the Stevenson’s to dinner to thank him for his help finishing our basement. WE went to The Prairie Schooner, which was quite a hoot—all set up to make you feel like you’re eating on the plains—each table was covered w/ a wagon cover, and we looked out at real fire pits, stuffed bear, cougar, and coon, and for birthdays, they sang, "Yippe I-Ay, it’s your birthday!" We had some good steak though, and yummy fried mushrooms, w/ bread pudding for dessert!! We left all 8 children behind w/ our dream babysitter, and I think we all had fun! Now to summer excitement---we really have relatively FEW plans, so I hope we all still enjoy each other by the end of August! Feel free to add to our excitement and put our spare bedroom to use by visiting!! Love, The Duncan’s
Spencer, aka "Rocket Man" @ Father-n-Son's He came right home, and tried to rig up his own launcher w/ a water bottle and some pvc pipe in our shed :)

Nothing like a little bowling before breakfast!

Brent & Maddie's first piano recital


Our freshly planted garden

Visiting Grandma Duncan's grave in Shelley


G&G Stewart (Anne even let Gpa hold her!!)

playing in G&G's backyard (we have an almost identical shot of Maddie on this slide :)

feeding ducks at park by Idaho Falls temple

G&G Duncan


Anne--smiling after insisting quite strongly that she be fed--no time for high chairs or plates, etc. When she gets demanding like that, I just put her on the counter, and sample a few different foods trying to find what will calm the screaming. Smile= we found it?! (don't notice the knife w/in reach right behind her!) I wonder if her strong will is what curled her hair?

End of School Year awards!! Great overall Student to Em, testing awards to Brent & Maddie, and 3rd highest AR score in 3rd grade for Brent