Thursday, January 15, 2015

2014 Christmas Email

Hello everyone!!!

We didn't get around to sending out cards this year (and maybe last year too), so we thought we would at least send an email to let everyone know what we've been up to.  Since moving back from Pittsburgh last December we have been busy making our house in Rigby, Idaho a home, traveling to see family, and participating in church activities.  In the early spring we took a road trip with Jason's mom and sister to the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. We also took a couple trips to Yellowstone, which is one or our favorite places to visit.  In May, I ran the Color Vibe 5K with my mom and sisters and Jason's mom and sister.  In June, Jason and I traveled to Martin's Cove in Wyoming with the church youth and pulled a handcart for 20-something miles!!!  The following week my sister, Brittany, and her family visited for the 4th and we got to go 4-wheeling at the St. Anthony sand dunes with them.  A week later Jason went on a high adventure trip with the young men to bike through the mountains from Island Park to West Yellowstone and then catch some crawdads in the mountain lakes.  Then the next week Jason's dad and brothers brought some heavy equipment up from the farm and helped us clean up the pasture so that we might someday have a horse.  It was awesome to get weeks of work done in one day!!!  The next week we traveled to Hawaii to see Jason's little brother, Cavin, get married to his sweetheart, Jade.  In September we traveled to Denver to see Andrew's cousin, Carter, get baptized and we visited Rocky Mountain National Park on the way.  Very busy summer!!!  In October, my other sister, Heather, and her family came to visit for a couple days and we took them to one of the lava tubes out on the desert.  In November, we were privileged to go to Coeur d'Alene to watch Jason's sister, Breanna, compete in the Idaho Distinguished Young Woman pageant.

One of the highlights for the kids has been getting chickens (Pipp, Squeak, Sunshine, Anastasia, Olivia, and Nacho) and a dog (Indy). Kate also has a beta fish named Pascal (she picked the sickest looking fish in the store so she could nurse it back to health...and she did).  Kate has also been living her dream and riding horses as often as possible.  Andrew was baptized in August and has been loving having a yard to run in and playing with his many, many legos.  He is into every sport and has played soccer, baseball, football, wrestled and will start basketball this January.  Life has been good to us and we are very happy and blessed.  Although we are glad to be back in Idaho and near family, we miss the great friends that we made in Pittsburgh and hope that they are all doing well (go Steelers!!!).

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!!

Love,

The Duffins

Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Religion of Star Wars

If you ask him, Jason could tell you all of the many ways that The Force can be likened to the Power of the Priesthood.  So it really isn't surprising what his reaction was to Andrew's church-time doodling.

Here we have the Death Star
 
This is the "American" Falcon and some TIE Fighters





 Jason was just tickled pink that his little boy was drawing Star Wars pictures (during the Sacrament, mind you).  I should have gotten a picture of his beaming face (but that would have been even more inappropriate).  Just what am I going to do with these boys?


*Update*

10/07/12--A little treat in celebration of General Conference this weekend.  Jason's brother, Greg, sent this to him.  How fitting to my post...




Sunday, March 18, 2012

Weekend in Detroit



Jason's best friend from high school is doing his Podiatry residency in Detroit.  It's only a little over 3 hours away from us so we decided to make a weekend jaunt to visit.  Our kids and his kids hit it off right away.  We went to a local farm and got to pet the animals.  The kids just loved it.













 

 After the farm, we went to spend a little time at the pool.  The kids got some pretty good air off the side of the pool.











Nothing like a good game of chicken.








Kate was quite a little fish that day.




Check out those muscles!!!!





Somebody got all upset that he wasn't winning the game that was being played.



He came over and sat on the chair next to me and told me he was done swimming.  He lightened up after a few minutes and was enjoying watching everyone else play around.  This is where he was when the dads decided they were going to have a little race across the pool.




Ouch.  That looks like it hurt...

So I was busy catching the race on camera, when Andrew decided to go join in the free-for-all.  Evidently, he forgot that he wasn't still wearing his water wings and, um, well, he can't swim.  After the race was all done.  He was standing to the side of me soaking wet and all upset that no one saved him when he was sinking.  Sinking?  What?  After going through the series of pictures I had taken, I found this one that actually catches my poor little guy in the process of literally drowning.  How sad is that?!?  I still don't know how he managed to get out on his own.  But I'm glad he did.  Sheesh.  Nothing makes you feel like you've earned the worst mom of the year award like finding out that you were taking pictures of your son drowning and didn't even save him...



He's still alive, so I guess I'm ok and didn't get honored with that award....yet.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

I Believe in Fairies

Tonight we watched a live actor version of Peter Pan.  There are so many renditions of this movie that I don't even know which one it was.  It was done pretty well though.  After it ended, Jason announces, "I don't believe in fairies." Just to be the teaser that he is.  Kate played along and just gave him the exasperated "Dad..."  Andrew turns to us with his brows furrowed and his lips quivering trying his very hardest not to start crying as he chokes out, "Now you just killed one."  Jason quickly back-pedaled and hurriedly chanted "I believe in fairies, I do, I do!" multiple times.  That seemed to appease him and we avoided a breakdown.

Sometimes it is hard to fathom just how tender hearted that little boy is.  And, oh, how he loves his mommy.  I just eat it up.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Horse Crazy

For Kate's 7th birthday, she got a present from Jason & I that she couldn't cash in until summer.  But the wait was worth it for sure.  We signed her up for a week-long horse camp at a Stable near us where she got to immerse herself in everything horse for a few hours each day.  She was in horse heaven.  We even lucked out and had a couple of overcast days so it wasn't quite as unbearably hot and humid as it normally is that time of year.

 
Kate learned how to brush and wash a horse.  Which is good to know, cause they tend to like to get a tad dirty.  When associating an animal with mud, most people probably picture a pig.  Surprising to me, it seems horses get just as much enjoyment from a good roll in the mud as any pig ever did. This good-natured horse got hosed down and scrubbed by 5 different groups that day.  What a saint.  (Can horses even be saints?)

 
Kate was quizzed each day on multiple body parts of a horse.  If you look closely, you can see the sticky notes they used for one such quiz stuck on this horse.


 
Each group got a little time each day to enjoy some Kool-aid and do some crafting.  She colored horse pictures and made horse bookmarks.  This day her group made a banner.



On the last day, they had a horse show and got to show off some of the new skills they had learned for all the parents.


Since then, she's been taking riding lessons and loves going each week.  I must say she has gotten pretty good.  The girl has horses on the brain and in the blood.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Teeth (or the lack thereof)

 My kiddos have never been front runners when it comes to teeth...getting them or losing them.  I swear we used the excuse "She must be teething." to explain a lot of Kate's behavior as a baby for months and months before she actually got a tooth.  I don't, in truth, know the actual date when she did get her first tooth (I'm a good mom like that and didn't keep track of either of my kids' milestones ).  But I do know when she lost her first tooth...cause my camera logged the date (July 22, 2011, if you must know).  It was a momentous day for her, because loosing a tooth is a big deal for a kid.  It was also a great day for me as well, because, so far, she isn't showing signs of having the same issues as I did.  I had my 12 (yes, you read it right, twelve) front teeth pulled all at once when I was in 3rd grade because my permenant teeth weren't pushing them out & would have come in in front/behind my baby teeth (imagine human shark).  How did I eat?  I still had my molars.  I must say kids are very resilient and I was no exception.





Below, Kate is holding her itty-bitty stub of a tooth...you just can't see it very well against her white shirt.


Since this happy day in July, I am proud to report that Kate has lost 3 more teeth (all in front) since.  And to make things extra funny, she was missing her two front teeth just in time for Christmas (Get it? All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth?)



Tuesday, February 7, 2012

(Last) Summer in the Sun


Since we've got a nice hill to the side of our place I decided a Slip n' Slide would be appropriate. Sadly, with the price our landlord charges us for water, it's like watching rubies run down the hill and disappear into the grass, so I only got it out the one time, but they had a blast.  By the way, it was worth every penny.




There's a small pond just a little way off from where we live.  We tried our luck there one morning at baiting some hooks and throwing in a line.  Let's just say the only thing we caught that morning was this picture.  (Which was well worth rising early on a Saturday morning.)  Those sneaky fish kept stealing our worms.  I bet they thought we were just the biggest suckers when we just kept throwing those gross, slimy worms out to them.  Little punks anyway.


 Also, not too far from us is this awesome "park" (I put quotations around park cause it seems much more than just a park to me).  I only made it there once last summer, but I think I'll be frequenting it much more this year.  It has a sandy beach and camping and hiking trails.  It's an outdoor enthusiast with kids' dream come true!





 So this beach area is on the South side of the lake and is fantastic for my little kiddos.  Sand castle's and moats, little fish (what Kate is so intent on catching in the picture below), cool little shells (what Kate actually caught)...










...and digging, digging, and more digging.  What more could a little boy want?

Monday, January 30, 2012

 Andrew was on a Tiny Kickers soccer team last spring.  They don't really play games, but spend the time doing drills and stuff to teach them basic soccer skills for a foundation to build on.  Andrew really enjoyed running around and kicking stuff. 









At the end of the season, there is a tournament put on by our soccer club in which lots of teams come long distances to play.  They wanted to showcase their Tiny Kickers and had them come and play a really short "game".  Pretty much the first game they played.


Here they are during their pre-game warm up.











 I love the focus these little players display. *wink*  They are so funny.  You never know when they will just totally drop out mentally.  Did you notice Jason going on the field to remind Andrew just what he was out there for?  Cracks me up!





I think we've got a natural soccer player...Andrew was so proud of himself for playing hard and getting a medal and a free t-shirt to boot.  (Oh man, that shirt was so good looking, I wanted to steal it to wear it around town myself!)


Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Laurel Caverns & Lick Hollow Picnic Area



Just random stuff here...What do you get when you put ants on a log with alphabet soup?












The Laurel Caverns is the biggest cave in Pennsylvania penetrating 46 stories deep into the *mountain interior located in Farmington, PA.  We were able to take the hour long tour down into part of it.  It was summer, but, as you can see, we wore our jackets down there because it maintains a temperature of 52 degrees year round.


*The Pennsylvania definition of "mountain" is very different from my personal definition.  I would define the "mountains" here more as large hills.

The picture to the left isn't one I took because for some reason I didn't keep my pictures like this cause I figured a bunch of cave pictures aren't that interesting.  I don't know really what I was thinking.  I guess some things don't seem as cool right after you've seen them.  Anyway, they call this spot the "King's Hall" cause they've strung electricity through there and hung chandeliers from the ceiling.  It looks really cool....even better than this picture cause it's lighter.

Below, the steep slope in this passageway is called gravity hill.  It creates an optical illusion that confuses the brain into underestimating the slope.  Our guide put that golf ball on the rail at the left of the picture and it rolled "up" to the right.  It was crazy.  Our guide was pretty funny too.  I swear the old guy used the words "Well, gee folks..." every 6th sentence or so.  Cracked me up.

After our spelunking expedition, we tried our luck at a game of mini golf at Kavernputt.  The last hole where you hit your ball into a hole and they keep it was insane.  It went up this steep slope and I think we got two balls in there by actually hitting them with the clubs.  After a million tries, Jason just gave up and tossed the other two in.  Guys don't like games that are "impossible".






On the way up to the caverns, we saw this little road off the highway that had a sign next to it saying "picnic area".  So on the way down we decided to check it out.  I'm so glad we did.  It was called Lick Hollow Picnic Area.  Odd name, I know, but it was really cool.  It had a little stream running through the main area and a couple of hiking trails. After we ate the lunch we packed, we hiked one of the shorter trails. 

The ground was covered with ferns and it was green everywhere!!


There were all kinds of flowers and greenery.  Some I've never seen before.  These little caterpillars were relatively common to see.  I even saved one that was stuck to Jason's jeans.  Funny looking guys.

 
Here's me with the flowers that my cute honey put in my hair...ahhh, romantic.  :)   I actually made it into this post TWICE!!!  Quite the rarity to get me in front of the camera rather than behind.