Christmas in McCall

This year we spent Christmas in McCall, Idaho with Waylon's family. It was a wonderful time and we loved spending time with all of the Waylon's family. Olivia had a school assignment (real or imagined I am not sure, but it was fun) She made a picture album of our vacation/Christmas. The view from the front seat of our car while we are driving! The kiddos in the van. Yea, we figured out the captain chairs can move to the middle preventing Michael's very bad carsickness whenever we travel. You can see we folded down 2/3 of the backseat and had tons of stuff!

Gotta get a pic of my cuttie while he is driving.

Another picture from the car. So Beautiful:)

When we were minutes from our cabin we saw atleast a dozen deer on the road just hanging out. Our camera was being spastic and this was the best picture I could get. They just sort of stayed, it was cool, the kids loved it!

We rented this HUGE cabin to stay in-it was so nice! Here is Waylon's Mom, Vicky playing ping pong with her grandkids.

Vicky and Waylon's brother, Ladd

Waylon's Dad, Stan and cute Brooke

Cousins so close in age and great friends-Olivia and Kelda, Brooke in background

The Duncan kids on Christmas morning--I just realized I didn't take a picture of them opening theri Jammies Christmas Eve! These are bakugan-all three of them love it!

Olivia and her cabbage patch doll

Michael and more bakugan

Olivia waving from upstairs bedroom that had a window to the living area (don't worry it had a metal prison bar on it so no one could fall)..all of the kids loved yelling down...of course!

Waylon with his Brother and sister working hard in the kitchen, Jay and Sariah (Sariah rocks)

We went and cut down our own Christmas Tree. This was a lot of fun and something I always wanted to do....Waylon's brother, Wydell with the tree. I took some other pictures of the tree and they mysteriously disappeared....

Fun times sledding.....The result!Isaac's version of sledding, sitting in the snow and playing with it and eating it, he is not a thrill seeker at all!Cousins sledding fun! Sariah and her husband, Rohit (i love this picture, looks like it could be a greeting card!)

Rachael sledding

Michael and Ashley sledding, (Yes, Ashley is laughing her head off)...these two love eachother and had so much fun together:)Jacob in the snow

Michael and Ashley

Michael, Ashley and Olivia

Olivia eating snowWaylon and Olivia

Brothers--Waylon and Wydell.

We spent 5 days in McCall, made some great memories and had a blast! Good times with all of the Duncans.

All things Christmas

Hello Family and Friends,

It is that time again (how did the year go so fast?).. for the annual Duncan newsletter I am doing it on our blog this year!

We have had a great year, we have had many good times, made good memories and feel that life is good!

Waylon is still teaching Spanish and this year also started teaching yearbook. He is coaching basketball again and is keeping busy! At church this year he has served in the Primary (teaching Olivia's class) and in the Elders Quorum (the men). Church service is a big part of our lives. Waylon laid some flooring last Spring that caused lots of problems in his already problematic back. He is feeling lots better, meaning the pain is still there, but manageable (his craniosacral therapist had everything to do with that!). Waylon loves spending time with the family and of course sports (most importantly the Broncos).

Rachael is doing great! After a minor car accident in 9/08 was left with a lot of pain. Many, many, many visits to the physical therapist, chiropractor, massage therapist and craniosacral therapist and by the end of summer, was feeling better. Happy to be done with all of that pain that really put on a damper on doing a lot of things she enjoyed!! Rachael is back to working out without pain (YAY) and really enjoying life being back to normal. Rachael takes care of the family and organizes everything (as do most mothers!) and really finds joy, contentment and satisfaction in taking care of her family! This year she served in Relief Society (the women in our church) and Young Women (The youth in our church). Rachael has really enjoyed the time she serves and lifts others:) As you can see, one of my new favorite things to do is Blog! I really enjoy doing it (it isn't like sewing or quilting that you have to drag out, set up and put away-it is so simple and right now in my life it is awesome!). I also enjoy being able to keep up with family and friends while creating a history, a journal for my family.

Michael is growing up so fast. This year he was Baptized and is quite an awesome kid! He loves to learn and has struggled this year not being challenged in 2nd grade, he is doing great! He loves Math and reading. He has quite taken to Bakugan (a toy/tv series), kickball (we play it almost everyday in the backyard) and Cub Scouts!! The sports he played this year were: Basketball, soccer, baseball, football and he was in the chess club! Michael is an obedient, wonderful child and we are so blessed to have him in our family:)

Olivia is 6 already (7 coming soon too!) Olivia is such a sweetheart, she really tries to take care of others and help them out. She decided at the end of Kindergarten that she wanted to be an artist and a mom when she grows up. Being artistic is something that comes natural to her and she LOVES it. She constantly needs more paper, scissors, glue sticks to use in creating so many different things. She is very thoughtful about what she makes, how she makes it and who she gives it to. Olivia has had asthma and allergies for over 4 years now--she has grown out of it some this year, she is now off of all medication and feeling better. Olivia loves to learn and go to school. Her reading is really starting to take off! Olivia did gymnastics, soccer, baseball (twice-once in spring, once in fall) and is playing basketball right now too. Olivia is beautiful, kind and is making really good decisions! We are so blessed to have our little princess!

Isaac is Isaac-As I am writing this, he is streaking through the house, laughing. He is a ball of energy, very loving and a joy in our lives. He will be a Sunbeam (class in primary at church) in a few weeks and is such a smart kid. He picks up on everything and is ready to read. He learned all of the letter sounds and really wants to put them together, he also can count to 100. He is the craziest kid but the biggest sweetheart all at the same time. We are so grateful for our little dude!

It has been a great year and we know next year will be awesome too! It hasn't come without it's challenges and trials, but we know that together and with Heavenly Father and our Savior we can get through anything and enjoy life while we are doing it!! Hope you have a great Holiday Season!!

Love the Duncans

Our Christmas Pic:)

This is our Christmas Picture for this year--I know Waylon and I aren't in it, but the cutest parts of our family are!!! We are so blessed with these three cute kiddos:)

Gingerbread Fun

Yesterday, we made a Gingerbread house and had LOTS of fun!!!

Silly kids!!

I love when they put on their little aprons I made a while back:) They are cute little bakers!

Now on to making lots of yummy cookies and candies to give to our neighbors.......(Olivia has already made 24 Cards to give with the cookies, she is VERY excited!!) MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Gratitude

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.....It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. - Melodie Bettie

This awesome insight into Gratitude really sums up how I am feeling about all of the blessings in my life. It really does unlock the fullness of life, it gives me peace and clarity.
I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL THAT MY HEAVENLY FATHER HAS BLESSED ME WITH!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we spent time with family in Spokane and Pullman. We had a great time and came back all tired out! Here are some pictures of the fun.....Starting with the best-Madre (deep in thought but looking so cute!) Cute Cowboy!

The Boys!

Waylon and my Daddy watching football-Go Broncos!

What an adorable little guy! My Bro-Gene with Baby Landon (all of the kids KNOW Gene is the most fun:) Oh wait, all of us big "kids" think the same thing!

Newt! My baby Brother

Michael and cute little Noah:)

A few of my sisters.....

Best cousins....best friends:)

Lots of yummy food and great company.......although it just wasn't the same with out Cake-y (my little brother, Jake who is on a mission spreading the good news!) Of course I didn't get pictures of eveyone because that would be impossible!!

Basketball

Olivia and Michael are playing basketball on the same team this year. They are having a lot of fun and learning some good skills. Michael understands basketball very well because of Waylon, so Michael is always telling me the kids are playing by the rules because they travel and double-dribble. Olivia is the BEST defender on the team. Her coach tells her to guard her man--she does!! She runs and follows the poor soul with her hands up. She even does this on offense. So, she rarely gets the ball and shoots because she is defending her man! During one game, as Waylon and I sat and watched Isaac really wanted me to take a picture of him......so, he poses... Again.....

Again......

And again......This kids cracks me up!

Olivia dribbling down the court. She is in the center of the picture with a light blue shirt and black leggings on.

Michael is such basketball player. The poor kid-his coach knows that he understands the game so she matched him up against ALL of the big kids (kids that are a good foot taller than him)!

Here Michael is making a jump shot-what can I say he is his Father's son!!