1st Day of School

At the crack of dawn, these two boys were dressed and ready for their first day of school. Their backpacks have been ready to go for two days. They think it's cool that their classrooms both have 7's in them! How cute are they walking across the cross walk?

Ryan will be in the big kid area now that he's in first grade. No more kindergarden secure area. That gives me a little anxiety! Can he find his classroom dot by himself? Will he remember to pick up his backpack before going in to class? Cayden is now over with the bigger kids. There are two sets of jungle gyms, one for 1st and 2nd grade and the other for 3rd through 5th grade. I couldn't be in two places at once, but Cayden was way too cool for me to "hang" with him, so I stuck with Ryan who was a teeny bit nervous. He got comfortable after a bit and once he found some of his friends. I was able to sneak one picture of the two of them together.

Preschool Orientation

Abby had her Preschool Orientation at her new school on Saturday. It is at a new school, and she gets to go with her friend Aurora. She was really excited and had a great time playing around with the different things.

Temple Square

While we were in Salt Lake City, we visited the temple and spent a while just sitting and people watching. Since it was Saturday, there were LOTS of brides. We had fun watching them and the different techniques of their photographers, looked closely at their flowers, decided which dresses we liked (and didn't like!). We watched as innocent bystanders didn't move out of the way for the bride and grooms pictures! That just drove us nuts! MOVE, duh! We walked around Temple Square and met two very nice sister missionaries that took some pictures of us. One was from the states and the other was from Britain.
We took an opportunity to visit the conference center, since we have never been there. We took a short tour with a couple from China that were studying in the states and were heading back to China. It was cool to answer some of their questions with the missionary that was leading the tour. The conference center is HUGE! It was really very cool. It would be so awesome to go to conference there.
We also got to go up on top of the conference center and see the gardens up there. There is an area of "wilderness" that looks just like what the pioneers would have seen when they got to the valley. It was weird, because you forget you are on top of a huge building! Inside the conference center on the way up to the top, there is a hall with pictures of all the previous apostles. There is also an area with busts of all the prophets up to President Hinkley. They are waiting for a new plaque for him with the year he died on it. Right now it is not on there, but the missionary said that people touch the area where it should be and now the metal has been rubbed shiny. Corey subconsciously touched it too. This picture below is in the conference center. It is stained glass with a light behind it. Very beautiful.

Mission Reunion

Corey's mission reunion was this past weekend. His mission president lives in Canada and came down to Utah for the reunion. We got to see some of his companions and they had a great time reminiscing. There was a good turnout, although he wishes that he was able to see more of his own companions. It really was fun. They even had some authentic food from South Africa. Corey enjoyed that...I thought it was interesting!

Splish Splash

While we were in Utah, before we drove home, we stopped at a water park and let the kids run around and have a great time. They got a little cold, but it didn't stop them!

I've Been Kidnapped!

Corey kidnapped me for my birthday and took me to Utah for the day. He took me to a great steak restaurant with my ma and pa in law. We had Abby and Ryan with us, Cayden stayed with his friend to go to baseball practice. It was really yummy, and it's fun to drop the peanut shells on the floor. We spent the day and came home that night. It was a fun and spontaneous way to spend my birthday!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Happy Birthday mornings at the Duncan house start with the tradition of finding some money under your plate, cup, fork, etc. It's a fun family tradition that the kids look forward to and remind us of if by chance we forget!
We had a great time at his party at Chuck E. Cheese's. Some of his friends were able to come, but it was hard to get pictures of them with everyone running all over the place! I couldn't even get everybody gathered for presents!




We had a really good time, and it was hard to leave (for the kids, anyway!). He got some fun presents that he was excited about. He was very excited that his girlfriend of 3 years came! Although he very rarely sees her (she's a year older), rarely ever plays with her, she was still the first one he told me he wanted to invite. The look on his face, as you can see, says it all!Thanks to all the friends that came. We love Ryan and we are so glad that he is in our family. We would not be complete without him. After all we went through when he was born, it is hard to imagine that now! He is our little miracle.

My Shopping Deal Today!!!

Today I went to Albertsons and I just had to show off what I got and for how much! I have been really trying these last few months to get more for my bucks and have been playing the coupon game. Now, I get really irritated if I have to buy something I don't have a coupon for! My Albertsons trip today was one of my finest. It took me a little while to research and make sure I had all my coupons in order. I had gone yesterday to get cereals and get the deal of spend $30 and get $15 off your next shopping trip. So I used that $15 towards today. The grand total for todays savings is this: I spent $40.76 and saved $110.55. Plus I have a mail in rebate for $10 for buying certain items for the rebate. Now, after I get that rebate it is as if I spent only $30.76 on this stuff! Awesome! I get really excited when I get a good deal. I have really done well with couponing, though I know I can do better. It takes time, but it's worth it!

Ryan is 6!

Sunday, we celebrated Ryan's birthday with the family. I can't believe he is 6 years old! It is crazy to think that just 6 years ago, he was scaring us all to death! Look at him today! He got lots of really cool things including a "Cars" laptop from Grandma Covey and a tool kit from Grandma Shirlee. Both are his favorite of all his presents. "Cars" is still his favorite movie and he loves everything about it, but now that he is getting older it's harder to find older kid "Cars" stuff. Grandma Covey scored with the laptop though. It has lots of learning games and he loves to sit and play with it. The tool kit is a big hit, too. He keeps asking me what he can fix. He's already "fixed" their play table which he took apart. He's also "fixed" other things that he shouldn't! Thanks Grandma Shirlee! We need to put something together for him to safely fix. He did get other cool presents from the family. In a few days, on his actual birthday, he will have a party with a few friends at Chuck E. Cheese's