Party Time!

September is a big month for birthdays. A shout out to cousins Carter, Kali, McKay, Brooke, and Britney, Uncle Tom and friend Andi! Wow, did I forget anyone? Happy Birthday from Dallin, Paul and Kristen. Dallin has another friend whose birthday is in September. Jacob, who turned the big three! After Jacob goes into Sunbeams in January, Dallin will be the lone man (or ladies man?) in nursery. Anyhow, we were all invited over to his house for cake. He had an awesome Thomas the Train cake. Dallin and Jacob could not wait to get their hands on it! And after we sang "Happy Birthday" they scarfed it up! Yeah for birthdays, yeah for cake! Both boys were so much fun to watch eat their cake. Or I should say eat their frosting, because that is really all they ate! We went to Burger King with Jacob and his family to eat dinner before the cake part. At Burger King, Jacob kept asking us, "You come to my house?! You come to my house?!" He was so excited. Thanks for having us over to celebrate your birthday Jacob.

Double Love

Love #1: The dollar store! I was pretty bored with my selection of dishes {cow plates or blue plates} so when I was at the dollar store today and walked past this cute little set, I grabbed them. Yes, they are plastic and cheap, but who cares! They are cute and flowery and different from what I already have. And they were just $1 each.

Love #2: Pizza Rolls! These are so yummy and so easy. I got this recipe from my sister who got it from a friend of hers that she used to babysit for.

Here is the recipe according to me:

I get the Pillsbury French Bread Dough in a can. You can use any kind of pizza or bread dough.

Take it out of the can and unroll the dough carefully on a clean surface.

Spread 4-6 oz. of softened cream cheese** on the rolled out dough.

Sprinkle Parmesan cheese in a can on top of the cream cheese.

!!My sister informed me that I forgot to add one more cheese!! Sprinkle on your choice of shredded cheese (cheddar, colby jack, mozzarella). I knew they tasted a little different last night.

Next, lay out your pizza toppings {pepperoni, spinach, olives, whatever you like}.

Roll up the dough like you would cinnamon rolls, starting on the wider side of the dough.

Cut the long log into about one inch thick pieces and place rolls onto their sides on a baking sheet. A long piece of dental floss works great in cutting the dough. Just shiny it under the log and wrap it around the dough and pull the floss to cut.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until dough is golden brown. Serve with your favorite pizza, spaghetti, or marinara sauce for dipping.


**I like to take the left over cream cheese and mix it up with some cinnamon sugar and spread it on my choice of carbohydrate!

He looks so much like....

I guess this settles the debate. If you pick the right picture, Dallin looks exactly like both of us!

I think that we are crazy.

I really don't understand why we are so crazy. Pretty much every night before Kristen and I go to bed, we check on Dallin. Most of the time we see that he is okay, and then we go to bed. But occasionally (more often than is probably normal) we pull him out of bed and hold him. Tonight we were having a tough time deciding who got to hold him.

I know, it makes no sense. All those months of colic, night after night of pacing the floor in our little one bedroom apartment. The entire time just waiting for the time when he would sleep through the night.

Strange how perspective changes. Now that he is our crazy little boy, we want him to go back to that cuddly little baby boy.

Finger Painting

What do you do on a Sunday afternoon with loads of time on your hands? I know what we did. After much persuasion, I talked Paul into having a chocolate pudding finger painting session. He didn't want to think about the mess afterward. I was prepared for the mess that I thought Dallin would make. Paul started out by painting a face to show Dallin what this activity was all about.
As you can see, Dallin decided that he would rather eat the pudding than get it all over his hands and paper.
After a while, though, he got the point and painted a couple pictures! We are so proud of our Picasso! And the mess was minimal, mostly concentrated on his face.

Boring Pudding

Who ever thought plain old pudding was boring? My hubby made some chocolate pudding so our son could pudding finger paint. He decided that he would rather eat the pudding, and so did we. But I can't eat plain pudding, so I added some graham cracker crumbs, Andes mint chips, and a dollop of cream, yummy!

It's nice to be important, but it is important to be nice.

I have a problem. When people say or do something that in any way hurts my feelings or offendes me at all, or are this way to ther people and I witness it, or be they are just being dumb, I would smile through it and try to be as nice as possible. Then I would leave and be really mad and think of all the mean things that I could have said or done. Or there are also times when I am be so mad about it that, situation given, I try to go back and be mean, which, luckily, Paul would stop me from doing. I recently heard a story that has changed the way that I want to TRY to be afterwards and before and during.

Kalli's mom was having a bad day. She had so many important errands to run and so little time to do them. One thing she had to do before a certain time was run some paperwork into a building on BYU campus. She didn't have time to park in the visitor parking and so she pulled into the first service parking space she could find in front of the building. She and her son got out of the car and ran into the building. They were in there five minutes, came out, and found a post-it note on the windshield of their car. It read: Next time you park so close to me, please leave a can opener so that I can get into my car. (My first thought was, haha, that's a funny one! Shame on me.) Kalli's mom started crying when she read that note. She was having such a horrible, busy day, and this note finally broke her spirits completely. Her son took the post-it note and put it in his wallet. Twenty five years later that same note is still in his wallet. He keeps it there to remind him to always speak and act kindly to everyone, no matter the situation.

I am resolving to be nicer to people, especially after, when I want to think of ways that I could have been mean. Chances are, they are having a bad day or maybe their dog died. We never know how our actions will affect others.

What do you answer to?

Loralee, a friend of mine, has a post about nicknames. What a conversation starter! I think that nicknames are such a fun subject and it was fun to read, comment, and read others comments on her blog. I wanted to copy the idea (hope you don't mind, Loralee). Here is a sneak-peak into our family's nicknames:

We call Dallin, "D". My 3 yr old niece called him "Baby Dal" until recently when she heard me call him "D" and asked why we don't call him "Baby Dal". Directly after that question, she said, "Come on D, let's go play." I call Paul, "honey" when mad, and "Paul" when I want something. I guess my nickname would be "Moe" because that is all Dallin ever says to me as he pulls me throughout the house wanting more of something.

What are your nicknames?

Disclaimer: Tashina, I am not sure your nicknames will fit....haha!

The Duncan Summer TV Buzz

This is probably going to be a lame post, but life will go on, right?

We all know that Fall TV premieres are here, but what about the summer entertainment we neglect to mention on all of our blogs This summer, our television has discovered a couple of new favorites. Both of these shows are on the USA Network, which was kind of our best friend this summer. That and our DVR. Psych and Monk. Monk and Psych. Both shows make us laugh. One after the other on Friday nights. Our favorite night of the week. We especially loved it when we would have some sort of social event that night (rare, but it happens) and our DVR would record it so that on Saturday night we could have a special treat waiting for us after we put the baby to bed. Wow, I will stop there, we are starting to sound pathetic.

So sometimes we are!

"Picture Day"

Paul went to Orem Elementary. I went to Vineyard Elementary. But we both remember the man who came to take our yearly school pictures. The guy with the rubber chicken. "Don't hit me chicken!" he would say. We both thought we were special and unique in having the chicken man come to our school. But chances are, if you went to elementary school in Orem, maybe even Utah County, you've experienced the chicken man too. Picture day was so much fun back then. You got to get out of class for awhile, stand in line for awhile, and get hit by a chicken.Picture days for Dallin are a whole different story. We have had good experiences and bad experiences and REALLY bad experiences. I will spare you all the details, however.
Regardless of the time spent at the photo shoot, the end result is always priceless. From a purely biased stand point, of course.

Time out for Mommy

Dallin just fell asleep on the couch next to me. What a rare occurrence! I even transferred him to his crib without incident. I think this little boy is going through a major growth spurt. Combine that with the terrible two's and WOW are things crazy around here. He wanted to eat constantly this morning. At one point during the morning, I was cleaning and he was happily playing in the fridge. I know, what a waste of energy, but what a life saver of sanity for me! I finally shut the fridge door when he got to the eggs. After four time-outs and many threats of "quiet time" all before 11 AM he finally settled down next to me on the couch. I was looking at a blog with a lullaby playing in the background and he started nodding off. At one point, he jerked his eyes open, gave me a huge grin, and closed them once again. Take a nice long nap, please, Mommy needs to breath.

Honey, you just got me a birthday present...

I decided that I needed to make an investment. So I went to the beauty supply store and spent my wad on a new flat iron. It came with a deal where you buy the iron and the blow dryer, you get $20 off. So naturally I bought both. Then I went home and told my husband that he had just bought me an early birthday present. It was the only way I could think of justifying such a purchase. I have to say that after using them both twice now, I LOVE them and think that they were worth every penny.

My new babies:

Jilbere de Paris ™ Nano Silver Tools Ceramic Ionic Flat Iron

Jilbere de Paris ™ Nano Silver Tools ™ Ceramic Ionic Dryer

It's settled... sort of!

I have decided what to do for my little girls blessing dress. I have given my friend Sara my wedding dress and she is going to cut it up and make one for me. Thanks Sara! Now I just have to figure out what I want the dress to be like.... I will try not to be indecisive!

On the potty...

We are not trying to truly potty train Dallin until after the baby is born, so as not to mess things up in any sort of schedule we might have with him. We do, however, have a potty chair for him in our bathroom, and talk to him about going potty and being poopy and all that other fun stuff. Dallin got out of the tub the other day and sat down on his potty chair, nakey bum and all. He sat there for about five minutes, too. We kept waiting for a "tinkle" sound, and encouraged him to "push out the peepee". Nothing came out, but we were so proud of him for sitting down for so long.

Now what does this picture have to do with Dallin on the potty? He is on his potty in this picture, but someone (I will not name HIS name) wanted me to crop the nakey (not even immodest) side out of the picture. I have to obey my husband every once in a while.

Happy Anniversary!

Today, September 13th, marks the ONE YEAR anniversary of moving into our home. I was looking back through our blog (which had its one year anniversary on the 25th of August) and was amazed at how much has happened. Moving across the country, Paul starting a new job, buying our first home, expecting baby #2, Dallin turning two, Paul getting a promotion, finding out we're having a girl, celebrating our 6 year wedding anniversary, having family and friends visit us and all the horses, among many other fun and exciting, happy and sad things. What a great, busy year we have had!

Paul and I were reminiscing about the first week in our home. We had to wait for all of our belongings to be delivered out of storage for a week. We had so many brand new friends bring over mattresses and toys and kitchen items to keep us alive for those seven days. We had one friend loan us her TV/VCR combo and some movies. The only reception we got was outside on our back deck with an antenna, even then, it was still fuzzy. We would put Dallin to bed and go outside and watch fuzzy TV (season premieres were on!!). We finally got our satellite TV hooked up in time to watch the Saturday afternoon session of LDS General Conference. We thought it would be hard to live a week without anything but our clothes (and earlier, three weeks in a hotel), but later reflected on the fact that we loved the simplicity of it all.

So here's to another great year to come...........Cheers!

Adventures in Grocery Shopping!

Time to go grocery shopping after three weeks! The whole family decided to go. Paul, Dallin and Kristen got into the the car and drove to the store. Paul and Dallin took off to the electronics area and Kristen pushed the cart towards the produce. First stop watermelon. Kristen decides to pick one at the bottom of the bin and bends over to pick it up. Seeing as she is seven months pregnant and sticking out like she is nine, bending over a bin is not a good idea. She lost her balance as she picked up the watermelon and then had to drop it to prevent herself from falling all the way into the bin. She picked herself up and looked around laughing, but no one had seen her fall over. She finished in the produce area and headed for the baking aisle when an employee over the PA system announces, "This is a non-smoking facility (one of the few in our town). Please refrain from smoking." Apparently, someone could not wait to light up and who was fortunate enough to walk right into the smell, but Kristen. You have to understand that cigarette smoke makes her physically ill when she is pregnant. She managed to get out of it as fast as possible, however. A couple aisles away she can hear Dallin gabbering away at the top of his lungs, so she meets up with her boys. They all finish and get into a checkout line. Paul starts loading the groceries onto the conveyor belt and Kristen gets distracted by the magazines. Of course no one sees Dallin as he gets a hold of the carton of eggs, opens them and throws one out the cart. Luckily Paul noticed after only one hit the floor. It cleaned up pretty good and again, no one saw another embarrassing moment. Getting home and unloading all the newly purchased items proved to be uneventful, thank goodness. And Paul wonders why Kristen likes to go to the store by herself.

Good Times

What a vacation! Paul was lucky enough to have had a business trip to Springville, Utah this past week. So we all packed our bags and took the opportunity to go "home" for awhile. Dallin and I left a week before Paul. We had so much fun spending time with family.

Here is Dallin with his cousin Tyler. We are all at his cousin, Britney's soccer game. Pop, pop, pop! Say "peese" if you want a drink.

Dallin chillin' with his cousins Tyler, McKay, and Sydney.We went to see Aunt Heather's new house after the soccer game. Sydney has a hamster that Dallin wanted to play with (or squish, rather). Paul was trying to prevent any injuries to the animal!We were able to go to Lagoon (that's what fun is...) for my dad's work party and use my brother's tickets. Dallin was able to go on a lot of the kid rides and Paul went on all the "big kid" rides and I had fun watching everyone have fun! Here is Dallin with his cousins Joe, Spencer, and Samantha.
On the Merry-go-round. He wasn't so sure he liked it, until we started twirling around and the horse hopped up and down. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" was all that came out of his mouth. Paul took him on the kiddie roller coaster (which we didn't get a good picture of). I was afraid that he wouldn't like it. But Paul said that he LOVED it and he was "whoa-ing" the whole time!
You gotta eat a churro whenever your at a theme park, it's the law!

Vroom, vroom! He loved the cars! Thanks to Samantha for being his ride partner on all the rides!
Helicopter Pilot lessons
Here is Joe and Spencer on the same ride!
This is Dallin's cousin Mitch. They had fun together!
For those of you who don't know, Dallin loves to grab hold of a hand and "lead" the way. It was so cute when he didn't want to hold my hand (he's a bit of a Mama's and Daddy's boy), but Samantha and Spencer's hands. Off they went to the next ride!
Some rest for the weary! We had a lot of fun that day! Thanks Papa Steele for the tickets!


We learned one thing while we were in Utah: A flat, fenced in backyard is worth a million bucks! Here is Dallin with Grandpa Duncan, playing in the sand box. Dallin decided to have a somewhat clingy, cranky disposition (LOVING the terrible two's, by the way) and the only thing we found that made him happy AND independent was the backyard. He literally spent hours in this sand box while we were in Utah.
I am trying to get Dallin to brush his teeth in this picture. Lately he has decided that he would rather eat all the toothpaste instead of brushing.
Paul and Dallin got to go to the Utah State Fair with Grandpa while I was at my sister, Kodi's baby shower.
Dallin is "taking pictures" of the bunny rabbits! Say "PEEEESE!"
We can't get him off anything with wheels.
Here's Dallin in his infamous spot, on Daddy's shoulders.
And now we are back in 'tucky, as my neice, Kali, calls it. We had such a good time and enjoyed always being on the go with a full schedule.

We headed back with heavy hearts and tears in our eyes! We love our family and love to be with them!