Duncan Christmas Party

Wow,  I feel like we already had Christmas! We had our annual Duncan Christmas exchange last week and as always had so much fun!  Grandpa and Grandma D. really spoiled all of us this year!! The grandkids love this special night and love that they get to open gifts early.

They look so forward to their Christmas P.J.'s from grandpa and grandma and once again they loved them and looked so adorable in them:)  Then all the cousins exchanged gifts, the noise level was way beyond loud. It was a little crazy but the kids loved it!  This year we went caroling to some older folks to start the night off.  Andrew and Tyler (8 and 9 yrs old) said how they felt the spirit while we were caroling. I thought it was very sweet!  The party went on and on and we all went home very tired and paid for it the next day.  

Once again we missed Paul and Kristen and Clint and Jordan and their families- Can't wait to see you guys!

Thanks dad and mom for another wonderful Christmas party, the food the gifts and for sharing the true spirit of Christmas with our family!  We really feel blessed to come from such amazing families:)

Better late than never... Right?!?

By this point we were FREEZING!!


Do you love the keys hanging out of Brent's pocket, nice touch.


Aren't they so cute?


Sydney loves to pose for pictures unless of course something is bugging her then she throws a little tizzy:)


I just had to get some sympathy, he was not into this photo session can you tell?

OK, to me, the idea of family pictures always sounds like way too much work!! So every year I think to myself, "I would really like to do family pictures in the fall with the beautiful leaves etc," and every year fall comes and goes and I always miss that perfect moment!!! So this year I really tried to plan it and had it arranged with my cousin who was going to take them, but once again something came up last minute and I had to cancel. So here we are two months later still trying to capture that family picture moment!!! Over Thanksgiving my brother-in-law was coming into town with his fancy camera so I thought we should try to attempt some sort of family picture one more time. Let's just say it was quite the adventure!! Here are some reasons why you should not wait until November to do family pictures outside and/or maybe not even do family pictures period:)

1. It was 25 degrees outside, possible the coldest day of the year so far, and it was very difficult to get anyone to smile because we were all FREEZING!!
2. There was no color left in the grass or leaves! I am not sure why I thought there might be??
3. We had all lost our tans we had acquired in the summer
4.Trying to get a 2 yr old to hold still when he wants to be sliding on the slide or jumping on the tramp was oh so fun.
5. Convincing a second grader that it is not funny to put his bunny fingers behind his sister's head in a real family picture.
6. Listening to our drama queen complain about how the sun was too bright and bugging her and that her fingers were numb!!

After all the complaining and stress, it is always fun to see the end results, the good and the bad. I figure at least I will have a Christmas card picture right?


Well the next day we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Jeans. It was such a Castleton style Thanksgiving, with the cute name tags by our plates, the 3 pieces of candy corn so we all could name 3 things we are grateful for and last but not least the Castleton program!! For all our family that missed it, it was your typical Helen show. I love my mother's enthusiasm for life. Besides being a wonderful cook, she always knows how to throw a great party. So thanks mom and aunt Jean for the great thanksgiving meal. I dread the day when I actually have to make the entire Thanksgiving meal. For now I will be forever grateful.

P.S. CONGRATS to Paul and Kristen and Dallin on their new baby girl. Little Ellie. She is so cute! Way to go guys. We miss you all!

Halloween Night!!

What a cute cheerleader, it's looks so natural doesn't it?


Our little chicken!


Tyler made the perfect skeleton


We met up with our friends, the Planks. What cute kids!


The scary witch with the kids at the Jones Spooky house.

Ok, I have tried to prolong the scary, gory costumes for several years now but I finally gave in. Tyler was a very ugly bleeding skeleton and he absolutely loved every minute of it. Sydney was this adorable little cheerleader and she loved that and McKay, well he didn't really have a choice, he was a hammy-down chicken and I thought he looked pretty cute! He didn't really care what he was he just loved grabbing handfuls of candy out of his pumpkin.

We started the night by going over to the Jones Spooky house! Heather J. makes a pretty scary witch and her house was one of those really cool halloween houses that Tyler wishes he had:) We also heard about their neighbor that gives out a dozen Krispy Kream doughnuts to each kid, can you believe that? My kids thought it was pretty cool! We then went to our wards trunk-or-treat and ended up in our Provo neighborhood at some friends. Halloween is such a kids night but of course we can't forget about Brent's birthday and to celebrate we went trick-or-treating once again!! What a guy, Happy birthday to my amazing man!

Annual Pumpkin Carving Party

First thing I have to say is that the Duncan party just wasn't the same without the favorite pumpkin carving guy, (no Clint I am not talking about you:)) We all know I am talking about Paul!! Ever since Paul and Kristen have moved the kids dads actually have to participate in the carving process. We always have so much fun at Grandpa and Grandma Duncans pumpkin carving party. It started with Grandma's corn chowder and chili, she is such a good cook. We always make carmel apples, and Aunt Heather made chocholate covered bananas this year, it was all so yummy!! The kids love getting together with their cousins and coming up with their own pumpkin faces. Of course we missed all of you who weren't there. Thanks to all for a great party!!

BYU Heaven

Ok, so we are a little bummed that the BYU game has ben post-poned for this week but Tyler is still living on the high the he got from last week's game. Tyler and his cousin Andrew had the chance (thanks to Jonny P. and the Pestana gang) to go with Brent to the BYU game last week. They sat on the 40 yard line on row 13, which was very cool, but the best part is that before the game they got to go down on the field while both teams were warming up!! Ya it doesn't stop there. Then they got to go have lunch. After they sat down and looked under their chairs, (i have never sat in an actual chair at the game, I was a little bitter:))they each were given a treat bag with pop, popcorn, candy etc. Needless to say the kids absolutely loved every minute of the game and I don't think they even realized that it was raining and freezing. Tyler has been talking about the game all week and how cool it was.
THe only down fall about this awesome experience is that now the kids have turned the downstairs room into a football field using blue tape for the yard lines with a blue taped letter Y in the middle, they even went as far as to tape certain yard lines with white tape to show first downs. OH these boys, I just love their enthusiasm for the little things in life!!






Ok, so I told Brent to take some pictures, I guess I need to be more specific on what kind of pictures. These pictures were the only ones he took because he forgot the camera so he had to use his phone.

Fall Break Fun

First of all I have to tell Jen, my sister, Congrats on an amazing run/time in the St. George Marathon!! She rocked, she ran it in a record time for her and an insane time for anyone else: 3 hours and 27 minutes. Can you believe that, way to go Superwoman!



This last weekend the kids were out of school for fall break and of course in my mind we had to do something fun right?! Well it's a good thing that we have fun friends that plan fun things and parents that have a free condo in Midway, so we took advantage. Luckily the Planks are our fun friends and they invited us to go up Southfork in Provo Canyon for one last hot dog/smore roast. It was absolutely beautiful and the kids had a blast. Jeff even busted out the dutch oven, it was yummy!! Thanks again Planks!!









Then the next day I just wasn't in the mood to be stuck at home with the kids saying over and over, "We're bored, or so and so did this for fall break etc." You know all the fun lines that we all said when we were kids:) So we decided to head up to Midway. Brent's parents have a condo at the Zermatt and we love to get away and go play. It is so funny, my kids think it is their very own place and they love that they have their own little room with their own TV. They just think it is the greatest place! It is so gorgous and so peaceful and it always feels so good to get out of the house and away from laundry and some of those oh so fun things that us mothers get to do daily:) We enjoyed the last swim of the season in the sun and just relaxed, it was great to have some down time with the family.





Also my last big news is a big CONGRATS to Dave and Tirza(Brent's sister) and the Hawkins Clan. They had their long awaited twins. A healthy baby boy, Brock Eli (5 lbs), and a healthy baby girl, Reese Michel (5 lbs 5 oz.) We are so happy for them and wish them lots of luck with 4 kids under the age of 5.




Well I think I could've made about 4 blog post out of this one but o-well, here it is to staying on top of blogging! I will get better right?

Mckay turns 2!!!

Last week was Mckay's birthday and I can't believe he is already 2. As many of you know the first year of his life was not so easy. The first 2 months he cried non-stop, then we all had a very scary moment when he stopped breathing, then was put on medicine for acid reflux. Then his immune system was so bad he would get sick like every month and throw up non-stop. It seemed like there was always something wrong with the poor little guy. It was quite the adventure and during that time I thought he would never get better and I would never get to sleep again without worrying and stressing if he was ok at night. Needless to say we have all made it through somehow and he is no longer a little baby, he is a healthy energetic little boy that makes us all laugh daily. He is such a happy boy and loves to play with Tyler and Sydney. I feel so blessed to have little McKay in our family.


They kept him overnight and did all these tests, it was very tramatic.

Conclusion: Acid reflux, but the worst part was he had to sleep with a breathing/pulse monitor that would always beep and give false alarms. That thing was so stressful.


Now he's a happy blue eyes toddler, thank goodness!


Happy Birthday to Brooke and Mckay!

Ok so here it is, almost another month has past and I am writing another blog. So much for my diligent blogging. School started awhile ago, but here are some pictures of Tyler and Sydney on their first days of school. Tyler is adjusting to going to a new school and meeting new friends but he loves his teacher, which is a very good thing. Sydney has surprised us by how much she loves her preschool. She goes 3 times a week and loves it. She has really grown up a lot this last year and has become quite the little social bug. As for McKay he wishes he was in school, he is by far our most social child and always wants to be on the go.

It takes all we got these days just to get to school in the morning and somehow get these kids to bed at night. It's quite a project -- I'm sure many of you relate!!

Hello All,

Ok, so there have been many friends and family that have inspired me to actually update our blog since it has been forever, so here it goes,a quick summary of life at the Adams home this summer.

March -- We bought a home in Spanish Fork but did not move in until June. Worked many hours finishing the basement--Thanks to many who helped with that enormous project!



May -- The week we were suppose to move Brent and I decided to go on this amazing trip to Mexico for a week. We went with the Planks and stayed on a huge yacht for a whole week without kids! It was absolutley beautiful and so relaxing. We did lots of snorkling and deep sea fishing and enjoyed the peace and quiet. I felt as though we were living the life of the rich and famous for just one moment. It was so fun!!!







June -- We had lots of fun family reunions and get togethers! We finally moved into our house!! It was hard to leave all the great people of the Edgemont 11th ward and very hard to leave the beautiful yard and come to dirt , but we were very excited to get into our new house.

July -- Tried to unpack and get settled in. We went to 7 Peaks lots this summer and had the Boyer cousins come stay for 2 weeks. We did so many fun activities and we survived the little fights and fueds that come a long with being together 24/7!

August -- Back to school we go. Tyler is starting the second grade and we live right down the road from his Elementary. He loves to walk to and from school and it literally takes him close to 5 mintues! The only bad thing is it shortens the school day quite a bit, I guess I will get used to it. Sydney starts preschool next week and will go 3 days a week, she is excited to get back in school. Mckay is busy as ever and keeps us laughing all the time. From the minute he wakes up he wants to be outside (he takes after his mother)!!

Well that's a very undetailed quick summary of our summer. Now I am comitted to be more of a diligent and dedicated blogger! Thanks to the many that keep bugging me to update our blog! You guys are great!

Great Grandma Adams

Tyler, McKay, and "Rusty"

Adams Family Christmas

Movie Day at the Jones' House

"Don't worry I'm a Doctor, I know what I'm doing"