Michael is now 6

Michael turned 6 over this last weekend. He had a party with lots of friends and family present. We started out with a game of baseball and then had cake and ice cream (peppermint ice cream, is what he picked out) then he was able to open presents. After presents, we had a pinata and the children took turns trying to bust it open. He had a lot of fun. When I asked him what the best part of being 6 is he told me, "I get to be 3 years older than Melanie." So from the mouth of a 6 year old it is fun being older than your sister.

Michael's Halloween

Michael impressed his mom and dad so much. He, being almost 6, was the most patient and loving brother I have ever seen. He would get excited and run ahead then quickly come back and take his sister's hand and encourage her to be a little faster. When he would get to far ahead we would remind him to wait for his brother and sister and he would come back and gladly help with them. He never once complained or showed any signs of frustration. With all that being said, on our way home we decided to reward him. Grandma Angie came over and watched my cold little fairy and my sleepy lion so just Michael and Mommy could go trick-or-treating. I knew a really great neighbor hood close to ours that we could trick-or-treat and when we turned down the block Michael got excited and said, "We have a lot of work ahead of us." We would race from house to house and really enjoyed our time together. He had his family time and then he had his time.

Melanie's Halloween

Melanie knew what she was doing this year and tried hard to keep up with her brother Michael. She would try and run so fast and when she did the wings she was wearing would flap. She loved it. She kept running around saying, "I'm flying, I'm flying." I really don't remember giving her candy started to get chilled rather quickly once the sun set. After all tights and a tutu don't really work well for before hand but nobody would believe me. The whether wasn't too cold but she a chilly October night.

Zander's Halloween

Zander really caught on to the idea of trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, he hated the idea of having to wait to eat the candy he received. If he had it his way, it would have been one house at a time and one candy at a time. Always an empty bucket. This is his Lion costume. All 3 of my little angels have worn it. It is a great chilly October night costume, but during the day when it was warmer it was a little to hot. Who am I kidding? He was sweating so badly we decided to change his costume a little just until it cooled off. He wore Melanie's white and red poka dot swim suite, we put a pony tail in his hair and a pretty pink bow. He looked so cute and now I have a black mail picture when he gets older and starts dating.

Halloween Excitement

I am so excited for Halloween. I have costumes picked out and lots of activities for kids to do all week. We are going to the Green Acres Boo Blast on Thursday and the Ward Party on Friday, then we all know what we have in store for us on Saturday. ALL DAY TRICK OR TREATING!!!!
I am really not looking forward to the candy and such but the excitement that my kids have and getting them all dressed up is just so much fun. I hope every one remembers to be safe and just have fun this week.

Today is relaxing!!

I really enjoy the quiet of the day when my Melanie and Zander are napping and Michael is off to school. It tends to rejuvinate me. I normally spend this 3 hours running around the house cleaning up the mess the kids spent the whole morning making, only to have it back to their normal mess by dinner, but today I have decided to take a relax day. I am sitting here next to little Melanie and am going to join her for a nap. I love my children and I love sleep.

Today is relaxing

Fire Station

On Monday night, I ventured over to the North Ogden Fire Station for the annual open house. I had to invite my friend Robli or I would have been outnumbered 3 to 1. I was so happy to have her there. We were able to ride in the front seat of a fire truck and the back of an ambulance. The kids watched as I put out a fire using a fire extinguisher. Michael was able to use the fire hose connected to a hydrant. Did I mention that when he grows up he wants to be a fire fighter? The kids were able to slide down the fire pole half way, well as far as Robli could lift them. We had hot dogs and water and COOKIES for dinner. Michael was able to get a CD Rom with Fire Safety tips and games for him to play. There was a smoke hallway, we had to crawl underneath the smoke and towards the end there was a "dummy" with a scary mask on, the kids were so scared of it I had to drag them out and past it. Luckily, Melanie is little enough to drag and the firefighter that was helping supervise covered the face so Michael was easier to get out. He is getting to big to drag around. We had a wonderful time and wish Dustin was able to join us, but we were blessed to have extra hands to help keep track of my little runners. Thanks to all the fire fighters who helped put that on, it was a fun enjoyable evening.

Dustin's Business Trip

Well, Dustin hasn't even been gone a full 24 hours. He is in Idaho Falls helping move the old Hastings to a new location. Michael is really stressed about his daddy being gone for 12 days. I know that there will be more and more business trips coming his way but I doubt that any will be this long (or at least I pray they won't be). Dustin and I have never been apart this long before but I am sure it will be good for us. Who knows maybe when he gets back he will be in the guest room? ;-) I am excited for the sleep that I will get, if I can get Melanie to sleep, I should be able to go to bed early and sleep in late. Lucky me!!

Cool October

I have really enjoyed the cooler whether the last few days. My children have been able to wear their warm clothes and little Zander hasn't seem to realize that it is colder outside. He is such an outside boy, every time I turn around he is trying to escape and run away. I am excited for Halloween and Zander's turn at wearing the Lion costume that was originally purchased for Michael. That is definitely what I call worth the money. All 3 of my little angels have worn it. Michael is going to be Superman and Melanie is going to be Cinderella or any other pretty little thing, she just wants to be pretty for Halloween. Although, we do tell her every day she is beautiful. After spring, this is by far my favorite time of year!!!

Yellowstone

Yellowstone was great!!! The kids and I planned on spending the time up with my dad, Vivi, Alicia, Mandy, Ryan and DJ. Dustin was not able to join us due to the fact that he said he had to work. He did work Friday night but as soon as he got off he stole my mom's car and drove all through the night to get to his family. He had Saturday and Sunday off so he was able to spend all day Saturday with us and left on Sunday around 2 to head home. It was such a nice surprise. I absolutely loved being able to spend time with him seeing the big Yellowstone sights, Old Faithful, Natural Bridge, Mineral Pools at West Thumb. I loved having him there. It was the best. Melanie was pretty convinced that she was never actually in Yellowstone because it wasn't yellow. She was also completely terrified of the buffalo. Michael was a little bike rider every where he went he tried to bring the bike. He wondered why the stink pots never turned off. Michael loved seeing all the animals. Zander loves being outside, so this trip was his favorite part of the last few weeks. Lots of outside time. He also enjoyed playing with the animals. To be more specific a chipmunk kept coming up and steeling his food while he was eating. He kept dropping bits and pieces of bread and he would watch that little chipmunk come in and steel it. He chased after it and it would run in circles around him and he would follow or try and follow it. I have never laughed so hard in my life. The trip was incredible. I loved seeing all the beautiful nature that God has created for us to enjoy.

Melanie

Melanie is the most super adorable girl. She has about 20 baby dolls, and boy does she love playing with them. The last few days she has pretended to be a teacher and has lined them all up and been teaching them songs and the alphabet and shapes. Last night she picked one of her babies out and was the mommy. She fed it, loved it, took it to Grandma's house (me) to be baby sat while she went out with Katie. All imagined. She makes me smile with all the wonderful things she imagines. I love my little princess..

Just Another Manic Monday

Wow!!! Time has certainly stood still for the last few days. I am still out of work but trying really hard to make the First Aid and CPR classes work for me. It would be completely ideal, teaching classes 3 to 4 days a month and the rest of the time off with my children. The idea of "Manic Monday" most certainly didn't apply to me today....this is the first Monday in a long time where I haven't been "manic" even when I have had a Monday off I have had an agenda of some sort. Well, the time out of work has been very good for me and my children but the whole money thing is a huge concern. Things will work out alright for us, it just may take some time....

Lost

Well this month is off to yet another rough start. On the 3rd I was layed off from work. Lots of confusion came with that, and that's all I am going to say about that. I have so enjoyed the time home I have been able to spend with my children. Unfortunately, we have bills to pay. I really need to find work, whether it be teaching classes or this or that. I need something but want nothing. I loved my job and it is going to be hard to replace. The best part of all of this is just how much my family has turned to the Lord with our burdens and got down on our knees to ask for help. The Lord has more faith in us than what I thought he did. He knows what we can handle and has really given us a curve ball, which we have managed to get a hit off of. We are happy. We continue to find solace in our Savior and the Gospel.

June

Well, it's June!! I really like June it is a great month. I look forward to what ever lies ahead. I was recently informed that if or when layoffs happen I am the one to go. So, maybe scary things lie ahead but it will be a new adventure. My husband and I are looking at the positive and making the best of things. Okay I want to give little tid bits of what is happening in my children's lives because it is an always changing time for them. Michael plays kick ball every Monday and Wednesday. He is very into it. He absolutely loves playing the outfield, he is so quick to run and get the ball and chase down the runners. He tries to do it all himself, we are so trying to work on that. Melanie is developing a vast vocabulary. She shows so much concern for others. She is constently asking if what she does will make someone happy. We have these seek and find books and she cannot get enough of them. It is by far her favorate thing to do. Zander is so out of control. He crawls so fast and is all over. I will get one thing cleaned up and I turn around to find him in something else. I used to be able to trap him on the couch but he figured that out and gets down so quickly. I really do love him and the rest of my kids. Dustin is working hard and super excited to spend time with his brother this week. Well that is all for now but more will come....

Slacking

WOW!! I absolutely suck at this blogging thing. I really have had lots of things that I can blog about but I just don't know I have lots of excuses, my computer broke, no time at work, no time at home, and so on and so on. I have decided that updating would really be a waste of time and I am so not going to commit to write every day or even every other day but I am going to commit to try. Yes, that is very vague but it is a start. I am not sure if I can always be as interesting as Team Sheltons blog or as cute as Rob and Susie's blog but I will try so every one can somewhat stay up to date with the Duay's. Dustin is a little upset that no one knew he had pneumonia and was so sickly for the first 2 weeks of May. We are so overly greatful for insureance...we have used our health insurance at least once a week since the start of the year. Zander is 10 months old and crawls EVERYWHERE and is into EVERYTHING. Melanie is a prissy little girl and Michael is so 5 years old and knows more than anyone. I am overly excited for summer and swimming and drive-ins and all the stuff that comes with summer. Well here is to trying.....

New Adventure

Today I was grumpy. I really can't quite put my finger on what set it off or where it came from but I was grumpy grumpy grumpy. Good thing my kids are so cute and really didn't get it. They kept nagging and poking and loving me until I broke down and just couldn't keep up the grumpy front anymore. I love being with my kids all day it is so incredibly worth every loud and stressful moment of daycare life. With my recent promotion, I have been given more freedom, more office time, more cuddle my kids time, just more. I am almost done training my preschool teacher replacement, well not total replacement just huge support and teacher when things are busy for me. I am working hard now and it will so payoff. I am excited for this new adventure.

Busy Days

Wow how life gets going. It has been such a crazy rush. Nothing has been overly hectic or scheduled, just the regular old life. It has been nice to be busy. My mind has had lots to think about and process. I do believe I have been on here at least 2x and wrote a blog then just simply forgot to hit publish or maybe got interrupted and the blogs never got posted. So today it was a huge surprise to me when I got on here and there was no post since March 14th, but again that is the hectic busy life that comes along with being a mom of 3...4 for those of you who know Dustin. I am so very excited for the warmth of spring and the flowers to come. I really am getting sick of all the snow. Here is a little update about our family, Michael's soccer games started Saturday and we were very lucky that on that day it was 50 degrees outside instead of the 35-40 that it had been leading up to Saturday. He was really excited and wanted Mels and Zander there so he called Grandma and had her bring them. Zander is teething....so sleep has been an issue lately, but we are getting along. Melanie is testing the waters with the whole idea of "terrible 2s" but all in all it really hasn't been that bad. In fact last night when she asked for ice cream and I told her no it was so nice to hear her say Okay mommy say no with out the dramatics of a screaming kicking tantrum. Dustin is doing good staying busy and working tons to help take care of his family. As for me, I am happy. I received a promotion and raise at work which is wonderful and so exciting ti be taking on more responsibility. The next two blogs I write will be posted. My goal is to be more focused and try to be less distracted, but I do have 4 huge distractions that I love so very much. Have a good day.

Update

Well it has been almost a week since our last entry. Needless to say it has been a crazy week. We were blessed and grateful that we were able to help friends out this week when they needed it. We were grateful for family and friends that helped us out this week. We had a lot of learning experiences. This is definitely one of those weeks that when it is over you look back and wonder where exactly it went. Things were definitely fast paced this week, but I am so grateful that I am able to look back on it now and realize all the blessings that take place around us.

"Firsts"

Yesterday we had the pleasure of attending Henery Peterson's baby blessing. It was so good to see Heidi and Daniel. They looked great and that little baby is so adorable. Being around this new family made me think back to some of my firsts with my children. From our trip home from the hospital to their first teeth, first words, first steps, parenthood is a great adventure and a blessing. I am so happy for Heidi and Daniel and the journey that lies before them. I was once told to Find joy in your journey no matter where it takes you. Parenting can be trialing at times but oh so worth it. I have grown and am continually learning from my children. I look forward to the many "firsts" that are yet to come and the joy I will have on my journey.-- This picture was taken when Zander was 2 days old, it was Melanie's first time holding him.

The weeks end

Here we are Friday night and the Duay's are looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. Okay so I may have twisted the truth a little. For anyone who knows us a nice relaxing weekend is not something we are familiar with. Dustin plans on working tomorrow morning and then we are off to the little Henery's baby blessing then its back to work for Dustin and he plans on working at least till midnight. Well at least I will be able to relax a little in there with one less kid to worry about. Hehe. Sunday we are having our BIG FHE with the whole family. I am excited I have some great food plans and the lesson for FHE is going to be on Faith and I am so looking forward to teaching. Well, I am so looking forward to our weekend, no matter how hectic or relaxing it may be. So here's to you and your weekend.

Grandma Angie

My mom came home from the hospital yesterday. She had been there since Saturday. She went into the emergency room with leg pain and minor chest pain, nothng to concerning right? Well fortunately she knew her body and listened to it. She has had blood clots one time in the past and understood some of the presymptom symptoms. She was well taken care of and I spent many hours of the last few days at her bed side. I love my mom so much and it was certainly hard on me seeing her lay in bed and do nothing. Her spirits were up and she was in a very pleasant mood but the hard part came when I had to say goodbye and leave her. I hated seeing her say goodbye and be left there alone. It is so great to have her in her own home and closer to us again. I am so greatful for the staff at McKay Dee Hospital and the wonderful care she received. She is feeling better and should be up and running around crazy again in no time.

A Day in Salt Lake

Well yesterday I spent the day at Temple Square. It was very inspiring. All the hard work that went into making the temple is just amazing. Michael was so inpressed with everything all around him, if we slowed down he quickly grabbed someone's hand and was pulling us in new directions. I am very greatful to have been able to experience Temple Square. I have lived so close for my whole life and here I am almost 25 and just now making my first trip. I am excited to go again, in the near future, and attend a session at the Temple. It was a very spritiual day.

Sick Days

Isn't it ironic that when you have time off you get sick? Well I wasn't off but my husband was and I now have Strep Throat. I would have loved to spend the day with him, not being sick. He was able to take care of me and send the kids off to Grandma's house to keep them away. Well as I slept my day away the world went on.

This is the 1st edition of The Duay Daily

We have started this blog to help those that want to know about us, know about us. As we mess with this and play with it we hope it becomes a daily checkfor you.