A Day with the Duffs

Some New Pics Worth Posting

2011-12-13T20:39:00.008-07:00

Hide n seek

Dave and Jack have been practicing. Dave's a little put out because jack is already better than him.

Enjoy the pics.

Our trip to Philly

2011-12-06T07:35:00.002-07:00

Here are some fun photos of our awesome time staying in Philly with an old college roommate of mine from 2001! Dang, we are getting old. We went to Liberty Bell (and yes it's still cracked), saw the "Rocky" steps at the Museum of Art (no pic though), went to Love Park which and saw the most beautiful capitol building ever. The on the way home we drove through Gettysburg which was short lived but was so beautiful. Hopefully we make it back there before we leave the East coast. What a great weekend it was, we love living here!

Introducing...

2011-10-19T15:24:00.005-06:00

Elenor Jane Duffin born October 12th 2011 at 4:49 pm weighing in at 5lbs 11oz and 19inches long. These pics are just some of the fun we had those few days in the hospital!
The pic where I am holding a pillow was the beginning where I was getting an epidural. The rest, I think, are pretty self explanatory.

As for the story, here goes...My in-laws had come into townon Sunday the 9th with the expectation of a baby to be here on account that Jack was 2 weeks early. But she hadn't. SO, I called and made an appt with the doc for Tuesday the 11th and asked if she would induce me even though I was only 39.5 weeks. She said, I'll see what I can do And she did!!

The next morning we checked into the hospital and I started pitosin around 10am. The contractions started to get pretty intense by 230pm so I decided I was no soldier and got the epidural (best idea ever). Around 4:00pm I told the nurse that I was pretty sure that it was go time and she checked...sure enough, it was. However, we had to wait for the mid-wife AND my nurse to get there. That was the most interesting feeling ever! Anyways, everything went smoothly and at about 4:50pm I finally started pushing and she was delivered at 4:59pm. Of course I got a mirror and of course I thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Its now been a week and the babe is perfectly healthy and I am feeling so great.

We have a great life and have been SO blessed with a happy and healthy family!!

Cooking for a large group while camping!

2011-08-04T13:20:00.002-06:00

This past week I had the pleasure to attend girls camp with my stake here in Alexandria, Va. One of the challenges I faced was being the camp cook for my level of girls which included: YCL's, leaders and guests. That included menu planning for about 25+- for 3 Breakfasts, 2 Dinners and 1 Dessert. What a TASK! Now that I have done it, I figured I could share the info with anyone who ever has to cook for a large group outside.

My Menu...
Breakfast 1- Dutch oven cinnamon Rolls, Oatmeal, Orange juice

I first lined my dutch oven with Coleman parchment paper Dutch oven liners, found at Wal-mart...but don't bother calling and asking Waly-mart if they have them because they will say no :)
Then I bought the pre-made cinnamon rolls where you peel off the tube and they go POP! I lined 3 dutch ovens with the rolls had my coals already prepared and put all three ovens in the fire ring with 1/3 of my coals on the bottom and the rest on the top. That way the coals don't burn the bottom of the rolls and the rise really quite nicely! In about 30 minutes we removed the ovens and put the parchment paper on cookie sheets and drizzled with the goodness. These were a HUGE hit. Before the rolls I served up some oatmeal and did it buffet style. I had a big camping stove then just set everything on the table where the girls could add: raisins, craisins, white or brown sugar and milk. So good.

Breakfast 2-Eggs in a bag

These turned out awesome. For so many people I only had two pots of water going but 3 or 4 would have been easier! Again I set up an assembly line buffet style and let the girls have whatever they wanted in their eggs. You begin with a good zip lock bag. sandwich bag. Then crack two eggs and they could add: bell peppers, mushrooms and onions. I omitted cheese from this step because it takes the eggies longer to cook with the cheese.

The girls labeled them with sharpies and into the pot they went. Again a big hit! Cheese and ketchup were added after and we had so many happy campers!

Breakfast 3-Sausage and biscuits

This was by far the most fun and easiest breakfast (for me). I built a nice big fire and had roasting sticks that the girls put their pre-made sausages on and warmed over the fire. They then went and wrapped a biscuit (another peel from the can...POP kind) and put these roasters over the fire. When they were done we all had fresh fruit and rolled our goodies in syrup.

Dinner 1-Munsterella dutch oven Chicken

This recipe is the BEST when you're camping because it tastes so gourmet but its so easy! I bought two bags of pre-battered chicken from Costco and pre-baked them before camp. At camp I lined 3 dutch ovens with the paper and proceeded to layer Munster cheese (1/2 lb per oven same with mozzarella), mozzarella cheese, chicken and mushrooms in 2 of the 3 ovens (the third I just omitted the mushrooms). I then added some chicken broth (about 2 cups), salt and pepper to make sure I got some tasty sauce for when I put the chicken over whole wheat noodles.
Meanwhile, on the burners we cooked the (3 boxes) noodles and cooked up a whole bag of frozen broccoli. This meal was so perfect!

Dinner 2-Tinfoil dinners

I think tin-foil dinners are pretty easy to make but here are a few things I did. I started my HUge fire about 2 hours before dinner to ensure some intense heat and great coals. I also like to wet a paper towel and put it in between layers of foil. This just helps prevent burning on the sides. We also sprayed down the foil that the food went on with pam before we put anything on them. For this we had 10 lbs of ground beef which we thawed and pre placed them in baggies so everyone got about 1/3 of a pound (best idea ever because it was so much cleaner then a bunch of dirty hands!). We also did red-potatoes because they are softer and cook faster then russet or golden po's. We all Costco stuff for this but only because it was way cheaper that way. We used red potatoes, mushrooms (1 carton), Red bell peppers (one bag, 6 peppers), carrots (not from costco (good gracious!), about 4 onions, 2 family size mushroom soups, salt, pepper, lawrys seasoning salt and Mrs. Dash. The thing about tin-foil dinners is that you need massive amounts of spices to make it any good so we did get them all at Costco.

Dessert 1-Banana boats...

If you have never done these before...DO. They are fun and easy. I set up 3 bowls of each of the following and put them down 2 picnic tables for the girls...semi-sweet chocolate chips, caramel chips, mini-marshmallows and coconut. Then each girl got a banana (we needed about 4 bunches from Costco) and a knife. We then cut out the centers and filled the boats with goodies, wrapped them in tin-foil and threw those babies the the fire. in about 10-15 minutes dessert was served.

All of this took serious thinking and planning so if you ever need my shopping list or any other tips for these just let me know!!

I am pretty much writing this down in case I ever have to do this again. Good thing I had done a serious amount of camp cooking before!!

I also had prepared to do ice cream in a bag but we ran out of time. Its fun and easy and there is no cooking involved.

The Duffins in DC

2011-07-14T14:50:00.007-06:00

As some of you may know, Dave took a job in May in Washington, DC. We have been here a little while now and are loving it! Here are some pics of some things we have done!

We've gone to Deep Creek lake in Maryland

We've been to the DC Zoo!

We rode our bikes to DC for the Memorial Day parade

But before we DC...Dave graduated and we went to California for two weeks

We hope all is well with your families and that you will come stay with us!! Much love my friends!
Ps. Im 27 weeks pregnant with our sweet little lady and feeling so good.

Dad launches a pea from Jack's nose

2011-06-29T19:06:00.001-06:00

Photo update.

2011-02-15T20:36:00.006-07:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to blog about anything at all....i suppose its because life just moves sooo fast! Hope you are all doing well and know that we love you!

To hack or not?

2010-11-26T15:32:00.002-07:00

This morning Dave decided that Jack's sideburns were too long so what did he do you wonder...he cut them so blunt that he looks like a big (little) nerd. So today I am seeking opinions. Should I take the leap and give Jack his first hair cut or should I suck it up and wait until a more appropriate age to due "the first hair cut." I dont care what anyone says I am NOT counting this as Jacks first hair cut. I refuse! I swear its worse than I could capture with my little wiggle one.

Justified.

2010-10-14T20:30:00.000-06:00

Today I realized that I have been in Hawaii for about two months now and havent even thought about blogging since I got here! School and life are moving so fast my friends...but I wouldnt have it any other way. Life here is so great.

Aside from all that, the reason I thought I should get to typin today is because I had a fantastic lesson in one of my classes on self-justification or in other words the dissodence theory.

Its the theory of the slippery slope of why we find it ok to do little bad things. In essence its why we find it ok to do things claiming, "its ok because I am different...that doesnt really apply to me." make sense?

So the more I thought and the longer the teacher spoke, I realized that whether I am embezzling money or justifying the judgement I pass on others everyday, it doesnt matter the bottom line is they are both wrong.

I find myself justifying because I assume the other person doesnt either A. understand me or B. because we're just different.

But is that really the case?? Arent they just sitting over there thinking the same things about me??

The point of the class was to urge us to try and see our own things in life that we justify and try to correct them or atleast start with recognizing that we do it.

He closed with the story of Buddha who was a prince and left the palace to see and understand the rest of the world, and when people met him they would ask "are you a god?" and he replied "no I am awake".

Aside from my deep thoughts We have been photoboothing lately and I thought the two were so funny and then I realized I should post a normal one too...so here you go.

Movers and Shakers

2010-08-28T11:48:00.000-06:00

He we go!!!! On Monday we fly out to Hawaii to spend the next four months in complete disarray! I am going to be a full time student at BYUH and Dave is going to do a full time internship at PCC. Our lives are about to go CRAZY! Wish us luck my friends and book your vacations! Pray for my brain to operate at full capacity and that is about all I can ask for now. But needless to say...we are so excited to be spending the next four months in Laie, Hi. :)

ALOHA!

(Photos from the last time we lived there. So excited for new memories!)

My Father in law...

2010-08-22T11:56:00.000-06:00

Dave's dad recently wrote an awesome book. Why I havent blogged about yet I'm not sure. I read it a while ago and it is sooo good. I can honestly say that it is such a well written political thriller because I am an avid reader (I read A LOT). :) Check it out if you are into a good easy page turner. You can find it on Amazon and its called The Jefferson Project by Thor Duffin. Enjoy my friends!

Weekend friends

2010-08-01T17:05:00.000-06:00

This weekend our friends from Hawaii, Jordan and Rachele Larsen, came and stayed with us, so fun!! We went to the beach and worked on a stop motion video for fun. (Its the first one we've ever done)

Jack my happy boy.

The boys surfed...I paddled out and floated :) Good times. Dave is standing behind me annoyed that I am posting a pic with him with a long board because he says he isn't a "long boarder". Funny husband. He short boards but today was definitely a long board day.

After the beach we ate at Wahoo's Fish Taco's in Huntington, it was so delish! But it was sooo crowded because it was the US open for surfing.

Bath time!!

Jack's 1st Birthday Party

2010-07-13T15:23:00.001-06:00

Happy first birthday Jack!! We had a beach theme party for him (clearly limited budget) which translates to few decorations but a rad surfboard (no not a football or space ship) cake. This cake took so long to make but turned our so good and tasty!! Such a great day!!

Pictures in a nutshell

2010-06-22T11:02:00.001-06:00

Friends.
Food

Memorial day with Logan and Jennilee Caulkins...we have such great friends!!
The pier
Such a happy boy!!
Santa Monica pier was another stop on our weekly Saturday adventures. Sorry Pictures are coming in one big blog but we just got internet that was capable of operating :)
Our summer so far has really been great and I really look forward to spending every Saturday as a family. It is always a blast!
Fam photo at the pier
My boys

A family day at the beach after a long morning of hitting up the garage sales. The spoils were so good!!
OH, and Iva Lee's is where we ate for my birthday when Jack threw up...ha!

Del Mar Fair with the Aarons! Oh Oh how we love them!

Sara Lately...

2010-06-13T21:29:00.000-06:00

I certainly have my work cut out for me!

Today I gave the closing prayer...

On Fathers day Dave and I are speaking in church...

The following Sunday I teach Young Womens...

The following Tuesday I am conducting a girls camp meeting...
seeing as how I am the Ward Camp Director.

Lots and lots, right? I really am excited though, this summer will be awesome!

Sara Lately.2

Today Dave and I decided to see who Jack would crawl to if we put him on the opposite side of the room...I am thinking sure lets do it (I will obvisouly win, but I can humor you).
Jack goes to his corner and Dave and I to our separate corners and Ding hes off in a mad crawl to me :) Dave then says, REDO! Hahaa, and a redo it was. I win. Jack loves mom. Isnt being the mom the best?

Summer photos.

2010-06-08T10:06:00.000-06:00

For some reason I couldn't get blogger to post any of these photos so here is my facebook link for the album. Hope your summers are great. The church is true and I miss and love you.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=180723&id=594452669&saved#!/album.php?aid=180723&id=594452669&ref=mf

More awesome photos still to come :)

A little laugh.

2010-06-08T10:05:00.000-06:00

Do you know what happened 159 years ago this Winter... back in 1850s?

California became a state
The people had no electricity.
The state had no money.
Almost everyone spoke Spanish.
There were gunfights in the streets.

So basically nothing has changed except the women had real breasts and the men didn't hold hands.

The bigger picture :)

2010-05-29T10:59:00.001-06:00

Drum Roll Paaaa-lease!

2010-05-28T08:45:00.000-06:00

The Duffin Family :) (April 1st 2010)

The Jackness Update

2010-05-25T12:39:00.000-06:00

Born July 11, 2009. This picture was taken on July 24, 2009.

This picture was taken May 10, 2010. He is now almost 10 1/2 months old and is growing up so so fast. He crawls, pulls himself up to anything and walks along, says "daddy, ducky, doggy"...we think, loves the bath and is just such a happy boy. I cant believe that time has gone by so fast! I love this little man so much everyday and I am sure Heavenly Father is sick of hearing it but I still thank Him every day for what an awesome son we have :)

**This weekend was my 27th birthday (old I know) and so pictures of that will be posted shortly**

WICKED!

2010-04-29T17:02:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Dave's mom, sister Wendy and I went to Wicked!! It was so much fun!! We won the lottery and got great seats for 25$
--> This picture cracks me up because I totally bent over to sneak a picture (which is not allowed) and the usher woman came over and said "Hi I just came over to make sure that you saw the sign that said no pictures." whoops. Yes I saw your sign that is plastered ALL over the auditorium and then I decided to take it anyway. I am sneaky. Obviously.

Here you go!

2010-03-24T14:43:00.000-06:00

Sorry it has been sooo long since I have posted anything...I just feel like life is going on and I am going with it! Where do the hours go once you have a child?? All I know is that I love every single second with Jack (and so will you when you have the chance:).
The latest and greatest here is that we are moving to So. Cal in min May! YAAAA! I am so ready for hot weather again! Dave got an internship with the WEBB boarding school in Clairmont Ca. Clairmont is just north of Pomona. Ya white trash fair here I come!
Also, Jack is nearly 8.5 months now and I swear he is a weed. He eats like madd and is growing so fast. It is so so so fun to watch him learn everyday about the world.
Ok im sure you have read enough...MUCH LOVE MY FRIENDS!
oh and come to ca and holla at the Duffins!

Dave's latest video.

2009-10-16T23:57:00.000-06:00

rails commercial from David Duffin on Vimeo.

Laughy Jacky!

2009-10-15T10:40:00.000-06:00

Babies are so much fun to play with!!

2009-09-18T15:53:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure why this doesn't show up better!? But i suppose you get the idea:)

The Childbirth

2009-09-01T16:46:00.001-06:00

I guess I havent really sat down yet and recorded the birthing event as a whole. So here goes...
On July 9th I had my 37th week checkup and the doctor asked me if I wanted to have a baby this weekend. I respond simply "for sure!" He proceeds to, well you know, strip my membranes and then said "ok hopefully I'll see you this weekend." Im thinking SUPER! Then I head to work and all is well.
After work I head home and do the uzsh...jumping jacks, a long walk, and everything else that helps get baby out (of course with Daves help;)

The next thing I know at about 11pm or so it begins. It starts with the pains. Friday comes and my day goes as follows: contract, sleep, contract, sleep. Before I know it, its dinner time and I of course was just working on breathing. I had a dear dear friend and her husband come over and make us the most amazing waffles of your life! They left around 10pm and about 1130 I told Dave that we should prob get ready for the hospital. We both shower and get ready. Then I fell asleep and then wake up to pain and then GUSH. My water broke at home. YESSSS! I cleaned up and headed to the hospital. I got to the hospital about 430am. (Dave was sad that we couldnt drive all crazy in and out of traffic, hahaa)
I get an epidural and the stuff that help you along..whatever its called, oh ya pitosin sp??. moving on...Im dialated to a 3 at this point. Finally around 11am I am fully effaced and dialated and the doc says looks great we'll be back later and deliver this kid! And that he did. I pushed about 3 times and he crowned then the doc came and I pushed about 3 more times and then
HELLO BABY!
I watched with a mirror and loved every gooey second of it. Childbirth is so incredible.
Jack came at about 130pm and then we had a lot of visitors that came to meet him that night and on Sunday.

Heading home on Monday was such an incredible feeling alone. I was thinking holy cow these people are letting me go home with this little person?!

And now here we are at 7 weeks out and loving every minute of our new life.

Our newest edition. Jack Everett.

2009-07-18T20:15:00.000-06:00

Children are certainly a gift from God and it is plain to see why. I love my life.

New Edition!

2009-07-13T19:27:00.000-06:00

Jack is here. Everything went so so well. He is honestly so cute and weighed in at 6lbs 6 oz. Pictures will come soon!
I know I knew it then but I certainly understand the phrase much better now...
"The church is true." Heavenly Father is so amazing!
Hope you are all well. We love you.

37 weeks my friends!

2009-07-06T14:34:00.000-06:00

Lucky 35!

2009-06-24T11:55:00.000-06:00

Here I am friends! I am 35 weeks and counting! Life is so good, I feel super good and even did a 4 mile hike the other day with Dave. We are loving every second of waiting for our sweet baby Jack to arrive.

Input Please...

2009-06-19T13:41:00.000-06:00

Hey friends, if anyone still ever reads this...i need your help. I am down to my final countdown. Im 35 weeks and still have no idea what stroller I want. So any feedback would be so nice. What brand do you have? Do you love it? Tell me about it if you have a sec. Thanks.

Silliness

2009-05-18T13:24:00.000-06:00

Two very silly stories...if you don't love silly stories I would really suggest to go no further.

Yesterday I was so tired. Naturally, its what prego lady's do. So...Im sleeping. Dave comes in, awesome, lays down. Starts to SNOOOORRRREEEE. Loud. Not the point of my story though,

so after his snoring extravaganza and a nudge in the ribs ;) we had a conversation, sort of. Here goes...

Dave: Babe, babe can you please go do that favor I asked you to do. (irratated voice)

Sara: Huh, babe? What favor?

Dave: (heavy sigh) babe, the favor I asked you to do for me. (still in irratated voice)

Sara: I really am not sure what you are talking about...(I am thinking, oh dang I totally forgot something).

Dave: You know how I asked you to help me look at this project with the couch and the furniture in the rooms ...yadda yadda yadda something to do with a house and wiring yadda.

Sara: Huh?

Dave: (another heavy sigh) Nevermind. ....(silence)

Sara: (Confused!)

We both sleep a little longer. Then Dave wakes up and I ask him what that was all about because I am thinking he was totally with it.
Nope he was not with it and had a hard time admitting to it! haaha! He was dreaming of wiring a house and he needed my help.

I laughed. Then he laughed. So good. I love every peice of Dave.

Story #2

To start...Dave and I love to name call. But not your ordinary name call. Name call like "you fuzzy bucket face" or "you moldy strawberry cake". Ha. Stupid name calling just to make us laugh.

Moving on.

Dave and I are happily noozling the other night and we were having some silly conversation and I decided that calling Dave a Cornish Game Hen was sooo appropriate. But by the time I would get to the word Hen I started to laugh and cry to hard that I couldnt pronounce it. (Im laughing a little now just thinking about it.) Dave is laughing but he's not sure why and that was it.

I called Dave a cornish game hen. And it is apparently the funniest stupid name call I have ever come up with.

This is Dave. Ha. Im so funny.

I love Dave. We laugh so good together.

Me + Bump

2009-04-27T10:09:00.001-06:00

I am at 27 weeks in this. I also mangaed to smile in time. Also, this was the night that my nephew told me that a had a "Big Tush"...I know, sheesh.

Everyone on the Planet should watch this...if you havent already!

2009-04-18T10:45:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il5TBgD9kHI

My ps...sorrows

2009-04-17T11:58:00.000-06:00

It happened again!

This time it involved my husband....Sheesh.
We were checking out of Smiths, I was paying and Dave was emptying the cart and what not. Then, he decides that he has to get the cart past me to fill the cart with the bagged groceries, right...So he nudges my behind, I move forward, He nudges a little bit more and I move forward a little bit more while trying to "suck it in".

THEN HE PLOWS FORWARD (or so it felt) and once again...here I am, STUCK!

Im thinking, really? My husband is officially as delusional as I am!

We managed to 3 amigos it out of the line and then almost fell on the floor
because we could not stop laughing.

Can I?

2009-04-14T09:05:00.001-06:00

Lately I have been having some issues with my new size...

And I wonder...Does every pregnant woman everywhere deliberate with this same issue?

Two weeks ago as I arrived to work I found that there was only one parking space left in the entire lot! To my dismay this spot was oddly small. So I figure I am pretty small and I can probably squeeze my body out of this car. WRONG!

I open the door swing my legs over the side, stand up and STUCK! My once little body has now grown not only out in front but (ha) out in back.

Then on Friday (4/10) Dave and I go to the grocery store and again...limited spots. Of course. And AGAIN I tried to fit the car into a little space, park, open the door, swing my legs out the car and STUCK.

Maybe I should've learned from my first experience...

Do I stand alone on this? Am I totally nuts and am experiencing way to much wishful thinking that my body is still small?

Our sweet Boy

2009-03-10T11:30:00.000-06:00

Presenting.....Jack

The other day Dave and I went to go have a peak at our little guy and this is one (of many) of our amazing pictures. It actually was quite a fun experiance. Dave decided that he had to document everything so he filmed every moment that he could which, to be honest got a little frustrating at some points but whatever it was fun. After getting inside and all set up and seeing his body arms legs and all we got a straight up the nose shot. This is so funny because Dave thought it was the most amazing shot and talked about it in his testimony on Sunday. Don't get me wrong, it was so awesome that Dave bore his testimony on the sanctity and amazement of life that we create but then...talk about his nostrils above all else that we could see, definitly made me laugh.

Awesomeness

2009-03-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I just LOVE the news and....really stupid people!

So, in chicago (I think) in the last few days there was a robbery at a gun store. The Robber man was unsuccessful because he got SHOT by the GUN STORE clerk.

News like this makes my day!

Me at 19 weeks.

2009-03-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

Ok so I really was planning on smiling for this pic...but I was apparently about .5 seconds late.

The beginning of the End.

2009-02-28T09:47:00.001-07:00

Today I start to blog...blah. Only because I have too! And, because I sit at a computer all day long and Facebook really just isn't doing it for me anymore.
**Disclaimer**Be aware that I am in no way shape or form a good or structured writer and this blog will often not make sense and will probably be very "jumpy". But since this is what the people want...this is what they get.

Let me just begin by giving my first "shout out" to Erin Nelson! Following the shout out is some Arsenio Hall Hooting for you too.

Next, on my agenda is to tell everyone about my amazing and funny job....I work at Marriott's Mountainside Resort in Park City Utah as a full time concierge. It is very cool to sit here all day and tell people what they should be eating and doing! But really the best part is just getting to talk to everyone in the hotel all day long. This of course does come with a downside...interesting people. I have so many experiences here that would really be good enough to go on the one redneck guys show Here's Your Sign.

One example I would use would be: people who get mad at the hotel for cement structure poles that "jump" in front of their cars....really, I don't get it either.