Duncan had an assignment in Honors English. I was quite impressed with his writing so I thought I would post it here.
Bag-O-Me
Have you ever heard of a person with only three characteristics? I sure haven’t. Because everyone has hundreds of traits, choosing just three is near impossible. I love technology, my family, laughter, and much more. But I managed to decide on a rock, a joke, and a bar of soap to tell Duncan Lutz’s story.
Rocks aren’t only for skipping you know. The reason I put a rock in my bag is that a rock is steady and stands firm. When dealing with a challenge I am steady. Experience has shaped me like a rock is shaped by the wind and the water. This has helped me learn how to treat others. Having an autistic brother has helped me learn how to take care for small children. Taking karate for four years helped me learn how to take care of myself.
The Joke represents a good spirit. I can laugh at myself, and I’m not easily offended. I have lots of friends because I’m easily liked! The way I think about laughter is that its fuel. One laugh can light up a whole room. Being happy is a choice and I make that choice a lot.
The bar of soap represents cleanliness both in thought, speech, and action. Soap can clean the outside of your body, but to really be clean you have to make good choices. A dirty joke may be funny to you but it may not be to someone else, so if you tell dirty joke others might lose respect for you. If you make good choices, and are respectful of others you will have a good reputation. I am a good example of that.
I am steady and firm in my convictions. I like to laugh and make people happy. I try to make good choices. That is why a rock, a joke, and a bar of soap represent me.
My boy LOVES BEANS!!! You'd think this would be one of the things that he would despise! Whoever I think it's his favorite food.
I love this contemplative look. Of course I took the picture because he's covered in sauce.
I love his little hands. I have to reload his plate with beans to get him to stay at the table.
Of course if you are taking pictures of Jason eating you have to take one of Samantha. She told e she was looking through a camera.......it looks a little green and briney to me.
Corn......gotta love corn!
I am on the downward side of training. I have 8 days until I can work from home. It's been fairly frustrating, because I did this job for over 6 years. Enough has changed that I needed to get some info on the keying functions, but for the most part it's all about the same. Regence requires us to have 4 weeks of training though, so I have to go.
I'm loving both Tori and Samantha's teachers. I am very hopeful for this year. First I visited Tori's class. Mrs. Daines is going to be sooooo good for Tori. She is teaching them positive affirmations, visualizing success, friendliness and unity. Keep your fingers crossed that these things will sink in. She also asked the kids to write their parents a love letter. When I read Tori's I thought it was just a little bit too poetic so I assumed the teacher and given them ideas or had them copy something. I picked up the card next to me to check it out and it was completely different. My Tori might grow up to be a Poet.
Here is a picture of her card. It says,
I Love you Mommy and Daddy. In troubled times you make me smile. If love was running I'd run many a mile. Thanks for raising me the way I am! School is great!! I have great friends. and a great teacher.
Love this girl!
Samantha's teacher is also very wonderful. I do think that Samantha will learn a lot from this teacher. They are already working on 9 times tables. She does this first so the kids won't be worn out before they get to the hard numbers, and then when they are bored with times tables they will only have the easy ones to memorize. On Monday Samantha wasn't so sure about her teacher. She told me she got yelled at because she was talking. To which we replied to get a long with her teacher she had to keep her lip zipped. She has done better, and she asked me to tell her something. "Mommy, will you tell Mrs. Simmons she is doing a good job with me?" This put a broad smile on the teachers face and a pretty good chuckle was had.
Tori said this as she walked in the door yesterday. One of her friends Mom's emailed me the day before and wanted to know if that was Tori on the pamphlet the kids brought home. Of course it is. So yesterday she came in with a big smile on her face. That really made her feel good!!!!
This is a picture of Jason at my Mom's house on Sunday. He LOVES her bed. They have a sleep number bed that also moves and vibrates. This is a plus for Jason, but if he could be in my Mom's bed all day I think he would. I'm not sure if it's the weight of the blankets, the cool room???? Again, he likes the vibrating but that is kind of an after thought for my Mom.
The spoiled part is obvious to me, because none of the grand kids get to lay in my parents bed. Dad says it just cost too much money. However, my Jason is obviously being spoiled just a little bit.
My wallpaper on my desktop is set to rotate through the pictures I have on my computer. I minimized a wall and this was up. I think Tori took the picture. I'm not sure which one of them came up with whats on the paper, but it made me giggle!!! It says, "I'm a SAMwich." TEE HEEE!!!!!!!
Duncan was so ready to go to school this morning. He was so excited he could hardly stand it! As you can see, Curtis is not so ready. Tee Hee!!
The girls were up not long after Duncan left. Samantha was ready to walk out the door when I was dropping the boys off at school. Samantha couldn't wait to go hang out at her classroom. Tori, thankfully, ran into a friend who was so excited to see her the minute we walked up.
This is a question that has always confused me. It depends on who you ask.
Most would say he looks like Brett. After all he is Duncan's Dad. However if people don't know my husband they say he looks like my Dad.
Sometimes, I would even say he has a strong resemblance to my brother. (well, lets not go there!)
I guess I won't be satisfied until he grows up. And even then I'm sure it will depend on who you knew the best. I guess my boy is just a good mix of Lutz and Child genetics!!! Well, that's what I think anyway.......=P
Duncan had a Court of Honor last night. He got all of his awards that he earned at summer camp. He got the cooking merit badge, the motorboating merit badge, pioneering merit badge, and his canoeing merit badge. He's working hard, but struggling with his new found schedule. He really does just want to stay at home, as is seen by the fact that he was supposed to be camping tonight. Hopefully Jr. High won't kill him. =)
Duncan had an awesome opportunity to be on a radio broadcast for the Mormon Channel. He was so excited he couldn't stop talking about it for three days. I got an email from the casting guy letting him know when to be there. I was checking all day, and the one time he
checked my email it was there. When I came downstairs to check again, I had an "out of office reply." I asked Duncan if he had sent a reply and of course he had. Here it is.
Hi Ben!
Thanks for the information I only have one question, what should I wear? I’m guessing what I would wear to church, but I’m not sure contact me.
But with the ‘going casually’ part I listened to some of the episodes to see what to expect well thanks bye!
Sincerely Duncan Lutz
This seriously made me giggle so I had to post it here.
Grandpa Siddoway took him out there, and was able to spend the time with him. Dick said he was so excited, he could hardly sit still. They said a prayer before they started and the lady prayed that they would be able to touch young people all over the world. Duncan said that made him nervous and he got really tense there.
Dick said he was quite impressed on the grasp the four young people had on Repentance and the Atonement. Duncan struggled with nerves for a little while but was able to pull himself around to being normal. I asked him if it was just a fun experience, or if it was both fun and spiritual. He looked confused. I guess he hasn't learned that a spiritual experience can also be fun...=)
Duncan said it was an awesome experience, and he would do it again in a heart beat. He said he will email the casting guy to let him know that if they ever need him again, he will be there.
They said that it will be aired in a couple of months. I'll post the link to the podcast here when it finally airs.
Look how studly he thinks he is!
This was the crew that did the show. They had one more kid that they called on the phone from idaho. He was for sure the youngest of the group.
After dinner it was time for Back to School Night. Duncan got to meet all his teachers, and we were able to pick up the supply lists and what not.
The most important thing was remembering his locker com and being able to open it.
He will have a lot of homework. He is in Honor's English and Honor's Science. He has a bug collection due on the 23rd, so he will need to kick it into high gear. Hopefully he will want to do his homework and I won't have to sit with him the whole time he's doing it. =)
I had to get Jason to speech therapy by 8:00am. This morning was somewhat unsuccessful so I got there about 8:15am. Gotta love my ability to get moving in the morning. Last week the speech therapist talked about finding something that Jason could see the sound waves. See that something happens when we speak. He will sometimes move his lips similar to what Greg and I are doing, but no sound comes out. I discussed this with my brother Jeff, a few weeks ago. He suggested an oscillator. This wasn't exactly what I needed, but it led me to this! http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/led-audio-spectrum/id396083500?mt=8
When I got to speech and Jason was inside of the barrel, I pulled it out to show the speech therapist. He was so excited, he told me he would probably have an iPad by next week. Greg would say "AAAAAAA" and point to the iPad. After that if Jason would make some kind of noise that remotely resembled the sound and was looking at the iPad, Greg and I clapped and cheered. I think the visual clues will be a benefit for Jason.
Jason was getting frustrated by the fact that we wouldn't let him have the iPad so I had to put it away for the very end of the appointment. Jason is really responding to "Ready, Set, GO!" It was fun to see him actually PLAYING with cars!!!
This morning I had training again. I'm not sure who is going to have a tougher time with my training. Jason or my In-Laws. He can be such a handful! It doesn't help of course that they have the other three kids. The girls just seem to fight more then usual. I think it will be good for them to go to school.
Then we ran over to Duncan's Jr. High. We needed to see about pictures, and his schedule. Tomorrow is back to school night, but we had to try his locker and find his classes anyway.
He's more excited about his locker than anything!!!
Than it was time for the gym and soccer practice. I'm really sore. It's been over two weeks since I went to the gym last, and my legs and back hurt. Next will be my arms......
I went back to pick up Brett and Duncan from soccer practice. They still had about half an hour. Jason decided it was time to play on the play ground.
I love my boy!!
He has decided this is a pretty cool part of the play ground.
He finally got the "hang" of hanging. I still have to push him back and forth, but he is for the most part staying on the bar.
He figured out how to climb up the twisty slide. Of course he might not have thought of this, except Samantha showed him that it was possible.
So I had to chase him up to save him. Than I followed him down the slide. He thought this was a fabulous game. Every time I followed him down the slide, he would giggle. The last time I went down after him, he watched for me and waited for me to follow him.
He started up again, and I wanted to get a picture of him compared to the slide. At this point I noticed that there was nobody on the soccer field.
I had noticed Tori coming over to the play ground a little while before and then she was walking away. I thought she probably decided she didn't want to play with us. However she was supposed to come and find us to tell us that it was time to go home. I don't think she made it even half way across the field. I started laughing and grabbed Jason and got him moving toward the road. Brett called his phone, (which I had with me) to find out where on earth we were. I giggled and advised him we were still at the school. So just be aware of your surrounding when you are going down the slide with your 3 year old.
I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. It seems like yesterday I was kicking my husband out of the car. Ok.....well....I guess I'll have to tell this story.
In February we had gone to New York to visit Brett's Brother and Sister-in-Law. On the ride home I asked Brett, "What would you say if I told you I loved you?" Of course since we have been married for quite a while now you would know what his answer was.
Then one night Brett and I were kissing in the car. I advised him he was going to drive me crazy, to which he replied, "Or you could marry me." I believe I said, "Ya.....I guess I could do that." Then I said, "Get out of my car, this is really weird." Yes. I was quite mature enough for the Proposal of marriage.
The next day Brett picked me up and we went shopping for my ring. We sat in his parents family room waiting for them to get home. Hiding my hand the whole time. Then his folks walked in the door, and Brett flashed my hand at his mother. She looked at it and said, "You're supposed to warn me about these things." She had to turn around and compose herself but was quick to recover. She was very happy for us.
We then went down to my folks and I advised Brett to stay upstairs. I was unsure of how my Mother would react. When I got down there I showed her my ring, she looked very concerned. She said, "You know you don't have to get married just because your brother did." This is of course the kind of response I expected from my Mom. She just doesn't take these kinds of things very well. I of course let her know that I wasn't basing my whole eternity on the fact that my brother was just married a few months before.
As you can tell, we are doing pretty good. We have our speed bumps, and glitches like everyone else, but 15 years and we are still going strong.
I started a new job today. I'll be keying in-home for ACS. This is a job that I have had in the past and am looking forward to being able to work at home again. Jason is getting harder and harder to deal with. My in-laws are wanting to be Grandparents instead of babysitters, (which I totally understand!!!) So I'm working from home again. I'm contemplating working full-time. I'm not sure if they will have any openings there anytime soon, so I will have a chance to see how Part-time goes before I up my hours. However the extra Dental Insurance would be really good!!! I have a feeling with all the grinding of his teeth that Jason does he is going to kill us in Dental bills. Today worked out well. I got to see my old boss and friend, and then training was just reading and doing the HIPAA training. Tomorrow will be more reading and practicing HCFA claims. It should be good. Hopefully the kids don't mind too much. =)
This weekend was trying to get back into the real world. We were all exhausted on Friday, and then ended up going swimming at the in-laws. Saturday was a Family party. The Siddoway Clan got together and we got to see cousin's and Aunt's and Uncle's that we don't see that often. It was fun reconnecting with everyone. Sunday was just your normal day, and we went to visit family. It was nice to have Brett home for a week or so. Sigh.....he's back there today.....
We just got back from Bear Lake. We have so much fun when we go up there. Life slows down, stress lifts, and we all just have a good time.
I had three different "camera's" there. I didn't charge my cameras before I came and I ran out of memory. So the pictures are kind of out of order. =)
Samantha LOVES Wake Surfing!!!! It is one of the many things she looks forward to at the "Farm". Uncle Chad is AWESOME!
The reason I took this picture is because at the time Jason was on the porch. He looked up, saw all the kids on the play dome thingy, and ran over and got under neath. The fact that he wanted to be around his cousins made me soooooo happy!
My girls loving the fire! Chad gets to light a fire almost every night. The kids would sit by it all the time!
I love Mitch. He doesn't give up on Jason. Even if he doesn't understand the impact he makes, he is doing so much good making Jason accept him in his little world.
Ya, I'm a nerd. I had to take a picture of how tired we were after day one.
Baby Beth got out of the cabin and started heading toward the road. So my sweet Duncan decided to grab her and watch her, without being asked! What a sweet heart!
We went to lunch a La Beaus one day. Curtis lost his drink to Jason. He didn't complain. He just gave it to him, and helped feed him for me.
My parents and the Lowrance's have bought some land at the "reserve". There is a playground and a swimming pool. We wanted to take advantage of it so we went up there and had some fun. The kids enjoyed the pool, and the parents enjoyed not having to tell the kids they were too far out in the lake.
Samantha loves to tease everyone. Grandpa didn't take to it quite as calmly as some. =)
Jason loved the hot tub. His favorite thing was to walk back and forth between the pool and hot tub. Lots of sensory input.
Samantha is such a ham!
Duncan was a little tired by this time.
Tori's mask! Mom always has crafts and this was one of them.
The last day we went up to Bloomington Lake. The kids enjoy this hike, and swim. Except for the fact that there is still snow surrounding the lake......=)
I didn't have to worry about Jason too much. It was even too cold for him.
On the way home Duncan made us stop at the border. He said he wanted to be in two places at once.
Jason even played!!!
Gotta love the go carts.
I couldn't get a good picture. They were just moving too fast.
Brett had to take Aurora on the 4 wheeler. It was just too much fun!!
Tori was in the water almost the whole time!
Kayaking. Lots of fun.
Always gotta enjoy jumping out of the boat.
Duncan was always in the water. Anytime they'd let him.
Jason got really cold! He was shivering. Thank goodness there was a heater on the boat. The tube pulls out and we put it under the towels. He sighed as soon as the warm air hit him.
I love my boys!
More Tori in the water. I don't think I ever noticed her on the beach unless it was lunch time.
My helpful girl. She is such a tough little thing.
the kids spent hours under the trampoline. Even Jason went under it for a while.
Tubing!! Chad just loves throwing you off!
He did finally get Duncan off. He enjoyed every minute.
However, we should have had these three go first. After the wild ride they didn't want to go fast at all. These are actually in order. You can tell when Chad tried to speed up by the looks on there faces.
The boys had a goal to get Traci in the water. She was a river guide so trying to tip the kayak was very unsuccessful.
Tori in the water, still.
My sweet Jason!
Samantha is my crazy one. She is my sweet, energetic, kid.
Jason loved the trampoline. He could have been on it all day.
Samantha in the kayak.
I love when I catch a smile.
Tori loves the lake.
Many, many water fights this year. The kids are really growing up.
Don't try and get uncle John wet. He lets you know that was a bad idea.
I had to make sure Traci got in the water. I went down too, but at least she got drenched.
Jason loved the tube! He is my wild child.
Tori tried to wake surf. She did get up. There is some video at the end here.
Brett was successful. I love his smile.
Duncan thinks he's quite the stud. Which of course he is.
I was not as successful as the rest. I tried. I'll get there!!!!
Brett's true success.
Duncan jumped off a cliff. Yes he is there.
Here is the zoom in. Uncle Jon really knows how to show a boy h0w to play.
Tori was really freaked out by the rope swing. She cried but really wanted to go. I knew she would be kicking herself in the car ride down so we finally talked her into it. Grandpa has a calming effect on her.
I even went. It was kind of fun.
BUT COLD!!!!
Here are the videos of the trip. Lots and lots. Hope you enjoy!!!
