Southern California in December

We have been at the beach for the last four days and have loved every minute!  Chris has taken on a new hobby of photography and has captured some amazing pictures!  It's been so nice to relax, eat junk food, watch sunsets, enjoy walks along and views of the beach, and other activities.  Tyler and his kids came down on Saturday and we watched them ride their new bikes they got for Christmas,and yesterday, Chris went fishing.  We enjoyed milkshakes from Ruby's Diner, which is at the end of the pier.  We only have a couple days left here, but we are so grateful for the time we've had here!  

Christmas Fun!

We have loved being in California!  Christmas was a good crazy, as usual!  We spent the first few days as "Santa's Elves" running errands, shopping, wrapping presents and getting things ready for Christmas. 

On Monday (Dec 22), we made a quick drive to the Griffith Observatory so Chris could see the Hollywood sign!

The next night, we took care of Scott's kids and helped my mom decorate for Christmas!  My favorite tree is her Santa tree!

 On Christmas Eve, I said goodbye to my hair.  I donated 14 inches to Locks of Love.  My mom's hairstylist, Leslie Hilquist, who also did my hair for my wedding, cut it for me...I don't think I could trust anyone else to cut that much off for me! 

That night, Josh and Amy Walters and family came over and we had a special visit from Santa!  The adults chatted while the kids made sugar cookies...after our pizza dinner!  We all loved the evening and being together.  

Our PJs this year are Disney PJs!  Our cousin, Daniel Forsgren, from Sweden joined the family this year.  He and Chris were recruited to help with Christmas preparations and were up until 2 helping Mom. I was up until 3:30 and mom was up until 5am.  Scott's family came over around 9, and Chris and Daniel led the bunny hop to bust through the paper.  Chris was volunteered for breakfast duty and made waffles for the whole family.  The rest of the day we relaxed and spent time with family.  It was a wonderful Christmas!

Trams-Siberian Orchestra Christmas Evening!

Last night, we learned that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is NOT an orchestra!  They are a rock band!  It was awesome!  We loved it!  Before the concert, we went to the National Christmas Tree at the White House.   It was definitely a very festive evening!

Christmas Party!!!

After being car-less for a day, we finally got my car back and we were able to attend the Christmas party for Marla's church congregation on Saturday night. The evening started with dinner and a hot chocolate bar.  Then the primary kids performed a Nativity and some Christmas carols followed by a Christmas Sing-along.  Then ended with a special visit from Santa!  We ended the evening by driving through Old Town Alexandria to look at Christmas lights!

We Love This Time of Year!!!!!!!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

We have had a lot of fun getting into the Christmas spirit the last few weeks!  We decorated our apartment and also have two trees!  There is an artificial tree in our bedroom and a real tree in our living room!  I put out my many Nativity sets and other small decorations....and we bought those smelly pine cones!  

Today we went to see Chris' mom and we took her a small tree to decorate.  We chatted and decorated the tree with her.  Chris also showed her the work he's done on their family history on both sides!  

On our way home, we listened to the Christmas Devotional for the LDS church and finished watching it when we got home.  It is such a special time of year!

Family History

Chris has a new hobby!  A few weeks ago, he was introduced to family history.  He started out only knowing a little info about his parents and grandparents, and had a few names from a relative on his dad's side.  After some help from a couple family history gurus and lots of hours searching Family Search and Ancestry.com, he has some lines traced back 11 generations! Not bad for an only child of parents who are only children!  It's been neat to see his tree unfold right before our eyes!

Our First Thanksgiving....

We had a really nice Thanksgiving!  Both of us had the weekend off, which is rare, and we loved it!  To start off the weekend, Chris cooked a prime rib roast for the first time and it was really good!  On Thursday, we took Chris' mom to lunch at Golden Corral.  It was great to be able to spend some extra time with her and be able to take her out for a special meal.  Then we made our way to our friend, Karin Flanagan's for dinner.  My dad's secretary, Joanie, was in town and we were able to visit with her!  She met Chris for the first time because she got sick on the day of our wedding and wasn't able to make it.

On Friday, we did....NOTHING.  I worked on Christmas presents for my family.  We cooked and cleaned, watched football, and literally did NOTHING.   On Saturday, we made our way to George Washington's Mt. Vernon Estate for Christmas at Mt. Vernon.  We met up with Karin, Joanie and Katie (Karin's daughter).  Joanie, Katie and Chris had never been!  Chris and I purchased annual passes so we can return to Mt. Vernon whenever we want and enjoy the different festivities there.  We came home, and again, just relaxed.    Here is the link to our pictures at Mount Vernon!

Today was a little rough....both of us woke up feeling sick and didn't go anywhere....we must've ate too much this weekend because our stomachs were not happy with us.  :(  Overall, the weekend was a good one and we are looking forward to many, many more!

Watch Out Twain Middle School!!!!!

Change Isn't Always a Bad Thing...

Five and a half years ago, I received a call from Heather Cairns, the head women's soccer coach at Utah State University.  She had a grad assistant opening on her staff and asked if I would be interested.  I drove to Logan, Utah the next week to interview and later was offered a position as a graduate assistant.  With the plan to only be there a year, I took a leave of absence from teaching to coach at the college level and earn a Master's degree.  After being at Utah State for a few months, Heather invited me to come back on staff the next season, and I didn't return to the classroom....until now.

Its funny how life changes so quickly.  One year ago, I was planning on coaching at this level forever.  Then I got married, and my priorities changed.  Chris and I want to start a family...but with two of us in college athletics, constantly traveling, working insane amount of hours, etc, is it really fair to my future children for both of us to remain in this profession?  A lot of people do it and they make it work, but I didn't feel this profession and the expectations I am held to allows for me to have the balance I need to be the wife and mother I want to be and need to be.  I was blessed to be able to find a teaching job that didn't start until right after season....the timing was too perfect...Heavenly Father was truly guiding me and watching over me as I made my decision.

It has been a great run.  I've worked with some wonderful coaches.  I've learned a lot and feel I have grown in every aspect of my life.  I have made some wonderful friends and acquaintances who sadly I may never see again because the only time you see each other is on the recruiting trail or when you play against each other! There have been a lot of laughs, tears, stressful moments, joys and sorrows.  I've learned about integrity and trust.  I’ve been on both sides of the fence where I have worked with those who have shown the highest level of integrity, trust and teamwork.  And I’ve also worked with those who showed very little integrity and could not be trusted.   I've grown to have a greater respect for my dad, who also worked in another type of business that can be cutthroat and stressful at times, and how he kept his integrity through it all....and I remember him telling us to always keep our integrity becuse no one can take that away from us.  Still today, people who worked with him always comment on how he was a man of integrity and how his family always came first.  I will miss coaching at this level....game days, traveling to different college campuses to compete, traveling to different parts of the country to recruit and seeing my friends at the fields, being with a team, working closely with a staff, seeing the direct effects of my work with players and see them grasp concepts and begin to improve having so much confidence in themselves.  I've been involved wtih a program who won 2 conference championships and went to the NCAA tournament for the first time in conference history.  I helped turn a program around taking it from being on the bottom of the conference into 4th place in just three years.  We broke records that have been in place for 14 years!  There is a lot to be proud of in my short 6 seasons of my collegiate coaching career.  It ended this past Friday when GW lost to LaSalle in double overtime.   I will tell the GW team on Tuesday.  It will be a tough day for me as I say goodbye, but I am glad that I will still be around GW to support the various sports with Chris as he continues to work there, because it means I will bump into my former players and be able to catch up with them.

 Fortunately, I have blessed to also have a love for teaching and will be returning to the classroom this week.  I will be teaching 7th grade English, English Honors, and ESOL.  I have also been blessed with wonderful friends and family who have supported me these past six years both near and far, and a wonderful husband who encourages me to work hard and do things right to reach my full potential.  He never complained about my travel schedule or my work schedule.  I could not have finished this last season the way I did without his support.  And now it's on to the next adventure.....!!!!!

Halloween!

Our first Halloween was a bit interesting for us this year.  Chris left for Pittsburgh on Friday morning with Cross Country, and I had a game at home and I am leaving today for St. Louis for our last regular season game.  We have been super busy this month so we didn't have time to carve pumpkins....and actually, Thursday night we had planned to but decided that we needed a date night before we both left for our various trips!  So we went to Cheesecake Factory instead using gift cards we received as a wedding present!  :)

Chris was excited when he arrived in Pittsburgh to find that he was staying at the same hotel at Pitt's football team, who have a game today.  We have watched Pitt at home several times, as well as many of the other college football teams...so this is a real treat for Chris!  He also has a nice view of downtown from his hotel room.  He is there for the Atlantic 10 Cross Country meet with GW Cross Country!  After my game (we lost to Dayton 3-0), I went to visit our friend, Karin Flanagan, who was well prepared for trick-or-treaters!  We watched TV, chatted and snacked on candy while she opened the door for trick-or-treaters!  It was a lot of fun.

Chris and I did get to spend Halloween Eve with our respective teams at the annual Halloween practices that took place on Thursday.   The kids dress up and practice in their costumes. We each dressed up for the occasion and had a lot of fun with the kids that day (and we kept sending each other pictures).  :)  So even though we weren't together ON Halloween, we still enjoyed the holiday!  GW Baseball made a video of their Halloween scrimmage...click here to see it!  We hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

Surprise to Shenandoah!

Chris is EXCELLENT at surprises.  Our first date was a surprise...I had no idea where we were going or doing.  It has been this way since day 1.  This past Sunday, neither of us had to go into work because of the Marine Corp Marathon.  So...Chris surprised me!  He drove me out to the Shenandoah Mountains.  We had a picnic at Shenandoah River State Park, then we drove to Luray Caverns.  On the way to Luray Caverns, he had me open a sealed envelope that had our tickets in it to reveal where we were going.  After the caverns, we stopped at a pumpkin patch to check it out, and then made our way through Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive to enjoy the scenic overlooks and the sunset.  It was a wonderful day!  Click here to see the rest of our pictures of the day!

Commitment

All day today I was excited for date night...Chris and I don't see each other all that much due to our schedules, so we always try and plan one night that is ours.  Well, tonight, date night was cut short.  Chris's team finished practicing an hour later than usual, so we met at Outback for dinner, and not even 15 minutes after we saw each other, Chris got a call from one of his athletes who got injured and ended up having to go to the hospital to get x-rays.  At 9:15pm, we finished dinner and I drove Chris back to campus to attend to his job responsibilities.  In reality, Chris didn't have to go back to make sure this kid got into the ER ok and the paperwork was right...athletes go by themselves all the time because we are fortunate enough to have a hospital on campus...but Chris CHOSE to go back to take care of his athlete.  A couple of the athletes were still in the athletic facility and I walked in a little bit after Chris did, and one of the kids said, "it sucks you guys had to come back...but no other athletic trainer would've come back.  He is so dedicated!"  

Point of this post?  I'm grateful I married a man who understands commitment.  Before we even started talking about getting married, I knew he understood this concept because he has been committed to everything he does/agrees to/is involved in, and he sticks to doing things the right way regardless of how hard it is, how inconvenient it is, and how it effects him in the end.  What a great example he is to those kids.  They are lucky to have him, and I am I!

Joining the Blogging World

Growing up, my dad created the "Nelson Newsletter."  It was a family newsletter he published once or twice a month that kept everyone up to date with what each family member is doing.  With the "advances" in technology, this will be our family newsletter!  I'm not sure how much we will be able to post with our schedules, but our hope is that our families and someday our children, will be able to look back and see the different experiences we have through the years.  We hope you enjoy and will check back often to see what the Duncans are up to!

Right now, I am in the middle of soccer season at GW.  The team is 8-3-1 overall and having a great season.  This weekend they will be in our 4th and 5th games of conference.  The season is flying by!

Chris is working mainly with the baseball team at GW, but also helps out with cross country and squash.  He is enjoying the new big screen TV we got for free, and on college game days (while I am at work), you can find him watching three college football games at once!  He has also become quite the cook and keeping me well fed during season.

Together, we have found time to go on little dates here and there.  Some include watching the sunset from the Washington Monument, dinner for our weekly date night and movies.  Chris takes awesome pictures whenever we are out at the Mall or when he comes to my games!