"Maybe Christmas doesnt just come from the store... Maybe Christmas means something more" -Dr. Seuss

I loved this wonderful Christmas Devotional by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. It helped me to slow down my busy holiday season and to focus on the true meaning of Christmas- Christ. Your hearts will be lifted and your spirit gladdened I promise. I hope we all rejoice in Christ this Christmas....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

LOVE,

THE DUFFEYS

Since its November- the month to show your attitude of gratitude...

I thought I'd share a what I'm thankful for list...

I have watched all three boys by myself for,what's been at the most, 4 hours awake. Yeah, I know.....your thinkin'.... "AweHAH! I bet they were asleep at nite..." but no, oh no they were awake (you could ask the neighbors) and they were alive and so was I when my beautiful wife came back...not that I was counting down the minutes/seconds/nanoseconds!!! or anything like that!

So...as you can plainly see...........I (and I would like to say that with the sort of charisma that you only see in the movies)....am thankful for a beautiful loving wife...who....with two 4 month olds and a 2 and half year old (who can be very "travieso" at times) has the house pretty darn clean most of the time and dinner startin' by the time I get home. Again, I am indeed thankful for being married to such a beautifullovingenduringenergeticfunfilledhappywife! I am also thankful for such strong healthy boys, a good job, and living in this great country!!!

Please take the time to watch this video clip...I really enjoy this story...It reminds me of how such simple things can tremendously bless the lives of others. (I can't watch it though it always makes me tear up...) It's called "The Lessons I learned as a Boy"

To watch it...I believe you just copy and paste the link in a new window then click on the play button

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&vgnextoid=bd163ca6e9aa3210VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD&channelId=bd163ca6e9aa3210VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD&sourceId=e16bb0333ee92210VgnVCM100000176f620a____

Mom with Cannon (black shirt) and Carsten (white shirt)

I really love this picture because it shows what a typical day for Taraleigh is really like all by herself until I get home...She's truly Amazing!!!.....wait...we're missing Taven!

Here he is!!!

Dad and the Boys

Carsten (left) and Cannon (right)

Playing in their Jungle Gyms

Halloween 2010

Left to Right: Me (football player) holding Carsten (a pumpkin), Cannon (a horse) is asleep, being held by my handsome hubby Trent (dressed as Jason) and Tave-y Baby is in the front dressed as a dragon.

Here's that handsome hubby again- this time dressed as a hippy for drug free week at school. (I thought that was kinda funny- hippy day during drug free week... Who planned that one?? ha ha ha:) they must be voting for prop 19)

So cute... Wish my camera wasn't so fuzzy, but you get the picture: three happy & handsome boys! (Cannon in the beanie on the right and Carsten on the left)

The whole clan: left to right: seth, leshelle, taven, nona, bobbo holding carsten, kaniesha (no the cast isn't part of the costume- that's real- she broke both the bones in her arm at the growth plate- yuck!), me, cannon & trent

Our pumpkins- seth carved the plane (he will probably kill me for calling just an plane, but sorry bud- I don't remember what it's real name is) and I carved the bat and stars (really fast... as if you cant tell by looking at it:)

Carsten (Red) & Cannon (Grey)

SuperMom & the SuperBoys

Carsten (Blue) Cannon (Green)

Taven is a Super Block Stacker...I think he's been hangin' out with SuperDuff :)

we looked the other way for a second....and then we found this

I love this picture because it gives you a piece of Taven's personality. He was just so proud.

Cannon Carsten

SuperMom with Cannon & Carsten (don't ask me which one is which)

Yes, SuperMom nurses them both at the same time-

It's called an "Easy-to-Nurse Twins Pillow" by double blessings a.k.a. "My Breastfriend"

The 2 little gadgets you see lying on the couch are called "Itzbeens" they keep track of how long that "it'sbeen" as in since poo,pee, sleep, and which side they ate on...it's AWESOME!

Taraleigh's words when we got married "I'm never going to drive a mini-van!" Oooh how things change so quickly

2000 Honda Odyssey 78,000 miles 1 owner we'll have it paid off in 8 months to hopefully put our credit over 800!

Taven Driving Truck & Taraleigh's Outer Womb

Taven loves anything that goes e.g. trucks, cars, tractors, & trains

(I figured that we were on an acre of land, so he couldn't run into anything to big...anyway he only killed it a couple of times)

PROOF that My Wife is BEAUTIFUL and AMAZING!

Cannon and Carsten immediate fall asleep when Taraleigh puts them in here outerwomb....for those that are confused its called a "Moby Wrap".

Do not try riding "Quads" (as Californians call them) sideways...

Don't worry Idahoans...I still call them "4 wheelers"

Thanks for the New Outfits Nona!

Cannon (in the striped shirt) Carsten (in the striped shirt)

Monday was "Super Hero Day" @ School so "Super Duff" Substituted My Class

"Super Duff" has many Super Powers...one of his powers is similar to Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story3, except that his is an invisible switch on his back that switches his language to Spanish mode (The young citizens seemed rather shocked about that power)! Super Duff can also see through kids backpacks and he can tell when students text in class. One fellow citizen challenged Super Duff by asking him what powers he has. Of course Super Duff couldn't demonstrate his omnipotence in front of such an innocent crowd. So he demonstrated his power of seeing through back packs. Super Duff told the citizen that he has a "Sharpie Marker" in the small pocket of his backpack which is not allowed on public schools and the young citizen became frightened shot back with "I never use it"! Super Duff also demonstrated his SuperVisionPower by changing the pictures with his SuperVisionGoggles on Powerpoint slides from black and white to Technicolor. Overall, Super Duff seemed to be a good sub. The classes were rather disappointed when I got back. I guess he has many allies now. P.S. Super Duff's Beautiful Wife created his SuperSuit.

Cannon & Carsten's Professional Photos

I'll be putting this one up in my classroom. A special thanks to Brandilyn Davidson Photography (Taraleigh's sister did an amazing job) to see more photos of Carsten (on the left) Cannon (on the right) click HERE.

Taven's Big Brother Debut!

Taven holding Cannon

Taven kissing Cannon's forehead

Self-explanatory...and the others aren't?

Taven helping "Bobbo" and I install self-timed automatic sprinkler system. Taraleigh holding Carsten & "Nona" holding Cannon (Bobbo = Grandpa in Italian & Nona = Grandma)...and who said that we weren't going to get anything done w/ Twins?

Before "4th of July"

38 Weeks and 2 days

Taraleigh hit the bucket!

After "5th of July" Carsten and Cannon

Twin "A" = Cannon John Duffey

Twin "B" = Carsten Cole Duffey

Cannon

Carsten

Proud Dad

Family of Five

My Beautiful Wife!

(You could never guess that she's in pain from a horrible C-section the Anesthesiologist stuck her 10-12 times in the back for a Spinal Epidural...once he hit a nerve and did a reflex kick...water and fluid was seeping out which wasn't supposed to happen either...after all that he since couldn't find the spot he gave her a "normal" epidural and that only numbed her up to her thighs so when they did the numb tests and started poking around she could feel it. They had a tarp dilly in front of her so she couldn't see...I was supposed be sitting down by her but I couldn't stand it so I stood up and every time the doctor would poke her to see if she was numb Taraleigh said "I can feel it"...so we waited and waited and waited, and more drugs and doctor pulled out the scalpel and started cutting thinking that there's no way that she should feel it...right when the doctor started cutting Taraleigh said "Ouawa! It hurts!" and then the Anesthesiologist grabs the Sleeping mask and puts it over her face and I kept hearing her saying "It hurts! it hurts! it hurts!"and then finally! she fell asleep and shortly after that I head butted the Anethesiologist knocking him to the ground, okay that last part wasn't true but he did come to check on Taraleigh personally a couples of times and kept asking about her...I told the nurses that he could contribute to the boys college funds if he wanted to help out...They didn't let me in when they were doing the Epidural and now I know why...because I think after the 4th or 5th messup I would have freaked out and stabbed him in the back just as many times as he stuck Taraleigh...I could see that they were having problems though because the nurses came bustling about and others were going in and out...and it took twice as long as they told met that it was going to take....

Anyway...on a lighter note...

Cannon came out @ 12:02 pm and Carsten breached @ 12:04 pm...I went with the boys to the nursery...they never went to the NICU...woohoo!!Both healthy as can be!!!what a blessing!!!

but then I came back all excited by seeing Carsten and Cannon and wanting to tell Taraleigh and show her pictures, but instead I see the Doctor (a woman) who did Taraleigh's Incision (who sews and glues the skin back together by hand rather than stapling it) with Taraleigh in the recovery room all woken up in a tremendous amount of pain...I heard the Doctor say "I've never seen this before in my life...what's going on? why is she in so much pain?" trying to console her...It was a horrible experience for about an hour they loaded her up with drugs even ones that tried to make her forget and go to sleep...but she never forgot anything and she didn't ever fall asleep...her blood pressure was 189/over something...She was trembling in pain, and all I could do is watch and try to support...The she asked me for a blessing...I gave her a blessing for the healing of the sick and shortly after I asked if they could bring the boys and they brought Carsten and Cannon back to her and her blood pressure went down as well as the pain.

but what I was going to say was that she looks so beautiful! You would never guess that she just went through all of that...

With being so ill during your pregnancy and now going through this you are truly strong woman filled with faith and love. Thanks for all that you do and have done.

I will love you forever honey-

Cannon just farted & Carsten can't stand it (he's got that bad Terry Duffey gas)

Cannon was head down ready to get out although he kicked like crazy which is probably why Carsten became the Acrobat of the Womb (3 weeks before he was head up and then 2 weeks head down and then 3 days before he turned back head up again...Doctors and nurses all said I don't know how he had any room to move in there?)