The orange in the sock trick!

Santa put oranges in the toe of our stockings growing up. I thought he only did this for us, but I guess he did it for Lisa's family too!

Lucky for me I like oranges.

Lisa and I made a list of some of the things that Santa brought us through the years... He has been busy!

Now onto the real meaning of Christmas... Today we gave our lesson on the birth of baby Jesus. Lisa even brought her wooden nativity to help teach the kids about the birth of the Savior. The kids in our class are 4-5 year olds. After emphasising the importance of Jesus and the gifts that we all can give without spending any money at all, we called on one of the kids to say the closing prayer. She prayed a beautiful prayer and as she ended she said, "and I love Santa. Please tell Santa to bring me a scooter, and tell him I still believe in him!".

Trace's first food!!! Yummmm

Beware of the DOG HOUSE!

This is hilarious! Just in case anyone is looking for a good gift idea...

We probably should have been spanked.....

Guess who peeked at their Christmas present?

Guess who faked a surprise face on Christmas day?

Guess what was seen in the sky at night?

Guess what deer were doing in the front yard?

All of these questions and more will be answered as you read the following true stories from the Stimpsons.

Kody - I was always the first one up out of bed. I remember going to sleep at 9 o'clock or earlier so I get up right after Santa came. At 2 I would wake up and run out to see what we got. One year we got a Nintendo. I was so excited I ran downstairs and woke Jared up telling him, "we got it", "we got a Nintendo"! I then ran upstairs and woke up Sarah to tell her that she got a doll. All of this annoyed everyone I imagine but I was so excited I just couldn't wait. ;)

Lisa - I remember being skeptical that maybe Santa might be my dad but then on the way home Christmas eve, my dad pointed out the window and we saw a red light. The light was way up in the sky and in that moment I KNEW it was Rudolph's nose. So from that night I have always known Santa is real.

Kody - Every Christmas I tried hard to peek at the presents under the tree without getting caught. One day I took a strangely shaped gift intot the bathroom so I could quietly peek without being caught. I was thrilled. It was a black plastic car that holds hotwheels cars. I had over a hundred. I still have this in fact. I was so excited but quickly ran into a problem. There was no tape anywhere to retape up my gift. I ended up finding some garland that was taped up on the walls downstairs which I used to tape the paper back on (although there was garland on every piece of tape). I don't think i ever got caught even with the garland sagging, falling off of the wall due to the tape I had taken. :)

Lisa - Santa always put our gifts in separate piles with our stocking on top telling us whose pile it was. I always liked to get up at 2am to look at the piles and see whose was the biggest. One year I got up and I saw some presents that weren't wrapped. They were bikes! Afterwards as I went back to my bed I felt bad that I had reuined the surprise for myself. When we all got up I pretended to not know a thing. My parents had us come into the room all at the same time so we would be surprised together. When I came out with my "fake face" on they knew I had peeked. I said, "oh wow, bikes"! and my parents made me fess up that I knew already. They know my fake face too well.

Kody - Lisa came downstairs yesterday finding Trace and i laying on our backs under the Christmas tree. I loved to lay under the tree when I was little (and I guess still today ;) to look at the lights and the pine needles and imagine that I lived in the tree. I even used some of the figurine ornaments as little people who would walk along the branches. This could be part of the reason why to this day I love pine tree forests. Trace seems to like doing this too. :)

Lisa - They say you grow up to be an adult on your mission. I am not sure if that is true. We were sitting in our mission conference and each area had to perform a Christmas carol. One group got up and someone was singing WAY off key. My companion and I looked at each other and back up at the group trying to figure out who was the culprit. We found who it was. It was an Elder and he was singing at least two octaves HIGHER than everyone else. I started to smirk and put my hand over my mouth so the laugh wouldnt erupt. I made the mistake of looking at Hermana Grubbs (my companion) and we both let out a loud squeal. I could tell I wasn't going to be able to stop so I got on the floor next to the pew and let it all out. My companion did the same. I was pinching myself so hard and hoping my mission president wouldn't see me. Each time I heard him hit a high note I had to duck down again. I wondered if I was being the only immature one but I looked around and saw a number of people with my same dillema. I snuck a glance at the mission president surprised to find his hand over his own mouth, red faced, trying not to laugh himself.

Kody - Growing up I always tried to think of something to get my mom and dad for Christmas. I remember my mom telling me when I was young to never buy your wife a vacuum, a blender, or new scour pads for Christmas. I am sure Lisa is grateful for that lesson. My mom almost always got a box of "Sugar babies" and my dad always got a can of peanuts and a bag of red licorice. I wonder how many of my brothers and sisters who read this are now laughing to themselves because they bought those very things for them this year too!

Lisa - My parents bought those fake lit deer and put them in our front yard. We came outside one morning to find that someone had placed them in a way that normally is only shown on the Discovery channel. We looked across the street to see that our Bishop's deer too had been placed in this same fashion. We got in the car and drove around the neighborhood and were surprised to see that someone had done this to EVERY DEER in the neighborhood. We laughed our heads off!

The little green Christmas elf!

Things to be grateful for...

We drove down to Utah for Thanksgiving. It was Trace's first big trip in the car but he slept the whole way. This is my mom & dad with Trace!

Jaydee is sporting some static hair while Riley looks on snuggly in his one-zie pajamas.

This is what we do for fun on the Duncan side. It was nice to just hang out and play games and rest after the Thanksgiving gorge.

Every year my dad does the "turkey dance"! This years dance was a tap dance.

The terrible twos have never been so cute!

Trace is getting a tubby in the sink. He is growing up so fast and already seems to have such a personality. And he's modest!

We got to stop by and see Kody's brother Mark and his family. It was fun to get these cousins together!

Trace loves his snuggly bear outfit. It is so warm and comfy. Kody wishes he had one in his size.

Grandy Duncan

Ride 'em Cowboys!

Isabel & Jake came to vist this weekend from Utah. It was so much fun! We hadn't seen them in a long time so they made the trip up and we had a blast!

As we were giving them a tour of Boise, we stopped by the Idaho Museum and took a ride!


How's your balance? The goal is to stack all of the blocks into the canoe without it tipping. The girls tried and tried but to no avail. The guys were able to show em how it was done. Lisa insists that I was holding the boat but as you can clearly see in this picture, my hands are nowhere to be seen!

Isabel & Jake have been married just a month longer than Kody & I. We went downtown and they had all these stands set up. We ate the best apples I had ever eaten. We also saw a puppy Saint Bernarnd who was so cute, but Kenya is still cuter!

Isabel & I in the elevator shaft downtown Boise. What better place to pose for a picture than in the shaft waiting for the elevator.

The picture you don't see here is of an alley. There are some cool alleys in downtown Boise that reminds me of New York or somewhere (not that I have ever been there). We took a picture of one and the girl who was in the alley while we took the picture came out and took this picture for us. Thanks alley girl!

Trace was well bundled in his favorite orange jammies. Jake mentioned he looks a bit like a bird in them. I agree. A cute little orange big bird!

What happens when you don't have cable...

You end up filling out dumb surveys like this!!

If you were a tree (or animal) what kind of tree (animal) would you be?
Lisa: I would be a penguin because they have the same partner for their whole lives and they woddle funny.
Kody: I would be a large pine tree in the forest next to a creek.

If you were a Star Trek or Star Wars character, which one would you be?
Lisa: Princess Leah cuz thats the only girl that’s in there and I don’t know who else is even in there.
Kody: Luke Skywalker because he is the only guys name I can remember form the show.

What is your favorite color?
Lisa: pink cuz its cute
Kody: Blue

You are invited to a large cocktail party at a country club. When you arrive, the room where the party is being held is already over half full of people. How do they react to you when you enter the room?
Kody - They continue about their business. My friends come over and start talking.
Lisa -The ones in front turn and smile, and then the people I know wave me over to their group.

Why are manhole covers round?
Lisa: cuz the holes are round.
Kody - Because it is easier to roll the heavy lid across the street when needed.

What is your favorite drink?
Kody - ¾ PARTS EGGNOG, ¼ PART MILK
Lisa - Sparkling Cider cuz its fancy and romantic.

What would I find in your refrigerator right now?
Lisa - Grapes, cheese, eggs, milk, green peppers, and butter
Kody - Yogurt, almost empty jug of milk, and cottage cheese, little Mexican milk bottles that were only 88 cents at WalMart.

What is the last book you read?
Kody - The Book of Mormon, Learning in Real Time
Lisa - Pride and prejudice, the Ensign, the Procrastinator’s handbook, and Parenting love and logic.

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional. with whom would it be?
Kody - BILL GATES
Lisa - Sonora, from wild hearts can’t be broken because she dives horses and has a lot of ambition, and cuz she dates Al Carver.

What was the last movie you went to see?
Kody - BatMan
Lisa - Mama mia.

What is your favorite song?
Kody - Somewhere out there - The Moody Blues
Lisa - No se tu by luis miguel

How would you explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew?
Kody - A database is a group of documents organized together on a computer. You can enter it and locate the specific information on the documents.
Lisa - A database is part of a computer. It helps keep information, it makes it easy for us to use.

How many gas stations would you say there are in the United States?
Lisa - 1,000,000
Kody - 78,000

If aliens landed in front of you and, in exchange for anything you desire, offered you any position on their planet, what would you want?
Lisa - Queen
Kody - King

If you could be any character in fiction, whom would you be?
Lisa - Sleeping Beauty cuz she grew up in a cottage.
Kody - Alladin because I get a genie and more wishes.

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you?
Lisa - Reece Witherspoon cuz she’s spunky.
Kody -TOM HANKS

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
Lisa - I would want Mary Poppins powers to clean the house and make dinner with a snap of my fingers.
Kody - to be able to fly

If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?
Lisa - I’m drawing a blank.
Kody - The Man Who Knew

If you had only six months left to live, what would you do with the time?
Lisa - Travel with Kody & Trace to Mexico and be around family and friends and eat all the chocolate cake I wanted.
Kody - Take out a large insurance policy on myself and spend the time with family with frequent trips to Mexico and other warm places.

If you were a type of food, what type of food would you be?
Lisa - Crem brulee – Its rich and fancy and good.
Kody - Double barbecue bacon cheeseburger with a side of avacodo.

If you were a salad, what kind of dressing would you have?
Lisa - Light Italian
Kody - Ranch

If you were a car, what kind would you be?
Lisa - Convertible volkswagon beetle, pink with white leather interriro and a daisy.
Kody - 2002 tan FORD EXPLORER

If you were written about in the newspaper, on the front page, what would the headline say?
Lisa - Woman poisons her husband with raw chicken.
Kody - Man poisoned by wifes raw chicken.

In a small room you have a refridgerator, if you left the door of the 'fridge open would the temp in the room fall or would the temp in the 'fridge rise? Why?
Kody - The fridge would get warmer. It would try to get cold but soon would go into defrost mode andshut off (the same thing happens with air conditioners that are try to hard and end up freezing up and thus broken).
Lisa - The temperature in the fridge would rise. I don’t know the scientific reason why but I know this is the answer cuz I’ve done it.

At a Subway Restaurant Interview: What's the most important part of the sandwich?
Lisa - The Bread
Kody - The Bread

If you are still reading this you must not have cable either! ;)

Little Bundle Fu Fu hoppin through the forest!