A sundry for the Sundry...

• Dave spent a couple of hours on his day off yesterday fixing our disposal. Apparently a couple of neighborhood kids used our kitchen sink to clean out their bug cages, leaving pebbles in the sink. Either that, or our kids are so afraid of us that they are now dishing blame onto innocent neighboring children. Either way, Dave was oh-so-happy about it.
• The Stride was last weekend - all of us ran and K&B joined us for the 5K walk. Isaac ran the middle school race and Papa made a little wager with him - $50 if he comes in first. I think he underestimated Isaac's love of free money. Isaac is now much closer to the nano he is saving for - since I accidentally washed his shuffle.
  
• Parker just finished a dinosaur report and had to make a model for it. He made an ankylosaurus out of legos. Impressive.
• Taylor has decided that lunch is boring and has begun taking burritos to school. He heats up refried beans in the morning and puts them in his thermos, and puts cheese and tortillas in his lunch bag. He never fails to surprise me.
• Merwin was great, though we missed the Schickies. For the second time, they got within 20 miles of the campsite and the road they were on closed. Last time I think it was a land slide, this time it was ice and snow. Unreal.
  
• Lastly, we have signed up for the Victoria B.C. marathon in October - a full marathon! Paige & Brian got us into it. Dave signed up happily...I was bribed. But - we are committed, and I am terrified.
  

Sadie, I've been thinking of you all morning. I tried to call before I went to the temple and then when I got back but no answer. However, I was able to come home to all the great pictures and videos of you. You definitely are a princess in my book!!!
I hope you had a great birthday! Being around you is like going back in time and having Anne again as a little girl. Obviously, there are differences but there are a lot of similarities.

I also love the pictures of Sawyer. He is quite a mover! I can hardley wait for you guys to get back over here where we can see him more often.

Thanks to your Mom or Dad for posting all the stuff!!!!

Love,

Grandma Barb

We just had a wonderful weekend. The kind that makes leaving Germany really hard. Friday night we met my friend Ann-Christin and her family and some other families from the Bamberg ward at the Rabenstein Castle for their Middle Ages Festival. Everyone dresses in their "Middle Ages" clothing. They have all sorts of tents with crafts that any good "granola" would love and other tents where they demonstrate skills and ways of life from oh so long ago. Then they put on a mock fight in the middle of a field and at the end they let all the kids come in and "attack" the soldiers. Of course there is also some great food. We drove through beautiful little villages to get there as well and had a wonderful afternoon/evening. Then we made it back by 8:30, in time for Jane to go to a "campout" at our friend's house. Saturday we did some work, got the oil changed, went for a walk, and then Saturday night the girls' favorite babysitter, a young woman from our ward, came over and I went out with some girlfriends to a little Biergarten for dinner. It was a fabulous evening, very relaxing. Sunday we had friends over for dinner, a little on the chaotic side, but still fun. Then yesterday we went to Playmobil with a huge group of families. I brought my babysitter with me again, which was the smartest thing I've done all month. Jane got to play with all of her friends, Ashley and I took Ellyn, Sawyer and Sadie around. There were quite a few times that Ellyn and Sawyer would both be happy and busy and then one of us would get to go play with Sadie. She also had a million friends there as well so everyone was feeling the love. We came home exhausted and happy. I loved that Jane could just play without any responsibilities, she needed it. I think I am going to have to kidnap Ashley when we move. My kids love her.So school began again. It is getting harder and harder to stay on a schedule. It just got dark and it is 10:30. With soccer we rarely eat our actual dinner until 7:30. Speaking of soccer. Jane is going to be goalie at the next game. The two goalies that we had are leaving to go train on a traveling team and the coach has been trying out different kids and wants Jane to do it. She has been goal keeper a few times and has done pretty well. I just hate all the balls aimed at her.Other news. I had a dentist appt. today. My first since right after I had Ellyn and yes- I have no cavities. Oh what a lovely feeling. Sadie has her top front tooth dangling from her mouth right now. The little girl smile will be gone forever. That is kind of a sad feeling. On the other hand, Sawyer's first tooth poked through this weekend. Way sooner than any of my other kids. He is also crawling and he pulled himself up to a standing position. He is so strong. He is also a huge flirt. He smiles and coos at everyone. My neighbor is in love with him. She held him for almost an hour yesterday. He even fell asleep on her chest. He makes us all so happy.Well I have got to go to bed. I am pooped and I have so much to do this week. Why I chose to have Sadie's b-day at the house I know not. I'm insane. On that note I will end.

Brooke

I'm at work and the main project that I need to do is being discussed in a meeting right now. So I could be doing other things but I just don't really feel like it. I'd rather blog.

Good to hear from Mike and Mom. I really hope that Mike & Brooke get to go to Monterrey. I would most definitely be taking road trips up there to see you guys. :) It is just gorgeous up there.

It was pretty nice here this weekend. Although we were warned of thunderstorms, it ended up being fairly nice although a little cool. We made it to the water for part of the weekend and it was lots of fun to just sit and people watch in Del Mar.

On Saturday I got to go to the Aviara Spa at the Four Seasons in Carlsbad. It was very, very nice. Totally full service. Anything I wanted, they would get it for me. There was one woman whose only job was emptying the towel bins - which she did about every two minutes! My alarm didn't go off so I got a somewhat stressful start to the day but I was only 15 minutes late so it wasn't too bad. I had four different "treatments", lunch rolled to me on a cart in the women's lounge, strawberries after each treatment and chocolate covered strawberries to finish it off. I got to the spa at 9:15am and didn't leave until 6pm. It was pretty amazing. Not something I would save up for but quite a luxury. I definitely appreciate my company valuing my work on the website enough to treat me to that.

Otherwise I mostly just played with my new computer this weekend. I have named him Alfred after the butler in Batman - cause he is like my butler. I love him and it is pretty hard to tear me away. I think I am having separation anxiety right now actually. Can't wait to get home and play some more. My friends have commented that it looks like an Apple store in my bedroom. And that's the way I like it. :) I'll have to post a picture of him later.

This week, among other things, I'll be preparing for what I like to call my "Fumigation Vacation". Apparently, the condos where I live have termites and so we have to leave our homes for 2 days and 2 nights at the beginning of next week so that they can tent the entire building. I have to clean out my kitchen and bathroom and bag all my food and medicine....gonna be tons of fun. I started yesterday by just cleaning the door of my refrigerator and that pretty much wore me out. I am just scared of our pantry. Luckily my friend still lives at home and they have a guest room that I have made reservations for. :)

The LOST season finale is also this week, which I am very excited for. I am continuing to avoid almost all spoilers this season and I quite like it. Makes the show more fun. I am sad that it won't be back till probably next February but I will hopefully get to see the writers and some of the cast at Comicon in July to hold me over.

That is all I can think of for now. Keep blogging people! We all like to hear what you have to say even the supposedly "boring" stuff. :)

I know I have been terrible lately at posting..it just seems that between work, seminary, housework, working out and finishing Grandma's stuff that the days just fly by and I don't sit down and write...Not a lot exciting going on either!

Happy Birthday to Treven....He's 25 today! Your card is in the mail! We are glad you joined our family and are such a good husband to Kim.

Mike and Brooke, we are really praying for Monterey to work out. It sounds just perfect for you...both for the kids and for Mike's job.

I just had my second appointment for my stress fracture. It is feeling a lot better but still has a little swelling and aches a bit if I overdo it. He told me to hold off on running for 2 more weeks but that I can start walking so I want to start that tonight with Dad.

Our weekend at Lake Merwin was a bit damp. It actually only rained in earnest on Sunday morning but was wettish all the rest of the time. Brent wakeboarded, Dave and Dad waterskied and the kids went on the raft behind the boat. Dave fixed a yummy dinner with his "crock pot". (also known as dutch oven) We are looking forward to Shasta which should have warmer temperatures for both the air and the water.

Eight more days of seminary...with only 3 more real lessons. I'm going to do a scripture mastery game this Friday, then on Wednesday and Thursday of next week I'm going to put together a jeopardy game to review the whole year. The last day of seminary is up in the air. I'd suggested that the whole building would do breakfast but that has not gotten great response. Everything we have tried to do as a building tends to fizzle out so I think I'll just tell them that I'm going to have breakfast for my class and will be using the cultural hall...anyone else is welcome but not required. I'm glad to have this year over. Not only has the schedule and preparation been brutal but the relationship between the teachers in the building leave a lot to be desired and I am definitely one on the perimeter!!! Maybe because of my bad attitude!! It kind of started out rocky with the classroom situation. I guess I was looking forward to some nice communication with the other teachers which has never materialized. I'm beginning to realize that although I don't feel old that is the perception of many others and so I'm a bit out of the agegroup of the other teachers.

I need to sit in on a meeting today for my work. That picked up a bit last week as they are trying to get a new degree program going.

Not much news on this front. Our backyard is beautiful with the rhondedendrons blooming..and the very green grass. Now if it could only stop raining!!!

Love to all,

Mom

Good men of H Co and formerly of H Co who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Please take a few minutes to get to know who they were, read the family comments here, understand why we will always feel the loss.

Jon "Rusty" Gilbert
Wayne Geiger
Matthew Pionk
Todd Davis
Sean Gaul
Jon Dozier

A bad day

Mike

Less than a week until I hang up the commander hat for good. I have a lot of mixed feelings right now and I won't dwell on it here. It has been one of the most challenging, interesting, and rewarding years of my life. I will make sure to post the pictures of the ceremony here shortly.

The colonel is sending me to Balad Air Base after the ceremony for a few days. It may be Iraq, but it is arguably one of the nicer posts in the Army and it will be nice just to chill for a few days. They even have a theater there that rivals nice theaters in the states and Indiana Jones is playing so I am looking forward to that. Then I just plan on kicking back and reading some books between calls to the family. A buddy of mine has set me up with a room to myself on the Air Force compound so you know that is going to be nice. When I get back here to Normandy, life will be good and I am fairly senior around here now that I am post-command so I expect a pleasant few months ahead as we move closer to the finish line here.

We also have some good news (cross your fingers) that I will most likely be assigned to Monterey and right up my alley. I will be an XO at the MOVES institute, link. This is the place that develops many of the simulations for DOD and even produced the America's Army video game there. I am thinking my role will be that of an Army ground combat advisor on their projects. It is part of the Naval Postgraduate School so I will most likely be working for a Navy Commander...how ironic. Better than all that are the prospects for Ellyn's treatment and therapy there and the rest of the kid's education. Please continue to pray for it to become a reality.

Iraq has made some definitive progress this year. I know it is not highlighted in the news and there are still a wealth of problems. But we are definitely winning the current fight in that we are giving the government of Iraq a realistic chance right now. Whether or not they take advantage of it remains to be seen.

It is great to see everyone doing so well. I read all the blogs and keep up to date on your lives. Please continue to post, it makes a difference. You don't even have to send a letter!

The pictures are in order: (1) Found this in a house, great naming skill. (2) This tank was destroyed in the middle of the city I work in sometime during the US invasion, moving it out of there will be tricky but the neighborhood could do without the eyesore if we want to move on around here. (3+4) The company area at Camp Normandy where my room and office are...beautiful isn't it. (5) A picture of the "tank road" with the large market "Suq" in the background. This market saw some serious fighting all the way until a few months ago and almost every structure has bullet holes. (6) Sitting in my hatch of my Stryker on a hot day (7) One of the main roads leading into town with a Stryker platoon (8) Standing in my hatch on a beautiful evening, see how the dust gets into everything possible! (9) My company HQ section, love these guys and yes that is one gal there, a mechanic who always rolls with us and get this...she grew up in Centerville and went to Parkmont..in kindergarten when I was a Senior..so old! She is a good kid and brave as any of the guys (10) Giving a piece of my mind through my interpreter to an Iraqi Police Chief (11) Our LDS group here in a former mosque that makes for a very nice setting (12) Patrolling through "the Suq", notice the bullet holes everywhere (13) Beautiful Iraq? (14) Ok sometimes it can really be pretty.

I love you guys.

Mike

This was Parker's response to Papa flying over our backyard in an airplane.  He couldn't believe his eyes.  It was pretty cool.  It was a beautiful day and I was mowing the lawn, all the kids were out playing.  They came by and circled the house twice and then continued.

Monday, after work, I went up with a friend of mine in a 172 up the Gorge. On the way East, we flew over Dave and Adina's home in Washougal and I called David. He saw us flying away up the Gorge. On the way back, I called him as we approached his house and we could see the grandkids out in the yard around the house. We rocked our wings to signal them and took pics with my iPhone. Here are a few of them. Dad