I thought I would contribute since it literally has been FOREVER since I last posted. Brent and I fared quite well this toasty summer weekend where it hit tripple digits as our portable AC unit arrived just in the nick of time. We ordered it last weekend and it arrived on Thursday for which we or I was very greatful for since my thermostat is running a little high these days. We use it in out bedroom so we can sleep comfortably.
It is kind of ironic since when we chose not to get the central AC upgrade for this house last year and I remember joking that I would probably end up being 9 months prego in the month of August here. Oh well.
My pregnancy is not too bad with the exception of the low back/sacroiliac pain that comes and goes depending on my activities. The ankle swelling is a joy but drinking LOTS of water seems to help. Working 10 hour days is getting tiring but I still enjoy what I do and my co-workers are very supportive.
As some of you can imagine as I am already a nesting type person, that urge is definitely in full swing here at home. I did seem to catch the perfect husband for someone like me as Brent thrives on getting projects done and always seems to be willing to participate in whatever project I plan around the house... baby room, painting other areas of the house, changing window treatments, etc. Boy am I a lucky girl!!!
I have been thinking about a lot of you guys lately with all of the exciting things happening in your lives... Marnie with school starting again, Tom and family's move, Mike and Brooke's move, Kim and Trevon's baby being due soon (yes I am jealous you are that much closer Kim). And Brooke, I doubt it will happen but if you guys get here by July 12th you are invited to the baby shower which will be at Barb's and which your mom and sister were invited. Just FYI.
Anyway, happy July 4th a little early to all. I am thinking of it right now as I hear fireworks go off in the distance out my office window. It still seems so odd since growing up in San Diego it was illegal. My opinion which doesn't matter much is that it is a waste of money and slightly, no really risky... no offence to all in the family who have partaken in this festivity.
Well, I wish all of you well and am thinking of you.
Buffy

This is from our few days this last weekend visiting old friends of our family. They were our closest friends in Valentine, Nebraska. They now live in Richland, Washington where he works for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Had a wonderful time with them. Dad

This week has been normal. Well, somewhat. On Friday I went to my first young womens activity. A month early, but the young womens leader invited me. her daughter is 16 and I like her better than most kids my age. That was a lot of fun. We got our orders, so today we are going to get the plane tickets scheduled and movers, etc... So, that is all for right now.


Love,
Jane

It is 113 degrees here. We move from the AC to the pool and back to the AC, so I don't mind it. Though, we did have to cross a street today and the kids thought they were going to collapse on the spot while waiting for the signal. Dave is here for work, we are tagging along. I welcome the distraction after Shasta - I was having a hard time 'coming down' and this way, I don't really have to. I'll face reality on Monday.

Brooke - thanks for the updates. We are anxious for you to have orders and to get back here. Had to laugh at your selective editing from your family blog - wish I could share in your swimsuit follies, but that's not a problem I have ever had. Hilarious story, though.

Kids are loving summer so far - who wouldn't? Isaac occasionally tests my patience and restraint. He's 12, I know, and fortunately has enough good moments to make up for the bad ones, but I hope he knows that I can still take him. I don't care how fast he's growing.

Thinking of Tom & Tracey a lot - what a week. Hope it's going well. Saw an AmbienCR commercial on TV last night and couldn't help but grin.

Anyway - I'll keep it short. I should get back to the pool and the over-baked, bleached-blonde, mother of two on her floatie with her Coors Light 'tall boy' (I learned so much from you, Peter).

Adina

We are all doing well here. I have to share with everyone that we still don't have our stupid orders but we are supposed to on Monday. If we don't Mike has given me full permission to raise hell. I always hesitate when Army is concerned/ Mike's job, reputation etc... So frustrating, but nothing new.

We have two dogs now. Two yorkies. I don't want to hear it. They are cute, they don't shed, they have each other to wear out and then they are mellow around the kids. Yes, it will be a pain in the butt during the move but after that we should be good.

Kids are great. Jane is dying because everyone on my side of the family is moving to Washington, not to mention all of you that are already there. I just feel incredibly lucky that we will only be 11 hours away. That is amazing considering the last 12 years we have lived days and days away. It will be SWEET!! If we ever get there.

I have a mosquito bite somewhere on my ear. It hurts, I look like Hitch or some wrestler with cauliflower ear.

It is very hot and very humid here. We have two fans running in our family room almost all day every day. It's still beautiful though. Yesterday Ellyn's respite person came with me so I could take the kids to the pool. I had a pleasant surprise. Ellyn can push off the bottom now and with floaties on she swims like a little fish. She kicked herself all over the pool. It was awesome. Now I can take the kids by myself. I will post some pics that Suzanne took of all of us later.

Well it's late. I have been trying to wake up early and get stuff done for the move while the house is cool and the kids are asleep. Sawyer and Ellyn were both doing a great job sleeping through the night- until last night.

Great to see all the Shasta pics, looks like everyone had a great time. We love you all and HOPE to be able to get up there sometime this summer.

HI fam, just me. I have had a good week, but, you know nothing knew. We got another puppy and his name is Joe. Joe Kingman. Off of Game plan. He didn't really MOVE the first day and a half, but my mom gave him a serious trim and he is now playful and cute. He was probably just nervous. If you want to see pics they are on BREEZY FIELDS. the bigger one is joe, the smaller one is cody.

Love,
Me

Just wanted to get the blog moving and add a little update from me. I've been pretty busy since I got back from Shasta. I had a really fun weekend with friends enjoying the sunshine and, finally, summer weather that we are starting to have. Still no sunburn yet, fingers crossed!

On Monday I had a not-so-fun new problem with my car. Long story short, the fan unit in the front of the car had a malfunction and would not turn off. So it drained the whole battery and I couldn't get the car started again so I could drive it to the dealer. It was quite a situation with lots of obstacles being thrown at me - but through the help and advice of family, friends and prayer, I somehow pulled through and Remus is now complete and working again. Whew! Definitely praying for no more problems for quite a while! Please!

I am back at work today. Things are pretty slow - as summer always is but we're getting a lot of side-projects done so that is good. Peter - the Romanian publisher wrote back and said they should have the book published by the first week of July, so I will definitely send you a copy when we get it from them. :) I have been doing interviews for my job in the past week or so and it is an interesting experience to be the interview-er. I think we may have found someone for the job but we have another interviewee next week to see about first. The person we are thinking of now is actually related to the guy that was killed by the shark in Solana Beach a couple of months ago - crazy, huh?

I have quite a few things that I would like to do this weekend so we'll see how many actually get done. I am going to Disneyland with some friends which should be fun since we haven't been in quite a while. And hopefully I will be able to see Tom & Tracey before they leave. I know they are pretty darn busy. I also really want to see Wall-E which comes out on Friday. We'll see if I can fit that in.

I hope you are all well and I'd love to hear from everyone. I know we're all busy but just take some time out to blog! :)

Click Here

Hopefully this works.

-Anne

Here are the pictures

Our friends got this picture of Melia yesterday at the splash park... She LOVES doing anything with water. Knows where her swim diapers and bathing suits are. She tried to get us to go today. She grabbed her bathing suit and shoes and was coming up to us saying Water? Water? Anyways, just thought I would share this picture because it has become one of my favorites of her!

By the way, if you want any of these pics, you can download them from the album.

Click here to view the pictures that were taken on my camera from Lake Shasta. Enjoy!

Kenn, you've got talent. No doubt about it. Maybe you should take up Hula dancing as well?

So Dave, I have a question for you. It is now that time again in Jane's life when she is ready for braces. I was looking at your site and reading about invisiline and that it is the future. Is that mostly for adults or are kids doing it too? Is it more expensive than regular braces? Tricare already paid it's share with Jane's first set for her cross bite so her vanity might just have to suffer:). I would love to have your take on the subject before we get stateside and find an orthodontist.

Also, who will be in town mid Julyish? I'm hoping we will be up in Washington either before or after our Bennett family reunion in Yellowstone the16th through the 19th. No, we still don't know exact moving dates. It should be around the 10th. I'm hoping for the 7th. Mike's curtailment has been approved, they are ready to cut his new orders, now we are just trying to find the EROD paperwork that is here somewhere. I should have an answer today.

The kids are doing well. Sawyer is crazy. He cruises along everything and we occasionally find him standing and balancing while he looks at something. Scary, he could be walking way too soon.

Well Jane is sitting here looking at new pics that someone must have just posted (I started this last night and then got on i-chat with Mike). I think her face is actually turning green with envy. I'm glad you all had fun. Maybe we'll get to do the next trip.

We love you all. Adina, thank you so much for Knuffle Bunny. Sadie loves it.

Happy father's day!!! (I KNOW!you are probably sick of it by now!) I am so blessed to have such a great father. Papa, happy father's day. And all the uncles, Happy father's day too!

love you guys,
me

Papa, we hope you have a wonderful Father's Day! We love you and miss you!

love,
the Mike Stinchfield kids

Yes we did have snow... it didn't stick... but we did have it yesterday! And it is going to be in the 70's tomorrow and for the next week.
Well we just haven't blogged lately so I figure I would put a post up. 5 more weeks of school and I am done with classes in college and all I have left is student teaching. It keeps getting closer and I am happy! I also found other student teachers that will be going to the same place I will be so that we can carpool because of these gas prices. It is killer.
I am taking my Praxis exam which is the teacher certification test on Saturday. I am taking one of them and it is the Health Education one. I have to also take a Physical Education one, but I won't take that until August. Pray for me! I have to pass it in order to teach after my student teaching. I am sure I will do fine... I have learned all the material. I am reviewing everything this whole week.
Treven is currently at his military science class which is interesting. There are four classes here that anybody is able to take. He took it to see how he would enjoy it because he is considering doing medical school through the military. He is loving it. They paintball and go repelling and white water rafting. Hard class right?
6 more weeks until the due date for McKenzie. After much debate, we just decided to stick with the spelling as McKenzie. Thanks for all the input. My stomach is measuring right on time and they didn't have time to check if she was breach or not today. SOO they are going to check in two weeks. I am not worried. She is moving like crazy so she could be in any position.
Wish we could be in Shasta this next week, but baby and school. Enjoy it for us as well!
We are still looking into moving in Washington in December... I may get a job here in Idaho from my student teaching so we don't want to make any definite plans.
Melia is getting bigger by the day. I will put some pictures up from about a month ago. I need to get the other ones off of my camera.
That is really all I can think of for now.
Miss you all and love you!
Kimberly

This is one powerful Toyota Corolla. The Boat weighs overe 6000 lbs with trailer.

This would be Sgt. York. New member of the family.

Hello Family,

Here I am coming from the long lost world of Sports Authority and Vancouver. Buffy and I took a labor and delivery class this last weekend and these pictures are the only thing I got out of it. The teacher asked if anyone wanted to try on the empathy suit and of course Buffy's hand shot up and volunteered me for the suit. I thought I had my camera, but as I was putting on the suit, Buffy stole it out of my pocket. Then I thought I was safe because she did not know how to use my phone, but once again no luck, someone else in the class had the same phone and showed her how to use it. I figure it was a fun and games, but we seriously learned some good stuff and feel much more prepared for what is to come. Buffy is growing and Noah is definitely kicking like crazy. We can wait to have this addition to our life.
As for work, the store is doing very well. We had a visit from the CEO and President of the company last week that went very well. I feel like I am very lucky to have the team I have. One great honor that was given to me that might happen was that I was asked to help with opening another store. This time not my own but due to the fact that I did so well with this opening, my bosses want me to go to Hawaii and help open the new store out there for about 7-8 days. I know tough life huh. Buffy wants a ticket also and thinks I should make that a requirement to me going. I just know how much this is helping me with my future.
Anyhow, it has been great reading about all of your lives and figured I should contribute a little. I will be jealous of you guys going to Shasta. Have fun and love you all.

Yesterday I had a good day. We ran some errands and found a place that we think we might sell our car from. Went to the PX because I remembered that my friend had told me that she had seen a whole bunch of trampoline. We went there and the PX said they would call us and they left an answer on our answering machine, (well, at least they said they did), and they were supposed to save one for us and they did. So, we took it home and arranged for my best friend's family to come over and help us set it up. We took it out and it seemed too light, so my mom looked at customer reviews. Non of them were good, so we took apart the small part that we had put together in the box to take it back today. Earlier in the day my friends mom had bought a watermelon. She offered to cut it up and bring it over here. So we did that and... me and my friend had an idea. We are doing a summer party in my back yard. We are going to have a mini raffle, games, soda, and chips. I think it will be a blast. It is only 4 people besides my family and hers, so nothing big. She stayed till eight planning and making invites and we all had fun. Earlier in the day we had gone to Ellyn's end of the year party. That was fun. Ok one more thing before I forget, the other day me and my mom were going to the and we were on post there is a guy running along a side road trail thing in black sweats and carrying a machine gun. Weird and a little bit freaky. Well I better go...

LOVE,
me

Hi, I need someone to set me up on Sundry Seven. I did not know that my mom would let me use her account so I could blog on here. Well, anyway. Sadie is such a sweet heart. She used all her birthday money to buy me an American Girl doll. She got one for her birthday and wanted to buy me one so that our dolls can play together. She got the one that looks just like me.


Love,
Jane

Last night after hanging out at Tom & Tracey's house, I was driving home and talking on the phone to my friend Michelle. I was going south on the 15 and about when I got to the 52 my car's handy flat tire indicator light came on. Ugh. No thanks. So I got all paranoid, remembered something about part of my drive computer being messed up that I didn't feel like paying $300 to fix last year so maybe it was that? It didn't feel flat and I was only about two exits from Friars Road, where I needed to get off.

I made it to the exit and then I see that there are thousands of cars and people everywhere and the stadium is blazing with light. On a Wednesday night? I say to myself. What could be going on? Well, apparently it was the Mexico vs. Argentina soccer game. The same one that I think I got stuck in traffic for about 3 hours last year. So as I slowed down to the light I could totally feel the flat and didn't think I was going to make it the few blocks to my apartment, especially with all these people trying to leave the stadium. So I took the first turn off which took me up a huge hill - awesome for the car, by the way -- and I pulled into a dark neighborhood that I didn't even know existed. Sidenote - I am totally going to write our mayor Jerry Sanders a letter about how many of the street lamps don't work. Luckily because of the soccer game there were police EVERYWHERE. I have never seen that many police cars in one place. It was pretty crazy.

So I called AAA (thank goodness for them) and waited for the tow truck to come for my car. For those of you who don't know -- Mini's don't have spares because, well, there isn't room for it and they have "run flat" tires which you are supposed to be able to drive on for like 60 miles so you can get where you need to go to fix it. That is a load of bull. They totally don't work but of course they are way more expensive. They towed me to my apartment and I slowly eased Remus into the underground parking into my spot and went upstairs to sleep...finding dead bugs in various places along the way (it was my first time home since the fumigation). So I left Tom & Tracey's house at about 10:30 and didn't get home till 1am. Awesome...

This morning my savior friend Joel came over to help me figure everything out. I had to change my mind like 12 times on what would actually be done because I had the whole dilemma of not being able to drive my car anywhere to get the tire fixed. So we had to lift the car, take off the tire, then decide we didn't need to do that, then we did, then we didn't. Sigh. It was especially difficult because I guess my car has super high performance, big, kind of rare tires that not everyone carries and is crazy expensive. But I finally found one which I can't get until tomorrow morning so hopefully that will be resolved faster tomorrow morning since we know what we are doing.

So we finally figured it out and I made it to work -- thanks to St. Joel - the saint of auto mechanics and rides -- and now I feel like I am 15 because I have to get a ride everywhere. :)

Remus will be back in full shape tomorrow morning, I hope, but I think I am going to ground him for a while so he will realize what happens when he poops out on me.

Some more pics of Andrew and Beck playing together.


















I woke up to Andrew standing next to me wanting to play with the camera that was sitting on my night stand. This is one of the pics I got of him.
Ever feel like you are in the way?

I gave Andrew cheerios for breakfast and I found him picking them up with his plane like it was a fork.


Andrew loves to go and sit down next to Beck like this when they are watching tv. It is pretty cute to watch them interact.

Check out the new website at www.discoverydentistry.com.  It's been a long time coming, a lot of revisions.

Anne and I were cruising the web looking for houseboat tips and ran into this about.com review. I thought some of you might be interested to get a sneak peek at the boat besides the brochure pictures.

http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/topcalifornia/ig/Houseboat-Rental/Why-Rent-a-Houseboat-.htm

So on another note I have an embarrassing moment to share. I recently purchased a pair of biking shoes and clipless pedals for my increasing interests in biking. I have been enjoying the gas savings as well as the twice daily exercise aspects of biking to work a lot more. So I was pulling into our driveway this evening and heading for the keypad to open the garage. I mistimed my pedaling and had to hit the brakes mid stride so I didn't hit the garage...small problem is I was still clipped into the pedals. I managed to get my right foot out which was great except that I was leaning to the left(right leg no help), and caboom! It's a good thing my shoulders have never been a problem and I was wearing my helmit. So with a quick look around and no one in sight I was just hoping there wasn't someone in their home across the street enjoying this moment to my dismay. I'll never know I guess. Anne saw me pull up to the house, looked away, she said and then when she looked back the bike was on its side (hmmmm that's not usually what he does) So she comes out with Andrew to find me stretching on the ground trying to play it off as a post work out stretch, yea right. Andrew proceeded to play with my bike with no idea that I just bit it on the concrete driveway. Then as Anne is walking back in to the house says so sympathetically, Sorry I gotta go change Beck's diaper, he's been pooing all day. I guess no bones broken and no blood, her thoughts were get up and help take care of the kids you're late! So that was a quick glimpse into the Olsen household earlier today and besides my bruised pride it was just embarrasing and not damaging.

We are really looking forward to the Lake Shasta trip and can't wait to see you all. Brent and Buffy, we will be in town for the day before and the day after the trip. We would love to see you then.

Peter

Editor's note: I read and still laughed at Peter for his sweet moves today, and yes he WAS late, Anne

We just finalized the scheduling of two of our Conflict Resolution Workshops to a big oil company in Bahrain! Cool, huh? Our trainer will be teaching 40 managers (all men) of the company to learn how to resolve conflicts peacefully so that everyone wins.

I think it is pretty cool and we are all very excited here to bring these ideas to that area. It'll be very interesting to see how these concepts and methods of communicating, which are pretty dang different than what they have been used to, are received.

And now I am off to email people in Greece, Romania, Switzerland, the UK and Canada. "It's a small world after all....."

We had a great weekend over Memorial Day spending time with my parents and my sister. They came for “one last visit” but I worked hard all weekend not to think about that part of it an to just enjoy being with them. I kept reminding myself that if wasn’t really their last visit, it just meant that the next time they visit it will be a long plane ride instead of a long drive. Practically the same when you consider gas prices these days! :)

It started off with a great day at Disneyland on Thursday. Tom had to work but I met my parents there and we enjoyed the magic of Disney. The only down side to the day was the rain, but in truth I don’t think the kids complained about the rain even once, it only bothered us. At one point Hayden I were on Thunder Mountain Railroad and the ride stopped in the middle just as it started to rain. While we sitting there on the ride, in the middle of the track with no where to hide it started to pour!!! We just kept laughing and Hayden was saying “this really isn’t funny” and then laughing as hard as he could. Then he would say “it could be worse, really!!!” The other passengers thought he was hilarious. Needless to say after that we were soaked! Luckily my parents and the girls had taken cover and were mostly dry. We then went on the Pirate’s Ride and Haunted Mansion to get out of the rain for a while. It was a great day.

Then on Friday night my parents were awesome and watched the kids while Tom and I went out on much over due date! We went to the temple and then did some shopping and went out to dinner- at Red Robin of course. Thanks to my sisters awesome Marriott discount we stayed at a great Marriott in La Jolla for cheap and actually slept in! Then we went running on the beach in the morning before heading home. It was a dream come true! T

Saturday we went to Torrey Pines and hiked down to the beach, it was gorgeous! Sunday we met up with a friend of mine who was learning how to take family pictures at the beach and needed a family to practice on. They took hundreds of pictures of us, it was a great experience and the pictures are cute. I’m glad we finally got a picture taken of all 5 of us! Sunday night we enjoyed a stroll at the park, trying hard not to remember that this was our last night together for a while. Monday morning we said our sad good-byes and Hayden saw me tearing up and was good to remind me “Mom, it’s not sad, we’re going to see them again!” And he’s right, we are!

We spent the rest of Monday hitting some Memorial Day sales and stocking up on some clothes for the kids in the next size up since we’ve been warned the shopping there is limited and expensive. The rest of the week has past in a blur. Tuesday night I was in charge of the End of Season party for Hayden’s t-ball team. It went well and we got the coach a nice gift and he got great trophies for all of the kids and said nice things about them. Despite all of Hayden’s complaining he was sad to learn he only had one game left and really enjoyed running around with his team mates. He is in love with his trophy and keeps on saying “I can’t believe I got my very first trophy!” He made a sign for it so he could keep it in a special place.

I continue to prepare for the move and have suddenly started to feel really anxious about it. I hope the anxiety passes soon, I am working on organizing my to do list because I keep stressing that I won’t possibly be able to get everything done. I can't wait for Lake Shasta and the chance to just sit back and relax. It should be a lot of fun, the break I need because once I’m there I can’t stress about things to do. But in the meantime I am stressing about getting everything ready for that trip as well. Hooray for Adina dealing with all the food prep!! Thank goodness we cancelled the Hawaii trip or my head just might explode! Hayden is starting to feel the pressure of moving as he has the “last” of so many things. He came home from school on Friday telling me he is going to have a Halloween party at our house right now because he wants one last party before we move. We keep focusing on the positive so hopefully he won’t get too sad about moving. It’s going to be really hard to leave his friends because he still clearly remembers how it felt to leave his friends in Cleveland. Luckily is so good at making new friends he’ll be okay once we get there!!

Okay, I have to stop typing and must get things done.