http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wseZt9f3pr4

Sadie, you are sunshine and we love you. We are so happy you were sent to live in our family. You make our home a happy and funny place to be. I can't believe you're SEVEN!!!

You are such a fun and special girl! We hope you have a great day on your birthday and get to do something really fun! We can't wait to see you this summer!

Happy Birthday!

Love,
Tom, Tracey, Hayden, Danica and Alyssa

P.S. We sent you some Japanese treats but they got in the mail a little late, I hope you get them soon!

Dave,
We are starting young.

It's May 27th at our house so I want to take this chance to be the first to say "Happy Birthday Treven!" We hope you get to do something fun to relax a bit on your birthday! We love reading about your wonderful family and all of your great adventures. You are simply amazing working so hard and going to school while taking such good care of them. We are lucky to have you as part of this family! We can't wait to spend time with you this summer, it's been way tooooo long!

Happy Birthday!

Love,
Tom, Tracey, Hayden, Danica and Alyssa

Just a video we took today. He really is becoming a real ham. He loves to smile and clap all the time. Blue's Clues is his favorite (and mine). We can't wait until the Lake trip. It will be fun to have all the grandkids together.

Brent

So we had dinner at this park in Eagle. It is the higher end city in the area. But when you gotta go, you gotta go. This one I'm sure will come back to bite in the future. Our company picnic is at this same park in July. I can just see it now. Oh well, we have fun even if it is a little on the trashy side.

Thanks for all the fun updates, it sounds like everyone is doing well and running hard! This family is inspiring! Brooke I love your idea of tons of dessert and then more running! That's the way I like it! It reminded me of this really really REALLY weird dream I had. At the risk of all of you thinking I'm crazy I'm going to share it because it cracks me up every time I remember it. I was really craving swedish fish when I went to bed. In the dream the whole big clan of Stinchfields was sitting around playing games and I made a comment about wishing we had some treats to eat. So then Brooke says "Don't worry, I have plenty." And she proceeded to take off her leg, she showed me that it was actually a hollow leg full of candy! I was so excited and said how awesome it was and she said she loved it but then said "The only problem is I blew the entire Christmas budget buying the leg, all the candy and then paying the dentist bills from eating so much candy!" So there you have it- a little glimpse into my scary mind!

On an unrelated note last Monday we were having Family Home Evening and decided to make a video to email to Tom...

Well it definitely has been a while! We moved on April 16th back to Washington. We feel like we have been way busy since we have moved. We are loving being back though! We love the green and the family here! We love having our family around because they seem to be all our best friends. It is great for the girls to get to know their family better. I will just sum up what is going on with each member of our family!

Treven- He started school last week at WSU Vancouver and he is definitely liking it. It is a beautiful campus and it is nice that it is within walking distance. He is taking two psychology classes that are only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He has a test every single Tuesday in one class so he is starting to study hard! This term only goes to June 18th so he will try to find some kind of work until school starts up again in August... we will see in this economy!

Kim- I started subbing for Battleground School District on May 6th. I am working Monday through Thursday then on Fridays I get to take care of my nephew, Noah! I love taking care of Noah and getting to know him better. He is such a ham and since McKenzie and Noah are only 5 weeks apart, it is great to have them play together and grow up together. I have had a substitute job every day since I started working which is great! They are out of school on June 18th so I will be done with work until school starts up again in September. Still looking for a full time teaching position, but I may just have to sub for like 3 districts next year at one time. I have to do what works! I also just ran a 5K on Saturday with my family and Melia (sister-in-law, not my daughter). It was great! We are working towards running a half marathon in September which I REALLY want to do!

Melia- Melia is loving having her cousins to play with! She cries every time we have to leave her cousins. We have had some sleepovers with the Fishers. Her speech has improved so much since moving. She wasn't having any trouble at all, she has just gained a lot more! I think it may be because she is interacting with so many people! She makes us laugh everyday. Today I was telling her that she needed to be nice or else she could not be around Papa or Grammy and she started crying so hard and saying Mommy I am SO SORRY!!!! She said it over and over again... They always seem to make you feel so bad for getting them in trouble.

McKenzie- She will be 10 months soon which seems CRAZY! She is crawling everywhere and babbling A LOT! She is a screamer as well, especially when she is around Melia. She is such a different baby than Melia was.. she is so serious when she meets a new person like she is just thinking about what to do. Once she gets used to you she is all smiles! She is moving around furniture and starting to stand on her own. She has her top 2 and bottom 2 teeth coming through all at the same time so she is being very clingy lately. She also is loving having more of the cousins around!

We are missing our friends in Rexburg and can't wait for some of them to visit in August! :)

We are looking forward to a trip to California to go camping this weekend. We also can't wait until the end of June! Great job on the planning Anne! It looks like A LOT of work. It is going to be a blast! Well that is all I can really think of right now! We will update soon!

Well, the Olsen Volleyball Association, the OVA, was well represented yesterday at the College of Idaho Grasshopper tournament. This was Anne's second year of playing in the tournament. She played with Heather, the head coach for Caldwell High School whom she assists on the varsity team. I was able to play this year with a friend who moved out of our ward a few months ago (also a really good mountain biking buddy). It has been years for both of us, but we did steal a game for the day's matches and was able to hang with the other 7 men's teams. So overall a pretty good day besides every muscle in my body hurting and a sunburn on my head. I thought my hair was long enough, but it apparently is not. So my first appearance on the Boise outdoor volleyball scene was far outshadowed by the spectacular performance of Anne and Heather who ended the day with a second place finish. I'm always proud to be her husband as she represents herself very well both on and off the court. She was able to win a $30 cash prize and another pink shirt to add to the collection. I'm sure we provided a few smiles and chuckles to the other tournament participants as we juggled Andrew and Beck, or maybe I shoulde say chased around the facilities. Andrew is fun to watch as he is quite the social bug, trying to get other kids to play with him. I'm so proud to be Anne's husband. I do complain sometimes about volleyball share of the Olsen family time, but in the end I'm proud of Anne and her accomplishments. I mean what else would you do with about half your weekends if there wasn't any volleyball. We're all looking forward to Lake Almanor. It should be a blast and yes we are taking the long route through Reno just so we can go to In-n-Out on our way there.

Wow - what a family of runners! My race in three weeks can't come soon enough so I can feel like part of the club.

It’s already getting too hot and there are way too many spiders, I’ve killed three “baby” banana spiders and 4 large ugly brown ones...but we are doing our best to enjoy it before the heat is unbearable! The kids had a blast in the backyard on Friday. It was like a real water park with the water slide and sprinklers on the trampoline!
Saturday morning Hayden participated in the Armed Forces Kids Run, his age did the 1/2 mile. He warmed up, stretched and was awesome, next time he’ll have to do the full mile! Afterward he had his last soccer game and got a trophy so he was sooo happy! Good times!




Oh, one more funny thing: Alyssa and Danica look a lot alike and apparently Alyssa thinks so to because when she sees herself in the mirror she points and declares "Danica!"

The kids are still doing okay with Tom being gone but the fight for my attention, it's getting comical. Hayden and Danica constantly tell each other to stop talking because they want to talk to me! Isn't it great to be loved?

Hey, just a quick note to let you all know that I am alive. Things are going great here. It really opens your eyes to see the way some people live. But, although as sad as it appears to me, it is life for them. But, this service that we are providing is so important and I am so grateful to be able to be doing it. It is surely the best thing that I have done since I have been in the military. The friends that I have made and the number of people I have saved from chronic and acute pain is limitless. The Cambodian people are so loving and grateful for all that we are doing. We could be here for 5 months and still not solve half of the problems that the people have here. But we can try to do as much as we can. The people remind me so much of the latins in Chile. They have a love about them. anyway, this is a crappy keyboard. Marnie, that is awesome about Adam at Mt Carmel. I am really bummed I did not get to see that or the finale that will be coming. But, alas.....Talk to you guys later.

Tom

Well, I did not take part in a run today, but my mother, Noah and I did do the American Heart Association 5k walk this morning. With the weather forcasted to be absolutely amazing, a scenic route along the Columbia River, and the company of my mom and Noah how could I go wrong? The only thing I was worried about was the fact that Noah takes these incredibly long morning naps (2-3 hours) right during the scheduled walk and what if he ended up not sleeping at all and being a grumpy bug the rest of the day (see the Nick Jr online story of the "Grumpy Bug" http://www.nickjr.com/playtime/cats/games/story/just_grumpybug.jhtmlas a reference).
Well, he finally fell asleep as we were almost finished so of course I wanted to keep his naptime going so once we finished, we kept on walking with the stroller over to Esther Short park and enjoyed some farmers market shopping, (great produce), finding the cutest toy store ever (could be VERY dangerous), and eating lunch in the park. Noah stayed asleep until we were almost done there and woke up beaming. I was so pleased with the way he handled his stroller nap that I think I may be repeating this morning walk followed by farmers market and picnic for lunch much much more often this summer. Kim? Barb? Adina? If it sounds like a fun morning let me know because I would love to do this with you... and I may try to jog more than walk if walking this sounds horribly lame. Mondays and Wednesday are also a possibility without the market part.
Ahhh, I will never take warm sunny days for granted ever again now that we don't live in Sun Diego. But I have to say that the sun coupled with the lush grean that is Vancouver is WAY more beautiful than sunny So Cal.
Sounds like the Washougal fun run was well, fun. :) Maybe I will join the Stinchfield herd next year and finally get my running shoe in a photo. hehe
Ok, back to enjoying this beautiful day. Love you all!
Buffy

Tom had the amazing opportunity to go to Cambodia with a Navy medical humanitarian team and is currently there doing dental work for anyone that is willing to make the trek to see them. They are set up in some sort of temple, about three hours from the capitol city by bus. He’s been there since last Friday and so far it’s going well for him except for the food, he said he thinks he’ll just be hungry until he gets home! His first night there they had frog legs for dinner but they were given massages while sitting at the table so it’s not all bad! He missed sharing Mother’s Day with us but I was well taken care of. Hayden made me lots of things at school and spent the afternoon making me cards. The Wilson’s were so thoughtful and generous and had us over for dinner, Scott did all the cooking so Joy and I just relaxed and enjoyed our special day. He’s a master on the grill and dinner was delicious. We’ve definitely been missing Tom a lot but being here makes it easier because I feel very safe in my house, I have amazing friends who are watching the kids while I run and do other stuff and I am surrounded by women who are without their husbands for months and months so I know I can certainly handle 2 weeks! Danica misses him a lot and wakes up crying for him in the night and early morning but overall she seems okay. Hayden is extra huggy and cuddly but I don’t mind! I’ve discovered I rely on him way too much for my IT support. For instance, the internet was down today and after spending all day waiting for it to come back up I called the company, they said the line was fine, I unplugged the router for 15 seconds, plugged it back in and it was fixed... way too easy, I felt silly for calling and spending all day with out the internet! Two days ago the channel button on the remote control quit working. It’s been very annoying and finally tonight I sat down to look up some solutions online. While sitting here I decided to look at all the little buttons and I discovered that the button had been moved from TV to SAT... I switched it back and it works fine... embarrassing, I shouldn’t even be telling you this but I have been laughing at myself all night! I guess I need to quit saying “Tom fix it” and actually try to do it myself once in a while!
I had a fun experience this week with a cultural exchange through church. We had an activity a few weeks ago with the local Japanese women who are also members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. They meet together in Japanese speaking meetings so we don’t see them very often. However, on this night it was really cool because we opened with a hymn about sisterhood and they sang it in Japanese while we sang it in English, it was so neat to hear. Then we all offered things we could do to involve each other in our respective cultures. My friend Joy and I offered to teach a music class (the one we do weekly for our neighbors.) There was only one woman there who had small children and was interested but we had a fabulous time with her. She came this week and it was fun to get to know her and her son. They taught us some Japanese and we played with our instruments and had a blast. Then we had an American lunch of PB&J, fruit salad, chips and juice, followed by chocolate chip cookies. I think we’ve started a fabulous new friendship and Aiko has invited us to come to her house sometime soon.
The first week in May is known as Golden Week in Japan and is a week of huge celebrations in honor of all sorts of things! May 5th was Children’s Day and I decided to keep Hayden out of school and attend the Dragon Boat races down at the wharf. My friend was racing on the Navy team. She’s been practicing paddling the Dragon boat for a long time and they won their heat! The races were cool and they had a big festival with lots of fun for the kids. Their favorite part was a booth with colored chicks. They loved it!





Well that’s about all I can think of right now...the kids bought me a foot massage spa for Mother’s day and it’s calling my name so I better go before it gets too late! I was up way too late last night doing laundry... I underestimated how efficiently Tom folds laundry! I usually spend all day washing one day a week and then we fold it when the kids are in bed- it took me soooooo long to do it by myself! On the flip side, I’ve gotten really good at multi-tasking the bedtime routine: we get back late from soccer practice but they need a bath so while they are in the tub they eat their bedtime snack (Otter pops worked well...tonight they tried fudgecicles and it was a disaster because Alyssa kept dipping hers in the warm water causing them to take a fudge bath until I drained the water and started over...) anyway, they have their snack, listen to the scriptures, get washed, and brush their teeth all at once. Hooray for multi-tasking!