This is near where we stayed for our anniversary last month. Beautiful views.
Dave 

Ridiculous...this woman just had her 16th child!!! 16 pregnancies and deliveries...can you imagine?! Wow...that is her family standing around her.

-
M

I guess hobbits are real! They found the jawbone of a hobbit-sized skull on an island in Indonesia today. Read about it at http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/10/11/hobbit.jaw.ap/index.html

-
M

So I am back to work now after a really great weekend in Utah. We left on Friday around 1pm, picked up some China Fun and were on our way! It was the first time for Matthew and Michelle going to Utah but we have gone to Vegas many times so that part of the trip was very familiar. We got caught in a little bit of traffic as is expected on Friday afternoon going to Vegas. But we got to Vegas fine. Michelle's mom had a cash voucher from her last trip to Vegas that she had forgotten to turn in so we stopped at the Venetian so Michelle could pick up the cash. Nice little extra. Then we ventured into the unknown (at least for Matthew and Michelle). We found a "Black Rock" road. Pretty spooky! (Lost reference) And we just had a fun ride up overall and rolled into Provo at about 3am Provo time. We stayed at Anne and Peter's apartment (thanks again) and woke up early to explore Provo. We took some great pics up in Provo Canyon at Bridal Veil falls (i will post when I get home) and saw BYU and went to Cafe Rio (Yum!). Then we headed up to Salt Lake in the torrential rain! I could barely see anything but that may be due to the fact that I need new windshield wipers. We went to the reception which was beautiful and met up with Nicole and the Cannon's. They are a really great family and were so nice about everything. We went down to Temple Square after the wedding and got hot chocolate and snuck onto the roof of the new SLC library..very fun and funny. Not too illegal, i promise. ;)

On Sunday we woke up to a broken car window! The back passenger "vent" window was completely shattered but not broken out. So we pushed out the glass as best we could. A little annoying but I couldn't really do anything about it. I don't think anyone was trying to break into the car I think maybe it was hit by a rock or beebee. Maybe they just don't like people from California...that or Nicole did it because she was trying to get us to stay! So we drove on up to Park City with an open window. We ate lunch up there then ventured back to Temple Square for day pictures then to dinner with the Cannons. Mom, Dad, Annie and Peter came. It was really good to see everyone and have the fams meet. We played a couple rousing games of MadGabs and Catch Phrase. We even got Mom to sing for one of the clues! We took it easy the rest of the night and woke up the next morning to breakfast and a long ride home. I got home at about 1:30am last night/this morning. It was a fun, long birthday on the road. Matthew and Michelle are some really great friends. I am really lucky to have them.

SO I am now back to work and back to life. Tomorrow is Lost! Woohoo! and this weekend I think I am going out to celebrate my birthday with some friends and on Saturday Michelle's sister Marisa rented out the "movie theater" room in their apartment complex and we are going to watch movies in our pjs! Should be a fun week. I am looking forward to it.

Sounds like life is good for you all! I love to read the posts! And thanks for the pictures. Sorry for no pics of the day this weekend; i was busy. I will try to find a worthy one for today...

Oh yeah Tracey I am most likely going to be at Mom and Dad's for Christmas. I will let you know if that is not the case.

Love you all!

We hope you had a wonderful day! We wish you were here so we could play with you.

love, Mike, Brooke, and girls

My favorite of Brooke and Ellyn

Jane and Savannah

The Other "Z" 

Sadie and Sierra

Sadie and Martha having fun

Martha and Jane visiting Kay-Kay and Wa-Wa

Sadie at Temple Square

At Temple Square

Family Pic from August

Snuggling

Sadie Sleeping

Savannah and Jane

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARNIE!

Wow- so many exciting things going on with this family! Italy sounds wonderful! As do your trips to Utah (I know I am the only one in this family that actually loves Utah and misses it all the time so I am very jealous of your fun!) Thanks for the pictures of the day Marnie, what great idea, its fun to have something to look forward to, especially in the blogg droughts. I’m glad everyone is keeping so busy.

We’ve been nice and busy ourselves. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the last BYU game and finally seeing a win! Tom got the “I need to buy something bug” last week (I’m sure some of you can relate to that disease) so after convincing him we weren’t getting a plasma TV, I gave into the idea of getting new couches. Of course I would love new couches but I had resigned myself to not getting them until after dental school. Well anyway, Tom started to feel like he couldn’t wait that long. So we spent Saturday shopping for a leather sofa and recliner. It was some fun shopping but fortunately we have decided to take some time to think about things before making such a large purchase. But, the whole shopping trip did lead to something else fun. We really don’t like our wood floors and have wanted carpet ever since we moved here. Well, we stopped by a carpet store to look at the price of a carpet remnant to replace the area rug in the living room because it wouldn’t match the new couches and we found an awesome piece exactly the right size for a great price. We also got a piece for our sunroom so now it looks like our house is carpeted in nice beige/cream carpet. It really makes the house feel bigger and brighter. It’s fabulous and it will be great for the winter when we are stuck in here all the time (although we’ll make people take their shoes off now!)

It is barely starting to feel like fall here. It was still shorts and T-shirts last week and you barely needed a jacket today. It’s great. I had a doctor’s appointment a week or two ago and he discovered that my baby is lying horizontally across my stomach instead of up and down like most babies do. He said it’s not really a problem and that as she gets bigger in the next few weeks she will just be forced to shift down because she won’t fit sideways anymore. Needless to say I am starting to feel what he meant about “not fitting” and I suddenly feel like I am nine months pregnant and that my skin on the sides is just going to pop, hopefully she turn the right way soon! I have some ultrasounds scheduled to check the location of the placenta (it’s not where it should be either) at the end of October so I’ll know more then. What a crazy baby, hopefully we’ll get everything sorted out okay. I’m nearly 30 weeks now which puts me in the home stretch and I can start counting down! Only 10 weeks to go!!!

Hayden continues to be very excited about his baby sister. He is getting to be so big. For Family Home Evening we played a game about how doing different things makes us feel either happy or sad and he caught on so quickly and answered all of the questions right. He never ceases to amaze me. Now if only he would actually remember the right things do instead of just saying the answers…  Another funny thing he likes to do is offer to help me all the time. For instance, I will say I can’t do something for him because I’m tired, or my back hurts or whatever and he will simply say “Don’t worry, I will help you!” and he will hold my hand to help me do whatever it is he has asked for. Funny kid.

Well, this is getting too long but I just wanted to send out an update. A few more quick questions: Brooke and Adina, do your little girls like My Little Pony’s? Marnie and Peter- where will you be spending Christmas? Okay, we hope all is going well.

Tracey

Just wanted to be the first to make a quick shout out to marnie on this birthday. One year older, how exciting is that? Well, I hope that you have a great birthday with much happiness. Love, Tom

I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the underline but I did change the font color to white so you can't notice the underline since it is close to the same color as the background! Loved the pictures, Brooke!....and the messages from both you and Mike!

We're having fun in Utah..going up this afternoon to join Marnie at Nicole's home for dinner and to give her her birthday presents.

Love to all,

Mom

Okay for some reason this is underlining everything I write, and frankly, I can't figure out how to stop it. I was just excited because I finally learned how to download photos from my camera and then I used the handy "Blogger " system to post them. Now my enthusiasm is somewhat dampened by the fact that the underline is out of control. So Mike has been asking me to post pictures of the girls and now you all get to look at about 600 pictures between mine and Kenn's. The cabin idea is very exciting by the way. Who wouldn't love that idea? Sorry, some of the pictures are blurry. It's hard to tell sometimes until you see them in full size. I need to figure out how if I can make my camera a bit less sensative to motion since I am almost always holding a child and trying to take a pic. one handed. So the pictures include a picnic at Battle Ground lake, a Mariners game, Mt. St. Helens, a walk at the park, a trip out to the pumpkin festival, after Jane's soccer game, etc...I'm leaving it to you to figure out which is which. You are a pretty bright group, I'm sure you'll get it right.

Dave and Adina, okay now this has changed color and no longer underlines. Fine by me. My brother Adam, and his family are in town until the 18th, so I haven't ditched you. Okay, techinally, yes, but for a good cause. We haven't done one inside activity besides sitting and eating, so I still don't have any suggestions for you. I'll keep working on it. Well Sadie just woke Ellyn up from her nap and they are both sitting on the bed crying (Jane yelled at Sadie) so I had better go. Love to all. Brooke

Poster Child at UVSC 

At Schick Eden 

Ready for Pan American 

ola' familia: arrived on Friday about 1000 am. Visited the LDS conference center..wow! It is huge. We went into the visitor's entrance and the greeter asked where we were from. We told her and she went into hysterics. She moved to Utah 3 years ago from Vancouver and was a member of Salmon Creek Ward (our's). Knew many of the people we knew. Anyway, it was like a home coming for her. Then, she passed us off to the tour guide and mom immediately recognized her beehive teacher from Berkeley...Charlene Jensen. That was another reunion.
Took the tour; marvelled at the beauty of the place and the architecture...again, wow! And, to top it off, an organist was rehearsing as we walked through the conference hall. After that, lunch across the street and found ourselves in a foodcourt with hundreds of Japanese Nu-skin Conference attendees. You could not get in the line for Panda Express unless you wanted to wait for an hour for lunch. Nu-skin has to be a big hit in Japan.

Off to the Church History Museum to see Rembrandt etchings. So they were etchings...copies...I want to see the copper plates. Now, that is history.

Okay...then, onto Eden. To Dick and Martha's home. Again, a wonderful time spent there amidst family and the beauty of the valley. Using my "valley boy" talk...I'm so, like taken by the beauty of the place. It is always a joy to spend time with the Schicks of Eden. Great time there; delicious food, beautiful home and surrounding mountains, and of course Dick and Martha make you feel like your are VERY welcome in their home.

On Saturday, we got up and headed up above Huntsville about 20 minutes away from Wolf Creek to some land and two homes for sale. I am going to try to include photos in the blog. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try to use Ofoto or Kodak.com. The setting is beautiful. 2 acres of yellow, red, orange and green trees; a lot of land; hills; must be especially beautiful in winter. A small creek runs through the property. There are two homes there. Need some work but livable. Decks need replacing. Small walk-bridge, over the creek, needs replacing. There is a basketball court (3/4 size), an old playground centrifuge-like spinner ride that you seldom see anymore, and it works; small elevated tower with slide (like the fancy ones seen on playgrounds now); 2-car garage; cabin of about 2400 sq ft and one of about 900 sq feet. Scenery is very nice.

Anyway, we are going to see if it is feasible to consider purchasing this for family recreation, both summer and winter (wonderful snow mobile country).

So, if the HELLO feature works for me, you may see photos today; if not, then it may be after I get back to Vancouver.

Yesterday on the way back from Eden, I dragged mom into a Chevy dealer in Jordan where I found a yellow Z06 2002 Corvette. She was cordial. Took her for a quick drive, which we both found very comfortable. Going there on Monday to try to work out a deal by trading in my Z.

Then, on to Anne's game against Univ of Texas Pan American. They won in 4. Anne had an excellent night.

Somewhere around here is Marnie. She is up here with friends going to a reception for a friend from San Diego. We meet up with her today. Looking forward to seeing here face agian.

We have church today; tomorrow is a game against Utah State Univ. Then, home on Tuesday.

Whew...was that long enough? Great to read all the blogs. Nice to hear about Mike's ventures and great future. We love all of you. Like my mother keeps reminding me, "Don't Quit". Love, Dad.

I think that's how you spell it! Anyway - congratulations to Mike and Brooke and family! We are so excited for you and will keep our fingers crossed that the 93.3333333% pulls through for you! Italy was way up there on our list when we were looking overseas - what an awesome experience! You know - I am putting together our Japan scrapbook - and I am just amazed at all that we experienced there - all that we saw - all that we did. All thanks to the Navy.

Anyway - just wanted to say congrats. We love you guys. Off to another soccer game.

Adina

Yes, my turn. I don't know how much Brooke has shared with you. Breaking news is that we are going to Italy next September for a 3-year tour. My assignment officer is cutting the RFO (Request for Orders) next week. The one obligation I have is to serve as a battalion or brigade personnel officer (S-1) for one year before I would be eligible to take command of a company. Of course, when I get there the boss (read: BDE or BN Commander) could say no to the S-1 and stick me straight into command. We will see. But, as far as going to Italy, that is as locked into stone as you can get in the Army (Which means 93.33333 percent chance by the way). Vicenza, Italy is between Venice and Milan and is the home of the Army's 173d Airborne Brigade. So I will get to be a paratrooper company commander. They do jumps in Tunisia, Morocco, Czech and many other places in the region, not to mention the annual Normandy jumps. So we are pretty dang excited.

It is funny that the day I heard that I was locked in to Italia, 8th US Army e-mailed me to tell me I had been nominated to compete for the UN Honor Guard Company Command slot in Seoul based on my record. So... that was also good news and I felt honored to be considered but Brooke and I are much too excited about the Italy thing. The one nice thing about the Honor Guard Command is that it is a Command Sponsored assignment, so the family would have been able to come over in December to live in Seoul. That is, if I were to beat out the other 4-5 guys competing from the region for the job. So... not a lock, and Italy pretty much is; Winner=Italy. I am telling the 8th Army guy Wednesday to take me out of consideration.(93.33333 percent chance)

Life is getting better on the job here. It is a true desk job, I ain't gonna lie to you all. And, I really am not fond of it. Shootin' guuunnns is way more fun;) But, after having received no initial counseling as to what I was supposed to do (crappy leadership behavior, that), I am finally figuring it out on my own. And I have started to assert myself a lot this week (Not easy for a Captain in a division headquarters because Captain is pretty low on the totem pole at this level, just a bunch of Majors and LT Colonels that think they are geniuses)...BTW, for the less military literate, Divisions are very big, tens of thousands of soldiers...Anyway, it is going better.

More good news is that after 30 days of committing myself to 2-a-days and a moderate diet, I am finally losing some significant weight. I read an article in Runner's World on the plane over here on how to lose weight and keep it off and I just said "Dangn't, it is time to do it right!" so I am doing it and I feel great. My goal is 210 by the end of October and 190 by the end of the year. I will be happy to stay at 190. I am 218 right now, and left SEATAC around 235 so yes, it is working.

It is a simple diet for those that care: Cardio MTWF with an emphasis on sprints/ intervals/ fast runs....Heavy weight, low reps, alternating push and pull muscles every other night M-Sat...and eat three scheduled, moderate meals a day with no meal after 7:00PM and I have added in a bike ride on Saturday now. I also do some Cardio every night on the elliptical or stationary bike, just to get my heart rate up before lifting.

Did my first bike ride today. Rode to Seoul along the river. They have a really nice path built all the way from Uejongbu, where I live, to Seoul. It was 20 miles to the gate of Yongsan. I was pretty proud of myself, because using Google Earth as planning, I was able to navigate to Yongsan garrison in the middle of Seoul without a wrong turn. Patting myself on the back right now:) Korean bikers are hilarious. They must spend hundreds of dollars on looking like Lance Armstrong and then they bike about 5 miles per hour. So many people everywhere, so it was an interesting ride. Only ran into one guy. I took the bus back to here. I wasn't up to the whole 40 mile trip yet. Maybe next week. It isn't the physical strain as much as the mental stress of dodging everyone on the path, not to mention the part where I have to cut through downtown Seoul and dodge everything moving. To give you an idea of traffic here, I rode my bike to Yongsan 30 minutes faster than the bus made the same trip back.

I am very excited for Brooke to visit in 26 days (not counting:-) ) I picked up a webcam while I was in Seoul, so I was going to try to get that working with the girls tomorrow. Thanks for doing the DVD Dave.

It is tough being away, that doesn't need to be said. We were actually seriously debating getting out of the Army, as some of you know. But we prayed about it, and received an answer which I will share sometime, or Brooke can. So we will drive on in the Army. The Lord will bless us.

By the way, they have a Korean ward in this city with a nice bulding, so although the English branch is small, we get to meet in nice circumstances.

One more story on that topic...the Military District rep (same as High Council I think) the first Sunday I attended looked very familiar. Long story short: He is an MD in the Air Force at Osan Airbase, he served in the Nagoya Mission and I was his Zone Leader when he was just getting to Japan as a "greeny", and he grew up with Brooke's friend Lisa from Fort Benning in Maryland and went to Medical School with her husband, as did another guy in the branch attending the same Sunday. I guess when you are military and LDS, the world gets very small.

Sorry about the Indians Tom, but I am still sad about the A's. Kind of messed up what they did to Macha, huh.

Anyways, that is all the news fit to print. I miss you guys.

Mike

So I started my post this morning while I was waiting for water to boil and then while I was making hot cereal for the girls Adam wrote half my blog and inserted his own comments. It is true, I am freezing all the time and Ellyn is going to discover the port a crib tonight. She has been up for two nights now for about half the night. She doesn't try to nurse anymore but she is still not grandma ready. Less than a month from now I'll be in Korea for 11 days. I'm very excited, it's a little sick though that this will be our first time alone for more than two days since Jane was born. Crazy, I guess that's what happens when you live so far from family aka babysitters. So I am doing my best to get Ellyn ready. Barb, I'm trying, I really am.

Tracey, our address is 21915 NE 150th Ave Battle Ground Wa 98604. However,if this has anything to do with Christmas you should send everything coming to the state of Washington to Kenn and Barb's. I'm sure they won't mind:)

Well, it is time to go. I love you all. Love, Brooke

It's true. The Mike Stinchfield clan still exists. We are just doing the same-o, same-o. I'm freezing all the time. Jane's schedule keeps us busy after school. During the day I basically get the kids dressed, feed them two meals, work out, read stories, lay kids down for a nap and go pick up Jane from school. Plus talk to Mike, of course. I have monkey toes. That is my life. I play with my sister and mom when she's home. I've weaned Ellyn, she is still not a fan of that idea. I think I'm going to have to break out the port a crib and create her own bed for at night. She wakes up in the night.

love your guts
Brooke Stinchfield

I thought this was appropriate because I am going to be driving past this sign today on my way to Salt Lake City! Forecast says rain tomorrow and Sunday! I hope not! well, bon voyage!

--
M

Here is a good one. I originally saw it in the San Diego Union Tribune. This is a Burmese Python that decided to eat a crocodile WHOLE. Not a good idea, turns out. The crocodile burst through the Python's stomach and both animals died! Crazy, I know!

--
M

This has been a frustrated week with two offers on the durango and one guy being a flake and the other still interested, but taking like a week to tell us if he really is going to buy it or not. We have a 2000 Jetta ready for us to buy. The guy who we are buying it from bought it for his mom, but she didn't get used to the stick shift so he bought her a new car. SO they just have the Jetta hanging around. We went and looked at it and Love it! So he is keeping it for us until we sell the durango. Nice thing to do I think... BTW I did learn FINALLY how to drive stick everybody! Treven kinda pushed me into it. But I like it a lot!

Umm... two and a half more months of being in Vancouver and then off to school. Treven is thinking of going into Marketing/Economics now. It really interests him and he thinks he would be good at it. I am going to be changing my major to Art Education and minor in something... I don't know yet, of course.

That is really the only exciting news here! Brooke, Dave and Adina... Treven and I would like to come watch some soccer games. I will give you guys a call to get times so that we can come watch! Miss you all and love you!

Tracey, I will give you our address but like packages or anything we just like being sent to Mom and Dad's house just for safety reasons. Don't really trust people at our apartment complex. Thanks alot!
7217 Ne 13th Ave. #a-20
Vancouver, WA 98665

Love you all. Sorry... no computer and boring lifes.
Kim and Treven

Sorry so late...it actually isn't even Wednesday anymore! But the internet was down ALL day at work today and then it was Lost night so I was busy. Anyway, there is some ridiculous news from this picture that I am sure you can figure out...just in case you hadn't heard...:)

--
M

Alright, I agree, it has been way to long since the last time that I posted on this thing. I have been enjoying the posts, I just always feel like I do not have time to compose a worthy blog. So, here it is. We just got done with our midterms today. It is a little different this year because we only have a each class once a week so you do not end up looking at the info until right before the test. So, needless to say, there has been some serious cramming being done. Clinic has still been a bit to slow for my taste. Finally today I was able to remove an old bridge that was much too big. The women had wanted to have it done for years but i was the lucky one that convinced her to do it at the clinic. The teeth were not even prepared under the bridge, which is wierd, but of course explains the reason why it was so overcontoured. Anyway, there were a lot of firsts today, at least firsts on a real patient and it did not turn out half bad. Anyway, other than that there is the disappointment I suffered with the Indians choking and missing the playoffs. Next year, we were close. Tracey and I got some tickets to go to the Michigan State vs. Ohio State game in a week and a half. I have wanted to go down to a game while we are here because I hear that it is an amazing experience. So, we will let you guys know how it is. Would have been even better if they would not have lost to Michigan last week. Well, things are coming little by little at school so I will let you guys know how busy I am in a few weeks. Love you guys. Tom

More pictures later!!!! 

Cooking dinner in the farmhouse! From right to left standing, Linda, Alice, Martha, Molly. Sitting is Janice. 

Your dear mother in front of a 12th century Templar castle 

Pont du Gard, old Roman aqueduct built at the time of Christ 

Old Roman Coliseum in Arles 

House where we stayed near Figeac 

Well, I figured I might contribute today....actually, I think I am just avoiding having to clean the blinds downstairs. I started on the project yesterday afternoon and got one out of four in the family room done. So the family room is all torn apart until I get finished. The cable guy (hopefully not Jim Carey) is coming between 10 and 12 so hopefully I'll get done by then.

Had an interesting trip down to Sacto and Fremont this weekend. We were sort of going to celebrate Gramma's birthday and check on her situation there. The decision made is to leave her where she is for now. There are two people in the church that check on her every day and feel that if she was taken out of her home she would be miserable. Edith, her next door neighbor, died a few weeks ago and her neighbor across the street that looked out for her has moved. She is losing some memory and reasoning power. Leland, her grandson, had come to take her out and she said that this nice boy had taken her out but it couldn't have been Leland because Leland had blond hair. Dad reminded her that Leland had grown up and his hair had darkened but it was in truth Leland that came to see her. She got him mixed up with Ken from Jeopardy saying that he (Leland, the nice boy) had been on TV. She also said she had a visit from someone that she thought might be Anne's boyfriend. We pointed out that that was Peter, Anne's husband. Anyhow, as you can see, she gets a bit confused. She also is into reading through and sometimes responding to bogus "you've won a prize" offers that ask for money to verify it. Very scary! I went through all of them and threw them away but it was very interesting and frightening to see what they asked...mother's maiden name, ss # etc. Talk about identity theft. And she isn't thinking clearly enough to see through it. We have all emphasized to her NOT even reading or opening them but I'm not sure she will be very compliant since she insists that she has never sent them any money but I read her notes on the ones I threw away that she had sent them checks. Worrisome! Dad and I will probably try to get down there every quarter for a weekend just to keep an eye on it and are keeping in touch with the people from the ward.

We then went down and spent Sunday night with the Carliles. Jenny is now a senior in high school and is a candidate for Homecoming Queen. She is quite into staging and has been working on productions at Great America during the summer. Monday, we had some drama on the Nimitz when motorcycle flipped right in front of us..landing the driver in front of our car. We blocked the lane and Dad went up to help the guy. He was probably lucky and got off with just an injury to his shoulder. We also went and found our old apartment in Alameda...where David came home from the hospital.

Well, the cable guy came early and has fixed the problem...no sound coming out! So I guess I'd better face the blinds. I'm sort of on a "spring" cleaning kick in the Fall! We are flying out on Friday to Utah until Tuesday morning to catch a couple of Anne's games. We'll take pictures to put on the blog!

Actually in line with Marnie's resolve...I'll put a couple of my Europe pictures on today...

Love,

Mom

I like seeing pictures on the blog so I decided I am going to try to have a cool picture everyday. That way you all can hear from me way more than you want to!! I thought this was a good one to start.

--
Marnie

Here is my address as requested by Tracey...

Marnie Stinchfield
4575 North Ave #8
San Diego, CA 92116

Thanks for the compliments guys! Much appreciated! Things are going well down here in SoCal. The weather is cooling down a bit but it is nice to wear a jacket or sweatshirt for a change. I am so happy that it is October! I agree with you Buffy, I love Halloween! But not nearly as much as you do I am sure! :) We decorated our office at work yesterday so there are spiderwebs, spiders, and creepy candles all over the place. So fun! And we are having a Halloween party on Halloween and I have to dress up so I need to start thinking of ideas for costumes. We are also having a big BBQ at work on Thursday for my birthday and another lady's birthday. Nice of them to do and I am excited. For Halloween, I think I am also going to be going up to Hollywood to see "The Nightmare Before Christmas" at the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Blvd the Saturday before Halloween. It is a theatre owned by Disney and they play "Nightmare..." on the big screen every year around Halloween. So that will be fun.

But before I get to be excited about that stuff I am excited that I get to go on a road trip to Utah this weekend! I get to see Mom and Dad and Anne and Peter and my friend Nicole and her family, plus some other friends! And I get to introduce some of my San Diego friends to the wonder that is Utah. Should be interesting. I am excited to get out of routine and out of San Diego for a jaunt.

Last night I went to Woodstock's (local college pizza place) with my friend Derek and watched Monday Night Football. It was really fun. I had forgotten how much I like football. Haven't watched it in a while I guess. Speaking of, my old roommate is an athletic trainer for Texas Tech and they are playing Nebraska on Saturday and it is on TV. So in case you feel like watching a college football game this Saturday, should be a good one.

So for now I am longing for tomorrow night when I will see the next new episode of Lost and getting through this week of work so I can enjoy a nice long weekend of travel. Hope you are all well. I would love to hear from more of you more frequently! But you have busy lives I guess... Brooke I would love to hear from you on this blog! I have to read everything about you on the beecher blog!

Anyway, oh buffy and brent, did the fire get close to you guys? I wasn't sure where in LA it was. You guys are safe though right? I hope so.

Well, I'm out. Have a great day!

Washougal Stinchfield's:
1640 38th Ct.
Washougal, WA 98671
360-210-7143

Dave

For once this blogg will be short. I am updating my address book and getting ready for the holidays and I need new addresses for pretty much all of you except Kenn and Barb. I should have been writing them down as you moved but I didn't and now I would love it if you could blogg the update ASAP. Thanks!

Tracey

Well, it's finally my favorite month of the year... and Brent let me put up my Halloween/fall decorations this weekend. Ever since I was a kid, I have loved the holiday and the fall season. And it also happens to be national physical therapy month (I knew I chose the right career!).
Today in my pediatrics class we had two different babies come in with their moms who had different types of cerebral palsy. They were both very cute but obviously had delay and multiple complications. I think the hardest part about being a pediatric therapist would be working with the mothers who need to know the truth about their baby's prognosis, etc. No mother wants to hear that there is something wrong or different with their baby and it is often the therapists who give the most education to the parents (rather than doctors). So basically, I think I will be much happier working in orthopedics!
Wow, I am sorry Kenn that you had to deal with that patient... Yikes!!
For family home evening tonight, we are playing a different version of Catan called Cities & Knights with our friends. It sounds like it is another good game.
Anyway, just trying to keep this blog going as well. Marnie, very cute hair and I agree with David that your eyes are stunning.
Take care all!
Buffy

...after dad had that experience. I was afraid of her looking me up and coming to get me! Very interesting story dad, just trying to picture you cowering behind the door in your office:)
A bit of a dry spell in the blog, except for you Marnie, of course. Nice color, same haircut though, right? You've got some dashing eyes my darling...
Things going ok here. We finally got lots of rain this weekend, have been waiting for it ever since we got here. I now believe it rains here a lot, more to come I am sure. We have been busy lately. It was a lot of fun to go down to Audrey's birthday party and see Brian and Paige. Funny as ever, great cousins and friends, we look forward to visiting them in Yakima...and yes Brian, we will.
Soccer game was soaking wet on Saturday, and I didn't dress for it. Soaked to the bone and cold, then the sun came out right at the end of the game. However, Isaac's team put a woopin' on 'em. It really felt bad, but there was really nothing we could do except maybe stop the game early? We tried to rotate our strong players (which is most of the team) but they still beat them 20-0. Yes, I am talking soccer, not football. We really ended up having an incredibly strong team. Second half of the season will take that all into account and we should be able to play some stronger teams, it'll make the games more interesting to watch.
We had Brooke and the girls over on Saturday night for chinese food and a movie. That was a lot of fun. Reminder of the Provo days, except there was something missing?!! Would have loved to have you there Mike, and we all miss you, but the girls are doing great. I am so glad that you get to talk on the phone all the time though, that makes the distance not seem so bad I am sure.
Today, we watched a lot of General Conference, one more session to go. Great conference, always is though. Pres. Hinckley and Faust looked much more healthy and vibrant to me this time around...am I dreaming?
We then went to the Jones house tonight for dinner and games. Great family, good kids. Their in our ward and he used to be in the Navy too.
This week: a lot of soccer, scouts, shoveling a lot of dirt on Tuesday to start our landscaping project in the back yard, building a roof for Bailey's dog run, going to Oregon coast Wed afternoon to retrieve my jacket that I left at the B&B a few weeks ago, dinner with an endodontist, and of course, work. By the way, Discovery Dental is now the name of the practice and will show you all the logo as it comes together. Bit by bit we are getting there.
Would love to hear about all of your boring/busy lives, whichever it may be.
Love you all,
Dave

So, out of the clinic, rush to PDX and off to Oakland. Here we are in Vacaville, California. Mom and I thought a drive clear into Sacramento last night (late) would be nuts and we'd get the most sleep if we stayed here in a Fairfield Inn. Anyway, we're awakening and slowly working our way out of here. We'd like to make it to grandma's home before conference starts so we can get in all of the first session....and the rest too.

Mom hasn't fully recovered from her flight back to the states from the Netherlands. She got back last Tuesday, but is making progress in dropping her jet-lag status.

We are going to spend today and part of tomorrow at Grandma's house then drive to Fremont to stay overnight with the Carliles until we have to leave on Monday to catch a late flight home. I think we get back to PDX at about 2145 on Monday night. So, if you wish to contact us up to then, a call to our cells would be the way to do it.

I had a weird experience last evening. I had a 1700 patient, whom we were warned about from previous providers that she was a screamer, onery, full of filthy language, and basically could not comprhend anything you told her concerning her surgery. Well, she called at 1700 and said she'd be a half an hour late. She was told by our staff that if she exceeded 15 miniutes overdue, she'd be rescheduled. So, she didn't show up and I was allowed to leave by 1730 to make my flight to OAK.

So, I am ready to go out the door and she showed up at the front desk. She was beside herself. "Where is the >>>>>>ing Dr Stinchfield, that son-of-a-xxxxxx, I know
he is in here, Go....mmit"; "where the XXXK is he?". I know he is here because when I called they said he was seeing a patient". Well, at 1700, when she called, I was. But, that patient left at 1700 and we were to see this woman. So, I'm about to leave and our regional manager comes back and tells me to stay low; this woman is enraged. I'm in my office waiting for mom to show up to pick me up for the airport. I look out my back window, through the closed blinds, and I see this woman, with the look of satan walking up the back approach to my back door. She pounds on the back door, wham, wham, wham. Then, of course, one of the other doctors goes to the back door and opens the door.....swosh..the woman bursts into the clinic, via the back door and down the hall she comes, yelling, "where is he?, where is the Goxxxxm Dr Stinchfield, I know he is in here". Of course, I am cowering behind the door to my office as she rattles the handle. However, she cannot open the "locked door" (actually my foot pressed tighely against the door", and still continues to yell as the regional manger rounds the corner of the hallway and confronts the irrate beast". He tells her she cannot come in here and she continues her outrage and satanic verbage. A repeat of her current phrases multiple times causes the manager to tell her to leave or he'll call the police and have her removed. She torts back with, "you go right ahead you GD jerk; I'm not afraid of you and you go ahead and call 911". I want to see that GD Dr Stinchfield, where is he? Blah, blah, blah. on it goes of another 3-5 minutes and then out the back door he gets her to move. Egads. Then, she walks up to the front of the building and continues swearing and going on and on. The staff comes back and tells me to go ahead and leave, but, hey, mom isn't here yet...I'm on the cell phone to her during this whole ordeal. Finally, they tell me mom drove up to the door and that the woman had left the scene. Out the back door, off to the airport and no devil in sight. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh..........what a way to end an otherwise, pleasant day. :).

This woman has a book of complaint sheets in her folder with counter-complaints from staffs from other clinics. And to top it off, apparently she has been seen twice before by other oral surgeons and only wants to have IV sedation (I don't do them), but doesn't want to pay for it and is then usually turned away to seek a provider who does do IV seds. IV is an additional $350.00 and most of my patients cannot afford it so I defer to our other provider oral surgeon. The sad thing is that the woman is so lost that she doesn't really know why she is referred to us in the first place. Her first comment when coming into the building was, and is always the same, "I don't why the XXck I am here; you GD people set me up for some XXXXXXX evaluation and, GDit, I don't want to be here in the first place.". Fun. Oh well, I guess this why we get paid big bucks, right.. So, with that, I look forward to her return and pleasant demeanor. Hope she is on time, next time.

Hey, what a day. It is 0528 and I'm ready to go. This is a good day.

We love you all. Keep pounding away. We really enjoy having family close to us. If you move our way, yes, we will babysit on occasion. Love you, Dad (and sleeping mom).