I only include the photos to show that mom is becoming more and more athletic and open to have some fun when on trips. She exercised this morning; I did not. She played golf and basketball; I did not. She volunteered to put on that funny headgear; I did not. Therefore, I wanted to document that she is now the fun one (always has been) and I am taking a back seat to her new lifestyle changes. Hoorah. Maybe I can get her to go on the slopes above Timberline Lodge this winter while I sit and read "Shining" by the fireplace on the first floor.

In any case, we are having a wonderful time. Spent time with Peter, Anne and Andrew. He is a character; you choose which one. Anne is, well, Anne is Anne. Marnie met us; stayed with us for a short time. Dad had dinner with her in San Diego after his AAOMS meeting on Tuesday and we meet her tomorrow to celebrate her birthday. She wants to do Beni Hana (sp).

Mom and I spent 2.5 hours in discussion with Dr. Craig Wong. He is the oral surgeon who has asked Dad to work for him, starting with one day per week....and then progressing to 4 and a possible partnership down the road and a satellite clinic in Longview, WA. Should make for an interesting next 10-12 years.

Enjoy the photos. We are off to the Newport Beach Temple a few blocks from here. I can recommend highly this Marriott's Newport Beach Resort to anyone desiring a beautiful California get-away. Close to Aunt Beppi's Balboa Is. For those who visited her over the many years, it is as beautiful as it always has been. Dad

Marnie, yes I am so sorry. The Vans got here the first week we were here. Jane absolutely loves them, all of her friends love them and I kept meaning to tell you when I would go to the library to post. I'm sorry. Jane wanted to write herself but they had time limits and so we weren't able to let her. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and please forgive me for totally spacing it.

Now that I have once again displayed my total lack of competence to the Stinchfield clan I will give you a little news from the other side of the ocean. We might have taken some beautiful pictures and enjoyed an afternoon of peace and quiet but that was IT for about three days. Ellyn had a mild fever and so all weekend if she was not sleeping or trying to watch whatever movie SHE felt like watching ( a bit tricky to guess in the midst of hysterical screaming) she was, that's right- screaming. Finally, Monday morning I discovered that while she appeared to be feeling better she was covered in a lovely rash. So... we took her into the medical clinic where she continued to scream and after being forgotten and two and a half hours later we came out with a bag full of medication and a positive strep culture (which they had to do twice). The poor kid. Mike and I were at a loss during the weekend. We knew a lowgrade fever was going around and lasting for about two weeks. Saturday night Ellyn finally fell asleep at four in the morning after we had been up all night and Mike took her for a forty five minute drive while I was frantically reading about how to deal with melt downs with autistic children. So slowly but surely she has been doing better. Our biggest problem is that she now thinks that watching tv 24/7 is a good idea. While there is alot I could get done if I let her veg, we have been doing our best to wean her away. She has been pretty happy almost all day today, which is a relief. Do you ever think that your ornery, sick, child, or self for that matter, will never be the same again? That's how I was feeling.

Sadie played a soccer game last night in the pouring rain. I ran over to the car to get the treats and as I'm leaving Sadie runs across the whole field to give me a kiss. Too funny. Mike was torturing her today, chasing her through the house with these gummy fingers we bought at the PX this morning. After he left I took out all the misc. body parts and attempted to desensitize my four year old for when daddy gets home tonight. It should work. By the way, I'm fully aware these aren't the best sentences in the world. I am having difficulty finding the correct words, phrases etc... Just bear with me.

Jane has so much homework our whole family is going crazy. Mostly, it's because math takes her a long time but honestly, it is taking the whole night. We've postponed piano lessons until next month when soccer is over and hopefully we have a better handle on our homework technique. We'll see what happens.

Don't get me wrong. Life is not doom and gloom, it's just been really exciting the last few days. We all have a four day weekend coming up and we're thrilled. I think we're going to do a couple of day trips so that Ellyn can stay on her sleep schedule for another week or so. We'll keep you posted.

Love, Brooke

I wish it was from the real "Down Under" but, alas, it is not. It is from San Diego which is at least down under from all of you. Not much to report. Things have been just going as they go. Mom and Dad are down in Newport for the week so me and my friend Michelle went up there last weekend to stay with them and Anne and Peter. It was really fun and Newport is really nice, especially the place they are staying. It was hard to resist calling out from work and just staying all week. But work is busy so I had to come.

At work they are still managing to keep my inbox filled with work to do. I really like the people that I work with because I really do work "with" them, not "for" them. They are really appreciative of what I do and it is nice to be valued. I am pretty sure they are planning some fun surprise for my birthday so that will be fun.

Dad is here today for a class in San Diego so I think we might hang out at the ole A-P-T tonight. Mom, Anne, Peter and babe will join Dad down here tomorrow to visit friends and such while I am at work. I will probably see them tomorrow night for a bit before LOST premieres at 9pm!!! I am super excited and have been counting down all day, and it isn't till tomorrow! I hope this season will be great. I really think it will. The writers for this show are awesome.

Next week is the birthday and I am treking off to AZ for a Mariah Carey concert with some friends. It will be fun, I love road trips!

So another fun thing I did...there is a website called www.fontifier.com where you can make your own signature computer font that looks just like your handwriting! It is pretty sweet. I did it and it is kinda weird to be typing and have my handwriting come out on the screen. It costs $9 to download your font but I liked it enough and thought it was worth it especially because most fonts cost at least $100 to purchase. Pretty cool anyways.

Oh and the reason I got on here in the first place...I wanted to check with Mike and Brooke to see if you guys ever got Jane's Vans? From what I have, the tracking info says they were delivered but I wanted to make sure everything was ok.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

The pictures that follow are from our Saturday afternoon trip to Amberg, a city about 12 miles south of us. As you can see from the last picture, Vilseck is just a small village so Amberg is where we go to do anything out "on the economy". Although Vilseck has a great ice creamery and some small places to eat great food.

Everyone is still doing well although it has been a tough weekend with Ellyn and some major all night tantrums. Basically, she had the flu all week and it knocker her off-kilter.

The family continues to have fun together between board games and watching old movies in the "den" on the big TV. (We just throw all the couch cushions into my office where I stuck the big TV). We watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. Jane keeps killing us on our boardgames.

I promise a more detailed blog later; right now we are just worn out.

Love you all.

Mike

Okay, I know we aren't supposed to bad mouth our husbands but I asked him to blog for your birhtday. Now that we are down to one computer (battery/charger issues with the laptop that we have yet to figure out)it seems that the two of us only have time to get on here at the same time. Maybe he didn't hear me, maybe I was not direct enough. Whatever the case may be I remembered your b-day the whole day and hoped it was going well for you. I also thought that your birthday wish had been safely blogged. I'm sorry. If I was a bigger person I would take the blame all on myself but I'm not.

Things are going well here. Very busy. We had Ellyn's big meeting to discuss her care and therapy on Thursday. It went as well as possible for the resources they have. They have made several concessions and had some good ideas. The woman that will work with Ellyn the most is an absolutely wonderful person and I feel very blessed to have her.

We went to Mike's field day yesterday- Organizational Day. It was alot of fun. Sadie was thrilled because they had two moon walk thingies. She didn't even let the sting from the yellow jacket right below her eye stop her from having a blast. Jane got the part of Martha Cratchet (one of the children) and caroler and dancer in her school play. She's excited, I am too, just wondering how we are going to fit it all in.

Well I have to go. Lots to do on a Saturday. Take care. Love, Brooke

I guess Adina's birthday gives me a good reason to blog. I have been putting it off for a while...mainly due to not a lot of free time. It was great having Kim here last week...Her shower was a great success. Her sister-in-law, Melia, put it on and did a wonderful job. She is now all set for the baby to arrive....but not before October 9 please so we can have our trip to Newport Beach! We are leaving on Saturday to fly down. Dad will be submitting his "follow-up" letter to Willamette tomorrow. When we return from NB life might get a bit exciting. We feel actually pretty good about the whole thing so I am not too worried...just curious on how it will all play out.

Grandma is Grandma! Her birthday - 96th - is on next Wednesday while we are gone. We are going to take her out to Red Lobster (her favorite restaurant) tomorrow night before we go and get some balloons for her room. Hopefully, B and B and D and A will drop by during the week so she doesn't feel deserted. A group from the ward is going over to sing to her on Wednesday....and she will be getting lots of cards and presents!!! She changes from day to day and hour by hour. Sometimes she appears on death's door and the next visit she is quite perky....However, long conversations are sort of out of the question!
I am taking her the doctor this afternoon for her sores which is a bit of a task with all the lifting of her and the wheelchair.

This morning I spoiled myself by getting my hair colored and cut and then a manicure and a pedicure...so I guess I do need to do something for others this afternoon. I just finished Andrew's crossstitch and am getting started on Melia's. Then I'll get a break????

Love you all...I'll write more later.

Mom

Adina- We hope you have a fantastic birthday!!! I'm so glad that you bought yourself a gift in advance, it's about time we follow their lead!! I hope you enjoyed the concert!

I had a crazy dream last night that we were all at another reunion and acting really crazy and then we were pretending that the building was exploding and that we had to escape but were all running really slowly to act like it was happening in slow motion... weird....

Well, we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we are going to Disneworld!!! We have never been and just can't wait to go! We were able to get the airfare for free and we are staying at Shades of Green, the military resort. Our dates our Janurary 15-20. It should be fantastic. However, that leads me to the bad news which is that we are not going to make it to Vancouver for Christmas like we had hoped. Tom had been feeling like it would be nice to do Christmas here and the more we looked at airfare and the amount of time Tom and Hayden have off school, etc. it just didn't seem feasible. Then once the option of going to Disneyworld surfaced it all started to get even more complicated. I will still keep an eye on airfare and we will keep considering things, but that is our plan for now.

The BYU game is tonight, we are excited to watch! Have a great weekend!

Tracey

Just wanted to say happy birthday to Adina! We hope you have a great day and have fun at The Killers concert. Lucky!!!

Kim and Treven

Some pics of the car, Sadie's soccer game, and the neighborhood. We will take some real German photos off post soon.

Mike

So here is a picture of the lot that we chose with no neighbors in our back yard... just wetlands. We just signed papers on Friday to officially start the building process and home purchase... so exciting! Brent and I are doing great, he just got back from Florida for a work conference and had a blast. He got to play at Universal Studios while he was there, learned a lot of good leadership stuff to bring back to work, and experienced the humidity and crazy bugs in Orlando. I have been going a little crazy not having a real schedule for the past 2 weeks but I start with orientation with HR tomorrow and will probably get my temp. license tomorrow as well. That means I get to start seeing patients and for the first time not have to call myself a student... plus I'll get paid which will come in handy since we will be taking on a mortgage next year.
We had fun seeing Kim this week and can't believe the next time we will see her she'll have a baby.
Things have been great here at the Stinchfield Hilton and we are sooooo greatful that K&B are willing to let us invade their home untill we move into our new house. Hanging out with them is always fun and I feel very blessed to have such great in-laws.
Well, that's it for now. I actually have to go to bed at a decent hour since I have work tomorrow morning. Love to all.
Buffy

It's been a busy weekend - I have about 20 things I should be doing, so naturally...I'm blogging instead.

Dave ran his marathon this morning - was doing great until mile 18 when his bursitis-laden hip gave out on him. I will let him tell you all the gruesome details, but he didn't do as well as he would have liked. Looks as though he will need to lay off the running for a while, which would be a welcome release for most of us, but will be a tough thing for him. Anyway - he is due home tomorrow afternoon.

Having Kim here was fun - too bad she has to go back home. We hung out as much as our schedules allowed and went to her baby shower this morning. Melia is well stocked for a while, I think! Kim looks fabulous...

Soccer games today - Parker had bursts of actually playing the game and bursts of swinging from the goal posts and pushing down his own teammates to get at the ball. Pretty typical. Brooke - your description of Sadie playing was so vivid to me - I could just see her running down the field, arm in arm with a girl from the other team! Awesome.
Isaac's game was a different story - very talented players - and Isaac scored a goal!

I should go - but wanted to let the Brian Regan fans know that he is on tour right now. Coming to Boise on Nov. 19 - going to Cinncinati on Nov. 2 - and coming to Seattle on Dec. 8th. Dave and I have tickets to the Seattle show - hope K&B and maybe B&B can join us.

Love you all - love the news.
Adina

I just got this picture in my email. It is the one that the race people take. This is me just after I went under the castle in Fantasyland.

We've had a nice week here and have stayed really busy. We're so happy to hear from you Mike and Brooke! It sounds like things are awesome! Not much new here. I started going to Institute on Wednesday's. They have a class from 12-1:30 that has babysitting available. The topic is something about increasing your scripture study skills, we're practicing with the book of Revelations. The teacher is one of those people who has read the bible in Hebrew and is working on doing it in Greek. She knows everything and it makes my brain hurt just to listen to her. The class is really small so when she asks a question I feel like I need to answer. Which means I need to come to class prepared and I need to pay attention (not half listen while dealing with the kids)! I haven't done that in years!!! So it should be a good challenge for me.

We've been busy shoe shopping today and now the kids are taking a nap. Hayden's preschool teacher said that Hayden is doing well. I asked if there are any issues we could work on and she said it's just the normal kind of thing where he will try to take a toy from someone. When she intervenes he says "But I asked nicely and they said no." That sounds exactly like something Hayden would say! Anyway, his teacher has a good attitude about it and just said "But that's what we're here to learn!" So I am going to continue to work with him a bit on waiting his turn for things.

We went to Walmart today and at one point Hayden was on the next aisle but when I turned down that aisle he was gone. He wanted to play hide and seek but he hadn't told me that so I was panicking and yelling his name but he wouldn't answer because he was hiding. Very stressful. Needless to say I had a long talk with him after that.
He asked me to buy him a bubble blowing gun and I said no so he tried to act all okay about it and he handed it to me and said "Okay, please just put it back for me then." But his chin was quivering and he climbed in the stroller and just started to cry. It was the saddest thing you've ever seen. It was not a typical tantrum, it was a quiet, depressed cry because he was so sad he couldn't have it. We didn't get the toy but he luckily cheered up after a while!

Okay, I better go. I just wanted to say hi before the weekend! We are having dinner with our next door neighbors (they are not LDS) on Sunday so that should be fun. Tonight we are going to Cedar Point to enjoy the Halloween festivities. It will probably rain on us but it should be fun anyway! Good luck on your race Dave! The colder it gets the more I am looking at getting a treadmill... don't freeze Dave!

Tracey

forecasted for the start of the marathon which I will have started in 23 hrs. Why do I do this? When/If you ever do it, and like it, you'll know why. I just need a good weather one, San Diego?

Dave

Hi family, I hope you are well. We are finally on-line and not a moment too soon. I have missed the blog so much now that we are away. Phew that I didn't find out about Isaac's leg until after the diagnosis was made. Poor kid, give him a big hug for me. Dave, good luck on your race. I know you'll do great. I just looked up Meag's time from Chelan and it was 4:15 and she got first in her age category. I'm so proud of her. I hope you have fun. Brent and Buffy, so excited about the house- I will look it up soon. Anne and Peter- Andrew is adorable. Everyone else, we love you and miss you. Here is the novel that I wrote for both family blogs. Good luck.

Our Vonage phone #706-478-5369. We are eight or nine hours different. When it is 8 am there, it is 5 pm here. Or close to that. Meagan and I figured it out and now I can't remember. But the point is that we have a stateside number in case you ever need or want to get ahold of us.

Sadie started pre-school this week. She was so excited she wore her backpack to breakfast. She absolutely loves it and feels so grown up. She had her first soccer game yesterday. It was about the funniest thing I have ever seen. The kids, no matter what team, were kicking it to whatever goal was closest. Sadie and a little girl she didn't even know from the other team grabbed hands and started running down the field in a totally opposite direction of the action, just laughing and completely oblivious to what was going on. We yelled for her to get the ball one time and she reached down and picked it up. All the other kids were doing similar hysterical antics. The parents were all just cracking up on the sidelines. So fun.

Jane is becoming such a grown up. She wakes up totally early every morning and does her hair, which is absolutely beautiful by the way. We pick out her outfits with much care and she doesn't even argue with me about wanting to wear her favorite jeans and an ugly t-shirt every day. Her school is about a block away and every morning she leaves on time and walks with a girl that lives just up the street. She comes home from school and works on her homework right away. It's pretty amazing and very welcome. She also just started soccer and has her first game(that she has been to) on Saturday. We told her that we are not going to be here every Saturday for games. We will go to all the practices and as many games as we can but this is our good weather until spring and we want to get out and see stuff. We should hit most of them though because we just bought a hoop-d (how do you even spell that?)AND it looks like we are going to have to re-carpet and paint the Oklahoma house and rent it out again. Now they are saying there are cracks in the foundation. Is anyone interested in a bit of arson? Kill me. But...there is plenty to do just around here.

Back to Jane, she has an absolutely fabulous teacher and she is really loving school. She says she is happy because she gets to be the class clown again, I hope her teacher is okay with that. There is an outdoor adventure club and next week they are going indoor rock climbing for $5. She's so excited. She just came home from school and told me about her whole day laughing and smiling the entire time. Too cute.

Ellyn is also doing well. I really think she is trying to say words on a regular basis. She is making very similar sounds to the words and using them at the right time. The day we got our furniture and put our couch in the living room she ran over to it laughing and smiling, climbed up and buried her face in the pillows. It feels so nice to know that we have a home in one spot for three years. Besides that Ellyn has developed a lovely habit of pooping right after she's supposed to go down for nap. Today as I was listening (because I put her down earlier than usual) to see if she was going to poop or nap she stuck her hand down her diaper, evidently having pooped the second I put her down. She really loves to check it out and so I've decided that for naps she'll be wearing overalls. Don't worry, I'll still change her, it's easy to tell. If she keeps babbling and isn't quiet we know she's filled her britches. Besides that, she is beautiful and happy. I met with the woman in charge of coordinating her therapy last week and they originally only wanted to do one hour a week of therapy. I just about died. I was so mad I started tearing up but...I also felt like I was able to talk to her in a logical way about what our family would need- at least the bare minimum. I also talked to her about getting a set of training dvds for all the parents of autistic children here on post (there are three other families)and setting up a lending library of sorts. It might take alot of work but maybe, if I stay rational about this, we can get a decent program going. They called me back and they are going to order the dvds and they are getting a list together of books from all the Army libraries in Europe for resources. The woman I worked with was wonderful, it's just dealing with the Army, insurance, early intervention, etc... It's a new, huge unit coming over and they are understaffed. We'll see how it works.

Mike is out registering his new beater car. It is actually a beautiful black 1988 525i series BMW. So funny that all the old cars around here are BMWs and Mercedes. It only has 100,000 miles on it and should be reliable for some of our trips. Thus cutting down on gas consumption. The German guy he got it from has an excellent reputation around here so it should be good.

I think that covers our whole update. Oh, I did get my German driver's license yesterday. Mike and I had a friendly little wager going that I wouldn't pass my first time around, because alot of people don't and I only started studying the night before. I passed with a better score than he did, but in all fairness he helped me study and practiced the insane "right always has the right of way" picture scenarios until I finally got it. I've been to my first coffee and all the girls seems really nice. We LOVE the brats and icecream here and all I can say is that I better keep walking everywhere or I'll be in trouble. I love you all. Tristan and the girls are beautiful. Went to IKEA by the way and I could live there. Love, me

Mom and I met with an attorney on Monday of this week to get his impression of our plan to transition out of Willamette Dental Group over the next two years. I have been approached by the owner of Salmon Creek Oral Surgery about coming to work for him. This practice is 5 blocks from our home; makes a lot of sense, close to home, no Oregon Income Tax, no 30-60 minute commutes (longer in the winter). I submitted a letter about 4 August telling them that I was going to work for them on my day off (Monday) and they have not responded. I am going to submit a new letter on next Friday, just prior to our leaving for a week for an oral surgery convention in San Diego, telling them that I assume that a "no response" is a "yes, go ahead". Of note is that in my contract to them, I have to ask their permission to do this.

If they come back and say, "yes", then I will start to work for the new practice on Mondays only. This will build to two days a week and so on until I am up to 5. (9-6). If they come back and say, "no", then I will submit my resignation giving them my 90-days notice. They may drop me like a hot rock or come back and try to make a deal work that will allow me to go part-time. I don't know how they'll respond but I know they have been trying for 3 years to get another oral surgeon in the Portland-Vancouver region without any luck.

Oh well, tighten down the hatches, we're off to a new venture. More to follow as things progress.

Dad

Just kidding.

You'd think so with the number of times I have blogged in the last month. Although, now that I think about it, Mike and Brooke have blogged much more than I have and they haven't even had a computer. I have actually tried to call Mike's number several times hoping that by some crazy chance, he had hooked up his computer with his internet phone thingy. To no avail. I shall keep trying. We miss you guys. Already dreaming about our trip to come and visit you guys there. It sounds like an excellent opportunity for y'all. Fill us in with as many details as soon as possible. Oh yeah, and you are going to have to learn how to use a camera on a regular basis, because if we don't get a plethora of photos from your escapades over there, you will be put on the watch list and will not be allowed back in the country (I've got connections with Pampered Chef, and they control EVERYTHING!).

I have been tremendously busy at work, which is great, just what I want. And Dr. Davis is filling up his whole schedule next year with vacations, so that is even better. Now is crunch time for getting all the lawyer and accountants together and doing their jobs. Fun times.

The kids are back in school and loving it. Really weird that Isaac is in Middle School. I distinctly remember middle school and all of its quirkiness. At this point, I just hope that we have taught Isaac what is right and how to stand up for them and hope that he continues in that direction. So far, so good. He has made really good friends. More to come.

Adina finds herself with 2 days each week where she is alone during the day for a few hours. Really strange for her. We go out to lunch on those days when we can. One of the bennies of only working 1.5 miles from home. She still amazes me with her scrapbooking. What a family history she is creating! I could never do it like she does, she truly does have a talent.

I leave Friday for Logan, Utah for the Top of Utah Marathon. I hear it is a really good one. Very scenic and fast! And the low is supposed to be 28 degrees! Yea!! Flashback! Why can't I pick a warmer one? Next one will have to be in Arizona or something. I was worried because my hip was bothering me after the Hood to Coast and then I rolled my ankle kicking the soccer ball around at soccer practice for Parkers team, but they both seem to be doing well after a little break, alot of ice and anti-inflammatories. Good as new! We'll see how I feel at 11am on Saturday. My goal is to get under 4 hrs. Wish me luck!

Marnie, congrats on the 5K! I think that is awesome. It looked kind of crowded though? How was it for running? More of a scenic race? Keep it up, pick another to aim for, they are happening all the time and having a goal like that will keep you exercising. If you pick a 10K to train for, I will come run it with you, and we can invite anyone else that wants to also. It'd be alot of fun!

I hope all is well with everyone else, there is so much going on in everyones lives and I am so glad that we have this forum to share our everyday lives with each other.

I am tired.

Dave

The picture of him asleep, he passed out during home teachers on Sunday....he tends to pass out every once in a while and looks like that.

-Anne

Things here are really good. We had a fun time this past weekend, we to Geauga Lake Friday night. On Saturday I went to a scrapbook crop from 1-9. I enjoyed it and Tom survived with the kids. It was chaos at our house when I left for the scrapbook thing because there were tons of guys over to watch the BYU game and they had to bring their kids because their wives were at Super Saturday. I was nervous to leave Danica but they survived it and the guys even helped clean the house up before they left.

I taught Hayden our phone number yesterday and he is pretty proud of himself. We went for a walk and I just kept practicing with him and he learned it really fast. I read in a magazine that they should know their phone number at age 3, their address at 4. I figured since he already knows our address he might as well know our phone number two! Next we'll work on my cell phone number! :)

Danica had her 9 month check up yesterday. She is as healthy as can be, and although small and growing slowly she is growing! She's just 15 1/2 lbs! I swear I feed her all the time, but her hands and feet are really small compared to other babies so she is just going to be petite. She's still very cautious with her crawling but is so obsessed with standing up! She doesn't cruise around the furniture yet though so we have plenty of time before walking! I'm still working on waving and clapping but mostly she just gets excited and smiles instead of copying me! Still no teeth or hair!

They are redoing the stairs of our front porch. The cement had gotten really cracked and broken and was irreparable. So they are demolishing the current stairs today and will build new ones tomorrow! Hayden is loving watching all the construction out the window!

This week I just plan to try to get some cleaning done and some scrabooking. Friday night we plan to take the kids to Cedar Point for their Halloween festivals. Hayden LOVES Halloween so much! We figure we'll take the kids before the weather gets really cold. Hopefully we can plan a date night for a future weekend to really ride the rides. I'm also trying to figure out what to have the kids wear for Halloween... Hayden keeps changing his mind!

That's about all going on at our house. Hope all is well!

Hi family. I'm at the ACS center here on post to inform you that we are still alive. This will not be long however because Mike is watching the girls for a few minutes before he goes back to work. We were so excited because our modem came in the mail last Thursday. Mike spent quite a while trying to get it all set up, finally had to go see the tech and found out we have to have one more part that won't come in the mail until the end of this week. So sad. I was daydreaming about all the fun things I would be posting on the blog every day and dying of anticiptation for a call to Meags (I called mom already). But alas, it will be a few days yet. Just know that we are doing well. Our house is coming together nicely, the girls are making friends, etc... We spent the day Saturday in Nurenburg(sp?). It was so much fun. Alright, gotta go. I love you all. Love, Brooke

So as you know, yesterday I did the Disneyland 5K. It was SOOO much fun!! It was the first annual so I am definintely going to be back next year to do this again. :) About the race...it was themed from Pirates of the Caribbean which was awesome because that is one of my favorite movies. It started at the parking structure with a huge "Start" banner with pirates symbols on each side. About 3000 people did the race and it was a family fun run too so there were a lot of kids. I even saw a man who's son was in a wheelchair and he was pushing him through the race as he ran. And another dad was in the wheelchair himself and he was carrying his little son on his lap as they rolled through the race! Very cool. So they had a pirate and Mickey and Minnie dressed as pirates at the beginning cheering us on and they played the music from the movie to start us going (really got me ready to go!) Then we went through the tram path to Disneyland. The course went all through Disneyland and in every land the Disney character that went there were there to cheer us on, like Woody and Jessie in Frontierland and Sleeping Beauty on her castle. Then we went over to CA Adventure where they had a bunch of characters too like the cars from Cars, Flik from A Bug's Life and Lilo and Stitch. The race ended in the Hollywood section of CA Adventure and ended with Pirates music to push us to the end. I brought my camera along so I will post pictures after this. I would definitely recommend this race to anyone who loves Disneyland and will be down here in September. The sign ups for next year start November 15th. It fills up really fast and will probably be faster this year so if you want to do it let me know and I will let you know where to sign up!


Marnie

Well, Brent and are are embarking on the exciting and scary journey through new home ownership. We feel like we just started the process of getting things in order and researching real estate up in Vancouver... but we think we may have found the home for us already AHHH!
For those who know my tendencies, I like to research, research, ponder, think, and research some more. And when any big choice seems to be going too quickly, I get a bit anxious. That said, I am really excited about the builder, the location, the floorplan, and the choices of lots. Plus this builder has a lot of generous standard features not common in a starter home which we like.
Now it's the fun part of finding a lender we like with financing we feel good about (yikes) and pondering for what seems like an eternity over what upgrades to choose. If anyone has any advice or has purchased a "spec home" before, please let me know what you know about choosing options for a home because this is definitely a first for us! If you want to check out our potential first home, the website is
www.mymanorhome.com. The development is Peachtree Meadows (little cutesy but oh well), the model is 1829, and if you really want to know more the lot number will probably be 19 or 20. If for nothing else it is always fun to see what real estate costs or is like in other parts of the country because it sure varies. A home like this in LA would probably be in at least the 700's... yikes!
Anyway, I am still waiting to start working due to not having my temporary license in my hands yet but hopefully will by the end of next week. Then it's off to the working world and goodbye to long Christmas and summer breaks! Brent is leaving on Sunday morning to Orlando for a week of meetings for work and is staying at some swanky hotel. I wish I could have gone but the whole saving for a home got in the way of that.
That's pretty much it for us... we are basically obsessed right now with housing but are trying our best to attend to the rest of life. For example, I really need to study for boards so I can have peace of mind before taking the big test and I have a super fun Halloween party to plan here at the Stinchfields.
Peter, the trip to New Orleans sounds great and doesn't suprise me one bit that you would do it. And Andrew looks TOTALLY adorable and sorry to hear about the crying and throw up thing... you guys can laugh at us when it's our turn.
Greetings to all other family (Stinchfield or not) that may read this and we hope you are doing well!
Buffy

Well it is true, I will be going to New Orleans the end of October for a week. But I do need to change the tune a little bit. This trip is organized by AGC which is the Association for General Contractors. It is an organization that my company works through to get our insurance and other benefits. I proposed the idea to my boss and asked if he would allow me to miss that week of work in order to make the trip. To my surprise, he agreed but jokingly (with a hint of seriousness) said that they would just work me harder before and after. Feeling that I pushed my luck to get the time off with no pay cut, I decided not to go for the $500 expenses that I need to cover.

I went to the meeting today and the 5 others that made it to the meeting are all getting their expenses sponsored by their respective companies. In the flier they advertised the activity with they mentioned that if someone wasn't interested in actually going they would appreciate a donation to help offset expenses of those of us who are going. Being the only one in that group without the company fundage and not being able to cover them all ourselves, I'm first on the list to be covered with any donations. I'm pretty sure that will happen, but I would love to come up with all of it, or at least a large portion. I do also have to get a few other supplies to take with me. I was talking to Ken on instant messenger and he brought up the idea that I could try and get a family sponsorship. So here's the pitch, if you could help out with even $20 bucks I could go to the organizers with AGC and tell them that I need less money and maybe someone else could come that otherwise wouldn't. Ken has pledged his share and encouraged that I make this pitch. I plan on taking our video camera and documenting some of the trip to present to my boss, but I will of course share that with all of the family.

If you're wondering what we're gonna do there, I am too. I'm told that all Habitat for Humanity requires is that you are willing to work an 8 hour day each day and provide your own transportation to and from New Orleans. We will be working on the Musician's Village and staying at Camp Hope which is located in a former elementary school. So if you're interested and able to help a little, let me know.

Peter