Check www.heartcity.com site for info and photos of the devastating fire in Valentine, Nebraska. 113 degree heat and sparks. Melody and John Sim's home, no longer the owners, was burned to the ground. That is, they did not own it when it burned, thank goodness. However, you may see areas you remember, like the fish hatchery, etc. Take a look. Dad

That is how many visitors we have had to this site since April 2005. Wow, a lot of traffic. I tried at one time to add some advertisements to the blog so that we could get some revenue off all the visits that could be earmarked for reunion get togethers but it was a pain and I realized that 25000 really isn't that much in relation to the other sites that make a lot of money off visits, plus the fact that people would have to click on them to make it work. Basically, not worth it to buy a tootsie pop for everyone at the reunion.

Awesome news from all. Kim is about ready to pop, Tom is about ready to be a tired abused man, Tracie is about to become a lonely woman, Marnie is gallivanting around the country, Andrew is double-sucking, Mike makes me a not-so-lonely person in HP, Mom & Dad are racking up the FF miles, B&B are planning the new cottage, Grandma is breaking bones daily, it seems, and the Germany Stinchies are sending pictures. Ah, what fun!

Washougal Stinchfield's are cruising along. Can't believe it is almost November!! Practice acquisition takes place in 2 months, nerve-racking, but going really well. We are growing. These next two weeks I have a million Scoutmaster Training "opportunities". All day tomorrow. Tuesday 3 hrs. Overnighter next Fri/Sat. Can't wait until I get all this preliminary training out of the way and just settle down into a normal schedule. Soccer ends soon, so that'll help as well.

I went backpacking with Isaac last weekend. We went up eagle creek about 4 miles. It is a canyon on the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge just west of the Bridge of the Gods. The hike was precarious at times with 200 foot cliffs dropping off the right side of the 4 ft wide trail. Luckily they had cable hand rails to grab onto. Not too much traffic up there after we passed all the day hikers coming down. There is a waterfall called Punchbowl Falls, very beautiful, almost unreal. Then there was this High Bridge area where a bridge went over the "creek". It was a ravine only about 15 feet wide that was about 100 ft deep at least, with the water at the bottom. Kind of took your breath away standing over it. We then found a place to set up camp. There was no one else around. We heard some backpackers over on the trail a couple of times while we were eating dinner. I was tired but Isaac wanted to start a fire. I let him try for 20 mins before he gave up...good, I wanted to go to bed. I'll teach him how to start a fire another day. It was pitch black once the sun went down. Couldn't see your hand in front of your fact. You could hear the creek down deep in the ravine, but that was it. Glad Isaac doesn't sleep walk. While we were talking laying there in our sleeping bags, we could hear something walking around outside out tent and could hear it breathing. I said "Hello!", but no answer. It was there about 5 mins, then walked away. Who knows. The whole time though I was thinking, "You idiot!! Why did you put our food in our packs IN the tent!! Didn't you learn anything as a boy scout!" I was just waiting for a bear to help itself to some leftover dehydrated meat lasagna with a little side of Dave and Isaac, but it didn't happen. I had my hatchet right there for easy retrieval though, just in case we got a guest. Like I would have been able to do anything. I was just thinking about how Black bears are the most likely bear to be around there and how the experts say you are supposed to be aggressive and charge them...they will run away. Again, this is only for black bears, not Grizzlies. I was ready to try it. We left to go back the next morning, starting our hike in the pitch black, so that we could return for Parkers soccer game (I am the coach) at 0900. We made it just in time. Sore hips for a couple of days because I have not carried an extra 60 lbs. on my hips for a while. But they are doing better.

Already signed up for Hood to Coast next year. Any family members here in Clark County want to help as volunteers or drivers? I guarantee you will enjoy it. Let me know. I have been laying off running since the Marathon in September. My time was poor, 4hrs 40mins, but I completed it limping due to the injury I had sustained before the Hood to Coast. Letting it heal then I will be back in it. I'm not stopping Buffy! I miss it already. One of those runner things I guess.

Isaac is growing by leaps and bounds. Not only physically but in responsibility and maturity. Really weird to see. Maybe it is middle school doing it. The one thing that I am very glad of is that he still reads a lot...and I mean a lot. He'll have two large series going simultaneously and be able to keep track of it all, amazing. We try to encourage and support that at all times...except at 11pm on a weekday, which we do have to contend with occasionally. He is doing real well in soccer and is better than me at guitar. He just absorbs the guitar stuff naturally. His fingers move faster and, the kicker, he practices more than me. Most of all I love that he loves to do stuff with the family and he loves to hang out with me, I want to keep that going as long as possible.

Taylor, Parker and Morgan are doing well. All the kids are doing well at school, can't complain there. A tribute to their mother staying in the home and encouraging them, couldn't do it without her.

Lunch is over, I better get back to work. Good to see you all are doing so well. Congrats again Tom, you'll love it. I'll add some pictures from our latest escapades when I am home.

Dave

So we got word from the Navy that Tom got the GPR but we don't know where... hopefully we'll find out mid November (or sooner if Kenn can pull some strings for us!) Also just wanted to let you know that Tom graduates on May 20th. Some of the girls are counting down and informed me that is only 7 months away... That really is soon! After much deliberation and looking into all the gyms around here (which are really expensive!!) We have decided that we are buying a treadmill as our big Christmas gift this year. Going to Curves for the winter months would end up costing me nearly $500!!! And they are only open for very limited hours. The gym at Case is slightly cheaper and they have babysitting during some hours but honestly it would take me at least 2 hours to drag the kids to the gym everyday! I am finally enjoying my exercise and I don't want to lose it. They say that any investment in your health is a good one and that makes sense. I feel happier all around when I have the chance to run in the morning. So hopefully once the treadmill arrives I can do it without freezing or spending two hours dragging the kids to the gym.

Danica is still having problems sleeping...if I only had one kid it wouldn't matter so much but once I am awake for the day I can't stop until late so I can't get up at 5am!!! She started by waking up at 7, but it's gotten progressively earlier. Some days it's around 4:30 or 5 and we can't get her back to sleep! We have begun another cry it out campaign...Hayden is sleeping in our bed, from the beginning of the night and if she wakes up we are doing nothing. It wasn't that bad the last time we did it so hopefully she will relearn fairly quickly. I'll put up with 6am, I'd like 7 and would prefer 8 but I won't do 5!!!!! So this is our plan... We've got our ear plugs ready... Poor little angel. She is such a sweetheart it just breaks my heart but that is what being a parent is all about I suppose! Luckily, she only woke up a few times the first night and last night she was awesome, she slept from 8:00-7:00 with no crying!!! Woohoo!!! Hopefully she'll do that again tonight and start a new improved routine!

Hayden is still loving preschool and begs me every day to have someone over for a playdate. He was in the primary program this past Sunday and acted exactly how you might expect. He made faces, lifted his shirt up, got "too tired" to stand during the songs and talked and laughed whenever he wanted. When "Follow the Prophets" came on he yelled out "This is my favorite song!" and then proceeded to humm it so it looked like he was just standing there. He was however very cute, he never left his seat (unlike many other sunbeams) and he remembered his little speaking part perfectly. Not bad for the youngest Sunbeam in the ward. We've started a new system where he has to earn his video game/computer game time by doing chores and such. Today was the first day and it went well but I am sure the novelty will wear off soon. But I'm going to stick with the program because he is getting really lazy about helping clean up and always fights doing his really simply chores. Plus he begs to play his games ALL day! So hopefully this will help both problems! We'll see...

We got our pictures taken the other day. Although she literally took over 200 pictures there isn't a single one where both Danica and Hayden are happy at the same time. But that's just life. We're learning how to photo shop them and what not but here's a preview of one of the many!

Have a great weekend! I gotta go sleep! Bye

We have had a dry spell haven't we? I know more people check it than write as I am one of the culprits. I decided that I'd turn over a new leaf and add some of my news which is not much.

We had a great weekend down in California. Dad really enjoyed his high school reunion and seeing all of his old friends...who are many! He made up a slide show of pictures from the yearbook which was a great hit. We were hoping to do a session at the Sacramento temple but when I finally got someone to answer the phone there the sessions were all filled. It is really a beautiful temple! We went and walked around it on the outside. It is one of the small ones but does not appear small from the outside due to some archways in front.

We then went down to the Edlingers on Sunday starting out with Stake Conference. That was fun since it was at the interstake center where I went to stake conferences when I was living in Berkeley. Russell Nelson was there since they were putting in a new stake presidency. We had third row seats since we had gotten there early because Pepi and Carol were in the choir. Çan you believe Pepi....he is more active as a non-member than many other active members!!! We then had a great dinner with their family. As we have told many of you, three of their kid's families live in houses next to them so Katie's family, Mike's family and Liesl's family were there...with twelve kids altogether. We thought it was chaotic with nine!!!

We then bummed around with them on Monday morning and flew back here in the evening. Life since then has been pretty uneventful. Kim gave us a scare on Tuesday with a little false labor but I am hoping she will hold off until after this weekend. John and Melody Sims are coming on Friday for the night. We already had tickets with Dave and Adina to Cirque di Soleil so we're going to all go out to dinner before it and then John and Melody will take one of the cars home and we'll go to the show. They will be staying at the house for the night Then Adina, Buffy and I will be going to Time Out for Women in Tacoma on Saturday.

I had lunch with Maylene Perkins today...to jog memories, they lived in our ward in San Diego and moved up here a year ago. We had them for dinner in February...the infamous night of the battle of the blinds...I think both Mike and David's families were here.

Speaking of Grandma, she broke her pelvis at some time in the last two weeks so her movement is really limited. She is on some pretty strong pain meds so she doesn't seem in too much pain. She had a bad night last night...very distraught and didn't sleep much so she was really weird today..shaky and very uncommunicative. Hopefully she will sleep better tonight so she can get back to her usual self...confused but fairly happy.

Love you all...Mike, I'll leave it up to you to give your news to all when it is appropriate!

Mom

Since no one else is blogging I figured I will put up some more pictures of my recent adventures...


Hiding in the corn maze

Picking apple at an orchard near Julian

Vanna White-ing the beautiful fall colors...they do exist in Southern California!!

Michelle and Me with the fall leaves

Before the trip but this is from October 4th - The Premiere of Season 3 for guess which show!?



Dinner at Benihana's for my birthday


After the concert with my butterfly confetti


After the concert with Matthew


Re-enacting Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in the Imperial sand dunes



Re-enacting a Lost picture in the sand dunes


Adventure in the dunes! 3MChanklas to the rescue!

"The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."
Jill Churchill

Well I guess Andrew has found his thumb or should I say thumbs. He is now beginning to suck his right thumb which really consists of 2 thumbs. Peter isn't all to happy about it but he can't really do much to stop it when I won't. We went to his 2 month appoinment last monday and he is 24 1/4 inches long (90th percentile) and 13 pounds (75th percentile). He is a growing boy and wasn't too happy to have to get shots. We had a rough evening after the shots but all is well now and he is back to his happy smiling self except that he has started to whine and cry if Peter and I just walk away to like the kitchen or somewhere else in the house and leave him on the couch. Oh well, I still love the little booger. Well he is yelping for me to come get him from bed. We love you all!

Love, Anne

I would like to thank you for that really demented video. It was disturbing and of course Sadie loved it. Also, the voices get stuck in my head, so yesterday during Sacrament meeting, yes sacrament meeting, Sadie hands me one of her my little ponies and asks me to play with her and I HAVE TO lean over and whisper to Mike and Sadie, "Come on Charlie." It just couldn't be held inside.

Adina, Sadie is obsessed with death as well. But she has a different take. First of all I have to assure her frequently that I am not going to die- hopefully I'll just get twinkled so I'm not a liar, next that she is not going to die. I've tried explaining that it won't happen till we are really old etc... but that isn't satisfactory. The next part of her obsession is things in her food that she is worried will kill her. Today at lunch for example she tore apart her entire cheese tortilla to look inside the cheese to make sure nothing would kill her. She also wanted me to take off all the toasted brown parts on her tortillas and asked if the nuts-her word not mine, the peel, the white stuff inside the orange was going to kill her. YES!!!

So I posted a novel last week on my family blog and was going to transfer it over but the blogger site was not connecting. I know some of you read that as well but I thought I would post it over here too. Sorry, it's a novel.


So a bit of a rundown as to what we have been up to. This past weekend was a four day weekend for Mike and Jane so Friday morning we woke the girls up at 6, dressed the little ones in their Sleeping Beauty dresses and Jane in a church dress, loaded them into the beamer and drove down to Neuschwanstein castle aka Disney's inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. The castle is built right into the foot of the Alps. It wasn't too crowded, I guess during the summer there is a three hour wait but we only waited long enough to get in some great pics. We were going to take the carriage ride to the top of the hill (where the castle is) but that was a bit of a wait so we just started walking. It was hillarious though because all the Japanese tourists were just oooing and aahhing over the girls, especially Sadie. She had those blond curls and a little bow in her hair and was skipping along happily and they just died. We even had one guy ask to take a picture with her. Too funny. So after touring the castle we went over to this little park we had seen on the drive in. It had a playground and a gondola that went to the very top and an alpine slide. So the girls changed clothes and took rides on the alpine slides in the Alps. A bit surreal. Definitely a wonderful day. Saturday we just hung out at home, made lots of good food and played games. Sunday my friend and her three girls came over for dinner while her husband was in Poland with his parents. Monday we went to a very cool swimming pool complex in Amberg, about 20 minutes away. It has about seven different pools with varying degrees of warmth, a little kiddie area, a water slide, and a pool that went outside as well as in (with plastic flap curtains) that stays open even in the winter. We had so much fun and we didn't even see any naked body parts that should be covered. I guess during the summer there's a better chance of that, I can't wait. Sooo... before we went to the pool we went to a kid's store and bought a new stroller. Germany is not really made for double joggers and the umbrella stroller is like hell on wheels, literally. So after taking that up to the castle for a day and going up waaay steep hills with wheels going askew and the handles reaching all the way to our thighs we made a new stroller a first priority. So we got one that is a very narrow, big wheeled (not jogging stroller size) stroller and then we are going to order what is called a buggy board for Sadie. It attaches to the rear of the stroller and your child can stand there when they are too tired to walk any more. Sade is just at that in between stage and a day of walking around poops her out and carrying her poops us out. The board will cost more than the stroller, but it should be worth it.

So there you have it. The rest of the week I have been trying to catch up on laundry and housework. Mike and I play a board game every night and most of the time I kick his booty. Pretty fun. Tonight we are watching the Season Premiere of Battle Star Galactica and we are sooo excited. We are total nerds.

There it is. Hope you are all doing well. love, Brooke

So you guys will probably think this is weird and that I am weird because I think it is HILARIOUS...but you have to give it a chance. Just watch it and you will think it is stupid and then you will have the voices in your head for the next couple days...then you will watch it again and appreciate it's hilarity. I had to show it to you guys. :)

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes! It was a really fun one and I feel very loved to get a wish from all of you!

The trip to Phoenix was quick but fun. There is a whole lotta desert out there but it was really pretty, especially on the way back around sunset. We drove out on Tuesday morning then had dinner, concert, sleep, breakfast, and drove back. The Mariah Carey concert was super fun. We had awesome seats...5th row center! So close! I could have touched her if I wanted to. She has an amazing voice and, as I said to Matthew, it is even more amazing that she can sing like that while wearing so little clothing, I mean come on, there are a lot of muscles a-movin' when you sing like that...I sure wouldn't be comfortable.

On our drive we had to stop at customs and be checked by the Border Patrol about 3 times. It was funny because the first time they stopped us me and Matthew didn't know what they were asking about when they just said "Citizenship?"...I thought maybe he wanted to see something that proved I was a citizen and Matthew was getting his ID when Michelle just yelled from the back seat "We're American!" That gave us about an hours worth of make-jokes-off-of-that entertainment.

Now I am back to real life. I got a much needed night off yesterday so I could watch my shows. I really love Grey's Anatomy...very good. Lost was awesome this week. I got to watch it at Michelle's sister Aimee's condo and she has HDTV. It is SO much better in HD...so if you have to capabilities to watch it that way you should. I guess there was something in the episode that was clear to me but no one else that I have talked to. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it so if you are curious you will just have to contact me otherwise.

I really should get some work done now. Just wanted to report. Oh and as the title indicates, pictures are coming from the birthday - Matthew has them on his camera.

Just to get off the negative blogging, today is Friday the 13th and......well, it's going to be a good day. Jenell, Sue and Craig are flying up today to see Gramma Esther. They arrive this afternoon and will stay for a few days. The other side of that coin is that mom and I are leaving tomorrow for Sacramento for my 40th high school reunion. That is Saturday evening. Sunday, we will be in Lafayette for their stake conference at the Oakland Temple site. Carol and Pepi will be singing in the service choir. Mom and I plan to attend and stay the night with them. Russel Nelson is the scheduled speaker. We come home on Monday and get back into our usual week. Then, that next weekend is Cirque de Solei Delirium. We've heard good things about it. This will be our first Cirque. So, I'm off to work, just thought I'd upturn this blog and get a brighter picture going. Dad

For those of you who remember Jason Fry when we lived in Bremerton and San Diego, he was on his mission to Durban (sp), South Africa and was on his P-day yesterday with other missionaries. He apparently attempted to jump across a 7 ft. crevice or some open obstacle, mis-judged the distance or overshot his intended landing area and fell over a cliff to his death. I have only bits and pieces of info gleaned from Sis Ellsworth, Kim and Sis Leavitt. Kim will probably know more about it than I but thought you might remember the Paul Fry family, now residing in Silverdale, WA,.in your prayers.

Dad

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday little sis. Hope that is happy enough for ya. Can't wait for you to move up here. Mom and Dad have a room open in March. Happy 25th again.

Love Brent and Buffy

Al-Mormon

Peter really wanted me to blog this....hope you guys like it! - Anne

Just wanted to say happy birthday, marnie! hope you are having a great one!! even if you do have to work. I was at blockbuster the other day and milo and otis was on. made me think of you!

Kimberly

Hey Marnie,

Happy birthday! I can't believe you are a quarter of a century old now. That means I am next. Anyways, Hope you have a good time rockin away to Mariah Carey. I just wanted you to know that you are such a great person and even though we live far apart, I have always and will always look up to you. I love you dude and hope I can kick your butt in fafarazzi this time around, I am tired of ending up in 4th place. Anyways, have a good day and Peter and Andrew send their love and happy birthdays your way also.

Love,
Anne

Wow - I can still see you as a little girl, pounding on the piano or sneaking her way into pictures being taken, or handcuffed to a chair! We love you and hope you have a great and safe time at the concert - and wish you the best on your birthday!
Love, Dave, Adina, Isaac, Taylor, Parker & Morgan

I hope you have a great trip to Arizona today...and a great concert! We really enjoyed the time with you last week and our birthday dinner at Outback. Next time we are down that way we'll have to make reservations early at Benihana and do that...

I am so glad you joined our family 25 years ago. How thrilled we all were to have our first little girl!

We all love you!

Mom

Well Marnie, here's to a quarter century and good times, We hope you have a great birthday that apparently will be full of beautiful 70 degree weather. Enjoy. Tom, Tracey, and Hayden and Danica.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Marnie, happy birthday to you. We all hope you have a wonderful day. We miss you and I think that for your next birthday you should come here. It's beautiful and all the tourists are gone. I'll plant that seed now.

Love, Brooke, Mike, and three beautiful girls

Well I thought I would title this blog with a lyric from a rap song some dude wrote that is constantly playing on our radio here. It is a real rap song not one of those parody songs. Anyways, things are going well here in Idaho. Andrew is growing bigger by the day. He goes in for his 2 month check up tomorrow even though he is 2 1/2 months old. We are getting them done now because we didn't want a crabby baby on our trip to Newport Beach if he reacted badly to them. It being a mom and I love it more with every smile that I get out of him.

Peter and I are doing well also, just working and school and coaching. High School volleyball ends this week so I will have a 2 week break before club tryouts start and then practices start in December. We don't quite know when we will be home for christmas but expect us there for a week. I can't wait to see you all and for you all to see our big boy.

Well he is whining as he has been the last couple of days and I need to give him some attention. Oh yeah and we realized that something about In-N-Out he does not like and the days after having it he was being a real pill. Kinda sucks to know that but it would suck even more if we lived near an In-N-Out. Love you all!

Love, Anne

So, did anybody watch the Nine or Heroes. We liked both of them a lot. Let me know. All I need is more TV to watch. Tom

Hey all!

Well, 4 more weeks to go or less. I am getting Braxton hicks everyday while I am working… yes, I am working until she is born so we will see how fun this will be for me. I went to the doctor last week and told him about the Braxton hicks and he felt where she was at. He said that she has already dropped and her head is exactly where it is supposed to be. Good sign and I have another appointment on Monday so we will see what is going on then. I am still saying November 4th as the due date though, as much as the doctor tells me it looks earlier because that’s what Anne’s doctor said too. So again, we will see!

Treven got the job with Pepsi which is great because we get health insurance through the company for the family and he gets paid 9 dollars/hour which is GREAT for Rexburg. Only downside is that we won’t be able to come home for more than a weekend during Christmas. We will see how everything goes…

The temple has Angel Moroni on the top now and they light the steeple at night. It is absolutely beautiful because you can see it wherever you are at in Rexburg basically. It will be very exciting when it finally does get finished.

We are just working and getting prepared for Melia. Washington was great fun! I had to come back and go work 49.5 hours the last week of September so sorry I couldn’t blog at all. We are getting ready to register for classes in November. I am going to try and take as many on-line courses as I can so it will be easier to juggle. Treven is going to try and take 2 classes on-line as well. We will see how it works out.

Adina, I am trying to figure out what Treven wants to, but I will definitely find out soon and get back to you. Brooke, I need ideas for Ellyn for Christmas. Marnie, I missed the first 20 minutes of Lost the other night because of work. It aired at 8 pm here and I got off at 8:10 so yeah… I missed some.

That is really all I can think of right now. Just thought I would blog and let you know what is going on in Idaho. No snow yet, but definitely lots of rain.

Love you all,
Kimberly

I sure am enjoying all the pictures that are posted on here - that Newport sunshine has me a little green with envy, not to mention the Germany pictures! K&B - I apologize for not getting back to you sooner about the tickets to Sweet Charity, but I don't think I am going to use them. Isaac has a game tomorrow night and I see so little of my husband these days, I think I will elect to stay close to home. I appreciate the offer - not sure if Buffy would still like them for her and Brent or something.

No major new developments...as January approaches, a lot of our time is spent ironing out practice details. Appointments and phone calls to the lawyer and accountant really bring it all home and leave me with a bit of anxiety - but I have much faith in Dr. Davis and in David - I'm sure it will all work out in the end.

We went to visit Grandma Esther on her birthday - it was a great visit as she was in the most excellent of moods. She proclaimed that this was her best birthday ever and complained that she had to wait til she was 'almost dead' to have such a great birthday. She then went on to extoll the many virtues of Kenny and remind us that he bought that home she is in and that he used to date her caretaker, Maria. All in all, it was a very nice visit.

I am officially old (thanks for all the birthday wishes, by the way). After picking up Isaac and his friend from middle school, I had to sit there and listen to them talk about what girls liked which boys, etc. I am so not ready for this part of raising children.
Taylor is any parent's dream. He comes home, does his homework, brushes his teeth, takes a shower every day - I really don't have to tell him to do anything. Nice.
Parker is the polar opposite. I tell him 10 times and he still is slow to respond.
And Morgan, currently on a 'death' trip. We pass by the local cemetary fairly often and she is obsessed with the dead people in the boxes. We have had the whole death discussion, so now she will turn to me out of nowhere and say, "You are going to die, Mommy." Thank you very much.

Kim & Brooke - we need some Christmas ideas for your spouses, so if you could brainstorm on that a bit and e-mail us, it would be greatly appreciated!

Love you all - take care...
Adina

We added new pictures to our website, check out the link to the right!

Tracey