Some from HohenSalzburg

The one photo is underground at the Salzburg salt mine. We were some 250 meters underground and took this wooden slide down to deeper parts of the mine. The 2.5 km tour included traveling across an underground lake on a raft/barge in the dark. Very good tour.

These are photos in and around Salzburg

Unless more of these are wanted from Prague, this is it for Prague.

So the first of the photos come from Prague. More to follow.

No photos until we get home. I cannot upload from this server. We got home from Venice about two hours ago and are washing, drying and getting to bed. We had a wonderful drive to Salzburg on Tuesday. We stayed there two nights and toured the local city, HohenSalzburg Castle and of course, Hotel Steinlechner...mom's old haunt. It is still there. She didn't recognize it at first but you could see the wave of memory come over her as she stood outside the yellow building. The city was beautiful and full of great things to see. We drove out to the site of Sound of Music but did not get out to visit the home and grounds there. We wanted to get to the salt mines for a tour. That was a great trip. You travel on a bench like train with about 30 people dressed in all white. Sort of like a temple trip underground. Anyway we descended 250 meters down into the underground maze of tunnels, etc. The tour was a walk...yes, a long walk through head-banging tunnels for about 2.5 km. We went by a small barge across an underground lake inside a darkened cavern with music playing and pictures projected on the walls of the cavern. Quite interesting down on a lake with sound surround in the dark. Eerie. You will see when the photos are out, pictures of us descending down into the mine deeper on wooden slides. You straddle them, not sit in them. Let me tell you, after a long slide the heat does build up on your undersides. Youch.

Out of there, we elected to go ahead and go down to Venice. We did not have reservations so we called Martha from the car. She found us a wonderful room on the island of Lido, across from Venice. Well worth the trip and to Martha, we are indebted for her knowing her way around Europe. There was not a glitch in the visit. The room was ready and we spent two nights there.

Now, for the info on Venice, you'll have to stand by as the rest of the family has now deserted me and gone to bed. I am losing my awakedness and am about to go to sleep myself. So, in words to follow.....the trip to Venice and beyond. Dad

I've added new photos to our family website, check out the link on the side! Thanks!

It is 8:35, the kitchen is clean, the laundry is folded, the kids are in bed - feeling pretty good. Dave is at Scouts, Kim is visiting her sister-in-law, so I have a spare moment to read the blogs.

Marnie - you are so brave with your hair and you carry it off well. I am still inspired by your commitment to training and enjoy hearing how it is going - when is the half-marathon you are planning on running?
Brooke - glad to hear you are well again - we think of you all the time and marvel at how amazing you are. Don't bother denying it. Sure do miss having you here with summer approaching...(sigh)
Tom & Tracey - I dreamt that it snowed here last night - thought of you guys. Actually, it is raining a lot here, but it's not too cold. We were spoiled last week with really warm weather - which was good timing because it was Spring Break and the kids played out all week.

We took Esther to her appt, Barb - she did well and was as pleasant as ever. They didn't tell me anything new and so I am assuming they will keep you updated.

Dave and I have been running together. Not something I ever liked doing because he is so much faster than me - but it has been working out well lately. We are up to our 5 & 6-mile runs on the weekend - so far, so good. We need to get our room in Leavenworth...

Dave takes off for Arizona next week - I may join him for the weekend, we are undecided.

No exciting news - but sure love all the blogs - glad everyone is doing so well.
Adina

That song just entered my brain for some reason (and no, it is not in reference to my stay in the town of Singleton). I think it has something to do with my hair today. My boss, Michelle, said that I look more like a hippie but I would definitely go with swiss milk maid, minus the costume, of course.

It is a beautiful day in San Diego and I am spending it in my office as always. But I will be getting outta here soon. Today I am finally finishing up a massive project that I took on a few weeks ago. Our warehouse was a complete disaster area, no organization, impossible to find things if our shipping manager was gone. So I decided to organize it, I mean REALLY organize it. I think any of you could go in there now and put together a 'kit' to be shipped. Or I hope you could because that was my goal. So anyone with half a brain could go in there and figure it out. My shipping manager thinks it is a little overkill since only six people work here but better that than shipping the wrong thing. I have also been revamping our printing system (like how we know what needs to be printed and who does what and how it gets approved, etc.) I just ordered about 16 different items (usually it is more like one at a time) so it should be on track after those are done. Anyway, big job and I am relieved it is over and really hoping it stays organized and doesn't get all screwed up again.

I just realized today that it is almost halfway through April so I really need to get crackin' on studying for the GMAT since I need to take it by July. I have been doing a little here and there but I really need to learn that stuff if I am going to get this show on the road and be in a MBA program by next January.

Training is still going well. I slacked a bit at the beginning of last week because Matthew was in town from LA but I am definitely not going to do that again. It really made it harder when I started up again. Yesterday my run was probably pretty amusing to watch because I was dodging the incoming tide on Del Mar beach the whole time! I am still steadily improving though which is nice. I just need to keep reminding myself that the feeling of being skinnier tastes much better than those McD's french fries I've been craving! Thanks for talking me out of that one Adina and Kimmy!

I recently fell back in love with the Anne of Green Gables series of movies thanks to a random mention on an entertainment/fashion blog. Jane, Sadie and Morgan would probably all love those movies and books if they haven't already seen/read them. I just rented the 3rd one "The Continuing Story" but have yet to watch it. It got mixed reviews so we will see. May have the Scarlett effect.

Still watching the beloved shows. Still a whole-hearted LOST fan as well even though others have the ups and downs. Tonight's episode should be really good so I am really looking forward to it. I have also been listening to the audio recording of the 5th Harry Potter book again in preparation for the movie. I am starting to get pretty dang excited for the last book to come out in July. I even requested that day off from Sport Chalet so I can spend all Saturday shut up in my house with my phone off reading it, as I am sure many others will do too. Or maybe I am just crazy and obsessed...who knows really?

Anyway, I am sure all in Germany/Europe are having a great time. Can't wait to see pictures and hear the stories! Sorry about the snow Tracey but you don't have too much longer till you get to enjoy the weather out here! Love to hear from all of you!

I hope to update our little family website soon with all the pictures from the last few months but here are a few in the meantime.


Thank you so much for the Easter package, Grandma Barb and Papa! Danica has loved her purse and Hayden's had a blast with his straws!


Easter morning!

Well, as usual I can’t complain about the dead blogg when I am not contributing. So here is the latest and greatest on Cleveland. First of all, we got two feet of snow over the weekend! Not unheard of around here with the infamous Cleveland weather but still made for a interesting weekend. The Indians series had to be cancelled and the games this week were moved to Wisconsin. There are pictures in the newspaper of the kids out searching for Easter eggs in the snow! Tom spent 30 minutes digging out the car so we could make it to church on Sunday morning and then we got stuck in the driveway trying to come home because it snowed non-stop while were at church! Very exciting day! We had planned to have Geof. and Darla Bennett visit from Sunday to Wednesday but they weren’t able to make it at the last minute. They recently moved to Virginia for his job as a pilot and they can fly standby for free. However, all of the flights were full. Hopefully they will make it out another time. The good thing was that Lexi was gracious enough to allow us to re-invite ourselves to their house for dinner, after canceling on them previously. So we had a great time seeing them and eating delicious food on Sunday.
On Saturday night we dyed Easter eggs and Hayden had selected a Star Wars kit so his eggs look like all his favorite characters. You can see from the pictures how proud he is of them. Danica didn’t do so well at the egg thing and just ended up throwing her egg on the ground and cracking it to pieces. Oh well. A few funny kid stories from yesterday (my memory is so bad I can’t remember any from before that!):
We had a little girl and her little brother over yesterday and out of the blue she says, “Oh look, there are three girls and two boys here.” Hayden immediately pipes up and says “No, there are 4 girls and 2 boys because of the girl in my mom’s tummy!”
Last night at bedtime I was trying to convince Hayden to say the prayer but he wanted me to say it. I said I would but that meant that I would get the blessings from it. So as I was about to finish the prayer he interrupted and said “Wait, and bless me!” So I said “And please bless Hayden” and finished the prayer. Immediately Hayden plops down on his pillow, smiles and says “Ahhh, that’s one blessing I get!”
During family home evening last night we were discussing the true meaning of Easter. We had talked about this before but driving home from church on Sunday we talked about it and I realized he still didn’t get it. So anyway, we were discussing being resurrected and he kept interrupting and saying “Will we have Lego Star Wars when we are resurrected?” I would try to move on but he kept bringing it up he was so worried about it!
Danica doesn’t say nearly as many funny things since she barely talks but she is really into farm animals right now and says the sounds for cow and duck. But Danica says a lot without using any sounds at all, she is very communicative with her “look.” She is going to be one of those people who can make you cower simply by giving her disapproving look. If she doesn’t like what you are telling her or if she doesn’t know a person she simply puts her head down, doesn’t move and waits for it to be over. Or she will look at you with the pathetically sad face like you are the worst person in the world! It’s hilarious. Maybe I”ll catch a picture of it one day.
The pregnancy is still going well. I can feel the baby kicking all the time now and am really starting to look at feel pregnant (or maybe I just ate way too much Easter candy!) We have been really slacking on the treadmill lately. It’s hard to get motivated on the treadmill when a week ago I was able to be running outside. I even went without the kids one morning while Tom was home, that was a treat! But we got the treadmill because of weather like this. So, our new “rule” is that between Tom and I one of us has to run everyday, hopefully we can try to motivate each other.
We do have one major thing that has happened recently, Tom took his boards!!! They were over the last few days of March. He’s says it’s not worth blogging about until he knows his scores. Hopefully they went okay, we will know for sure in the next few weeks!! In Tom’s own words, if he passed that will be a “glorious day!” The dread, stress, anticipations and such have been immense and it will be great to have it all behind us! In the meantime he is just wrapping things up at the clinic. He is done in the clinic on April 27th and officially done with everything on May 4th.
Well that is all I should write for now, we got the kids in bed early and I should take advantage of the time to do something. Although if it’s up to Tom we will be playing worms or Battlelore! Take care!

We'll try it later. I tried to upload two photos and it did not take. The information at the bottom of the screen is all in German so I'm not certain what happened. I believe the low bandwidth here is a killer for uploading photos. I know Mike does it somehow. Maybe if I do one at a time it will work at a later time. We are headed to Prague today. Yesterday was just a beautiful drive up through some beautiful valleys, "coulees"-like, and countryside. More to follow. Dad

Hi, its me, Jane! We are having such a fun time here with grandma and papa. Last night at about 11:00 at night I was drifting off to sleep when I heard screaming. For a minute I thought it was just a bad dream but when I opened my eyes I heard swearing and this man was right outside my house and drunk. I called to my dad and he said he heard it to. He went to his office and looked out his window to the sidewalk. Then when my dad started to put on his pants to go outside papa came out of his room and said the man had said that he was going to get rocks. So instead of going out he called the police. Mean while the man was now where I could see him walking. Papa came into my room and we turned off all the lights and looked to see where he was walking so we could tell the police where he was going. The man looked more like a waddling duck than a drunk man. All the sudden the man swirved to the left right infront of my friends house. He must have gone through the short to my school, found some rocks and came up the oppisite side of the path about 7 minutes later. He had the evil laugh that you here in movies and was yelling that he had rocks. We called the police again and told them where he was and they caught him in seconds Love Ya!

Jane

I meant to call a few of you yesterday but whenever I thought of it, the time would have been off. Then we got busy with dinner and one of Mike's board games...then we were tired and went to bed.

We went for a ride yesterday down to Pottenstein which is a really rocky canyon area. Very interesting since it was crowded with campers and hikers who were out for Easter Sunday..and spring break which is this week.

I think we will be going to Prague today for the day. It is just about 90 minutes away...sounds fun. Tomorrow after Brooke's doctor appointment we'll be heading down to Salzburg for three days. I haven't been there for 38 years...it will be interesting to see how it has changed.

I hope all of your Easter dinners went well...We love all of you! Brooke is doing much better as she said below.

Mom

To all-I'm fine. I just felt like there hadn't been quite enough drama in the past week and a half from the Mike Stinchfield clan. No new bleeding, baby was moving around and very active when I went in. They think I just tore my placenta and the only way I can think of was holding Ellyn for about 30 mins. at a change of command the other day. I hold her all the time but I can't think of anything else. Maybe this was just a little warning that now is a good time to start putting her down. I thought that the huge belly coming soon would be a natural deterrent (sp?).

I have found the one disadvantage to Barb transferring my blogs and that is that I feel self conscious getting on here to write because there is already a blog. Also, everything that I would have written is pretty much covered except for comments unique to this side of the family. So, while I'm on here- Adina, your blogs crack me up, Brent and Buffy your house looks beautiful, and to all the birthdays I have missed this past month and a half- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I remembered my camera the other day to snap a picture of the beautiful view I get to see when I go running in Del Mar. It was a little cloudy so not the best but it's an idea. :)

Hi, we are just wondering if anyone knows how Brooke is doing? Please let us know! Thanks!

Happy Birthday Taylor! I too can't believe that you are actually 9 years old! So crazy! :)

Update on San Diego. This last couple weeks has been quite the time for me. I got hit with a lot of real fun expenses...between taxes and my car it just wasn't so fun. Everything is fine now and taken care of so now I feel a lot better.

I have just been working and exercising mostly. Hanging out with friends when I can. Nothing too out of the ordinary. I have been exploring a lot of different beach runs in the last couple weeks. I still really prefer running by the ocean, always nice to enjoy how close I am to it. :) The beach at La Jolla is my favorite but there are still a lot of places I need to try.

It is great to hear from all of you guys! Can't wait to have Tom, Tracey and fam nearby, it'll be really nice to have family close. So on the Mtn dew thing...did you actually give the mtn dew to Andrew or were you just thinking about it? Looked like there should have been a picture there or something...

Anyway, hope everyone is great and Taylor enjoys his birthday!

First I want to say happy birthday to Taylor and I hope he has a great 9th birthday! I can't believe you are nine, I just remember when I came and visited in Ohio the summer after Taylor was born. And remember the classic Taylor cheesy smile. Well we love you Taylor and hope you have a great birthday!
Well I guess I should probably post what is going on in our lives lately. We are almost done with school, we just have finals left this week. Melia and I are coming to Vancouver on Monday until Saturday. The reason why: We don't move into our new apartment until the 20th of April and we had to be moved out of our other aprtment on March 31st. It was a fun week last week! Now we are livng in our friend's house who Treven works with. They were very nice in offering us somewhere to stay. They live in a mobile home and there is 3 rooms and 2 bathrooms. It is so nice though because our room and bathroom are on oppostie sides of the house from their bedroom so it is seperated. Of course though, right as we move in, their plumbing broke and they had to turn off the water so we can't go to the bathroom or take showers. But it is getting fixed today so yay! It was my last day of work last night. Sad, but excited at the same time. I loved working there and will definitely miss the product checks, but mom, buffy and adina might become customers. Then I can just get products through them. By the way, if you ladies do decide to become members, you 3 should all go together on one account and have one main person as the name and the others as authorized users. Yeah, i will explain more when
I get home if you want me to. Anyways, it is going to be nice not to have to leave Melia and have more time for homework since I am taking 16 credits next semester. I have to take 15 or more for the fast grad program.
Melia is getting bigger and starting to sit up on her own. She is loving eating baby food except peas. She definitely hates those. She hated rice cereal so I tried oatmeal and she seems to take it better then the rice cereal. I am going to see if she will take formula just for trips sake and things like that. I introduced it to her in January and she hated it so I am thinking maybe since she is taking baby food and the cereal she might be more open to it. What do you all think?
I am so excited to come and visit on Monday. I will be staying with Dave and Adina. My friend Kathryn just had her baby girl so I am excited to go see her and her baby. It will be nice to get away from Rexburg for a little bit. Then when I get back we will be moving into subsidized housing in 6 days after that! Adina, if you need my flight info just let me know! I will send it to your e-mail.

Love you all,
Kimberly

Well, I thought I'd better blog a bit since I read a lot but have been bad lately on actually writing!

First, as I was just reading the latest Brooke input on Beecher I thought I would include some parts that would be of general interest for those who don't look at the Beecher (Bennett) blog:
We have had several beautiful sunny days this week and I am so happy. I really think I have that seasonal function disorder. I was ready to jump on a plane and head to Virginia until word was sent that the sun had appeared in Germany. ... Maybe I'll be a snowbird because nothing is better than Washington from May to September. I have to say that. But I have spent the past little while daydreaming about Georgia. We were looking at pics on Mike's computer the other day and it dang near broke my heart. I'm excited to be out and about here though, now that the weather is good. You have to understand, I love Germany, but on a day to day basis we are on post and it takes getting out and exploring to enjoy living in this beautiful area. Also, I really miss the convenience of the U.S. sometimes. Maybe it's because I am pregnant but I also daydream about Sonic on warm summer nights, walks down to Burgerville for milkshakes, going through the drive-thru at Taco Bell, Pizza Hut pan pizza...you get my drift.

Yesterday was a great day. The sun was shining, even though it was a bit windy, and Mike got out all of our bikes and got us all set up. The clamp that keeps the seat in place on my bike is broken, but he thinks he'll be able to find a clamp here for it. I drove to the commissary and Mike and Jane rode their bikes with the little girls in the bike trailer. They loved it.

Today we are going to listen to yesterday's session(s) of conference and then my friend Holly is coming over for dinner. She is nineteen and her husband is gone for three weeks and we try to have her over as often as she wants. Well, I'm already feeling little flutters about once a day. Funny how quickly you feel baby once you know what it is you are feeling.

Back to Mom/Barb

We are really excited about leaving for Germany this Friday. I know we'll have an outstanding time! In the meantime, Dad is working and I am home working and "supervising" the kitchen being taken apart. I got my exercise yesterday walking up and down the stairs to move all the contents of the bottom cupboards and about half of the upper ones up to the back bedroom (where Brent and Buffy were). It should be torn up by tomorrow afternoon then the granite people are coming in on Thursday morning to measure the template. I"m going to go and get a bunch of TV dinners...Lean Cuisine and Smart Ones so we don't have to eat out ALL the time. Fortunately, the countertops, sink and stove will be back in by the 19th...3 days after we get back from Germany. The upper cupboards will have to wait until after we get the backsplash done which I haven't even chosen yet. I think we'll be in chaos for several months, because after the backsplash we are going to get some painting done. I'm still debating about the bookcases.

On Saturday night we had the annual Million Dollar Party that Dad gives for his Willamette clinic every year that he exceeds a million dollars in production. It went well. The weather picked up right before it so that we were able to use the deck a bit although it was still pretty cold! People would go out a bit and then come in to warm up and back and forth.

Yesterday, we watched conference and then D & A and kids and B & B came over to enjoy the leftover steaks and salmon and appetizers. It was good except that I didn't remember how many cups of rice that I put in for the consomme rice and put too much consomme in so that it had about an inch of liquid on top when it should have been done. I then put another cup of rice in and cooked it some more but the "new rice" was still pretty crunchy. My advice to all if you do such a thing is to just pour off the liquid instead of trying to rescue it We also celebrated Taylor's birthday with a great Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake. Adina had forgotten candles (I must be rubbing off on her) so we finally found three long squiggly ones. After they left, I was emptying the cupboard underneath the "junk drawer" and found a full pack of the ones that keep lighting again! Oh, well!

Grandma is doing all right, I guess. She has a very bad sore on the outside of her right foot which is causing her a lot of pain especially when she has to get on her feet to transfer. They are trying to minimize the times they have to do it which frustrates her since she thinks she has to go to the bathroom really frequently. Each visit is an adventure...never knowing what to expect or what she will say. Lisa, Meredith and Lisa's two boys are coming up tomorrow just for the day. I hope it's a good day for Grandma! Insurance has determined that they are going to discontinue coverage for home health to come treat her sore since it doesn't seem to get rid of the sores. We're going to a physician this Wednesday who is supposed to be a wound specialist. It will be interesting to see if he has a different opinion!

Well, I need to get busy on the bills and my Columbia Basin work.

I love you all!

Mom

Happy Kitty!!

Master Bedroom with New Paint

Office or TV Room

Living Room 1

Living Room 2

Kitchen

Dining Nook

Entry Way

So, Anne was giving me a hard time 'cause everyone I've talked to today I've told them about the peanut brittle I made in between the two conferences today. I always thought it would be tougher to make, but I gave it a try and I must say, it tastes great. I promise to make it for anyone who makes it out to our neck of the woods.

Peter