So I am sitting in our office trying to waste time while I wait to leave to pick up my two favorite men in my life... good time for a blog.
Brent is returning tonight from Phoenix where he was for a work conference and my dad is flying in from San Francisco for the weekend. The funny thing is their flights are currently scheduled to come in about 5 minutes apart at 11:35pm and 11:40pm (mere coincidence). Tim has not spent much time in the Portland area so we are hoping to get out and see a little especially since Amy and I are hoping he moves here when he retires soon.
As for me, work is great and I am still liking it. My patient load is very diverse and keeps me on my toes. Everything from 80 year-old total knee replacements to professional athletes. I am pretty exhausted after work a few days a week and I am trying to ignore that and get back to going to the gym in the evenings. However, I do get off at 6:30 and it doesn't leave much time. I don't know how many of my co-workers find the time to get a workout, shower, and lunch all in an hour... definitely not for me!
Brent seems to be liking the change in the everyday routine for his job with the two trips this month. Only the GAP would have themed dinners at every conference and ask it's employees to dress up for it. Before he left on Wednesday we had to purchase some western items (hat and belt buckle). It sounds like he had fun which I am glad for.
Well, I better check the flight statuses again.
Happy Father's Day to all you dads!
Buffy

And also thanks to Adina and Tracey for posting....I'm glad I have such great daughters-in-law or the blog really would be dead...Mike, Dave, Brent and Tom...you need to do your part too.

So much for my nagging. I am leaving tomorrow morning to go down to SD to see Marnie, Tom & Tracey and kids. It will be fun to see their new house. Dad is coming down late tomorrow...right before midnight! He said that if the flight is delayed or canceled he just won't come as we are leaving to come home on Sunday evening. I think Marnie and I are going for a run/walk on the beach tomorrow...and may take in a movie or whatever she wants to do.

Our painter is still working away. We finally got the right color for the background to the cupboards in the kitchen. We started out with blue but it looked horrible against the cupboards. We then switched to a color that looked grey but turned out to look lavender on the walls...horrible! So Wednesday he repainted it "Almond" which is kind of a grey green. He's doing the family room today which is an earthy gold (Oak) It really coordinates well with the cupboards and kitchen. I think I may go ahead and use the colors that did not work in the kitchen for the spare bedrooms...we'll see!!!

I am on the committee for the trek food so I spent two hours today cutting onions up for a dutch oven meal. My eyes just poured with the first onion...but by the third or fourth one either my tears had run out or I was immune. The rest of the time wasn't bad at all. I walked up to her house and back...up the big hill on 29th so I got my walk in today! I have a bunch of "hard tack" to make next week. Fun!!!

I need to go over to Grandma Esther's this afternoon to visit and change her bandages. I'm trying to do that as much as possible since I am the one who has to answer for it at the doctor's. Her foot sores are really gross!! She is also more and more confused and upset...I wish she was just confused and happy but she keeps wanting to leave. We're trying to get the right medication to calm her down but have not found anything yet that really works. Yesterday she was having a really hard time feeding herself...kind of new problem there!

I'm working on getting a database together for my recipes as they were all a mess in the cupboard. It'll take a while at the rate that I am going!!!

By the way, I will be teaching seminary. They have someone who taught this year that doesn't want to next year but is willing to sub for the time I will be gone...6 weeks at the minimum!! Brooke, I am planning on coming for two weeks after the baby. I'm thinking that will land in the first part of November. Keep me posted on your mother's plans...I can come anywhere from October 22 to November 28 but can only be gone two weeks. I think I'll be teaching the junior class at Bliss Rd. (For Kim, that is Barbara Lay's old class. She has been battling cancer so can't teach any more.)

Love to all...and Happy early Father's Day to all our dad's!!!

Love,

Mom

Well we just got back from the pool and I don’t want to get up to the laundry or the dishes so I have to blogg to give me an excuse to keep sitting here at the computer. Danica is napping and Hayden is having quiet time which means he can do anything except bug me, today he chose to play on the old x-box. The pool was a lot of fun, it was the ward playgroup at the park which is right next to the pool and since the weather is so warm now they said it will be at the pool most Thursdays. Luckily I had our swimsuits in the car. There were three other boys Hayden’s age so he was in heaven. I am still dealing with being new but I know that just has to last a while. Everyone is really nice and I’m just waiting to “click” with someone who is also in need of a new friend so we can move past just saying hi in the halls or making small talk at playgroup. Luckily I have only been here two weeks so I can’t get discouraged yet! There were 4 other new families on Sunday so that is really promising. There is another family in the ward who graduated from dental school last year and she is really nice. She has two girls, ages 4 and 2 and is having her third tomorrow! So maybe once she gets back on her feet we can get together... although that is just in time for me to have the baby!!
I am now over 30 weeks and getting nervous! Time is just flying by and I don’t feel ready yet! Most days I feel great and only mildly uncomfortable. The baby is kicking ALL the time!! The Gap here has a nice maternity section so I just got some great shorts that I want to wear every day! I’m still sorting through the medical insurance stuff, from what we can tell our “prime” policy which allows us to get the medical care for free doesn’t kick in until July 1st but they will see me down at the hospital since it’s an OB thing. There is a clinic closer but until the paperwork is done I can’t get a straight answer on whether or not I can go there instead. Since I am a new patient they want me to come in and spend an hour doing paperwork and then sit around waiting for a nurse to be able to see me. I asked in if I could come in the afternoon and she said it had to be in the morning in case it takes a long time... so until I figure our what to do with the kids for so long I am just going to have to wait. Maybe I’ll get visiting teachers soon and I can ask one of them to watch the kids... in the meantime I’m hoping Tom can pick up the paperwork for me so I can fill it out in advance and then I’ll utilize the daycare at the hospital, it’s $4 an hour for two kids so if I can be done within two hours that won’t be too bad.
Anyway, these are a lot of boring details that you don’t need to know. I have really stalled long enough... oh, but a funny thing Hayden said yesterday. Tom wasn’t going to be home from work until at least 10 so we went to my grandma’s house, it’s an hour and half north of here. When we got home at 9:30 Hayden asked where Tom was and I said he was at work. He got worried and said “But how will dad find the way home in the dark, he doesn’t have a map in that car!!” I told him not to worry because he was a smart dad and he would figure it out. Hayden said “Yeah, and I’m a smart kid, he learned it from me.” So thank you Hayden for teaching Tom how to be smart!
Maybe one of these days Tom will actually blogg about how it’s going starting the new program... don’t hold your breath!
Tracey

Very subtle, Marnie.

One week left of school. Kids are ecstatic, I am leery. We will start the summer off with a bang by leaving that very night for California - Erin is getting married on the 23rd. Beyond that, we have swim lessons, scout camps, family camping and who knows what else the summer will hold. We haven't nailed down our 4th of July yet - there may be an opportunity to meet up with a bunch of Cleveland friends in Salt Lake - but we are not decided. Dave has the time off, but it's not a trip we were planning to make.

Arizona was fun - and HOT! We were there for 5 days and Dave never set foot in the pool - what a trooper. He wouldn't even think of skipping a day of lecture, even to spend time with his wife (which I think is great - really). He did treat me to a day at the Spa, which was a little foreign to me, but very relaxing. We were both glad to return home to the kids (K&B were glad, too, I'm sure) and to the beautiful Northwest. The browns, reds and pinks of the Arizona desert were getting to me...nothing compares to the beauty up here.

Isaac is going to be playing 2 songs in the Talent Show at his school: Evil by Interpol and Closer to Fine by the Indigo Girls. I so admire his courage. I never would have done something like that in middle school. He plays both songs well and we're excited to watch him perform.

Taylor, I'm happy to say, has not consumed any more weeds - to my knowledge. He just did a play at school - he was Farmer Zuckerman in Charlotte's web. He worked very hard on his costume...Mom, I need a plaid shirt! Mom, do farmers wear watches? Mom - do farmers wear glasses? He did a great job. Had his lines memorized like a month ago.

Parker...his last baseball game is Friday. I think he has been playing the whole season for the ice cream and pizza promised after the last game.

Morgan is done with preschool and so follows me around all day asking, "What are we going to do now, Mom?" The boys are such a blessing, because they play with her constantly when they are home - I just can't keep up. She affectionately refers to them as "The Brothers". Mom - when do the brothers get home? Are the brothers coming with us to the store?

K & B found an old album at Esther's - photos Dave had never seen. Jokingly, we call it the Marnie album - with a few photos in there of other family members. First girl syndrome - we're familiar with it. Anyway - lots of great pictures. I will have to post a few for entertainment and nostalgia's sake.

Anne - would love to know how you're feeling these days - that goes for Brooke and Tracey too. Tracey - I've been thinking of you a lot - moving into a new place, a bigger place, getting to know San Diego, being pregnant...reminds me a lot of our move there - hope everything is going well for you all.

I'm off - pictures to follow soon...
Adina

I added some fun pictures to our family imac site, check out the link on the side bar! Thanks!

Tracey

Well we certainly are not as consistant as our counterpart here but we can try to write somthing! Everyone is napping and that is what I want to do so I have to make this brief. We are getting settled a little more each day, we decided to take a few days off and just enjoy ourselves which has been nice. We have still been busy running errands and emptying a few boxes but nothing like the pace we had before! We went to our ward again today and everyone was really nice. I hate not knowing anyone's name and being stuck on the small talk but hopefully we will get past that soon enough. Danica went to nursery for the first time (she's 18 months on Tuesday) and she seemed to love it. There were three other new kids in nursery who just moved in, bringing the number to more than 20 kids!! It was really busy and I felt bad for the leaders and was worried about how tiny Danica is but she was fine without me so I didn't want to ruin it by sticking around! They said she did fine and was just playing and so smiley when we picked her up. Hayden likes his class and teachers and wants me to call the kids in his class to come over and play! Tomorrow morning we are going to check out a preschool that has been recommended to me by about 6 different moms in the ward. I called and they have an opening so hopefully we'll like it! The kindergarten cutoff here is December 2nd so he barely misses it! I don't mind that he isn't going to kindergarten this year (although I don't want to pay for preschool) but also all of the kids in his primary class will be in kindergarten!

Okay, I'm getting to sleepy... I'll have to write more later!
Tracey

After extensive searching for SOMETHING available, I have reserved two campsites at the KOA campground by Ft Stevens across the street from Ft Stevens State Park (everything at the state park was filled) It is for August 3-6---arriving on Friday evening and staying until Monday. They are tent sites...no services (ie power. Bailey can come. I reserved it for D & A and family, Brent and Buffy, Treven and Kim, and Peter and Anne...and us. We have two adjacent campsites. Please let me know if any of you cannot come...or if anyone else will be coming. I am planning on driving over in the next few weeks to check it out (Adina...maybe we could go over with the kids someday when school gets out). The sites are not shaded according to the woman...so I am a little leary but with so little else available for a summer weekend I decided to take the chance. It will only be $20 if we decide to not do it...but I think it is a remote chance that we could get anything else. It is close and has a lot of amenities...playgrounds, pools etc. --and we have lots of shade stuff. The website is http://www.koa.com/where/or/37182/ Take a look and give me your opinions....

Love,

Mom

We are doing well here in east Idaho. It has been some great summer days but the rain is supposed to come this next couple days. We need it though! Well we are half way through our summer semester and we are doing well in our classes. Just 6 1/2 more weeks to go in the semester and I will have a nice 7 week break from classes then I go back for fall since I got accepted to Fast grad. I register on Friday for fall. It should be fun because I am now completely into my major classes and I have to get everything done for student teaching (for my last semester in fall 2008). It really feels real now that I am going to graduate.
Anyway, Melia is doing great. She had this diaper rash for a month and the doctors kept saying it was yeast infection and giving me an ointment. Well I finally got them to actually look at it and they said it was actually excema (spelling?). So that is finally cleared up. She is 20 lbs now and still growing. We took her to the splash/water park today. It was later in the day but we just wanted to introduce her to it and get used to it a little. It is at the park nearby and it is great for kids. Perfect for this summer. She is starting to figure out the movements to crawling so we are almost there. She wants to stand up now all the time instead though. Oh well! She will get it sooner or later. Our niece is coming next week for a 3 week stay which is going to be fun! She will be helping with Melia and hanging out with us. We may go to Yellowstone and things with her.... or maybe just me and Melia since Treven is working, which reminds me. Treven says thank you to Dave and family and Mom and Dad for the cards for his birthday! We went and saw Pirates for his birthday and tried to have a BBQ on Memorial Day. It was really windy that day so it was difficult.
We are excited for Mom and Dad both to come out to Rexburg in July. It will be fun even thought it will be short!
Well that is really all we have to update. We got an offer on the GTI, but the guy lives in Spokane and he has to sell his car first, which he is getting offers he said.... But we would have to meet him in Boise to get him the car. We will see. Treven now has a motorcycle instead. We will post pictures later. AND YES HE WEARS A HELMET... he isn't stupid!
Love you all and hope you are all doing well!
Kimberly

Hello?
Is this Mrs. Stinchfield?
Yes.
This is Mr. Larsen (the principal) at Gause Elementary.
Yes?
Uh - we came across your son, Taylor, at recess today - eating plants.
What?
Yea - he ate about 5 or 6.
Silence.
Uh - we have called Poison Control and described the plant to them - they aren't worried. But I thought I would let you know. We are keeping our eye on him. He seems fine.
Silence.
Mrs. Stinchfield?
Yes. I'm sorry. I don't know why he does that. I've caught him eating plants at baseball games and I've explained to him that it is dangerous. I will talk to him again.
Yea - I mean, I used to put blades of grass in my mouth as a kid...but eating the plant? I mean, who does that?
Silence... I don't know.

Our parenting adventure continues...
Adina

So I guess I have been dubbed Ms. Consistent. I do have the most convenient situation for blogging though - no kids to watch or asking me to do things and sitting at a computer about 9 hours a day helps too. :)

Today I am actually at home though. Wasn't feeling well this morning so I decided to stay home and get over that instead of trying to deal with it at work. Things have been kinda busy at work. Just the normal - printing materials and getting them printed for orders, designing manuals and marketing fliers, etc. We are actually having a sale soon and decided to go with a pirate theme for the marketing so that is fun to play around with that. I am also working on organizing things to make it easy for whoever will come in to do my job so it won't be so confusing. That is a big project though that kinda makes me go crazy because it is so tedious so we'll see how long that takes me.

It is very fun to have T&T + fam here. Their house is really coming together and, from what I can tell, they really do like it. Tom got a new TV and they didn't want their "kid" tv to be their old big one so they offered to switch TVs with me so I could use the big one. It is much better than my TV so I was all for it! We switched yesterday and I think that even though I kept telling Tom that it was quite a trek up to my apartment he didn't really realize the magnitude until he got here. Hayden came to help though so he held the elevator open for us and stuff. So anyway, the TV looks a little funny in my apt because it is so big. I am pretty much used to it now but take a look:



It couldn't be on the ground because then it is too low so we had to put it up. Pretty crazy but much better than what I had so I am definitely not complaining.

Let's see what else...I saw Pirates twice. Loved it. But I really think I would've loved about anything in that series. I know a few people who didn't like it but I can totally see why they wouldn't. It is a little silly and a little long but I think it is awesome.

I am getting quite excited about Comicon (50 days!). I bought my weekend pass yesterday. I think it is going to be a good one this year. There is a possibility that Johnny Depp might be there!! Who else? - Tim Burton (director of Edward Scissorhands), Daniel Craig (newest Bond), Nicole Kidman, Harrison Ford, Nicolas Cage, LOST people...and lots more that could be there based on the movies that they have already hinted at. Nothing is sure until about a week before though and they still have surprise guests so we'll see. I am going to try to convince Tom & Tracey to bring the kids for at least one day, probably Saturday. Just for the Star Wars stuff alone it is worth it. Very cool...

Looking forward to Mom & Dad's visit next weekend. Will be fun to have them down here. Hopefully the weather will be nice. It has been a little cloudy lately. Anyway, I should probably get some studying done since I have the time at home. Love you all and so great to hear from you guys even if you aren't quite as consistent as I. ;)

...covering my butt. Bet you thought I was going to say "making me gold pants." What a weird video that was. If you don't know what I am talking about, ask me sometime and I'll send you a link. So, it's been a while since I have been on here. I can't say, "just too much going on", there is always time, I just don't use it wisely. I have appreciated all the comments that you have all added and your blogs, I check every day. I would have to say that Marnie takes the cake for the most consistent. Good job Marnie! Keep it up! Don't think about slowing down now that you have family nearby.

A lot going on here. I think I liked it before I owned the practice. There are just so many other things that need to be tended to. Not to mention the fact that, like most Stinchfield's, we just have this insatiable urge to learn more. We just can't be satisfied. So, in order to follow suit, I think I have signed up for more CE this year than I have in the last 4 years. It has been great, and I am simply trying to learn those things that they failed to teach in dental school. It just takes time and money. I hope to be able to slow down after September.

Scouts is taking a lot of time as well. We have a good group of boys with all kinds of personalities. I constantly have to remind myself to step back and let the boys lead. It shouldn't be me leading, only overseeing and advising. Something that can be really tough to do when they are learning. It has been a great experience and from what it sounds like, it'll be a while.

Things are going well here at home. We are constantly deciding whether to improve upon this house or look for other homes. We want to stay close to where we are, but we really want a bigger place. We have pretty much ditched the idea of having a place on acreage. We would much rather pay for a view with convenience at this point in time. Being close to schools, sports fields, the grocery store, church and work saves so much on gas and TIME, that it wouldn't be worth it to move up into the hills. I guess we are coming up on the 3-4 year itch for making a change. We have done it our whole marriage, so why not now?

We miss all you guys. Tom, I hope your check-in in one week goes smoothly. Mike & Brooke, I hope all is going well over there, we miss you guys. Tracey, I hope you feel like you are making progress on the house. Peter and Anne, congrats. Treven and Kim, hope all is going well in Idaho. Brent and Buffy, I know how you all are doing, especially you Brent with those occasional 12 hr days, no really, that is a long day. Mom, Brent owes you big time! (hehe) No really, thanks so much! Marnie, I pretty much know how you are doing too since you are so consistent. We love you all!

Dave

Well, I was reading the blog and thinking of how we are in a bit of a slump when I realized that it had been a bit since I had written a post....so I am part of the problem! Dad and I just finished installing our new dishwasher...not an ideal Sunday activity, but yesterday we thought that we'd be able to do it quickly..in about an hour and found that it took us that long to get out the old one. At that point, we needed to leave and go down and meet Dave, Adina and kids to go to the Starlight Parade. Adina and Isaac were running in the 5 K race before the parade. It is at the beginning of the Rose Festival...a big thing around here. We learned in waiting for the parade that we should have brought more chairs, a cooler filled with snacks and drinks, balls and frisbees, and sidewalk chalk. When the parade finally reached us (we were at the end) it was about 9:30 pm. Due to various delays, there were large gaps in the parade so at 11:00 we finally packed up and went home...not sure how much more parade there was. So, when we got home, we were both too tired to face putting in the new dishwasher...so when we got home from church today that needed to be our first item of business. It took us another 3 hours to get it installed as it is a two drawer one that has new peculiarities. After putting brackets in(per the instructions) at the beginning...at the end we found out the brackets didn't get in the right position in our opening so we had to reverse all, take out the brackets and then redo it all. I'm sure you can all imagine Dad's frustration. I am running one of the drawers and discovered that you can't jam them with dishes...If you do, it just doesn't start! It will be a learning curve.

I'd mentioned to several of you that I had decided to give up on the drawers since they were quite a bit more expensive but Sears had a floor model that had never been used and were giving a great discount that made it equivalent to the others that I was looking at so we took the plunge. Unfortunately, we also needed to replace our freezer in the garage since it is frosting up so that it won't close all the time and I have too much food inside to risk losing it. So we'll be picking that up tomorrow.

In the meantime, the painter is working on our cabinets. They really look nice even before he puts the glaze on. That is happening tomorrow. By Thursday, they should be all done and I can put all my stuff back in the cupboards. I'm getting really tired of all my drawer stuff and china on the tables (no place to sit at a table for dinner) and all my innards of my cupboards in full view.

As you can see from the pictures, we had a great time in Cleveland and at Gualala. We've see everyone but Kim's and Mike's families in the last few weeks...very fun!!
There were over 300 people at the church that they held in the day parking area. The bishop (Bishop Holladay(sp?)) came up from Fremont under authorization of the local bishop. We had abalone and played fun games with Marnie, Anne and Peter. I am the instigator of the hike. Dad and I are working on getting our bodies...and shoes in shape for the trek which will be on the 27th of June.

I need to get back in the groove with my work since I've been slacking during all our travel over these last few weeks. Nothing is terribly pressing right now but I'm afraid it might become so if I just ignore it!

Well, Brent just arrived for dinner so I'll sign off...

Love you all,

Mom

Well despite all my great fears we made it here with very little problems. The kids were great in all of the traveling (from Tuesday the 22nd until Wednesday the 30th we drove between 4 and 9 hours a day, every day except Saturday and Sunday!!) So anyway, I am way to tired to share all of the details now but just wanted to say we are here, we love our new house and neighborhood and can't wait to get settled in. Honestly I can' remember every feeling this tired in my entire life... I spent so much time cleaning and prepping the old house and now I have to clean the new house... Brooke I have so much empathy!! Tonight I finally finished the kitchen so I am feeling really good about that. The rest of the house is in complete choas but promises to improve each day, needless to say it's really hard to get a lot done while taking care of the kids! Two of my aunts and my grandma are going to the beach at La Jolla tomorrow so we are going to take a break from this mess and go enjoy some fun. I think the kids will really appreciate it! Okay, I must go sleep now while I can. I'll post more later and will send pictures someday when we are a little more settled and there is something to take pictures of!

Tracey

I am doing like a catalog show for Shades Clothing. You can look at the clothes at www.shadeclothing.com and there are maternity and swimsuits. I think everybody would love the Heather shirts. I tried it on last night and it was soooo comfy. The swimsuits are selling out fast. I know I had showed Adina the bathing suits. I ordered one and I absolutely love it. Anyway, if you do want anything, just e-mail me or let me know because it is free shipping if you do it through me!

Kimberly

So today was cloudy and rainy so we stayed home and played here. Not worth the two hour drive and the expense to have everything wet and attractions closed. Sadie did not mind though. We told her that the morning of her birthday she could open her presents from Dave and Adina's family and the one from Grandma Barb and the rest she could open at night after cake and ice cream. She was in our room at 6:15 am this morning- after staying up until 11:00. She was so excited. She loved the presents of course. My favorite was the beautiful white dress from Aunt Adina. Sadie was so cute, she said "I bet Morgan has one just like me." and I told her she was probably right. Barb, of course Sadie loved the dress, I loved the Belle dress too, loved that you bought it and we didn't have to buy yet another dress up. Thank you both very, very, much- the Dave Stinchfield kids too, they are so thoughtful. We had bought all of Sadie's presents on Friday but Mike took her out to help her learn to ride a bike and we discovered that her bike was too small so he loaded her in the car and they ran to the PX to get a new bike. Spoiled rotten.

Buffy, I have a huge favor to ask. You know how we have the same comforter, except different colors? Is there anyway you could make a quick run and see if they are carrying those anymore? I know they probably aren't, but our bed is king size now and I bought a queen in the taupe color because of our bed frame. Now we have a different bed and yet we still love the taupe bedspread. We cheat by making it long on one side and not having any on the other side. Just if you get a chance. I can't tell you how much I would appreciate it.

Well I'm off to bed, Mike's sleeping on the couch because he put his back out today helping Sadie ride her bike. It might have something to do with all the heavy lifting and moving all weekend. He's got a very busy week ahead of him, hopefully it will feel better tomorrow morning. We love you all very much.

Hi Fam,

Just to let you know, we still don't have internet at our new house. Totally frustrating. We have our German phone line but somehow they didn't get our DSL hooked up and the techs are all on strike and we get to suffer for it.

Sounds like you are all doing well. We are great. We were going to go out of town this weekend but decided the responsible thing to do was to put the rest of the house together on one of Mike's few weekends home. There are just too many things that I couldn't lift and I was at a standstill. Monday we will drive down to Munich and go to Legoland for Sadie's birthday. I don't think I have ever seen a child more excited about having a birthday. Barb and Adina, your presents have arrived and Sadie carries the packages around lovingly on a daily basis. She hasn't even asked to open them, she has a countdown going.

Had yet another ultrasound and baby's legs were closed the whole time. Mike says this child is going to time out as soon as its born. Kind of funny and a little frustrating.

Well I'm off to bed, just a quick blog while I could pick up a signal from our neighbor (not often possible). Take care and we love you all. Brooke