Well, this week with another bank's turndown for financing, we have decided to be content with the great job that Dad already has. Great income, vacations and benefits and minimal worries! The banker was really nice about it but one of the problems is that we are so highly leveraged (banker-speak for have a lot of debt) that if anything did not go according to plan or better we would be dead in the water. Lesson for all of you...debt really limits you! We are doing alright with it and made our final plans to go to Japan in April. Not a bad consolation prize!

We have two other financing organizations that would finance us when I get a job. Who knows when that will happen...and I'm not sure it would be wise for us to do even then.

We went to see the Aviator tonight...good movie! He was one weird guy. We are going down to Sacramento tomorrow afternoon for Paul Wecker's 50th birthday returning on Sunday morning. We got really cheap tickets so we decided to do it. We'll also get to see Gramma while we are there which makes her really happy.

Anyhow...I'd better get to bed.

We love you all,

Mom and Dad (Dad's not writing but his heart is in this!)

Happy 19th birthday! You are almost out of the teens!! Hope you have a good one and have fun.

We love you!

Love, Anne and Peter

I would never have thought a waterfall could be so pretty in the winter!

Frozen waterfall!

Hayden was so excited to sleep in his Spongebob sleeping bag!!!

Here we are at Hocking Hills State Park, this is called Cedar Falls.

Well Tom seemed to really enjoy his birthday and was happy to get so many birthday messages! We have been having a great time in Cleveland. Last weekend we drove to Hocking Hills State Park which is about 45 minutes outside of Columbus (a 4 hour drive from our house). We went with 5 other couples and stayed in these two bedroom cabins (tow couples per cabin). On Saturday we went hiking and saw the most beautiful frozen waterfalls! They were gorgeous and the sun was shining making them sparkle. It was relatively warm and the day was perfect. We had a wonderful time. On Valentine's day we went out to Red Robin, with Hayden. Not exactly fun or romantic since Hayden just ran around the restuarant but atleast I didn't have to cook! Yesterday for Tom's birthday we had sugar pancakes in the morning, he went to the driving range in the afternoon and then we went to the CAvs game, you can't ask for much more than that!!!
Hayden is really starting to "mature" (if there is such a thing for a two year old.) He is grasping the idea of consequences and gaining more control over his behavior. It's really nice. He still has a lot of energy and just likes to run around but now we do circle time in the mornings and he's really enjoying learning his colors, numbers, shapes, etc. He gets really excited about things so it's been a lot of fun.
I've been doing a lot of scrapbooking lately. I went to a four week class at Lexi's house, it was great. I'm actually almost done scrapbooking Hayden's first year of life so I only have one more to go... hopefully I can catch up!!! I'm reading the 4th Harry Potter, it's great. Adina thanks for the book ideas, I'm always looking for something new. Also, my birthday is April 29th.
It's fun to hear from everyone! Keep us posted. Take care!
Tracey

Morgan clutching her pig and sporting Mom's glasses 

It took 5 minutes to get Parker into this shell - he was convinced it would close on him! 

Taylor checking out some "poo" at the OMSI Grossology exhibit. That's right..."poo". 

Isaac, the weary traveler 

Happy Birthday to Kenn, Tom, Kim, Ellyn, & Peter! Did we miss anyone for February? Sorry we are a little late - it has been a slow recovery from our trip. Dave is still dropping off to sleep every night at like 9:30!

Jane - you look gorgeous with those pearly whites! We are anxious to get to the states and find a good ortho for Isaac - he has quite a mouthful (thanks to me). I hope his smile is as great as yours when he's done with braces!

Not too much on the home front. We had a great trip to "America", including visits to an Egyptian Museum, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Winchester Mystery House, OMSI, and more. It was great! Now, we are awaiting official orders so we know what day we can catch a plane back to the states. Dave is in the elementary school today doing screenings on the kids for Dental Health Month.

Dave and I watched "The Grudge" the other night - scared the snot out of me. It is set in Japan, so that made it even more interesting.

Some recent reads:
"The Rule of Four" (similar to "Da Vinci Code", but not quite as interesting)
"God's Secretaries: The making of the King James Bible" (interesting)
"The Kite Runner" (liked it very much)
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" (an easy, entertaining read - I think you would like it, Tracey)

Anyway - we are sure looking forward to seeing everyone sometime this summer! We miss you all and love to read about what's going on in your lives! By the way - when is Tracey's Birthday?

Adina

Happy Birthday to Tom and Ellyn! Hope you all have a great one!
Thank you Tom, Tracey and Hayden for the birthday card. I appreciate it greatly!

As for other things, Treven finds out in an hour and an half if he got accepted to BYU Idaho. Thats at least what we believe by what they are saying on the web site. I am having a good time here in Rexburg, It is freezing... this morning it was -1 but felt like -15 because of wind chill! fun stuff! I have a biology test tomorrow and an american heritage test next tuesday so this weekend is study, study, study! I miss everybody and I wish I could be home. I don't know what I am doing for my birthday.... there isn't anything planned yet so maybe nothing. Oh well..

By the way Mom, I need a oil change for my car and ink cartridge for my printer...

Love you all!
Kim

Happy birthday Tom! Hope you have a good one!

We love you and miss you!

Love, Anne and Peter

Hey everyone! Happy Birthday Ellyn, Tom, and Kimberly (in a couple days)! I hope you are all having a blast on your birthday.

Per the title, Matt is sick! :( He got an ear infection last week and we think he is having a bad reaction to the antibiotics he was given. That combined with running 13 miles in the rain and getting a little dehydrated has turned into no fun. He was really bad on Monday night with a fever and a serious stomach ache. He slept and rested all day yesterday, pretty weak from not being able to keep any food in. I went and saw him this morning and the fever has gone down but he is still feeling pretty crappy. I guess Valentine's is going to have to be postponed for a while. Sad.

On a lighter note, I went and saw a taping of Will & Grace last night. It was really fun and we almost got backstage passes but the taping went too long and the actors had to leave. But it was fun to watch the LONG process of filming a hit sitcom. And I got to see all the cool actors and have fun with my friends. Cool experience.

Well enjoy your birthdays and pray for Matt to get better! Love you all.

Marnie

Boy, did I blow it!!!! As soon as I sent my post, I saw Brent's Happy Birthday..and I didn't even mention it.

Happy Birthday, Tom! I have been thinking about it this morning and will call you this afternoon when you are back from school....27....Wow!!

Mom

Hope your Birthday goes well. OLD MAN!! Also Baseball is coming up, anyone for Fantasy Baseball.

See ya
Brent

I am finally trying to figure out pictures for myself. I helped Martha set up a blog for her family this weekend and she tried some pictures that did not work out for me, at least. So I thought I would experiment..not sure whether the one from "hello" will come through. I was trying to put it on our profile but couldn't figure that out...Help, Mike!!!

Anyway, the Schickies do have a blog...since I opened ours up for them to look at for an example...I'll give you their site....Superschick.blogspot.com.

I had a great weekend with Beppie Anne and Martha. We saw quite a few old friends including having lunch with Peter and Anne and Betsy in Provo on Saturday. Diane Kort Johnssen is living in American Fork with her husband and went into premature labor and is in Utah Valley Hospital so Betsy was there helping. We also saw Jay and Martha Ball (where we had the lunch after Kay-Kay's burial) on Sunday. On Monday morning we went to breakfast with some friends we grew up with in Berkeley. Very fun!!! In addition to all the entertaining, we went to the Spoken Word broadcast...and a Daughters of the Utah Pioneer Museum in Ogden. Martha has really gotten into geneology and I'm going to be doing it with her...very fun.

Still no further news on the practice..we have another bank looking at it who will give us an answer by the end of this week....No job yet on the horizon for me!!!

We love you all,

Mom

Just trying this out......