Thanks for all the great updates everyone! Congrats Annie! Mike we’re glad you're doing so well and happy that Bailey has a nice home for a while. I can’t wait to see the pictures of Barb’s trip; I can’t even imagine what it must be like there! Brent and Buffy, we’re glad you made it down the temple! We’ll have to follow suit and head down to Columbus soon. I agree with Marnie that fall weather is just awesome! I love the fall here in Cleveland (which is a good thing since we don’t actually have spring and the winters are so lousy!) I took Hayden to an apple orchard yesterday and we had a great time just picking apples and enjoying being out in this great weather!!

Exciting news: Hayden and Tom were in the newspaper!!! Last week before the Indian’s game started they had their picture taken looking at a statue of a baseball player in front of Jacob’s field and it made the paper on Thursday! It’s got a great little caption with their names and everything, it’s really awesome! I sent a copy to Kenn and Barb so you can check it out next time you’re there! I am so proud of my boys!

We’re all a little tired today from staying up late to watch the Indians and White Sox battle it out but it was worth it since they won! We are going to stay very busy for the new few weeks watching baseball games! Tom and Hayden are also getting into football season and Hayden is figuring out the rules. Today after preschool we were playing with the kids out in the yard and he wanted to pretend to play football. He told some kids to be offense and he said he as defense but then yelled “hike” and started to run around in circles waiting for the pass. He pretended to catch the ball and scored a touch down! It was great until he suddenly got really mad at one of the other boys because he supposedly had taken the football away, it was an invisible imaginary football; and the other boy was so confused as Hayden sat there yelling at him to give the “football” back. I couldn’t help but chuckle at what a ridiculous scene it was! My little sportaholic!

More exciting news: Binky is gone!!!! The Binky fairy came and took it last Friday night because it was getting old and broken. It was a spur of the moment decision and Hayden was very sad about it but he is doing fantastic now! He cried on Friday night, big sad tears like you get when your best friend leaves you but he didn’t get mad or throw tantrums. We just hugged a lot and Tom slept next to him to help him feel comforted. On Saturday he asked for it a few times but we just said we didn’t have it and changed the subject. By Sunday it was forgotten and life has gone on just fine without it. Who would have known it would have been so easy! We should have done it a long time ago!

I had my first day teaching my new primary class on Sunday. I have been in the nursery for the past year and they just switched me to teaching the 5 year olds. I have 7 kids in my class. Things went pretty well but a few of the boys were really testing the limits and got very wiggly in closing exercises but I think they will settle down as they get to know me and my expectations better. I had one really great moment though during my lesson. We were talking about how we know Jesus loves us and one girl said she knows because he gives us good food to eat. I had a boy visiting our class because his mom is investigating the church and he raised his hand. I called on him and he said “If Jesus gives us food because he loves us then how come some people don’t have any food? And my mom says that George Bush was so slow getting food to the hurricane people that some people died. Why did Jesus let that happen?” It was a great first day as the teacher!

Tom had a check-up on his broken finger yesterday and they said things looked good and hopefully he will get into a physical therapist soon. I am now 27 weeks pregnant and starting to feel like it. I don’t look huge yet but the baby and Hayden are taking a toll on my back and I need to be more careful. We still haven’t come up with a name but we have time so I shouldn’t stress. We have the list of names we like but just haven’t actually settled on one. Plus, we can’t decide what to do about a middle name. Hayden continues to be his happy little self. Although, he is getting worse about sharing and taking other kids toys so I am going to have to crack down on that before it gets really out of hand. I was the helper at his preschool class today and he had such a hard time sharing it was ridiculous! So if you have any great advice on how to encourage better sharing I would love to hear it! I know he’s not really old enough to share perfectly but he obviously can’t run around screaming and yelling and taking toys. Hopefully it was just a bad day, I hate to think he acts that way in nursery all the time. Yikes!

Well I best get back to the laundry! Great to hear from everyone! Peter and Marnie, if you have anything special you would love for Christmas please let us know. Take care!

Tracey

CPT Mike Stinchfield
HHC 2X(G3 Ops)
Unit# 15041
APO AP 96258

Yes I know you have all been on the edge of your seat waiting for me to annouce this. Marnie and Buffy are now no longer alone in being SDSU graduates. I offically received my letter today saying that I completed all requirements. Just thought you would like to know.

Love you all
Brent

Everything is good down here in San Diego. The really hot/warm days are gone and I think this is my favorite part of the year, weather-wise. It is not cold at all but it is not hot. Just perfect. :)

This last weekend my friend Matthew from LA was down in San Diego because Michelle's sister, Marisa, got married to her long-time boyfriend, Grant, on Saturday night. Friday night we went to the rehearsal dinner at Alfonso's in La Jolla (very good) and then helped them finish up stuff for the wedding. I had to work on Saturday morning until 2:30pm so I got my Sport Chalet in. Then I rushed around to get ready for the wedding at 5:30pm at the Bayview Restaurant at the MCRD. (I realized as I was leaving that that restaurant is where Dad's retirement lunch was with his clinic). It was very nice and very pretty. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries about 30 minutes into the wedding and my extra batteries were in my other purse! So I don't really have any pictures from it. But I am sure that I can get some from Marisa and Grant because at the end of the reception we all took all of the disposable cameras they had on the tables for guests and we took pictures of ourselves! It was pretty fun. On the down time I was mostly just sleeping and eating. I can't believe we were thinking of going to Disneyland after all of that! We didn't end up going though. We will have to wait for that.

So now I am back to work and reality, enjoying my wonderful lunch of pb&j and applesauce. Work is good. They are keeping me relatively busy. I am still checking stuff out for the London idea. Matthew gave me the idea to look into being a nanny. Thought provoking...I would have to really think about that one. But I continue to see if it can work.

Matthew got a kitten last week and brought it down. SO cute! Michelle and Matthew were trying to convince me to get a kitten. I was tempted. But I don't think I am going to do it because I would much rather have a puppy and I can wait on that for a little bit. I am too busy for a puppy but the thought is always there. :)

I think that is all from me. Congrats Annie! That is great about vball! I am glad you are all well and continue to write.

Love you!

I think most of you know where I have been assigned my job. I am very happy about it. Quality of life is very high where I am located. I think I will actually be able to bike to Seoul most Saturday's along the river walk. I am getting and IP phone in my room at the end of the month so I will actually have a Vancouver phone number! Besides my family not being here, things are as good as they get for an Army job.

Great job Anne.

Thanks Dave and Adina for taking Bailey in. That was getting to be a major source of stress for that household.

Tom, you are a traitor if you oppose the A's.

They have a golf course in front of my apartment Brent.

Dave, I kicked your butt:) What the heck is with Culpepper? I think I would have easily busted 200 this week if he had played like last year. First week , not so good. But...you have to love my pick of Cadillac. Brent and I both said at the Auburn game we went to that he would be amazing in the NFL. So far, most yards gained of any rookie back, ever.

I love you all.

Mike

I am so proud of you!!!!!!!

Well since Kim ask about it, here is the names for the gift list:

Mike - Dave
Brooke - Treven
Dave - Brooke
Adina - Mike
Brent - Tracey
Buffy - Adina
Tom - Marnie
Tracey - Peter
Marnie - Anne
Peter - Kim
Anne - Brent
Treven - Tom
Kim - Buffy

-Anne

Just thought you'd all like to see this! Love, Anne

Wolverines Take Their Final Two Matches

Match 1 Box : Match 2 Box : Season Stats September 17, 2005

OREM, Utah – Utah Valley State won its final two matches of the LaQuinta Utah Valley State Invitational with Anne Olsen and Lacee Koelliker being named to the All-Tournament Team. Utah Valley defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3-0 and finished off UC Davis 3-1 to secure second place in the tournament.

"Anne had a great tournament. She came through for us in a lot of situations," said head coach Sam Atoa. "Lacee did a tremendous job in running the offense."

In the UC Davis match, Utah Valley controlled most of the match out-playing the Aggies in most every catergory.

"I thought that was UC Davis' best match of the weekend, but give our girls credit for sticking to the game plan," said Atoa. "This was the best offensive match we had yet this year, I don't think we've had a match where they've hit over .200 in every game. We reached our goals in all areas," said Atoa.

The Wolverines hit .350, .314, .217, and .256, respectively in the four games.

In game one, it was balanced attack for the Wolverines, with five different players recording kills. Jessica Endres led the way in the set with six, and Camie Manwill had four. Utah Valley used a 7-0 run in the middle of the game to gain ground on the Aggies and take a 20-17 lead. The Wolverines would be in charge the rest of the way, taking it 30-27.

The offense continued to shine in game two with Olsen, the wild card, notching five kills and three service aces to lead Utah Valley to a run away 30-24 win. Manwill also finished the game with five kills. The Wolverines hit .314 in the set, with 19 totals kills.

The Aggies used 7-2 and 8-3 runs late in game three to take a 27-23 lead. The Wolverines could of stayed in the set and pushed for a win, but eight services aces prevented the sweep. UCD's Chantal Paschetta finished the game with four kills to help the Aggie cause, and lead to the 30-26 victory.

Game four was the Wolverine's from start to finish. Davis couldn't get much going, continued to pound away on the offensive side of the net, winning the game by 10, 30-20, and taking the match.

Three Wolverines notched double-digit kills and Koelliker continued to be outstanding distributing the ball. Endres finished with a career and match-high 19 kills, and Manwill also tallied a career best with 18. Olsen finished with 16 in the match, and tied a school record with six service aces in the match. Brooke Adams was another offensive threat who recorded a Utah Valley career best eight kills. Koelliker had another double-double making it six out of the nine matches this season. She had an impressive 57 assists, and 19 digs, only one dig under the match-high recorded by teammate Maegan Hoyt (20).

In the first match of the day for Utah Valley State Jessica Endres notched 13 kills in a 3-0 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in second round play of the LaQuinta Utah Valley State Invitational. Endres tallied 5 kills in each of the first two games to lead the Wolverines to the sweep. She hit an impressive .364 on the afternoon.

Koelliker's streak of five straight matches with a double-double was snapped due to the lack of games played. She still finished wth 34 assists and 4 kills with no attack errors. Olsen was her next best option when Endres wasn't available. Olsen finished with 11 kills, and hit .381. Hoyt put up 12 digs on the defensive side of the net.

As a team the Wolverines hit .289, a season best, and out-blocked the Islanders 9-2.

Olsen and Koelliker were named to the All-Tournament team. The Wolverines host in-state rival, Utah on Tuesday, September 20th at 7:00 pm. Students and employees get in free with their UV I.D. card.

LaQuinta Utah Valley State Invitational ~ Final Results:

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3, UC Davis 1
Idaho State 3, Utah Valley State, 2
Idaho State 3, UC Davis 0
Utah Valley State 3, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0
Idaho State 3, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2
Utah Valley State 3, UC Davis 1

LaQuinta Utah Valley State Invitational ~ Final Standings:

Idaho State 3-0
Utah Valley State 2-1
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 1-2
UC Davis 0-3

LaQuinta Utah Valley State Invitational ~ All-Tournament Team:

Lacee Koelliker, Utah Valley State
Anne Olsen, Utah Valley State
Nikki Havens, Idaho State
Felice Yocopis, Idaho State
Carol Marcengo, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Kati Broom, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Jenny Pierce, UC Davis

Tournament MVP: Felice Yocopis, Idaho State

I am so proud of you...thanks for posting the article! I can hardly wait until the weekend of Oct 8th when we will be able to see you!

Mom

Wolverines Put up Record Numbers But Can't Hold On
Box Score : Season StatsSeptember 16, 2005
OREM, Utah – Utah Valley State had five players put up career-high numbers Friday night against Idaho State, but couldn't hold on in five games, 30-24, 22-30, 30-28, 26-30, 12-15, on the first day of the LaQuinta Utah Valley State Invitational. "I'm disappointed, but the encouraging thing is we put ourselves in a position to win," said head coach Sam Atoa. "We just need to do better at the end of games." Lacee Koelliker put up a career-high and school record 65 assists. She distributed the ball mostly to Anne Olsen and Jessica Endres who also tallied career-highs in kills. Olsen finished with 24, and her .314 hitting clip was second best in school history (50+ attempts) in a match. Endres recorded 21 kills, and her .378 hitting percentage was a Wolverine school record (40-49 attempts) in a match. Olsen also finished with a career best 19 digs. Freshman Bethany Carron set milestone numbers with 16 digs. Redshirt freshman Carlyn Cadmus was the other Wolverine who had a career-high in kills with eight, and hit a career best .294. "Lacee plays all the time, but as far as Lacee's concerned a win is more important than the 65 assists," said Atoa. In game one, the Wolverines took an early 10-4 lead. The Bengals battled back to cut the lead to two at 13-11, and would eventually tie the game at 16-16. The set would go back-and-forth from the point of the first tie at 16, until the Wolverines took advantage of a 6-0 run to close out the game 30-24. Olsen and Larissa Laycock both had four kills in the game. The Wolverines took the early advantage in game two, but couldn't pull away. The Bengals continued to play the Wolverines close taking their first lead at 12-11. With the lead, ISU took the momentum the rest of the set. The Bengals finished the game on a 9-3 run, to overtake UV 30-22. In game three, the chess match was on, as both teams traded leads and blows. The Wolverines used a 5-0 run to take a 20-19 lead and force a Bengal timeout. The break gave the Bengals their breath back as they went on a 6-3 run taking a 25-23 lead. ISU would force UV to take a timeout at 28-25. The Wolverines bounced back to score the next two points after the intermission, and ISU had to call another timeout with the Wolverines only trailing by one at 28-27. UV would close out the game finishing off the last three points, and sending electricty through the crowd. After losing a dispiriting game three, the Bengals didn't go away. ISU fought back from an early 5-1 Wolverine lead, ultimately tieing the set at 11-11. Neither team would take more than a two point lead until the Bengals went up 23-20. The Wolverines showed heart fighting to within two at 28-26, but the Bengals scored the final two points taking the game, 30-26. Endres had seven big kills in the game, and Olsen added five.Game five didn't disappoint, as the lead changed five different times. The biggest advantage was three, for ISU at 14-11. UV cut the lead to 14-12, but couldn't hold on in the end, dropping the game 15-12, and the match 15-12."At times we did a nice job, but we did less than what was needed to win," said Atoa.Other key Wolverine contributors, were Maegan Hoyt, whose 26 digs was a season-high and third best in the Utah Valley State record book for a single match (she now holds the three best single match dig totals). Laycock had a solid eight kills.The difference was the blocking, as ISU out-blocked the Wolverines 11 to 2. With the loss UV, moves to 2-5 on the season, and ISU improves to 4-8. Utah Valley will play a doubleheader on Saturday with a match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 1:30 pm (MST) and the final match of the Invitational against UC Davis at 7:30 pm (MST). TAMUCC defeated UC Davis in four games in the first match of the tournament.

Just you would all like to see this!

Love, Anne

Well; I am working with a French keyboard again so it is a bit of a struggle. The period is a shift key; the a, m, q,w comma are in different places....very disconcerting!

We are in a great apartment in the Northeast corner of Paris. It is very much of a family neighborhood with children riding tricycles down the street. It has three bedrooms; two baths, a full kitchen, sitting room and dining room with many antiques on the 4th floor. We come up on a small two person elevator. But the metro is right on the corner so we have easy access to everything. We turned the car back in yesterday; then Martha and I walked to St: Chappelle hoping to get tickets for the concerts there; only to find out that they are cancelled for security reasons. So we then just took the metro back to the apartment.

This morning we got up early and went to Marche du Puces (a huge flea...and antique market). It was very fun and I bought a great thing for our coffee table....you'll have to wait and see it! Martha talked me into it. Everyone is now getting ready to go to the Musee D'Orsee which has a lot of impressionists; to Notre Dame....etc; etc: There is not too much time to sit around.

Love you all (Marnie, I think six months in London is a great idea...Beppie Anne could probably be helpful for information)

Mom

It's been a good while since I have written anything. Maybe it is the mound of boxes, clothes, and chaos that surrounds me as we continue to move into the house. Actually, the downstairs is looking pretty livable - aside from the garage, which I think is slowly driving Dave mad. He is a man of order and a messy garage is killing him.

Kids are all great. The school is busting at the seams with children and they are adding new teachers in each of my kids' grades. I fear that each will be moved into a new classroom as they add teachers; Parker already has. We registered late, obviously, so we are the last on the totem pole. Either way, they are resilient and adjust well, so I'm not too concerned. Parker's cast is off and he can now boast one of the ugliest arms I have seen in a long time. I think he will have some interesting scars...which will only further encourage him to tell people the gruesome and detailed story of breaking his arm.

We are in full swing of school, soccer, Webelos, church dinners and socials, and whatever else life throws our way. I've even been sucked into a BUNCO group in the neighborhood. The first night felt like something out of Desperate Housewives, but they are basically a good group of "ladies".

Dave is loving work. He is still at about 3 days a week, but his schedule is slowly filling up and then he will work another day. He surprised me with that trip to the coast a couple of weeks ago for our anniversary...totally got me. I had no idea. It was fabulous.

We have inherited Bailey (Mike & Brooke's golden retriever) for a while. Much to Brooke's disbelief, we feel honored to have her here, rather than obligated. She is a well-trained, gentle and loving dog. We are all really enjoying her.

I've written enough. It's great hearing from all of you. We love you all!

Adina

Hello to all. I just wanted to keep the blog going so I'll update you all with what we are up to. Last Saturday Brent and I went to the LA temple with our best buddies who live upstairs to do a session. It was our first trip to this Temple so we were excited to go. It was only possible since all four of us committed to going months ago so it was nice to actually go. Every temple that I have been to (not many) has been very different and unique, yet still the same if that makes any sense.
School is going pretty well. I picked an easy dissection for the first (the elbow) which was good since I realized how bad my technique has gotten since it was two years ago when I took anatomy here. I struck research gold by finding a metasearch done on my exact research question that was just published last year from Norway. Basically that means that they did a VERY detailed statistical analysis on ALL of the current literature on my topic (TMJ interventions) to come to their conclusion. So all I have to do is agree with them in my own words and use their reference lists to obtain my references since I need at least 20 of them. Ok, I realize that I just completely bored the pants off of 99% of you all but I just wanted to explain myself.
Oh, and I got a job again at Ann Taylor (a clothing store that I used to manage before grad school). I am excited for the extra cash and it's a pretty nice place to work and don't worry, it's only 1 or 2 shifts a week. Brent agreed to let me use my 50% first purchase discount to buy a suit. I had promised myself I would get an Ann Taylor suit when I finished PT school so I'd say this works out perfectly!
Brent got free tickets from work to the UCLA/ Oklahoma football game for tomorrow night... do you think he asked me first to go with him??? Nope, he asked his buddy Chad who is as big of a sports nut as him... his wife and I often ask ourselves if they like each other more than us! Speaking of our dear friends, we think we have almost successfully convinced them to move up to the Portland area with us. They have long been wanting to move out of CA in search of a more mellow lifestyle and the prospect of buying a house that didn't cost 5 times what it was really worth. So now they are seriously considering the job market in Portland and we insist they live on the WA side. Funny how life works these things out.
Anyway, I have to get ready for work (this is wierd since it's not over the Christmas break when I normally work!).
Barb, we can't wait to see pictures! We miss you all.
Buffy

So Google just released a new search engine...just for blogs! It is at www.blogsearch.google.com. Kinda creepy. If you type in "Stinchfield" it comes up with a bunch of stuff from our blog and other random things. It is pretty funny to type in things that would only be on our blog and see what it comes up with.

Just thought you guys would be interested.

-Marnie

Found another internet cafe! Having a great time here. The sun just came out and Martha found a tapestry shop she has been looking for. I may get one as my "permanent" memory of this trip to France.

We went to the American cemetary this morning. Very moving to see all of those crosses and stars over the hills. It was raining lightly which went a bit with the mood there. When you see those beaches it is just incredible what we were able to do. Bayeux was the first city liberated from the Germans. I took some pictures but the battery ran out.

We stopped by a French Target( not called that, of course) and I got some more batteries and another memory chip. Only 27 euros for a 256 M one. We also got some bungie cords as we have grown out of the van...We'll put some suitcases on top. What a sight we will be!

Well, I have others waiting on me for the english keyboard! Love you all! (Marnie, I loved Giverny but we had to skip Chartres...not enough time!0

Mom

This will be quick but I just wanted to add something to the blogg. We’ve been having a fun week. The Indian’s are playing the A’s this week and they are going head to head for the wildcard so it’s been fun to be a part of. We went to last night’s game and had a great time with a 5-2 win! Tom and Hayden are going again tonight while I go to Enrichment Night. Tom still wants to be loyal to his A’s but we’ve convinced him he needs to be loyal to his family and support the Indian’s right now. It’s a lot of fun!
Hayden has become obsessed with singing kids songs and he does it all the time. He surprises me everyday by singing another song off his CD that I didn’t know he knew. It’s great fun! Here are a couple of fun stories about him recently:

1. Out of the blue he told me that if baby sister starts crying we can put her in her room because it's dark in there. Then he thought for a minute and said "we can put her back in your tummy, is it dark in there?" and I told him I don't know if it's hard in there. So he ran over to my stomach and shouted "Baby sister, is it dark in there?" then he paused and said "She said yes."

2. I was cleaning his room and he came in and put his fist up in fighting position and said "Hey mom, you want a piece of me?" He was ready for a fight! I questioned him and learned he had just seen it on a Jimmy Neutron…that kid and TV, I better be careful about what I let him watch because he remembers everything!

3. I was getting dressed and he was playing in the living room. He suddenly came running down the hall and ran in the bedroom with me and shut the door. He looked at me and said "Hi mom, I came to see you because I like you!" I was happy for this declaration but a little surprised by his actions and a little bit in disbelief. A minute later he told the real story and said "I heard something out there and got scared!"

We finally “solved” the problem of being terrified of monsters at naptime and bedtime by simply letting him sleep with his lamp on. I figure there are worse things he could do. Like still have a binky… his binky is so worn out it’s getting a small hole. I was showing it to him and telling him it will be broken soon so we should probably put it away somewhere special. He simply put it in his mouth and matter-of-factly declared “It’s okay, it won’t bother me.”

Okay, enough stories. I better go get something done. I’ll try to write again! I’m glad everyone seems to be doing well. Talk to you later!

Tracey

I am so jealous! Mom you have to take pictures and buy me something! :) I loved Chartres and Giverny when I went to France. They were two of my favorite places, well, they were all my favorite places but those two were beautiful. It was so amazing to be walking by the waterlilies that inspired Monet to paint "Waterlilies"!Awesome. Wish I could be there. And I am sure Mom will enjoy the amazing stained glass at Chartres. I bought a book about the cathedral when I was there. Very cool. Are you guys going to Paris at all? Versailles? Wish I could be there!

I have a new idea that I want to move to London next year for about 6 months or so. Me and my friend Nicole are trying to figure out a way to make it work. It involves work permits, finding jobs, finding a flat, and finding the money! But it would be quite an experience and one that I have always wanted to do. I really would like to live abroad at some point and I might as well do it now. And Nicole totally wants to go too and she is mostly reliable on ideas like that if they can work. She wouldn't back out at the last minute and screw me over or anything. So that is my new plan/idea that I am working on bringing to pass. That and trying to convince Nicole to move back down to San Diego and live with me. I almost got her yesterday! She is thinking she might if we moved to like Carlsbad or something which is closer to work for me so I wouldn't have too much problem with it. So we will see.

Anyway, got to get back to work. We have been getting viruses up the ying-yang so I have to be careful on what sites I go to online and make sure I save downloading stuff for home. Hope you are all well. It has been good to hear from you all! Have fun and take pictures Mom!

Well, I am now at an internet cafe which has an English keyboard so I can reasonably write messages. This trip is really a ball...I want to bring Dad here..and Marnie...and all of you. It is so much fun!

Today we have spent the day visiting the Chateau at Amboise, the house where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life and the Chateau Chanacioux (sp?) which is built over a river...all very cool. Yesterday we drove up from the country home near Figeac visiting several villages including one that is built into a cliff. We then visited a village where there was a Nazi massacre. It was very moving! We arrived late to our manor house bed and breakfast and had a late dinner and dropped exhausted into bed. Tomorrow we are going to see Monet's gardens and another chateau and will be staying in Bayeaux for two nights. We'll be going to Normandy during that time.

We are quite a sight...six middle aged women careening through Europe in a Peugeot van loaded to the hilt!!! and laughing all the time. This is definitely a trip to remember. Martha and I are planning a trip in a couple of years including Dick and Kenn. I'd love for her to keep me posted so we could maybe go on one together, Marnie. I definitely am getting the travel bug.

Sounds like all is well at home...I do miss you all in spite of all the fun I am having and will be happy to return back home to you. Thanks so being so good to Dad in my absence. Love you all,

Mom

Hey!
I know we haven’t blogged for A LONG TIME! Mom bugged me every time I would be over here (like 2 times) to do it. I should have listened now that we are getting yelled at ha-ha! Anyway, we don’t have internet at our apartment because then we have to pay for it and we just really don’t want to do that. Our apartment is finally getting all put together and feeling like a home. We don’t have anything on the walls really because we know we will only be here for like 3-4 more months so we figure we don’t need to be putting holes in our walls. We borrowed a LoveSac from the girl I baby-sit for. It is the biggest one you can get. For those of you who don’t know what LoveSacs are, they are huge beanbags but they aren’t little beans of that stuff (ha-ha) they are made out this material that NASA uses. Anyway, it is a company that started in Salt Lake City and they make some awesome bean bags except they are EXPENSIVE! Well we have one in our living room along with a loveseat and mushroom chair (MARNIE!). The LoveSac takes up like half of the room. We will have to take pictures when mom gets back from the trip. I let her take my camera instead of buying a whole new one!

Most of you know we are selling the Durango to get a better little car that will suit us money wise! Since the lowest car insurance we can find is 950 for 6 months! Ugh... Anyway, we have a buyer but he is getting money to pay for it this month so it is the situation where if someone gets it before you then oh well! And he knows it. We SWEAR that the stallion is punishing us for selling him because now his brake lights are working and we thought that maybe it is the fuse. So we bought and new one and replaced it. Nope not it! So now we are going to take him to this guy (that Treven works with) to check out the brake switch to see if something is wrong with it. This guy is a big automotive guy and he owes us so yeah. Just crossing the fingers that we don’t get pulled over by a cop before that!

So when is the Christmas drawing going to take place? I couldn’t remember if it had already happened or not! Anne, great job! I really want to be able to see one of your games as you playing outside hitter. But every time I watch it makes me miss it that much more….. Anyway enough of my complaining! Great job and keep it up! Mike, miss you and glad you are safe over there! Dave and Adina, weird not to see you guys everyday. Brooke, call whenever if you need a buddy to help out and do stuff with! We love you all! And we will post pictures when mom gets home!

Kim and Treven