So Brent and I got back from Washington Sunday night and have gotten back into our LA lives. We now have new upstairs neigbors which could not be any more different from our friends... loud, always home (neither work), have loud heated arguments with fowel language which we get to hear through the walls, use our stiarwell as a storage unit (you get the picture).
This, coupled with the fact that Brent might be getting a job offer soon from GAP make me not want to stay here very long especially by myself.
I am at home cleaning today and just got a call from Brent that his interview with a regional manager for GAP went well and it sounds like a job offer will be coming soon. He had the interview at a swanky hotel lobby on Sunset Blvd and just as Brent sat down in the lobby, in comes Kanye West (sp??) with his body guard. Brent reported that the man is shorter in person.
Anyway, we enjoyed the time spent with everyone this past week in rain soaked WA. We hear it hasn't stopped raining and are a little glad to be able to go back to sunny CA for a while.
For the interrested parties; I have emailed 2 people in my program about graduation dates and number of tickets I get so I will let you know when I find out. Now all I have to do is get through the semester and hopefully find a place to live!
I am already in pre-move mode trying to get rid of excess stuff to donate or get rid of before a possibly fast approaching move. I could have a mini garage sale with what I have already collected but would rather just take it all somewhere. I guess 7 years of marriage results in a lot of stuff.
And for the record... No I did not mean what I said when we awoke January 2nd on our 7th anniversary, I was half awake and just rambling (Brent got a kick out of repeating it to everyone he possibly could think of). I have married the best guy in the world and I love him more today than when we were married and I am so proud of the person he has become.
Oh, and for those of you who know of him, Matt Ellsworth just called us yesterday to let us know that he is officially engaged and planning to marry his fiance in Utah very soon. Of course I had to jokingly ask if it was for real this time but he has never called us before about an engagement so I think it's going to happen.
Well, thats my novel and I'm sticking to it! Take care everyone.
Buffy

It happens like this; I sit down at our desk and open up an internet browser. I start browsing the usual cnn.com, byu.edu, weather.com, then.........I wake up and the speakers are pounding with the sound of ABBA, super trouper to be more exact. It's all I can do to get the picture of those, those, those outfits out of my mind. I think I should just accept the truth for what it is, I'm the one who put the song on and I'm the one dancing like I've got one of those sick outfits on performing before a packed Portland crowd. Ya, I'm a big fan of Mamma Mia. I'de play it at work all day, but no work would get done.

So anyways, I thought I would add a little more than just our new numbers. I'm definately impressed with the packed hot tub. The engineer in me is wondering how much water can possibly be in there with that many people in there. Way cool though!

Brent, I heard it through the grapevine that things have gone well for your interviews. Good luck and I hope things work out.

Mike and Brooke, Anne comes out to the front yard while I'm raking leaves and tells me that we could watch the kids while Brooke is in Korea. I'de love to, but I just don't think you'de want us to leave them alone for a couple of hours while we're both in class or at work. How fun would that be though to have the Stinchfield girls to break in the new home. Just remember everyone, we have an awesome waterpark here in our town for a good summer break.

Tom and Tracey, congrats on the new addition. It's getting more and more real for me that we'll have a little one also. I also love hearing about Hayden's witty comments.

Marnie, I'm way jealous that you were able to go to the Holiday Bowl. What an awesome hookup to get free tickets.

Kim & Treven, I hope to see you guys during one of your many three day weekends during this semester. We would love to have you visit.

Dave & Adina, thanks for hanging with us during our visit. Your kids are awesome and loads of fun to have around.

Well, I'm loving work so far. It is different then my water company job that I've done. This is a consultant firm so there is a lot of work to do and everything needed to be done a week ago. I'm enjoying the fast pace though and project managers have been very helpful in getting me up to speed on the projects. Our home is finally taking shape and feeling more homey. Anne cooked one mean pot roast and potatoes yesterday. Thanks Barb for filling her in on the recipe. My office-mate was pretty jealous of the leftovers I brought for lunch today. I think the last task to be fully functional in the home is to find out how to get a new code for the keypad that opens the garage door opener from the outside. It may be a doosy to figure out.

So all you Stinchfield tech-crazed fanatics, the Boise area has a pretty sweet way of providing internet. It's called "Clearwire". It works just like a cell phone. All you have to do it plug in the reciever so it has power and it recieves the wireless signal from a tower just like cellphones. The cool thing is that as long as the area we travel to has clearwire coverage then we can use it there. So with an inverter in our car, we can surf the net. The company is growing and I suspect will be all over in a few years. The coverage is great here in Boise and the fee is very affordable. Well, I've successfully procrastinated another day of working on my thesis. Today I did actually open it up and review since its been a while.

I should be going now, thanks to all for putting up with us during the holidays. Brent & Buffy, that was the best lasagna I may have ever had and I still can't get that saving ferris song out of my head(it's one awesome song).

Ken & Barb, it's always non-stop fun when we stay at your home.

Everyone that was there for the amazing gumbi fanatics of me, Dave and Anne.....cherish it because I don't think you'll ever see me be able to do that again. Anyways, one of the best New Years parties ever!

O.K., Anne is wondering what I could be writing about with all these questions about how to spell gumbi and all, so I better get going and publish this so I can get some sleep. If it were only this easy to write a thesis..............hmmmm

Peter

Hey everyone,

I thought I would blog our new numbers for our cell phones (no landline-no need for one) and our new address:

Peter (208) 921-8570
Anne (208) 921-8571

13542 W. Meadowdale Dr.
Boise, ID 83713

Love you all,

Anne

Inna Haut Tubb on a cold, wintery night, yeow! 

So I guess I should contribute since pretty much everyone else has. Things are going well down here in the promised land. :) It was a nice 65 degrees this morning at 7:30am as I drove the journey to work. Quite pleasant I must say.

I have fallen back into work this week and have been able to stay quite busy. Falling back into the routine hasn't been to hard to adjust to. One of my really good friends, Derek, is moving home to his parent's house in Tulare, CA this weekend so we are having a little going-away party for him tonight. It should be fun. I think most of the gang from Sport Chalet will be there so hopefully we can all give him a proper farewell.

Last week I got to go to the Holiday Bowl courtesy of my old roommate Kim who is an athletic trainer for the Oregon Ducks football team. It was really really fun and we got awesome seats. We were right above the inzone under the jumbotron in the 7th row. Pretty cool for free tickets. Too bad the Ducks lost. :(

I have been thoroughly enjoying my new slice of heaven (my car). He is wonderful and I love him. It is fun to be driving and have other Mini driver's wave at me just because I am driving a Mini. Kind of a cool camaraderie we got going on there.

Well that is about it from me. Nothing too exciting. Good to hear from you all! I am glad that A&P and K&T are settling in well in their respective Idaho homes. Love you all!

--
Marnie

Well, I figured it is about time for another update from the "Land of the Morning Calm" It doesn't feel so "calm" running that first mile every morning in 0 degrees temps!

Since everyone returned back this week from the half-days, things have been pretty busy playing catch-up. That is fine by me, I really like it when there is a lot to do. The days are definitely going by faster.

It was very nice to see most of you during Christmas. It actually felt like I was a part of the whole thing. I know it probably distracts having the technology there taking up attention, but I appreciate it nonetheless. I really am grateful to Marnie for pretty much running the Christmas Eve A/V for me.

I figured what I will do is bulletize what is going on with me to make it straightforward and not so long winded (edit: oops, it is still long winded but hey, I am alone!):

- I will be home in Vancouver from 9 FEB to 2 MAR. I fly in and out of PDX.

- Brooke is planning on trying to fly MAC out here the end of March as a test run before trying to bring the girls in April. If it does not work out, she will just fly by herself civilian-way and spend about 2 weeks here. I am currently begging for babysitters in case that happens.

- If the MAC thing works out Brooke and the girls will spend most of the summer here. Otherwise, another 2 week trip sometime in June.

- I now have orders for 6 SEP 2006 to the brigade moving to Vilseck, Germany from Fort Lewis this summer. All things can change in the Army, but we really don't want them to this time. Please keep us in your prayers on this one.

- My new favorite television show is Battlestar Galactica, the new one. Hence the title. It is unbelievably well produced. There are many twists on the original series which was most definitely a boyhood obsession of mine. I distinctly remember the Viper and Cylon Raider Mom and Dad brought me when I was recovering from my operation at Seattle Children's hospital. That was a profound moment in my life, and possibly one of the best gifts I have ever received, just because they knew how much I loved the show. I recently found out there were only actually 17 original episodes, one season, before it was cancelled. What a trip, my memory had always been of years of episodes. The new one is now in the middle of its 2nd season and has just signed for 2 more seasons with SciFi channel. Sweet! IMO, It is the best show on TV. But that is coming from me, probably the biggest sci-fi fan in the house. It is definitely not for kids; much more risque than the original. However, it is interesting to see that Glen Larson is a consulting producer and that like the original 1978 series, some Mormon doctrine works it way into the mix. Yes sibs, better than the Office or Lost. I am loving going thorugh the Seinfeld DVDs as well. Thank you Mom, Dad, Dave and Adina! BTW I just exchanged the one duplicate for Season 4 at the PX, which I did not have. On that note, any other good shows out there? I mostly use the new Itunes for the TV shows.

- The XBOX 360 is absolutely my favorite toy ever. It is a joy to play and I cannot wait for what the future holds for games for this thing. Tom and I have had a blast playing cooperatively over Live through one game, and also a few great rounds of deathmatch. It is very smooth play, can't even tell I am halfway around the world! My thumb aches from playing Project Gotham Racing 3 so much, I think my hand ached for months after PGR 2 was released as well.

- It is too cold to bike now (wind chill). So my Saturday exercise consists of long 10-12 mile runs. Obviously my leg is much better. However, I do get shin splints in both legs now, which was never a problem for me for the first 35 years. Bizarre. I would love to do the Marathon with Dave, maybe in the future. I do plan at least running a 1/2 marathon for the Seoul marathon in March.

- I am still reading the Joseph Smith book and am truly enjoying starting over in the Book of Mormon. It really does make a difference when read daily. Nobody can argue that. The problem is I hate "snacking" (15-minutes). It just does very little for me. Luckily, it is easy here to spend 45 minutes to an hour reading every day. That does make a difference. I just wonder how I am going to do that when I get back to the responsibilites of husband and father. It makes it tough. Kind of ironic.

- I am enjoying my job a lot more. My boss is finally seeing what I am about. They are starting to realize they can lay a lot on me. Sounds bad, but in this situation I am grateful for the work.

- On the National Championship: my take is that Vince Young is a stud and that Pete Carroll might be a good "manager", but he is not a good on-the-field football coach. I have watched a lot of games this year and my assessment is that he really lacks good decision making during games. In the Rose Bowl, his biggest error was not keeping the ball on the ground during USCs last drive. Two pass plays when you have arguably the best two running backs in college? And they needed to run the clock down? I actually think it was a good decision he went for it on 4th and 2 even though it didn't work out. The other mistake was obviously the timeout debacle, but the playcalling lost them the game....and Vince Young calmly strolling in to the endzone. It was a blessing to be able to enjoy all of that over here. Thank goodness for that 50 inch TV above my work desk! GO SEAHAWKS! (At least I can say I jumped on that wagon in September, even though I have not been the most loyal Hawk fan during my life)

Now that I have worn you all out with my opinionated ramble, I just want to say I love you all and wish you all a very blessed and happy new year! It should be interesting!

Mike

Hello everyone,

Well we are finally here. We got internet set up today and are finally able to blog to you all. I know it seems like we disappeared off the face of the earth but that is what happens when you are homeless and just move in. We have gotten settled in somewhat after dealing with the gas being turned off because we forgot to call to have it switched over to our name. Let me tell you that was a very cold night. The last few days I have started my search for a job and got one today. I will be working part time at Bed, Bath & Beyond. I have an orientation next week and will be starting immeadiatly after. I am excited to have a job and have something to take up my time now that volleyball is over. I am going through some withdrawals but I am having fun not having to worry about all of that anymore but I do miss the girls from the team and seeing them everyday. The house is nice but there are alot of improvements we will eventually have to do such as the blinds, they are in not so good shape. I am officially in the double digits with weeks of my pregnancy, 1/4 of the way there and way more to go. I am waiting until sunday to find out from women in the ward what doctor is the best to go to. So finally I will be going to the doctor.

Peter has been enjoying work. Things have stayed busy for him so that for him the day goes by fast and he doesn't get bored. He is enjoying it here also and can't wait to get our furniture for the living room that his parents are going to be bringing up sometime in the next couple weeks. For now we are sitting on our futon mattress propped up against some boxes. It is great.

Anyways, that is all for now. Not much else going on except for unpacking which I have been lazy with because of the want to catch up on sleep that I didn't get over the holidays plus the insane tiredness that I have gotten from the pregnancy.

We love you all and hope to have you all someday here at our home in Boise.

Love,
Anne

No ground-breaking news, but thought we should blog a little.
Tracey - glad to hear you are managing well and recovering. I've no doubt you will be your slim, beautiful, active self when we see you again!

Our New Year's was fun. We spent it with Bennetts & Co. We played some serious volleyball - I'm glad I was on Anne's team! :) Then we played some psycho flexibility game - and Anne, Dave and Peter were the champs. Very impressive. It was nice seeing Peter and "that girl with Peter", as Morgan refers to Anne. We really look forward to having them only 6 hours away or so. Now Brent & Buffy are here and we hope to do something fun with them this weekend.

Kids are all great - back to school. I enjoy having them home, but it sure was a long three weeks. We went to Burgerville tonight. Isaac took his "money drop" cash with him and was planning on buying an ice cream sundae with it. The ever-frugal Taylor said, "Are you sure you want to do that? That's like eating $2!" Needless to say, Isaac bought a sundae and Taylor didn't.

Dave now intends to run a marathon in Ogden this spring. He has been training and really wants to do it. Then the Hood to Coast in the summer. We just hope his knees hang in there. Work continues to go well - we are awaiting the delivery of his new sign. Hopefully in February. 2006 should be the year he purchases the practice. Scary, but exciting.

Not much else to report. Hope you are all doing well, getting back into the swing of things after the holidays. Love you all...

Adina

Things here are still going well. Tom is back at school and I am managing fine with the kids on my own (although I am really looking forward to the upcoming visits from my mom and then Barb!!) We had a fun New Year's Eve at the Debaltzo's, there is a picture on their blogg. Tom has jumped right back into the thick of things at school, his description to my inquiry of how his day went was something like "Fine, boring classes in the morning and then off to the clinic." I am recovering well but can't wait until I can say I am "recovered!" I will definately try for a regular delivery with my next child, recovery after having Hayden was really easy and quick. Although I feel pretty good my incistion still hurts if I do any amount of walking like going to the store or too much housework. Fortunately it hasn't even been a month yet so I am still confident I will feel like myself again eventually. Hayden has been living in a dream world with Tom home everyday and woke up yesterday and today asking for him right off. He has mastered a game called Kameo on the 360 as well as his new Leapster LMax games... we're going to have buy him some new games! Danica continues to be a dream baby. There is definately some magic to having a second child because I get to just enjoy her instead of doing all the stressing and worrying that I did with Hayden as a new mom. I could just sit and cuddle with her all day. Fortunately, she is so mild tempered that she would let me just sit and hold her all day while she stared at the wall with a silly grin. But, even more fortunate is the fact that she doesn't require me to hold her all day and is very content to just hangout on her own and easily drifts off to sleep when she's tired. We truly couldn't ask for more.
Well I best go grab the laundry before she wants to eat again. I hope all of your different transitions into 2006 go smoothly, keep us posted!

Tracey

I'm sure it is because different combos of people have been together...but remember those that are not...

Anyway, I am in the midst of chaos here as I put the Christmas stuff away. We've been watching the Orange Bowl tonight as I do it and we are pleased with the final outcome. That poor kicker...actually kickers since both teams missed multiple field goals!!

I finally took Gramma to the podiatrist who said that her sores were healing as well as can be expected with as poor as her circulation is. We go to her regular doctor on Thursday. She still looks puzzled whenever she gets into the chair.

Our life has quieted down considerably with just the three of us here. Brent and Buffy will come over Friday afternoon for the weekend. We're looking forward to that..then next week I'll be going to see Danica...and Hayden, Tracey and Tom.

Love you all...

Mom

Here we are! We have been here for the last four days... Kinda boring. We were supposed to get our stuff from the movers on Friday, but turns out that they got stuck in Ontario, Oregon, so we don't end up getting our stuff until Tuesday. Plus! we don't know where to go to church and we have been trying to find someone in our apartment complex but nobody is home! Not even the manager! Anyway, the drive out here was clear. It rained for the first half and was totally clear the last. AND there was NO snow! It was weird because we had expected tons of snow! But then we woke up the next morning and it was white everywhere! Guess we beat out the weather. School starts on January 9th so this next week will be us getting everything together before we start the full schedule. Treven is working at Bath and Body Works. He worked there in Vancouver for December and it turned out that he could transfer to the one in Idaho Falls. And he gets sweet discounts for me! 30 percent at Bath and Body Works and 20 percent at Victoria's Secret, The Limited, and express. I, on the other hand, are still looking for a job. There are a few places that look good to apply so I am going to go do that on Monday.
Our apartment is wonderful. The kitchen and bathroom are huge and the living room is a little smaller than I expected but it works! Once we get our stuff from the movers and get everything in it's place then we will take some pictures and put them on the blog.
That is all for now from the Burg. By the way, just a thought to keep in mind. Yellowstone is awesome in the summer here (obviously) for camping so if anyone wants to come visit and do some camping it is like an hour away from here!
Love you guys and Happy New Year!
Kim and Treven

Christmas past; New Year's about to pounce upon us. This if Friday, 30 December 2005, with me getting in my last minute notes before heading off to work. Mom left long ago to go to the Temple in Lake Oswego where she has been asked to work once per week. This is kinda a trial run for grandma who will be "home alone" until Peter and Anne arrive somewhere around 1030 this morning. She should do well as she knows how to run the chair lift to go up and downstairs. She forgets sometimes to swing the chair the right direction, but, with a little coaxing, or time, she can do it. I think, however, she will sleep long into the morning as that has been her modus o.

Brent and Buffy arrive this weekend, too. We've kind of had a split vacation with some of our family here for Christmas and others for New Years. Normal stuff for a family so spread out. We're appreciative for their visits. Wish Tom, Tracey, Hayden, Danica and Mike could have made it this year, but, hey...we missed a lot of family events too. Mom is going back to visit with Tom and Tracey and family...Mike is coming here in Feb-March. So, looks like we'll see all of you in the Dec-Feb timeframe. Not too bad.

Tonight we're off to Mama Mia with some of the family here and one of the doctors from my clinic (and his wife). I believe we're going to Bennetts for the New Year's Celebration.

Anyway, just a short note to tie Christmas into New Year's. I love you all, Dad

Isaac 

Parker and his sheep 

Taylor and his gold 

Morgan and Sadie before the Nativity 

Not the best picture, but some beautiful nativity angels...