12 Week Baby Pictures---We don't have a scanner so these are pictures taken of the ultrasound pic---kinda fuzzy 

Same picture--a little better 

...TODAY! Yes, you heard me, the sun is shining. I can hardly believe my eyes. I want to cry. And what' more...it shouldn't rain again for the next 3 days. Unreal. I just had to share that with all I love. The sun. It's shining. :)

Dave is missing it. He is in Utah where it snowed last night. Fortunately, he is at a hotel with treadmills or I fear he would explode. He is aiming for 35 miles a week or something, so running is muy importante. He had a Planes, Trains, & Automobiles's moment last night with Dr. Davis. They go to their room, walked in, and stood staring at the ONE bed in the room. I can just see them looking at the bed, then at eachother. Anyway - they got it straightened out. Dr. Davis said, "I like you, Dave. But I don't like you that much". Funny. Those aren't pillows!!!

Love you all. Off to work on my R.S. lesson.

Adina

So I have a new addiction... I guess it has been quite the fad for a while and I do remember seeing it vaguely at bookstores and such. It is Sudoku. It is such a fun puzzle game! I have been playing it all day at work! You can time yourself but I am just doing them on downtime. I won't try to explain it on here because that would be way too complicated. My friend Kat's boyfriend showed it to me last night. There are a bunch of them at www.websudoku.com. Pretty cool. He explained it to me so I am not sure if the directions on the site explain it well enough but in case you are in need of a cool puzzle to pass the time...these are pretty awesome!

--
Marnie

I had the interview today... well 3 interviews plus a typing test and 10 key test. Anyway! I got the job! I will be getting 6.20/hr for the first 3 months then I can get a higher position. I will be working 12-15 hours which is perfect! And also I get a bunch of free stuff from them and they do this thing where every hour that I work I will get 50 cents extra put into a Bonus Bank thing if I attend to the attendance policy! Then after a year, they give me everything from that bonus bank! Sweet huh? Anyway, it is just a great job that is right here in Rexburg for us to be able to extra money. Treven starts his job on Saturday but I don't start until February 6th!
That is what is going on! Now I have to go see exactly what time LOST is on here! Don't want to miss it. In the words of Marnie, "Happy Lost Day!"

Kim

Hey Kim- My sister just started doing the Melaluca thing from her home and is real excited about it. I guess it is a huge range of stuff that is all organic and non-toxic (cleaning supplies, etc) and it's cheaper than the brands at the grocery store. Anyway, that's so funny.
Buffy

So stupid me, I left around 4:15pm today to get to my 6 o'clock class thinking it was a 5 o'clock class and when I got here there was only one guy sitting outside the room and the room is locked. It was then I realized that my class was actually at 6 o'clock and I was a idiot for leaving at 4:15, an hour too early to leave. But hey I found that BSU has wireless internet, I am able to surf the web and blog to ya'll while I wait for another 50 minutes before class starts which is a class scheduled to go to 9pm. Hopefully since it is the first day, she'll let us out early, but with it being only an 8 week course and meeting only once a week, we may be here until 9pm. I haven't gone to buy the book yet for this class which irritateingly(I don't know if it is a word) costs $160 in itself. It is a stupid computer class that I am required to take for my major and I am frustrated I have to pay so much for an 8 week class's book. Kinda sucks but what can I do.

Anyways, today is the official start of the semester and I have to miss basically all of both of my classes tomorrow because I am headed off to my first appointment at 10:30 which will involve my first ultrasound. Kinda exciting and Peter found out that he can go with me to the appointment which makes me so happy that he will be there for it.

Work has been going well. I worked 36 hours last week, for which I get paid this friday for, so it will nice to have some money to pay off credit cards and such. I begin working 4 nights a week this week and pretty much guess that is how my working life is going to be until I end up quitting which I suppose will be around the end of June so that I can be free to do whatever until the baby is born.

Peter's parents came to visit with our furniture Sunday night and left this morning around 9am. They brought all of our living room furniture so it is nice to finally have some real furniture in our front room. We are always happy to welcome anyone to come and visit. His parent also brought a double bed, mattress and frame, which we plan to put in the 2nd bedroom for any who comes to visit. We love you all and hope to see you soon.

Love,
Anne

Well, school is going well! We made it through the first week without fail. I have a job interview tomorrow for Melaleuca. They are a company that sells cleaning supplies, makeup Everything basically with this special melaleuca oil. Anyway, the only way you can order is through the phone. So I would be taking order over the phone for 6.50 an hour which is pretty good starting pay here in Rexburg. Treven hasn't started at Bath and Body Works yet. He is starting working next week because they had to transfer all of his information to Idaho Falls and it took a while.

By the way for Brooke, Mom and anybody else who is interested, I have a website now for my Mary Kay business so you guys can just go on there and look around and shop there. The website is www.marykay.com/kperry96 . It is an easier way to order it then having to go through me.

That is all that is really going on for us. Except that I went to the doctor last week and had her look at my ear. Now I have to go to an ENT doctor because she said she sees a hole in my eardrum! So I go next Tuesday for that appointment. We will see what happens!

Love you all,
Kim and Treven

Nothing groundbreaking to report, but have really enjoyed reading everyone's blogs...

Today was a fun day. Dave had to work, but the boys got to go see King Kong with PaPa and really loved that. Thanks, PaPa! That left us girls to fend for ourselves, so what did we do...? Why, shopping and lunch, of course! Brooke and I hit some January sales, bought some of the same stuff (we'll be on different continents all too soon), and had lunch at Chevy's. Very fun afternoon. I'll sure miss Brooke when she is travelling the world, but I'm so happy for all of them.

Dave has a new calling...assistant Webelos leader. He'll do a great job. He takes off on Thursday night to go to Utah for some laser training. While there, he'll visit a friend from dental school and also my brother in Provo...and catch a glimpse of his secret girlfriend, Katelyn. :) Then he has his ortho course on Sunday and Monday. Always busy and always working toward making the practice a success.

Marnie -we will look for the package. Thanks! Parker's birthday is Monday. There is a restaurant here in Washougal called Parker House that opened recently - steak and seafood place on the river. Anyway - Parker thinks it is his house, so we are taking him there for dinner. (For those of you joining us, the reservations are for Monday, the 23rd at 6 pm.)

Brent & Buffy - can't wait until you are here so we can play! Congrats on the job - Brooke and I will still like you, even though we can't use your discount. Of course, you could always buy us "gifts", and we can pay you for them! :)

Have a safe trip home, Barb. Give all those Stinchies in Cleveland a big hug for us. Everyone else - be safe and blog away!

Adina

Sadie's is May 28, Hayden and Morgans is December 23, Danica is Dec 12, Buffy's is Feb 26, Peter's is Feb 28 and Treven's is May 27. If I am wrong on any of these please holler. Anne should know more about her due date on Wednesday when she has her first doctor's appointment.

Thanks for posting, Marnie.

Love,

Mom

A little update on me I guess...
Things are going really well. Work is good, a little slow but picking up a bit. I'm not complaining too much. Lost has started up again so I can renew my obsession. We have moved our Lost parties from my friends apartment to the club room at her complex. It is pretty sweet with a big screen and pool tables and a kitchen and stuff. And it doesn't cost anything! You just have to reserve it. So this week we will be having another shindig there for "The Hunting Party" (the next episode). Tonight is the Golden Globes so I think we are going to have a pretty informal watching party for that. The big formal one is only 7 weeks away! My 5th Annual Oscar Party is going to be pretty awesome this year. I think my friend Nicole might come down for a visit and my old roomie Sandy is coming in from Texas around that time too. Lots of fun stuff to look forward to.

I should be seeing Brent and Buffy on Saturday. I am going to take a small jaunt up to Irvine to meet them there for lunch (Lunch is right, right?) 'cause I have to work at the Chalet that night. I think it is pretty funny bytheway that I have to get Brent a discount card for Sport Chalet! Weird! Remus is still running well. No problems, only looks from tourists and questions from strangers on how I like it.

It is good to hear from all of you. I hope Mom is having fun with Tom's family in Ohio. I have heard that babysitting is quite fun in WA while you are gone. Dave and Adina, you should be getting a package soon with Parker's name on it. It is for his birthday. I am not sure when it will be getting there, sometime this week. Speaking of birthdays, I know we already did this but I just want to make sure I have the right birthdays for all the grandkids...

Jane - Aug 14
Sadie - ??? May?
Ellyn - Feb 14
Isaac - Aug 15
Taylor - April 3
Parker - Jan 23
Morgan - Dec 22 or 23
Hayden - Dec 22 or 23
Danica - Dec 12?
Anne & Peter - do you know when you are due?

Yeah and I am really bad on the spouse birthdays too...I know Adina's (Sept 28) and Brooke's (Aug 13), Buffy's is in end of Jan? or end of Feb? 22nd? I always get it mixed up. And I have no idea on Tracey, Peter, or Treven. Sorry!! That info would be much appreciated. Oh and favorite colors and shoe sizes for the kids too...(secret: they will all be getting similar birthday gifts this year from their Aunt Marnie). Thanks!

I hope everyone is well. Love you all!!

--
Marnie

I'm sitting in the alcove at Tom's house looking out at just a little bit of snow on the ground. When I arrived on Thursday, it was a 50 degree high that day with no snow. On Friday, Tracey, Hayden, Danica and I walked down to the park and Hayden had a ball playing with the kids that just got out of school. However, Friday night it started raining and then turned to snow overnight and it is back to typical Cleveland weather. On Friday night we went out to Kirtland to the new Joseph Smith movie...the same one that is showing in Salt Lake City. It is a very good movie...as usual, very well done.

Saturday we went to the zoo...they have several indoor venues...a rain forest which is very well done and then an aquarium and primate exhibit. Then they have a nice cozy bus to drive you around. It's very smart for a zoo in such a cold winter climate. Then we came home to watch the Seahawks game (Yea, Seahawks!) We also watched the New England/Broncos game--not quite as exciting since we didn't have as personal an interest. Yesterday we went to church and then over to the DeBaltzo's for dinner. They are such a fun family to spend time with. We hardley see Hayden at all while we are there since he enjoys the boys so much. We got home at about 1 pm after a rousing game of scrabble...with Tom complaining all the time about our choice of "words".

This morning Tom and Tracey took Danica to get some hip x-rays which are routine since she was breech and was in such an odd position. All is well with her hips. Not sure what we're doing today. Tom has the day off for MLK day.

Brooke and Mike, my heart certainly goes out to you but I feel a very peaceful feeling that everything will work out well and with this additional therapy Ellyn will be able to catch up. You are such conscientious parents to have her checked at this point. I'm afraid I would have waited longer just thinking that she is a late bloomer. Whatever the situation this therapy will help her out immensely starting so early. She is such a cutie...and will be a delight for them to work with.

Brent, I am so excited about your job and that they will let you train in LA. That makes such a significant difference to how long you and Buffy will be separated. We're looking forward, however, to having you around the house for a while. What a treat we have in having so much family close...and the ability to visit those who are far away!!

We need to hear from some of the quiet ones...Kim and Treven..how is school going? Marnie...how is sunny San Diego? Mike...keep us up on the non-happenings or happenings in Korea? of course, Tom and Tracey are a bit behind...but I just gave all their news. Remember, it doesn't need to be earthshattering news to be interesting!!

Thanks to Dave and Adina and Brooke for keeping Dad happy and occupied and watching after Gramma. The first is probably fairly easy but I know well that the other can be a bit difficult and frustrating. I appreciate the opportunity to come out here and to have a break.

Love you all,

Mom

OK, so we have church at 9 in the morning. We've been spoiled with a later time for the two years we've been married. So we were slow going this morning as we got ready for church and without it being said, we were both complaining to each other about how early it is to be up on a Sunday. So we get to the building and we're walking in to the chapel right at 9 o'clock and there are a hand full of people and some microphones set up in the choir section and we look at each other trying to figure out what's going on and I look at this lady and as she's saying it, we realize that it's stake conference and it doesn't start until 10. So we sat in the cushy seats that you have to be way early in order to get and listened to the choir practice.

It really was a good stake conference. I thought I would share a cool story. The theme was strengthening the family. The story goes like this:

A father was sitting down to enjoy reading the Sunday paper when his little boy came to him and asked him to read him a story. The father said he would read it with him a little later after he was done with the paper. The father was hoping that his son would be distracted and he wouldn't have to deal with it. His son came back in a couple of minutes with the same request. The father noticed a magazine that had a picture of the world on it. He ripped out the page and tore it up into a bunch of pieces. He challenged his son to put the world back together with the tape on his desk. The father thought for sure that this would keep his son busy and was proud of his quick thinking. A few minutes later, the son returns the broken world all taped together. The father was amazed at how quick he was able to put it back together and asked his son how he was able to do it. The son replied that it was easy because there was a picture of a home on the backside and once he put the home back together the world took care of itself. The father thought that that was some pretty good advice.

I thought that was a cool story and rings true to me.

Peter

Well we had Ellyn's assessment yesterday and really I don't feel like talking about it but I will give you a brief rundown. She scored an average of 10 mos- 16 mos. development in every category but fine motor. She is borderline in that area for now. I guess this was worse than I had expected and they couldn't tell me one way or the other if this was something she would grow out of with therapy. She will start her program next week. She will be doing physical therapy, speech and cognitive stimulation, and I need to take her in to a pediatric physiatrist or a pediatric orthapedist for her little bow legs because there is a family history. So for the next couple of weeks we will have home visits and then when Ellie turns two next month she will start attending a special therapy center pre-school twice a week for two hours a day. I know it's not the end of the world and it's good we got this started early but I'm sure you all know how you would feel if it was your little one. She is such a beautiful, sweet, loving, happy baby and I want her to grow into a healthy, happy woman, to be able to marry in the temple, be a mom, all that good stuff. I know the Lord has a plan and it could go either way. I just have to be patient and do everything I can to ensure her success. So please keep her in your prayers.

Brent, cograts! Adina and I are debating whether or not we'll still hang out with you. It could swing in your favor if Buffy can get us an Ann Taylor (I don't even know how to spell it) discount and if she gets our scarves done in a reasonable amount of time ;).

Okay, it's bedtime. I love you all. Goodnight.

How's that wagon Mike? I'm with you also. I hope they go all the way. It's too bad that Sean got hurt, but they survived and he'll be back next week. Have you been watching the New England game? It's gotta be horrible to be a New England fan right about now with how many turnovers they've had. Maybe they'll pull through though.

Congrats Brent, we're excited for you. That's great thay you'll be able to stay in L.A. for a little while longer during training. We just got to Boise and I can already feel the pull to Vancouver increasing. But that's definately not a bad thing.

Peter

Brent,

Just wanted to say I never doubted that you could pick this one up and run with it. I see you doing very well up there and I hope it leads to even bigger and better things. Well done bro.

GO HAWKS!

Mike

Hello Everyone,

Yes it is I your long lost blogging brother Brent. I am soory but I just went through a very busy holiday season at Sport Chalet and have had no time ti sit down and blog. Anyways I am sure some of you have heard, but I have given my letter of resignation to Sport Chalet and accepted a job with The Gap working as a Head of Store at the Troutdale loacation accross the river from Washougal. My first day with them will be the 30th due to the signing bonus they gave me to give my notice before I received my Sport CHalet Bonus. I will probably be doing my 5 weeks of Training at s store here in LA to be able to be with Buffy longer. I am very excited to work for this company and the oppourtunities it will bring. And for Adina and Brooke my discount is only for Buffy and I unless it is a "Gift". I was great see all of you that we were able to see in the last month. Congrats again to Tom and Tracey and I hope Danica Patrick, I mean Elizabeth, is doing OK. I love you all and I promise to blog much more.

Love Brent

Since some of you don't read the beecher girls blog (Brooke's family) and Brooke has written some great stuff, she gave me permission to copy what I want onto our blog so we'll have it in our family history...so here goes...excerpts from the last few days:

Tuesday, Jan 9

Let's see, what to tell you all? Remember the little stuff. That is what my life is full of- Ellyn has been re-enrolled in early intervention. She gets reasessed on Friday. She still only says "momma" and spends much of her time in her own little dream world. I have been praying that this is something that she'll grow out of with a little extra help early on. It worries me but what can I do but fast and pray and know that Heavenly Father has a plan for her. She was sick this past week and we spent the whole week glued at the hip. If I set her down she would scream and cry nonstop until I picked her up again. Yes, I felt bad for me, but I felt worse for her. Poor baby, she was so miserable. She's back to her happy, turkey baster totin' self this week and I'm pretty thrilled about that.

We spent the whole weekend playing with Mike's family again. His brother and his wife were in town. We played lots of card games and went bowling and ate lots of food that I hated writing down in my food journal. It has rained 22 out of the last 23 days here and so all activities are indoors. I feel like I'm going a bit crazy. Mom and Meags and I did get out for a little walk a few days ago. I thought that I was going to go insane if Ellyn and I didn't get out of the house. So we went walking along part of the Lewisville River that we had never seen and there were about two dozen salmon trying to jump up the waterfalls. We had so much fun watching them. I frankly just don't know how those little guys are going to make it to spawn. It looked way too hard. This computer is making me type weird, built in tab in a bizarre spot. Well I have to go get Jane from school. I love you all. Keep on bloggin'. Love, Brooke

Jan 10
Okay, I'm back to posting daily. We'll see if I can keep it up. Today I had to take Jane and Ellyn to the Dr.'s. Jane, because she is back to snoring like a chainsaw and Ellyn for her referral to Early Intervention. Sadie had to tag along because mom had a meeting and Meags had Bennett's ballet class. So the two girls are new patients which meant that I had 6 million pages of paperwork to fill out and Ellyn trying to stick the turkey baster in my ear half the time. Jane is reading her book and doing annoying errands for me like getting kleenex for the faucets over Sadie and Ellyn's mouths. Sadie is in a mad search for candy. I keep a few suckers and smarties in my purse for emergency situations and Sadie was relentless. "Mom, I need candy. I will find the candy. Where is the candy? I just want some candy. Mom, let's just have SOME candy." I thought I was going to lose my mind. She found every piece while I am trying to act like a mother with some control. I fooled absolutely noone. Then in the Dr.'s office she is doing the same thing, while I am talking to the Dr. I kept telling her to be quiet and what I really wanted to do was say "Excuse me Dr. will you please step out of the room so I can beat my child without witnesses?" I decided against that.

It is still raining. Mike reported to me last night that the Northwest has made it on to CNN World because of all the rain. I clicked on the weather last night and my old setting came up and it was for Georgia. Seventy three degrees. I wanted to cry. I clicked on Battle Ground's weather- Tuesday-rain, Wednesday-rain, Thursday-showers (what is the difference? I think they just wanted to use their new Thesaurus they got for Christmas), Friday-rain, and so on for the entire 10 day extended forecast. Then mom has the nerve to tell me it hasn't been too bad. Evidently she has not tried to load two grumpy toddlers into a dripping wet shopping cart anytime recently. And she obviously wears her pants too short because I walk around with constant wet rings around the bottom of all my very cute new jeans. I will not comment on that any further however because I am just happy to have finally found a few good pairs that are long enough.

Oh, this brings me to another tragedy in my life. A few weeks ago I discovered I am not 5'10". Okay, truthfully I always knew I was five nine and three quarters but I fudged and said I was 5'10". But...Meagan measured me the other day and I was only 5'9"-barely. I've shrunk. I didn't believe her but the next day when I went in for a Dr. appt. the nurse actually had the nerve to say I was 5'8" and 3/4. I just about burst into tears. I would have given anything to be shorter when I was younger, but now I need that height to be at the right weight. This is tragic, it really is. Okay, now you have heard all you need to from Shallow Hal. I'm going to go study my German until Mike calls. Don't be too impressed I just barely took the seal off the box. Brooke

Jan 12

I have to say that our regular nightly reading of the Book of Mormon was and is amazing. First of all the girls have calmed down during family scripture time 100%. A few months ago when we started reading the actual BoM with them and not just scripture stories I felt like the last thing I was getting was a spiritual experience. Now- knock on wood- they sit or lay quietly for the entire duration. Then one night as I was reading we came to a part that I thought was for sure going over even Janie's head. Jane stopped me and asked "so does that mean...?" She was right on track, she knew exactly what was being said. I was amazed and then she told me "Mom for a little while now I have been praying to Heavenly Father that I would understand the scriptures better and I really have." I think as a parent those are the moments to live for. We tried to decide what we were going to read next and we decided we are going to start all over. We are going to work on Old Testament stories for FHE to go along with what we are studying in Gospel Doctrine. Anyway, that is what our family is doing and I'm not telling you all to brag but as a way of sharing with you what has been an amazing blessing to our family.

So I don't know if I mentioned this, but I am staying at Mike's parents house for the next week and a half with the girls. We are taking care of Grandma Esther (Mike's dad's mom) while my mother in law, Barb, is back in Ohio with Mike's brother Tom and their new baby girl. Did that confuse all of you? It did me. Esther is 95 and she's a funny little lady. Several times a day she tells me that her youngest son had seven kids- that would be Mike's dad. She loves the girls and laughs at their antics all the time. She knows my name but doesn't remember that I'm Mike's wife. I guess she thinks I'm just a girl that brings her loud kids over to play on a regular basis.

Brooke

Also, for you young mothers...or mothers to be, the beechfamilytree blog is having a very interesting discussion on parenting techniques...I wish I'd had such a tool when I was raising all of you!!

So on to my news, Brooke is right on on Esther. I'm not sure she makes the connection with Mike or remembers it when she is told it. When Kenn came home from Mutual on Wednesday night and Brooke was there, she said to me "Kenn hasn't met Brooke, has he?" I reminded her that Brooke had been over multiple times and had been married to Mike for over twelve years....Oh, well! It almost equals when we were out to dinner with Dave and Adina. She leaned over to Kenn and said "See those kids over there? Those are David's kids." as if Kenn didn't know....we were all at the same table. Anyway, I appreciate Brooke more than I can ever express. It is wonderful to be able to come back with Tom, Tracey, Hayden and Danica. Danica is so-o-o-o tiny and such a good baby. Hayden is amazing for a three year old on the X-box....and basically a little Tom! I know I will need breaks during this challenging time of taking care of Gramma! I appreciate Brooke for helping with this one!

I love you all,

Mom

Well last night Treven and I dropped my friend Alli off at the Idaho Falls airport and on the way back we had to stop by his work (Bath and Body Works). Anyways, when we walked in there was a booth with these modest tshirt and long sleeve shirts for like 10 bucks. So I got one! It is wonderful! I looked on the receipt and they had a website. www.downeastbasics.com They have camisoles, longsleeved shirts, 3/4 sleeve shirts, Two different t-shirts, gaucho pants, and skirts. The Long sleeved and 3/4 are 12.99 and the camisole and regular shirts are 9.99 and gaucho and skirts are 16.99. Anyways just had to let all the girls know!

Kim

Hey All,
The secretary for my program came through with the answer quite quickly. I and my fellow classmates will be graduating on Wednesday, May 31st at 6:30 pm. She also said there is no limit for tickets.
Buffy