I think I am just avoiding going down to clean the kitchen as a prelude to the rest of the house but I so enjoyed seeing some new blogs...they are so fun to read ...Tom, I appreciate the spilling out of your thoughts!!! (and David, too!)

I just got a call from Treven that Kim was out of surgery. She had to get tubes put into her right ear (I think I have the right one) as she is continuing to have problems with it. They also removed a lot of scar tissue that developed from her other surgeries. She is fine and they are on their way home from the surgery center.

We have been searching out alternatives for Grandma's care. We probably won't make the change for several months but she is getting more and more confused..and difficult and I anticipate that in a few months it may be risky leaving her alone. There is a pretty nice place close to us..just on the other side of the freeway..that looks promising. It is pretty home-like and personal...it is called a foster adult care center and consists of 6 houses that each house 6 people. Each house has a caretaker that cooks meals and helps the residents out. They each have their own rooms. It is a little more expensive but she would have enough money to carry her through until she is 102...If she lives that long, we would then have to subsidize her or put her on medicaid. We are still checking out a few other places including Ellery's company's place here in Vancouver. In speaking to Ellery, though, I'm not sure I am comfortable with Grandma being in her own apartment trying to function.

I was invited to a Bunco party (all women, so it doesn't matter that Dad doesn't like to play it) tonight which sounds really fun so I'm going to go. It will be nice to get out for something fun.

On Monday night, we went to Parker House ( a very nice restaurant on the Columbia) for Parker's birthday. David and Adina hosted it and it was a great dinner. Parker was the only child there and was VERY well behaved. It is so fun having family near. Grandma made me laugh when she keeps commenting that she was so surprised to see Brooke there because she didn't know that she knew David and Adina. Not to speak of the many, many times we've been here at our house together since she arrived. She is also convinced that this is her house and Dad and I are visiting. Shouldn't irritate me so much but it does. I'm trying to be a little more mature about it but it is unnerving to be given her permission to have some ice cream out of our own freezer.

Well, I'd better face the kitchen. I bought a new little electic gadget on a whim that scrubs grout, sinks etc so I am trying it out today.

Love you all,

Mom

I don't question your desires, Tom, I actually envy them. If I could push a button and go All-Mac, I would do it. From what I understand, there aren't as many issues with crappy slow computers due to who-knows-what. I just bought an HP computer about a year ago and it is supposed to be loaded. However, it can't run stuff that it should easily be able to run. I have recovered it a couple times only to see that nothing helps. Really frustrating because I bought this computer to do things and now it just sits there to check email and do Word documents. My laptop, which is not nearly as beefy, seems to work better, although it isn't strong enough to play any games. So, what I am getting to is that if I had that magic button, I would do it. It is just that that button has a hefty price tag. One question though: Are new releases of games now able to be played on Macs?? Just curious.

Things are going well here in Washougal. I took a trip to Utah last weekend (just Friday and Saturday) for a dental laser course. We have this expensive and very cool laser here in the office that can do some pretty amazing things and I went up there for a meeting of a lot of users...we kind of share all of our experiences and learn more about what we can accomplish with it. Great learning opportunity. That took most of the time, then I visited Adina's brother in Provo and the Lever's (good dental school friends of mine) for a couple of hours before I flew back. Then I had some orthodontic training in Portland on Sunday and Monday. Needless to say, the weekend flew by. Here it is Thursday already...amazing.

Martha, don't feel left out that I didn't come to visit you guys, I will be up there in May hopefully. Oh yeah, I wanted to check and see if there were any open rooms at the Eden Retreat around May 6th. I plan to come up there for the Ogden Marathon on the 6th and would love to be able to stay with you guys. I'll check with you later.

Homerun Brian, you never cease to amaze me with your thoughtfulness for others when your life is so incredibly busy. Thank you so much for the mats, they really look good in the practice. For those that didn't see them yet, he had these custom mats made with my new logo on them for the practice. They're pretty cool!

Our family is doing fine here. Adina keeps us all in line and "remembering" things. There are days, like these last few, where I really think I would be lost if she weren't here. This is officially (for me) BRAIN FART WEEK! Celebrate as you wish.

Dave

Alright, I cannot take it anymore. This blog is on life support. The schicks blog is thriving, living the high life. It could not be healthier. Our blog, not so. Anyway, I thought I would say a few things that are going through my mind. First things first, that was a really crappy and wierd lost. That show is so confusing to me. They can have one show that is unbelievable great, keeps me on the edge of my seat. Then, there is no show for weeks, which is a joke. That is one way to get people to stop watching and just wait for DVD. It is just when you wait for a week or more for an episode and you are so excited for it, then it is a dud, it really hits hard. Anyway, having said that, I am now trying to delete the number of shows that I am watching. It has gotten much too out of hand. Nights go by so fast if I am watching TV so that has to end. Now, I am not making any huge change in my life, I still am going to watch too many shows, but, I am taking steps, baby steps. I will reduce my shows to this, in no partucular order, no, second thought, it is in order.......The Office(by far my favorite, I love to laugh and I have lived this show at Nu Skin), 24(this show is unbelievable, could never happen, but fun), House, Criminal Minds, Lost(falling, could go back up any week), Designing women(not really), American Idol(I am a girl). So, there they are, this list could also include various seinfeld re-runs as those are on all the time. American Idol should really be higher. It is a ncie show because with DVR you can get through a show really fast. Anyway, not that you guys wanted to see that list, but, it is what is on my mind. We are all doing great out here and are enjoying our time just spending time with each other. Being so far away from family makes you appreciate your own. That was one of the ideas of coming to Cleveland, for me at least. So, that is all, I would love to hear from you guys, we will talk to you later. By the way, our PC is slowly bitng the dust, despite what Tracey believes and I am looking to go all Mac. This is a big step, but I think I am prepared to do it. Anyway, just going through my mind.
Tom

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Parker, Happy Birthday to you!! We wish we were there to sing with you and celebrate! We hope you have the best birthday ever! We sent you a little birthday something so check your mailbox in a few days! We love you!

Love,
Uncle Tom, Aunt Tracey, Hayden and Danica

Great game! Hope you all enjoyed it!

Love you all,

Mom

Same Picture without flash 

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.