Happy stupid fart day. I'm an idiot. I thought it was March 9th today. Maybe I thought it was February 18? Or February 16th? Or....I'm all confused now. I'll just have to cover a few months. Happy Birthday Beck, Dad, Parker, Tom, Kim, Anne, Brent, Buffy, Peter, Treven, Ellyn, Tracey, Taylor, and me. I'm covered January through April. All clear.

Annie and Brenty, Happy Birthday! Yours and Tom/Kim's are the easiest birthdays to remember because they are back-to-back, yet I forgot. Maybe because we celebrated Brents last weekend? I don't know, but happy burpday.

Dave

I agreed to run with a girl in the ward. I say 'girl', but she is 29 and has 6 kids, so she's hardly a girl. Anyway - she asked to come on my 10K run with me this morning. She insisted that she hasn't run that far in a while and she's not fast. You know, the whole Tracey, water-skiing thing all over again ("I'm not that good. I can't do anything fancy"- then she proceeds to put the rope between her legs and ski with no hands. whatever.) So - a mile in, she's prancing next to me, leaping through the air, and I ask: Did you run in High School? She gives me this coy look and says, "Yea - I ran cross country all through high school".
Ah. Some perspective.

What have I done?

Adina

Well as they say, when in Japan do as the Japanese...or something like that. We had a branch activity at a restaurant that also does karaoke. Tom was loving it and jumped for the microphone anytime there was a break. They were loud and awesome. It wasn't until we were leaving that we realized that the room we were in was connected to the rest of the restaurant, packed with Japanese and Americans, by only a thin wall and they were all "enjoying" the singing as well! Too fun!

You might ask, "Who is Scott?" so I must start this off with a short tribute. It started with the much needed invitation "Hey, do you want to come to dinner after church?" We were still living in the little hotel room, jet lagged and confused. Scott just happened to catch us in the hall after church and offered to pick us up to bring us back to their house for dinner (we didn't have a car yet.) The chain of events to follow is nothing short of a fantastic blessing. We had great food and the start of a great friendship with Scott and his wonderful wife Joy. In addition, we loved their house and the next morning Tom went to the housing briefing and put in a request to live here instead of over on another base where we knew some people (who we fortunately still get to see often). Our request was granted and we got our "dream house." (there aren't very many so we are very blessed to be living here.) Now we live down the street from Scott and Joy and truly I don't know how we would survive without them! Joy is an amazing friend and wonderful example as a mother, she has been my guide at adjusting to military life and Japan and my much need stress relief for babysitting, chats and even dinner. (I called last night to see if they wanted to go out to eat and ended up getting us invited over for dinner at their place!!) So, in answer to the question, this is Scott, I like to think of him as Tom's only "short" brother. Seeing as how so many of you have experience in living far from family I know you can all relate to the importance of these kind of friendships.

Here are just a few of the highlights from the month of February:

Valentine’s day was fantastic this year. On Friday I surprised Tom with an hour long couples massage down at the gym, it was fantastic. On Saturday we got a babysitter and he blind folded me and put me in the car to take me on our date. After parking he led me, with my eyes closed (I took off the blind fold so people wouldn’t think we looked too crazy) to a bench. I sat down and after a minute he said I could open my eyes and I found a beautiful picnic spot on the beach! We enjoyed a nice dinner and a romantic stroll on the beach. It was awesome! He even brought the tripod to catch a picture of the the two of us but the clip was missing so we had to take pictures of each other!




On February 16th Tom turned 31!!! We had a fun birthday breakfast and opened presents. He had the day off work for Presidents day and we had planned to go to cool park but then it was too rainy. He thought that was the end of his birthday celebrations but Hayden and I had planned him a surprise party! At 4:00 he left to go TV shopping with his buddy who was pretending he didn’t even know it was Tom’s birthday. While they were gone all his friends arrived. We totally surprised Tom when he got home and we all jumped up to yell "surprise". We enjoyed a BBQ and fun night of Rock Band. I was amazed I actually pulled off the surprise!



On the 21st I went out with a bunch of my friends for a ladies night out. We went to Cocoks for an awesome foot massage and beautiful nail art! The Japanese have amazing skill in this department!


Then we went to Yoshi’s, a little sushi place that is very famous. Supposedly Yoshi is the original Iron Chef and the restaurant is plastered with pictures of him and the famous people who have come to eat there. I must admit I don’t do the sushi thing yet (I’m sure I will before we leave here) but I thoroughly enjoyed my Katsuban.

A Long Overdue Update- pasted from my blog so it is a few days old

Here's the lowdown.

Mike- Doing a filler job for a couple of months, working with civilians. This is an exercise in frustration for him every single live long day. Upside- while I love a man (a specific man) in uniform, Mike has to wear business casual every day to work and he looks HOT! Love it! Mike took the girls to the Jonas Brothers 3D concert on Saturday. He had to listen to Heavy Metal all the way home to make himself feel better. Also, went on a date to the temple Friday night to do sealings for our ward and then out to dinner at Macaroni Grill, it was fabulous and we voted to do it every month. Very convenient since I think that is what we are supposed to do.

Me- I spend hours of each day on the phone, internet, etc... trying to work out what is going to happen with Ellyn's school program. Everyone agrees it needs to happen, now we are having funding issues, methodology issues, scheduling issues. I do feel that everyone really is trying, so that gives me some consolation. It will all come together, I know it will. Everything just takes time and that makes me crazy. Besides that I cleaned out my dresser and closet today. My top "junk drawer" had filled the second drawer as well and so I reorganized everything and made a few hard Goodwill choices as well. I feel better, actually I am downright proud of myself. Also, Mike and I are starting on Jillian's 30 Day Shred today AND I got a few new fabulous things to wear at Target on Saturday (with Ellyn while Mike was at the movie with the other 3). It was a pretty good sale. Life is sweet at the moment.

Jane- auditioned last week for "chairs" in band and out of her 6th grade band and the Advanced Band made up of 7 and 8 graders, a total of 15 flutists, she made 4th chair. Granted, I don't know alot about flutes, but... I do know a little bit about music and I am truly amazed at what she has accomplished since August. She loves her flute and practices as often as she can. Last night Jane, our friend and Ellyn's Respite provider Rebecca, and I drove up to Oakland to hear Jenny Oaks Baker and the Temple Hill Orchestra play movie themes. It was amazing. Jenny is a very famous violinist and a member of the Church. If I knew how to link I would. Let's just say she's awesome. It was beautiful.

Sadie- loves having daddy home. Loves it. The kid is so happy to play with daddy. Any decision she is given involves staying with dad, granted that usually involves video games or a movie and normally a treat as well. What's not to love? She is also continuing in her reading of Harry Potter and really enjoying it. Smart kid.

Ellyn- has a had a really hard time as of late. We think she might be having growing pains. Something is making her not her usual happy self and it worries us. Today, however, she seems to be doing much better. She is getting to watch a couple of her favorite Disney movies the last few days in an attempt to woo her from her grumpy moods. Right now she is happily babbling through Little Mermaid.

Sawyer- is becoming such the big boy. You should see him at church. Mike has laid down the law and Sawyer sits quietly on daddy's lap during all of Sacrament Meeting. Mike does keep a few treats in his pocket for little rewards. Then...when it is time for Sunday School and then Priesthood Sawyer takes Mike's hand and walks with him to his next destination. Mike told him to "say goodbye to Mommy" after Sunday School on Sunday and he turned and gave me a happy wave and then turned and kept walking. A few minutes later I had to deliver a message to Mike regarding set up for Enrichment by the High Priests (Mike is the secretary in case I haven't mentioned that), Sawyer stood waiting patiently and then finally reached up and took Mike's hand and gave him the look like "Dad, we have to get into class, let's go." It was so obvious that he was loving being the well behaved big boy. He's such a funny kid.

As a side note- the dogs are finally potty trained and have been working their way back into my good graces.

Wow, this is long. I am a big fan of the short but sweet as of late but if you procrastinate this is what happens!

Blog Out!

We went to a Snow Fest at the end of January... These are some pictures. My favorite is Melia's face in the one with the Snow Bear.. She thought it was a real bear and was so scared!

We are so sick of winter here in Rexburg... only a month and a half left. We both would LOVE to have rain any day over this weather. We reserved our moving truck a couple of weeks ago and we will be leaving Rexburg on April 15th then stopping for the night in Boise to split the trip up. Then we will be getting into Vancouver on the 16th. Treven will be starting classes with WSU Vancouver on May 11th. He has not planned his classes yet because at WSU you have to meet with your advisor every semester before you sign up classes which I think is awesome! Treven plans on going year round and he has around 5 semesters left so that would be he would be done by December of 2010... Kind of stinks that way because he will have to wait a full year to begin Medical School. It is just crazy to think that there is an end in sight.
As far as jobs in Vancouver for me, I am trying to contact Vancouver Public School District because there is a health teacher retiring this year from Alki Middle School (in Salmon Creek where Mom and Dad are at) which would be perfect. The school district is weird in the fact that they don't really post jobs on their website or so I have heard from teachers that work there. But they say they will not look at applications that are not from a job posting. I also heard from Mom and Dad that they are coming to Idaho and Wyoming to do job interviews for teaching positions so I am also looking into that. We will see if they respond back to me in the next week. Please keep us in your prayers that I may be able to find the best possible option for us! Of course even if I do get the job I will have the summer off for the most part. If I don't end up getting a full time position... I will probably just substitute around 3 to 4 days a week since they are having a subsitute shortage in the Vancouver area right now... That is enough of that rambling.
The girls are doing great. I cannot believe that McKenzie is 7 months old! She is scooting all over the place... so close to crawling. She was sick from about a week and a half, but now my giggling active baby is back and all over. She started sitting up on her own about 3 weeks ago and she is getting stronger. She loves to stand up or pull herself up on our hands. She absolutely LOVES electronics... controllers, the laptop, and cell phones and such. Her personality is really coming out and we are loving it. Melia loves being able to play with her sister more. Melia loves church. We had to miss church a week ago due to the girls and I being sick and so everyday she has been asking to go to church. Today we pulled up and she just screamed YAY! CHURCH! The other day she walked over to the corner of the room and folded her arms... We asked her what she was doing and she said " I am in BIG trouble!" We have never said that to her so we have no idea where she got it from! Also when McKenzie was sick our neighbor Andy and Treven gave McKenzie a blessing. Ever since then Melia pretends that she is being Daddy and giving McKenzie a blessing. Melia loves to paint so I buy these wooden cut outs of different shapes and animals and I starting making them into magnets for the fridge when she finishes painting them... Papa and Grammy, look for yours in the mail! She wanted to send some to you. Those are some things lately that have been going on with the girls.
I did get my diploma and Idaho State Teaching License like a month or so ago. I took pictures just to prove it to Mom and Dad... I need to post some recent pictures of the girls and stuff since I haven't lately so sorry if there are a lot!
I have been trying to stay busy with crafts and such. I am on the fellow shipping committee and in charge of birthdays so this weekend I made a little wall hanging for each of the girls on their birthdays. I will have to take pictures and post those as well. I love them and got many compliments at church and that girls couldn't wait until it was their birthday... only problem is I will only be here for another month and a half. So I am going to make extras for them to have for a little while until they have someone take over my calling! I was going to be coaching a club team in Idaho Falls, but since we are moving I would only be there for 5 practices. I didn't think it was fair to the girls, but I am helping them with this weeks practice since they haven't found a coach yet.
Sorry for the long boring post... just thought an update from us could help with the blog moving along! If there are grammar problems it is because I am tired, but waiting for Treven to be done studying! So deal with it!
Love you all!

Kim

I know you find this strange, that I have decided to reverse my decision to sell the yellow rocket. After much deliberation and pounding my head on the granite countertops, putting the pedal to the metal and discussing the impending sale with the rocket, I've decided to to drop my adds and stay content with my "baby". So, in tribute to the beast, I am going, instead, to install a new navigation system and McPherson Super Charger to enhance it to the tune of 750 hp. Any comments? Dad