June 23, 2012 was definitely that – quite a night! We departed for the coast early in the morning. It was pouring rain but the clouds parted for our arrival at the Oregon coast. We drove down through Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Newport, Waldport, and Yachats.

We stopped at Heceta Head to see the lighthouse there.









Then we drove up to Cape Perpetua to see the amazing viewpoint there.





After a day together in the sunshine, we got to Salishan Resort where we were staying near Gleneden Beach. It was perfect – deck with rocking chairs, fireplace, pool, jacuzzi, ocean view – awesome.



We went to dinner at the fancy steakhouse they have at the resort and treated ourselves to steak, crab cakes and chocolate cake. Right after dinner, we went straight over to Gleneden Beach – Eric’s favorite beach. We walked down to the water and walked north along the beach for a few minutes before we noticed a seal in the waves right next to us! Seconds later, we noticed a spout just about 15 feet into the water – a gray whale!! It was the first time both of us had ever seen a whale that close in the wild! We followed the whale for a while until it out swam us and we had come to the spot that Eric wanted to stop.



We laid down a towel and sat down together to watch the sunset. After a little bit of time, Eric did it – he proposed! He brought out the most beautiful ring I have ever seen – absolutely perfect for us. I, of course, said YES!!! right away and gave him a big hug and kiss. We then had our mini photoshoot of the ring and us (results below) and we sat together for a while until the sun had set completely and then we walked back to the car – timing how long it took us so we could remember the exact spot.






When we got back to the resort, I was surprised to find that Eric had arranged for a local florist to come into our room and put red rose petals all over the floor and on everything – so romantic! I felt like I had walked into an amazing romance movie!



The next day we had some Pig N' Pancake for breakfast and then explored the coast a bit more and visited the beautiful Yaquina lighthouse before our last stop at Tillamook Cheese Factory for some ice cream.







It was a perfect proposal and I am beyond happy and thrilled to have found the love of my life and I am so excited for the amazing, fun, awesome, wonderful life we are going to have together!! I love him!!

I guess it is about time that I write up the story of Derek's birth. Monday afternoon last week I headed to my 37 week appointment with my doctor. He checked me and told me that he could see me having our baby within the week. Contractions began that evening, not very strong, but every 20 minutes. This continued on through the night and into Tuesday. They got gradually stronger all day and began to get closer after we put the kids to bed around 8:00pm. I continued to keep track and decided at 12midnight to head into the hospital to get checked out.

At 3 we were finally admitted and I was at 5cm. Let's just say I stayed at 5 cm until 11am when I finally began to dilate further. It felt like forever especially after not sleeping the night before. We were greeted with his presence at 12:52pm. He ended up being my biggest baby at 8lbs 4 oz. Derek Russell Olsen is what we officially decided on for his name. We now have our ABCD family :). Derek had done breathing problems and had to have a close eye kept on him but we were able to head home 24 hours later. The other kids are loving him and he has been such a quiet sweet baby.

EPIC Relay Oregon - iRun for Autism from Dave Stinchfield on Vimeo.

This is our submission video for the video contest.  You get to see it first!

Taylor has his Spring Recital this Monday and Tuesday, for those interested and available.  Information is below.  We are going to the Tuesday night show.  He will be performing the dances he did at Disneyland, including a new Footloose dance.  Intriguing, no?

Ticket information for the upcoming June 25th and 26th Performance Showcases at Washougal High School is as follows:

• Tickets will be available for purchase at 4:30pm on Monday June 25th and Tuesday June 26th at Washougal High School and are first come first serve.
• Ticket prices are $5 per ticket.
• 3 and under are Free.
• Doors will open to the auditorium at 6:30pm.
• Show starts at 7pm.

Saturday was the Blue Lake Tri that Tom, Tracey, Dave and I participated in.  We did the sprint distance.  It was a blast.

Dave, looking very debonair in his cap and wetsuit. This was his first tri.

Tom & Tracey - this was also Tracey's first tri.  Despite her reservations, she did really well.  Imagine that!

Chugging Coach Howard's magic honey nectar.  He gives it to Isaac for races, so why not?!

Yea - he knows there is something in his teeth...

Waiting in line for our (initially) incorrect results

This is Chelsea - she runs with us on relays and also did the tri.  She is sponsored by SunRype and hands out these fruit bars at races.  We did our part and ate about 10.

In my mind, in this picture, Tom is lecturing me on my deplorable transtition times.  But he can't be, because he doesn't know how bad they are at this point.  That came later.  In truth, it is an area I can improve upon.

This is grace in action:  trying to put my sweatpants on over my running shoes.  This may be some insight into my poor transition times.

The swim was nice, though a few of us struggled with keeping a straight course.

Triathlon video - Dave is in this one!

All in all, it was a great race.  Triathlons really are a lot of fun.  If you aren't ready for a sprint, they even have a Tri-IT race, with only a 1/4 mile swim.  We plan on doing another this summer, for sure.  Tom has a half-ironman in Bend in just a couple of weeks - that's a 1.2 mile swim, 56.3 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.  What a challenge!

Good weekend.

Adina

A lot going on in Isaac's life right now.  Just finished the Track & Field season.  While he had a lot of success this year, he was disappointed to not make it to State.  Not sure how much his injury played into that, but it was a tough break.  He was able to compete in Border Duel and place 4th for the Steeplechase, which is really good considering he hadn't really trained at all for that event.  He is off to two high-altitude cross country training camps this summer in preparation for the upcoming season.  He gets letters on a weekly basis from colleges all over the country asking him to consider running for them.  But he will have to work hard to get into BYU.  And Coach Howard is like family, calling on a daily basis, guiding him in his training.