Just finished reading on CNN about how cold it is in Ohio, Michigan and up in that region. Brrr!! Not to brag but it is 75 degrees outside here and just beautiful. I just had to take off my jacket because it was too warm. I can't imagine ever being that cold. I think my body would just stop working. Can't wait for Tracey, Tom and fam so join me out here in the warm weather!

Things are good here in San Diego. I am super excited because Lost comes back to TV this Wednesday night at 10pm (note the time difference which I think is a great idea...there is no way it could survive if put up against American Idol...viewers are too fickle). I am so happy to have that staple put back to my Wednesday nights and no repeats for the rest of the season! Yay!

I am also full into planning the Oscar party (you should all have gotten invitations, although I know that none of you can come). I have to see who is coming, plan food, decor, get a dress/outfit together for myself (hello Nordstrom Rack!)...lots to do. It looks like it is going to be really great though. Lots of fun people are coming.

I also need to start studying. I am not sure if I have mentioned this on the blog but I am planning to go back to school to get my MBA. I first need to take the GMAT this summer because I need that score to apply. I want to go to the program at SDSU. They have a great part-time program so I can still remain working at GTI full time. It takes twice as long but I can maintain my life without going into more debt with loans which will be nice. Classes are at night, usually twice a week. My plan, if everything goes right, is to take the GMAT this summer and apply to start next Spring (January) at SDSU. Sorry if I already mentioned this on the blog!

So that is pretty much all that is going on here. Hope you are all doing well, keeping warm! So nice to hear from everyone. :)

Another section of stolen posts from the Beecher Blog...with permission!

Feb 1....Jane went skiing the last two days and absolutely loved it. She says it's her favorite sport and then keeps telling me all sorts of things like "the ski boots really make your shins sore because you're leaning into them. When you get off the lift..." I've tried to explain that once, oh so long ago I actually did ski on a weekly basis EVERY SINGLE SATURDAY!!! How sweet were those days? But I guess I have no choice but to let Jane think she discovered the sport for the family. I'm just so happy she liked it.

My poor husband, last night we both had stake meetings (the primary president was sick) and we didn't get home until right before midnight. Ellyn kept us up until about 1 and then he had to be up before 5 for an 8 mile run. He raced in the door when he got home, showered, changed clothes, gave everyone kisses, and was gone in less than 15 minutes. His job right now is incredibly stressful, oh yeah, and he hates it. He only has a few more months till he takes command. We just have to get him through.

Feb 5...Have I mentioned enough times lately how much I hate winter? Let me tell you again. I FEEL LIKE A SLUG. Today when we woke up the sun was shining. I told the girls that we would hurry and clean up and ride our scooters to the library. Guess what, within an hour it was gray and huge drops of snow/rain were plopping down from the sky.

At least I have been able to spend the entire day scrubbing and vacuuming and doing dishes and laundry. I know you are all jealous. You see our whole family has taken turns having a stomach virus this past weekend. It started with Ellyn on Wednesday. She threw up three times in the morning and then was totally normal without a fever. We thought it was a side effect from the new sleeping meds. our Dr. had started her on so after speaking to our pediatrician we took her off those for a week. Next, Sadie threw up early, early Saturday morning, again I didn't know for sure if it was from all the crap she ate with the babysitters the night before, sickness, or if she had suffered a mild concussion when she fell off the slide at the pool on Friday (trying to help Ellyn sit and yes I do feel like the worst mom on the planet because I was letting her do it) and landed on the back of her head on the tile floor. So when she was totally fine after she threw up twice I figured "No" to the sickness option. Then...we were going to our friends house for dinner and games and Jane said she was getting car sick because they lived down these twisty country roads (she's gotten car sick quite a bit since we moved here). At their house she laid on the couch after dinner and then became progressively more sick until we thought it best to leave. She threw up on the way home. As we were driving home Mike and I both mentioned that our stomachs were queasy. Yup, we were both awake all night but mine was gone by morning- without any unpleasant experiences and Mike was still toast. So he stayed home with Jane and Ellyn- who was now dealing with the other end issues and Sadie and I went to church. Really, until Jane I didn't think we had a bug and then it rapidly became apparent that we did. Sadie and Ellyn managed to soil huge amounts of clothing, blankets, sleeping bags, rugs, etc... because they were caught by surprise. You can only imagine my laundry room and the scent therein since all of those items have to be washed one at a time. I also feel terrible because we unknowingly exposed several people to a potentially lovely experience. I just try to remember that this is our first year here and we haven't built up our immunities to all the yuckies yet. It's making for way too much winter fun.

I know you are so glad I shared that story with you. I didn't mean for it to be that long drawn out but now I'm not going to erase it.

Okay, as far as the house. We are, as you've read, having major sleeping issues with Ellyn. Part of the reason is because we live next to a main road with people driving by at all hours with stereos and loud engines etc...also the walking path is within ten feet of the side of our house and we are on a corner and every bedroom is exposed to the noise. It isn't bad for the rest of us until summer but for Ellyn, once she wakes up (which she does very easily) she is up for hours. Also, because we have such an open floor plan when she is screaming she keeps the whole family awake so we can't work on self soothing without waking everyone up in the middle of the night. Finally, probably the most important reason of all, our front door is very close to the road and she has already learned how to open the front door. It is a fairly busy road all day long and who knows when she is going to understand the danger of cars. I'm not so worried about it now but when summer comes and the girls are in and out all day and when we are here for three years and Ellyn becomes more independant I think it would be an unsafe situation. So I have almost all of the paperwork done. I just have to meet with the head of the health clinic tomorrow morning. Ellyn's pediatrician has already spoken with him. The trick is finding a house that will work. Everyone moved here at the same time so not many people are leaving (there are a few soldiers that were here earlier). There are several house plans that have a living room in the basement which is what I want because I can take Ellyn down when she's screaming and keep her from waking up the family. So that is the story.

Brooke

March 9th is to be the estimated completion date. Happy Birthday to Me!!!

It's so cold here that they have cancelled school tomorrow because bare skin will literally freeze in a matter of minutes! We've been inside with the heat cranked all day but I just can't get warm... oh, how I dream of San Diego.... I need to go curl up with my heating pad and blanket... I keep thinking that I will never feel warm again!

Things here are mostly good... Danica came down with a bad cold and cough last night so I decided to keep her home from church. We were all up with her most of the night because she couldn't sleep. Tom had to go to ward council early so I arranged for the neighbor to come pick up Hayden and he threw the biggest tantrum in the world and I could not unlatch him from my legs to get him in the car. He insists that church is boring and he doesn't want to go. This has been going on since the first of the year. I think his teacher is okay, he's very soft spoken and maybe they don't play games but I think Hayden is just used to a super exciting electronic world and gets bored at church and doesn't like to sit quietly and such. Anyway, it's becoming a big problem and today he was so bad I literally couldn't get him buckled in their car and had to let him stay home. Every other week we just force him to come with us and sometimes he cries all the way to church but he gets over it. If I had been going I would have simply forced him to go but I knew Tom would be busy with Stake meetings during church and couldn't deal with him if he continued to fight it. I sat him down and tried to talk to him about why we go to church, to learn about Jesus and feel the spirit and stuff, but he just kept crying and crying and saying it's not fun. Obviously I don't want him to hate church, and most of the time once he gets to class he is fine and if he's acting up and I threaten to take him out he gets upset at the idea of having to leave. (I teach sunbeams now so I am nearby during sharing time). Anyway, have any of you dealt with this? What can I do to help change his attitude? We read the Friend every day at lunch and he loves the stories and he's learning the songs. He just has a bad attitude! How can I change it? Honstely it reminds me of Tom's attitude on life which is "why would I do it if it's not fun to me?" Oh.... help?

Well, I'm exhausted and not feeling well today so I think I"m off to bed...it will probably be just in time for Danica to wake up coughing.... I hope the rest of you are well! Hopefully we'll warm up soon!!!

I hope you have a great day on your birthday and this weekend on your trip! I love you very much! :)

--
marnie

Hope you have a good one in Elko. I will be having fun tomorrow watching the Super Bowl on your TV. Have fun on the flight. HEHE!!

Danica is trying to show off her new hairdo!



I can't believe we have been so delinquent in writing this blogg!! I came home from Disneyworld with the stomach flu and just haven't been able to get on my feet! However, I think I am just about there! Our trip was fantastic!! We had so much fun and everything worked out so well! The resort was awesome, the parks were great and the kids did really well. Hopefully you've checked out our pictures, just follow the link on the right.

It's freezing here and I dream about San Diego but I know Hayden will miss the snow. He always stomps through the deepest snow bank he can find and I can't ever get him into the car or the back door because he's so busy playing in the snow! They made snow scupltures at his school today and even painted them with water colors in spray bottles and he had a great time! He continues to love school and begs for playdates all day all the time. The other day he told me that I should have 20 kids so he always has someone to play with... I'm not so sure about that! :)

Danica is really walking now, she doesn't fall very often. She is also really giggling and tons of fun. It's great to see her personality starting to come out. However, she is horribly afraid of anyone besides Tom or I and won't even let someone else touch her for fear that I will be leaving... I don't know how I am going to solve this one but I'm going to try! She still only has her two bottom teeth but her hair is finally long enough that I put it back in two tiny little pig tails. They are kind of silly looking but kind of cute! She's pretty good to leave them in.

Tom and I are doing well. He took his last written boards a few weeks ago and they seemed to go okay, we're still waiting for the scores. His final boards are the end of March. Meanwhile he is just plugging away at school and anxious to get out of the clinic. We are still enjoying the games that Mike turned us onto over the holidays and are working to build up our supply. So far we spend our time playing Lost Cities and Battlelore, it's a lot of fun. I spent all day last Saturday at a scrapbook crop with Lexi, I got a ton done!

Well, I better hurry and make my lunch before Danica's up from her nap. We promise to help the blogg move along in the future! Thanks everyone!

Tracey

I enjoyed Brooke's posting so much on her family's blog that I asked her if I could copy it and share it on our blog...I like postings from Mike but I like to hear Brooke's take on things but I know she has so much on her plate that posting at all is a real accomplishment...editing and copying and pasting can just be more than she can get done! So I appreciate her giving her permission so that we can have it in our family record...and so those who don't look at all linked blogs can get the news!!!

(at this point she was talking about Ellyn possibly needing an aide for her in Primary)... I had my feelings hurt for her a little bit yesterday in nursery, even though it was a dumb reason. The regular nursery leader wasn't there (she was a special ed teacher and the two of us have discussed how to keep Ellyn involved) and when I walked in to get her all of the kids were doing ring around the rosies with the teacher and Ellyn was sitting on the floor with this smile on her face watching them. I know that the teacher didn't know that Elly LOVES ring around the rosies or that all she had to do was take her hand and she would join. Sadie was so cute she grabbed Ellyn's hand and mine and we did ring around the rosies next to them.I was in our ward in a stake capacity yesterday-yes by the way we were made a ward yesterday- I was in Primary the entire time and I just about died. Sadie is hillarious and a little bit loud as well. But she answers all the questions and sings with gusto. She added "cha, cha, cha" to the end of the birthday song and when Jane was the spotlight child she called out "It's my Janie" after only two of the clues. There were countless other little things she did that had me laughing and a bit concerned. She did pretty well but we need to work on not shouting out the answers. Our friend Dave makes fun of me because he says everytime I try to discipline Sadie I'm laughing. It's not entirely true, but sometimes yes.We had ten inches of snow last week in one night by the way and school was only delayed two hours. Jane and Sadie showed me just how tough they were last week, playing outside for hours in the snow. Sadie collided with a sled and cut her chin and her nose and they still didn't even come in till I went out to get them. We have a fabulous hill across the street and they really had alot of fun. Last night it rained and so now our winter wonderland is almost completely gone.

Saturday I went to a R.S. conf for our stake. Four of us from our ward sang "More Holiness Give Me" with the second verse being a german solo by a young woman-newly 18- in our ward. I had to sing soprano because no one else could consistently reach a high C- whatever, not my favorite. Any way, a member of the stake presidency was there and asked if we would sing it in ward conf. the next day. So as we are going up to the podium Gina-the yw-turns to me and says "Please sing the second verse with me, please, I can't do it here by myself." What am I supposed to say to that as we are about to sing, so luckily Mike and I have been able to figure out pronunciation of german words- for the most part and I sang with her. Nothing like a little last minute singing in German to get your heart going.

Okay, I have to go now. Sorry this has been so rambling, very poor writing, and fairly boring. I'm sick and achy today and very tired. Ellyn has a Dr. appt. today which I am not going to miss however. I am really hoping they have some ideas about what we can do with her sleep schedule. Last night was totally typical-still not asleep at 10:30, awake screaming at 3:00am, and back to sleep for an hour from 6:30-7:30. Sometimes she'll fall asleep at about nine and then she's up at 1:00 and awake until four......

I know she loves us!!!!

Barb

So the weekend is over and it was quite an adventure. We went to the audition on Friday afternoon all ready to take the test. We took it...totally different subjects than we had been studying. I can't give any details because we had to sign a confidentiality agreement but it was kinda tough. There were about 20 teams in our timeslot. They only accepted two teams of the twenty to be interviewed by the casting directors. And we were one of the two teams!! We went straight in for a 5 minute interview complete with pictures and videotaping. It was fun, we made them laugh and we felt confident. We were pretty excited for the rest of the day, went to lunch, dinner. Then we sat down and tried to remember all of the questions on the test and remembered all but one. We figured out that our combined score was only 53%...hahaha...kinda sad. So I don't think it was just the test that got us through to the interview...must've been our winning personalities. :)

They called us Saturday night as they said they would but sadly it was to tell us that they had gone with another team. We were pretty shocked because we felt so good about our interview but I think it must've come down to what they were looking for. It could have been our test scores that decided it, who knows. We were also a lot younger than most of the people that were there. And after looking at the people that were on the show last year - it looks like they have different types they need to satisfy and they must have just gone with a different team to be the "young ones". We wallowed in our rejection, ate tons of comfort food and ended up feeling much better about ourselves. :) It was really fun and I am really glad that we tried for it. There is another chance for us to possibly be on the show - there is an individual test online on Feb 14th to put together a random wild card team. We are all going to take it just to see how we do. Plus there is always next year and at least we already have the costumes! :)

On to the next adventure...



marnie

School is going great. Treven and I had our first 2 anatomy exams this week and the first one we both got 106% on it and the second test I got an 88% and Treven got a 95%. Which is great!!! We are definitely loving our classes. Work is going well too even though Treven is so tired everyday! I work only Monday and Friday from 4-10p which works out well for me. I just figured out what my minor is going to be. I am a Health Ed major and if you are a secondary ed major you have to have a minor. So my minor is Exercise & Sport Science Teaching also known as Physical Ed Teaching. I also just figured out that I am going to start "Fast grad" this fall, which is going year round. I called today to figure out the requirements. I have to have over 50 credits which I do, maintain a 2.8 GPA and I have to take at least 15 credits while I am in the Fast grad program. I already was planning on taking 14-16 credits a semester so I would finish in 4 semesters. If I do this Fast grad, I am going to be done with all my classes Summer of 2008 and then all I have to do is my student teaching which I can do Fall of 08 or Winter 09. So I would graduate December of 08 or April 09. So I really think I am going to this fast grad thing. It would be so nice to think to be done by the end of next year! I just have to apply so I am going to pick up the application on Monday.
Melia is doing great. She is growing everyday and has started (again) to sleep through the night. She stopped sleepin through the night for like two weeks after she got her shots. She is talking and smiling so much and has rolled over from stomach to back about 5 times.
We are coming home on February 16th to February 19th. We get in at 9pm on Friday and leave at 2 in the afternoon on Monday. We have friends getting married on the 17th so we want to be there for that and it's my birthday weekend which is a boost. We were going to drive, but it really isn't worth driving through the night on Friday in the middle of Winter to save 45-55 dollars. So we are going to fly out of Boise. Which makes me happy!
Treven is already looking at medical schools just to get everything figured out. He is looking at University of Washington and University of Utah as his top two. Our friends let us a book with all the Medical schools in the US and the requirements and all this information. It is really nice! For those who don't know, Treven wants to go to med school for either Psychiatry or Neurosurgery. It's a passion for him!
Well I love you all, Melia is so tired but won't go to sleep so I have to go help her! Congrats to Sean and Bridget! In one of the pics of Mary, she looks like Melia!

Kimberly

We are leaving in 5 minutes for our audition in Beverly Hills for the World Series of Pop Culture!!! We are nervous, excited...ready. I will let you all know how it goes later tonight. GO 3M CHANKLAS!!! WOOHOO!!

--
marnie

Hey,

Brooke I was just letting you know that you have a whole month before wishing Peter Happy Birthday...His birthday isn't until FEB 28th. You crack me up.

Anyways, all is well here. Just school, work, and volleyball. I am finally getting another coach to help out with my team. I have been having emails and calls from parents because their girls aren't playing enough or they aren't being pushed. I had a rough couple of days but everything is better and it will be nice to have another pair of eyes at practice.

School is good 2 weeks down, 30 to go until I am finshed. By that I mean this semester (14 more weeks) and fall semester (16 weeks). I did find out the other day that I do have another class I have to still take but it is an online class that I can take in the summer.

Peter is enjoying work. He had lunch yesterday by himself with the owner of the company...the owner has been trying to schedule this for a while I guess. They love Peter there and are looking at him, once he gets is professional engineers license, to open an office over in Oregon, I think near Salem. We will se how things turn out...that wouldn't happen for another 3 years or so.

We are heading up to McCall this weekend to go to the Winter Carnival with our friends Justin and Laura. We haven't been up there with them in a while and since Laura's mom has a cabin on the lake there, we have a great place to stay while we are there.

Andrew is growing by the day and I can't believe he will be 6 months on Tuesday. He is so much fun to be around...when he isn't fussing....which makes it hard to leave him at Day care all day while I head off to school, but I know it is the best thing as I need to finish asap so once I am done I can spend all of my time with him.

We love you all and miss you tons.

Love,
Anne

Hi family. I hope you are all doing well. We are- just busy. Barb, I didn't realize we could still make a choice about the picture. Mike told Kenn to just pick one, if you didn't get that message. I didn't see that blog until after that Sunday because of our computer being down, also, I didn't know where to look for the picture choices anyway. If you still haven't chosen one I would prefer one that is cute of everyone-duh- even if it means that Ellyn isn't looking right at the camera, because that's just Ellyn and I don't want it less cute of the girls for eye contact- does that make sense at all?

Peter and Parker happy belated birthday. I can't believe it's already Parker's b-day again. Time flies!

Things are going well here. We got 10 inches of snow the night before last and the funny thing is that school was only delayed by 2 hours. Quite a difference from Washington. We have a great sledding hill across the street behind the playground and we had alot of fun out there yesterday afternoon. The snow is beautiful and it is a bright sunny day and I love it.

Let's see, what else? We travelled to the Nurnburg ward on Sunday and had a really wonderful time in the German ward. They bent over backwards to accomodate our English speaking family in primary and in Sacrament. I'm glad we had such a good experience because with my calling I have to go to every ward Mike goes to and Jane was not really thrilled about that.

The girls are doing well. Ellyn has been having some sleep issues again and that has been tiring and frustrating. Mike and I are actually putting in a request to move to different housing. With our house right by the main road and the walking trail right beside all of our bedroom windows (being on a corner) we think the noises are waking her up and then she can't get herself back to sleep-that is without crying for about 40 minutes- which wakes up the whole family. Also, she has learned how to open the front door and with the main road right there it makes us very nervous (not so much for right now, but summer when the kids are in and out). There is a house plan in some nearby housing that is on a quiet road, with a finished basement where I could take Ellyn in the middle of the night (have our family room down there) so that she doesn't wake up the whole family. I have to go see her Dr about it today and see if he will authorize it. Her therapist is willing to put in a statement because she knows we've tried everything we can. Jane isn't too thrilled because she really likes the friends that she walks home with but we do things with one of the families on a regular basis, the other friend I don't really want her hanging out with anyway and next year she wouldn't be walking home with them anyway. Plus one of her friends lives on the street where the house is located and I think most of it is that she just doesn't want the chaos of moving again. I think she will be fine and I think she will like the other house better anyway. Wish me luck (although by the time you read this I will have my answer-most likely).

I hope you are all doing well. Marnie, good luck. Keep us posted. I have to go clean my kitchen and oh, the rest of the whole house. We love you all.
Love, Brooke

Check out the Schickedanz blog for the stats on their new arrivals....Congratulations, Sean and Bridget!

Also, Tom and Tracey posted pictures from Disneyworld on their website (Ohio Stinchfield's) They are well worth seeing! It looks like you had a great time.

I told several of you my sad story of my UGG boots encounter with a dog at a quilting meeting last night. The dog bit through to top of the boot--the top of the foot portion. Dad suggested I take it back to Nordstrom and see if I could get a new pair. I did and they will be shipping a new pair to my home. Now I believe all the stories...I told them what exactly happened and they still are giving me a new pair.

I also washed my clip IPOD yesterday....it was a bad day for me. But I am going to call American Express and invoke their "buyer protection plan" that supposedly will give your money back or replace anything you buy regardless of the reason for your need. Anyhow, I will let you know how it works!

Love you all,
Mom

You know, after having our family birthday party on Sunday, I totally spaced out that yesterday was his birthday. I hope he had a great REAL birthday!

Safeway is nice, isn't it!!!

Love,

Grandma Barb

Just wanted to wish Parker a happy birthday! Hope he is having a good one.

Thanks Mom for the good luck wishes. I am cramming like crazy, there is a lot to know! I should get back to it now. Love you all!


-marnie

Well, now the days at the coast in August are out. When we received the paperwork, it stated emphatically that no more than 10 people could be in the house AT ANY TIME. That counts children! We have 17 counting all the kids that were planning on coming. So even getting another house or motel rooms wouldn't work. Apparently, it is a Lincoln City ordinance to eliminate big drunken brawls but is enforced on anyone. So we were back to square one...the initial house is way too big....and expensive. It accomodates 26 or 27 people....and there are no houses in between available on the coast.

So....we would suggest that for the Oregon coast part in July or August we just do a weekend and stay at the Pelican Shores together. They have rooms with kitchenettes and they are right on the beach...and it has an enclosed pool also. We'd stay for a Friday and Saturday night...coming back on Sunday afternoon. I need to get from those who would be trying to do this...which weekend would be the best...July 20-22, July 27-29 or August 3-5 so we can make reservations.

Dad and I are also planning on going to Gualala over Memorial Day weekend. Megan Bodily put aside several sites for us since, in our enthusiasm last August, we said we...and some of our family...may want to come. No one needs to feel obligated in any way but we do need to know if anyone would like to come. I think we all have good memories of our Fremont campouts!. Dad and I will be driving down on Thursday to Friday...stopping on the way...staying at Gualala on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then starting back on Monday...again stopping on the way back up to Washington. If anyone wanted to fly into Sacramento, we could pick you up on the way down and drop you off on the way back....just a thought. Do let us know if you want to do it so we can adjust the number of sites.

We love you all.....Good luck to Marnie on her tryout this weekend!

(Mike and Brooke...I am still waiting for your choice of pictures!)

Mom