Sep 16, 2009 Post By: Dave

pre-digital fodder...

mashed potatoes...?

Ummm...Anne?

Isaac giving Jane a kiss...awwww

San Fran

Retrieving an errant frisbee - Provo

Provo

Well - the girls are happy anyway. Idaho?

Sep 14, 2009 Post By: Dave

Washougal

"The Indian Summer, the dead Summer's soul" - Mary Clemmer

I can hardly believe that summer is coming to an end - but October is looming, and the weather is changing, and the kids are back in school. I thought the above quote appropriate, namely for those of us getting ready to run our half marathon this Saturday, the Indian Summer Half, in Richland. There will be a lot of us running - I am excited to have so many familiar faces out there on the course. It runs right along the Columbia, so it should be beautiful.

Quick update from us:

Isaac is loving cross-country. He made varsity as a freshman and has his first home meet this Thursday down at Cottonwood Beach. He goes to dances now, and is a full-fledged 14-year old kid. We still have to sit down and have some heart-to-heart discussions on respect and gratitude, but I am thinking this is mostly normal. Either way, he's a good kid - gets himself up for seminary each morning, and gets himself out the door. He's enjoying high school and I am loving that it is about 200 yards from our front door.
Taylor is doing the middle-school thing now. He was extremely nervous the first day. "What if I miss the bus?" "What if I go to the wrong classroom?" "What if the bus takes me to the wrong place?" But he has settled in nicely. I kind of miss the days when his teachers would call me to say he sat in his seat and quietly cried, saying he missed his mom. Those days are gone. Taylor has also earned his Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class in scouts and will be honored at a Court of Honor on Wednesday night.
Parker & Morgan now take the bus to school. It adds like 15 minutes on to their morning, but Parker insists. It is valuable socializing time for him. And it has helped him to be ready on time. Each morning, he is at the bottom of the stairs, yelling, "Morgan - let's go! You are going to make me miss the bus!"
Morgan is discovering, painfully, the cruelty of little girls. She has some friends in the neighborhood, and when 2 of them are together, it's great. When a third enters the picture, someone is always left out, and sometimes it's Morgan. I remember this all too well. She'll come in from playing, with her big, sad, brown eyes, and say, "Jordan isn't my friend anymore." But within the next half hour, they are playing together in her room.

We are excited for the St. George marathon with Mike & Brooke - I will tag along and play photographer, if I can. We'll be heading to St. George straight from Mexico, so that will be interesting. It sounded like an okay idea at the time.

Life is full and busy - time is flying - hope you are all well.

Adina

Sep 12, 2009 Post By: Buffy

B&B Update

Ok, it's official... my favorite time of year is almost here and I am very excited! Brent and I put up the spooky town village over the mantle last week and I have been doing bits of shopping and planning for the parties. That's right, 2 parties. The annual Stinchfield Halloween party which will be at K&B's house and a murder mystery dinner the week before at our house. Brent and I have gone to one before but never hosted so this should be fun, especially with the four adult Stinchfield couples in the area. We are sad that Kenn and Barb will not be in town for the Halloween party but grateful they will let us raid their house anyway.

So we did our 9 mile run this morning and more than anything I can say that I'm glad it is over with. I won't lie, I seldom feel "great" while running and often something hurts. But I do like the time we spend together as a family and the satisfaction of finishing a long run. I still try to keep things in perspective with the short time we have been doing this together to not get down about not being faster.

Noah is still a joy to be around most of the time and is always cracking us up. I can sometimes see the wheels turning in his head when he is learning something new. He doesn't have many words but he does use signs including milk,kitty, more, finished, ball as well as waves on occasion. In the past week or so he has begun having short break downs where he screams or cries when we say "no" or take something away from him that he shouldn't have. I know this is normal kid stuff but it is new for him with usually being so happy all the time. We are trying the approach of not responding or ignoring him to not reinforce the habbit. Sounds good at least.:) Also he has finally reached the clingy phase where he wants to be held a lot especially when we are trying to get stuff done or try to get ready to leave in the morning... this is when I wish he wasn't such a big kiddo.

This past week has been pretty hectic/expensive for us as we found out I needed a new clutch for my car and our white kitty needed a couple teeth pulled which had been causing her a lot of pain. Some feline tooth disease where they literally disintegrate. I had to come home for lunch on Thursday and Friday to give her pain meds. Good times, good times.

On the church front, I have been called to young womens as a MiaMade advisor and Brent is still surprisingly without a calling since he was released from Elders Quorum. My first lesson will be next week on why group dating is good. :)

We are presuming that things will be final with the job offer (pending background check) by Monday or tuesday which will likely mean he will have the rest of the week off. This would be because as soon as he puts his 2 weeks in, his boss will probably just pay him the 2 weeks and have him not come into work. Competitors and all.

So, that's it from me. Hope everyone is doing well. Brooke, I hope the run went ok?

Love ya'll,

Buffy

Post By: Peter

Sending Files

Does anyone know how to attach a file to a blog posting?

Sep 10, 2009 Post By: Tracey

September Update

Hayden started first grade, his teacher is great, reported to be the best one at the school. He really likes recess and free time....he is bored doing “kindergarten work” and wishes he could sleep in and stay home with me but hopefully he’ll get into the groove soon. . He reports that he started “the boys club” at recess and he is the captain and everyone wants to be in his club. The girls like to chase the members of the club. He is enjoying t-ball and the fact that a new boy moved in across the street.

Danica started preschool for the first time. She goes Tuesday and Thursday morning to a cute little school on base. She tells me she is a big girl now and really likes going. It feels like she has grown up a ton in the last few months and this is just one more step. She was an invaluable help in potty training Alyssa and was so cute trying to be her mom....Alyssa sorta like it. :)

Alyssa is potty trained!!! Woohoo!!!! She’s been really interested so I decided to just take the plunge before she lost interest. The first day was terrible but it’s been great since then. She’s even dry during naps and bedtime! She’s sleeping in a twin bed now, sharing the bunk beds with Danica and loving it. Her physical therapist closed her to services because she’s doing so well and just a regular little two year old now. She’s adorable and still flashes smiles whenever she gets a chance.

Tom is really into biking now. He got a really nice road bike (you know Tom, he only likes the best.) He goes every Saturday and holiday on these 30-50 mile rides around the island with his friends. It seems like a fantastic way to see the beauty of the island and he says he loves it. His new clinic is great, he really likes working there. His car died and was junked a month ago so we got another one and it wouldn’t start yesterday.... fun times.... hopefully this one is repairable!

Tracey is looking forward to settling into a routine with school and activities. She can’t figure out how her house was ever clean because it seems impossible now even though she knows that it used to be. She is busy training for the marathon with Tom. She is running a lot and just hoping it will cool off soon. She was trying to weed the flower beds today and just had to stop it got so hot!

Things are bit sad here on base due to some recent deaths in Iraq, the dads of classmates. It brings the war so close to home and makes the sacrifice of these soldiers and their families so poignant. No matter what you believe, you have to believe that these men and their families are doing their best and giving their all and they deserve our respect, admiration, thanks and prayers. I know I will never be the same after living here but I just haven’t figured out how I can help. My next goal is to find a way to give back while I am here. There’s got to be something I can do even in my “mom with young children” status.

On a brighter note, we continued lasts years new tradition of going to Sesoku Island on Labor Day and had a great time snorkeling and digging and hanging out with friends! There were a ton of kids!

Well, that’s all from here. Happy September!

Sep 8, 2009 Post By: Anonymous

Dick's

I officially accepted an offer to work at Dick's Sporting Goods. You are now approved to shop there. No longer are you approved to shop at The Sports Authority. Thanks for all of the support.

Brent

Sep 7, 2009 Post By: Kenn

Mayfield Lake Resort for Jun25-Jul 02, 2010 more of

Post By: Kenn

Mayfield Lake Resort for Jun25-Jul 02, 2010

We've rented 5 units for that time period. If you can make it, or not, let us know. Lake Mayfield Resort, Aspen Lodge. We rented all the downstairs ones; each has a picnic table outside it. Kitchens within. We are above in one of the upper units.

Sep 6, 2009 Post By: Anne and Peter

Christmas Exchange 2009

Here it is....

Mike-Adina
Brooke-Treven
Jane-Danica
Sadie-Andrew
Ellyn-Noah
Sawyer-Isaac

Dave-Tracey
Adina-Peter
Isaac-Sawyer
Taylor-McKenzie
Parker-Hayden
Morgan-Beck

Brent-Marnie
Buffy-Anne
Noah-Parker

Tom-Brooke
Tracey-Brent
Hayden-Taylor
Danica-Sadie
Alyssa-Ellyn

Marnie-Buffy

Anne-Kim
Peter-Tom
Andrew-Jane
Beck-Melia

Kim-Mike
Treven-Dave
Melia-Morgan
McKenzie-Alyssa

You have 109 days left until Christmas (fact given by Dad)

-Anne

Post By: Marnie

What a life I lead...

Next weekend....

And the weekend after...

Post By: Tracey

This was my bike ride on Saturday. Doing another 45 or so tomorrow.

This is obviously Tom posting. It was a very hilly and challenging ride. It made me feel for Peter. Riding a road bike is very different but I love it.

Sep 5, 2009 Post By: Mike

Obligatory run panos

18 miles done. Here was the starting line:

Sep 4, 2009 Post By: Peter

Fire Alarm!! and Bike Ride

Yes, Andrew's new nickname should be "Fire Alarm!!". Last night me and the boys were at Anne's volleyball game and during the third game the boys were in the lobby playing at a table and I was watching the game and the boys from one of the doors going into the gym. All of a sudden, all of the doors between the lobby and the gym close, strobe lights turn on and alarm sounds with a message telling everyone to exit the building. I look over and Andrew is standing frozen next to the pulled lever. It takes them 15 minutes to turn the alarm off, but only delayed the match for about 5 minutes. The fire trucks were averted by a quick call from one of the administrators to 911 telling them it was a false alarm by a curious 3 year old. What an evening.

The night before the fire alarm I had an awesome mountain bike ride in the mountains above Boise. Every year one of my coworkers and a group of friends rides the "hard guy" trail. After getting to the top they build a fire pit with the same rocks every year and light up a fire (US Forest Service would be extatic if they new about an open pit fire in early September in the Boise foothills). They roast some hot dogs and have certain beverages of choice along with chips and cookies. So he invited me to go along. I hadn't ridden this ride yet, but had been wanting to for a while. The trail is 5 miles one way with 2150 feet of vertical elevation gain. Most trail rides have some tough climbs with areas of flat terrain to provide sufficient recovery. This trail is not like most trails. It was unrelenting. I made it to the top with a few hikes pushing the bike and only two falls when I couldn't clip out quick enough on tough terrain. My choice of beverage was definately different then the rest, but a hot dog never tasted so good as it did Wednesday night. Unfortunately, we stayed a little too long at the top and about 3/4 of our ride down was in the dark. Pretty dicy at times when you can't really see the trail very well. I snapped a picture with my phone of the campfire at the top. Not great quality, but better then nothing.

Sep 1, 2009 Post By: Dave

Hood to Coast 2009 Pictures

Photos courtesy of the talented Mr. Brian Schickedanz - look in HTC 2009 album.

We had a blast - did really well as a team and individually. I think we averaged an 8:55 mile as a whole. I came in well under my projected pace for each run, so I am happy. Our team placed 28 out of 69 in our division.

This is just a sampling of the photos taken -

Adina

http://gallery.me.com/taysaac#gallery

Post By: Anonymous

Happy Birthday Noah!!

I can't believe it has been a year.

Aug 31, 2009 Post By: Tom

Summertime

I thought I would leave a post. In reality I do not really know how to use this blog thing. I just had one written partially and it is lost. Oh well. Tracey and I are training for a marathon on Halloween this year. It is on a small island off the northwestern coast of Okinawa. It is a 2 hour boat ride from a port up north and it should be awesome. Here are some pictures of the course and the port.

Anyway, it should be a beautiful course and looks to be fairly flat with elevation changes no greater than 20 m at any point. I am also training to do the Tour de Okinawa the following Satuday. It is a 108 mile bike ride along the Northern tip of the main island. This weekend we are going to do a 40 mile ride up on the point. I guess it is the hardest part of the ride and should get us more prepared for it. I just remember the guys coming back last year with numb legs and hating life so I am not really sure what I am doing. I am loving biking though. I rode to work today and last friday. It is about 8.5 miles to and from work and again, not to hilly. There are more hills on the way home but at that point I am just excited to get home so it makes it an easier ride. I will take a picture tonight perhaps of me in all my biking gear. To do it right you really do have to be all decked out. I always laughed at the guys with the tight pants but now I reside in them.

I was previously at another clinic that was about and hour and twenty minutes away and have now switched down to a clinic much closer. It was great being with the people at the old clinic and we had a pretty tight knit group but it has been great getting to know the people down here and I enjoy it a lot. I get to work out of 2 operatories and a surgical suite and I have 2 technicians most days to myself. Therefore, I can practice more multichair dentistry to get ready for the time in the future. As I am sure most of you know, Dave and I are planning on working together in the future and we recently got the plans for the new clinic and they look awesome. It is almost torture to see what will be. But, good things come to those who wait, and we will be waiting another 2 years to realize those dreams. But, for now I just continue to try to improve my skills to make the transition as seemless as possible. We had an awesome time this summer and look forward to many more vacations in the future. I better sign out. We are totally addicted to dominion also. While Tracey was gone me and some other guys here were playing it at least 3 nights a week. Thanks for introducing it to us. alright, signing out.

The Sundry Seven