I suppose enough of the others have written in their updates to warrant another from us.

Lots of Ws over here - work, wedding, working out, wheezing, waiting.

::Work::

I am very busy getting my hands into projects all over the company and wearing lots of hats trying to improve things. My latest "hat" is that of corporate photographer. I've been traveling around to local offices to get photos of all our employees for various purposes. I think I have about 50 employees done - only about 1150 to go... Never a dull day but I suppose that is all job security.

Eric is finally seeing some recognition of the great things he's done at work this past year. It's been stressful and more work than he's used to but he is handling it well.

:: Wedding ::

We are continuing our aim to keep wedding planning low key while still getting things done. We are taking a trip down to the wedding location in a couple of weeks to meet with the coordinators and get everything sorted out and meeting with other vendors along the way. I think after the cruise is over, it'll be a lot more detailed planning.

Our latest accomplishments were getting our honeymoon booked and our wedding party finalized. We are going to Koa Kea resort on Poipu Beach on Kauai for a week just after the wedding - can't wait!! And Peter agreed to be Eric's 5th groomsmen to round it all out - thanks again, Peter!

:: Working Out ::

While we're not quite doing crossfit, we are trying to stay active with running and getting to the gym. I am training for the Hippie Chick and finally figured out a way to get my runs in on weekdays by running near my office just after work before sitting in the hour long commute.

Eric continues to push himself to run farther and faster and I'm very proud of him for sticking with it.

:: Wheezing ::

Poor Eric has had a terrible cough for over a month now and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I had a cold on and off for a few weeks in January but seem to be getting back to normal. Although I did get a nice kink in my neck/upper back yesterday that limited my movement to legs and eyeballs for about 12 hours - super fun.

:: Waiting ::

As in waiting for a vacation! I am headed down to San Fran in March the weekend before the cruise to visit friends and then it's time for the cruise and sunshine - thank goodness! That's the other thing we're waiting for - sun, warmth, summer. The clouds are killing me slowly.

That's about it for us. Lots of movie watching, playing with cats and general relaxation when we aren't doing everything above.

Next!

Greetings from M Court... here are my random thoughts from the day:

Tom is busy working 5 days a week but is happy. He works in Longview on Monday, at Willamette in Vancouver on Tuesday and the amazing Discovery Dental on Wed-Fri. He signed up for the Mountain Marathon again, insane hilly, muddy, practically run through ponds, marathon. So he’s training for that, but what has really captured his heart is crossfit. We joined a new gym just 1 mile from our house and are both in love. I could write an entire post about all the things we love about it and if you’ve seen us recently you’ve probably been stuck listening to us go on about how amazing it is! Short version- we love the people there, the moral support as well as the competition. We love doing new and interesting things all the time and being pushed harder than we thought our bodies could handle and then coming back the next day.

 On top of all the working out fun I am also busy with all the normal things of life. I spend a lot of time helping out down at the school and enjoy being involved in the kids classes. At church I serve with the young women and just got called as camp director. Having Alyssa at school 2.5 days a week also gives me time to go to the temple every other week and just help out with all the things that need to be done in a busy active ward and community. As always, there are never enough hours in the day. But my life continues to evolve as I change from a young mom with young kids to just a “mom.” The kids are more independent and have much different needs.

We have been painting the interior of the house and it just gets better every day. I am sure the project list will be long for a few years to come but bit by bit we are making it home. We are storing a pool table for a friend for the next 6 months so that is taking up the space in our empty front living room and providing lots of fun.  Sadly our appliances are breaking down even though they are only about 8 years old, first the microwave, then the oven and now the dishwasher.  I got to spend the afternoon waiting for a repairman.

Hayden is 10 and enjoying the independence he now gets.  He actually babysat his sisters one Saturday night while we went to do karaoke and did a great job!! As always he is hopelessly addicted to Minecraft and all video games, a battle we re-fight daily as we force him to choose other things to do with his time. He just finished Hunger Games and is still plowing through The Lord of the Rings. We forced him to sign up for baseball for one last year just to get him outside, that starts in a month or so.  His love for band continues and one day Tom took him to a music store and he came home with his eyes all lit up excited to tell me that he saw a bass clarinet.  He still enjoys school and does well even though he will tell you that SCHOOL means Six Cruel Hours Of Our Lives.  He only has a handful of friends but he told me “mom, that’s all the friends I need. I’m not Danica who needs to be friends with the whole world!”  I guess he doesn't need friends because he gets to torture his sisters.

Danica does love her friends and would be happy to just draw or play all day. She barely tolerates school most days and hates being gone all day, every day, but she is excelling in her classwork and is the top reader in her class. We have had to make a new rule about not doing hand stands and cartwheels at the dinner table...who knew... but she just can‘t stop herself from doing them all the time!  We've all been victims as she has kicked us in the face when she spontaneously did a cartwheel while walking down the hall.  She did a week long after school cheer camp at the high school and has fallen in love with dancing.  It was hilarious watching her shy self trying to break free to cheer and yell.  She hardly moved.  But her desire to dance comes at a good time because she needs to move up to the next level at gymnastics and doesn’t want the 9-12 hour a week time commitment that comes with that so we are taking a break from the gym and doing dance for a while. She also signed up for t-ball and asks me every day when t-ball is starting. 

Alyssa is a wild card as usual.  She is trying to figure out what she likes and who she is and it keeps me guessing all the time. One minute she will be the star of the show and the next minute she is hiding behind my leg feeling shy. School is going well for her, she loves her class and is does well at her work.  Her teacher said that the first day of school she was told to put down her paint brush before she was finished and ended up in a tug-o-war with the teacher.  However, she must have decided that the teacher was serious because she hasn't had any trouble since then with her listening or obeying.  So now the only problem is that she still has not had a turn to be the "star of the week" and it’s killing her...it’s a real long lesson in patience. She loved her gymnastics and is sad to be taking a break just because Danica has to but in the meantime I have her and Danica doing a little community ed tap/ballet class down at the elementary school and she is loving that. She is going to play t-ball but doesn’t want to because she is nervous to play against another team. Hopefully she will get over it. Mostly she is just loving being the baby of the family and walks around hugging her stuffed animals all the time asking me if I think she looks cute. Which I do.

Hey, ok, I will post, Lexi.  Thanks for the kick in the butt.  I know, the Stinchfield's have been lacking at the blogging thing.  Between Facebook, Instagram and our proximity to each other, I guess we just thought we'd be coughing up the same old stuff over and over.  We'll try to do better!

The title of the post is due to some nasty wisdom teeth I just spent a couple hours saying hello to.  Enough said.

The 38th Ct. Washougal Stinchfield's are doing just fantastic.  Between all of our activities, I don't know how we have time to sleep.

Adina is on a relief status at the hospital and is able to share her talents there.  I think it is a nice break from the home stuff too.  Many days now, during the day, she is home alone, so I can see how that might get boring.  Although on her days off, I get to have lunch with her!  That's why I like it when she doesn't work.  Besides the hospital, she spend an inordinate amount of time doing the marketing for our practice.  Like she keeps saying, "It is a full time job".  A lot to do, but the fruits of her labors are starting to show.  We are steadily growing the practice and Tom and I are both staying quite busy.

Adina got me a journal for Christmas.  Not any old journal.  It was a "One-Sentence" journal.  I am horrible at recording my day to day history...even my year to year history.  This journal 'allows' you to just write one or two sentences each day about your life.  I have been able to write in it every day since January 1st.  That is a first ever, so I hope it continues...

Isaac is getting ready for his graduation, Eagle completion and mission in August.  Crazy busy year for him.  I think his head is spinning.  Our heads are spinning too.  We love him despite his 17-isms.

Taylor is an entrepreneur.  I'll just leave it at that for now and explain later.

Parker is thinking about going into student government.  Maybe that is his niche??

Morgan is turning into quite the runner.  She just turned 11 years old and can run 3 miles and keep up with her mom (which is tough, trust me).  She trains with the high school cross country distance coach 2-3 times a week with speed training etc..  It'll be fun to see that develop.  Great thing is she loves it.

Anyway, more later....dave

Thank you, Anne! We have all gotten out of the habit of posting because we see eachother so often. However, day to day goings on do not always get communicated. As often as I talk to you, some of the news is new news to me even. Dad and I are getting along well. January is a quiet month for us. Today, we went down this morning to get Marnie's wedding dress. It still may need some altering but looks beautiful on her...no pictures because Eric might see it!!! Tonight we are going down to Voicebox, a karaoke place that has private rooms (the only way) with D & A, T & T, M &B and M&E, and then out to dessert at Papa Haydn's. Tomorrow night we are all getting together for Parker(13), Brie (1), Beck (5) and Ellyn (9)'s birthdays. Wednesday, we are leaving for our Cowboy Poetry Weekend...so excited especially to see Martha and Dick...and Lexi and Dennis and a lot of their clan. Very much looking forward to the "65" Cruise. It is coming up quick! Kenn and I have been diligently trying to lose weight we have each lost about 25-30 lbs and are feeling great. We hope that this next weekend will not totally blow it...don't think so. My running pace is really improving with the loss of weight. The other day I finally broke 11 min per mile for a 4 mile stretch. I just signed up for the Foot Traffic Flat half marathon so I'll start training in earnest for it after the cruise. Up to now, that was my fastest Half so I'm hoping to make a PR this year. Kenn has been very busy with his work and church. He is the ward clerk now and is enjoying working in the bishopric. I was released as RS Pres in November and I am really enjoying a more low key involvement. I am now one of three teachers for the Gospel Doctrine class so I only have to teach every three or so weeks. It is scheduled around our travel so it is perfect!! However, tomorrow they also asked me to speak so everyone will get very tired of hearing my voice. Hopefully, I'll have a lot of participation in Sunday School. So excited to see that Sean and Bridget's new little daughter, Winne, was born on Jan 22. It is fun to see the family still growing. I still consider one of my greatest blessings at this point having our family close enough so that we can get together frequently!!! Amazing to think that Isaac will be going on his mission this next summer...Wow!!! Love, Mom

Quick updates on everyone:

Peter
- Just won a project at Lane Community College (biggie!)
- Also will be working with Gates City council to design parts of their water system
- Has an interview tomorrow with City of Willamena for the possible job as the City Engineer of Record
- is now the Cubmaster for our ward
- Working hard to get ready for the Hill Billy Half and other races we will be doing in the next 6 months
- enjoying his fusion pass and skiing as often as possible

Anne
- is now the YW secretary and Personal Progress adviser which will make for a bit less stressful job when volleyball starts up again
- Has decided to run another marathon - Foot Traffic Flat on July 4th
- Getting ready for the cruise
- Doing a crossfit challenge online with Chelsea Northam
- just got back from a recent trip to SD to attend a wedding for her best friend from high school, Laura

Andrew
- Is reading chapter books very well now
- enjoying playing his new Nintendo DS from Santa
- playing basketball on his team - the Hoyas. Still learning the game and really understanding what to do during offense and defense. Stole the ball in his game on Saturday and ran down and almost shot it in for a point. He was so proud of himself.
- getting ready to sign up for t-ball

Beck
- learning to sound out words and trying to learn to read
- also getting ready to sign up for t-ball
- loves making up songs and doing his own version of whistling
- helping out as the big kid in the house while Andrew is gone during the day
- on break from preschool until March
- Celebrates his 5th birthday next week and is so excited to finally be 5. Kindergarten next year - so crazy to think about having 2 kids in school.

Camie
- loving her princess castle and talking about each princess
- loves to change her clothes 10 times a day
- helps out with Derek and is loving being a big sister
- talking up a storm - so much so that we have to tell her to be quiet
- climbs on the counters to get a drink or find secret candy in the cabinets - so independent
- no more diapers at night! We are going on 5 days with no accident at night - or during the day for that matter.

Derek
- will be 7 months next week
- moving around everywhere - army crawling and rolling
- up on hands and knees and rocking, trying to figure out the whole crawling thing
- weighs 17.9 pounds (50%) and is 28 inches long (85%). He is our biggest child by far and weighs more than Camie did at 12 months
- eating like a champ and is such a mooch - he wants our food so badly
- such a happy low key baby, We are so lucky to have him. We still don't know how we got 4 such great cute kids.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

I think most of you have seen these on Facebook but I thought I'd post here for those of you who avoid that medium. :) These are the engagement photos that Eric & I had taken in early October by a friend of Kimberly's. They were taken at the International Rose Garden in Washington Park in Portland and at Cathedral Park under the St. John's bridge in Portland. Beautiful day!

Here is the update from us!

Melia- She is absolutely LOVING school! I didn't think I would cry on the first day of school, but of course, I did on the walk there. We walk every day and now it has turned into her running all the way there with McKenzie. She goes from 8:20- 2:50 every day and has already made some great friends in her class. She has already had one incident of a 1st grader girl kind of making fun of her and she did not understand why they were being mean to her. It already has begun... But we talked to her and she now says it doesn't matter and that they can't hurt her. Melia is now into making videos where she sings songs and acts them out... making it up as she goes. I will have to post her "Bunny Tale" video soon.

McKenzie- She has had quite an adjustment with having Melia gone, but is also enjoying being pretty much the only one and the big helper at home. She is enjoying preschool and LOVES her new friends there. She is going to be playing soccer in the Winter with her friend Jovie and Amy (who is my co teacher at the preschool) is going to be the coach. She says she is going to be great since she runs so fast. A couple of weeks ago, McKenzie had her 4 year old check up. She was 3 foot 7 inches tall and 42 lbs. She got all her kindergarten shots (definitely did not like that part!) and now she is ready for next year!
Brie- She is 8 months old already and is crawling around and pulling up on things. She loves to walk along the couch and she REALLY likes the X-box which Treven is not happy about. We had our first ER trip for any of our kids with her a couple of weeks ago when she busted her eyelid open on the entertainment center. She ended up not needing any stitches because the cut was in the crease of her eyelid and by the time the doctor saw us, it had stopped bleeding. The doctor didn't want to cause any more pain so he said that it should close up on it's own. It did, very well too! She has been teething a lot, but no teeth have popped through yet. It is killer! She is now eating soft table food. We found that whenever she ate the baby food from the jars, she spits up... so we are cutting that out and going for all soft table food.
Treven- He is working really hard at work. He is going to the manager assessments at the beginning of October and hopefully that will cause something to happen with management. The District Manager told him 3 weeks ago that she is watching him for the next 6 weeks to see how he performs and that will determine the route she will take with his promotion. Pray for him, please! :)
As far as school goes,  he has been looking at BYU- Idaho's online programs. They now offer online degrees and he is thinking of switching to Health Administration as his Bachelor's. He really did not enjoy WSU Vancouver and needs to be able to love school and have the time to work a full time job as well which WSU Vancouver was not providing for him.

Kim- Preschool is doing great! I am still at Tiny Peas Preschool. I flirted with the idea of opening my own preschool out of our home, but I prayed about it and had a firm confirmation to speak with Amy before breaking away. I did, and she was feeling exactly the same way I was and we changed our curriculum and the way that we do things at the preschool. It has been amazing. Our preschool is full and our new kids mesh so well with the kids that have been with us for a while. I am looking for work on MWF to be able to bring in some extra money for our family. I will see if I got the job I interviewed for at Willamette Dental some time today or tomorrow. I started Weight Watchers with Mom about 4 weeks ago and I have lost a total of 9.8 lbs! I am loving it and really am feeling great. This week I am going to start back up on running. I wanted to lose 10 lbs before I did. 10 lbs is a lot and having that gone will definitely help! My goal is to lose 40 more lbs. We will see :) The cruise and Marnie's wedding are great motivators.


We are so thankful for everything that we have in our lives: family so close, a great home, great school nearby for the kids, our ward, and A LOT more. Thank you for all your support and love, it always means more than you know.