Mountain Marathon

Let me start by saying sorry this is so long.

So, about 7 weeks ago, in late January Dave decided that it would be a good idea to bring up a marathon that was to occur on the 3rd of March. So, initially I scoffed at him. We were sitting at work and I could tell that he was really thinking about doing this thing. That was when I just thought it was a somewhat normal marathon. I brought up the point to him that he would only have like 6 or 7 weeks to train for this thing. Anyway, to make a short story shorter, he signed up for the Mountain Marathon in Olympia Washington.
I consider myself a competitive. Someone who likes to be challenged. But I was not willing to commit to doing this thing until I knew that I was going to do it. I did not want to waste the money on this thing if I was not going to do it. So, I decided I would train for a few weeks and up my milage to 10, then 12, then I committed to do the race. My training routine was similar to the one Tracey and I did for Leavenworth last year. I don’t like the taper so I just ramp up from 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20...then I do the marathon the next week. This is the best training program for an established runner. It is short and sweet. If I had to adjust it, and I will, I would do some more speed training. I did not in this case. I would just go out and run. I felt like I was being so smart. I would do some of my shorter runs on the lacamas trail. And, I would even incorporate some of that trail into my long 14, 16, and 20 mile runs. I would do like 5 miles of trail running in the middle of that. Golden right?

Ok, so the day has come, We drove up to Mike and Brookes place and stayed the night there. I got a good night sleep with Amber(ambien) by my side. We woke up and headed out for the race. it was like 48 degree and not raining so we were thrilled. I think something was wrong with the thermometer in the car because it was colder when we got outside. The wind was pretty gusty and that added to the coolness. It was nice to just sit around these big barrel fires that they had and just hang out. We sat in the car for a little while and then we headed out to the starting line.






So, the race starts. The first mile and a half was just an uphill climb with a few little downhills(these did not seem so little on the way back)interspersed. I felt pretty strong. At the starting line I said goodbye to Dave. Thinking about the experience now there is a real part of me that wishes we would have run together to be able to joke about the absurdity of it all. But, that did not happen. I was probably about #6 on the way up the hill. I just kept thinking, alright, at least we are getting the hill out of the way now. Well, that did not happen. We got to the top of that hill and entered into the trails. We then traveled up various switchbacks that were littered with mud and puddles that you would have to jump to the side to avoid. This part seemed like totally extreme trail running to me at the time. I thought it could not get much worse than this. I did everything I could to avoid getting my feet wet. What a waste. We got to the top of all those trails and ran up a road for about a mile. It was a really pretty view. Most of the run was really pretty but enclosed. This was one of the rare moments where you were out in the open.
You then enter back into the trails with more mud, more puddles, and snow. There was one area we came to that was just an opening with a snowy hill and one path running along the slope of it. It was flat and I remember there was a guy in a bright orange jacket ahead of me. It just looked so cool to see the orange against the white backdrop. I had one of those....this is so cool moments. I actually said something to the guy right ahead of me and he had no comment. I am hoping he just didn’t hear me.
So, we kept running through more trails with deep mud, puddles, snow for another few miles, until we came an aid station at about mile 6.5. So, this was the turn around for the half. I felt like I had traveled a lot more than 6.5 miles and the prospect of doing that 3 more times seems fairly daunting. But, I headed up the hill. It was a snow covered hill, about a mile and a half long. the snow was about 1.5 to 2 feet deep and the only tracks in it were from the quad runners that were driving through it. This hill was crazy steep. We went from about 1600 to 2300 feet in about a mile and half. When you add snow on top of that and throw in a little windiness, forget about it. But, I made it to the top of that hill. There was another aid station at the top that marked the 8 mile mark, I believe. So, at that point, you took a hard right down a very steep grade. I remember there was a guy that came up behind me on the hill that was in a Seattle Sounders shirt. I let him pass me up as we set out on the trail and he told me 2 times, “Just let me know if you want to pass.” That was the last thing on my mind. My feel were totally wet by this point. In fact, long before this point. I assured him there would be no passing up and I began my decent down the hill. It was quick. Just a ton of switchbacks. The snow was about the same depth as the road and was probably untouched when the first runner came through. It was a lot of sliding and it made me grateful for the trail shows. Occasionally you would end up stepping right through the snow into a pool of ice cold water. That was always a nice surprise. Eventually we exited the snow and entered into some hard dirt trails. There were difficult to maneuver because a lot of it was just a deep V shape so there was no great way to run. I alternated between jumping from one side to the other and just going back and forth each step. Neither of these were particularly great but we got through it.
The next few miles were kind of a blur. I kept thinking I had to be getting sloes to the turn around. For about 4 miles I did not see a single person. They had the paths marked with blue and red streamers and they actually did a pretty good job of it. So, it was just series of long roads with HUGE puddles taking up the road. The roads were like 8-10 feet wide and the puddles would go for 20-30 feet. The only way to get past these would be to run up on the muddy side. This usually had a slope down a hill on one side and a puddle on the other. Multiple times I would just slip down into the puddle and these were not shallow puddles. This really slows you down. The last few miles before the turnaround were covered with snowy switchbacks with slush, low hanging trees, and just really bad paths. I was happy when I finally saw the leader some around the corner because it meant there actually was a turn around. I remember prior to this thinking that it was a big joke. My mind had thought up a few scenarios. One came to mind because there were some gun shots in the distance. I had figured out that there were shooting everybody as they got to the turn around. I know, it makes no sense. The other scenario was that when we got to the turnaround they said, “Seriously, you think we would make you run back through that crap?” The last scenario was that somebody had died at the turnaround and they were holding everybody up until they figured that out. All of those were proved wrong when I saw that guy and I as glad I was near the turnaround. I stopped at the aid station to eat a few oreos and drink some water before heading back out. I saw Dave about a mile down the road and we spoke briefly. I was happy he had a camera because I wanted some evidence of this mess. Heading back was good at first. My legs were tired, my feet numb, but I was over half way and that was positive. I knew I would be in for it when I got to the up hill trail and snow part but that was later. So, I trucked on. Through the puddles, mud, slush. Me and another guy just walked up the trail part and the snowy part. I knew that my legs would need it. It seemed like that trail went on forever. We climbed from 1500 feet to about 2300 feet in what had to be less than a mile. It was crazy. The other bad thing was that my feet would not warm up as we were heading up this trail. And, the snow was not thick slush. So, wet and cold and the footing was terrible. You really did not have an option to run without wasting all kinds of energy. Each step was a struggle to stay put and not slide back. I remember looking up the steep slope and not seeing the top. It was demoralizing. But, I knew that when I got to the top I was at the peak of the race. I would have 8 miles left and most of it would be down hill. My legs were locking up at this point though and my feet were numb. But, I was going down, so I headed down the long snowy road. There was still not a real well formed path so I just kept jumping back and forth from one track to another. When I to the bottom of the road I only had 6 miles left. The rest of the race was rolling hills with mud paths. All of the half marathoners and the full marathoners had already passed over this area so it as really soft and wet. It was a mess. I was grateful that my legs would continue moving forward. The last 3 miles was pretty much a dash downhill. My adrenaline was pumping as I ran down the mountain. When I got to the final road and the guy told me there was a mile and half remaining, I really felt like it was going to end. I could feel the end. There were a few up hills on the road back but the majority was a long down hill that brought me into the finish. It felt so good to finish. I actually started getting emotional when the guys just up from the finish told me good job. I felt so accomplished. I had many highs and lows. Many conversations with myself about how stupid this was. But, in the end, Dave and I accomplished it. There were 12 of the 70 that began the race that did not finish. I was number 16 out of 58 that finished. Dave was #31. The last guy came in at 8:30 hours. It was funny talking about it with Dave because we had a lot of the exact same thoughts and expereiences. Intense. That is what it was. And crazy.

Individual Updates

Well my mom has been asking for an update on how everyone is doing and it's always a good thing to remember so here it is. Some of this might be repeated but it's the first thing that comes to my mind:

Alyssa:
She started in the older preschool class at the first of the year and loves it. Now she is with the other kids who will start kindergarten this fall. (Did I really just say that? Can she be that old?) She has become even more of a social butterfly and loves her friends! It’s been a lot of fun getting her friends together for play dates. However, her sister is still her very best friend and they spend endless hours making up games. The favorites right now usually revolved around using all the stuffed animals to make a pet store, using their dolls as students while they are the teachers or Alyssa being the baby and Danica being her mom. She likes her doll house and creates fun stories with her Barbies. She continues her role as the family clown making sure everyone is always laughing. I got frustrated last night because they weren’t following directions at bedtime and she later got out of bed to come tell me she was sorry. I said thank you and she said “okay, so you’re happy now?” Apparently she couldn’t sleep while she was worried I was upset. She is well aware that she’s the baby of the family and she plays that card often. I tend to find myself carrying her around and putting on her shoes and all sorts of other things I know she can do by herself...oh well, she won’t let me do it forever.

Danica:
She was invited to try out for JAG, it stands for Jupiter Advanced Girls, it is the advanced girls gymnastics group for her age. She did well and has joined the new class where she is completely thriving!

It's a huge commitment for our family because she now goes to class on Wednesday and Friday from 4-6, yes, that's 4 hours a week! But she loves every minute of it. She is constantly working on getting stronger and being presented with new challenges but instead of shying away from them or coming crying to me because she can't do it, she is just trying her hardest and is so happy with each little success. She’s always been such a shy, timid girl that this is a very positive change in her and we are happy she is having so much fun. She recently got brave enough and strong enough to climb to the top of the very high rope!! Her new found confidence has also been great as we have taken up rock climbing at our gym. Instead of being to scared to try she just scales the wall so fast! It’s really fun to watch!

I started teaching her piano lessons and she is doing really well. She’s eager to learn and enjoys it. It helps that she is such a great reader. In fact, she’s on page 40 of a chapter book she’s reading all by herself!
Among other things she has also proven her ability to clean up her room all by herself and when she is given enough time and motivation. I stayed downstairs and they called me up and I found it immaculate! The only problem is that now that I know what she is capable of I want it to be cleaned well all the time! Hopefully Alyssa can learn to help out! Here is a picture of them after cleaning it so well!

Danica is the sweetest big sister, she wrote Alyssa this note.


Hayden:
He has finally found his stride in 4th grade and is doing well and enjoying the confidence of climbing to the top of the class. Math was tough but he’s got a handle on all the division and fractions and doesn’t complain as much...although he still complains plenty! He has made some friends but still wishes he had more. He told me this morning that it’s just not fair that Danica and Alyssa have each other and he has no one. His friends and cousin couldn’t play much last week and he had “the worst week of his life.” The best thing in Hayden’s life is his cousins, he lives for the chance to hang out with them.

He has gotten into the rock climbing and is doing well and enjoys challenging himself which is nice because he hates challenges at school or in the piano.

We signed him up for little league and look forward to that starting. He’s gone out running a few times and is good to ride his bike to his friends or cousins house. He set out on his bike today in the rain and I just kept telling him to be careful until he finally cut in with “Mom, I get it, I’ll be careful!” I guess I’m not totally ready for him to grow up either! Luckily he still loves for me to rub his back and read to him at night. Hopefully that will never stop!

Tom:
He continues to enjoy working at Discovery Dental and hopes that work will just keep getting busier. In the meantime, there is a lot of great marketing going on. One thing being done is putting holiday themed lights on the big tree outside the practice. People loved the Christmas lights so much we decided to keep it going. Right now they are pink and red. Next month we’ll do green and people get to guess how many lights are on the tree. It’s attracting good attention.

Tom is also going around to the schools in the area doing fantastic presentations about dental hygeine. They are fun and informative and the kids really love it.

He sends them all home with a bag of goodies including info about Discovery Dental so hopefully that will bring in more patients.
On Monday he works at a practice up in Longview (about an hour north of here). In the free time he does find he is busy training for his half iron man this summer. He’s biking, running and swimming a lot. Right now his main focus is actually on trail running because he signed up for a Mountain Man Marathon! He’s been training and it’s just two weeks away! 26 miles on a trail! I’ll let you know how it goes!
At church he has thankfully been relieved of his scout committee duties and is now the Ward Mission Leader. It proves to be bringing in some good challenges and the opportunity to work with a lot of great men.
We got to dog sit last weekend for his brother’s beloved Boston Terrier. Tom was in heaven wishing he could keep it forever. The kids were terrified and spent the first few days sitting on the table and wearing snow boots around the house but we finally got them used to him and now they really miss having him around. If Tom has his way he’ll have a dog soon.



Tom’s birthday was on the 16th. It was not the most fun day, just a lot of work and he had a church meeting while I was doing a scout meeting. But we did get to go out the next night to a concert in Portland. We saw Mat Kearney and he was fantastic. Great music and a really fun show!! I can’t wait to go see him again!

Tracey:
Busy as usual. That’s the way I like it. Of course the kids are the primary factor in my life. I am working really hard to help them be more independent. They are getting better at doing their chores and helping around the house. I don’t want to put myself out of a job but I do feel like they need to know how to be responsible. I know I'm doing it right because the kids hate the extra work. In fact, sweet little Danica left me this note one day. But don't worry, she later changed it saying I as the best.

I’ve been in charge of the 8 year old cub scouts and just finished taking the lead on the Blue and Gold banquet last week. It was a ton of work and I”m glad it’s over. I was actually released as the scout leader and am now the Relief Society Compassionate Service leader which is a wonderful opportunity to get to know everyone and to serve. Until they get a new scout leader I am doing both jobs which is fine because it reminds me of how busy I was in Japan!
However, I am not too busy to still take time for myself every day and I am working hard to train for my sprint triathlon in June. We joined a gym with a pool so that I could learn to swim.

Starting in January I could only make it 25 meters without stopping because I was completely exhausted and out of breath. I wasn’t sure I would survive the swim portion of the race and every time I tried to go swimming I just hated it. I really wanted to give up but Tom wouldn’t let me and I didn’t want to be a quitter so I’ve persisted. Finally one day after getting some in the pool coaching from my sister-in-law who’s a great swimmer, things finally clicked. I began to be able to swim for greater distances and started to hate it less. I tried to get Hayden excited for me and I said “Hayden, I’ve got great news! I have been trying really hard to learn to swim and I really wanted to quit but I didn’t! And now I am able to swim. Isn’t that great?” I was hoping to inspire him and all he said was “How is that great news to me?” Oh well.
I still like running the best and am working on getting faster in preparation for a half marathon in May. I actually won a local 10K race on Presidents day. It was a lot of fun. I try to get on my bike 1-2 times a week as well but need it to stop raining so I can get out there on some longer rides!! I went out one day in a big wind storm and ended up getting literally blown over on my bike which is a problem because I was clipped to my pedals and couldn't' break my fall. I think I'll skip the ride the next time it's that's windy!!

Well I think that’s about it for now....

January Musings

Busy month as usual. Here are a few of the things we've been up to:

December 23rd: Hayden turned 9!!
He informed me a few weeks before that he wanted to invite some kids to his party. I didn’t know he was going to have a party so I scrambled to get something planned. Luckily, it was pretty easy once he told me what he really wanted was a video game party. He doesn’t ever have kids come over to play video games so this actually sounded like an okay idea. We ordered pizza, drank soda, ate cake and played all the rated E games. It was a hit!

(more about Hayden in his personal bio coming up)

I can’t completely forget about Christmas even though it’s been long over, here are some highlights from the year:
We bid on a beautiful tree at the Washougal Festival of Trees, a fundraiser for our local schools and we won the tree! So we loaded up this fully decorated amazing tree into our van and brought it home! Lucky we have a huge empty living room where we could put it!
On Christmas Eve we participated in the family Nog Run...luckily we were late and missed the actually drinking of the egg nog but still got to enjoy the run! Hayden survived the full 2 miles!

Christmas Eve was spent at our house, with the entire Stinchfield Clan minus Mike and Brooke! It was a fun night of food, games and Barb even helped the kids use puppets to tell the nativity story.
Christmas morning was wonderful as usual! The kids enjoyed it and were well spoiled.

The before:

The after:


This is what Tom wishes he got for Christmas! His brother Dave got a Boston Terrier puppy for his family

Christmas dinner was a formal affair at Kenn and Barbs and was wonderful. Then the kids enjoyed the “money drop” with the change that Papa has been saving all year. They all came home with a bag full of money! They are still saving it!


The rest of the break was spent with trips to JJ Jumps, OMSI, a trail run, and late night games every day. What a blast!

January started off with a bang as we celebrated with our friends the Balls. Our friendship started in Okinawa and they now live up near Seattle so it's been really fun to hang out! We had a fun weekend, although the cold wind kept us from getting out of the car after driving to Beacon Rock to hike! We had a fun time playing with the kids and actually changed all the clocks so they thought they were staying up until midnight, not 8pm....the neighbors did big fireworks at 7pm, it worked out really well!!

A few days later we got a visit from more friends from Okinawa, the Neal's!! It's ridiculous but I didn't take any pictures! We had a great time catching up with them and hiking in the rain and playing on the beach in the rain....where was my camera... it was so fun to see them!

We were sad to see our Okinawa friends leave but we took comfort knowing that we would seem them again. The Ball's invited us up for the 3 day weekend to spend time with another family, The Frank's who now live in Chicago. We all stayed with the Ball's and had a great time!! We ate, played games, went to the Children's Museum and even played in the snow!




Snow Day: Two weeks ago they cancelled school for two days due to the snow. The first day it was only raining down here in town so I didn't know and drove the kids to school only to find it closed! The second day it actually snowed down here! Tom and I tried to go running in the snow but it was raining and turning everything to slosh! Fortunately the kids still thought it was amazing and we had a good time out playing!


Concerts: We are keeping up with the fun of living near a big city with lots of great concert options all the time. So far this month we went to a City and Colour Concert and then saw the Milk Carton Kids again. Tons of fun!

Friends: We finally connected with a couple here in Washougal that we've wanted to get to know better. They came over for dinner and games and we had a great time! Hopefully we can start to do that a lot more often!!

Cape Horn Trail Run: Last Friday we had Anne and Peter stay the night with us and we went on a "legendary" trail run in the morning. We went to do the Cape Horn Trail like we did over Christmas break but this time instead of mud we found ice and snow. We persisted but it was such an intense run. It felt like we were literally running through someone's cooler of ice. Just stumbling over pieces of ice that would roll and slip under our feet. It felt like you were running uphill in deep sand for a few miles. Awesome... as we caused a disturbance in the forest the ice would fall from the trees. Fortunately, no one was hit in the head, I got hit in the hand and it hurt!!! We couldn't get near the nice viewpoints because it was pure ice and you could literally slip right off the edge. I'm the only one who slipped and although it didn't feel great at least I didn't slip off a cliff! The worst part was at the top of the mountain where there is a flat area that was covered in snow that had a layer of ice over the top. There was a freezing wind so you wanted to hurry but it was so slippery. You would slip on the ice unless you cracked through it to run in the snow. We had to run on our toes or heels trying to crack the ice with each step...again, awesome. Luckily, about half way through the snow lightened up and we ran on some mud and trail and got to enjoy being out. We made it back to the car just as some icy rain started to fall. Somehow, we still enjoyed ourselves and agreed we are glad we did it...

Well I think that's about enough on the events of the last little while... I'm sure I forgot something big but I'll figure that out later. Hopefully I can put together a little info on each member of the family and get that posted soon!!!

Ballerina Alyssa

Alyssa LOVES to dance and especially enjoys her ballet class. They did a recital in December and of course it was adorable!!

Christmas Letter 2011

As I look back on the crazy adventures and changes of years past it seems that nearly every year we have had something amazing or big to report, like a new baby or move. This year is no different except that it seems to be marking the beginning of the end of the adventure. I’m not sure I like that plan so I’ve decided I’ll just have to get more creative in the future creating new kinds of adventure!
The adventure this year was our big move from Okinawa Japan back to the United States. We have purchased our first house and are settling permanently here in the small town of Washougal Washington. It’s a great town located along the Columbia River Gorge just across the border from Portland. Tom is working for his brother at Discovery Dental. It’s a beautiful, well run practice and Tom looks forwarding to becoming a partner with his brother in the future. Here are a few of the highlights from this past year, including some of the things we miss about Japan and some of the things we are enjoying here:

January: We enjoyed celebrating the Japanese new year, a month long celebration!! Hayden changed from the second grade to the third grade and loved it! He fit right in and enjoyed the new challenges. Alyssa lost her two front teeth due to a fall and was fitted for some fake ones (it pays to have a dentist for a dad!) We enjoy lots of hiking and being outdoors!!


February: We took our BIG trip up to mainland Japan with Tom’s brother Dave and wife Adina.
We had a fantastic time in Sasebo, Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Kyoto, and Tokyo! Great food, beautiful, scenery and amazing people!


March: Tom and I got scuba certified and Tom began going every chance he got!! He’s in love and now misses it all the time! We even saw a shark!
Hayden was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints out in the East China Sea. I pulled the girls out of their preschool and we enjoyed home preschool with more time to spend together and to enjoy the parks and cultural experiences in Okinawa.


April: For the third year in a row we went and ran the Iejima Half Marathon and went camping on the nearby island. Later in the month we did a three day, 230 mile bike ride around the entire island of Okinawa. So amazing!! Oh, how we miss the beautiful island, the weather and the friends who enjoyed it all with us! The kids enjoyed lots of island sight seeing. Hayden enjoyed soccer and Danica tried it, but hated all the pressure. We were really panicking about not having enough time left in Okinawa for all the fun things we wanted to do!


May: Put in an offer on a house in Washington after seeing a video of it. Took more trips to fun places like Okuma. Enjoyed watching Alyssa‘s ballet/tap recital and spent every possible minute with our friends in Japan knowing that we were going to leave them all too soon.


June: The month is a blur of last minute adventures, packing, prepping, playing and saying good-bye. I was happy to say good-bye to my van and my house, both of which were literally junked and condemned when we left them. However, I wish I could have stayed with the people, the weather and the beauty. Nonetheless, mid month we began the jet lag, trying to drive on the other side of the street and adjusting to being back in the states. I remember just being cold all the time, feeling overwhelmed walking into the huge stores and wanting the stability of my comfortable Japan life to return. Fortunately, we had good friends and family here to greet us and help us begin to settle in. We moved in with Tom’s parents, finally saw the house we had put an offer on and began to process of waiting for it to close!


July: Tried to stay warm in the cool Washington summer, it was frigid compared to the temps we left in Okinawa. We took a great trip to Utah and spent time in the sun with my family there. The kids got reacquainted with their cousins and traveled so much they learned to sleep wherever we decided to call home. Poor Alyssa got confused every time we changed to a new location and would ask if it was our new house. At the end of the month we ran the Northwest Passage Ragnar with a team made of Tom’s siblings, spouses and mom! We said good-bye to July with our annual trip to a houseboat on Lake Shasta in California. Heaven.

Tom started working at Discovery Dental. The practice belongs to his brother Dave and its amazing. Fantastic staff, beautiful location, recently updated and remolded inside, and just run really well. It's been an adjustment after being in the military but it's a good one and Tom looks forward to being partners with Dave in the future. He's already got his name on the sign!


August: Alyssa had two great things happen on her birthday- she finally turned 4 and we closed on our house! It didn’t seem possible that my little sweet baby was getting so big but she couldn’t be happier. She is such a fun, smiley girl who wants to make everyone happy. She loves all the girly things her sister likes but also enjoys getting messy, being loud and playing with Hayden. We closed on the house, finally, and were thrilled to move in! Compared to where we have lived this house is so big and new. It’s been fun to organize and decorate. The neighbors are great and I think we’ll be happy here for a long time. I’ve been promising pictures for ages...sorry. In August we also ran on a Hood to Coast team and had a blast!


September: Hayden started fourth grade. He was nervous and it was hard to be the new kid but he’s settled in and is doing well. Danica started kindergarten and is in love with all of it except the chaos of P.E. Alyssa started at preschool and enjoys going and being a big kid but is happy when I pick her up and we get to spend the rest of the afternoon together. My parents came to visit and I was so excited to show them around and to let them experience how beautiful it is here. Of course it rained the whole time they were here. Tom did his first triathlon, a sprint, and totally rocked it. He is hooked and just signed up for a half ironman next year...intense!


October: We enjoyed seeing the leaves change colors as we up our miles during our marathon training. It was fun to run around exploring the area in preparation for the Leavenworth Marathon. The race was great, a lot of fun to run it together and I actually won! First place for women! A great memory. Danica is in love with riding her bike and the new gymnastics class she is in. She is doing really well and is set to start in the advance class at the first of the year. Hayden goes to Lego club and loves it, tried flag football and didn’t love it. Alyssa is doing ballet and has become best friends with a girl in her class she knows from church. We enjoyed great Halloween festivities and took the kids to a pumpkin patch for the first time in 4 years!


November: Thanksgiving was spent enjoying a wonderful reunion with my brothers and sister in Utah. We stayed for the week after Thanksgiving to have more time for skiing, sledding, bowling, museums, games, Temple Square and trips to the gym! It was wonderful being all together and hearing the cousins just laugh and laugh.


December: As usual it’s a crazy month at our house! Danica turned 6 years old and continues to be the sweetest, most loving and caring girl around. She can’t get enough of coloring, cutting, singing, dolls, and playing with her sister. Tom and I were fortunate enough to go to several great concerts bringing our concert total since moving here up to 8. Some favorites were Andrew Bell, Milk Carton Kids, Lights, Naked and Famous, Grouplove, and Young the Giant. We also celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary! Hayden turned 9 years old and enjoyed a day spent playing video games and nerf wars with his friends. He still loves to read and is finishing up the Harry Potter series right now. It’s been fun to see him spend more time playing with his sisters!

Christmas will be spent here in Washington. We are looking forward to all the fun and will post some pictures when it’s done!!

We hope the end of this year finds all of you happy and ready for whatever adventures come at you next!!! Please keep in touch!