Heinkel Family

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T13:30:00.001-08:00

2011 was a great year and we're excited to be expecting a new baby in 2012. Wishing everyone the very best in every endeavor.

Heinkel's Holiday Letter 2011

2011-12-26T18:45:00.001-08:00

Family & Friends,

Decided to do something a little different this year with the holiday letter. Click Play to see our adventures this year.

Costa Rica

2011-05-23T23:56:00.000-07:00

Amazon sent me to Costa Rica for a week for business meetings at our site there. The route was surprisingly easy in terms of connections, but it did take all day to get there. Getting back was the same route but there were troubles with the planes, then the weather, so it took 25 hours to get back – including spending the wee hours of the morning reading/sleeping in a Starbucks café in the airport. Our site is in the interior of the country, not in the tropical resort areas. The interior has many American offerings for food and retail, but the key differences were in the general appearance and atmosphere. We saw police everywhere. There are bars and gates over every door and window of every store and every house. Houses and stores are tightly, often sharing walls, with what appeared to a style of stucco and lots of sheet metal as the primary building materials. Traffic is heavy, there are people everywhere, but most notably there are no sidewalks so the cars and the people are unnervingly close to each other. We had a driver the whole week and it seemed that many of the directions given were based on highways and exit numbers, then by landmarks. A couple times we went to destinations on the mountainsides and each time if felt like the roads were hodge-podge together and we later learned that in some cases they actually were… that as people built the next house or store on the perimeter they laid the next feet of street, so some streets were literally built 20-feet at a time as the next outer-most property was developed. The over-arching standout though was that every person we met was kind and welcoming, very friendly. Honestly, the part of the country we were in looked nothing like the resorts and tropics I saw on the internet, but I never feared for my life or felt like I was in a 3rd world country. Business meetings went well, had a chance to go zip-line touring through a cloud forest, had a chance to eat at a restaurant well up the mountain where they also had a nice cultural presentation, and took advantage to have wonderfully fresh fruits and sweet Costa Rican pastries for breakfast each day. I was sick the first couple of days I was there, but it was something I had before leaving home for the trip… it was disappointing because it made the trip there rather uncomfortable and I had to take it easy with food, drink, and activities those days.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Giant painting, mnay throughout the hotel

Pool and part of courtyard

City

Dining room at hotel, open air

another of the giant paintings

view from lobby to portico

view of lobby from portico

gardens

ready to zip-line tour the canopy of the rainforrest

more gardens

Birthday Dinner with Grandpa Ken

2011-05-15T22:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had the chance to have a birthday dinner with Grandpa Ken as he passed through town on a business trip. It is always good to spend time with family from the Seattle-side and Grandpa Ken's business travels gives him the chance to stop in every so often on his way to Boise or other destinations. We had a great dinner at Applebee's, then Trevor made a dessert with chocolate pudding, cherry pie filling, cool whip, and crushed Oreo cookies. We had a fun time together and wish Grandpa the best!

Trevor (and Dad) Enjoying Baseball

2011-05-14T22:34:00.000-07:00

Trevor is playing baseball again this year and having a great time. A few cool things this year is that I have been able to help the coach with the team and that the coach is our good friend and neighbor and his son is Trevor's freind and they enjoy being on the team together.

Trevor has long had a fascination with Kellen Moore, the Boise State football QB from Prosser High School, and was quick to point out that his jersey number is #11, just like Kellen.

Fixed, now it's perfect!

2011-05-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

I have loved the new Suburban, but one detail has really irked me (and it wasn't the gas mileage): the 22" inch chrome wheels. The wheels were way too flashy for my tastes and the ride was very rough. Those wheels are meant for looks, not comfort or actually driving in wet/snowy/muddy conditions. I have said many times "What's the use of having a 4x4 if you put those wheels on it?" Very happy to report that those wheels and tires and are gone and we're very happily back to Chevy stock! Now it looks like the Suburban I have always dreamed of.

Backyard is finally done!

2011-04-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

We've been working on the backyard for quite some time now, but are really happy that it is now completed and looks great. A few weeks ago we took down the pine trees, dug out the stumps, and started shopping for replacement bushes and bulbs. We've now got the new bushes in, the bulbs in, a few of the plants thinned out and moved around, and the bark spread out. It looks great AND we discovered as we dug out the stumps that one of the pines was over half dead at the root so we are glad we took it down before it fell and destroyed something. The end result is that the yard feels more open, the big toy is not longer blocked from view from the house, and we have year-round color with the new evergreen variety bushes.

Long Time Coming

2011-04-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

When I was 15 years old my best friend's family got a Suburban and I loved that thing. Many kids had exotic cars for dream cars, but I loved the Sub. For a few years I had a sweet black Mustang, but it wasn't the dream. After a long time coming, including much saving and a perfectly timed opportunity to sell my Explorer we bought a Suburban and I am thrilled. The deal was right and the vehicle is pretty well loaded, low miles, very clean, very large, and very inefficient - everything I hoped it would be all these years. I'm looking for a bumper sticker that says "My Suburban snacks on your Prius" The only detail I don't care for are the wheels and they are going to soon be replaced with more standard less-shiny wheels, which will prevent me from getting shot at and make for a smoother ride.

The morning after I got it I almost wrecked it when an alarm went off saying washer fluid low and I looked all around to see what it was that was going off and almost hit a little Chevy Aveo. I love that vehicle has a 400+ mile range on a single tank and that it's a good sized tank. A little pricey to fill, but not too bad. Believe it or not, it is my commuter vehicle since I only have an 8 mile one-way commute. Lucy does more driving each day than that so it's most economical for me to drive it! Yay!

New Backyard

2011-04-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

8:00am

9:00am

We're getting crazy with the yard work this year - taking down trees, putting in bark, planting bulbs... what has come over us. More to come on this project. Happy Earth Day.

Business Travel in Full Swing, Anniversary

2011-04-02T23:21:00.000-07:00

Monday at the ridiculous hour of 3:45 I get into a cab to begin the traveling season for work for the year. First trip is to Huntington, WV for some finance meetings and a performance review. This trip will be a fast in-out trip with the flight arriving Monday afternoon, meetings Tuesday and Wednesday, and fly home Wednesday.

May will bring two trips; Grand Forks, ND and San Jose Costa Rica. This will be my second trip to GFK for process improvement meetings (annual event) and will be a nice visit to friends I made last year and prepare a training plan for a new hire financial analyst for the site. I will miss hockey season again this year, which is too bad because the UND team is quite good and their arena "the Ralph" is really quite nice as well. Hotel has a family water park and a pub that has pool tables - last year we all stayed up way too late playing pool. Last year was also cool for having the chance to see a buddy of mine from Redmond who is attending school at UND. The Costa Rica trip is a bit crazy in that I start from Pasco and fly to Seattle and meet the rest of the Seattle team and we all fly together. 3-days of meetings, then fly back but not to home… I’m meeting Lucy and some friends in Spokane for a show and dinner date.

Other trips this Summer/Fall may include seeing an shipping center and learning how they manage finances in their org versus our org. My boss went last year to a Phoenix DC and said it was a great training/experience. Will likely end up in Seattle for budget prep again a few times - those are good meetings as well.

There’s also some personal travel that I am looking forward to… I may also be a chance to go on a road trip with a buddy from NY that I met in the Navy and have stayed in touch with over the years. Really looking

Business travel isn't so bad, but being away from the family is the bad part. Eating out all the time not sleeping in your own bed gets old after awhile, but I always learn lots and I like the people I get to work with whether it be Seattle, WA or Costa Rica. Maybe one I will get to our sites in Ireland or India?

Yard Is Coming Along Nicely

2011-04-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

I've come to realize that I do enjoy yard work - I hated my parent's yard work, but now that it's my yard I really enjoy it. Winter is always a heartbreak as you watch your well groomed masterpiece become a haggard mess and there's no sign of the hard work or the beauty. In Spring as the snow melts and the rain subsides you begin to get a sense of your starting point and you formulate your plan for greatness this new year. Right now we are in the throws of trying to figure out what bulbs we are adding where, what trees and bushes are coming, are we doing bark, or, like last year, what are we tearing our and putting in a sitting area.

This winter we lost two trees, one got a mite and the other got my might - none of us liked it and it was in a bad place. This year we are putting in over 100 new bulbs to add color all Spring and Summer, added a really nice purple rhodie, new bedding and plants for our front pots, but also adding bark to all of the beds.

Here's the new front yard with new plants, bark, and last year's addition of the bench and brick patio. This much has taken hours and hours, and yet we're not done. Lots of changes to the back as well - a future post once the first round of bulbs come in. The grass is thickening up and getting green again. It's also no secret I really quite enjoy fertilizing the yard, it allows me to spend time in mowing the yard with the John Deere which I also quite enjoy.

Looking forward to enjoying the yard this year, playing games, having graduation and youth group parties, birthday parties, having fires in the fire bowl, and more.

Lucy's Chorus Takes 1st Place at Regional Competition

2011-04-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

Lucy will certainly have more to post when she gets home, but excited to announce that the chorus' hard work and training paid off and they took 1st among choruses their size at the regional competition in Spokane this weekend.

Congrats to Lucy and the entire Rolling Hills Chorus!

Maui Vacation

2011-03-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time coming, but we finally booked a family vacation to Hawaii. We chose a week in September to avoid the crowds and make it a nice wrap-up to summer. We're really excited and counting down the days - lots and lots still to go. Trevor has said that it is a trip for his birthday and he would like an iPad for the plan ride... I said me too!

First Ride of the Season

2011-03-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days I've been charting routes and getting the bike tuned and this morning I got out for the first good bike ride of the season. I charted out that the ride was going to be about 6 miles, then changed my mind wen I reached the turn-around and headed to the river for what I thought would be the bridge to bridge loop, then I'd head home. Made it to the bridge, felt great, snapped a great picture of a beautiful Tri-cities morning, then elected to really push myself and go for the loop around the river - adding another 12 miles, plus getting home. New trip woudl be 27 total miles. I felt great, so why not. Made it around the river, back to the bridge and was pretty tired, having some leg pain, but tried to keep hydrated and pushed through it. Got to 25.52 miles and was close to reaching the goal but came up a bit short... started cramping up about 2 miles from home and knew I was facing hill climbs all the way home so I called Lucy for the pick-up. I was disappointed but impressed at the progress, she was impressed as well but wondered if maybe I should have tried a smaller first ride and if it was a good idea so soon after being sick. I was a bit tired the rest of the day, felt great, and look forward to getting out again soon.

Sick Days

2011-03-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

Got really sick last weekend, it didn't fade despite efforts to treat the symptoms and we finally took me to the Urgent Care only to be have them send me to the ER and I spent 2 days in the hospital. Seems that there is a virus going around that has had every care provider busy treating bronchitis, pneumonia, and fever symptoms - all of which I had the joy of experiencing. Out of the hospital now, settled in again back home and taking it easy. Glad that it seems to be behind me now and making sure to take my meds and make healthy choices so it doesn't relapse.

Family Movie Night - Gnomeo & Juliet

2011-02-28T09:44:00.000-08:00

Took the family to see Gnomeo & Juliet tonight and it was a cute movie. Trevor enjoyed the story and the humor and I was greatful that they changed the end a little so that everyone doesn't die. In fact, they have a scene near the end where Gnomeo is talking to a Shakespeare statue in a park and says "Man, what kind of story is this where everyone dies in the end?" and he vows that his story will end better.

Our First Pinewood Derby

2011-02-19T10:10:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks Trevor and I have been working build his first Pinewood Derby car and last night the Pack had their races and he did pretty well. As he selected designs we discussed aerodynamics and we looked at examples, and he finally chose a Saleen S7 Supercar as his design example. We did pretty well turning his block into something that fairly closely resembled the picture. At the races we weighed in, glued on the additional weights required, and waited our turn to race. All of the kids are Trevor’s friends, so it’s easy to say that one of his friends won, but he didn’t do too badly himself.

We’re already working on his next car as we are having a young men’s pinewood derby in a couple of weeks. As 12-18 year olds they said they missed the years of building the cars and having the races so I bought a case of cars and we are excited to have an older boys competition in the coming weeks.

Pink Eye Valentine’s Day

2011-02-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

For the last few days Trevor has been excited for Valentine’s Day and the party at school. He has been signing his valentines, making a few special ones by hand, and decorating rooms with what few Valentine’s decorations we have. When we sent him off to school he was stoked and looked fine, but mid-morning I got a call from him while on the way home from school saying he has pink eye and has to come home for a few days. What a crummy surprise and he was going to miss the party. Thinking hard how to make the best of this tough situation, I ran out at lunch an bought a few balloons, candy, and some glow sticks, then on the way home from work I called Pizza Hut and had them deliver some of our favorite pizzas. We spent the evening together making valentines for each other and had a good time. He said he had a good day and I felt relieved. On his way to bed he says “Do you guys know why I got pink eye and not a black eye?”, we looked puzzled, and he replied “because it’s Valentine’s Day!” He’s a funny kid and we are so glad we have him!

A Special Anniversary

2010-10-02T20:42:00.002-07:00

This last week on September 30th I “celebrated” a special one-year anniversary, the anniversary of being laid off by Olympus. In a stark contrast to where I was a year previously…I spent Thursday morning in planning meetings discussing strategies for supporting the billions of dollars of sales that we will process in Q4, then off to a Leadership Appreciation luncheon where there was singing and dancing and a nice lunch all to thank Leadership for their hard work, then back to the office for a meetings about staff hiring and financial reporting. A year earlier, one of my best friends and I packed my Olympus office into boxes and carried my stuff out to my truck. As we packed we discussed better days we had seen in the company, how far the organization had slid, about a bright future we hoped existed for the business, and that I’d be OK. I knew I’d be OK and I genuinely hoped for better days for the business, despite the layoff I still cared about them.

As I look back over the last year…
- I was blessed to be able to kick-off a very successful consulting profession and try my hand at something I had long wanted to try.
- I was hired by Amazon to a role that I SWEAR was written for my skills and interest – I LOVE this job!
- My faith has grown; I never thought it weak, but I see the growth that has came from the experiences.
- I’ve learned a lot… lots and lots and lots.
- I feel closer to my family than ever before… Trevor is getting older and developing interests and relationships, Lucy and I are spending more time together, and family events seem so much richer.
- I’ve developed relationships with friends that I think I will have the rest of my life no matter where life takes any of us.
- I’ve had the chance to spend some incredible time with youth in our congregation and I’m blessed to be able to work so closely with them.
- I’ve been tempted on numerous occasions to send a thank you card to a certain someone at Olympus that I’m sure that he was getting the last laugh with my lay-off – I hope he is as happy as I am!

God is certainly looking out for each and every one of us. That quiet comfort that comes in times of trial, those friends and family that seem to be there at just the right time, those opportunities that come open that you never saw coming but they put you on a path to something wonderful, these are all gifts from above. I’m so grateful for all that I’ve been blessed with and I fondly think of a plaque in my sister-in-law’s house that says “The best things in life aren’t things!”

It was a great day, a special anniversary. It was great to look back and see where you have been and how you’ve been so blessed.

We're Doing Great!

2010-09-21T23:19:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, we haven’t been good about updating our blog, so I thought I would drop a quick line to let everyone know we are doing good and provide a little update on each of us.

I am still very happy with my new job at Amazon.com. I have been traveling quite a bit for events, conferences, and trainings. I’m really happy to be a part of an organization that is so diverse and so innovative, really looking at business as normal and socially accepted notions and questioning them to drive for improvement.

Lucy is still working as a sub for Prosser schools and also putting a lot of effort into Sweet Adelines and couching a quartet of middle-school girls. Lucy’s chorus recently sang at a baseball game and a festival, both well attended. In late October we’re heading over to Seattle to see the Sweet Adelines International competition – she’s looking forward to this.

Trevor started school again, now a second grader, and is very happy about his teacher and class. Trevor also turned 8 earlier this month and we had three parties for him – family, school, and friends. The parties went well. Trevor is also playing flag football again this year and has been doing really well at it.

Lucy and I are still working with the church youth group and are very excited for the opportunities.

No news on the adoption… seems that we are fully eligible and on-line, just not selected and not many mothers in the system right now.

We’re doing really well and all very happy and healthy.

Wishing you all the best.

Adoption update

2010-09-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

We’d love to have a bigger family, but seems that either adoption or buying on eBay will be about our only option… the update on our adoption progress is that there’s been no progress. We’re fully eligible, we would love a placement, but we’ve not been selected. We have been told that the population of hopeful adoptive parents is getting larger while the population of birthmothers looking to adoption is declining. Admittedly, we’re Ok with this because we understand that when or if it is supposed to happen that it will. As our Bishop recently commented, with both of us serving in callings with the youth of our church we effectively have 60+ kids. And best of all we get play games with them, sugar them up with treats, then send them home! Having teenagers has never been so easy!

Trevor says that since we can't get him a brother or sister we should get him a dog - one track mind that boy.

PS - You can't buy babies on eBay... shucks!

Clark Cup

2010-08-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I broke from my usual Sunday routine to spend some time with my friend Sherry and we attended the final game of the Clark Cup, a weekend hockey tournament to honor her son who died in a car accident in 2006.

I knew Brian, thought very highly of him, and recognized there was something really special about him. Sherry and I worked together at Olympus, in fact I worked for her briefly, and her son Brian came to work with us. Brian was had a way of making everyday better, whether it was a rough day and he was a smiling face and a tension breaker, or whether it was a great day and he just put it over the top. I have lots of fond memories of Brian. The days, weeks, and months after his death Sherry and I spent quite a lot of time together remembering Brian. They were hard days for all of us, but her most of all and certainly these are the times where bearing one another’s burdens and the quality of friendships are forged.

It’s pretty cool that friends and former teammates thought so highly of this young man that they organized an annual hockey tournament. It is also cool to me how much support there is for the event, including how some people went above and beyond to make it happen. One team had a player that was heading to his wedding immediately following the game, as were several players who were his groomsmen. As I was told, the bride offered to move the date of the wedding realizing it was so important to these men, they said it’d be fine, just needs to be after the game. Very touching.

It was good to spend the time in the stands with my friend Sherry. I enjoyed having the chance to catch with her, to laugh about a few memories, and to hear that she’s doing well.

Happy Where I'm At and Where I'm Headed

2010-06-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

The new job with Amazon is now in full swing, I’m back to at least as busy as I ever was when in the full swing of any other jobs, and I love what I do and who I do it for. After being laid off from Olympus many family and friends reassured me that they had had a similiar experience and came out of it stronger and often in better jobs tan those they left. It's really great to be able to report that I'm arleady able to look it all over and see that they were right, that I am in a great place, and that I am heading in a great direction.

I'll post more on this here blog a little later, now is time to get to bed to get ready for a busy day of great work tomorrow.

Good Times...

2010-05-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

Happy to be home from the training in Seattle and spending time with the family.

Saturday we did some yard work as a familyand relaxed a bit, then went to dinner at Old Country Buffet - Trevor's all-time most favorite restaurant. It was an easy day all things considered, and a great way to end a good week of training. The training was really good, but it was a week away from the family.

During the training I learned more about Amazon.com as a company and how they are plotting their course for an exciting future. I'm really excited to be a part of the organization at this time.

This week will be busy with little league practices and Trevor's first game, a youth church activity Friday night, and a family get together to welcome home a cousin that just returned home from a 2-year mission in Russia. We're excited to be able to see him again. I'm pretty sure he's not really a cousin, but how ever we're related to him we love him lots and are excited to see him.

In Seattle For Training

2010-04-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

I'm in Seattle this week for Amazon.com training and it has been a good trip so far. The training has covered a lot of material, good to meet people I work with, and good to see Seattle again. I still have no interest in moving here, but it has been nice getting out and walking around and seeing places that are familiar from my youth. Last night I walked around the downtown while eating a Caribbean wrap and just looked at shops and buildings and the sunset. Most of the shops and restaurants are different vendors than those I remember being there when I was younger, but you'd expect that in most major cities I think.

Tonight I am hoping to get out to see a few more places on another side of town and have dinner and treats at a few old favorite places - if they are still there!

The first night in town Amazon put me up at the Westin, and let me say it was not comfortable at all! Way too ritzy for my tastes and extremely inconvenient... no breakfast in the hotel, pay for internet service, pay for parking, etc. I moved hotels and am now in the Red Lion 5 blocks closer to work, nicer room (beleive it or not), free breakfast, better view of downtown and the water (believe it or not), free internet, AND I'm saving $65 per day. I have added this hotel to my contacts and will try to stay here for each trip.

I am in training with co-workers from India and Costa Rica. Many of our free conversations have been about how things are in our respective countries. It's been interesting to learn how different it is from place to place, but in so many ways it also reinforces how similar we all are no matter where we call home.

Regional Competition

2010-04-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

Lucy is getting her bags packed to leave for Anchorage Alaska for the 2010 Sweet Adeline's Region 13 Competition. Trevor and I are very excited for her and the chorus.

Go get 'em ladies!

PS - It's snowing in Anchorage, yeah for snow!!! Ha ha ha...

Hockey Night - Playoffs

2010-04-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine had several extra corporate sponsor tickets available for the opening game of the Tri-City Americans / Vancouver Giants 3rd Round Playoffs. Trevor has been enjoying hockey lately - this was his game this year.

One really cool thing that happened was that "Winger" the mascot came up to our section and Trevor took a picture with him. The picture was taken with my phone, but came out surprisingly good.

Hiking Badger Mountain

2010-04-19T22:41:00.000-07:00

Trevor and I had a very enjoyable hike up Badger Mountain last week with the youth group young men. Here are a few pics.

Reptile Man @ Southgate Elementary School

2010-04-17T23:18:00.000-07:00

Trevor was totally excited for the Reptile Man coming to his school. The Reptile Man did a school day assembly for the kids, then offered and evening assembly open to everyone and he and I went for the show.

Reptile Man has a over 150 animals, but of his collection he brought a 12' cobra, a 5' iguana, a mini-alligator named "Lucy", an 80-year old tortoise, an 18' boa constrictor, and lots more. Lots of interesting facts presented, but all of the kis enjoyed petting/holding the animlas most. PS - not every animal was OK to touch, ha ha ha.

An interesting little story... in 1996, the night before I left for the Navy I donated a femal ball python to this guy. He has a facility in Monroe, WA and I had been in there before. At the time she was 4' long, he says he doesn't recall the donation, but has lots of ball pythons. including several females old enough to be mine. He invited us to visit the facility anytime.

Ice Skating

2010-03-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight our youth group had an ice skating activity and I took Trevor along for his first attempt at ice skating. He had a great time and did pretty good… he couldn’t quite stick the landing on his triple axel / triple toe loop combo, but otherwise pretty good. I started early this afternoon telling him it was going to be a new experience for him and I wouldn’t take him if he was going to give up, he agreed, and he kept at it until it was over. In fact, he asked if we could stay longer. At one point I left him, went a ways off, came back at him, swept him up and onto my shoulder and I spun around twice… it was clunky, we were being silly, but it was the closest we got to an Olympic performance.

Our youth are so great, they love Trevor so much, and I was touched how many of the youth helped him master staying up and keeping moving.

You Think You Have It Bad?

2010-03-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

I have a friend in Army boot camp right now and his platoon has a web page that they post selected pictures to so that the families can keep some tabs on their loved one. Today had to be one of the worst days yet as they had their gas mask/gas chamber training and had to get tear gassed as part of the event. I'll spare you the pictures that were posted, but needless to say, if you think you've had it bad be grateful you didn't get tear gassed!

Happy Birthday Don

2010-01-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Don - He's 33!

Don got what Don wanted for his birthday, dinner and desserts with family and friends. A low key affair given what he does for Trevor's parties. Everything went nicely, dinner was at Eatza Pizza with friends, and we had brownies and ice cream instead of cake.

PS - He says he has some ideas for Trevor's birthday this year and he is wanting to start working on them soon... I'm just waiting to hear him say that he's been in touch with one of those traveling carnivals wiht roller coasters and midway games. :)

Funny Little Kid

2009-12-27T19:18:00.000-08:00

Very unexpectedly we received the gift of a Wii for Christmas this year. Here's Trevor finding out what was in the box... funnly little kid.

Christmas Lights

2009-12-20T23:33:00.000-08:00

Our family loves Christmas. Trevor is enthusiastic everyday, cutting off links on his countdown to Christmas chain, doing Christmas crafts, admiring house lights around the neighborhood, and more. Lucy and I are pretty fond of Christmas ourselves, we pulled out the Christmas music pretty early this year, begun our holiday baking, and watched a few of our favorite Christmas movies.

Every year we like to drive around and look at the Christmas light displays and every year Trevor will announce his favorites. This year has been Trevor has become more interested in computer stuff like educational games, kids sites, Lucy and my Facebook pages, and family blog, so I let him use my Facebook to create an album of his favorite Christmas lights. He has really enjoyed the album and as we are out running errands he will ask me if we can go take a picture with my phone’s camera and post it when we get home. He’s had a good time with it. You can check it out in my Facebook albums. Needless to say we had to get our own lights up as soon as possible. Each year we try to add a little more and this year I added the large tree in the front. I have always loved the trees that have the branches outlined versus just strung around them. It turns out you need a lot of lights! Our tree took 1,200 lights but only a couple hours of work. I was impressed with how it came out and I hope that next year we can do the roof lines. Anyone have a ladder I can borrow?

Here’s our humble little light display and a slide show of a few of our neighbors.

Heinkel Christmas Letter 2009

2009-12-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

From The Heinkel’s

2009 has certainly been an eventful year for us, but we are happy to report that there were many blessings and joyous occasions and very few low points.

Last year ended with me having a surgery to repair a broken wrist from a bike crash and Lucy recovering from a car crash. This year we all healed nicely and there were no crashes, broken bones, or major injuries.

In May, we had an unpleasant surprise when we realized our basement was flooding quite rapidly. We had a pipe break just outside our house. We were able to get the water turned off and furniture moved soon enough that we lost very few belongings. All of the flooring and lower parts of the walls had to be replaced, so we were without the basement for about a month. Thankfully, we had great insurance coverage. We had planned on doing some cosmetic remodeling in the future; it just came sooner than planned.

This year Trevor completed Kindergarten with high marks and very excitedly began 1st grade. This has been Trevor’s first year of all day school and he could hardly wait. First grade brings a new teacher, a new classroom, a few friends from last year, and lots of new friends to meet. Trevor has been enjoying the things that big school kids get to do, like have PE twice a week, play musical instruments, go to assemblies, have three recesses, and more classroom activities and parties. Lucy has been able to help in the classroom one day each week and she has enjoyed that, so has Trevor, and so has his teacher and classmates. I’ve had the chance to help a few times and have enjoyed it as well. I was able to participate as a room helper for the Thanksgiving party and wound up being the one that cut the turkey. The kids all dressed as pilgrims, ate a feast, and heard stories and sang songs that celebrated Thanksgiving. Lucy was able to help with the Christmas party and everyone had a great time. Trevor has been a great student, doing math, spelling, and reading homework each night. At his most recent parent/teacher conference his teacher showed me that he (finally) missed a point on a test, it was a math problem… I assured her that he would be beaten severely at home. He’s doing really well and we are very happy with him. Trevor reads chapter books now and we have been pleasantly surprised on a few occasions to walk into our living room and find him in our recliner reading. Trevor seems to have a joy for music – Lucy and I have an idea where that may come from . Trevor’s school has a marimba band and he has been enjoying playing the beginner marimbas, other instruments, singing songs, and coming home and making his own music.

Lucy continues to direct the local Sweet Adeline’s chorus and they had a very successful year. At their regional competition this year, they came in 4th place overall with over 20 points more than they have ever scored before making them the 12th place International small chorus. (That’s out of 100s of small choruses.) They were just a little excited!!! Lucy still loves being a director. She loves learning at educational seminars and coaching sessions and loves her wonderful chorus members!

I had an eventful year… This year was busy for me with Olympus as I strived to achieve goals in many areas I managed. I am happy to report that I had success in each area, it was a satisfying feeling. I spent two weeks in April helping the Accounting staff in Boston migrate to a new computer system and get the year-end books closed. This summer was a milestone for me professionally in that on two occasions I took a whole week off, left the computer and cell phone behind, and had great vacations. This year was also a heartbreaker in that economic conditions were such that Olympus had to have layoffs and close a plant and I was one of those laid off. Admittedly I cried when I heard the words “you’re being laid off”. I knew through my faith that everything was going to work out, but the realization that I was being relieved of the work I loved, not coming back the next days to continue in efforts with an organization and people that I loved… hard reality to have to accept. The Lord did in fact provide for us and I was able to begin consulting work within a week of being laid off. I have enjoyed the consulting work and we are blessed that Lucy has been in demand as a substitute teacher and together our needs have been met. I am so grateful for the blessing I have received in all of the support in finding job leads, preparing cover letters, and readying for interviews. This experience has made me grateful that we followed counsel to get out of debt, get as much education as possible, and place your faith in the Lord. Believe it or not, this experience has helped me develop a greater measure of patience. Many who know me know that I am one who likes to work to get a task done, that I find joy in the successful accomplishment of a job well done. Being unexpectedly unemployed, actively searching, but having to be subject to corporate timetables and hiring objectives that are completely out of my control, has brought me to more fully remember that this is part of a larger plan… I’ve been carried through this experience, through the initial emotions, through the searching and waiting, by my faith and support by those that love me. I can report that my circumstances have also provided unique realizations as I have studied and prepared lessons for my church classes and tried to be a good leader in the young men’s program of our church. So I can say being laid off has been something of a blessing in my life. My job search continues and I have some leads. I recently had an interview that went very well (I thought so at least) and I am waiting to hear back shortly about another interview.

Lucy and I have stayed busy with church callings we have enjoyed. I’ve had two callings, both serving with the youth ages 16-18; one as a Sunday School teacher and another specifically with the 16-18 young men youth group. I’ve really enjoyed the calling, the lessons and activities, the opportunity to get to know each of them better. I find a great sense of personal happiness as I see and hear of them making great choices in their lives. Lucy started the year coordinating the music for our congregation, but mid-year they called her to work with the young women as the president of that organization. She has also found joy teaching and working with the youth, getting to know them and watching them grow. Our involvement with the youth has been wonderful for our family in many ways… First, we’d love to have more children ourselves, and these callings have given us a means to be involved and give of ourselves in a meaningful fashion. While these are not our children we have come to love and appreciate them and celebrate their accomplishments. Second, Trevor is surrounded by great examples of behavior and good works. Our youth are wonderful and we appreciate the examples they are to him. I love how when we have activities and I don’t bring Trevor there are questions of where he is at and why I didn’t bring him.

Given that we’ve not had success in having additional children of our own, this year we completed the required paperwork and hurdles to become eligible to adopt. We’ve been working with LDS Family Services and are fully able right this moment to adopt, just waiting to be selected. Our prayers and hopes continue to be with the idea of having a big family by whichever means the Lord provides. Perhaps in 2010.

Hoping that 2010 will bring all of our family and friends many wonderful blessings and great times.

Sincerely,

Don & Lucy Heinkel

PS – We’d love to stay in touch with everyone all year long… we’re both on Facebook and we have our
family blog at http://donlucyheinkel.blogspot.com/

Do you have our correct address? We moved in 2008, here’s our “new” address:
3705 S. Buntin Loop Kennewick, WA 99337

Halloween Fun

2009-11-02T22:17:00.000-08:00

Around our house we had a lot of fun with Halloween. We carved a total of 5 pumpkins (maybe a little carried away), made our own costumes, went to 2 trunk or treat events, and made sugar cookies for our family and friends.

Trevor dressed as Alvin from Alvin and The Chipmunks, his cousins dressed as princesses.

Don Laid-off from Olympus, Job Hunting

2009-10-02T00:17:00.000-07:00

Family & Friends,

Some unfortunate news in our family this week, I was laid-off of my job of 4 ½ years, effective immediately, due to economic conditions around the globe. The news came a shock, it was very emotional, but I also have understanding enough of the business and financial details to understand why me and why right now. My lay-off was not singular, the entire company was affected, some plants were affected more than others, one actually being closed and operations being consolidated to another facility. As you’d expect though, I haven’t lost my faith or my drive and I am already busy on the task of searching for new employment.

To this point professionally I have been richly blessed by the networks of friends and family and associates, and in that vein I can send anyone who would like one a copy of my resume. Please let me know of any leads you may have or become aware of as we go on. It’s tough to really know a persons strengths and abilities from a resume, but anything you can do is appreciated and I am available to discuss most anytime these days. Here’s a snippet:

Core Competencies:

- Business & Financial management
- Budgeting, forecasting, modeling
- Process engineering, LEAN methodologies
- Strategic Planning
- Materials management
- Team leadership
- Collaboration
- Speaking and presenting to diverse audiences
- Business and Information Technology
- Dedication to contribute and exceed expectations

Education:

Masters Business Administration (MBA) – Washington State University, May 2007
Emphasis: Product Development and Commercialization, Business Management
- 3.5 cumulative GPA

BA Business Administration - Eastern Washington University, March 2002
Major: Economics, Finance (Double Major)
- 3.7 upper division cumulative GPA, Dean’s List
- Internship: Prudential Insurance Company of America Inc.

Professional Experience:

Olympus NDT, Inc. (A division of the Olympus Corporation) - Kennewick, WA
Controller, Financial Analyst / Materials Manager
May 2005 – October 2009
** Served as Controller until April 2009 when company restructured, transitioned to a Financial Analyst / Materials Manager role until laid-off when company downsized October 2009 as result of global economic conditions.
- Controller, Financial Analyst: prepare/present monthly financial statements/reports for $18M annual revenue; prepare/monitor facility and project budgets; forecasting and modeling; receivables; payables; credit; payroll; overhead and utilization analysis; tax filings; government contracts and government funding
- Materials Manager: day-to-day operations of $5M inventory control for FG, WIP, RM, and project inventories; Customer Order Fulfillment; Shipping & Receiving; Purchasing
- LEAN Manufacturing; Toyota Production System; LeanSigma
- Transformed the processes of the Financial and Materials departments, each recognizing marked performance improvements and a reduction in required FTE labor; Kennewick departments became role models in organization.
- Systems: Visual Manufacturing & Financial ERP, NetSuite Sales & CRM ERP.

J.R. Simplot Company - Pasco, WA
Inventory Accountant / Analyst, Project SME
April 2003 – May 2005
- Inventory Accounting: monthly operation financial reports; budgets; forecasting; analysis
- Inventory Control: supervise inventory of greater than 300M pounds of FG, WIP, RM inventories and projects
- Inventory Accounting Subject Matter Expert (SME) for company-wide implementation and user training of custom-built JDE/IBM global ERP; extensive collaboration, travel, speaking and training throughout company
Systems: Multiple custom developed ERP and financial systems

Consulting:

Prosser Economic Development Association – Prosser, WA
August 2005 – October 2006
Began initially as an MBA project, after completion of project developed into an on-going relationship. Collect community feedback to determine role and scope of organization as well as objectives the community desired to be accomplished, Identify and acquire grant and other funding, develop strategic partnerships, develop association action plan, participate in the community activity events

ViewPoint Windows – Sun Valley, ID
June 2006
Assist in selecting the best-fit ERP for the business; determine scope of business and develop strategic plan for brand, product, and market positioning; evaluate business and manufacturing processes to reduce costs

Additional Competencies:

- Effectively communicate complex financial and analytical results internal and external users, financial and non-financial audiences
- Process analysis, LEAN methodologies for reducing waste of scarce capital and labor resources
- Statistical process control for manufacturing and business processes
- Preparation of tax and regulatory filings: IRS (limited), WA DOR, WA L&I, and others
- Public speaking, presentations
- Collaboration; working with team members in remote locations
- Training
- Travel is not an issue
- Fixed Asset management
- Records retention
- Information technology
- Washington State Notary

Computer & Technical Skills:

- Microsoft Windows
- Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook, Vizio)
o Certified MS Excel Expert (All Micros, Inc. – Seattle, WA 2003)
- Visual Enterprise Manufacturing & Financial ERP
- NetSuite Sales & CRM ERP
- J.D. Edwards/PeopleSoft Global ERP
- Intuit QuickBooks
- Adobe Creative Suite: PhotoShop, Premiere (multi-media for presentations)

Community Involvement:

The Delta High School – Richland, WA
September 2009 - Current
Presently establishing how I can share experience and education to demonstrate practical “real-world” application of the concepts taught in the school. Delta is a new S.T.E.M. education joint-venture between the Richland-Kennewick-Pasco school districts.

LDS Kennewick East Youth Group
May 2008 – Current
Mentor youth in life and spiritual experiences, organize and participate in youth activities that develop skills and/or serve community

Ideally, I would like to stay in the Tri-cities and in my line of work with business and financial operations, but I am not turning away other leads either. Commuting or even a new industry may be what I am to pursue next, so I welcome any feedback that can be offered.

Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support.

Don Heinkel
Home: 509-582-3366
Email: donaldheinkel@yahoo.com

Chinese Date Night

2009-09-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago Lucy and I worked around the house all weekend getting ready for friends and family coming over for Trevor’s birthday party. By 7:00pm we had finished up, were exhausted, and Trevor was still a few hours from being home from his friends house… no interest in cooking, we started thinking of places to go. Every place we thought of just didn’t sound good for one reason or another, but we settled on Chinese buffet, we decided to check out the new one in town. Much to our surprise it was well lit, clean, smelled nice, building in great repair, and buffet well stocked with many fresh options, great variety. But the best part, they had big screen tv’s with college football games playing – with the sound on. We plunked down our debit card without a second thought and settled in right in front of a 60” plasma and enjoyed a few bites of whatever we wanted, and great college football games all around us, and no wait for a table or hovering waiters. Here’s why I post it to the blog… at the time it seemed like a great end to a long day, a good night, but ever since it keeps coming up and we find ourselves saying “it would be a good night for Chinese…” Who would have thought Chinese buffet could be such a great date? It’s Saturday, there are great games on tonight and I find myself thinking that despite the fun plans we have for tonight, it would be a great night for a date to Chinese.

Shipoopi!

2009-09-15T23:24:00.000-07:00

A hillarious clip from a cartoon I've heard of but don't watch... You may need to see the orignal The Music Man by Merideth Wilson to appreciate. I was in The Music Man in 7th grade when we did it for a school musical so it's really funny to me.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D99kHuTOJ94o%26feature%3Drelated&h=e14d92fbd948e278b354579662453560

Family Pictures

2009-09-15T22:03:00.001-07:00

These are a couple from the first images we've seen. They are fun.

Trevor's 7th Birthday Party

2009-09-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend we celebrated Trevor’s 7th birthday party at our house. We took advantage of our big yard and had 32 friends, plus a few parents, some grandparents, and a few “grown up friends”. We started the night off with carnival games for candy prizes and had a blast. We had cake and ice cream and opened gifts. We got to decorate our own cupcakes, which was fun. Trevor and I also built a giant volcano model… he wanted a volcano cake, but we thought this bigger paper-mache volcano was much better! Next we had an outdoor movie on our garage door using a video projector. After the movie a few friends went home, everyone else stayed for the backyard camp-out! The kids tent camped under a beautifully warm and starry night. There was rumor of a possible meteor shower, but we didn’t see anything. Saturday morning we had a pancake and fruit breakfast, played more games, watched a few cartoons, then decorated cupcake and cookies to take home. Trevor says it was his best birthday ever.

Thanks to all the friends and family who came and had a great time with us. And a big thanks to all those that helped bring it to pass.

Trevor's 7th Birthday

2009-08-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

Family & Friends!

It's time for a party - Trevor is turning 7!

Here's the invitation. We're pretty excited. Let us know if you can make it.

Heinkel's

Whitewater Rafting

2009-08-23T23:16:00.000-07:00

Had a cool opportunity to take the young men to go whitewater rafting down in Maupin, OR on the Deschutes River. We left Friday afternoon, camped in Maupin, then Saturday morning hit the river first thing. We floated about 9 miles and had a geat time. Here are some of my favorite pics.

Our Basement Flooded!

2009-05-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

It’s bad, our basement flooded. It was a long night last night.

We were all out at activities when it happened, and worse still was that it was really quiet so Lucy dind’t notice it immediately when she got home. Lucy went down stairs for something and saw the carpet at the end of the hall was wet, she inspected further, knew she’d need the wet vac and left to get it. It was spewing so fast that when she got back there was noticeably moe water and she figured out something serious was wrong. Wet vac needed a new filter, so a trip to Home Depot was required and by the time that she was ready to leave the water was really coming fast. I was out with the young men playing tennis and left my cell phone in the car for safety, so I missed all of her calls that there was a problem. By the time she returned from Home Depot there was standing water – tat’s really bad. I got home shortly after she did and she was right, it was serious.

We turned off the water in the basement, but the water kept flowing, and the scary idea begins to awake in your head that maybe it’s a main line break. Well, this was confirmed moments later with the discovery of a 2” sink hole in the side yard. We got the main line shot off and got to work with the shop vac, it became clear fast that this was going to be an insurance claim, not something we could do on our own. We were blessed to have help from several friends from church who came running to our rescue, even the guy we bought the house from. We sucked up a bunch of water and mud, but the carpets and several walls were clearly ruined and we called it a night at 11:30pm knowing the flood had passed but that we’d need a pro.

Pemco answered the claim by 7:30 the next morning with a crew on our doorstep ready to work and they were amazing. While the crew lead was saying hello the crew was getting started and in just minutes the vacuums were running, the carpet coming up, and plans coming together. The plumber arrived to address the broken pipe and within a few hours we had a backhoe digging up the side yard to get it fixed. The break was 9' down! We'd never have gotten there with shovels as we were trying to. By 6:00pm that night the basement was stripped of carpet, the walls were cut down, fans and dehumidifiers were running, the pipe exposed and fixed, and they were shaking our hands saying “see you tomorrow, try to get some rest, this is under control.”

Looks as if for Mother’s Day Lucy will be getting new carpet, paint, and fixtures throughout the basement and I will get a giant hole in the yard. I think she comes out ahead on this deal.

We’ll keep everyone posted, here are some pics.

Trevor’s Kindergarten Program

2009-05-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

Trevor’s Kindergarten year must be coming to a close if it is time for the year-end program. Grandpa Larry, Aunt Kari, and a few cousins turned out with Lucy and I to watch Trevor and his classmates sing a few songs and play a few instruments. Kindergarten songs are simple, but a few are silly and it’s even better if they have silly hand motions or faces to go with them.

A funny thing about this video is that the microphone actually did a good job picking up the audio that we were hearing... a bunch of excited kindergarteners is pretty tough to decipher. Haivng the program to tell us what we were hearing REALLY helped.

New Callings

2009-04-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

Lucy and I were each asked if we would help in the congregation in a few callings and we happily accepted. Lucy is going to help with the Young Women’s camp this summer and I have been asked to help with the 16-18 year old guys in the Young Men’s program. Lucy’s is a short-term calling, but mine is an ongoing calling. We are both very excited.

There are a few funny things about me getting called to help with the YM, but those are stories for another time… I get to go to Scout Camp for a week in July, sounds like a great time!

Tunnel Falls / Pacific Crest Trail

2009-04-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

We had a great campout and hike this weekend on the Pacific Crest Trail up to Tunnel Falls and Twister Falls. Pretty fun having both the young men and young women this time. We left Friday after work/school, headed down near Multnomah Falls, OR and camped the night at a campground off the Columbia. We all brought our own dinners, our buddy Dylan’s was a pretty ordinary sub sandwich, but he took up a notch when he tried to roast it over the fire. As he said, he likes he cheese melted.

We got trail pretty early Saturday morning, reminded the kids to take it easy and enjoy the scenery – it didn’t happen. The first landmark is the Punchbowl Falls, a cool formation made by the water carving out the rock. From there the bulk of the hike up to the other falls. I took turns in each of the hiking packs, there were the really fast kids, the easy pace, and those really taking it easy – including a young woman making he hike only a few weeks after an ACL surgery. Easy to hang-out in the middle, a bit tougher to keep up with that fast pack – maybe a sign of being out of shape, maybe. The Tunnel Falls were cool, the falls spill over tunnel carved through the side of the rock face. Twister Falls was a bit further up and was really just a bunch of waterfalls in succession, not as cool as standing under the falls. In the fast pack we were so far ahead of everyone that we had a chance to play in the water, go down to the base of the falls, eat a small lunch, then meet the rest of the pack. On the way down we got ahead again and played in the lower Punchbowl area.

By the end we were all worn out and it was a quiet drive home as most kids (and a few adults) slept.

Don to Boston

2009-04-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

I’ve been to Boston a bunch of times for business, but this time it was for two weeks – talk about a long trip. Back in February we activated a new computer system and I was asked to come back to Boston for the year-end close at March 31 to help. Every day was a long day, the earliest night was out at 6, most were work until 8:00 at the office, dinner, then more work at the hotel. Despite all of the long days I had a great time and I was able to get out a little. The highlights of my adventuring out of the office were going to dinner at my boss’s house with his family and visiting the Boston Massachusetts Temple. The temple is actually in Belmont, MA, a Boston suburb and only about 15-minutes from our hotel.

After awhile eating out gets old, but a colleague introduced me to a hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop that was really really good. I really really wish he would have introduced me the first day of the trip. One other favorite dinning place is Bertucci’s, which the locals are pretty tired of, but as a visitor I really liked it.

This trip concluded the day before opening day of the Red Sox at Fenway, darn it! I did stop and get a new Red Sox hat, but another game at Fenway would have been sweet!

So, to close, I have to confess to something rather embarrassing. I’m typically paranoid about hotel cleaning crews stealing things, so I went about 4-days before letting them in to clean. Late that night I realized that a sweatshirt I brought was missing and after a thorough searching I reported it to the front desk. The next morning while getting ready I realized my hair gel had been taken too. I stood in front of the GM of the hotel and told them I could understand my cool sweatshirt but what’s up with stealing my hair gel? I actually said “it had to be stolen, it’s not like I would take it to work with me.” Well, last day of the trip I find my hair gel, of all places, in my work bag, and I immediately recall putting it there since I was going out to my bosses house and wanted to make sure I’d look presentable. I felt so bad. What a mistake. It gets better. I board the airplane lamenting that my sweatshirt was never recovered, get home, and my sweatshirt is on the shelf in my closet… I never packed it on the trip. Kind of explains why no matter how hard I searched the hotel searched none of us ever found it. I’m a freak!

Playing in the Rain

2009-03-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

We have had some wet weather lately, and this afternoon Trevor and I ventured into the yard to get rained on, hailed on, watch the lightning ripple across the sky, listen to the thunder, and watch the clouds race across the horizon.

There’s a red dot oval on top of Kennewick in the Weather.com image, and now Trevor and I know first-hand what that feels like. We’re a little wet, but glad we did it.

I texted a friend and told them what we were doing and they replied back that they were doing the same thing with their 30-year old kid… somehow I guess we never outgrow the excitement of playing in the rain.

FIREPROOF

2009-02-21T11:38:00.000-08:00

A few months ago Lucy and I were thinking of going to a movie for our anniversary and we were looking for movies, times, babysitter, etc. We wound up making other plans but we came across a movie trailer that looked really intriguing, FIREPROOF. I did some more reading about it said it was a religious-themed movie and, admittedly, I downgraded it on my mental list of movies I was really interested in seeing it. While a religious person myself, I feared that the movie would be over the top sappy and like a 90-minutes door step persuasion to join their church. Last night we used a gift certificate to get some movies, one for Trevor and one for us, and Lucy wanted FIREPROOF. I said OK figuring if it makes her happy and really wasn’t too dreading of it all, particularly since it was free. Watched the movie last and have to say it was powerful, would have been worth every penny of $20 per ticket if they were to charge to see it.

Kirk Cameron wonderfully plays the role of an average guy who works hard at work, has coworkers and communities respect, means well, but has turmoil at home. The root of the turmoil is, like for most of us, the everyday things, not the far fetched things… at no point was there a sense that he lived in a bubble that was distant or weird compared to a normal guy’s life. His wife thoroughly plays the role of a woman disappointed and shutting down, lowering her expectations, and frustrated. Both wonderfully act out the tit for tat retaliation against the other’s latest transgression, a vicious cycle. The scene that culminates in the decision for a divorce is tangible and ordinary, so are their reasons. The acting and story are so well played that every scene is so legitimately plausible that it is uncomfortable to watch, particularly the divorce scene.

From the divorce scene, the realism of the interactions in gripping… When one does something nice to try to begin the road back, it is greeted with skepticism by the other. Motives are questioned, turning to friends for support, friends giving worldly advice. The love of the parents was so wonderfully played. One cool thing that I liked was how when the father and son talked the father so gently reminded that the true deep down reason why he does what he does is a gospel principles. It wasn’t overbearing or sappy.

The end is fantastic and I won’t ruin it for anyone. An when you think it is over and just winding down to the credits there’s a gripping revelation that, I have to admit, got me close to being emotional.

I highly recommend the movie to all and I’ll admit that this morning I bought the 40-day book and paid extra for speedy shipping.

Larry & Jo Coming Home

2009-02-16T14:09:00.000-08:00

Jo & Larry are on their way home from Baltimore, MD. How long will it take them? Pretty sure they aren't shift driving trying to beat the Cannonball Run U.S. record of 36 hours. Those guys had a modified BMW, drove in shifts, and averaged 150 mph... I'd pay to see Larry do 150 mph in the Buick!

Valentine’s & Weekend w/ Bair’s

2009-02-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

Our family spent the Valentine’s Day weekend visiting our friends Kyle & Necia Bair up in Moses Lake. We did this last year, almost the same dates, and went sledding; this year there was no snow and the sledding hill is now planted with apple trees, so new adventures.

Friday night we had BBQ’d bratwursts and made French fries and tots in the Fry Daddy. While very tasty, this meal has no nutritional value and hits you like a ton of bricks. Even at breakfast the next morning none of us were hungry. We watched Dare Devil, which I have to say Kyle selected, and we all agreed later, was a waste of a perfectly good evening. Not just bad, super bad. One of those where if it wasn’t so much effort to get up and turn it off you would have. We sat through the whole movie, laughed out loud during what were supposed to be dramatic scenes, and razzed Kyle for his quality pick. Unfortunately Kyle isn’t the only one with poor selection, we just haven’t gotten to my selection yet.

Saturday we went geo-caching, which was unexpectedly entertaining. You use a GPS device to go find little “treasures” others have stored. We were out in the desert areas so we got to hike around a bit. We had a good time. We plan on stealing Jo & Larry’s GPS to try this around our house. After our geo-caching expedition we went out to Kyle’s parents house to shoot his potato gun. The potato gun we had growing up was much more dangerous – we used hair spray instead of compressed air. I just happened to find a tube of silicone caulk and noticed that it fit perfectly into the gun barrel. Turns out the caulk is like a missile and it is re-usable. Great fun.

Valentine’s dinner/date was interesting to say the least. We had been planning for a week or so to go a certain restaurant, something kind of struck us to maybe call to see if they might take reservations… good thing we did, they did, and they were booked all night. So we began again and after many tries and much brainstorming, we found that the local bowling alley had open lanes and a restaurant. Yup, we did Valentine’s Day in a bowling alley serving our dates bowling alley food. Lucy won the first by one point over me, I won the second by 14 over her, then we quit, then we began again, then I lost the last game coming in dead last. Ironically, I was the advocate for staying one more game. Bowling brings lots of funny moments, we all contributed. Side note, strange folks seem to flock to bowling allies. We did ice cream at DQ on the way home, then I selected a movie, a comedy, Spaceballs. Turns out Spaceballs wasn’t as funny as I remembered and we were all a bit shocked at the language for a PG movie.

Hopefully we can visit the Bair’s more often than once per year. We had a good time, not the average Valentine’s Day, but none of the Heinkel’s or Bair’s are average.

Huh?

2009-02-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

Guy's Weekend

2009-02-08T15:21:00.000-08:00

Lucy went away for a Sweet Adeline’s retreat so Trevor and I were home alone Friday and Saturday. Friday night we had pizza and a movie and Saturday night we and we had some other Father/Son friends, Nathan and Nicolas, over and we had a great time having bratwursts and homemade curly fries and playing Mario Kart on their Wii. Trevor and Nicolas wrestled for hours but took a break for some ice cream and Nathan and I let them oblige themselves. Both of them loaded up their ice cream with candy pieces, syrups, and whipped cream, and both of them shortly regretted it and left their bowls unfinished. Too much of a good thing?

Adoption

2009-01-25T16:04:00.001-08:00

Family & Friends,

For some time now Lucy and I have been trying to grow our family with more children, but we’ve not had any luck. A couple years back we started working with specialists, but still no luck. Not ones to give up so easy, Lucy and I have decided to try adopting a child. We’re working with LDS Family Services Agency and are very early in the process so we don’t have a whole lot of info to share just yet. LDS Family Services matches children available for adoption with great families ready to love a child – that’s us. One thing they can’t make promises on is how long it might take to be selected by a birthmother or that a birthmother will ever select us. One option though, and quite successful where available, is if the birthmother and interested couple are introduced and come to the agency together. Recruiting would definitely be the wrong way to think of it, instead, mutual friends introduce an interested birthmother to the interested couple, vice versa. All of this in mind, we are ready to love a child, so please keep us on your mind and in your prayers and if The Spirit so moves you, put a good word for us should you become aware of a birthmother considering adoption looking for a wonderful family – again, that’s us.

Best wishes

Don & Lucy

Birthdays

2009-01-18T23:20:00.001-08:00

Birthdays are funny things in that they make you think about your life. Having my birthday today I was found myself contemplating a few things. I have been richly blessed in so many ways; family friends, faith, and much more. We have more than we need to get by. We are all healthy and we have resources when we are not.

I’m grateful for all of you that love us, support us, get together to have fun with us, and so many other great things.

Today we gathered as family and I had a friend from work join us too, and we celebrated my birthday by eating my favorite foods and sitting around talking. It was simply, well done, and quite nice. No restaurant or event could have compared. Today I received a few nice birthday wishes from phone calls and emails and Facebook posts, and all of these were very nice.

The gifts I received were some of the highlights of the event, but when you read why you’ll understand better that I don’t mean this in arrogance. I’m kind of an idiot.

First gift of the day, from Lucy and Trevor, a pair of New Balance running/cross-training shoes. I love the New Balance shoes and I was certainly in need. I tried them on and my face gave away that I didn’t like them, they felt funny, they had something “wrong” with the heels and the arches. Lucy finally pointed out that I had worn out my other shoes so thoroughly that I had crushed the heels and arches and what I was feeling was what shoes should feel like. After a few hours around the house I decided I liked this “new” fit and I was going to keep them. Another bonus of the new shoes, they had soles, not like my other shoes… turns out wore those down to just shy of the material. Here’s a little pitch for NB though, they still look so good that it’s hard to consider them old and broken down.

My parents sent me a box, I opened and saw The North Face logo on a fleece garment and I was instantly excited and ran down the hall and grabbed my coat – I thought they had gotten me the zip-in liner. I pulled the garment out of the box and unfolded it and my demeanor changed, and get this, I realized it wasn’t what I thought and it didn’t have sleeves and I said, actually out loud – and now I’m embarrassed, “What am I going to do with this? It’s a coat without sleeves.” Lucy, in her brilliance, looked at me calmly and so sweetly and said, “It’s a vest Don, not a coat, it’s not supposed to have sleeves.” The tag on the zipper confirmed, yup, a vest, and no, they don’t have sleeves. Vests aren’t new; I’m just not that quick. Turns out it does go in my coat, just the whole not having sleeves thing really threw me for a loop. I do have a college education, but no, they didn’t cover vests versus coats.

And finally, the funniest gift of the night, from my buddy Nathan, who rides bikes and works with me, a big bag full of tissue paper and in the bottom, a bell for the handlebars on my bike. Nathan’s not usually the loud outgoing joker of the party, but this gift got him top billing for the event. Nathan was with me the day I fell of my bike and broke my wrist. Hopefully a bell will help.

It has been a good day. I enjoyed the time with my family and friends and one more year older really doesn’t mean much, particularly since my loving wife will always be older. :P

Facebook

2009-01-11T00:26:00.000-08:00

FYI – Lucy and I are each on Facebook too. I was nagged and finally joined and I really like it. I had joined MySpcae to keep in touch with a couple friends but hated how smutty it was, quit using it, and that’s when the “you gotta try Facebook” started coming. Glad I did.

Holiday Letter 2008

2009-01-03T23:33:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

One thing we really failed in this year was getting Christmas cards out before Christmas. At this point you’re getting this it also after the new year, so this year’s holiday letter is 2-for-1 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Christmas this year was kind of special for us in a number of ways. This was our first Christmas in our new house in Kennewick. Since moving-in in June we’ve tried to make the house feel like our home and get to know people and enjoy our community. We decorated the house with lights, put up our Christmas tree, pulled out the Christmas placemats and dishtowels, etc. and had our first Christmas here. It was nice to be able to have Lucy’s family over on Christmas Eve for the annual family gathering in our house. This year as Trevor is now 6, we focused Trevor’s attention towards the spiritual meaning of the holiday and the joy of giving gifts. Trevor even surprised us and began using his own saved money to buy candy bars to give as gifts. Trevor helped wrap the candies and made the tags and was quite excited to see everyone open his gifts. Christmas also brought us a new car, not a gift we planned on getting ourselves, a gift we got to give ourselves. Gratefully, Lucy wasn’t hurt in her accident and we got a great deal on a car we really like. Then there’s our Ford Explorer… the 100K mile maintenance got expensive fast and the shop struggled to get it right (returned 3 times). Then, just a few days later, while on the other side of the state, the alternator died and we got to replace that too. When I say “we got to” I’m fondly recalling something Lucy’s Dad used to say when asked “Do we have to (fill in the blank of some unwanted chore)?” and he would reply “No, you get to.” Car troubles are like that, you get to do them. With the vehicles, when it rained, it poured.

This year in review was eventful with selling the house in Prosser, moving and getting settled in, summer activities, then before ya’ know it your decorating for Christmas. Highlights of the year would be: Couples get-away to the Coeur D’Alene cabin with the Shaffer’s, Sledding with the Bair’s, Don and Trevor getting a riding lawnmower for the new yard, installing the water heater in the new house (oh my gosh!), Silverwood and camping with the entire Shaffer family (and Lucy’s ensuing foot surgery, ha ha ha), Don to Quebec for a week while Lucy went to Baltimore to see her parents on their mission, Trevor playing soccer, Don’s first bike accident, Holden family reunion, Don’s second bike accident and ensuing wrist surgery, and finally Christmas and New Years parties in our new house with family and friends. All things considered we really were blessed this year and we had fun.

The new year has begun and we are excited for new opportunities and more fun with friends around our new house and out and about.

We try to keep up with our blog so you can keep up with us: http://donlucyheinkel.blogspot.com/.

Best wishes for 2009 from the Heinkel’s

Trevor Christmas Art

2008-12-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

Santa coming to our house on Christmas night.
12/23/2008

Tell Frosty To Come Shovel My Driveway!

2008-12-23T12:25:00.001-08:00

The other night we watched the very old Christmas classic Frosty Returns, which features a song “Let There Be Snow”. Kids love the movie and parents perhaps have the cockles of their hearts warmed in that Christmas way, if they aren’t battling snow… those mothers and fathers who face another frozen morning trying to warm the car and evenings and weekends of shoveling drives and walks all share the emotion of “Hey Frosty, why don’t you come shovel my driveway?!”

The entire country is getting snow and cold temperatures, but, as usual, Washingtonians have no idea what to do when the white stuff falls and panic and stupidity ensue. Seattle shutdown, just threw in the towel and gave up. Nightly news reported that the city only owns 27 snowplows, no shocker there, it rarely snows, but when it does it makes up for those lost years and really sacks in for a good visit. The Tri-cities gets a little each year, but it’s been awhile since we’ve had as much as we have now – 12-14 inches in our yard. Then there’s Pullman, a perennial stop for the snow parade, they get nailed every year and this year is no different. They’ve got heart there, they don’t give up as easy as Seattle, but it’s overwhelming. We are not alone, we really aren’t too bad off, and we will survive. But allow me to say that the next time I see Frosty I’ll give him an idea where he stick his “Let There Be Snow”. I don’t see him offering to lend a hand around here.

New Car

2008-12-16T23:09:00.000-08:00

We hate car shopping, apparently most folks do… I recently read that shopping for a car was rated as the 3rd most stressful event in life in a major survey; 1st was buying a home, 2nd was medical/surgical procedure. A day or so after the accident we had this idea to go look at the local Toyota dealer for a Corrola and the lot salesmen lived up to all that makes them feared; try to sell you something you don’t want, convince you that you can afford what they are pushing; never take “no” for an answer, and tag team you with another salesmen and drop references to a mystery manger inside who they’ll have to check with. The experience was typical, it was terrible, and after that we put off buying a car for awhile. Had a tip from our Bishop to go see a guy in our ward, turns out he owns a dealership. We went to go see him, in a few minutes he had us testing out a vehicle he thought we’d like, told us to take it for the whole weekend and really drive it. He made a great choice and the deal was right too. We now own a 2006 Hyundai Sonata from Grandstand Auto Sales. We stopped in after I got off work, signed the papers for the car purchase and the loan all in about 15-minutes, and were out the door in time for regularly scheduled dinner and family night. Thankfully, NOT the typical car buying experience - Thanks Andy!

OK, Now We Can Focus On Christmas

2008-12-16T23:08:00.001-08:00

So, we’ve been a little distracted from the Christmas spirit and we’ve also fallen behind on updating our blog, but we have a good excuse, so you get to forgive us.

First week of December, while on here way home from Sweet Adelines, Lucy was in an accident where an SUV hit T-boned her in an intersection. Lucy is OK, just a bruise. Our car, the bright yellow sporty Chev Cavalier is no longer with us, but it was just a piece of metal, sure glad Lucy is alright. We wound up deep in the thick of working with insurance companies, settling vehicles, find a new vehicle, and all of the other “fun” things. We settled the accident, settled the car, found a new car, and now, realizing only 9 days until Christmas, we can focus on Christmas. While it is Christmas and not Thanksgiving, allow me to say that we are thankful that…
… Lucy was not hurt
… we have family and good friends who helped us in our moments of need
… we have great insurance
… a guy in our congregation owns a car dealership

Excuses now behind, I guess we better get working on Christmas cards and holiday letters… we may be a little late this year.

Prosser Football - 2nd in State 2A

2008-12-16T23:07:00.001-08:00

Rather be second than last, but a heartbreaker loss in the 2OT on a failed 2-point conversion. So Prosser didn’t win, but they played hard and it was a good ride. Let’s do it again next year but let’s win state.

Everyone like how we speak as if we're still in Prosser even after we've moved to Kennewick? He he he...

Thanksgiving

2008-12-16T23:06:00.001-08:00

A simple affair this year, which was plenty welcome given the November I had (and the December we didn’t know we were about to have). We have much to be thankful for, most notably for our family and friends. With all that is in flux in the world we live in it is comforting to have family, friends, faith, steady employment, a little money saved just in case, and so much more.

No Sympathy for the Stupid

2008-11-22T23:29:00.000-08:00

In the same vein of so much that is wrong with the US automakers, here's something I read this morning that seemed so obvious to me, apparently not for them (an overly-simplistic slam)...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081118/sp_nm/us_golf_sponsorship_autos_2

I'm beginning to think that regardless of my ability to afford it I may buy that SUV I've been wanting as well as the big screen TV... when the bill comes I'll file for a government bailout. The key seems to be that I have to know up front that I am short on cash for the required day to day operations, then I can buy junk, and get it bailed out.

Heard last night the Democratic proposal for the 25bb bailout in the form of loans contingent on presenting plans for the future independent viability and was not at all surprised to hear that the automakers reply was that Washington was being too strict and stalling and that possible bankruptcies and layoffs would be Washington's fault for not helping out when called on. I wish the realities of my life worked this way - Ugh!

Let’s Bailout American Automakers – And Every Other Dead Technology and Inefficient Manufacturing Process

2008-11-22T23:27:00.000-08:00

I got a bt riled up this morning when I read more about US government discussions about a new bailout for US auto makers... I don't care if you pass this along or if you don't, but here's my Average Joe American thoughts on the topic given that my tax dollars are the funds behind these "bailouts".

Let’s Bailout American Automakers – And Every Other Dead Technology and Inefficient Manufacturing Process

By Don Heinkel

American taxpayer’s wind-up taking the bill on these massive bailouts, which literally means that in the case of the U.S. auto makers Americans are investing: in old technologies, inefficient manufacturing practices, labor unions, huge salaries for CEO’s as their companies fail, and lest we forget, widespread non-sense like AIG’s $400,000 corporate retreat the weekend following their first bailout (recall please that they had to have another).

My frustration with the automakers in particular stems from their relentless retreat from innovation until they are facing catastrophe. In the 1950’s scholars like Edward Deming tried to work with American auto manufacturers and were rejected, and to this day they conduct their business in ways that look an awful lot like they did in the 1950’s. Robotics and automation have been implemented, but in marked scale compared to foreign auto makers and quality practices are even farther lacking. When rejected by American automakers, Deming went to Japan and is best known for his revolutionary work with Toyota . Honda and others took a fancy to his work methods as well and today the best selling auto companies in the U.S. are Toyota and Honda. Notably, the quality of Toyota and Honda are the #1 and #2 rated of all manufacturers in the world and their profits are phenomenal. Incidentally, U.S. automakers quality stinks, their pricing is now barely below or even higher than Toyota and Honda imports, and the product life and product efficiency is lower. In fact, when Toyota and Honda were rolling out their second and third generation hybrids a couple years back, GM and Ford were still only in design phases of their hybrid products but SUV plants were cranking out gas-guzzlers at top speed. Thus, as I see it, U.S auto execs seem to be ignoring now well established innovations in auto manufacturing methodologies as well as consumer demands, and now want a bailout.

In my mind bailing out this business model, leadership, and vision is right on par with bailing out VHS and BetaMax tapes, cassettes and vinyl records and 8-tracks and CDs, wash boards mounted to barrels, lead-based paint, leaded gasoline, chalkboard, Morse Code operators and couriers, carrier pigeons and pony express riders. Every one of these technologies and methodologies has been replaced with modern updates; innovation came and manufacturers and service providers had to act or be acted upon… Beta and VHS replaced with DVDs; cassettes and vinyl records and 8-tracks and CDs upstaged each other and have now been replaced by MP3 and other digital content; mashing machines replaced wash boards and dryers replaced drying lines; latex and oil based paints replaced lead-based paints; leaded went to unleaded; chalkboards in classrooms now symbolized a need for a school remodel as dry erase whiteboards are now the standard; Morse Code and courier went to telephones and faxes and email and UPS and FedEx, likewise with carrier pigeons and pony express riders. None of us would call Smith Barney or E-trade and invest our retirement dollars in any of the old technologies and more notably none of us would ever voluntarily go back to such ways over what we have now. And why is that? Because what we have today in these fashions is better, faster, cheaper, safer, more reliable, and universal. So why would it make sense to bailout or stick with U.S auto making doctrine of inferior, slower, more expensive, less safe, less reliable, and certainly less universal? Please, don’t make an argument for tradition or being the forefather when it is a tradition and fatherly honor based on what is now so abysmal because we never engaged innovative thinking.

America needs American automakers, Ford, GM, and the others, but America needs these companies to get their heads out of their holes and into the wholly into the highly competitive arena of auto manufacturing. With no intention of seeming to support or campaign for a candidate, I have to say I heard something form Obama that I had long thought to myself: government should help U.S. automakers step up to today’s competitive standards; which is to say that U.S. automakers shouldn’t see a dime unless they come to the government and present how they are going to use the money for getting up to par and researching out new ways beyond that. A bailout of more of the same is a recipe for another bailout in the near term. It is insane to think that if the U.S. automakers current business model, leadership, and methodology loses them 5 billion every fiscal quarter (90-days) that pumping another 300 billion into that formula will produce anything other than the losses we already see from those approaches. The real effect of a 300 billion investment in the current practice is nothing more than sustaining a problem long enough for another generation to have address it… hiding it away quietly for something or someone else to handle. But the real problem is that the American consumer is smarter than this and the U.S. automakers current losses are the result of more Americans jumping changing brands and as more Americans do the losses each quarter will be larger and larger. Proud to be an American and a desire to support American industry and American jobs shouldn’t mean you have to settle for bottom of the barrel when buying a vehicle.

Rather than a bailout how about an investment in a plan for the future? Not that we’ll get a chance to vote yeah or nay, but I propose no money for U.S. automakers until they prepare a plan for new products that are safer, more reliable, and more efficient, and show how the money will go to retooling, modern manufacturing methodologies, retraining assemblers, managers, and executives, and thereafter into R&D for new advances in materials, manufacturing, safety, reliability, efficiency, and fuels. It will take time and it will take money (which we seem to spending regardless), what is really lacking is a Detroit paradigm shift.

Government Funding to “Bailout” to-date (11/12/08):

2T Emergency Loans for Banks
700B TARP (approved be congress) << recent economic package
300B “Hope Now” Mortgage Relief
200B Fannie/Freddie
140B Tax Breaks for Banks
110B AIG
-------------------------------------------
TOTAL 3.45T

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming

http://www.showroom.fordvehicles.com/Showroom.jsp?space=Cars

http://www.toyota.com/camry/trims-prices.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/126117/Bailout-Price-Tag-3.5T-So-Far-But-%27Real%27-Cost-May-Be-Much-Higher?tickers=AIG,FNM,FRE,XLF,^DJI,^GSPC,C

RE: Bailout for US Automakers

2008-11-22T23:17:00.000-08:00

I have pretty strong feelings about a bailout for the US automakers and have penned a few essays on the topic, and a few friends and co-workers have said they’d like to read them in their entirety, so I'm posting them to the blog. When the topic comes up in conversation with folks (I don’t bring it up anymore) Lucy rolls her eyes regretting that another friend elected this path… most have agreed.

I admit that I am not an authoritative source and there may be holes in my proposed solutions, but I feel my premise that US automakers have to get their act together and actually compete or die is solid. I am grateful that I am not in a position to have to advise a President on how to resolve, it’s not an easy problem to solve, but the important issues to take up never are, but just because it isn’t an easy road doesn’t mean it isn’t the right thing to do.

I have to give a lot of credit to my current employer, Olympus NDT, a division of Olympus (the camera company), which is very very focused on LEAN, kaizen, and continuous improvement; they have really opened my eyes and made me think differently about discovering better ways of doing things and facing difficult challenges.

WSU Cougars Win Apple Cup

2008-11-22T23:02:00.002-08:00

The Apple Cup is the Washington university rivals game, annulaly between WSU Cougars and UW Huskies. This years Apple Cup was the Battle of the Losers… the Washington State Cougars (Pullman) and University of Washington Huskies (Seattle) have each had horrible horrible abysmal season… WSU pulled of a non-conference win against who? (exactly), and both schools were winless in the PAC-10. Both schools set records on how badly they lost and both became fodder for their opponents record books in terms of how many points those schools won by. This game wasn’t for any stance or ranking, it was just one more hurdle to getting this season over so they can get it behind them.

The game was actually really good – turns out that when you put two horrible teams against each other, it winds up being a pretty well paired match-up and a game breaks out. WSU won in 2nd OT. WSU has won the rivals game the last 4 of 5 years and over the 101-year history of the Apple Cup the teams pretty evenly split the wins and losses.

WOW!!!

2008-11-22T23:02:00.001-08:00

WOW!!!

WA State High School 2A Football Playoffs: Prosser Mustangs vs. Othello Huskies

The game started like so many others, Prosser elects to receive the kickoff, drives the distance to the goal line for a score, but that’s where “normal” stopped…Prosser QB threw his pass to the end zone but was intercepted on the goal line turning the ball over to Othello. Othello would go on to drive the field and score and for the first time in a long long time Prosser wasn’t the first to score. Prosser was actually scoreless in the 1st, but finished their drive :06 seconds into the 2nd. The game was back and forth and had plenty of highlights, but finished with a Prosser win thanks to the last real play of the game – Prosser intercepts Othello in the Othello end zone with just seconds on the game clock. Prosser took a knee to start the clock and tock of the last seconds of the game.

The Prosser Mustangs didn’t look like state champ caliber team today, lots of mistakes, but never forget how easy it is to be critical from the stands.

A few highlights:

- Prosser QB intercepted on gaol line in first drive of the game. Prosser stunned.

- 1st quarter, Othello 4th and very long deep in Prosser territory, sets up for a punt, fakes, passes, play finally ends past mid-field well safely in Othello territory. Othello didn’t try it again in the game, but Prosser learned to keep an eye out for it. Reminiscent of a couple years ago when Cody Burns was back deep for the punt, threw long mid-field for a huge gain… Cody had been the starting QB earlier in the season and was a spectacular receiver (and punter, and everything else).

- Othello RB receives hand-off runs to the far sideline where he finds pressure coming hard, manages to reverse, block, and breaks tackles to reach the opposite sideline, and run for a 1st down. He may as well have been covered in Crisco the way that no one could hold onto him.

- Othello fumbles inside their own 20, Prosser receivers, manages a first down, struggles on the next sequence, winds up fumbling, Othello recovers, drives and ultimately scores.

- Rare, and incredible to watch, Prosser receives their own kick-off… Prosser scores, sets up the kickoff to Othello. The kick is legal distance, rolls towards the sideline and Othello watches expecting to go out when a Prosser player slides in and scoops it up to gain possession. Othello is stunned, fans are amazed, several question what just happened. Very rare, great display of effort.

- Mid-3rd quarter, trailing in the game, struggling on a 3rd and Goal at about 10 yards out, Prosser QB Durbin takes snap, pivots, and fires had to middle of nowhere in end zone and sure enough receiver runs it down and with heavy coverage goes up and pulls it down for a touchdown. Happened so darn fast everyone’s eyes were huge in shock how it happened. Amazed, such QB confidence in receiver.

- Final plays of the game, Othello driving from 50-yard line with under 2:00 in game, gets lucky break picking up easily 25-yards on a call where refs call a complete pass on a ball that was snatched as it hit the ground. Struggles but makes downs to get to within 15-yards with less than :30… Prosser 33 Othello 28… Prosser can’t seem to stop the run with every Othello play netting 4-8 yards. Othello snaps, clock rolls, with time and protection Othello QB throws a pass to the end zone and receiver is ready for the touchdown but somehow Prosser defenseman closes the distance and intercepts the pass. Othello in stunned silence, Prosser instantaneously goes from “No!, this isn’t happening…” to “He got it! He got it!” Prosser on their feet in disappointment about to lose in the final seconds to seals the victory in opponents end zone. Take a knee to end the game with respect and style.

Prosser will have to clean it up for next weeks semi-final or hope that Burlington-Edison is having a really off day. Note that B-E was last years opponent in the state game and it was a game, not a blow-out. Game day will be Sat. 11/29 but location and time are TBD by the WIAA.

http://www.wiaa.com/brackets/Football16.aspx?c=2A&s=Football&y=2008

B-E vs. Pullman @ Pullman: B-E comes from a 7-0 deficit at the half to win 14-7.

The other bracket (i.e. the bracket that will produce the opponent at the states championship) appears to favor Archbishop Murphy (12-0); an opponent that has routinely given Prosser pressure in the past.

Thank You, Can I Have Another?

2008-11-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

About 2 years ago I dropped something on a toe and crushed the nail bed and it grew back in-grown. I had a family doc look at it but it needs a Podiatrist’s care, which I have been putting off. I figured that if I am already out of work all drugged up I may as well have it fixed, so today I am heading in to have the procedure. Down one hand, now down one foot too... It's an office visit procedure, not really a surgery, but it hurts plenty. I should be off it a few days. I kind of think it's funny... I won't in a few hours when I can’t walk. A friend said to me this morning he thought I was “efficient” - most people only have one surgery at a time.

Gift Cards

2008-11-16T14:00:00.001-08:00

Given that I am having to type this with one-hand with a recovering wrist, I must think it is important to pass on to folks I care about.

I read a story in the newspaper that was a reprint of a story from the LA Times about the danger of gift cards in our current economy.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-giftcards10-2008nov10,0,2342051.story

Essentially, their values are not guaranteed if the retailer goes under or files for protection. Advice of Consumer Trade Commission is to avoid them for fear of your gift recipient winding up with nothing.

I usually wind up giving out a few of these each year, might be reconsidering depending on the retailer.

Surgery Recovery

2008-11-16T13:06:00.001-08:00

Fam & Friends,

Two lessons learned from my recent surgery: 1.) stay on top of the bike rather than under it 2.) never under estimate how much pain can be inflicted by a talented in surgeon in only an hour… an hour is plenty.

Surgery went well in that there were no complications. The doctor told Lucy that the bone had begun to heal but that it was healing wrong. The doctor said they cut off the ulna styloid, which doesn't mean much to me until I can determine how much strength and mobility I will wind up with. If I get back to normal strength and mobility than I'm cool with whatever they cut-off, if not, it's really too late now. Recovery is now underway and not a very pleasant experience. I'm off my painkillers unless absolutely necessary since they made me sick. I'm doing my finger exercises every hour and that is going fine, but I don't try to move my wrist yet and I know that will hurt when I get instruction to start that exercising. I gave an appointment Friday 11/21 to remove the current bandages, which keep the wrist pretty immobilized. I've bumped it a few times, rolled over on it, etc. and it hurts terribly – probably since they just operated on it. A few days I slept a lot and that was good for being unaware of pain, but I got to the point where I really couldn't sleep anymore. I get bored easy and as I get active I tend to try to do things that wind up getting me hurt. I've tried to do some typing, but I only have one working hand so it is slow going and I get dizzy after awhile – easier with two hands for sure. I'm trying to do some reading, but most books don't have enough pictures to keep my interest for very long… just kidding, I haven't really done much reading other than online.

I am hoping to be back to normal by Thanksgiving, but I say this reminding myself that at this point I can only move my fingers and I haven't tried to actually move the wrist yet.

Check out our blog: http://donlucyheinkel.blogspot.com/

Surgery

2008-11-12T22:28:00.000-08:00

Back in late August Don and a couple friends were riding around the Columbia River Trail when we crashed (again) and fell hard on his wrist. He assumed it was a sprain since it hurt lifting things the next few days, but after days without improvement he finally went in and found out he broke one of the bones. The last few weeks he has been in casts but the final word is that the bones weren’t healing and he has to have surgery. The surgical procedure will either take a piece of bone from his hip and pin it into the gap in his wrist or they will simply cut off the related edges of part of the bone in the wrist. Either way he will b out of work a few weeks and around the house taking it easy – the “around the house taking it easy” part is the punishment for crashing. Don doesn’t settle down, relax, veg, or sit; this will likely drive him and the rest of us crazy. Good news or bad, he is looking forward to the pain killers and now in the video YouTube age the rest of us can’t wait either! We’ll be posting the videos as “The Dope Show” and we’ll leave it up to you if the drugs are the dope or if the guy in the video talking non-sense is a dope – could be both.

He’s supposed to have been talking it easy the last few weeks, but upon hearing that he wouldn’t have use of his hand for upwards of 2 months, he went on a mad dash to finish a bunch of projects around the house… yeah, that’s taking it easy. Over the last week he has built shelves in the garage; loaded a dozen heavy boxes onto the new shelves; took a load to the dump; bought, loaded, unloaded, and carried in 40-pound bags of pellets for our pellet wood stove; mowed the yard and weeded and raked; and few others. A couple weeks bag he tried to unload our new couch and loveseat all by himself but finally conceded to calling a friend to do it – he got them out of the truck but found after that he couldn’t pick them back up. Taking it easy seems to mean something different to Don that it does to everyone else.

A couple Elders from our church came over and gave him a blessing before going in for surgery and one of them owns a funeral home and we joked that this guy should drop him off and pick him up in his hurse. Don thought it would be funny to get a t-shirt with the logo on it to wear around the hospital the day of the surgery.

Halloween

2008-11-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

This year Trevor wanted to go as a firefighter, we had been hearing about it for months… what happened? Truth is that Don went to Home Depot the night before Halloween to try to get them to give him one of their orange Home Depot aprons so that he could put together a Home Depot costume to wear to work. HD told him it was against policy, but said that they pass out kiddie versions at their weekend clinics and Trevor could have one. That said, Trevor dismissed firefighter as second-rate and now the best costume in the world would be Home Depot so we just had to let him be Home Depot. We agreed. Funny little tidbit about the costume – he initially was wearing a really scruffy set of clothes underneath and refused repeatedly to change stating that the guy at Home Depot that helped us was dressed scruffy under his apron. And he was right, the guy looked pretty ragged, but we weren’t letting him wander the town as our kid in dirty raggedy clothes. Rotten parents…

The biggest hit was our Prosser Mustang pumpkin - Don carved the Mustang logo in a large pumpkin. Somehow in the excitement we seem to have not gotten a picture... oops! Everyone in Prosser at the trunk or treat loved it. Rob Munn tried to land on it - ask him how walking in high heels feels.

SOCCER!!!

2008-10-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

Trevor has been playing soccer this fall. He has fun most of the time and he plays pretty well. I had the camera out most of the season, but it took me until the last game to finally get one of his goals on video. (Yes, Don is the referee.)
This one was almost a goal, but the kid from the yellow team came up and blocked it. It was a nice save, but we think the kid broke his wrist. Ouch!!!

It's fun being a director!!

2008-10-20T23:15:00.000-07:00

This summer I had the chance to go to San Antonio again for a Sweet Adeline education symposium. This year they had an extra day for all of the directors. I learned enough in that one day to make the trip well worth it!! The region that my chorus is in has about 20 directors and there were 15 of us there that week. Here I am with my other regional director friends!

Each year we have a chorus coach come visit us twice, once in the fall and once in the spring. Our coach for the past two years has been Beth Smith. She is so fun and I have learned sooooooo much from her. I love having a coach come because I am able to learn from them and improve my skills as a director. We had another great coaching weekend with Beth. We worked hard, learned a bunch, and had a lot of fun all at the same time.

Kali's Sleepover

2008-10-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

Since Kali did not get to stay for Trevor's birthday sleepover, she decided she needed to have her own special sleepover on her birthday. Kari was coming to my house on Monday anyway and Kali's birthday was on Tuesday. How could I say no? Of course Trevor was all good with having another sleepover. It's a little colder this time of year so they had to set up indoors. Trevor pulled out his play tent and set it up in his room. Oh what fun!!

Cavalcade of Bands

2008-10-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

Since I'm a band geek, I always look forward to the Cavalcade of Bands every October. Pasco and Kennewick HS bands host it every year and they bring in bands from all over the state and sometimes from Idaho as well. Kari and Don went with me this year. It wasn't one of the best I've been to, but it was still a fun show and gives me my marching band "fix" for the year.

Things That Are Blue

2008-09-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today was an exciting day, after weeks of pain I get an x-ray and find out my wrist was broken the whole time. After a couple more weeks of appointments, today a wrist specialist sent me home with a new trophy to add to my mountain biking memoirs: a pretty blue cast.

Blue – a primary color, associated usually as a boys color
Blue – an emotional state

But also, lest we forget…

The sky (if you don’t live in Seattle)
The Blue Man Group
Trevor’s step stool
Our Family Room
That Seattle Firefighter’s t-shirt Mike gave me
Blue jeans
Periwinkle flowers
BYU school color
Blueberries – yuck!
M&M’s, ShockTarts, gumballs, and jellybeans, but not Skittles
Olympus Blue – as if I forgot
The baskets we bought at Michael’s

So, biking and I are officially separated. We’ve decided to see other people for awhile, really evaluate our relationship. I think we will ultimately get back together, we had good times. I had considered swimming to get a body like Michael Phelps, but the cast absorbs water so I’d sink, and drowning is worse than a bike wreck. Knitting is out, takes two hands… I could write a book, but one handed typing would make it a kid’s book at best, I just wouldn’t have the patience for anything more.

Summer Canning

2008-09-15T23:06:00.000-07:00

Every year my family cans peaches and tomatoes. I did my tomatoes on my own this year from my garden, but I didn't think about taking any pictures. Kari, Mary, and I canned peaches again this year. Because Mom and Dad will be home in February my mom thought we needed to do a few (4 boxes) for them too. It was a long, sweaty day, but we were very successful and they turned out beautiful!!

Trevor's Birthday Bash

2008-09-07T23:25:00.000-07:00

Trevor wanted a birthday sleepover with his cousins again this year. Friday night was filled with setting up tents, Don's rip-roaring fire for smores, and Lindsay's birthday cake and presents. (She and Trevor share the same birthday.) Can you say Sugar overload??

Brandon and Brady, being the older, "Mature" cousins decided they needed their own tent. Taylor, Matthew, Kamille, Sydney, and Trevor got to be in the big tent. Sadly, Lindsay had soccer stuff early on Saturday so she didn't get to stay. After several reminders to be quiet, Don finally spoke in his "angry voice" and Matthew and Trevor decided to be quiet and go to sleep.

On Saturday, Don's family and some friends joined us for a picnic. Don and I decided to do cupcakes this year just to make it easy. Don put together a layered cupcake for Trevor that looked cool. Sorry we didn't get a picture of it, but here is Trevor devouring it.

Don and I didn't have time to get the cupcakes decorated and we thought about madly frosting them, but then decided it would be a lot more fun to have everyone decorate their own cupcake. A lot less stress for us too. It turned out great!!

Overall, I think the weekend was a hit and fun was had by all!!

First Day of School

2008-09-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was a BIG day in Trevor’s life – first day of school. We’ve been counting own to first day of school for some time now, we’ve got the school supplies, school clothes, and even practiced standing waiting for the school bus (i.e. standing at the end of the driveway :) ), we are now ready for school. Last week Trevor’s teacher had a little classroom visit where the kids got to see the room, meet the teacher, meet each other, do a craft, etc. before the first day – pretty smart way to reduce anxiety of first day for little 5 and 6 year olds. The teachers approach worked because Trevor was quick to point out Lucy when she was free to go since he was quite fine on his own. He insisted on riding the bus, Lucy was perfectly willing to drive him. It won't be long now before he stats saying "can you just drop me off at the corner?"

Not practice – the real thing!

Here we go!

Trevor reports that it was a great first day, school is fun, and he likes his teacher. Now if all of us could say the same for the places we spend our days (ha ha ha).

A Frustrating Adventure

2008-09-04T22:20:00.001-07:00

In May we bought our new house and have been trying to decorate it ever since – some rooms proving harder than others. We did some painting and love the color schemes we’ve used, now art and furniture seem to be the big hurdles. Our living room in particular has been difficult… vaulted ceilings give this room a large and open feel; it also features a 13-foot long wall that is prominent. Last week Lucy gave this room her full attention and tried to find pictures for the walls… everything was taken back, nothing seemed to be right once in the room. Saturday evening we tried together, brought home a bunch more… and experienced failure together rather than individually. But all was not a complete loss!

This lovely table was deemed a winner and now lives in our entry way. Funny to say though that each day I’ve come home since we’ve adopted this table the décor on the table has been different, so apparently it is a challenge to decorate as well. Undaunted we forge ahead…

Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing Well…

2008-09-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

I was out for a leisurely bike ride around the Columbia River with friends, turned to speak to them, but rather than turn my head, I turned my head, shoulders, knees, and toes, and handlebars and face-planted myself onto the paved bike trail. It all happened so fast I couldn’t get my hands out to break my fall, so I landed on my wrist and the verdict is that I fractured it. This will of course bring about any number of comments about my bike riding skills given that this is the second major accident this season – this one didn’t seem major at the time, it was the broken wrist and bruised heel bone that are now painfully a reality that make it clear it was more major than originally thought.

So, like some kindergarten art project… I call this one, simply: “My Wrist”

According to my doctor, most people don’t have a giant crack in that bone –it’s something you have to work at.

D.

Congrats to Kellen Moore

2008-08-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

Found this story via hyperlink on Yahoo! Sports

Idaho State at Boise State , Saturday 8/30 8 p.m., ESPN GamePlan

The buzz: These in-state "rivals" last met in 2003, when Boise State won by 62. This is the debut for new Boise quarterback Kellen Moore, a redshirt freshman. It's the first time in school history a freshman will open a season as the starting quarterback.
The line: No line. | The pick: Boise State 48-10.

Mike Huguenin
Rivals.com College Football Editor

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=843049

Weeds

2008-08-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

We bought a big beautiful yard, meticulously maintained, and one of the real highlights of the opportunity. Now, under my care and keeping, weeds have been discovered in the corner of the yard, silently spreading, treacherously threatening. And not just any weed - Quackgrass.

Quackgrass is this scraggly wed that grows deep, has upward shoots that are like vines, the vines themselves re-ground themselves, and they creep and take over yeards. This is the weed that when you pull on it you notice three other near-by weeds wiggle and you scratch your head, pull harder, and this viney weed comes up. Well, bad news friend, only part of it came up.

I have become very serious in my assualt on the weeds, Google'ing the speciaes of weeds, only really to learn the situation is much worse than initially thought... I've gone to such ends as to be in touch with the University of Iowa Ag program web archives and their online help resources. I've consulted with locals. I've repented of my darkest sins fearing this is somehow payback.

Truth is, dramatics aside, that they are only in one area of the yard, and though kind of serious (like they'll keep spreading), if I am diligent I can erradicate them. Ideally, when you visit you will look and not find any, but if you want to see some I can take to my buddy's house down the road - - Ha ha Justin!

Pumpkins Taking Over

2008-08-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

We've enjoyed growing pumpkins the last few years at our old house and figured we'd give it a shot at the new house too. In every prior prior years we have forgotten to water the pumpkins for days, even weeks, at a time and still they took over their bedding area and produced a few good pumpkins. At the new house, the pumpkin patch is on the programmed irrigation system so they get good loe every night, and the end result: pumkins everywhere!

If you look close you can still make out a few tomato plants that haven't yet been smothered, but there is no sign of the peppers or the cucumbers or the herbs. We already have pumpkins larger than anything we have grown in prior years. It will be interesting to se how much more these things will spread if we let them go unchecked.

Silverwood Vacation

2008-08-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

Lucy, Trevor, and I, and our friends the Shafer's, just spent a few days in northern Idaho going camping and playing at Silverwood. We camped at Farragut State Park on Lake Pend Oreille, which was just a few minutes from Silverwood. Camping was fun, but we basically came back to sleep... no staying up around the campfire or hiking through the woods on this trip.

(I did help with the tent, just took a sec to snap a quick picture)

Last year we did 2-days at Silverwood and Trevor really wasn't ready for most of it, but this year a brave almost 6-year-old was ready to try a lot more and had a much better time.

We all tried the new rollercoaster Aftershock... it is an eye-opener to put it mildly. The ride boasts that it speeds up to 65 mph and has 2 vertical drops of 177'... it pulls you up the drop towers slow, then suspends for a second (long enough to realize what's about to happen), then releases and you drop all 177' in a second, then tear through the loop and the curves and back up the tower, this time facing backwards. Crazy stuff! Lucy, Paige, and Christy got to ride it again at about 9pm when it was dark and the park was lit up, said it was awesome.

Aftershock

A few of us rode the Corkscrew ride, Lucy and Paige rode a few extra times... If this ride looks familiar from Knott's Berry Farms, you're right. Just as much fun in north Idaho! Really cool to ride at night, Paige and I had a great time.

Corkscrew

We all had the chance to ride Tremors, the ride that goes up, down, around, and even underground. A very fast ride with sharp corners and cool drops, several of which go underground... so you're going up a rise really fast and you get to the top and the car starts picking up speed going over the crest and you realize you're heading face first into the ground. There's a great warning sign on this ride that has a guy holding his head and text that says "KEEP YOUR HEAD - DO NOT ATTEMPT TO STAND-UP - LOW CLEARANCE" and they aren't joking - they even encourage you not to put your hands up.

Mark and I made this our late night ride and it was even more intense at night. They have a strobe light/high-speed camera flash in one of the tunnels as a camera takes high speed photos of your face after dropping you underground at 60 mph. Funny faces.

Tremors

Trevor wanted to ride the bumper boats, I said OK, and had no idea what I was getting into. We had a great time, but you can see that I got soaked. There is a platform on the edge of the ride pool where the audience can put quarters in to activate guns; as a rider you battle with each other and get fired on from above. I got shot from every direction. Fun times!

Bumper Boats

One of Trevor's favorite ride, yet make me sick, is the Tilt-A-Whirl, and this year he had Shafer family friends to accompany him. Aaron and Brook Norman (Shafer), Trevor, and Jennin Shafer.

Tilt-A-Whirl

Scrambler

Helicopters

Airplanes

Last year the wave pool was kind of fun/kind of infuriating for Trevor, this year it was the highlight - no doubt that Trevor's swimming lessons paid off as he is much more comfortable in the water now. We started off at the edge like last year, but this year he wanted to go deeper into the waves. We slowly made our way, he started jumping to catch the wave crest and floating towards shore, then he got adventurous and started swimming towards the wave-maker in the deep end and just riding the crests. At 3' feet I stopped him and we tried it there, easily 8 feet deep when a wave passes, but he swam deeper and deeper ultimately out to the deepest area where the ropes keep you back and we were getting huge waves. We spent quite some time out there in the deep end and he was very cool with it all! Several of the teen boys out there were talking to him and cheering him on, impressed he was out there and hanging on.

Wave Pool

Boulder Beach was great and the weather was perfect. We spent a lot of time riding the Avalanche Mountain big tube ride, where you ride 6 at time down the bobsled-like course. First run of the day was easily the best. We were pretty heavy with 6 adults and the attendant warned us that we were probably over the weight limit, but sent us anyway. We were pretty much bent in half over the edges when we went high in the turns, taco-like curve in the raft, staring face to face inverted. A few people said I was actually over the edge several times in thebig corners. We never convinced the attendants the rest of the day to let us try it again, but we had lots of fun.

So a funny thing about Lucy... we get to the park, head straight to the water rides, and before she can even get wet, she steps on a piece of bark and gets a sliver in her heel. We teased her a bit that we can't take her anywhere, then pulled it out, except it didn't all come out, we can see a piece still in there. Uh oh... We rode a quick ride, then headed to the First Aid station where 3 different EMT's tried to dig this thing out of her foot with tweezers and pins, but ultimately to no avail. Her heel was a bit painful when she rested her weight on it, but with a pair of sandals from her friend Christy she made it the rest of the day having a great time wherever she went.

Boulder Beach

I had the idea that the guys could ride our mountain bikes to the park from the campsite and it was a good ride, but the second day my tire went flat and I had to ride in the car. A little irony noticed by a few that I had the idea then wound up driving to the park.

One night we went to the Wolf Lodge for dinner, outstanding again! If you ever have the chance to go when in C'DA it is worth the drive and the money! Don't let the exterior fool ya, yup it's a converted barn. They cook the steaks over a fire pit with secret seasonings and you leave smelling a tad smoky, but completely satisfied and usually a second portion for the next day. Put it this way, we all agreed the Wolf Lodge steaks cold leftovers the second day are still better than Outback or Anthony's entrees served hot in their restaurant.

Another night, we got smart and did a tailgate dinner in the parking lot and went back into the park. The lines die down a bit after the dinner hour when everyone leaves to return to their camps or feed the family. We got lots of compliments from tons of people leaving the park watching us cook on a camp stove. We had a great time and totally got our money worth that day.

Wolf Lodge Steakhouse C'DA, ID

FYI - we were advised that there is a Wolf Lodge restaurant in Spokane that is an imposter and not nearly as good as the C'DA Steakhouse, they use a grill instead of a fire pit.

PHOTO CREDITS: I got some of these from the internet because we were way too busy having fun to take pictures.

Harry Potter #6 Trailer Released

2008-07-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

Lucy and I enjoyed the HP books and movies thus far, not been crazed fans or anything, but I saw that the movie trailer is now out for the next movie:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809791044/video/9048692

Bike Wreck - Update #3 / Prosser Ride & Camp - 2nd Try

2008-07-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

No gory pictures this post, all the wounds have healed; update on the bike itself.

So after the crash the priority was to get cleaned up, and we did that really well. The back tire on the bike was obviously ruined and there scuff and dings here and there. I got my back wheel replacement on Thursday night and was excited to try the Prosser ride and camp trip the next day. Put the new back wheel on, hopped on, rode down the driveway, and discovered the front wheel was warped too. Dang! Went to brake and thee left-hand brake wasn't there... uh oh. Got the bike stopped, spun the front wheel, and sure enough, going to need replacing too. Didn't see it in the initial survey because it wasn't real obvious, but also couldn't test ride the bike since the back-end was so mangled.

Aaron and called around to see if I could borrow bike from friends or family, and after a few calls had some arrangements worked out.

Lucy convinced me to drop the buy and just someone survey and repair it, so Kennewick Cycle has the bike now and estimating another $200 to get it back to par; so far this accident has set me back 3 weeks of riding and over $300. Guess that's what you get for crashing - objective is to stay on top of the bike.

FYI - My experience with Markee's Cycle in Kennewick is that they are a great place to buy a bike, but they no sense of customer service once you own the bike.

As for the 2nd try on the ride and camp, something came up and it didn’t happen after all. That’s life I guess… Who knows if there will be 3rd try or if it’s a sign from God that this route isn’t blessed for this summer…

As for the Snoqualmie Ride, I’d really really like to go, but it’s starting to look questionable since the training hasn’t been up to par and various life-factors are a bit unpredictable. So God willing, there will be Snoqualmie ride pics, but I’ll keep you all posted.

Trevor Loses Another

2008-07-16T21:41:00.001-07:00

Trevor has lost another tooth. He was so excited when he lost his first, then the one next to it started getting loose and that was just the next big thing in life. Yesterday the tooth came out while we were wrestling, just popped out on the floor. He was psych'd. He put the tooth under his pillow, and found a dollar there in the morning... in fact, he woke me up at 5:00 to show me the dollar.

So here is something funny that a parent can appreciate... I took the tooth and place the dollar and went on about my business for the night. This morning I was getting ready for work and saw the tooth on the counter... realized exactly how bad it could be if he found the tooth and laughed to myself at my own mistake. You have to wonder what would go through his mind:

Daddy, Daddy, I put my tooth under my pillow and the tooth fairy sat it on the counter and forgot it when she left. Would I get another dollar if I put it under my pillow again?

or

Daddy, Daddy, it's magic! I put things under my pillow and they show up in the kitchen on the counter.

Not Quite The Same

2008-07-16T21:38:00.001-07:00

I bought a coconut yogurt and hoped it would be yummy, but no such luck. Then this wild idea came across my mind to add chocolate sauce to see if I could make it taste like a Mounds candy bar.

Allow me to save everyone the yuck face... it's not quite the same.

Church Callings

2008-07-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

Today Lucy and I received church callings - Lucy got hers this morning beore church, I got mine after church. Lucy will lead the music as the Ward Chorister and I will teach the Sunday School lessons in Elder's every 2nd Sunday of the month.

This morning Lucy asked me why she always gets her callings before I do, to which I felt inspired to reply: since it takes you longer to get to good at them they have to call you right away.

Bike Wreck - Update #2

2008-07-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

I have enjoyed a speedy recovery. My chin wound is already scabbed, dried, and flaked off so the skin just needs to toughen up. My eye wound is coming along nicely, getting smaller and smaller, fully scabbed.

My elbow scrapes are pretty much gone, but my forearm is still bad and still quite tender.

My shoudler and chest are pretty much healed.

My thigh and leg bruised a bit, but they never turned all black, and they are actually starting to fade a bit. Still a bit tender.

Bike should be back sometime next week... the shop looked at it, laughed, said ti was time for a new one, and we're just waiting on parts.

Looking forward to take #2 July 25th-26th.

Bike Wreck - Update

2008-07-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been keeping the wounds clean and each night once the Vicidin has really taken effect I srub them good... a little too good... Last night I scrubbed off some of the scabs where the skin was starting to heal, so in those spots I'm right back to raw wounds. Dork!

Having scrubbed my face a few times the dark grime and crusties are coming off, so it is looking better. My eye is swollen so I can't wear my contacts and everyone is getting a chance to see my glasses. My leg is starting to bruise, which we totally expected since it got racked by the bike then pinned when I slid. The pics right now may be kind of white-washed still, but maybe you can see the dark wave beginning to form above my knee and concluding just below my knee. I think soon my eye and my knee will be competing for ugly awards.

Here are a couple pics of my bike too.

Bike Wreck

2008-07-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

I had been planning a great 4th of July weekend of bike riding and camping with my buddy Aaron for at least a month, but our plans quite came to screetching halt (literally) when I wrecked on my bike just a few miles into the ride.

Friday morning we prepared our things and by mid-day we were underway for Prosser. We were supposed to be making 50-mile ride from Kennewick to Benton City to Prosser to Aaron's in-law's house, where we were going to make camp and watch fireworks. Saturday we planned to ride back. Unfortunately, only 6 1/2 miles from the start I took a corner on my bike at 20+ MPH and the wheels slid out from under me and the bike and I slid down the street until coming to a stop when we hit the curb. At this point of the trip we were road riding, so I was sliding down an asphalt surface. From what Aaron says and from the damage to my riding gear, it seems that I hit first on my hands, arm, and shoulder, then my face. Aaron thinks I slid about 8 feet on my face with my helmet being the life-saver from the initial impact and keeping my from sliding on my forehead and ears.

Summary of damages:
- bike gloves and tee-shirt shredded
- end of peddle and end og handle bars ground down
- handle-bar computer (speedometer and odomoter) obliterated
- rear bike rim is bent and looks like a S rather than an O
- left arm has an 8" gash and 3 silver-dollar-sized scrapes on elbow
- rigth shoulder has a scrape baout silver-dollar-sized
- right side face has a scrape from top of eye to bottom of chin from cheek bown to mid-to-jaw bone
- right eye is swollen and starting to turn colors
- right hand has 2 scraped knuckles
- left knee has deep-tissue bruising (from being pinned under bike at initial impact), scrapes on knee and calf

Here are the pictures:

Not being one to give up quite so easily, I already have the bike arranged for drop off Monday at a trusted local bike shop for the repairs and Aaron and I are looking over our calendars to reschedule the trip (riding and camping) for an upcoming weekend. Our September trip across Snoqualmie Pass is unaffected.

Of course everywhere I go people stare at my face, and come Monday with my face and arm showing visible damage Iwill be inundated with "What happened to you?" Here are some of the fun things Aaron and I came up with for answers:
- Nothing, why?
- What mark?
- Most people don't feel the need to discuss my birthmark
- Brooke and I thought Aaron knew about our relationship before they dated, but it seems he wasn't and he was pissed
- I got this wound when I served in Iraq
- It looks bad, but feel it - it's soft!
- This look is going to be hot this summer!

Trevor loses 1st tooth!!

2008-06-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

Trevor has had a wiggly tooth for about a week now and last night it just popped out. He was sooo excited!!! He was also very excited for the Tooth Fairy to come!

Trevor minus one tooth!

Don was amazed at how small Trevor's tooth was, so he laid it next to a chocolate chip to show how small it really was.

CAMP LUCY

2008-06-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, we had girls from our church in Prosser come to our house for their pre-certification campout preparing them for Girl's Camp in a few weeks. We had knot tying, several fires built and extinguished, dutch oven cooking (yummy cobblers), foil dinners, and of course marshmallows. So they worked on certification for a couple of hours and the rest was just having fun!!

We had a fun midnight run to Wal-Mart (including several trips around the roundabout to get us nice and dizzy). The girls did a great job setting up all the tents earlier in the evening, but most of us decided to sleep out under the stars because it was a beautiful night. We did get a bit too loud singing some songs after that and disturbed a neighbor, but I took him cookies to apologize so he's good now. There obviously was also a lot of laughing, singing, eating, and talking. I love my Prosser girls!!

We needed to have two men at our campout so Don invited Aaron over. They played physical contact Mario Kart and had a great time. (Brooke tried to stay out of their way!) I think they had more fun beating each other up than playing Mario Kart. If they had been outside, they would have been yelled at by the neighbor too. They were loud!!

Marshmallow roasting!!

Birthday Girls!!! It really was Alana's birthday the next morning!

Only two per tent. The rest of us slept under the stars!

Oh, that's how it works...

2008-06-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

So a few friends folks we know have emailed or called or otherwise told us they are so excited to see us on Blogger. My how fast word travels, cool none the less. We also keep hearing that so-and-so left you a comment, and we are so green to this whole thing that kept wondering about the comments because we weren't getting them. So tonight, I, Don, log on to the page as if I was a stranger and see the Comments link and start realizing there are all these comments. Figuring there has to be some way to know when someone posts a comment I go skulking around the settings, and sure enough, right there for anyone who can actually read is the setting for email notification when someone posts a comment. So for everyone who posted a comment, we're just now, like in the last 20-minutes, finding them and reading them. Thanks for posting.

Is there a way to get an email when a friend posts an update to their blog or do you have to check your friends every day to see what's new?

It also seems obvious that we are way behind as everyone has fancy layouts, some have music, and most have profile pictures... we're still on the basic template.

Happy Birthday Lucy!

2008-06-24T08:14:00.000-07:00