The Bishops & Gunnersons

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T09:21:00.000-08:00

This post is going to be without pictures and might even be kind of boring. Just warning you ahead of time. That is one of the reasons I'm not that great of a blogger, I think that each post needs to be something "big" and have lots of fun pictures, or else I can't post. I'm trying to change that frame of mind.

We took our camera to our Thanksgiving festivities, and took not a single picture. We did have a good holiday though. We spent Thanksgiving with the Gunnersons this year. Dorothy made a really nice (candles and crystal glasses, even) turkey dinner and we each brought side dishes. It was yummy and the company was great. We hadn't seen some of our brother and sisters in law on that side of the family for a while, so it was nice to catch up. Mark and Uncle Dan played football outside with the boys, which was fun. It was the first Thanksgiving with out our father in law and grandpa, Gary. He passed away in June. It was sad but we felt his presence there with us and it was nice to be with Dorothy and support her. She just wanted the day to be as normal as possible. It's hard when there's an empty chair where someone used to always sit. I like that quote that says something like, "there will be no empty chairs in heaven."

We spent the rest of Thanksgiving day and the weekend with our Bishop side of the family. Some of Mark's family was in town from Utah, and it was fun to see them. On Friday the brothers and younger boys played basketball at the church for a few hours. They had a good time and Cooper came home with a ping pong sized bump on his forehead. Tyler and his feet got tangled up together. Thankfully with some ice and Tylenol, he was okay. Kamber and I braved the crowds in the afternoon and went out shopping for a while. We grabbed lunch at Subway along the way. We both found what we were looking for, so it was a successful trip, and fun! We met that evening and Brian and Kamber's home for Papa Murphy's pizza, tons of dessert and good company. Aunt Lucy was even there with us. The cousins slept over Brian and Kamber's except for the older boys, who stayed at our house. Mark, Dad, Reed, Brian, Brent, John, Cooper, Tyler and Connor left early to watch the BSU game back at our place. Jen, Kamber, Alysa and I stayed back at Kamber's and played some games with the kids. We played, turkey, turkey, ham instead of duck, duck, goose. Fun times! After the kids went down the girls had fun talking and learning more about each other. Janice didn't join us because she was working on a "special project" at mom and dad's.

Saturday morning Mom and Dad cooked a big breakfast for everyone at their place. Dad got up at 4am to start preparing the food! Can you believe that?! What a good man. Later in the afternoon, some went to the movie Astro Boy. The kids seemed to enjoy it and the adults seemed not to. That evening some of us went to see the Christmas lights in downtown Caldwell. Some may laugh at that, but they are REALLY nice! The city goes to a lot of work to make a really nice display. They have recently redone some things downtown trying to revitalize the area. They've done a good job and we enjoyed walking around looking at them. It was really cold, though. Afterwards we came back to our place for hot chocolate, football and Bananagrams. You can guess who was doing what (boys - football, girls - Bananagrams).

We're all really tired, but happy to have spent so much time with family! Now we're gearing up for Christmas!

A Comeback

2009-11-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

I've decided to try and start blogging again. Hopefully I'm back with more enthusiasm than before. Of course a lot has gone on in the past 8 months, I could even be about to have another baby. But I'm not. I guess life has just gotten away with me. Trying to keep up with it all and make time for blogging is hard, but I'm preaching to the choir, I know. There are plenty of people just as busy as I am that regularly update their blogs with informative and entertaining posts. Anyway........

Mark and I are doing well. We're both quite excited for the holidays. We've got an early start on most everything and it feels nice. I'm looking forward to hopefully relaxing and enjoying the season a bit in December. We're not headed anywhere for either holiday, so that will be nice. Mark keeps suggesting we even get started on wrapping gifts. Good idea, I think. Work is going okay for Mark. He doesn't really enjoy it and still dreams of one day having his own business. I'm grateful though that he works hard for us even when it's not something his heart is in. He just signed up to be Cooper's basketball coach in a youth league he'll be playing in. That will be fun for both of them. Here's a cute picture of Cole about to get Mark in the face.

I feel like I'm having a hard time keeping up with everything. I really enjoy my Relief Society calling, but I've been pretty overwhelmed lately. I'm sure it'll get better. It seems like sometimes things won't be that busy and then other times it's crazy. It just must be one of those times. I really love being so involved with the sisters. I'll miss that, I know. Right now we're planning a big blood drive with the Red Cross next month. The Stake President wants our stake to have three blood drives a year. Come to find out, a lot of work goes into those things. I wanted to put an updated picture of everyone in this post, but I guess the only pictures of Mark and I are of us holding Cole. Good thing he's cute.

John recently had a birthday and is 14 years old now. He still plays piano and has been involved with Drama Club at school. Just today they put on a play called, "How to be a Pirate". It was pretty good. He enjoys doing that sort of thing. On Saturday he plans to go to his second Stake Dance. I thought it was fun taking him and picking him up afterward last time he went. It kind of feels like it wasn't that long ago that I would get excited to go to those dances. I like for him to tell me all of the details, and he obliges. Here he is at a little family birthday party we had for him last month. Cooper has started electric guitar lessons instead of the piano. We are in between teachers right now though. He has also gotten in to learning magic tricks. His interests kind of come and go. He's always into something new. He's also had a birthday recently and is now in 11 year old scouts. This Sunday we go to a Priesthood Preview for him. Crazy. Even though he doesn't turn 12 until August, it's for all boys turning 12 in 2010. Time just flies. Anyway, here he is dressed up at Meriwether Lewis (Lewis and Clark) at the 5th grade state tourist fair. His state was Oregon.
We've had Ella's baptism dress for a while now. I just happened to find one I really liked at the mall a while back. We decided to take some pictures of her at the Boise Temple before the weather got anymore cold, even though her birthday isn't until next month. She's really excited to turn eight. She's been taking this dance class after school on Tuesdays and really likes it. It's one of the first extra curricular activities that she's done and liked. She was involved with a horse camp this summer that she also enjoyed, but doesn't have a desire to do too much outside of school yet. She was brave enough to give her first talk in Primary last Sunday. I was so proud of her. Up until now she's been too shy to give one. She's slowly coming out of her shell and it's fun to see.

Seth is very much still in his shell outside of our home and his family. He is going to pre school two days a week, so that's good. He seems to enjoy it for the most part. He's slowly learning some of his letters and numbers. He's the kind of kid that won't do anything on demand. Then he'll surprise you by doing something you didn't even know he knew how to do. Here he is dressed like an Indian at his preschool Halloween party.

Not long ago Cooper said, "Mom, Dad told me not to tell you something." With a statement like that of course I had to ask what it was that he wasn't supposed to tell me. He said, "Dad said not to tell you, but Cole really isn't a baby anymore, he's a toddler." I thought that was pretty funny. Mark knows how sad it makes me that he's getting older. However, I still don't think he's a toddler yet. He is so loved by all of us! Lately he's been so demanding and needy, so that's been hard. He got all 4 molars at the same time and has had a sinus infection and some colds, so I'm hoping I can chalk it up to that. It's been pretty rough though. He is otherwise sweet and really cute, so that always makes the hard parts a little easier to deal with.

If I keep regular on posting, I won't have such huge and overwhelming entries to do. Right?!

Anyway, I'll leave you with one of the recent shots that our sister-in-law Kamber, took of our family at the newly remodeled Caldwell Train Station. It's not my favorite one, but I like it. We're just happy she took our family picture for us. Thanks Kamber!

This That and the Other

2009-03-10T11:58:00.001-07:00

It's been way too long since I've posted, so I won't even try to catch up. I'll just post some random pictures from the past little while and label what they are from, etc. It seems I can't find time to post anymore. When I'm home, I hop on and off the computer throughout the day just long enough to check out what everyone else is doing I guess. But since this is supposed to be a journal for us, I'm feeling guilty and thought I should post something at least to document the past month or so. I also don't want those who read my blog to give up on me.

Anyway, we're all still alive and well. We're going to Utah to see family and hang out next week, and we're all really excited for a break from the regular routine. Now, before I have to leave to return some overdue videos to the library, the pictures......

This is a special picture to me. My Uncle Steve on my dad's side, who I recently reconnected with, emailed me a few pictures of my dad. Here he is around Cooper's age (4th grade). I love having a picture of him. Mark printed it out for me and I set it on a table in our front room where I see it often. He also sent me some snap shots of him back in the 80's. I believe he died in 1998. I wish I had more (and ones closer to the time he passed away)but I'm grateful for these.

Mark is such a good daddy to all of the kids, but is sure enjoying Cole. Cole is more of a daddy's boy so far than Seth ever was, so Mark is happy about that. I think this is a sweet picture.

Grandma and Grandpa Bishop came with us to one of Cooper's pack meetings where he earned two badges towards his Webelos. I think this pic is funny, we're doing the watermelon cub scout cheer where you eat your big piece of watermelon and then spit out the seeds like a machine gun.

Cole is 6 months old now and I can hardly believe it. I love him sooo much. He's at such a fun stage and doing all sorts of big boy things such as eating rice cereal, sweet potatoes and squash. He loves them all, but I think he's partial to the sweet potatoes. The kids are very involved w/ every new thing he does and get so excited.

Seth turned 4 years old 2/28/09. I'm a bad mom and didn't even do a special post for him (I just thought of it to tell you the truth.) He had a good day and two b-day parties. Here he is w/ cousin Samantha at the mall to get his 4 year old pictures taken in his favorite Hawaiian shirt. He potty-trained just in time so I can still say he was three when he was potty trained.

Seth really wanted a pinata for his b-day. Come to find out he didn't want this "Cars" one, but a horse one. In the end, he ended up being very pleased w/ this one.

Aunt Kamber made him this cute sailboat cake. We combined his b-day w/ cousin Spencer's first b-day party. It was a fun time.

Cooper tubing down a hill in McCall when we were there for the ice festival. Love his hair in the pic! It was super cold. The tubing was probably the boys' favorite part.

John going down one of the snow slides. Cooper was a bit crazier and went down head first.

The boys climbed a tall mountain of snow and got all snowy and wet. This was at the beginning of our time there, silly boys!

Ella and Seth looking cute in front of one of the ice sculptures.

Here Cole is learning to sit up in his Bumbo seat. He's enjoing it more than the Johnny jump up, but not as much as his exersaucer seat, which is his favorite.

John has braces and we have a couple thousand less dollars! He had some wild things going on w/ his top teeth, but nothing two years of braces couldn't take care of. Makes him look like the teenager he is.

Cole Bear

2009-01-11T18:38:00.000-08:00

For some reason we call Cole, Cole Bear. We pretty much have since he was a few days old. From Cole Bear has come, Cub, Bear Cub and Cole Bear Bishop. We call him these other nicknames far more than we call him his actual name.

Anyway, Cole Bear is 4 months old now. Sadly, lately we've been so bad at taking pictures of him, or of anyone for that matter. Last night we were doing some things on the computer and decided to take some pictures of him. He's at such a fun age. I love it! He's really so delightful. I love his smiles, he smiles w/ his whole body (if that makes sense). I love how he kicks his legs and moves his arms when he's happy and excited. I love how he squeals, gurgles and talks. I love how he follows you around the room with his eyes. I love his giggles (he's done it a couple of times now). I love how he smells. I love his super soft skin and his bright wide eyes. I love his warmth. I love how strong he is and how he's learned to roll. I love how he brings everything to his mouth. I love how he attacks his bottle when he's really hungry and you get it near his mouth. I love the smell of his baby breath. I love how he wraps his hand around your finger. I love that he has just enough hair now that I can put a little part in it. I love his "outie" belly button. I love how he sucks his fingers.

As you can see, there's not a lot we don't love about this little guy!

I'm bad at this!

2009-01-07T12:09:00.000-08:00

I really love blogging, reading others' blogs that is. When it comes to keeping up ours, I'm a slacker for sure. I never feel like I have anything fun or exciting to write and I'm not nearly as witty and fun as all of the people whose blogs I read. I also don't know how to do much more on blogger other than type a post and post pictures. Sorry for my sob story, but it's all true. Nonetheless, I thought I'd make a post.

We've been busy with the same old things. Mark has been working mandatory overtime and has been working on a few business projects. He's working on this board game he's created and is working on making these really cute note cards from photos of flowers he took last summer. He was released as assistant scout master/deacons quorum adviser last week and was called as Gospel Doctrine teacher. That's right up his alley and he'll do great. Other than that he's just been being a good guy, like always. I have been crazy busy. I was called as R.S. President when Cole was still one month old. You know how you hear those stories of being spiritually prepared for callings or having a premonition. That wasn't the case for me and I was shocked to say the least. I had been Enrichment counselor for the past almost year and we knew we were going to be released as a presidency, so I was looking forward to a break with our new baby. That wasn't the plan apparently, but I'm happy to serve and truly believe that Cole has been a much easier baby only because of my calling. He's really turned a corner and has been so much less fussy enabling me to get more accomplished than I ever thought I could. My house has suffered a bit, but if something has to give I guess that's the thing to let go. Anyway, I enjoy being involved w/ the sisters and serving them. We have to talk this Sunday in Sacrament as a Presidency, wish me luck w/ that. Other than that, I've been doing the regular. Ever since my wisdom teeth were removed I've had problems w/ my jaw, kind of a TMJ thing. It's pretty miserable and it hurts to eat deep into my ear. I can't open my mouth wide enough to bite some things. I've been going to the doctor about it, but no progress yet. You'd think I'd lose some weight with it being painful to eat. No such luck. I guess I'm willing to suffer through the pain for the pleasure. On a positive note, we recently have put Mark's overtime money to good use (instead of saving it like we should) and bought a new recliner for our family room and a new kitchen table. We've even updated to a flat screen tv just in time for the big change next month. That was hard to spend the money on since nothing was wrong w/ our old one, but it does look nice. We're just doing our part to help the sluggish economy I guess.

The kids are all doing well. John doesn't have much new going on in his life. He did get braces a couple of weeks ago and looks like a true teenager now. Other than that, he's busy w/ piano, scouts, school and all of that stuff. Cooper doesn't have much new to report either, other than he's joined a running club at school. They've had to cancel it a lot though due to the snow since they run outside. He still takes piano lessons, but would rather play the electric guitar he tells me. Ella was a little behind on reading the beginning of the year, but has caught up a bit, which is great. She's so cautious in her reading and is afraid to even try a word for the sake of getting it wrong. That really hurts her in the timed tests. She's great w/ Cole and is my main helper. Seth is as curious as ever and destroys things on a daily basis. He's a smart little guy. Any suggestions on potty training? He's a sunbeam now and still in diapers. Kind of embarrassing, huh? He can change his own diaper which is ridiculous. It won't happen until it's part of his agenda, I just don't know how to add that to his agenda. Cole is such a sweetie. The kids still fight over who gets to hold him. He is so strong! He can roll from his back to tummy and tummy to back and has been since three months old. That's earlier than our other babies. He's laughed a few times now which I love. 4 months is a great age!

Well, since this was an update on the family and posts are always better with some pictures, I'll post some family pictures that we had taken at a nearby college campus by Brian and Kamber (BIL and SIL). Some of you have seen them as part of our Christmas cards, but maybe they'll be some that you didn't see.

She's growing up

2008-12-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow Ella turns 7 years old! We have lots going on tomorrow and I know I won't have time to post, so I thought I would today.

We love our Ella girl. I feel so blessed that I get to experience the joys of having a daughter. I hope that we always stay close. She's such a sweet girl. She likes to make others happy and tries to do what is right. She has been such a big helper with Baby Cole these last few months. Ella has always carried a quiet peace with her that she has often times passed on to me when I've needed it. She was the EASIEST baby ever (I hope that her teenage years are easy also). I was looking at pictures of her from last year and wow, she's matured. Not just in size, but her face looks older too. Losing your baby teeth will do that to you I guess. She's also slowly overcoming her shyness.

We think she's just beautiful (on the inside and out)! We love you so much Ella!

Found but Lost

2008-11-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

This is going to be kind of a long and sad post. As most of you know, I have never known my dad. The above two pictures are the only ones I have of him. I was 12 days old in the pictures. Through the years I have thought a lot about him. My mom never talked about him much. All I have ever known is that he and my mom met on the beach and were never married. He had some problems with drug abuse and that is the reason my mom gave for them separating. Over the years I have looked in California phone books online to try and find him. Turns out there are a lot of men named Robert Griggs. I didn't really know what else to do. I was also afraid of what I might find. In my heart I knew he'd be gone (as in passed away). I don't know why I felt this way, but for as long as I can remember I've known he was no longer with us. I recently found out that my feelings were correct and I am heart broken. It's strange how you can miss someone and something you've never even known and feel so much sorrow over it. I haven't talked about this much and not a lot of people know, but I think it will help me to share.

Not too long ago I googled my name just for fun. I thought for sure our blog would come up, which it did. Something else also came up that caught my eye. It was my maiden name on a website called Zaba Search. I had never heard of this website before, but apparently people can post messages in hopes that someone they are looking for will read it. Someone was looking for a Dalana Griggs whose mom's name was Donna. The message said that Donna was with a man named Robert in the 70's and they had a daughter together. The person who wrote the message referred to Robert (or Bobby as he was called) as their brother. They included in the message that their brother had since passed away, and that's how I learned.

With a name as different as mine and with all the other names correct, I knew I was the Dalana they were looking for. I felt so many emotions all at once. Mostly sadness that I'd never get the chance to know my father in this life, but also excitement for the chance to make contact with some of my family I've never known on that side. I also felt loved because someone from his side of the family remembered that I existed and still thought of me and cared enough to find me. It would have been neat if that person would have been my dad, but I'm grateful anyway.

I posted a message back for this person (my dad's sibling) and it turns out it was a younger half brother of his. We emailed back and forth and just this last week we talked on the phone. My emotions have been all over the place. It's kind of hard to sort through it all and to know exactly what to make of it. My dad died about 10 years ago of heart and drug related problems. He was never fully able to remain clean. From what I understand, he would do good for a while and then return to drugs and alcohol. Kind of sad that in the end that is what took his life. He struggled with his addictions his whole life basically. He did marry twice and ended up having two more children. I have two brothers, one named Bobby Jr. and another named Pier. One of the boys' mothers was Hispanic and the other ones mother was from Central America. They both live in California and are somewhere around 18 and 21 years old. This uncle I've been talking with (Steve) has tried to keep in contact with them, but has lost track. It's strange to think I have 2 brothers out there somewhere. I wonder if we look alike and if we are the same at all? My dad's mother and father have both passed too, along with a half sister. There's another half brother of his still living and a few cousins from what I understand. Kind of sad, but his sister passed of drug related problems also and his mother (my paternal grandmother) passed away of lung problems from a life time of smoking. I am so grateful the gospel came into my life as a teenager and steered me away from these behaviors. With my family history, I'm genetically predisposed to having addictions to those kinds of things. Even if I only had tried them once, I could have been hooked. Scary.

I could go on and on about my feelings and the things I've found out from talking to Steve about my dad and their side of the family. Even though he's not living anymore, my love for him has increased the more I've learned about him. It's made me mourn more for the dad I never had the chance to know and the relationship we never had. Just for fun, here are a few random things I've found out about him.
~ His hair was naturally as curly as the above pictures show (that's not a perm)! I only got an annoying wave and frizziness.
~He was quite athletic in track and field and in football he was a good kicker and kicked the best bare footed. Again, I got none of the athleticism.
~He served in the military.
~He worked in a machine shop and learned to be a good machinist.
~He was a staight A student.
~His mother had him when she was only 14 or 15 years old. From what I understand, her brother served in the war and came home for a visit and brought a friend along. She got pregnant by the friend during that visit. Some wanted her to give the baby up for adoption. She didn't, and never heard from the guy again. My dad never had a relationship with his own father to pattern that kind of a relationship after.
~We look alike and even my kids look like him. I emailed Steve some of our family pictures and he said he couldn't get over how much we looked alike. He called his family in to take a look and they all agreed that I looked like him all right. He said even my kids have his features. Kind of weird that someone we don't even know is such a part of us.

Sounds like a good guy with some serious struggles. I'm grateful that one day I'll have the chance to get to know him and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm grateful for two amazing fathers for my children. I'm grateful for George Parker and the good father figure he was for me during my teenage years. I'm grateful for two honorable father in laws who I couldn't love more. I'm grateful for this new found uncle and for his efforts and interest in trying to find me. When I asked him what he thought made him want to keep in touch, he just said he's always wondered why some families don't stay close. I look forward to keeping in touch with him. Most of all, I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who has always been there for me and for the opportunity I have had to form a relationship with him. I know that he has never lost track of me nor will he.

Chipmunk

2008-11-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

About 7 months pregnant with Cole I started to have some pain from my bottom wisdom teeth trying to come through. I went to the dentist and was told they needed to come out, but I'd have to wait until I had the baby. It's been pretty miserable! Who has problem with their wisdom teeth in their 30's? I thought they were supposed to come in during the teen years. I have been really dreading having it done because they told me I needed to go an oral surgeon and be put to sleep to have them out. I have never been put to sleep before, and it has been one of my biggest fears. The pain finally got the best of me, and I made the appointment to have it done anyway.

Friday was the day and I am happy to say that I survived and just 2 days later am doing well enough to blog about it. It has been pretty uncomfortable and 800 mg of Ibuprofen has been my best friend, but it is still not as bad as I had expected it to be. The anestetic didn't even make me too loopy afterwards, so I don't have any funny stories to share. I have some of the good drugs for the pain, but am too chicken to take them for fear they will make me crazy. It hurts to open my mouth and my face hurts to the touch. My cheeks are pretty swollen, but not as bad as the above picture. Mark thought it would be funny to do some photo shopping there.

A big thanks to Brian and Kamber who watched Seth for us and brought us over some chicken potato soup on Friday night. Kamber even took the time to puree some of it for me. How nice is that!? Thanks also to Mom Bishop who brought over some delicious chicken noodle soup the next day. I'm pretty spoiled I guess. Both soups were just what the doctor ordered! And of course, thanks to Mark for taking the day off work and for faithfully bringing me ice packs and taking such good care of Cole too.

I am so glad it's over and look forward to a healed and pain free mouth just in time for Thanksgiving. You'd think I might have lost some weight with it hurting so much to eat for the last several months, but no such luck.

Cole's Blessing

2008-11-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

I crocheted this blanket for him to use on his blessing day.

Cole in his white blessing shirt and khakis.

I think this is a pretty sweet picture.

The men who stood in the circle (minus Gary Gunnerson).

What would you say the frosting decoration to the left of the wording was? Booties, of course! I got teased a bit by some who didn't think they looked much like baby booties (my only other option was a stork).

On Sunday Cole was 2 months old. I can hardly believe it! We were also able to bless him. It was a very nice day for us. Those that attended were Mom and Dad Bishop, Reed & Alysa Bishop, Brian, Kamber, Samantha and Spencer Bishop, George and RaNae Parker, Rhonda Parker and her girls Camille, Aubrey, Alicia and Meredith, my mom Donna and her friend Jeff, and Gary Gunnerson (Dorothy was really sick). Mark gave Cole a really sweet blessing and we had a nice testimony meeting. Cooper bore his testimony for the first time. We were really proud of him. Mark and I also bore our testimonies. It was so nice to have our family there with us. Mark's family stayed with us for all of our meetings and then we went home and had some lunch together. The Parkers were also there for the lunch. It meant a lot to have them with us for the special day (thank you for driving down George and RaNae). It was a great day and we had fun welcoming baby Cole.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-05T09:20:00.001-08:00

The group (minus Spencer) at Grandpa and Grandma Bishops.

Out trick or treating (doesn't Ella look crazy w/ black hair)?

These days this is how most pictures I try to take of all the kids together turns out.

Our cutie dinosaur.

I'd feel like a bad mom if I didn't post a picture of our kids on Halloween. Like so many others, I am not a fan of Halloween. It always seems like more trouble than it's worth. I actually found some really inexpensive costumes this year, so that made me happy. This was John's first year not dressing up. He really still wanted to, but we told him 13 was too old. He did get to go to his first dance/social at school and loved it. One girl asked him to dance and he said he had to go to the bathroom. How funny is that?! He mostly hung out with his friend Spencer. Anyway, Cooper was a Karate guy (the outfit was $1.50 from Savers), Seth was some type of dinosaur(I'd got him a used Lion costume from Other Mothers, but he found this old one of Cooper's and liked it better), Ella was a witch (which worked well w/ her present teeth situation) and little Cole just wore a Halloween pant and shirt set that said "Daddy's little Monster" on it.

Our ward didn't have a Trunk or Treat, so we went around our neighborhood and then went over to trick or treat at Mom and Dad Bishop's house and that was about it. The kids seemed pleased enough. Glad it's over for another year and we can move on to Fall and the beginning of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here are a few pics.

Thirteen

2008-10-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Kind of a funny picture of John from Scout Camp this summer!

Where has the time gone?!?! Today our oldest boy is 13 years old! It seems like just yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital, I remember it so well. Sometimes I feel bad for the oldest child of a family. You learn and experiment on how to be a parent with them. Hopefully I haven't scarred John too badly with my mistakes. He's been a wonderful son and I'm grateful for the genuinely good boy that he is. I'm a lucky mom, that's for sure. John is such a great example to the other children (and his parents), especially when it comes to trying to do what is right and being a diligent church member. I hope he always stays this way.

To celebrate, John is having some friends over tomorrow night for a "late over" (where the friends don't sleep over, but their parents pick them up at 10 or 11.) Mark is going to take the boys to the Haunted World. Then on Saturday and Sunday we have some family parties lined up. Should be a fun weekend for him.

Happy Birthday John! We appreciate all you do and are very proud of you. We love you so much!

Goodbye Snagletooth Ella

2008-10-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

Here she is. It sure makes her look older and tags her as a definite 1st grader.

She had her hair in braids so it would be wavy the next day.

Ella has had this top tooth that's been loose for a long time but just wouldn't fall out. Half of the time it stuck out much farther than her other front tooth and looked so ridiculous. She wouldn't let us pull it either. I should have got a picture of it. On Sunday, Cooper was rough housing with her and knocked it out. She wasn't hurt at all, so it was actually a good thing. She is very proud that she can still say the word "syrup" (I guess her teacher told her that's hard to say with missing front teeth). Now she starts the stage of looking awkward for a while, being either toothless or having big over sized teeth. Just in time for school pictures on Friday, ha! The tooth fairy has forgot to come 3 nights in a row now! What's her deal? Maybe she's a little sleep deprived.

Great Grandma

2008-10-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

A good picture of my grandma but a funny one of Cole.

Last week for FHE we went to Kuna to see my Grandma where she lives in an assisted living home. She is only 72 years old but is in very poor health. She was diagnosed with Colon Cancer a month or so ago and they weren't able to remove all of the tumor during the surgery and the pathology came back that it is the most agressive type of cancer. She's starting some radiation and a small dose of chemotherapy, but has lots of other health problems and isn't strong enough to undergo some of the other treatments.

So, I've been trying to see her a little more and appreciate the times I do see her. I also want the kids to spend a little more time with her. Not everyone gets to know their Great Grandparent. It was fun to introduce her to little Cole and to get some pictures. It looks like he might have some of her strawberry blonde hair. She is the last left grandparent on Mark's and my side. Kind of a sad thought.

I lived with my Grandma some of the time growing up. I appreciate all she has done for me. She is a unique and special person. If you remember, mention her in your prayers. Thanks.

One Month

2008-10-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

Big brother holding little brother.

Cole at one month (almost)

In his polo shirt for church

The kids building a fort w/ the banana chairs and blankets

The finished product

Just so you know, Seth loves fly swatters so much we bought him his own, so it's unused.

Well, tomorrow our littlest sweetheart is one month old. It's hard for me to believe. Overall, I think we're all adjusting to our new addition and routine rather well. This has probably been my best week, week 4 post delivery. I've had more energy and have got a little better sleep (I consider a 3 hour stretch a luxury). I've actually got the kids to piano, scouts, etc. and managed to run some errands, visit teach and go to church and a presidency meeting. I consider all of these accomplishments these days. Not to go into too much detail for those who don't care to know, but Cole won't nurse and I really want him to get the benefits of being nursed. This means that I pump and then feed him from a bottle, which takes longer. It gets a little tricky sometimes to revolve your daily schedule around when you'll next need to pump. It's all worth it though and I'm holding out hope that he'll pick up on the nursing thing eventually.

Mark's doing great. He helps w/ Cole so much, even in the night. He's working on our lawn (we've neglected it lately) and trying to get it back into shape. He even managed to make it to early morning basketball at our stake center once last week.

Dalana's info is in the first paragraph.

John is anxiously awaiting his b-day, which is next week. Right in time for turning 13, he's started showing some attitude lately. The other day I asked him a question and he answered me w/ a, "Duh". If you read this, sorry John. Posterity needs to know, though. This has got me scared for the teenage years. Having teenagers and a newborn at the same time is a tricky combination.

Cooper has had a cold and been upset that he can't hold the baby more. He loves Cole when he's around, but is mostly playing w/the neighborhood kids outside any spare minute he has.

Ella loves having a baby around. She's one of the best babysitters I have. She holds him so good and tries to do what she sees me do. She's very careful and sweet with him. She's a good little mommy.

Seth, as you can tell from the outfit he's wearing in the picture holding Cole, has been a little neglected lately I'd have to say. I let him fend for himself some of the time. He loves Cole and has named his baby doll Cole, too. He is having a good time w/ all of the baby stuff around. He thinks all of the bouncers, car seats, etc. are for him too. We've had to call poison control this week. The first time that I remember ever having to call them. Seth got the bottle of Flinstone Vitamin Sour Gummies and had more than his fair share. Thankfully, they didn't have iron in them, so we were okay.

Cole continues to be as sweet as ever. I think the past few days I've started to get some real smiles from him. There's nothing better than those first few smiles.

Well, that's about how our month has gone. Hope yours has been good too.

Cutie Cole

2008-09-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

This is one of Mark's favorite pics of Cole.

We love his baggy knees.

I love his red lips in this one.

This pic shows how light his hair is.

We just took this last night. He's already changing and looking older.

It's really true, babies are one of life's little treasures. Obviously, we adore almost everything about our new little one! We're all smitten and think that his every coo sound and expression are just so cute. Everyone wants to hold him and his head gets kissed and rubbed so much that his hair gets oily quicker than normal. He is definitely loved and reaping the benefits of being the "baby" of the family. Even though tired, I'm enjoying this time with a newborn in the house because I know that before I know it, he'll be out of this stage. We love you very much Baby Cole.

Welcome Baby Cole

2008-09-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

Turns out it wasn't just bloating (referring to my previous post.) Cole Leon Bishop was born at 2:47 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2nd. He weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. We've spent the last few days enjoying him and trying to keep things in somewhat of order here at home. Mark has 2 weeks off work, which I'm soooo grateful for. Our sweetie baby isn't nursing or sleeping well, but I think we're getting each other figured out.

Labor and delivery went great. We were blessed to have a good experience and to have Cole and I make it through safe and sound. This delivery sure was different than Seth's. It was just Mark and I in the room this time around which made for a quite day. Mark got lots of reading in until things got exciting. He was just great and was there whenever I needed him. He even cut the cord this time, w/ Seth he had a hard time. My doctor and nurses were great the whole hospital stay which makes a big difference.

Mark and I and the kids couldn't be more thrilled! Cole doesn't really resemble the other kids too much. He reminds me a little bit of Ella as a baby and so far that's all that has stood out. He doesn't look like Seth as a newborn at all. Seth had the most hair of our kids and Cole is tied w/ Ella for the least. What little bit he does have is pretty light.

Well, I better post a few pictures. It's been great having a little bit of heaven in our home. I just have to add that I love the smell of newborns. Thank you to all who have prayed for a safe pregnancy and healthy Mom and baby. We have sure felt of your love and prayers.

Maybe it's just bloating?!?!

2008-08-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, these are the only "belly shots" we have taken this pregnancy and I really don't like them. For the sake of journaling though, I thought I'd post them anyway.

So, as this pregnancy draws to a close I am trying to appreciate each day as this is my last pregnancy and I know looking back the time will have gone quickly. That is much easier said than done, however. I remember getting this way w/ Seth, a little irrational. I'm starting to wonder what would happen if someone really was pregnant forever. Because of different health issues, they always induce my labors. When my body shows signs of being ready, the doctor schedules a time w/ the hospital. For Cooper and Ella, my body cooperated and this seemed to work fine as they were born one and two weeks early. With Seth nothing was happening and they ended up inducing me anyway because they thought he was getting big. That's what is happening this time around, nothing is happening. Last week a doctor on call saw me for my normal appt. and said my body was beginning to make some progress towards preparing for delivery. Well today (one full week later) I saw my normal doctor and he said that I have done absolutely nothing, he even took away the one little centimeter she had given me! I made myself wait to cry until I got to the car and once I was there I decided the crying would just give me a headache anyway. Instead I chose to drop by Costa Vida and treat myself to a sweet pork burrito and when I got home I defrosted some Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls for dessert tonight. The food did seem to help, how sad is that?

I have 3 mom's looking for a date as they are all scheduled to be out of town around Labor Day (the holiday that is) and are hoping it's not Labor Day for us, too. When I called The Parker's (the family I lived w/ in high school) to report today's appointment George wondered if I was really pregnant at all. He suggested it might just be some serious bloating. I did get a good laugh out of that and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and trying to be on my feet and active as much as possible.

Wish us luck! In the back of my head I do know that all will work out and he will come when he's supposed to. We're just praying that in the meantime he remains healthy and well and that my body does as it needs to.

Sailboats and School

2008-08-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

Cooper pinning the mother's Bear pin on Mark's shirt. He deserved it more than me anyway.

The group giving Cooper "The Fonzie (from Happy Days)" cheer for earning his Bear.

This is the guy Cooper lost to.

Cooper winning a race.

Our ward's rowdy Cub Scouts.

The kids' first day of school. J-7th E-1st C-4th

A very excited Cutie Pie (this is where the camera batteries ran out)

On Saturday Cooper had his Sailboat Ragata for Cub Scouts. He had a good time and ended up getting 2nd place, which he was pleased with. He also received his Bear Award and is now on to Webelos. We were proud of him. I wasn't feeling well and wasn't able to go, unfortunately. I was also saving my energy for a friend/family b-day party for Cooper at the park later that afternoon. It was nice seeing family and there was even a little breeze to keep us from baking in the sun too badly. It has been hot here! After the park, Mark took Cooper, John and 4 of Cooper's friends to pizza and swimming for 3 hours. What a Dad! They had a blast! We had no camera at the park to document his b-day, which I'm sad about, but at least I've journaled it here, right?

Today was the first day of school. The kids were so excited, especially Ella. I only wish the jumping up and getting ready quickly and being happy would last all year! Again, we had camera issues and the batteries ran out after only 5 back to school pictures. I'm glad I took the group pictures first. It was a quiet day for Seth and I. He even took a little nap for me and wasn't as bored as I was afraid he'd be. It was fun to pay a little more attention just to him and to talk to him. He's a good boy and so badly wants to go to school like the others. At Back to School Night last night he brought his back pack too and rolled it around to all of the kids' classes. So cute! Well here are a few of the pictures we did manage to get this weekend and today.

Double Digits

2008-08-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

Chuck E Cheese (May 2004)

Cooper holding newborn Seth (February 2005)

Brothers w/ new haircuts (October 2005)

Whitefish Lake, Montana (July 2005)

Receiving a medal for running laps at school (May 2006)

First year of tackle football (September 2007)

Backpacking at Loon Lake (July 2008)

Today our Coop is turning double digits! I can't believe it's been 10 years now that he's been a part of our hearts! He's a great kid and adds a lot to our family. He's funny and full of energy. There's never a dull moment w/ him around. If there's anything that's daring to be done, he'll give it a try. Because of this, he's had more accidents and been hurt more than any of the other kids. Some interesting things about Cooper are ~ 1) When he gets sick, he gets really sick. He's been in the hospital 4 times in his life for different things (none of which proved to be serious, thankfully.) 2)Kind of on the flip side of getting really sick from time to time, the kid is strong! He's been abnormally strong from the time he was a baby. He can give kids older and bigger than him a run for their money in arm wrestling, wrestling, etc. 3) He's a good chess player. 4) He's competitive and likes sports. He used to ask me what would happen if when he got older he was too good to play football for the BSU Broncos. 5) Though some would never guess it, Cooper is very sensitive and loving. He loves his family and friends and likes to make them happy and tries to do what is right, even when it's hard for him. We love you very much Cooper! Happy Birthday!

Random Thoughts and Pictures

2008-08-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

So, I've been a bad blogger. When it's been so long since I've updated, I get overwhelmed and don't do it at all I guess. We've all been doing well and having a good summer. Baby and I seem to be getting along just fine. Our household is anxiously awaiting the next month. Here are a few highlights and pictures of everyone's activities (they're not exactly in chronological order.)
This was a while back, but I made mention at the beginning of the summer of John going on a Grandma and Grandpa trip w/ Grandparents Bishop. They started w/ the oldest grandchildren and take a couple each year to do something fun w/ them. John and Paige, Brent and Jen's daughter from Utah, went to Yellowstone. Mark's sister Janice, and her kids, also went w/ them. They got these great hats in the park. Grandpa's hat flew off down a canyon somewhere. They decided to not try and go after it. They saw the play Oklahoma while they were there, which John especially loved. He had a great time w/ everyone. They stayed overnight in Idaho Falls and went to the temple's Visitor's Center.

John attended Scout camp for the first time and was gone for 6 nights. He loved it and got 3 complete merit badges I think, and parts of others, and a whole lot of mosquito bites. Mark was able to join him for the last few days of it, which was nice. It was at Island Park, in Yellowstone I believe, so it was far away from home. So he's been to Yellowstone twice this summer, lucky kid. My favorite part of having him gone was getting a letter from him in the mail from scout camp. You always hear about getting letters from your kids away at camp. I also like the basket he made me as part of his basketry merit badge. He lost his scout shirt while swimming in the lake, so the rest of Camp he had to wear Mark's. John is in the red shorts w/ the gigantic, over-sized shirt on. Hilarious.

John went w/ the Youth of our ward to Martin's Cove Wyoming on a Handcart Pioneer Trek. It was a once in a lifetime experience for him that I know he'll always remember. They walked a total of 26 miles pushing the handcarts. They reenacted some of the events that took place in the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies. What a spiritual experience! He walked for an ancestor from the Gunnerson and Bishop sides. The ward is providing a DVD of the experience, which I'm glad of, because I don't have any pictures of our little pioneer.

Mark and some of his brothers and their kids went backpacking to Loon Lake. Cooper got to go along. It was his special thing this summer, and he had a great time. He carried a pack that was 30-35 pounds(Cooper only weighs 68 pounds) and carried it without help until the end. What a strong kid! Look at those little legs underneath the huge pack! They caught frogs and saw the ruins of a fighter jet that had crashed and had many other fun experiences.

Seth has been up to no good this summer. He has been busy figuring things out, such as this. He's a little sweetie.

Ella lost her first tooth this summer. It always makes them look so much older. The tooth fairy left her a bracelet.

We've enjoyed a family reunion on the Bishop side. It's always great to be w/ family and the kids love being w/ their cousins. We've had fun welcoming home Brian and Kamber from England (Mark's brother and his family) and then bid farewell to Steve and Amanda and their family as they moved (another of Mark's brothers and his family.) We didn't get many pictures of the reunion. Here's one of some of the group at a park in Melba where we met for lunch before going swimming at Givens Hot Springs. They had the neatest old swing there. To close the reunion we had a family talent show. Amanda was the MC.

We had the opportunity to go to the Twin Falls Temple Open House. There was a special spirit in the temple and we all enjoyed it quite a bit. Ella loved the brides room the most and Cooper liked all of the rooms except the Women's dressing room which we briefly walked through. Funny! We made a little trip out of it and stayed the night in a hotel. The kids and Mark swam and we ordered a movie to our room and relaxed. We went to see Shoshone Falls, which was gorgeous! Notice the rainbow at the bottom of the picture?

The 4th

2008-07-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry this post is so long!Mark got a great shot of one of the fireworks!

Ella getting into wrestling w/ the boys.

Two cutie brothers!

Dad Bishop, what a guy!

One of my favorite shots of the day.

Cooper going crazy w/ his jumps, dives and flips.

This picture of John in the water looks so refreshing to me.

Uncle Reed playing motor boat w/ Seth.

Seth's first time doing sparklers.

Mark and the kids lighting off a firework.

We had a great holiday weekend. It was nice to have Mark home for an extra day, we always enjoy that. We watched a really great firework program at the God and Country rally that they have each year in Nampa. All of the kids loved the show, but Seth especially was fun to watch. He had never seen big fireworks like that, and all he could say was, "WOW!" A little while into the program he started falling over each time the fireworks would make a "boom" (like it was shooting him down) and then he'd get up and do it over again when he would hear the next loud boom. When it was all over he said, "Do it again!" Watching the show w/ Mom and Dad Bishop made it even more fun for us.

The evening of the 4th we went to Mom Bishop's brother's house for a bbq and swimming. It was a small group, but fun. The kids really loved the pool. Seth and Ella are getting braver all the time in the water. John and Cooper could hardly wait until we ate to get in, they both "accidentally" fell in (in their clothes) before they were supposed to. They also didn't want to get out when it came time to go home. It was a fun way to spend the holiday, and we're glad they had us over.

When we got home from swimming we let the kids do some small fireworks (sparklers, snakes, ground flowers, those popping things you throw and the snapping things you pull.) They all had a great time. Again, it was Seth's first time holding a sparkler, so he especially thought it was pretty neat. Fireworks are all he's talked about since.

On Saturday we were able to go to a really fun park nearby and have a picnic. My mom met us there. It's always good to see Grandma Donna. She had pop and candy for the kids. We're really glad she was able to meet us and we could spend some time together.

Yesterday was a peaceful Sunday. I had to teach in Relief Society, something I only have to do every 3 months or so. I am SO glad to have it done for a while. I get really nervous teaching. I'm the enrichment counselor, and we just had our Super Saturday and I just finished putting together a marriage night for husbands and wives where we had a speaker from the BSU Institute. It feels good to have those 3 projects behind me. Besides conducting (which also makes me extremely nervous) and having a dessert night for sisters who have July and August b-day's here at our house, it's pretty much stress free until the baby comes, hopefully. It is fun to be involved and to get to know the sisters and to help out.

John left this morning for scout camp. It's his first year going and to say he was excited is an understatement! I felt kind of sad for some reason. He's my helper around the house and w/ the other kids. He's also never been away for 6 days before, he doesn't come home until Saturday. It really didn't help that Mark kept talking about bears in Yellowstone, which is where his troop is going. Mark leaves on Wednesday for a few days to go up too. I need to hope and pray for some extra strength and energy. I haven't felt like doing much lately. At all of the above mentioned activities, I was sitting on a chair watching. It's okay though, just goes w/ the territory of being towards the end of your pregnancy in the hot summer. Even more than feeling uncomfortable, I'm feeling grateful and excited for what's to come.

Driver's License

2008-07-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

Things have been kind of slow around here, nothing big or interesting to blog about. Just thought I'd share this little bit of good news!

It was about 3 or 4 moths ago that I realized that my driver's license expires on my birthday this year, August 23rd. At the same time I also realized that come August 23rd, I will be 9 months pregnant! What timing, hah? The thought of getting a picture taken of my swollen face to have on my license for the next four years doesn't sound that great to me. Not even to mention the fact of stating my weight. They certainly wouldn't make you put your current weight if you were about to give birth at any second! Or would they?? Seeing that number for 4 years sounds even less appealing to me than seeing the picture.

Anyway, whenever the thought of this has entered my mind, I quickly try to push it away and not think about it. Of course it's not the end of the world, just one of those things I wasn't looking forward to.

Well, ...........................yesterday I received in the mail the option to renew my license by mail this time around! I was more than EXCITED and RELIEVED! I have never had this mailed to me before and have always just had to go in to get my new licenses. I guess you can do this by mail thing every 8 years in the state of Idaho. So, my little dilemma is solved. They'll send me a new digitized driver's license (w/ my old picture I assume) and there is no place on the application where you update you weight or any of that information, so that will stay the same too! YAY! You better believe that I'll be taking advantage of this renewing by mail option and filling out the form and getting it mailed ASAP!

Happy Birthday to a special guy!

2008-06-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mark. It shows the great husband and dad that he is.

Just a little post to acknowledge that yesterday was my sweetie's birthday! I think he had a really nice day and felt loved. We gave him a DVD he's been wanting and of course, a new book. Mom and Dad Bishop watched our kids and we went out for a fun evening (thanks Mom and Dad). I met him after work and we went to Chinese food. We ate at Yen Ching downtown because we love one of their dishes. The Moo Shu Pork was indeed heavenly and tasted just as good as we remembered. We then went to Edwards (downtown also) and saw Iron Man. Besides a few parts we could have done w/ out right at the beginning, it was a decent show, but not as good as Mark had heard and was hoping. My expectations weren't too high from the start, but I wanted it to be a fun night for him. Our final stop was the Cheesecake Factory where we got some b-day dessert, he loves cheesecake! He got a slice of key lime cheesecake and I got fresh strawberry. It was a super fun night together.

The kids and I love and appreciate Mark so much. He means the world to us and we're so glad that he was willing to step into our lives and to let us be a part of his. He is just perfect for us in so many ways. Mark and I have an ongoing disagreement on who the lucky one is in the situation. We've decided to agree to disagree, but I (along w/ all of you), know who the lucky one really is. The kids and I of course!

Happy 39th Mark! Enjoy your last year of being in your 30's. YIKES!

I like to look for rainbows....

2008-06-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

The other night we saw a beautiful rainbow. It was actually a double rainbow, which I've never seen before. It was one of the biggest and prettiest ones I've ever seen. Rainbows always amaze me. We tried to take some pictures of it, but they don't do it justice at all. I thought I'd share anyway.

A Labor of Love

2008-06-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

It's grass! Not weed free and full quite yet, but it's coming along!The back patio table and grill.

The retaining wall, trees and flowers.

A view from the other side.

The teeter totter in its final resting spot in the backyard.

Our old (new again after a year and a half absence) trampoline.

Our OLD swingset. It can mostly only be used by toddlers. We were going to get a new one, but there seems to be a swing set shortage in Boise. The tether ball we had built for Cooper for his 8th b-day and the stone walk way.

Our backyard has been Mark's "baby" for the past year and a half. From the beginning, he really wanted to do EVERYTHING himself. I was all for paying the money and hiring out the work so it would get done more quickly, but he'd have none of it. Our backyard was an unleveled (kind of shaped like a bowl) plot of dirt and weeds. Mark began by building the fence the first fall we were here with the help of family and friends and then began the daunting task of leveling the backyard w/ nothing but a shovel and his muscles. That's when he built the little stone retaining wall, which I couldn't get the vision of at first, but turned out very nice I think. I think he next moved onto digging the lines for the sprinkler system and laying the pipe (with some more help from a wonderful neighbor) and that's when the backyard looked the worst, it was a dug up mess! After the sprinkler lines were covered it looked much better, although still dirt (which the kids tracked into the house constantly). I think, at that point, we bought the perma bark for the retaining wall and the stones to build the little walkway from the front side of the house to the back yard. We were then ready to plant some grass seed, rather than laying sod, to save some money. It was fall again by this time, making one full year that we'd lived here. This Spring we had a little grass come up, but have had to reseed several times already. It's actually starting to look like a lawn now. We still have a ways to go though. Then a while ago we bought these non producing cherry trees from CostCo and planted them and for a FHE recently we all planted flowers along the back fence. With the grass well under way, and just in time for summer break, Mark decided it was okay to put some of the backyard toys on the lawn. So we put back together our old trampoline, Mark built the airplane teeter totter I posted about previously, we put the tether ball where the kids could actually play with it and also put out our small old rickety swing set where it could get more use. With all of that behind us we were able to give the patio a good cleaning and set up the umbrella for our patio table. Add a pot of flowers and wala - it looks like a nice place to be along w/ being a full functioning backyard for our whole family! We even used our grill for the very first time and made some hamburgers for ourselves last weekend! Unfortunately, our garden didn't make it in this Spring. I guess everything takes time. That's on our list for sure for next Spring and we've yet to seal our fence. There are lots of other projects we'd love to do one day which include: planting more shrubbery, extending the patio (it's quite small), building a patio cover, etc., but for now we're very happy w/ our backyard and the progress we've made. Mark has really had a vision from the beginning, and has done a really great job! Thank you from all of us! I actually enjoy opening the blinds on the back side of the house now! Saying that the kids have also enjoyed the backyard is an understatement. They have practically lived out there the last week or so and so have the neighbor kids. It's far from fancy, but they seem to be having fun w/ what we've got. Here are some pictures. Sorry if they're too many, it's for my journaling purposes also.

Chalkboard Paint

2008-06-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind the times, and have just recently started to hear about chalkboard paint. Ladies in my ward have painted walls in their homes w/ it and their kids love it. My sister-in-law, Janice, has used it in her son's room too. So, last week I got ants in my pants and decided that my kids would love it also (they all like to draw). I went to Walmart and bought all of the supplies and decided which wall I was willing to give up and this weekend Mark went to town on the project for me. What a great hubby I have, don't you think?! It turned out great, we did do a primer coat and three additional coats, but thankfully it is a half wall. I decided on the wall off of my landing coming up the stairs by all of the kids bedrooms. It's kind of hidden, which is perfect. After the drying (all day Sunday) and I think they call it conditioning (this morning) they were finally able to draw on it today. We had a good time! Hopefully it's just the beginning of hours of fun for them. John has been gone on a trip to Yellowstone w/ Grandparents Bishop for a few days and comes home tonight, so we decided to first decorate it w/ a Welcome Home John message from the kids. I'll be sure to post any negative aspects that come about, if any, just FYI. Or maybe you all already have done this?? We did buy some throw rugs to put against the wall that can be thrown in the wash to try and avoid ruining the carpet too badly w/ colored chalk dust. We'll have to see. Here are some pictures of the finished project and the happy chalkboard artists!

Show your pearly whites Seth!

2008-05-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took Seth to the dentist. It is actually the second time he's been. All of the kids went a month or so ago for a cleaning, and that was Seth's first experience w/ the dentist. He did fairly well, but was very unsure. Seth has never had enamel on one of his front teeth. I guess it's something that occurred in the womb when his teeth buds were forming. It wasn't really noticeable at first , but as he's gotten older it's become easier to see and a little bothersome (mostly to me!) When we'd go in to get pictures taken I'd get comments like, "Oh, don't choose that one, look he's got food on his tooth." It was also softening and starting to decay, so it was important it be taken care of anyway. So, yesterday was the big day and I'm happy to report that Seth did really well! He sat very still while they put a little white filling over the area and followed every request that was made of him such as; turn your head this way just a little, open wide like an alligator, etc. He was very trusting (much more so than his first visit) and held the dentist's wrist the whole time. It was quite cute to watch. When it was done, the dentist and the assistant commented that 3 year olds don't generally respond as well as Seth did, so I was happy with our little Sethy! They handed him a mirror to look at his new tooth, but he wasn't too interested and kindly pushed the mirror away. He was more interested in getting his little treat bag they had prepared for him. Here is a before and after picture and one that was just too cute not to share.

Memorial Day 2008

2008-05-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

First off, I wanted to thank you all again for your prayers in our behalf and your nice comments to us in response to our last post. It really touched us and we feel so thankful for supportive and loving family and friends.

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend and hope you guys did too! We left Friday evening for an overnight camping trip w/ 3 other families from our ward. We went to a campsite in Garden Valley called Hot Springs. I really didn't want to go on this camp out at first, but am so glad that I did. Mark was very sweet and tried to make it as comfortable for me as possible. We had fun getting to know some friends from our ward a little better. All of the kids had a great time together also. Right across the street and near the river was a little hot spring that the kids loved getting in. That, and hiking the tall hill behind the campsite, provided most of the entertainment for the kids. We came home a dirty mess, and I hear that's the sign of a successful camping experience. Unfortunately, we only took a few pictures of the kids in the hot spring.

Ella got eaten alive on her forehead and scalp by mosquitoes (and possibly a spider) and has had some swelling in her face the past couple of days. On Sunday her eyes were almost swollen shut. She still has some swelling, but I think it's gone down a bit. Whenever she gets any kind of bite, she seems to get this way, it's just never been in her face before. I guess she's really allergic.

On Sunday evening Seth started throwing up and Mark and I didn't feel that good either. He spent the night throwing up and on Monday seemed a bit better, no throwing up, just low in energy and no appetite. Mark worked on the lawn on Monday and I spent the day trying to get caught up on laundry from camping and a throwing up toddler. Mark also managed to finish putting together this airplane teeter totter we got for the kids a while back at CostCo. They loved it and I'm hoping it'll provide some outdoor entertainment for the kids this summer. Mark is getting our backyard in tip top shape and he has set up our old trampoline for the kids too. Thanks dear!

Memorial day evening we went to the cemetery to Bob's grave to take some flowers. It is always so beautiful and peaceful there. They really do a nice job at keeping it nice year round, but this time of year is especially beautiful! We were glad to be able to go. This Wednesday would have been Bob's 37th birthday, so there's always two reasons we go at Memorial Day. It was a nice long weekend and we always enjoy having Mark around for an extra day too! Once again, we didn't take any pictures. I'll post the few we have from the weekend though.

Blessings

2008-05-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

I feel so blessed to report that all checked out well in our ultrasound this morning. I couldn't help but get teary eyed during my appointment, I felt so grateful and so much comfort. The cyst the baby had was gone, like they thought and we hoped it would be. The ultrasound tech was a lady I never have had before and she was another answer to my prayers. She was so nice and thorough and explained as she went and was very reassuring, just the type of lady I needed doing the scan. I'm always so anxious, so she was great for me and put up w/ all of my worries and questions very well. They re-checked lots of different parts of the baby and things seemed to look as they should. He's still a boy, that was good to hear, and it was fun to watch his movements and to see his facial features again. Thanks for your prayers in our behalf, we appreciate it and I know I can feel the difference.

Mother's Day 2008

2008-05-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there. I hope your day was special, mine sure was. Church was great, as usual, and I got to spend the day w/ Mark and the kids. What more could I ask for?! Maybe to see my mom(s) since it was Mother's Day, well I got to do that too! My mom and grandma came over for a roast dinner, which Mark did ALL of the work for. It was super yummy and it was good to spend a little time with them. We went over to Gunnersons' house in the evening for pie and visited w/ the brothers and sisters there and also celebrated Dorothy Gunnerson's b-day. It's alway nice to be in their home. We saw Mom Bishop on Saturday evening and gave her a little remembrance. It's very hard to fit in seeing 4 moms in one day! RaNae Parker was out of town so I didn't get to see her, or talk to her even, so that made me sad. I tried calling on the run and both Mark's and my cell phones were dead. I hope she had a good day though! I love all of the mothers in my life and am so thankful for each of them. They are each so wonderful and I learn a lot from their examples. I'm not sure how I got so lucky. I'm also very grateful for the chance I have to be a mother. It is what I have always wished for, and I'm blessed to have the wish come true. The fact that my kids are awesome makes it that much sweeter. I really do love each of our children tons, they keep teaching me while I try to teach them. Mark made the day very special for me. He's always so thoughtful, my favorite are his heartfelt cards. I love the things he writes to me. Anyway, here are a few quick pictures. We have a tradition to take pictures before church of the kids and I on Mother's Day. Last year we didn't, and I really missed it. So here are this year's pictures and one of me and my mother from two years ago.

Look what happens when you switch up the photos. Seth still resembles Mark more by 4%, that was no surprise! Good thing Mark's a cutie!

2008-05-03T11:27:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Ancestory - Family photos

Bishop Look-alike Meter

2008-05-03T11:21:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Bishop Look-alike Meter

2008-05-03T10:45:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family history - Family pics

Ultrasound Photos and Explanation

2008-04-25T10:20:00.001-07:00

Sorry, this is the best scanning job I could do. I know they're small. The first is of the profile and the 2nd is a split one (one of each arm and hand) and the last is another split one w/ the little toes on the left and the feet on the right. Use your imagination if you have to.

Just to explain a little about what I mentioned in my previous post about needing to have a f/u ultrasound to monitor something. The baby has a cyst in the left ventricle of his brain that is very small and I guess semi-common. It doesn't affect the brain development or anything really. I guess some adults have had these cysts their whole life and there are no side affects. Almost always they resolve themselves by 24-28 weeks (or the third trimester), though. So the doctor is just going to monitor it. Every thing else in the brain and all the other organs, etc. looked normal and good, thankfully. He said in his almost 30 years of being a doctor he has seen these cysts before and has never had them be a problem. They are called choroid plexus cysts. You can find both scary and reassuring stuff about them on the internet. I guess the real concern is a link between these cysts and Trisome 18 (which is fatal). From what I've learned, one of these cysts along with abnormal findings in an ultrasound and advanced maternal age are reason for concern and an amniocentesis. The doctor says the chance of this baby having the Trisome 18 (chromosome disorder) w/ only an isolated cyst, and everything else looking good on the ultrasound, is very low. I don't even remember the risk, something less than 1% I think, meaning a 99% chance of a healthy baby. About the same that any person has of having a baby w/ a problem. Very, very rarely the ultrasound is clean and the baby ends up still having the chromosome disorder with the only sign being these cysts. The only thing that is 100% is an amnio., but there are risks to the baby in that procedure by itself and it wouldn't change anything that we'd do. It really does sound like the likelihood of a healthy baby is far greater than there being a problem in our situation, so in the meantime, I'll cling to that and have faith (and worry a little because it's what I do best). We're grateful that everything else looked so good and really feel okay about things and happy. At the beginning of the pregnancy Mark gave me a couple priesthood blessings that were neat and we all know that those hold up more than science even, if it's meant to be. Maybe if you could please, just keep the baby in your prayers. Thanks!

TODAY was THE DAY!

2008-04-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

I don't have much time to post as we are on our way to a Science Fair at the school, but for those who I haven't talked to already today and are wondering, we did have our ultrasound. I was SO ANXIOUS/EXCITED about it I hardly slept last night. This baby was by far the wiggliest on ultrasound of any baby so far. The technician kept calling the baby a "stinker" because it was hard for her to get measurements w/ the baby moving around so much. The baby had the cutest profile ever! We even got to see a big yawn and it was just precious! Anyway, most everything checked out good. There is one thing they are going to monitor (by doing an ultrasound again in 4 weeks) and I'll post more about that soon. I'll also ask Mark to scan in the cute ultrasound pictures and post some of those.

Well, enough of referring to the baby as "the baby". We're going to have a BOY! It was very apparent to the tech and to us even. We're happy! Ella took the news pretty good. The expression on her face was classic. A few minutes later she said, "Four brothers, I'd be frustrated if I had 5 brothers!" Pretty cute and she still seems excited. John was quick to share some of the perks of being the only girl w/ her, such as never having to share her room. We've decided well just always stick together, meaning Ella and I.

Anyway, we're happy and I'll post more later.

A little bit of everything

2008-04-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

One of Ella just being cute.

I like this picture!Mark made another car that John raced in a different division.

Cooper's car is in the lead!

Coop showing his car to the audience.

Cooper's pinewood derby car

We took the kids to see John's play last Friday night.

Another picture of John before a show.

Ella and Seth being silly w/ stickers on their forehead.

I feel like this past week or so we have been going like crazy! We go through stages where we take lots of pictures and then we'll not take any for a long time. Well, we're in a picture stage, so I just thought I'd share some of our recent pictures. Tonight John has a cast party and that is it as far as the Music Theater of Idaho goes! We are so excited! He is cast in A Christmas Carol in December, so we'll have to see if we've all recovered by then. John has gotten quite behind on his school work and on piano. It's been hard for him to get everything done. I'm looking forward to a normal routine now, just regular busy. Cooper had pinewood derby this last weekend, and had a lot of fun. He won about half of his races and seemed pleased w/ his thunderbolt race car. John has a big science project due on Thursday (which he's know about for a month, but has been too busy to do anything about) so Mark and him are going to be busy working on that this week. Thursday is also our 20 week ultrasound, so we're very excited for that. I can hardly wait. I just hope everything is healthy and well, I always worry so much. I guess that's not all that uncommon. Hopefully we'll be able to see if we're getting a girl or boy baby. Mark always says he doesn't care as long as it's either of those two. I've been gone all morning on R.S. visits. It's always fun to see new babies and to get to know the new sisters. I now have a messy house to straighten and tons of laundry (the weekend always seems to do that to me no matter how hard I try to stay caught up). I've also got to make a main dish and a dessert for the cast party tonight, it's supposed to be at a park and the weather isn't exactly nice. I'm sure ready for it to really be Spring. Well, I'll post a few of our misc. pictures.

Oliver!

2008-04-14T06:50:00.000-07:00

John in the middle with the Artful Dodger to his right and Oliver to his left.

In past posts I have made mention of John being in the play, Oliver. Well last Friday was opening night and it has been so fun to watch! There were 3 performances last weekend and there are 3 more this weekend (and 4 school performances during the week). Mark and I have been switching off going since it's quite expensive to take the family to each performance. We are taking the kids this weekend though. I was lucky enough to be able to go on opening night. John plays two parts, one of the workhouse kids and one of the pick-pockets in Fagin's Gang. He did such a good job! He knew all of the songs and knew all of the dance steps really well. I was so proud of him up there, he looked like he was having the time of his life. I couldn't help but get a little emotional looking at him up on the stage. It seems like not too long ago he was my little baby, and now he's (partially) grown up and trying new things. Mark said that one night after rehearsals the director said that John was the most polite one of the entire cast. As a mother that made me feel more happy than if he was the lead of the whole show. Overall if has been a good experience for him, just extremely time consuming. I feel it has been worth the sacrifices though. He's made some good friends that he'll miss not seeing when the show is over. I couldn't close this post about Oliver without thanking Mark for his support in picking up John at all hours of the night and even sleeping in the van with him one night when he had to be back for practice at 4:45 a.m. I was lucky enough to take the driving shifts that were at more reasonable hours. John couldn't have done it without Dad! Thank you also to all of our family who have tickets to come and see a performance this weekend. We appreciate your love and support and we hope you'll enjoy the show! How couldn't you enjoy watching over 100 kids who have each worked so hard!?

Better Late Than Never, I guess

2008-04-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

Some of the Gunnerson cousins on the tramp.

Ella in her Easter dress.

Sethy finding an egg by the little windmill.

Coop w/ all of his eggs.

John w/ Grandma Gunnerson behind him.

Grandma Bishop and Becca.

Cooper with Ella, Becca, Celeste and Jonah.

John and Eden looking cute.

I really like this one of Seth for some reason.

Ella looking for an egg.

I'm not doing well at keeping up w/ our blog, but I haven't completely given up yet. I am still struggling to feel good most of the time. The pregnancy sickness has gotten some better, so I'm grateful for that. This pregnancy reminds me of my pregnancy w/ Cooper in some ways. I really struggle w/ breathlessness and feel so weak a lot of the time. I felt that way when I was pregnant w/ him and thankfully it went away after he was born. Of course it is all worth it though.

I thought I would post some pictures from our Easter. We had a nice weekend. We were able to see my mom and grandma on that Friday and then we went to Bishop's house on Saturday for a dinner and Easter egg hunt in the yard. The kids had fun and got plenty of candy. On Sunday we had a really nice Sacrament Meeting, the speakers did a wonderful job. In the afternoon we headed to Gunnerson's place for another yummy dinner and Easter egg hunt in the yard. We enjoyed seeing so much family. For Easter we gave each of the kids candy, of course, and a book. Overall, it was an enjoyable weekend.

Other than that, things haven't been too unusual, busy like normal. John's play he's in begins April 11th, so practices are every evening for a few hours sometimes. He's exhausted (and so are we) but he's loving it and we're excited to watch him put all of the songs he's learned and all of the dance moves he's memorized into action. We had a nice Spring Break. I wasn't feeling too great, so we were pretty low key. We went out to lunch a few times and rented videos and stuff like that. Cooper and Ella had little sleepovers at cousins/friends houses and John had Oliver practice as much as two times a day for a couple of the days of Spring Break. Amy called and wanted to end our Spring Break w/ a bang, so we met her and her kids at Carl's Jr. and had the kids play for a couple of hours. Pretty fun!

Well, I'll upload some of these pictures and hopefully I'll post again before a months time.

Happy Birthday Seth!

2008-02-28T09:06:00.000-08:00

A sweet picture of a sweet boy~taken a few months ago.

Seth blowing out the candles on his 2nd b-day.

Seth and Mom, a little over one year old.

Seth's first Christmas - 10 mos old. Hilarious!

One of my favorite newborn pictures of Seth.

A classic picture of Seth just after he was born.

Three years ago today Seth Gordon Bishop joined our family. What a special little guy he is! He has brought so much love and joy to each of us. He has had his own little personality and opinions since the day he was born. He has always been very inquisitive and full of fun (sometimes mischief). Most everyone agrees he looks like his Daddy, some even call him Mini-Mark. He's a cutie, that's for sure. It's hard to believe how quickly time passes, soon he won't be the baby of our family. It's been rewarding to watch him learn and grow and become quite independent. Just the other week he got Mark's car keys and went out to the garage and started the van. No joke! That gave us quite a scare and we are keeping the car keys away from him much earlier than we thought we'd have to. He's a real smarty, the other day I came downstairs to find that he had made 3 pitchers of a punch type drink mix. He ripped open each of the containers of powder and poured them into the pitchers and then filled each w/ water from the fridge. He watches what you do and then does the same. We'll have to only do good things, because Seth is always watching and discovering. One of my favorite things he does right now is when he says, "Oh goodness!". Your family loves you so much Sethy, we hope your special day is lots of fun!

A good excuse

2008-02-23T16:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry for my absence from blogging. I have a good enough excuse though. I'm pregnant, we found out just after the new year and we're very happy about it. I'm just sick! It's actually better than my other four pregnancies (the throwing up aspect) though I feel plenty sick still. What has thrown us for a loop is I ended up in the hospital for 4 nights w/ blood clots in my leg. This is a problem that I had in my pregnancy w/ Cooper, but didn't have w/ Ella and Seth using a preventative blood thinner. Unfortunately, this time for some reason the medicine didn't prevent them from forming. It wasn't quite as painful as my experience w/ Cooper, since I was aware of the symptoms and caught them earlier, but it was still plenty scary. The threat is that the clots could break off and travel to your lungs, causing real problems. We were blessed to not have that happen and I think my leg is healing and I am on a much higher dose of the blood thinner for the remainder of the pregnancy to hopefully keep any more from forming. As to why I have this problem, they did over a thousand dollars in blood work and genetic testing to see if there was any other reason besides pregnancy (I've never had the problem not pregnant) and so far everything has come back negative. That makes me very grateful, since this is our last baby I hopefully won't deal w/ this again. Anyway, if this was boring to you, hopefully you just skimmed over it, but at least the details and the event are recorded for our families journaling purposes. I hope that my kids and grandchildren never have this problem.

The baby is due September 11th. What a day I know, but I usually have my babies 1-2 weeks early, so I guess it won't matter. I'm about 12 weeks along now. I look forward to feeling better soon. I've really been useless. Taking a shower makes me so nauseated, weird hah? I've picked up a bad habit of watching much more t.v. and playing a game called virus buster on John's Nintendo DS. I hold the family record for a high score of 868. It helps to take my mind off of feeling sick. I'm so excited and look forward to American Idol each week, I haven't missed an episode yet, it's sad I know. Mark has taken such good care of us and our ward was nice enough to bring dinners for a while. We're slowly getting back into the swing of things and the house will recover one day I'm hoping. For now just the bare essentials (like blogging, right?) are getting done. Ella wants a girl baby and since it's our last we think that it would be great for her to have a sister also. We know how sweet baby boys are so that would be nice too, we are just praying for healthy!

The kids are doing well in school and Mark is in training at work for a new department, so he's happy about that. Ella is learning to read and it's fun to see her progress. The boys are still in piano and John's Oliver rehearsals have started. Next week he has practice M-F, it's a crazy schedule since the play isn't until April. He seems to enjoy it though. Thankfully, Cooper isn't in a sport right now. Seth is really talking these days, in complete sentences even! He's a cutie and has been my little buddy while I've been sick. Sorry, no pictures of anything to post.

Anyway, Sethy's b-day is next week, so we'll have to post some pictures and blog again then, but for now just an update.

Catching Up

2008-01-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Wreath for the grave. The kids also wrote notes and drew pictures.The 4 kids at the beautiful cemetery. They loved the winter icicles!

Gunnerson cousins (the cutie babies)

Gunnerson cousins (the boys, those in town)

Gunnerson Cousins (the girls, those in town)

Ella w/ Grandpa George Parker in Mark's new BYU hat

Our Nativity Scene

Steve and Amanda's house on Christmas Eve

Sethy w/ his new toy

Ella w/ her HSM dvd's and her new pink gameboy

Cooper opening his tank from Santa that shoots air soft bb's

John w/ his new piano sheet music

Me w/ my new brown coat from Mark

Mark w/ his Bourne DVD's on Christmas Morning

All of the Gunnerson/Bishop, Thurston, Tanner and Burnett kids

Wow, it's been a long time! I know we don't have a lot of people who check out our blog, but for those who do I thought I should make a new entry (and for our own family's journaling purposes). Christmas and New Years were exhausting, but wonderful. We got to see lots of friends and got to spend some quality time with each of the sides of our families. We have 4 different sides in total. We celebrated Christmas w/ the Gunnerson's on the 23rd of December w/ a Swedish style celebration. The Gunnersons are Swedish, so we had a Swedish type dinner served in different courses and learned more about the Swedish heritage. Bob's sister Christy, and her husbad Jerel, really went to a lot of work to make it a special evening that everyone enjoyed very much. The best part was this DVD slideshow that they put together of our past family Christmas times together dating way back. They gave each of us a copy as a gift, what a keepsake! We went to the cemetery earlier that day to take a Christmas wreath made of bells out to Bob's grave. Our time at the cemetery is always special to us.

We were able to see my mother and grandma and do a little Christmas gift exchange earlier in the month of December before Ella's family birthday party. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of them to post. I was able to see them again shortly after Christmas and we had a nice time visiting again.

On Christmas Eve day we were able to go out to George and RaNae Parker's house in Kuna and have dinner w/ them. It was a quiet afternoon, but it was so good to see them. On Christmas Eve we went to Steve and Amanda's house and celebrated w/ the Bishops. We had more food and Mom Bishop read the Nativity story while the kids acted it out. They were a bit wound up, but cute nonetheless.

Christmas morning at our home was great. It was nice all being together and I love to see the kids excited about their gifts. We went over to Mom and Dad Bishop's house Christmas afternoon.

John had a friend from school over during the break and we also got together w/ the Thurstons, Tanners and Burnetts one day. All of our kids have been friends since birth but we don't seem to see enough of each other now days, so it was great to all get together and let the kids catch up. On New Year's Eve we were able to see some other friends, Roman and Heather, and their family. They are in the process of adopting some children and they'll have 8 kids now! We had lots of good food and conversation and played Settlers together.

Some more of the Parker's (Justin, Mindi and their kids and Gary and his girls) were in town after Christmas, so it was fun to have them over our place for dinner and a game of Cranium. It was nice being with them although the time was short.

Off and on since New Year's we've had sick kids and I have felt sick, so I still don't feel in the swing of things yet, and my house can testify to that. As a matter of fact, the whiteness of the computer screen is making my head hurt and making me feel dizzy, so I think I'll post some pictures and close for now.

Birthday Celebrations

2007-12-20T11:47:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd post a little bit about the things we've been doing the past week to celebrate Ella's birthday. I usually try to celebrate a little early so it's not quite so close to Christmas. Last Saturday Ella had her first friends party. She got to invite 5 friends and we went to Paper Cottage and scrapbooked little photo albums. They were so cute! I had no idea they hosted little b-day parties until my good friend Michelle told me. It was so much fun and all of the girls loved it! Ella doesn't like cake, so she chose Krispy Kreme donuts and chocolate milk. It really was a good time. One of the little girls met us there, but I drove the rest of them and discovered 5 little girls can be very LOUD and super giggly in the car.

On Sunday we had family over for cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. That was great also. The cousins played a few little games like Pin the Tail on the Donkey and trashed the house. That's always the sign of a good time, a trashed house, right?! Here are a few of the pictures from our birthday activities.

Happy Birthday Ella My Ella

2007-12-20T08:09:00.000-08:00

Mark often times calls Ella, Ella My Ella. Well, today is Ella our Ella's 6th birthday! We'd like to wish her a very happy day! She is a very special little girl to us. She was the mildest, sweetest baby in the world, my easiest by far. She was very content and had big gummy grins for everyone. She is my miracle baby, as she was conceived after Bob's chemotherapy when doctor's thought his body would not be able to help us have more children. We were blessed to have her join our family while he was in remission (he got sick again when she was just 7 months old). Her gentle nature was a blessing to me while her dad was sick and dying. Because she only nursed, she would stay with us in the ICU (where there is a policy of no children) and the nurses would comment they didn't even know there was a baby in the room. I never thought I'd have a daughter, I really felt I was going to have all sons, so she was a pleasant surprise. Even after two ultrasounds said she was a girl I didn't believe it and decorated in yellow and brought a yellow outfit to the hospital "just in case". Sure enough she's all girl as she loves dolls, dress-up, princesses, make-up and jewelry, barbies and singing and dancing to High School Musical. Away from home Ella is very quiet and shy, but at home she holds her own with her brothers and has gotten to be quite spunky since she's started kindergarten. We all love her so much! She brings a little bit of heaven to our family each and every day. Happy Birthday sweet Ella!

Ella's Winter Dance Recital

2007-12-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

Gotta love the tummy

You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile

Ella and her good friend Abby Harmer

Ella with Grandpa and Grandma Gunnerson after her performance

What a fun and busy day we've had! Tonight was Ella's first dance recital. It was at Caldwell High School in their Auditorium. She danced really well and really knew her routine. She's been taking this Kinderdance ballet/tap class for the past three months or so and unfortunately, dance may not be her thing. She doesn't really love it, so she's opted to not take it anymore, we were just finishing out with the recital. It was a fun experience! With her being my only girl, I am obviously not up on the etiquette of dance recitals. Almost everyone there had bouquets of flowers for their little performers, we had nothing to give Ella afterwards. I felt bad, but I don't think she thought too much of it. She danced to a song from Annie called, You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile. Here are a few pictures of our little dancer (soon to be a non-dancer).

Cooper's First Piano Recital

2007-12-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

Calvin

Bailey

Cooper

Cooper has been taking piano lessons for a few months now and had his first recital this morning. It was at an Assisted Living home in Boise, where they played for the elderly that live there. It was a really nice place. He did well and played Silent Night. Here is a little picture of him and a video of him playing his piece. It was so fun to see so many old ward members and friends. Amy and Dwight were there, Bailey and Calvin each played and did well too! I've put up a couple pictures of them. Sorry the video is so poor in quality, it's just from our camera, but you can hear him play at least.

John's Christmas Piano Recital

2007-12-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight was John's piano recital. The Christmas recital is always my favorite to go to, I love listening to all of the holiday music. John played, Joy to the World, and did a great job! He is going to play the same piece as a musical number in Sacrament meeting this Sunday, he's just going to slow it down a little bit and play the ending different so it's a little more reverent. He really loves playing the piano and likes to perform as well. He doesn't even seem to get nervous, I'm not sure where that comes from, certainly not from me. Here is a little video of him playing tonight.

Christmas ~ Our favorite time of the year

2007-12-04T07:41:00.000-08:00

It certainly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. I thought I'd put up a picture of our tree this year. As pretty as those fancily decorated trees look with a theme and everything, I like our tree w/ lots of different decorations, each w/ a meaning and story behind them, decorated by the kids. The Gunnerson Family is really into ornaments and we have ornaments from Bob that were his from his childhood. Great Grandpa and Grandma MacKay would give their grandchildren ornaments for Christmas each year. My own kids have quite a collection started for themselves already also. We have so many fun ornaments that we can't put them all on the tree each year. It makes me sentimental each year when we get out the ornaments and I think about who gave them to us and remember those Christmas times and other events in our lives such as marriage and the birth of children, etc. Anyway, I love our tree this year and I love to sit in the room in the dark and quiet w/ only the tree lights on, there's something about it that is so peaceful to me.

We braved the mall last weekend and went to see Santa. Unfortunately, Cooper was at a friend's house so he wasn't w/ us. We took Ella's friend and our next door neighbor, Priscila. We had a good time and got dessert at the mall too. Amazingly, Seth wasn't afraid of Santa, and was very proud of himself for sitting on his lap. He was hugging his baby tightly, though. John still doesn't think he's too old to sit on Santa's lap. I guess he has the rest of his life to think that, right? Well, here are a few of the pics.

Just a hello

2007-11-26T15:00:00.000-08:00

For the few people that check our blog from time to time, we're still alive and well. I hadn't realized that it's been almost two weeks since I've last made an entry. Our Thanksgiving was really nice! I hope it was for you guys as well! We've had family in town on the Bishop side, thus the lack of blogging. It's been great, just busy! First, Mark's brother and his wife, Brian and Kamber, were in town for a few days all the way from England. It was great to see them and their daughter, Samantha. We got home late every night they were in town, but it was sure nice to catch up with them. Then Mark's sister and her children came to town from Utah. It's always fun to see them. We had Thanksgiving dinner w/ the Bishops (actually Mark's mom's side, the Swensons) at a nearby church and played games, watched movies and hung out w/extended family on that side Thanksgiving evening. It was a great holiday filled w/ family, the best kind.

Friday morning Mark braved the Black Friday crowds and went out shopping. He was in line at a department store by 6 am and we were able to get a great deal on a camera for my mom for Christmas! Thanks Mark! Mark's parents kept the kids on Friday night (we can't thank them enough). Seth even stayed over for his first sleepover. We went to the mall and picked up some pictures of Ella's and went to dinner at the Macaronni Grill and then watched the BSU game. That game was pretty bad, but we still had a great time together. Saturday we went swimming at the YMCA w/ our family for one of the cousin's birthday parties and went out to eat at Costa Vida (I think it's called) afterwards. That place has great food! Last night we had tithing settlement and then had family from the Parker side that we haven't see for two months over for dinner. It was fun to see them again. On top of all of these things, we've managed to put up our Christmas tree and set out our Christmas decorations. We've even put some lights up outside for the first time at this house, it's looking pretty festive around here.

Mark had the day off work today so we got lots of stuff accomplished. He spent the day cleaning out the garage and it looks clean and organized. Thanks again, Mark! You're great! I got some odds and ends stuff done. Just little things that feel so nice to cross off your list and make you feel a little more organized. It's been a great two weeks. We toted the camera around every place we went and took no pictures! Shame on us! We'll have to do better in the month of December!

Our Cutie

2007-11-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

This was Seth on Sunday before our Stake Conference wearing a new Sunday outfit. I think he looks so darn cute and grown up in this picture and wanted to share it!

He's cast!

2007-11-14T08:51:00.000-08:00

John's been asking for a while if he could be in a play or some kind of drama class, but I didn't know how to go about signing him up for anything like that. Then one day earlier in the school year he came home w/ a paper that was advertising upcoming auditions for Music Theatre of Idaho's 2008 season. Since he hasn't done a sport or anything extra (besides piano) since last Winter, we surprised him by signing him up and he's been so excited ever since. Music Theatre of Idaho(MTI) is a local music theatre that performs at the Nampa Civic Center, so it's much closer for us than anywhere in Boise. We had John take some classes through MTI the past few weeks where he got a little bit of instruction on how to audition and received some voice coaching as well. Friday night were the auditions. They don't let the parents go in, but after a short audition, they called #148 for a call back audition the next morning, and that was John! He was so excited, and we were too! Never having done anything like this before, it was a new experience for all of us (Mark is the only one of us that's ever been in a play or musical). So we went back bright and early Saturday morning and John auditioned again. It was funny, because they were teaching them dance steps while singing this time. Once again, I couldn't see how John was doing, so I spent a lot of time just waiting. They called him back for final call backs later Saturday evening. Those auditions were almost two hours long and once again, I waited. When we left they told us to check their website for the cast lists on Monday evening. We checked on Monday evening and the website said to check back Tuesday evening. We were all anxiously waiting to see what, if anything, they were going to cast John as. Finally, at about 10 last night they posted the lists and John was cast to be in the production, Oliver, as a workhouse kid (I think there are 50-100 of them) and also to be in Fagin's gang. He was also cast to have a small part in, A Christmas Carol. I'm not sure what, it just said various speaking and solo ensemble roles. We're pretty excited. It'll be a great way to introduce him to theatre and to see if it's something he's going to enjoy as much as he hopes to. We're looking forward to watching him next year in these productions. They are going to be in April and December, which is great because we'll have some time off from rehearsals, etc. in the middle of the year. Just thought I'd share our good news. John's sure stoked!

Parent /Teacher Conferences

2007-11-09T17:06:00.001-08:00

I always look forward to Parent/Teacher Conferences to see how the kids are doing in school. It's always interesting to hear about the way they are at school, it can be so different from how they act at home. I love getting to know their teachers a little bit better, too. I am quite appreciative of school teachers. As I have spent a little more time in the classroom this year than in years past, I am amazed at the patience and genuine love of children that teaching requires.

So, Wednesday I had the kids conferences. I started in Ella's classroom. I've received little notes from her teacher this year that say she still doesn't talk much, but smiles a lot. I guess this is still the case. She says very little in class, but is always happy and according to her teacher her shyness hasn't interfered with her abilities. She scored about as low as you could for the state assessment tests (under grade level). She didn't know the people in the classroom who were doing the testing, so she wouldn't say the letters they were asking her if she knew. When her teacher saw her test scores she was puzzled and went and tested Ella on all of her lower case and capital letters and indeed she knew all of them. She knew them last year in pre-school even. She just wouldn't talk for the testing people, oh well! She is loving school, making new friends, and learning lots, so that's what counts.

Cooper's doing well in third grade. Letter grades in our school don't begin until 4th grade, so he got straight m's (for meet's expectation). He received one M-, for being a little too"chatty" as his teacher put it. Ms. Lords said that he makes her and the class laugh on a daily basis. I was a little surprised by that, because even though he's not nearly as shy as Ella, he's beginning to be really self conscious and doesn't like to stand out in any way. He's making lots of friends this year and most of what he comes home talking about is the sports he plays at recess. A few weeks ago I got a call from the office saying I needed to come and pick up Cooper because he'd fallen playing soccer and his two top teeth went through his bottom lip and they thought he needed stitches. When I went to get him and on our way to Primary Health he said, "My friend said at least I made the goal!"

John's loving this charter school much more than he thought he would. He has made two really good friends, Spencer and Adam. Last year it took him a while to make any good friends, so I'm glad they came quicker this year. He continues to do well academically and they are talking about having him do math with the 7th graders. Math has always been his strong point. When I was in the office signing in the other day to volunteer, the principal had me remind her who my children were. When I mentioned John's name she said, "Oh, the kid w/ the amazing ISAT score in Math." (mom's are allowed to brag a little, right?) Anyway, it made me feel good. It's fun to see your kids happy and developing their strengths and overcoming their weaknesses. We look forward to another good quarter of school.

Family in town

2007-11-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

Seth and Mom

We celebrated Aunt Leslie's b-day, too!

The cousins having Pizza together.

Payton and Ella w/ Aunt Tammy! She's really a fun aunt!

Tammy w/ cutie Clarie

We've had a crazy busy week. It's been really good, just busy. Last Friday Tammy (our sister in law on the Gunnerson side) came into town from New York. We were sad Tom and the kids couldn't make it, but it was great to spend time with her. When ever someone comes into town it's fun because everyone hangs out and you get to see those who live close by too, but don't see very often because of busy schedules. Anyway, we mostly just talked and laughed. Some fun highlights were: the sisters went to lunch together at The Cheesecake Factory (thank you Grandma Dorothy for babysitting), a few of us went to The Big Bun Drive Inn for lunch a few days later for the infamous R&R (a great hamburger w/ mushrooms and sprouts), we went shopping and I found Ella the cutest pair of pink boots at the Children's Place for only $4.99, for FHE Monday night we all went to see The Bee Movie, and we had an early Thanksgiving dinner together while Tammy was here w/ turkey and all the fixings. Good times! I'm looking forward to more times with family as the the holidays are approaching.

Sleeping Buddies

2007-11-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

A couple of items to note about this picture: 1)When will Ella ever stop sucking her thumb while sleeping? She doesn't do it much during the day anymore because of school, at least that's good. 2) Seth has always slept with his arms up like this. In my 20 week ultrasound with him, the technician commented on how he was sleeping with his tiny arms up by his face and that was also her most comfortable way to sleep. I think it's great that he slept that way in the womb and still does it. 3) Don't sleeping babies/kids always look so sweet and peaceful. It can be a bit deceiving! Just kidding, of course.

On Sunday, John and Cooper were gone for a little while so after church Mark and I just had Seth and Ella. They were little buddies all afternoon. We all took a Sunday nap. Mark and I dozed while Ella and Seth watched a movie at the foot of our bed and when the movie was over, we woke up and they both fell asleep. We had to get a picture, they looked so precious.

Two Tin Men, Glenda the Good Witch, a cheerleader, a dalmatian and Tigger too!

2007-11-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

I really love this picture!
The older kids show Seth how it's done!

The face paint itched Cooper's face too much, so opted to wash it off for Trick or Treating.
Have you ever seen a cuter Tigger?
Have you ever seen a cuter dalmatian?
Our two tin men and our good witch, before leaving for school.

Halloween's over, yay! Now we can move on to the holidays that are my favorites, Thanksgiving and Christmas. For some reason I am more excited than normal about the holidays this year. I am really looking forward to good times with family.

Anyway, we had a good Halloween day yesterday. At school, the kids have been learning about The Wizard of Oz all month. They read the book (older classes read to the younger ones) and most classes watched the movie, too. So for Halloween, they had to come dressed as characters from the book. John and Cooper were each the tin man. Neither of them wanted to be this, but it was the easiest and the cheapest. Ella was Glenda the good Witch, because Glenda basically looks like a fairy or princess, and we already had costumes for that. They all looked pretty good. Seth and I took treats to all three of their classes and got to see them and their classmates. It was fun. In Ella's class I helped with the center where the kids had to read a sight word and then they got to try and stick the wart (a small piece of clay) to the witches nose while closing their eyes. I love to be in the classroom.

Our ward didn't have a trunk or treat, so this was the first year in so long that we actually went trick or treating. We just walked around our neighborhood and the kids really scored with handfuls of candy, versus a piece or two, at most of the doors. It was fun to visit with neighbors and be out and about. The boys were the tin men in the evening still and Ella was a cheerleader. Earlier in the year we had bought her a cheerleader costume on clearance.

We had Mom and Dad Bishop over for dinner and for the evening. We really enjoyed being with them. It was a last minute invitation, and I'm glad they were free and able to make it. I made White Chili for dinner and Mark made some great cornbread muffins. It was all very good. Dad Bishop stayed and handed out candy here while the rest of us went Trick or Treating. Afterwards, we came home and warmed up with some hot chocolate, John's favorite!

Seth loved Halloween this year and it was so much fun to watch him. The first part of the day he was a dalmatian, but by the time we went to the school he had taken that off and wanted to be Tigger. So we just changed costumes and added some whiskers and he looked adorable. He was Tigger the rest of the day. He walked on his own the whole time we were out trick or treating and held his little pumpkin full of candy the whole time too. What a big boy he's becoming! He really got the hang of it and would even say thank you some of the time. He looked so cute running up to the doors. If there were scary decorations in the yard or by the front door, he went straight to Grandma Bishop for comfort. Forget Mom and Dad when Grandma and Grandpa are around. I love it that he loves them. Anyway, it was a good day and here are a few of the pictures.

Champs!

2007-10-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

Cooper's football team has been undefeated all season and Saturday was their championship game. It was big time for them, they played at Nampa High School in Bulldog Stadium. They had a real running time clock and score board and an announcer. They even announced the players at the start of the game and everything! They won 20-6, making them the champions for Pee Wee football in the Nampa Pal league! Way to go Gladiators! Cooper had a great time playing his first year of tackle football. He'll probably do it again next season. I'm sure glad it's over for now though, practice four nights a week and Saturday games are a big commitment. Cooper played the position of corner back all year. Since he played defense he never got the ball too much, but ran it a little a time or two. Most of his accomplishments have been by way of some good tackles for his team and one fumble recovery. He's also pretty speedy! He made us proud and we're so glad that he had so much fun. For the championship game on Saturday, Cooper had 24 family members there to support him. It was quite a cheering section. Thank you to everyone who came and showed their love for Cooper. Mark got some GREAT action shots of Cooper and some pictures of all of the family too. Thanks so much, dear!

Babies here, Babies there, BABIES EVERYWHERE

2007-10-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn Clarise.

This shot was too cute not to put in. Seth LOVED the baby! He wasn't jealous at all wanting me to hold HIM, he just wanted to hold HER.

Mark's wonderful artsy shot of Baby Brooklyn's feet in my palm.

We've had a lot of baby news in our family lately, and we can't get enough! We are the proud new aunt, uncle and cousins to a new baby boy and a new baby girl. We had sister in laws expecting on all three sides of our family and two have made their arrivals safe and sound. On the Parker side, Sara and Adam had their 3rd. A little boy who they named Spencer Allen on October 17th. They live in California so we've only seen pictures, but he's so cute and looks a lot like his siblings, Noah and Gracie. He was quite big, weighing in at a little over 9 lbs. They live about 10 miles from those California fires, hopefully the air quality is okay for him. On the Gunnerson side, Becky and Jamie had their 3rd also, and they named her Brooklyn Clarise. She was 7lbs. 1oz. and is such a doll. She was born October 25th, yesterday. They actually live in Nampa, so we all got to go to the hospital and meet her last night. We each took a turn cuddling her. She has such delicate little features. Her big siblings, Payton and McKade were sure proud. We have included some pictures of her. I couldn't figure out how to post the ones sent to us of Spencer, darn. You'll have to take our word for it that he's a cutie too. Finally, on the Bishop side Brian and Kamber are expecting their second in March and announced yesterday that they're having a boy! We're very excited for them! They put the cutest little ultrasound picture of his profile on their blog and it looked so sweet. We're anxiously awaiting March to be able to see him. We won't get to meet him until summer though, they live in England. There sure is a special spirit that comes w/ newborns. We are excited to have these new little ones in our family. We wish them lots of health and happiness in their lives.

A game of tag!

2007-10-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

So, the game of 'tag' exists in the blogging world too, apparently, because I have been tagged and am now 'it'. I knew I never liked playing the game tag! But here I go, because I do like to read the interesting facts about themselves that others have put on their blogs. However, I will not be able to tag ANYBODY, because all of the other bloggers I know (which aren't a lot) have all been tagged already. Sorry, I can't keep it going. That is one of the reasons I never entered a PIF, if I were to have won and had to do a PIF myself, I don't have many that read my blog or would comment. Anyhow....

I am an only child and growing up I wanted a sibling in the worst way. I did get a puppy for my 9th b-day and named her Savanna. I would dress her in my Cabbage Patch clothes and would even have b-day parties for her and invite my neighbor friends over. My mom even humored me and made her a cake one year. Savanna ate some of it and then threw it up. When she got sick of me, she'd hide under my mom's bed and growl at me when I'd try to climb under and pull her out. Poor dog. She didn't die until after I was married. She was a good friend for me, but I still wish I'd had a brother or sister. Now I have lots of brother and sister in laws, and the Parker family are like siblings to me, so that's great and I'm blessed to have them in my life!
I have no musical talent and would give anything to be able to sing well or to play the piano or violin! I have Katherine McPhee's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", that she sang on American Idol, and I lip sinc to it and pretend that it's my voice and that I am performing for people and they are blown away at my beautiful voice. Ha!
My nickname is "LuLu". My family gave me this nickname as a toddler. I think it stemmed from one of my favorite dolls who came from the store with a name and it was "LuLu". My mom and uncles still occasionally call me this. I don't really mind it. They also call me just "Lu".
Even after we moved from California to Idaho when I was eight years old, I'd go back to California every summer and spend a couple of months with my uncles. They would take me to the Speedway and I loved it! I had the hugest crush on one of the racers, Bobby Schwartz, and was so excited when I got his autograph. Currently, I have zero interest in racing or the speedway (or Bobby Schwartz).
I have a thing for organization. Some refer to it as OCD. My house isn't always the cleanest as far as when I've last mopped etc., but it's always pretty tidy. I don't like it and can't relax unless things are put away and in order. Everything has a place! I can't stand it when I don't know where something is and can't find it. When my 3 older kids put away their own laundry and make their beds, I have to secretly go back and straighten the beds up and look in the drawers to make sure the clothes are put away the way I like them. I know, it's wacky!
I'm fascinated by the ocean. Not really swimming in it, but watching the waves. I could sit and do this for hours. I also love pictures w / the ocean and crashing waves in them. I like lighthouses, too. Mark and I went to the Oregon Coast for our honeymoon and stayed right on the beach in Seaside and Depot Bay and I loved to watch the water. I love the sound of the waves. The ocean is amazing!

Jack 'o' Lanterns

2007-10-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Cooper has football practice Monday evenings which makes FHE hard, so occasionally we've tried to have it on Sunday evenings. However with the season changing it has started to get dark earlier, so his practices end at a better time for us to still have a family night. So last night we decided to carve our pumpkins for FHE. I had hoped to go as a family to the Berry Ranch nearby and go on a hayride and pick out our pumpkins, but it just wasn't happening. One of Mark's deacons grew pumpkins this year and was selling them to make money for his Eagle Scout project, so we decided to buy our pumpkins from him. The kids had fun picking one out and have been looking forward to carving them. We had a fun time together. Cooper only cut himself once and it was tiny and hardly bled (we let the boys try and carve their own). I helped Ella and Mark helped Seth. Seth thought this was the greatest thing we'd ever done and loves HIS little pumpkin. After we were done we took them outside and lit them all. The kids loved it! Dad's/Seth's pumpkin got voted as the scariest. John's pumpkin has two sides, so he can be scary or happy. With the marker we were using to draw the faces Ella wrote all over the back of hers. She's learning how to write her middle and last name and will take any opportunity she can get to write Ella Kayt Gunnerson on something. When we came back inside from lighting our pumpkins out front, Seth was walking around w/ the black permanent marker in one hand and the box of matches in the other! That's our boy, destructo, as we sometimes call him! Well, we did manage to have some fun, get everything cleaned up and the kids in bed all at a decent hour. Success!

Wolf Badge

2007-10-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Cooper pinning the Wolf pin onto my sweatshirt. I treasure this collection of scout pins from my boys.
Our cub master Bro. White, presenting Cooper w/ his Wolf badge. Do you like my stylish yellow den leader shirt under my sweatshirt???
At pack meeting we played a couple games of tug of war. Not too long after this shot was snapped, the dad's pulled the boys over the line and they fell like dominoes.

On Saturday we had our monthly pack meeting and Cooper was awarded his Wolf Badge. He earned it by his b-day in August, but because of football we missed September's pack meeting so they saved it until October to present him with it. He really likes cub scouts and has been eager this first year to pass off requirements. I hope his enthusiasm continues as he moves on to Bears. A huge thanks to Grandma Bishop who passed off several requirements with him. Last year I started the kids in Vallivue schools at the beginning of the school year and our house didn't close until October, so Mom Bishop helped me out by picking Cooper up from school most days. When John got out of school an hour later we'd pick up Cooper, and in their time together Grandma and Cooper would do homework and scouts. What a fun grandma! My calling in the ward is as the Wolf den leader, so I was able to be his leader for the past year. It really was a lot more fun than either of us anticipated. He actually asked if I could move up to Bears with him and continue to be his leader. That made me feel good and is a good sign I'd say (coming from Cooper who isn't affectionate and whom it once nearly killed to say he thought I was pretty). Anyway, we were proud of him! It's always fun for me to have them pin the mother's pin on me. Being the mother of boys is great! We've got lots more scouting ahead of us before it's all said and done. Happy Scouting!

He's a Deacon!

2007-10-14T13:46:00.001-07:00

Today has been a GREAT day and we have felt a special spirit! Mark ordained John a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood and Grandparents Bishop and Grandparents Gunnerson were both able to come and be with us. After Sacarament Meeting we went into the Bishop's office and all talked for a little while with the Bishop before and after the ordination. It felt really personal and was a special time. Mark did a wonderful job of ordaining John. I feel so blessed to have a husband who is a worthy priesthood holder and to have a son who is eager to choose the right. We missed our Grandparents Parker and my Mom and Grandma who couldn't be with us. Here are a few of the pics.

Our Ballerina

2007-10-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

Warming up w/ stretches. Ella is the blondie in a black skirt.

I can't remember which position this is. Amanda???

I love this picture!

The girls danced w/ scarves and when the music stopped they were supposed to freeze.

The three ballerina amigos (Dallyce, Abby and Ella)

Ella has been taking dance for the last month or so from Canyon Dance Academy near our house. She loves it! It is her first time taking lessons of any sort (besides swim lessons) so we're very excited! She goes every Wednesday after school for an hour to a Kinderdance class where she is learning tap and ballet. There are two friends of hers from school and church that attend the class also and we carpool together, which works nicely. Their names are Dallyce and Abby. This week is observation week where the parents can watch their children during class time and take pictures. I've been anxiously awaiting this day so I could see my little girl dance. It was so cute and so much fun to watch. I love a little girl in tights and a leotard, especially Ella because of her round little tummy. Here are a few pictures and a little video.

John's party

2007-10-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

John's had a good birthday! Since we've already done all of our celebrating, it was a pretty low key day. I made him his favorite dinner of steak and mashed potatoes (the boy has good taste) and then we were off to piano lessons. Later in the evening, we had Grandparents Bishop and Grandparents Gunnerson over for cake and ice cream. The two neighbor kids came over also. John received a few calls and happy b-day messages via the internet. He appreciated them all, especially the Hallmark e-card from Steve and Amanda. He's watched that quite a few times now. Here are a couple pictures of this evening. I was going to take pictures of our dinner, but forgot.

John through the years

2007-10-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

newborn

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

7 years old

8 years old9 years old

10 years old11 years old12 years old

My firstborn baby is 12 years old! I can hardly believe it. I feel a wide range of emotions from reflective, sentimental and sad to happiness and excitement. I'm sad that time is passing so quickly and he's only got 7 more years in our home before he's off to bigger and better things. I'm sad that I'll never get to hold him as a baby again. At times I wish that I could have just a few hours with each of my kids as newborn babies again. That would be so wonderful. I'm so happy that he's going to receive the priesthood and become a deacon. How very special that is. I hope that he strives to always be a worthy priesthood holder. I'm excited for all of the opportunities that await him as he becomes a youth and enters these years. John is such a great son. He is so responsible, honest, and sweet. He's one of my only children that doesn't get embarrassed when I kiss him! He's a good friend and student. He has a sweet spirit and soft disposition. He tries hard in all he does. On top of all of this, he's very funny! We LOVE YOU with ALL of our HEARTS, JOHN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON! These are some pictures of John through the years from babyhood to the young man he is today. I'll be sure to post more pictures and entries as we have a little family party for him and he is ordained on Sunday.

Our Bishop family in Utah

2007-10-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

Sweetheart Connor, in his new glasses.
Having lunch before we left, (Seth, Allie w/ two suckers, Ella and Eric). In the background is Tyler, Janice, Kade, John and Ashton (in the high chair).
Sweet little Ashton. She's 18 months old.
Seth and Ashton happily played together in Ashie's crib.

Going to Conference was great, but so was seeing our family! Mark has two brothers and one sister and their families that all live fairly close to each other and we were able to see all of them while we were there. On Friday night, Janet and Loren and their kids, Dallen and Katie, and Jay and Janice and their two, Connor and Allie, came over for a great dinner of pizza and salad. We don't see Loren and Janet very often, so that was a special treat and we're so glad that they were able to make it. We were so busy visiting, that we completely forgot to take pictures of them. Darn. We spent Saturday evening together as well, while the older guys were gone. We had spaghetti (with Janice's homemade meat balls) and ice cream, and did some more visiting. The cousins had so much fun together. Really, so much fun! It was sad to leave. Cooper was almost in tears, and Eric (Brent and Jen's little one who is almost 4) was in tears! It was hard to leave everyone. Paige was great to do crafts with Ella, sleep on the floor by her both nights, and even include her when she had a friend over. Ella loved it! She also enjoyed playing with Allie. Cooper and John loved playing with Tyler and Connor and Kade was nice enough to spend some time playing board games and Nintendo DS with the boys. They ate it up! Seth loved Ashton and Eric and was at ease and made himself quite at home. Little Ashton let me put two of the tiniest pig tails in her hair. Adorable. Brent and Jen's oldest, Matt, is 17 and was headed off on a date to Sadie Hawkins the evening we got there. That was fun to see! We sure had a nice time and appreciate Janice for changing her work schedule so she could spend so much time with us and Brent and Jen for their hospitality and for making it possible for us to go to conference by watching the kids for us. By the way, did I mention that the food was great!? Jen went all out, pancakes Saturday morning and cinnamon rolls Sunday morning. It was delicious! We sure love our family!

General Conference

2007-10-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

Two handsome boys in front of the waterfall at the Conference Center.
Outside of the AMAZING Conference Center.
The four of us excited to head off to Conference.
A family picture before we left for Conference.

We had the most wonderful opportunity to attend General Conference this weekend! During last April's conference John made mention that that was the only thing he wanted for his 12th b-day, to attend General Conference. We took that to heart and were able to get tickets through our stake for the Saturday afternoon session. We stayed in Pleasant Grove with Mark's brother and his wife and their family (Brent and Jenalyn) . They were kind enough to watch Ella and Seth, since you have to be at least 8 years old to go to conference. It was a dreary, cold and rainy day but the spirit was strong and our hearts were warm. They like you to be seated at least 1/2 hour before the session starts, so we were just chatting and all of a sudden things quieted and everyone stood up and President Hinckley walked in and waved his cane at everyone and took his seat. It was a really neat feeling of reverence! I also loved how I felt when the audience arose and sang the rest hymn. There is always a powerful feeling that accompanies that many people singing at once. I went there with a prayer in my heart that the boys would be able to feel the spirit and recognize what that felt like. I believe my prayer was answered! My two favorite speakers actually spoke in that session (Elder Nelson and Elder Holland). Pretty lucky, hah? Cooper and I headed back to Pleasant Grove after the session and Mark's brother and his two sons met Mark and John for the Priesthood session. None of them had tickets for that session, but they stood in the standby line and with 10 minutes to spare Mark and John made it in. Brent, Matt and Kade were too late, so they watched in the tabernacle. They met up afterwards though, and went out for dinner. It was a special memory that our family will treasure and we're so grateful that John's b-day wish was fulfilled!

Funny Faces

2007-10-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

I love it when I go to download and save some pictures from our camera to the computer, and I'm surprised by random out of the ordinary pictures taken by my husband. These are such pictures. I thought they were too cute not to share.

My favorite quote

2007-10-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

The General Relief Society Meeting last Saturday evening was fabulous! I went with 5 other ladies from my ward. Our stake combined with the Middleton Stake and we had a punch and cookie social afterwards. I really enjoyed listening to all of the speakers. The new General R.S. Presidency seems great. As always, President Monson gave a wonderful talk. There was one quote towards the beginning of his talk that I absolutely loved. He said it in speaking about the General R.S. Presidency and the spirit they brought to the meeting. He commented on how thankful he was for their parents and leaders as young girls. It made me think of Ella. Nobody really knows what lies ahead for her, what she'll accomplish or how she'll be. I have many hopes and dreams for her though, mostly of her becoming a wife and mother and remaining a faithful daughter of God all of her days. Every woman, even those who are accomplished or well known, were once ordinary little girls and those who loved and cared for them had no clue of the ladies they were going to someday be. I hope I am doing all I can for Ella to help her live up to her potential. As a matter of fact, I loved this quote so much that I printed it out, framed it and put it in her room. This is it.

Some inside projects from the last year

2007-09-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

Going up our stairs are the only vaulted ceilings we have, so I had this idea to use the wall space and hang some of my favorite mostly older family pictures. I am a big fan of the vinyl letting on walls and boards and have words and phrases scattered all over the house. I was particularly pleased with how this wall going up the stairs turned out. It's nice to see all these pictures of such special people each and every time I go up and down the stairs.
Our front room. Some think of it as a waste of space, but I love having a nice room that doesn't get too messy. It's great for when people stop by and things like that. I like that it has the piano in it and not a t.v. and toys. I like to go in there and just sit sometimes.
We have a RED wall! I've always wanted a red wall and love the way they look whenever I see them. It took a lot of courage for me to actually do it in our house though, but as you can see we painted part of the family room red. I'm still not sure I love the tone of red (I was trying hard to not end up with a purple red), but it's Mark's favorite.
Ella's room is one of my favorites in the house! We painted it the softest pink color. It is my favorite choice of color of all the painting we've done in this house. I love the color of the room when the sun is coming in. Walking down the hall it always catches my eye. We were able to get Ella some new furniture when we moved in too. Gotta love Target and their Shabby Chic line! Mark made her the picket fence headboard a couple of years ago, Ella and I love it!
We finally got a headboard and some bedroom furniture!!! This is our bedroom and the lovely quilt and pillow shams Mom Bishop made us for our wedding. You can't see in this picture, but we painted an accent wall a sage green color when we first moved in. I really like how it turned out and it is a peaceful room to me.

We've put in a lot of time and work to get the inside of the house the way we want it and it's pretty much done for now. Probably the most recent project I've done is decorating the plant shelves in the kitchen. I should have taken a picture, I guess. Our kitchen is a cheery yellow color. It was fun to pick the colors for the walls and the curtains, etc. I love to decorate! I'm not the best at it, but I really do enjoy it. Making this house "our home" has been really rewarding to me. Today was a good day to take some pictures and post them because we're coming up on our one year anniversary of living here and the house was clean (at least for what pictures can pick up). We're grateful to be here in this area, ward and house!

MARK, my hard worker

2007-09-28T12:17:00.001-07:00

Mark designed this stone path at the side of the house just this week. It is an area that tends to always be a muddy mess. We are going to try and move some more dirt in that area before we plant the grass to raise it up a bit. That's where the trash cans are, so it'll be nice to have a clean stone path to walk on when taking the garbage out.
This picture isn't the best and our garage is a bit cluttered, but these are the great wooden shelves Mark built and installed in the garage going down both sides. Towards the front he's built himself a workbench and shelf. It's nice to have a place to put all of our things. I love having these shelves because they make accessing our rubbermaids a lot easier than if they were piled on top of each other.

Mark put together this small, stone retaining wall. We're going to put perma bark (it's sitting in a big pile in our driveway waiting to be moved back there) in the area by the fence and plant some shrubs or something. The square box is going to be a planter for flowers, there's another square box just like it on the other side. Should be pretty!
The back fence he built (with some help from wonderful friends and family).

I thought this might be a special way to thank Mark for all of his hard work on our home. We are nearing the one year mark of being in our new house. Boy, has it been a lot of work (inside and outside)! We've had fun making things nice and the way we want them. We're far from done, but it does feel good to have accomplished what we have. Who knew it would take so much time, work, and money? Anyone who has ever moved into a new house I guess, but I never had until this point and and had no clue! Mark has been just incredible! He works early mornings at EDS, he starts work anywhere from 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., and stays up really late at night working on things around the house. You should see him.... out there in the dark, with his head lamp on working away. He is very sleep deprived, but keeps plugging along and getting things done. He just finished putting in the sprinklers in the backyard and he's now getting ready to plant grass seed. Hopefully next Spring we'll have a green backyard. Projects he's already finished which I've included pictures of are: building the back fence (we still need to seal it), building and installing shelves and a bike rack in the garage, leveling out the backyard (it was shaped like a bowl), building a stone retaining wall in the backyard, and some landscaping out back. I don't think I'm forgetting anything. He has done all of this while being a very dedicated husband, dad, scout leader and employee. I have helped very little with the physical labor. My contributions have been by way of suggestions and ideas, and trying to manage the kids and their activities while he's working on these projects every chance he gets . Hopefully I've been some help, but hats off to Mark for working incredibly hard and doing so much for our home and family! He's learned a lot and I'm sure he'll be able to help others with their yard projects now. Anyway, thank you and we love you, dear!

Pictures from the Fiesta

2007-09-21T16:46:00.001-07:00

In John's class each student made one of these ovals with things describing themselves and the parents were supposed to guess which one their child made. When I asked John why or how the word 'superjumbo' described him, he said he just liked the word. Funny!

Some interesting art by Cooper. His is in the bottom right corner.

Ella and her friend, Dallyce, showing their maracas. Doesn't Ella's hair bow look so crazy!?

Cooper performing with his class and the 2nd grade class.

John with his 6th grade class. He's standing in the first row and has a blue sweatshirt on.

Here Norma Pintar dances with a lit candle on her head!

Fiesta de las Artes

2007-09-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

Just a little video from the Fiesta de las Artes. This was at the kids' school, and it's of Ella playing a xylophone.

The school has an arts and sciences emphasis and each month they study a different artist. This month it has been Diego Rivera and last night's Open House had a Mexican theme and we enjoyed chips, cheese dip and salsa as we watched the children perform. Each grade presented something from the Hispanic culture. Some grades learned Mexican dances that they performed and others sang songs and played instruments. Our kids all sang and Cooper and Ella played the xylophone. Ella's class also made and decorated maracas. They had Norma Pintar (a traditional Mexican dancer) perform and she has also been at the school teaching the kids in 4th and 5th grades dances the past couple of weeks. I think there were close to 500 people there last night, which is a great turnout for a small charter school. Being on the PFA, I helped prepare and serve the chips, cheese dip and salsa. YumYum!

A fun and relaxing weekend

2007-09-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was such a great one for me and I thought it was worth writing about. On Friday night I went to Mark's Aunt Cindy's house. She had Mom Bishop, Alysa, Amanda and I over for a girls' night. We missed you Janice, Jen, Janet and Kamber! It was a very relaxing evening with fantastic company and great food. Cindy had made chili, artichoke dip, stuffed mushrooms, fruit w/ fruit dip, vegetables and lots of yummy stuff. She planted us each a little pot with a plant to take home. I got a Christmas cactus and have high hopes of not killing it before Christmas comes and it gets its' blooms. We had fun conversation each answering questions such as who we would most like to meet (alive or dead), and other interesting and thought provoking questions like that. Thanks Cindy for such a fun time that's sure to be a special memory!

On Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a Time Out for Women in Boise at the Boise Center on the Grove with some ladies from my ward. This was the second time I've gone to this event (the last time was five years ago, I think) and it was a fabulous day! Deseret Book is who puts the event on, I believe, and it is a day filled with wonderful speakers and music all geared towards women. The speakers were Jane Clayson Johnson (she used to be the co anchor for the Early Show w/Bryant Gumbel) and she spoke about "Seasons" of life and how she traded in her television career to be a stay at home mom. Mary Ellen Edmunds was the event host and she was hilarious! She's an LDS author. Stephen Robinson spoke (he wrote the book Believing Christ and is a BYU professor) and was also very funny. Chris Stewart also spoke, he is the author of The Great and Terrible series of books and is the CEO of The Shipley Group. The highlight of course was Sheri Dew. Kenneth Cope was the musical guest and he sang several times throughout the day. I never realized how amazing his voice is! All of the presenters did really well and their messages were uplifting and inspiring and made you want to do better. It was just what I needed to hear! The spirit was evident throughout the day. There were almost 3,000 ladies there. It was a nice break away from home and kids and I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to go and be taught new things and to be reminded of things I already knew. Hopefully I'll be a better wife, mother and daughter of God for having gone. Thanks so much to Mark for going solo with the kids all weekend and getting them to and from football games, sleepovers, etc. all on his own. You're the BEST!

GRANDPARENTS

2007-09-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

Although not widely celebrated, yesterday was Grandparent's Day so I've had the opportunity to reflect on the "grandparents" in my life (my own and those of my children). What a blessing they each have been to me and my family! The wealth of knowledge and experience they have to share and the love and support they have to offer have truly blessed my life.

Granny and PaPa, my mom's parents, are the only grandparents I have ever known as an adult or child. My grandma is now 71 years old and is in declining health, it's sad to see her struggling. Growing up, I would sometimes live with her and my grandpa when my Mom wasn't doing well. I was named after her, we share the same middle name, Frances. My grandma has red hair and a temper that you hear goes along with it! She has a strong faith in God and has tried to live her life doing what she felt was right and good. I have memories of her teaching me to sit like a lady in a dress, taking me to Girl Scouts and tricking me into swallowing pills by putting them in fruit and cottage cheese. She's a gem! My grandpa passed away when I was in Junior High, but I have fun memories of him. He drove a little Brat pick-up (if any of you remember those) and when I was born and was the first grandchild, he named me his Brat #2. Each grandchild after that was Brat #3 and so on. He had been an alcoholic earlier in his life but had been sober for many years by the time he passed away. That itself testifies of the strong man he was. He was a very hard worker and rarely missed a day of work. I remember going to the bank with him and watching him open mail and pay bills at his desk. He loved iced tea and doing latch hook rugs and had amazing penmanship. The respect those who knew him had for him also testifies of the great man he was. I am thankful for these two people in my life and love them very much!

I now turn to the grandparents of my children. My mom is a special lady. I have never known my dad, so she's been it! My kids love their Grandma Donna. She has had many struggles in her life and could have given up hope many times, but is still hanging in there. She's a good cook and is thoughtful and kind. She has a way of relating to those with mental disabilities. She has nicknames for the kids, John is Prince, Cooper is Precious and Ella Princess. I don't think she's given Seth a 'P' nickname yet, I'll have to ask her about that. Her and my grandma are in the first picture.

Grandpa and Grandma Gunnerson are Bob's parents and are great! Their home is a home away from home for my children. While Bob was sick and dying, they spent a lot of time there. They feel safe and loved in their home and by them. John and Grandpa Gunnerson have always had a special bond. Grandma Gunnerson is hilarious! I'll never forget the support and comfort they were to us in our time of sorrow, even though it was equally as devastating for them to lose a son. Thank you Gary and Dorothy, we love you! They are the couple in the second picture.

In high school, when my mom was having a hard time, I moved in with a family in my ward that had daughters my same age, the Parkers. Grandpa George and Grandma RaNae Parker are still an active part of our lives. I love their family and will always be appreciative of the help they were to me. In their home I felt the spirit and learned how fun family life can be. They consider my kids their grandchildren and my kids consider them their grandparents. We're lucky to have them. The third picture is of them.

Lastly, we've got Grandparents Bishop, Mark's parents. These two are some of the most genuine people I know. They are shining examples of all that is good. They were so quick to accept me, John, Cooper and Ella into their family. I can't believe that I've got TWO wonderful sets of in-laws. My kids absolutely love Grandpa and Grandma Bishop. They are so fun to have sleepovers and to do special little things with the kids. They are always there to help us, we love them so. The final picture is of them.

The Gladiators beat the Eagles!

2007-09-08T18:22:00.000-07:00

Cooper had his first football game this afternoon and his team (the Gladiators) won! Cooper played the position of cornerback and did very well. He is one of the smaller guys on the team but played tough and seemed to hold his own. He even made the first tackle of the game and season. It was really fun to watch him play! He got clipped towards the end of the game (which the refs didn't call despite the parents' complaints) so his back kind of hurts tonight. Grandma Gunnerson and Grandpa and Grandma Parker were able to come watch Cooper play which made him happy. We had to be there over an hour before the game even started so John got a little bored, but thankfully he had his Nintendo to keep him company. As you can see from the picts, he played it with his head in his shirt because of the bright sun. Pretty clever, that John! Ella and Seth seemed to enjoy themselves even with the long time we were at the field. They chased each other around and Seth practiced his somersaults. He has been trying to do those lately for some reason, it's cute to watch. Here are a few of our pictures from today.

Labor Day

2007-09-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day! I hope it was a fun and enjoyable day for everyone. Mark worked out back on our sprinklers (with a neighbor who was kind enough to help us out) until about noon. We then left for the day to have some family fun time together. We first went to Julia Davis Park near the Anne Frank Memorial and took some pictures of the kids. We do this every year about this time, to save money instead of doing professional pictures of each of the kids to give to all of our family members. They turned out really good I think. The kids didn't enjoy it too much, but we took them quickly and moved on to more fun activities. We stopped to get some drinks for everyone (it was 100 degrees out today) and then went to Boondocks. Mark and the boys played a game of Laser Tag while Ella, Seth and I played some games and won tickets. Mark and Cooper then went on one of those virtual reality roller coasters and Cooper loved it while Mark came off of it a little green. He recovered and we then went to Primos for all you can eat pizza and salad bar before coming home. It was a nice time together. It was good to get out and have a little fun as a family. Seth has been a BEAR all week since we took his pacifier away and I really needed a change of pace. It's been so hard for him and all of us! Anyway, we had a nice extra day away from work and school.

John's piano recital

2007-08-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to a piano recital for John. He did great! We were in the car about to leave and I asked him if he had his music and he said he didn't need it because he had it memorized. For my piece of mind I made him bring it anyway, but sure enough he didn't need it. He played, March of the Clones by Bober I think. We are so impressed with his motivation to practice 40 minutes each day, he only occasionally needs some encouragement to get his practicing time in. He's come a long way and he is really playing well. What makes it really great is that he really seems to enjoy it. Grandma Gunnerson (Grandpa Gunnerson wasn't feeling well) and Grandpa Bishop (Grandma Bishop was visiting teaching) both came. It was nice to have them there. Last night was the opening football game for the BSU Broncos so anyone we had there was just a bonus. Mark was a trooper and was happy to go, he just brought the little T.V. in the van to watch on the way there and on the way home and offerred to take Seth out to the van during the recital if he got restless (we all know what he would have done in the van). Unfortunately for Mark, Seth did just fine and didn't need to be taken out. We got home during halftime though, so all was well. John, we love you and are proud of you and your talents! Keep it up!

Broken Binky!!

2007-08-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

While the older kids are hitting milestones by starting a new school year, Seth is marking his own milestones here at home! I decided today was the day to break him of his binky habit and I snipped the nipple part off. I was putting him in the van to go visiting teaching this morning and he asked for it, so I showed it to him and told him it was "broken". He kept asking me, "binky broken?". It kind of broke my heart, but I'm trying to be strong. John and Cooper were big pacifier babies, but I took it away with both of them around 18 months, nursery time. Ella would never take a binky and sure enough found her thumb and still sucks it(at night mostly). Seth has been our most challenging baby and has just (the past six months, I'd say) mastered some important things like sleeping through the night, so I've hesitated taking away his binky until now. I guess it doesn't help that he's the baby of the family either and I don't want him to grow up so fast. I've noticed it does interfere with his talking, so I decided it should be a priority. It was a little hard getting him to fall asleep at nap time, but he did it. Wish us luck on not caving!!

Yikes, I'm 32 years old!

2007-08-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

Thursday was my 32nd birthday! It was a wonderful day! We had a combined birthday celebration at the park earlier in the month celebrating Cooper's, John's(a bit early) and my birthdays. It was a fun evening with family from the Bishop, Gunnerson and Parker sides and my Mom and her friend Jeff. So I thought because of our earlier celebrating, my actual birthday was going to be quiet and uneventful (which I was okay with), but it turned out to be a busy and fun-filled day.

Throughout the day I enjoyed lots of phone calls with birthday wishes (one was even from Kamber in London). My mom sang to me over the phone which was great! I also received b-day wishes via the internet, I love the internet. George and RaNae were passing through Caldwell on their way back home and stopped by to say 'hi" and brought me some homemade plum jelly. It was great to see them. Later in the morning my good friend Michelle had some flowers delivered to me, some very pretty, colorful mums. That was a nice surprise.

In the afternoon Amanda came over to hang out and brought me some more lovely flowers, a yummy cake and had bought and brought over some supplies to give me a pedicure. Can you believe that? That's going above and beyond, but was a lot of fun and I now have cuter feet to show for it! It meant a lot to me that she would spend the day with me away from all of her own responsibilities.

In the evening I took Cooper to piano lessons and got to visit with one of my best friend's, Sheila, for a little while. Her son Landon teaches Cooper piano. She gave me a pumpkin spice candle and some chocolate and a cute sign that says "family" that I've hung on the wall going up our staris above the pictures of the kids. It was sweet of her. After piano, our neighbor watched the 3 older kids and Mark, Seth and I went out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Red Robin. Mark made my day special by bringing me home some Dove chocolate (which is another favorite of mine) and a funny card that he had all the kids sign. After dinner we stopped by Target and he chased after Seth while I looked around and spent my b-day $. I got some scented lotion and some cute notecards.

I'm not sure I deserve to feel as special as I did on my birthday! I am so grateful for my family and friends. I love them so much and they make my life meaningful and complete. Well, that's it for now. The birthday celebrating isn't quite over yet though, tomorrow Amy is taking Amanda and I to Olive Garden for lunch. I'm looking forward to it.

Back to School x 3

2007-08-25T12:35:00.001-07:00

The biggest thing this last week has been the kids going back to school. We've spent a lot of time this summer preparing for school to start. The kids have the wonderful opportunity to attend a new charter school called Vision Charter School which just opened this year. The school's focus is Arts and Sciences. They were lucky enough to all get in for which I am grateful. It is really close to our home and they even provide bussing. We have helped this summer with getting the school ready to open. Mark has helped them move in and lay sod and I have helped with cleaning the inside of the portables and painting the skirting of the portables. The kids even have pitched in and helped too! I signed up to be on the PFA(parent/faculty association) and there are only 3 of us on it so far so we'll have to see how that goes.

We've been doing other little things all summer to prepare for school to start. The kids all had their physicals with the pediatrician this summer and had their immunizations updated. Cooper got new glasses, too. The kids have been doing workbooks all summer and reading everyday to try and keep up their skills. I hope it pays off. We've also been school supply shopping (which is expensive for 3 kids) and school clothes shopping (which is even more expensive with 3 kids in uniforms) and we've been ready to go and excited.

I'd say the first week has been successful. On Monday we had a ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening for the school where Superintendant Tom Luna helped our principal, Mrs. Oldenkamp, cut the ribbon. Following was our Back to School night where the kids put away their school supplies and looked around their classrooms and met their teachers. Tuesday was John and Cooper's first day back and Ella and I had a little meeting with her teacher that morning. Her first day was Friday.

John is in 6th grade and his teacher is Mrs. Waffwa. He's excited becasue they offer a golf club/lessons. He has been dying to take golf lessons. He's also excited to take drama and learn Spanish. The whole school gets instruction in Spanish every day which I thought was cool. Since he's in the sixth grade he got to choose between band and orchestra and he chose to play the trumpet in band. We picked up his trumpet yesterday. After about 5 minutes Mark told him he'd have to practice from now on in the field near our house. We'll have to see how he fits it all in, piano, trumpet, scouts, etc.

Cooper is in third grade and came home the first day telling me about his new friends and how the school is so much better than he thought. He seems to like his teacher, Ms. Lords. Cooper takes piano lessons also and is just starting his first year of tackle football. We went today to pick up his helmet and pads and practice starts next week. We're excited to see him play. He also just turned 9 and earned his Wolf badge. We're proud of him and he's excited to start Bear Cub Scouts.

Our little Ella started kindergarten! I missed her a lot the first day. Kindergarten at this school is all day. She looked so cute and I was glad she had big brothers to help her on the bus, etc. She seemed to really like her first day. They talked about dogs. Her teacher is Mrs. Craker. She has a thing with not going to the bathroom when she's away from home. Last year at pre-school she never used the bathroom while there. I thought with Kindergarten being all day she'd surely get over that. When she came home I asked her if she used the bathroom while at school and sure enough she hadn't... all day!! We'll have to see how she overcomes this fear because she's bound to have to go during the day sometime this year! Ella's also starting a ballett/tap dance class with two friends from church. I'm probably more excited about this than she is.

Sethy was kind of lost with all of the kids gone, especially Ella. He really loves her. He made all kind of messes during the day for me to clean up and just kind of followed me around the house. He is starting to talk so much so that is new. He's so much fun to have in the family and makes us all laugh. He's so cute, we all just love him and wouldn't know what to do without him. Currently, he has a little obsession with helicopters.

We're official Bloggers now!

2007-08-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

Mark has been saying for months that we needed to start a blog! I enjoy other people's blogs so much and am excited to start our own. The reason I am so excited is that it will give me a chance to do some journaling of the daily experiences and happenings (big and small) of the members of our family. I am not very good at keeping journals but seem to be pretty good at being on the computer lately, so maybe this blog will help my efforts. We'll have to see!