The 4th

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

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!

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....

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

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

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!

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.