Some Saturday Fun

So, we've actually been having some nice weather here in London these past few weeks, for a change. (I say that as it's sprinkling outside tonight, but, well, generally speaking...) With the sunshine, we've enjoyed some fun Saturdays lately. Thought I'd share some cute picts of our good times...

Ashridge House:

We saw this place last summer when we were on a country walk. It is a huge mansion house that has been turned into a private business school. (Tuition fees for one year are 29,000 GBP = 58,000 USD.) I always wanted to go back and visit when the grounds were open because it looked so beautiful. It was/is!

Behind the school there are acres of gorgeous grounds... Some manicured flower beds, a little pond and fountain, and then a forest with avenues and little walkways, stretching nearly a mile back. It was so peaceful, and we were practically the only ones walking the grounds. Here's our pictures...

We spread out our blanket and lounged/smooched (don't tell Sammie) for a bit, then had a little picnic with fun snacks.
Sam and Daddy climbed a big hill together. Cute! She was actually pretty tame that day... no running away, if you can believe!

Swim Time:

When we were in the US, Grandma Hone (my mom) gave Sammie a little inflatable swimming pool to take home. It's a big hit, Grandma! We spent a good part of one Saturday afternoon watching Sam enjoy her new pool. She can even say "pool," though it sounds more like "poo" right now. Cute.

Brian rigged Sam's slide so it went right into the pool. She was thrilled with the result, and would clap her hands every time she splashed into the water.

Look at those cute swimmer buns! What a cute little diaper tush.


She even invited Daddy to join her for a few minutes at the end, lucky Daddy!
At the Park:

So, these next ones aren't from a Saturday, but they are some nice-weather picts I thought would be fun to add. There is a darling little park on the heath near our house. Most the toys are wooden, like the one here. Sam loves it.

Pointing at an airplane as she swings. (She points at airplanes about every three minutes when we're outside, as that is how often planes go by when you live in London!!)
One last goodie, just because it's too funny... What a fashion statement, eh? Every time I put Sam in this little red sweater, she ends up pulling one arm out, like so...

Woes of the Nose, and other pregnancy stuff

Well, 10 weeks and two days along, according to our visit with the doctor yesterday morning. It was quite exciting to see our little gummy bear baby on the ultrasound screen. His/her little arms and legs are tiny, with a big belly and a very big head. He rubbed his little face with that stubby arm while we were watching. It was amazing enough to make me cry, just watching this little person who has already grown so fast!


Doctor says everything looks good, right on track for a due date of March 13. This was my first visit this pregnancy, so I was quite relieved to see a healthy baby, and even more relieved to see there's only one in there. (Any other mothers have a dreaded fear of twins??)

So, the not-so-pleasant part of this is the daily wretching and gagging and constant nausea that is just "part of the game." My super-human sense of smell is about to drive both me and Brian crazy, I think. Top smells that just about send me over the edge:

• Rotting oranges: You US'ers probably think, how often does one really have to smell rotting oranges. Well, over here they rot within the week we buy them! If we buy a big bag of 10-12, no doubt two will go bad before we can eat them. And my goodness, they smell TERRIBLE!


• Our office: I'm not sure what it smells like, but I gag every single time I open the door. Maybe it's a little musty?? Anyway, it sends me running to the toilet in dry heaves just thinking about it.


• Laundry: Clean or dirty, it doesn't matter. I had to do away with all laundry softeners because they were too strong smelling. Even just pouring in the detergent sometimes gets to me. If clothes have been in a drawer for a few days, they smell stale. In the hamper, they smell sooo rotten!


• Samantha's dirty diapers and bedroom: The diapers are a given, I know. But even just going in her room can be damaging if she's soaked through or poopy. Sneaking in during the night to check on her is very rough sometimes.


• Food cooking: Dinner is sooooo hard, when I can't stand the smell of whatever's in the oven. Chicken, potatoes, lasagna, beef, whatever... I just hate to smell it as it cooks. That's usually when I end up losing it most often, just before or after dinner.

Well, I'm sure all you lurkers were just so curious to know all that fun stuff. All in all, I know it could be much worse, and I'm very grateful for a healthy pregnancy. But I'll be happy when I'm not feeling queasy all the time, and when I'm able to sleep a little better at night! Bye for now!

Fun with the Bishops

We had a great time with Brian's family! We started with 3-day camping reunion with his mom's side of the family. It was up in the Sawtooth Mountains at gorgeous Lake Alturas. We had a nice lodge, with several cabins in the woods. I'm sad to say, we hardly took any pictures at the reunion! I guess we were too busy having fun and we kept leaving the camera in the cabin. Rats! Here are the few we got...
Here's the lake, but it really doesn't do it justice because this shot was taken when the wind came up. Believe me, it was gorgeous!

We all went to the beach at Red Fish Lake, which was nearby. Brian took the kids out in this little raft, cuties. Poor Sam wasn't too happy because she got sunscreen in her eyes. But she tried to enjoy it!

On our way to the reunion, we stopped to see Mt. Borah -- the tallest peak in Idaho. Here Sam and I are standing in front of the Challis earthquake faultline from the early 1980s (Mt. Borah in the backgroud). The sign said the valley sunk by 9 feet during the quake. You can see the faultline run for miles along the bottoms of the mountains nearby. Fascinating.

The MAIN EVENT for the Bishop family was the wedding of Reed and Alysa on 7/7/07 (isn't that the coolest wedding date?!). Reed is the youngest and last to marry, so it was really an exciting time for all of us to be part of their special day.

Here's one of the whole wedding group, trying to get organized for a picture. (The Bishops are on the left, not very organized yet, hee hee.)
Some handsome boys on the wall, trying to cool themselves in a tiny bit of shade. L to R: Cooper, Tyler, John.
Family photo op for us, too!
Cutting the cake at the reception. Yum!
I have to include these cute pictures of Janice's bunch... Brian's sister, Janice, brought her own two kids, along with her step-daughter's three kids, all such cuties! They came camping, then stayed for the wedding, and for a few days after. I just thought Janice was such a trouper to be single mom to five for a week! (Her husband, Jay, had to work and could only be there for the wedding weekend.) She just took it all in stride. Here they all are, lined up in front of the temple.
Left to right: Chelby (4), Allie (4), Connor (almost 6) holding Caden (5 mos.), Caeidence (3, and I think I spelled it wrong).

Photos with the Hone Fam

We had a fun time with the Hones, just hanging out, eating good food and visiting with each other for a few days. We tried to do some family pictures in the back yard. My camera didn't take the clearest shots because of the time of day, but here are some cute ones anyway...

Here's everyone except me and Wade...

Photos of all nine grandkids (sorry so blurry). Left to right: Josh holding Sara (belong to Trent and Melissa), Tristan, Ryan holding Anna (belong to Lance and Jennifer), Brandon holding Samantha, Brittany, and BJ (minus ours, they belong to Blaine and Lisa). This is one of the only shots where Sammie wasn't trying to run away!
Grandma Eva jumped in this one... and Sam jumped out.
Grandpa and Grandma Hone with all the kids.
I took a few cute picts of the little baby kids, just have to share! Here's cutie Anna (6 mos.) with her mom, Jennifer.

Baby Sara (9 mos.), just days before she started crawling.
BJ (his name is Bryan Justice, but he goes by BJ, which I sometimes like to shorten to Beej.) He's 11 1/2 months in this picture. News is that he has now started trying to walk!
Samantha Susan (18 mos)... she just was not in a mood to pose for pictures, but I still think this one is kind of cute.
Joshua, now 2 1/2, can say his ABC's, count to 20 and work miracles!
Tristan (3) and Brittany (3). I tried to get them to pose together, but Brittany kept wanting to stand right in front of Tristan for the picture, so she's pouting that I made her kind of stand by him instead.
Ryan (7) and Brandon (5), best buddies, most of the time.
We took a little picnic in the hills one day, and stopped at one of my favorite spots on the way back. We're standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Blackfoot River. Just five feet from where we are is a huge drop off, with old cars and junk at the bottom. My grandpa and grandma used to let us stop there and throw rocks off the edge and see if we could make it to the river. Grandpa Hone's rocks always made it clear across the river!

Photos from NY

I know everything I write this next while will be a bit outdated. So, I won't write much, but will just say we had a wonderful trip home last month! First, our stop in NY, which consists mainly of picts of me and Sam in Central Park... Most of the picts I got of Sam the first day were just long distance shots of her back as she ran away from me.

She did not like the big Hans Christen Anderson statue (you know he's the fairy tale guy, right?). Other kids were sitting on his lap while he "read" them a story. Sam was horrified that I lifted her so close to him!

More running...
The best "posed" smiling shot I got all day! Sam quacked at the ducks in this little pool, then tried to climb in with them. It was pretty deep and swampy, so I'm glad she didn't make it over the edge.
We got a little drawing of Samantha, just for fun. It doesn't really look too much like her, but it's cute. She didn't like sitting still on my lap for 20 minutes while the guy drew her.
Below is Brian's firm's office tower in NY! It was a massive complex, with several different companies and firms working there. When Sam and I went to visit Brian in his firm's lobby, the front desk security took a photo of me and made a photo ID badge on the spot, just to let me in. (it was not a good photo, as I had no "primping" time!)
Dinner with friends. Brian knows Jamal and his wife, J... I'm not even going to try to spell her name even though I know how to say it. Anyway, these three know each other from when they lived in Egypt. We went to the BEST Middle East restaurant, with delicious hummus and great kebabs!

Sam had her own table, lucky!

Test Positive

Well, even my most faithful blog readers are about to lose hope of ever hearing from me again, I know! So sorry for leaving you all in suspense for so long.

Yes, we're still alive over here.
Yes, we're still taking pictures.
And yes... I'm pregnant!

That probably doesn't surprise most of you, since we've been breaking the news on the phone over the past few weeks. But hopefully it somewhat explains my lack of blogging activity of late. Morning sickness isn't pleasant for me, and isn't just in the mornings, unfortunately. So, instead of blogging, I've been sitting lamely on the couch wondering what I can eat that won't make me sicker. And I've been taking short walks or little planned outings with Sam to get out of the house and get some fresh air.

Expected due date: March 14, 2008. (Happy birthday Mom, and Baby Bishop number 2!)

Home Again, and Happy Birthday to Me

Well, as you can see, I am not very good at blogging while on vacation. Samantha and I just got home from Idaho/Utah yesterday morning and are enjoying the jetlag today as an added birthday bonus. That's right, today is my birthday! It's been a nice, relaxing day of rest and many fun telephone calls from friends and family.

Actually, the day started a little early -- 3:30 a.m. -- when both Sam and I found ourselves wide awake and ready to start partying. Brian joined us at 5 a.m. and we opened presents, ate breakfast and went back to sleep at 6 a.m. Not bad, eh?

Anyway, as a birthday tribute, I thought I'd make a quick list of things I'm grateful for this year...

1. Hands down, family is everything to me. I've loved, loved, loved being at home with my parents, siblings, cousins and in-laws these past few weeks. I've so enjoyed letting them get to know Samantha and rekindling ties by sharing old memories and making new ones. Even more, I LOVED coming home to Brian yesterday. Wherever he is, that's my real home. And Samantha, she's just the icing on the cake! I am richly blessed by my family.

2. I have so many wonderful friends who love me, and who mean so much to me. Each new chapter of life seems to bring me a new set of friends, while the old friends remain just as dear to me. I love thinking back to crazy things I did in high school, then remembering college days, my mission companions, friends from SLC, then from Boston, and now a whole new group of friends here in London. I go through occasional sentimental moments where I almost want to wish back some of those memories that are priceless to me. I love reading back through my journals or old cards and letters I've received, just so I can feel close to people even when our paths may be so divided right now. I try to keep in touch with phone calls, emails and letters, but I never feel it's enough to thank all my friends for the support they give me.

4. Seeing the world is a great blessing in my life right now. I realize our time here in London is limited, and the opportunities I've had to visit so many different countries and places have been amazing. I realize we won't always be hopping around the world (right, Brian?), and I'm very happy to be having such rich travel experiences right now. Each new stamp in the passport is a memory that gives me a different perspective on life. Honorable mention goes to the trip to Egypt this past April... it was a beautiful trip, and I am a different person because of it.

5. Our bed is amazing. I can honestly say it has had a positive impact on me (and the people around me) by giving me good, good sleep so many nights over the past (nearly) three years. When it comes to any material possessions, that bed ranks at the top of my list of happy thoughts. Whenever I've slept somewhere else, even for just one night, I'm am always soooo happy to get back to our bed. (No offence to the many very generous people who let me sleep in beds at their homes recently -- it's just one those "no place like home" things.)

6. I am grateful for my faith and my relationship with God. I recognize how fragile and important this is in maintaining balance and peace in my life. I love the feelings of love, safety, comfort and trust that I receive in answers to my prayers. I've been reading the New Testament again this year, and have enjoyed relearning the experiences that shaped the faith of the 12 Apostles. I've also been teaching the little children in our church, serving as the Primary president. I'm grateful for their faith, and for the opportunity to learn from them, and share with them my faith in God.

7. Living away from friends and family, I am most grateful for the telephone. It keeps me connected. I also rely a lot on the internet and email. But mostly, it's the phone conversations that make me feel like people I love aren't quite so far away. (Special mention to my mom, who is always a wonderful, willing listener.) Isn't technology amazing?

I'll stop there, since 7 is my favorite number, and because I'm sleepy and ready for bed tonight. It has been a happy birthday for me. Hope everyone is doing well. I'll try to get some picts from our trip loaded soon.