Some fun pictures

I'm realizing now that there's noooo way I'm going to sit down and properly blog about all the fun things we've done over the past months. So, in no real order (because I don't want to take time to put them in REAL order), I'm uploading a bunch of pictures from our "outings" and "trips." Maybe some other time I'll get to write about them, but for now, just the picts....

Lavendar festival... This is one of my new favorite pictures I've ever taken. I want to see what it looks like blown up....

This festival was amazing! 1800 lavendar plants, and people are invited to come pick their own bunches and buy all the fancy stuff from the vendors as well.

There was lavendar lemondade, lavendar cookies, and lavendar ice cream. All of them tasted a little flowery, but kind of refreshingm, in a lavendar way??
The All-Horses Parade, opening the Snake River Stampede week of the famous Rodeo (see last year for real rodeo pictures!)..
Samantha loved the ones with flowers or braided tails...

Spectators, Madison (who LOVES horses), Sammie, and Zachary...

We shelled thousands of peas this summer. It was A LOT of work. It makes me want to tour a pea factory and see how it is that they can sell what took me 5-6 hours to pick, shell, wash and freeze in a 10 oz. bag for a DOLLAR!? Five to six HOURS of work, for a dollar's worth of peas?
The long-awaited Phelps Family reunion (we're all sitting for the traditional "family program," that lasted traditionally long, ha!)
At the reunion, Sam got to make her own hat and baton, and got her face painted to walk in the kids' parade. She was less impressed with the parade, mainly because we didn't bring her scooter. Oh well.
She even rode a horse! So brave and so exciting!

A country pioneer home, in Oakley Idaho, a long way from anywhere, on one of our long country drives...

View from the top of a mountain, on a back-road drive...
The road less traveled... (literally, it was pretty rough, but gorgeous!)
Sam and her wildflower bouquet, posing perfectly like a princess...
Sam's 4th of July hair-do, thanks to Lisa LaPierre for the gorgeous patriotic bow!

Perfect fire for hotdogs and smores. And yes, I made Sammie get her sandals on after this picture!
A perfect camping spot...
We put Spencer in the little tent in his pack-n-play. It was the perfect solution... we all slept ALL night long!
Experimenting with some more new Sammie hair do's.
In trouble, again. For eating the plant, AGAIN!
Cousins on the stairs! Why is it stairs seem to be a constant source of entertainment?!
My grumpy girl, doesn't want to go home after a fun swimming outing...

Sneaky Ava got allll wet!
I see London, I see France... I see Sammie's underpants!
But Brie started it!
How many hundreds of pictures do we have of Spence, just sitting in his stroller, sucking his finger? But he's so cute....

Brie said, "We get to take a bath in Kamber's big ol' tub!" Sam corrected her, "No, it's not old. It's still pretty new."
Oh

Update

Oh, I'm getting so behind. And I keep thinking of all the posts I need to write, all the pictures I need to load, and it sounds like soooo much, so I keep staying behind. Well, this isn't really going to catch me up with all the fun "outings" and such, because I'm not planning on adding any pictures. But it's a start. So, here's our latest, in no particular order...

-- We're looking for a second car. Not big news for anyone who's talked to us in the past month or so. We've been looking for awhile. The funny thing about our "looking" process is that we go allllll over the board -- new, used, brand-name, cheapy, midsize, smaller, crossover, $10K range, $5K range, -- we've basically seen everything that's out there. (Sorry to those of you who have received phone calls from us about "how do you like your car? should we buy one like yours?") We are wishy-washies on this. Terrible. But the hard line is, we want a second car, a four-door sedan that Brian can use to get around. We want low miles, low price if possible, and good gas mileage. You'd think we'd be able to come to some conclusion, eh? Wish us luck!!

-- Samantha is signed up for swimming lessons next week. It is the THRILL of her little three-year-old life! In fact, she got some goggles earlier this week in preparation, and has been sleeping with them and her swimming suit. She even took both goggles and suit on our car hunts this week, putting them on the seat beside her in each car we test-drove.

-- Spencer is almost ready to go to NURSERY at church. (I write on a Sunday, so I'm full of anticipation after experiencing a fresh round of rampaging during Sunday School today). I think he's going to LOVE nursery. And WE will LOVE LOVE LOVE it, too. I'm not a mom who doesn't want my baby to grow up... at least not when it comes to church nursery. 18 months is three Sundays away, and I can hardly wait!

-- I'm training for a triathlon. Serious. It's just a little one, but I'm excited about it. Remember when I announced I started running with a friend a couple months ago? Well, it stuck. We've been running together since then, mostly every day. We also do some biking days and swimming days. So, in a week and a half, we're going to be in a real live triathlon in downtown Boise. How very exciting. Only, we heard the pond where we'll be swimming is pretty gross... mossy and junk. But we'll hopefully be in and out quickly, and on to the bikes. yay!

-- Our wedding anniversary is this week -- five years! I feel like we should be doing something huge to celebrate. Maybe a cruise, or a big long vacation? I'm just dreaming, and instead planning a little overnight getaway at a B&B, if we can make it. And a trip to the temple. Not a bad way to celebrate five wonderful years, eh?

-- Brian has been ssuuuuper busy lately, working on some "projects" up in his little office. I don't know details, so you'd have to ask him what he's up to. But I do know we haven't seen much of him, and when we do see him, he seems to have his "thinking cap" on. I like to see him so busy. We'll see where this takes us in the coming months.

Okay, I'm running out of steam here. Better get to bed soon. Just felt like I needed to write a bit and say hey to the blogging world. Later...

Birthday Memories

This morning, I was laying in bed lazily, thinking about all the great birthdays I've celebrated in years past. Interestingly (to me, at least), I found I can remember almost ALL my birthdays for years and years back. So, I thought I'd write a little post in memory of birthdays past.

4 yrs -- we moved into our new house 5 days after I turned four. I have a distint memory of standing on our front lawn on my birthday, watching them load furniture into a truck to take over to the new house.

5 yrs -- my parents surprised me with the beautiful Cinderella dress I had been admiring at the store. It was gorgeous! Pink and white and frilly, all the way to the floor. It was a great twirler!

6 yrs -- I had to shell peas on my birthday. I've always remembered how indignant I was about having to do such menial labor on my BIRTHDAY?!?

7 yrs -- my mom tried to be so thoughtful and threw a surprise party for me, inviting all my friends from school. They were waiting at my house when I got home from my grandma's that afternoon. When they yelled "Surprise!!" I went white as a sheet and ran out of the room without saying a word. I was totally paralyzed with fear and hated every minute of it. I didn't recover from the shock until only one girl was left and we played paper dolls in the basement. My "crush" - Ryan E. couldn't come, but he brought me an ice cream cone the next day.

8 yrs -- my parents had some "occasion" in the evening and couldn't celebrate with me, so they let a babysitter take me and my brother Blaine to see "Bambi" at the movie theater. It was one of the only movies I saw in the theater as a kid. We had a great big family party with cousins, aunts and uncles a couple of weeks later when I got baptized.

11 yrs -- we celebrated by taking a picnic out to the fields where my dad and brothers were working, baling hay. My mom brought out the most gorgeous white-frosting strawberry cake at the end of the picnic. As soon as she took the cover off, hundreds of little green bugs jumped up into that fluffly white frosting and got stuck there! We had to pick them out before eating our cake. I'm sure I whined about it, sadly. And my mom said it will make a great memory someday. ha!

13 yrs -- one of the only birthdays I really don't like to remember. I was at girls camp, having a terrible time, feeling neglected by friends (you know how those teenage girl dramas go?). My parents showed up to surprise me, with a delicious cake to share with all the girls. I cried and beggggged to go home with them but my dad said I needed to "stick it out." Luckily, I survived.

14 yrs -- my mom cut my bangs too short the day before my birthday, and they looked pretty funny. It was the last time she ever cut my bangs. All my cousins were up from Utah that year, and we had some awesome swimming parties in the canal the whole week of my birthday.

16 yrs -- went on a Daddy/Daughter date to Homestead Farms restaurant at 7 a.m. and my dad took me shopping at Cal Ranch for some presents. Then went boating with my family on Grandma Eva and Doug's new boat. Then rushed home to go on my first-ever date, doubled with Lance and Jennifer and saw "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves." It was a pretty perfect day.

17 yrs -- spent the entire day from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. working on the Junior Miss pageant I was in. We practiced for a few hours first thing in the morning, then raised money for sponsorship allll day long. I didn't even EAT anything until that night my parents took me to dinner (at Melenas, I think?)

18 yrs -- I was working at potato factory that summer. I worked 7 to 3 p.m. on my birthday, then took off and went swimming in a canal with friends and cousins in the evening.

19 yrs -- I vaguely remember going riding with my cousin Ladd in his 4x4 Blazer.

20 yrs -- my neighbor threw a surprise party for me. She invited a guy I had never really met but I thought was cute. No joke. I told her about seeing this guy at a movie theater and finding out he worked at a sports store. So, she called the sports store and asked him to come to my birthday party! Slightly awkward, but very thoughtful. And the cake was amazing!! (She was a pastry chef.)

21 yrs -- I was working in Utah, and went to Fridays with a group of girlfriends for dinner. The waiter tied several helium balloons in my long, long hair, making little strands of hair float up all over. It was quite the sight!

22 yrs -- I was a missionary. My birthday was on a Sunday. We had two baptisms that day, and my companion made a cake for me in the kitchen at the church. I was wearing a yellow jumper that I thought was sooo cute, and my hair was up in a french twist, so fancy!

23 yrs -- Still a missionary. My birthday was a p-day, so all the missionaries in our zone went downtown to go bowling together. I shared my birthday with one of the elders, and I made him a big card for everyone to sign that said HAPPY BIRTDAY (left out the H, by accident)

24 yrs -- I was working in Utah, went to lunch at a fancy little place with my mom and several of her sisters. It was sooo much fun!

25 yrs -- had a party at my apartment complex with tons of friends, very fun. Then went out with a small group for dinner, and one of the guys said, "25? That's a whole quarter of a century." For some reason it hit me wrong, and I felt really sad. I went home and cried, and felt sooo old.

26 yrs -- I was in Boston, and a group of friends met for dinner downtown at Faneuil Hall. Alicia made me sit in line with a bunch of kids to get a balloon hat made by Rocco the Clown. Then we ate lobster at Durgan Park and I told the story of "I've never had Lobster" (for those who haven't heard it, it's a goodie, but too long for this post!)

27 yrs -- my roommates blindfolded me and took me to a park for breakfast -- eggs in a frame -- made by Bryce LaPierre and Brittney Davis. Then we had a big pool party at one of my roommates' parents' house, South of Boston. We finished the day with a delicious seafood dinner at Jakes restaurant in Hull, MA. Brian and I were in "Round 2" at the time, and he was in Saudi Arabia, but he sent some great Syrian jewelry that arrived RIGHT ON my birthday. Perfect timing. Oh, what a great day!

28 yrs -- it was on a Sunday again. Highlight was taking a nap on a blanket at a quiet little park. Very relaxing. Friends came over for cake and ice cream that evening.

29 yrs -- I was driving across the country with Becky Meese, heading for home and preparing to get married in 10 days. I think we crossed through Iowa and Nebraska that day. Not the most exciting, but memorable, I guess?

30 yrs -- I was expecting Samantha, still in the middle of morning sickness. My friend Corri, from my mission, was visiting us in London and met me at work for lunch. Then she came with me and Brian to dinner that night. The only food I could keep down nicely was pizza, so we went to Pizza Hut.

31 yrs -- Brian surprised me and got a babysitter for Samantha so we could go out to dinner and see a show. We watched the Frank Senatra show, because I love his music. It was great just to have some time together alone!

32 yrs -- I was newly pregnant with Spencer, and Samantha and I had just returned to London from the US the day before. I was sooo jetlagged and tired and sick all day. It rained and poured allll day long on my birthday, and I slept. I didn't even care. I actually enjoyed hearing the rain as I slept alll day. We ordered take away food for dinner and ate at home, which was fine with me.

33 yrs -- We had just moved back to the US and had a big family reunion the weekend of my birthday. Brian made a delicious cake for me and we had a little party with his family, at the end of the reunion, then I packed up the kids and drove to my parents to stay for the week (Brian was going hiking with his brothers), where we had more parties! Brian surprised me with a pedicure and massage at a spa in Idaho Falls. That was real treat!!

34 yrs -- That's today! And the plan is to have a leisurely morning to myself while Brian takes the kids to get some presents. Then Brian and I are going to float the Boise River while our very nice sister-in-law Dalana watches our kids. Cake and ice cream for everyone afterward, sounds like a great day!

Wow! When I write my life by birthdays it sounds like one constant party, eh?!

Happy Birthday to me!

The pre-birthday anticipation is just thrilling right now!! yay! Only a few minutes left before my official birthday begins. One of my presents to myself has been a good, long time on the computer this evening, just surfing around, writing email, checking blogs, etc. And now, the fun must come to an end because I'm supposed to get up at 6 a.m. -- even on my birthday. (Still doing that running thing with a friend, I'll write more about it some other post.)

Anyway, just thought I'd mention it's my birthday, and I'm very happy about it! I still love birthdays and get excited about them each year. Each one marks some great memories and hopefully some good growth. New goals, new projects and plans for every year. Here's hoping this year is as special as the last ones have been!

Happy Fathers Day

Okay, so I'm a bit behind -- almost a month behind, to be frank. But I can't NOT blog about Fathers Day, it was such a great time. We went camping with my parents in their new camper (which is really a fifth wheel, but my mom insists it's a "camper.") Anyway, we had a blast! I guess this is the only shot I got of the exterior....
Samantha was especially excited about sleeping in the camper, on the bed where the table is. What fun!! (Not as fun for me, since I ended up sharing the bed with her, and she's a mover and a shaker allll night long.)
Spencer and Grandpa were excited about taking an afternoon nap... I love this picture, so sweet!
We had some fun visitors... Grandma Eva and Grandpa Doug came and brought delicious fried chicken for Saturday lunch. yum!
And Wade came, and took so many fun pictures with his awesome camera (you'll have to check his blog).
The kids especially loved the little park in the campground. Samantha was a bit disappointed to learn that REAL camping rarely involves a park.
And I loved the docks down by the lake, so did Samantha ...

Spencer kept trying to climb off the edge, so I finally let him dip his toes while he tried to wriggle away into the water...
So he got locked down in his stroller for the remainder of our dock visit. Doesn't he look forlorn? But it made a great photo, no??

After camping, we went back to my parents' house for some good family time with those who could make it. I loved this cute shot of Trent's kids and Sammie... They asked my mom for some flowers so they could "get married." Out of nowhere, my mom produced these three HUGE bouquets of matching silk flowers, and the ceremony was on!! (Does anyone doubt why the just LOVE Grandma Karen?!)
Here's Ryan, Tristan, and Samantha, playing a game together. It only lasted about two minutes, but it was cute enough for a picture.
We got to see more of this little cutie boy! They call him Baby M online. I love, love, love those little cheekers, and soft baby skin. He's growing like a Hone Boy.
I also love this picture of my grandma holding him. Isn't she just beautiful? She has always been the perfect grandma, and looks the part perfectly in this picture.
Oh, yes. We also honored "the Fathers" with some small gifts and large meals, and plenty of R&R. Don't know why Brian's closing his eyes here, but he's still very cute. :)
And the Big Padre of us all. Happy Fathers Day! Glad we could be "local" and celebrate with you guys.
I have to include two shots of my parents' surroundings, taken on the same day. First, the lovely, perfect country view from their dining room window. I've always loved this view...
And last, the freakish storm that passed through just as we were planning to leave. It was a downpour! Pine cones were crashing off the trees onto our cars. We stood in the garage doorway watching, and within minutes our feet were all soaked with a few inches of water creeping into the garage. Wow!

That's all for this post. Hopefully the next round of blogging will not take me soooo very long!

One Year

I know it feels like it's been a year since I've updated this blog. But really, this post is just a little milestone reminder...

One year ago today our little Bishop family boarded the plane and said goodbye to London. This is our Welcome Back to the USA anniversary day. Hard to believe it's been a whole year, in some ways. In other ways, it feels almost like a dream that we even lived there and had that nearly-four years in lovely England. Do I miss it? Yes. Do I want to go back? Sometimes. Am I glad we moved back home? Yes. Is it what I expected? No and yes. Has this year been what I thought it would be? Not sure, but I'm pretty content and "settled" for right now.

I feel like I should wax philosophical and nostalgic about this. Yet, I'm not really in that kind of mood right now. Just waking up, remembering this day. Things are good, the sun is shining and it's going to be a hot one today.

If I get motivated, I'll do some back-blogging of all the hundreds of photos we've taken over the last few weeks. Stay tuned for updates on the following:

-- Father's Day camp trip with my parents

-- Alicia's visit to the great Gem State

-- Sam and Spencer's first REAL camping experience

-- Phelps family reunion in Grantsville

-- Lavendar Fields Festival, complete with lavendar lemonade and lavendar ice cream

Yes, I plan to blog again sometime. Just trying to make time, I guess?

Things that are done

So, we've been busy finishing lots of projects around here. And I'm happy to report most of them have turned out quite nicely. Here's the list, with some fun pictures of the finished products...

The Shave Ice Stand

Brian and his brothers spent a lot of time building their own shave ice stand to sell the goooood kind of shave ice (and yes, it's shave without a "d" on the end, authentic from Hawaii. And no, it's not a snow cone, which is an inferior product, as any shave ice fan will tell you!).
A few shots from the construction phase...

It's now FINISHED, and they've got someone running it noon to 7 every day. yay! So come on up for your own taste of Hawaiian ice... pina-colada is great with sweet cream on top. mmm....

The Quilt

I posted earlier about my first quilting project. It only took a week working here and there in the evenings, which was a surprise for me as I was not sure what I was doing at first. But I'm happy with the way it turned out.
So is Sammie...
We're tying the backs to the quilts as a group next Thursday, so you may get one more picture when it's all tied up, before it's shipped off to the Humanitarian dept for some poor cold person who will be happy to have such a fun quilt to keep them warm (I hope!).

The Painting

I've mentioned I've been painting lately. Well, I think I'm done, at least for now. I painted a wall in two different bathrooms, as well as painting Spencer's room. Here's a shot of one of the bathrooms, hard to capture such a small space, but it looks pretty good when you close the door...
Spencer's stripes...
None of the colors looks right in the pictures, (especially the blue in Spencer's room which is NOT neon!) but I'm pleased with the end result and feel like our place is getting more homey all the time.

A little side note on the stripey stripes in Spencer's room... They were a P-A-I-N! But I am THRILLED with the final result. His room is also our guest room when we have people come to stay, so just imagine the lovely room you'll have if you plan a visit to the Bishop B&B. (Oh, and don't worry, Spencer sleeps in the hobby room when we have guests.)

The Talk

Samantha gave her first talk in Primary last Sunday. She was soooo very excited about it. I read her the note from the Primary presidency, telling her the talk would be on June 14. Every day she asked if it was June 14, and how long until her talk, etc. She talked about prayer and held up different pictures with each thing she talked about.
Here's what she said...

Heavenly Father wants us to pray so he can bless us. [pict: girl praying]

Prayer helps me and my family to be strong. [our family pict]

I like to say the prayer when we eat food. [pict: a dinner plate]

At bedtime, I say my nighttime prayers. [girl sleeping]

Sometimes we pray to help people feel better when they are sick. [a sick girl]

Right now I'm praying for my Uncle Trent to feel better because he was in the hospital. [picture of Trent]

Sometimes we pray to help people be safe. [boy in a car seat]

Right now I'm praying for my Uncle Mark and Aunt Dalana's family to be safe on a big long trip. [picture of a minivan]

Sometimes I pray to help me cheer up when I am sad. [Little girl smiling happily]

Heavenly Father hears our prayers and answers them.

It was so fun to watch her get ready for her talk, and to hear her talk about praying so much.

Middle East Presentation

A few months ago, Brian's mom asked him to put together a presentation about the Middle East that he could share with a group of his parents' friends that meet for a monthly FHE group. Brian went above and beyond, and had a very thorough, interesting powerpoint presentation that he gave to a group of about 20.
It was really well done, and he put a lot of time into it. So did Susan (his mom)! She made several different dishes from the region, including hummus and amazingly delicious baklava. mmmm! Sadly, Susan wasn't able to attend. We'll have to give her a private showing sometime soon!) Here's Spencer, watching Daddy from the BIG BOY chair, after the presentation was over...

And the "display table" of all Brian's (and my) fun treasures from the Middle East. My contribution was gathering these items and positioning them nicely at the back of the room for people to look at afterward...

I think that brings us up to date for the moment. We of course have other projects that are still NOT done (like those dresses I was trying to do yesterday. Still can't figure out the last hem. arrrg!). But they're all works in progress and it's nice to feel busy, right?