Finally, some pictures!

Yes, we DID get another camera... FINALLY! It's another Canon, another Elph, in fact. And it's red. Maybe we'll keep this one. :)

Anyway, so finally I can put up some new pictures for y'all. Only, we haven't done anything super noteworthy since getting the camera. So, instead you just get my random smattering of happenings from the last week or so, kay? Get ready...

First pic on the new camera, me fixing dinner while Samantha tells me about school. Typical.

Next pic, Samantha's new GLASSES! She's so cute!

Spencer on the hearth, during FHE, singing a song, I think?

Happy Birthday to Brian's Dad! 74 years old. He wanted a pie and ice cream party, his favorite...

Poor Spence. Sick day, with lots of toileting. He finally crashed out on the bathroom floor, poor sweet boy.

At the bird refuge by Lake Lowell...

"Bed fort" in the living room floor. Not my favorite game, honestly. But she looks cute and comfy...

Outfit number three this morning (of about eight different changes throughout the day, no joke!), Samantha's size 8 swimsuit...

The aftermath of the cute little snugly blanket fort Spence and Nat made. It actually resulted in a not-so-happy mom who had to remake all three beds!...

After the beds got made, my cute little "bugs" in a rug...

Those last ones were from today. So, now you're pretty caught up to all the uneventful happenings that are happening around here, I guess. And maybe we'll be using that camera to capture some more interesting stuff, sometime soon, eh?! Bye for now!

Things I sometimes want

I want a garden, in the back yard, in those fun containers like everyone is doing these days... with tomatoes and spinach and cabbage and zucchini (and I don't really care about corn, but don't tell Samantha or Brian. sshhh.)

I want longish, well manicured fingernails that don't flake off when they get a quarter of a millimeter long. And I want to never be enticed to bite off those flaky, weak edges again.

I want to have patience, for real. The kind of patience where I don't nervously look at the clock when we're running two seconds later than I wanted to; the kind where I stop yelling at my children to make them go faster when the yelling won't really help; the kind where I can wait to watch that scale come down without over-induldging ridiculously, just because I am not seeing immediate results!

I want to get my house really clean and really organized, and then KEEP it that way... especially that endless pile of papers on the phone counter. hmm.

I want to be more neighborly. What do I even know about my neighbors' lives? I went to our neighbor's daughter's wedding reception this weekend, and felt... well, I just felt like I know next to nothing about them. And they're nice, good people, -- the kind of people I should know and care about, ya know? I want to get to know them, and all my other neighbors, too.

I want be able to play the piano better. I accompanied a women's choir for our Stake Conference meeting this weekend. It was really a great experience, and I even got to play with several violinists and a flutist, sounded super fancy. But did you know, I probably played those two new pieces 100 times + EACH! I mean, I probably put in more than 30 hours of practice to be able to do an okay job. I'm just not a very accomplished accompanist. But I want to be.

I want to write more. On the blog, in my journal, on my various story ideas, etc. I used to think writing was one of my talents. And then it was more of an outlet/hobby. And now it's almost an inconvenience. But I miss it. And I want to reverse the trend and make it more of an outlet again.

I want to be able to wear pierced earrings. That's one I won't ever get, I'm afraid. But it's something I want, especially since Dalana just gave me the cutest red necklace and earrings set. Oh well, dumb pudgy lobes of mine.

I want to be a morning person. I can't believe I'm saying that, because the part of me that is NOT a morning person really does NOT believe I should ever even THINK such a thing. But that part of me that enjoys getting stuff done thinks it would be sooo nice to have long, leisurely mornings for getting things done, organizing my day, etc. (And yes, I've tried to be a morning person before. But 30-something years of night-owl habits don't leave easily.)

I want a window over my kitchen sink. That's a silly one, because my sink is in the breakfast bar island... window wouldn't work so well there. But someday...

I want to do menu planning, and then, once I've selected all my meals, I want them all to sound delectable to me on the days I've designated to make them. (Why does Papa Murphy's always sound better than tortellini soup?)

I want to clothes shop without my children. I take them with me all the time, and then I get frazzled and stressed and make unwise shopping decisions. But it's sooo nice to shop without them, even when I'm shopping FOR them. Make sense??

I want Natalie to stop playing in the water, stop spilling a cup every two hours, stop filling up with water from the fridge and leaving full cups all over our house in odd places, stop changing her outfit every two hours because she's soaked herself while "washing hands."

I want to remember how my kids' voices sound at this age and stage. When they're not busy being too crazy, they each have the sweetest, most innocent voice. I'm afraid I'll forget, as I've already forgotten how they USED to sound.

I want flowers in our front yard... hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, hydrangeas, geraniums, etc. I'm the person with 10 boxes of bulbs I MEANT to plant last fall, envying every neighbor who has bright cheery blooms popping up right now!

I want to read a good book, just for fun. The kind of book that makes me feel better, happier, lighter. Still looking, and still not finding.



I think that's the list, for right now. I think I can HAVE some of those things I want, with a little elbow grease and effort, don't you? :) What about you, what's on YOUR list of Things you sometimes want??

Something New

Yes, this is new, but nothing oh so new to report. I was just tired of that same dumb post at the top of my blog. So, here I am again.

I have sooo much catching up to do here.
I wonder, is it even worth it??

Our camera broke more than a month ago. So, I've been taking pics with my handy dandy smart phone. But of course, I'm inept enough with it that half of them are blurry, and I don't know how to blog from my phone yet. (I don't even know how to keep my phone charged, with me, and full of minutes -- as most of you already know! ha) Anyway, it's a learning curve, right? So... no pictures yet, sadly.

It's been a wonderful, memorable, busy month -- the whole month of March, that is. I really hoped to blog about these things, in full. But my enthusiasm is waning, so this may be all they get. If I figure out how to add the pics from the ipad or the phone, I'll put some under each of these little recaps. But for now, at least you have another monthly update from me. Here's March:

-- Oregon Coast trip: a wonderful week with my mom and her sisters at their annual "Sisters Trip". No kids. For five whole days! Amazing food, perfect views from our ocean-view hot tub on the back deck, and so much fun just visiting and catching up with some of my favorite ladies in the world. Oh how I miss hearing those waves. Our place was just 29 steps down to the sand. I was the only one crazy enough to actually venture into the water for five seconds, in my suit. Brrr! As we all know, Oregon Ocean is better just for looking, especially in March!

Here's our gang, minus Aunt DeeAnn, who was taking our pic...


Our view from the back deck of our place, 29 steps to the sand. It was kinda rainy the first couple of days, but it cleared off later and was gorgeous the last two days...


Aunt Kathy, holding a hermit crab from one of the tide pools we were exploring. She was the only one brave enough. But even SHE screamed and dropped him when he started crawling out onto her fingers.


-- Grandma Eva's 90th Birthday Party. As in NINETIETH BIRTHDAY!! Can you believe!?!? So much fun to see her sweet face light up as she visited with 130+ friends and family who came to celebrate her special day. Oh how I love my wonderful, adorable Grandma Eva. I loved being part of her celebration, and learned so much about her, just from listening to other family members and friends share special memories about her. I played a piano medley of hymns for her, the great grandkids sang "Yes, Jesus Loves Me," and all the sons and grandsons shared memories.

\

-- Lava Hot Springs Boston Reunion. Talk about an amazing weekend of being reunited with some of the most wonderful people of my life. (And talk about gaining five pounds at every scrumptious meal!!) My oh my, what a great trip! You'll have to look at Alicia's blog for the full recap (and don't look too closely at that pic of me in my jammies, please!). She and Jeni got all the pics, of course. There were eight of us who all lived in Boston at the same time together, almost a decade ago. We reunited from Washington, Utah, Arizona, and Idaho... bringing along 12 kids, and Rex. It really was a perfect break.




-- Spring Break and Easter. After our on-the-go month, we decided to stay home for Spring Break this year. (We were tempted to stuff the kids in the car and drive to Disneyland, do you blame us? didn't happen. darn.) Highlights included some spring shopping at our favorite thrift stores, some spring cleaning (including window washing!), a trip to a fun place called "Jump Time" -- the kids are begging to go again almost every day, and a camping trip to the sand dunes. Yes, it was actually warm enough to camp (if 70 high/42low sounds warm enough). We had a great time jumping and playing on the dunes, and once it was dark, it was probably the best star-gazing night I've seen in YEARS. Fun! For Easter, we had all our Bishop family over for a big dinner in the afternoon. The Easter Bunny found us, and the kids got in on a fun egg hunt at Grandpa and Grandma Bishop's, as well as a hunt with people from our ward. We are still eating candy and vacuuming Easter grass.

-- Grumpy Kamber. Less noteworthy than these other festive occasions is the fact that I had several very unhappy days in a row near the end of March. I cried and felt irrational. I yelled at kids and glared at husband for no reason. I nit-picked most ridiculously about most everything that I don't appreciate about my life. It was yucky. I even thought I might be pregnant. (Nope.) But luckily, I came through and am back on top again. Not sure what that was all about, really. Maybe lack of sleep? Maybe coming down from the high of all those fun times with friends and family?? Well, anyway, on one of those days, I was on the phone with my friend Ruth, in London. She has some really hard days, tough family situations, lots of drama and trauma in her life. Well, I felt dumb even whining to her about my emotional state, because, really, my life is good, right? But because we're friends, I whined away and told her all about how I had a sobbing, crying, yelling fit right before church because Samantha couldn't find her shoes. (True story!) Before long, both of us were laughing hysterically about it, and about all the other less-admirable moments from my (and her) recent grumpy state. She told me, "it helps sometimes, just to hear that other people who seem to have it all together actually DO have bad days. It makes us all feel a little more human, I guess." Well then, I share my grumpiness openly. Right along side all those fantastic memory makers up top. Life has its ups and downs. I'm grateful for both. But more especially for the "ups" and for the people in my life who keep me "up!"

ps. I just have to brag... I got up at 5AM today (first time in a couple of years or so) to go do a water aerobics class at the gym with a friend. Can you believe?! Then I came home and burned another 360 calories on the cross trainer. And yes, I napped later. But still. This is worth celebrating, for a non-morning-person who doesn't love exercise. :) Thumbs up for me!

Daylight Savings, and a comparison

Samantha told me on Sunday night that she'd really like to ride the bus to school. She asked if I could please, please wake her up that extra half hour early so she could ride, instead of having me take her 45 minutes later. I smiled and agreed, but inside I was groaning. Why? Well, I have two words: daylight savings.

Bleah. I don't mind the longer evenings -- in fact, I really appreciate them, once I get used to the whole change over. But the earlier mornings just about do me in for the first few days of daylight savings. Seriously, I feel like I've really been ROBBED of that extra hour, CHEATED! Like my precious time has just been RIPPED from me -- and more especially, from my little ones. Ug. (The reverse is true when we we switch back to standard time in the fall... I feel as though I've been handed a GIFT of one extra hour. But really, I'm just reclaiming what is taken away from me each spring, you see.)

So, there's my daylight savings rant. But that's not really what I was going to write about, believe it or not. Actually, I was going to say, I woke up a little groggy yesterday morning, but I went through the motions of putting the day together. I got Samantha off to school, got Spencer off to preschool, did some laundry and dishes, read some scriptures, exercised, had the kids do their piano lessons, and we went to an open house for a charter school we're considering sending the kids to next fall. In the evening I got a quick dinner, prepared and executed a great family home evening lesson where we made a new star chart for the kids, all together, and even fixed a fun little dessert treat for the kids. Bedtime came and I stayed calm and patient even though the kids didn't settle until nearly 10 (dumb daylight savings, you know?). By the time I crawled into bed, after more scripture study and facebook time, I was feeling pretty good about my day. It wasn't my best-ever day, but I had a good attitude and things got done like I wanted them. Not bad, Kam. I even wrote in my journal before bed. (It's been awhile, believe me!)

And then...
Three-o'clock in the morning, I came fully awake to the sound of Samantha standing outside our door saying, "Mom! I'm throwing up!" And yes, she did. It was awful. Poor thing. And poor me, for all the yucky clean-up. It took awhile, but we got her settled on the floor in our room with a towel and a bowl close by. Ug. Back to sleep, eventually. Within just a few minutes, there was Spencer at our door. Just scared, had a bad dream, needed a quick cuddle and tuck-in so he could get back to sleep. Then I tried to get back to sleep too, again. Eventually. Less than an hour later, poor Samantha threw up again. Then Spencer came in again. Then well, it was technically morning, because dumb daylight savings said it was 7 something, but it still felt like 6 something, and there was Natalie, up for the day and ready to stomp all over Samantha on our floor before climbing on our bed. And the day officially started.

Can I just tell you...yesterday was definitely better. I slogged through the morning, griping at the kids and taking my time forgiving sweet Nat for waking me up so early after not so much sleep. And Samantha was home and a little stir-crazy all day, which threw off my plans for going shopping. And, I never really got myself ready for the day very good. And I gave up on dinner and got Papa Murphy's. And I only got up enough energy to vacuum and get the house in order after the kids were in bed tonight (and Natalie was screaming, for at least 20 minutes while I vacuumed at 9:30 p.m. dumb daylight savings.) Well, people! Here's what I have to say about all this: sleep makes a big difference in my life. When I get it, life is better. When I don't, I have a harder time with just about everything.

I've known this before. And many of you have known this about me, I know. But really, I was thinking about a bigger picture today, as I compared my efforts of today to my efforts of yesterday... Wow! There are LOTS of little things that contribute to how a day turns out -- sleep being just ONE small factor that makes a BIG difference. And most of the time, those ducks are in a row for me, and I have lots of good days where I don't even realize how good I have it. One little night of sleep deprivation, and I'm reminded that I'm very blessed to take A LOT of things for granted in my life. And I'm trying to stay grateful for those things I don't even KNOW I'm taking for granted, if that makes sense? -- like a good night's sleep. It's really such a blessing!

Anyway, that's as deep as I'm going with this tonight. I've got a bed to get into, and who knows if tonight will be another less-predictable one. Either way, I know daylight savings means morning comes early, yet again. I will not complain about it anymore, kay? ;)

Back-Blogging: She Turned Seven

Happy Birthday, Dear Samantha!
Yes, yes it was clear back in December. I know, I'm so very late getting things posted. But I want to at least get my kids' landmarks on here, so they know how much fun we have, celebrating their birthdays.

 Here's our brand new seven-year-old, parked in front of her stack of birthday presents, first thing in the morning. She was super excited and loved all the attention.

 We brought cupcakes to school for her class, and had a little party with some girls in our neighborhood after school. She called it a "fairies and butterflies" party, so we strung fairy candy necklaces, decorated wooden fairy and butterfly cut-out pieces, and also decorated individual cupcakes (which were GOBBED with candy, as you can imagine!)...

 We had a pinata...

And no one even got hurt, thank goodness! Candy, candy everywhere!

 The whole gang, eating cake and ice cream...

 Playing a fairy dance game, or something...

That night, Samantha told me, "That was the BEST day of my WHOLE LIFE!" Wow. And it only got BETTER... she got TWO parties this year!

On Sunday, we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa Bishop, and with Ella, who was turning 11 the following week. Samantha had requested a "doll/dress" cake, so together she and I made one for her family party...

 It turned out pretty cute, if you ask me. It was just a bundt cake, with a doll stuck in a baby bagel, and gobbed up with tons of frosting and sprinkles. And it tasted delicious!!

Opening presents at Grandma and Grandpa's... Natalie loved the super big gift bag ...

The two birthday girls...

We sure love Samantha!

She is a very bright, lively, enthusiastic, sweet girl. She loves to make projects, cards, and crafts of any kind. She almost always has paper, scissors and crayons out, and also gets into markers, tape and glue (which she's supposed to ask for, because of that little Nat who gets into those things and makes messes.) She also loves reading and has torn through several books this winter -- "The Littles Chrismas," "The Amazing Clementine," "Junie B. Jones" (until we got tired of sassy Junie), "Little House on the Prairie," "The Indian in the Cupboard," "High School Musical"... to name a few.

Samantha has a lovely singing voice and had the opportunity to sing for audiences lately, which has been a great way to build her confidence and help her develop this talent. Most recently, she sang a solo at her cousin, Seth's, baptism, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." It was beautiful.

Samantha really loves to do what is right, and recognizes when she is making right choices. She tells me, "I just get such a good feeling inside when I know I'm doing something right." I love watching her learn and grow. She is great at setting goals, and is such a good helper at home. She likes to make forts and clubhouses for Spencer and Natalie, and loves playing hide-and-seek and riding her bike with friends and with Spencer.

So far, we have love, love, loved having this sweet seven-year-old at our house! Happy Birthday, Samantha! (Even if your blog post is a couple of months late!)

Back-Blogging: Road Trip Finale-- St. George to Idaho

 Hello. I know you thought the day would never come. But here it is. The day I blog about the last our our road trip from last October. Just to remind you, on my last update, we left off watching the sun set over the majestic mountains of Zion National Park...

From there, we started what we like to call our "family time." We stayed the night in St. George, with my Aunt DeeAnn at the Phelps group's vacation house. It was lovely. I'd heard rumors of how nice and relaxing their place is, and all those rumors are true. Sadly, I didn't go around photographing the house, or the pool and hot tub, or the bed linens. But trust me, they were all top notch!

We got to play with my cousin Reni's kids, who were staying with their Grandma Dee... Here's Taylor, who was quite the conversationalist at dinner (just ask Brian, who got an earful!)...

Halle, who really thought there was a competition with Natalie to see who could be the cutest two-year-old redhead...

And Brecken. We've known and loved Brecken since their family lived in Boise back in 2008-09. She and Samantha reconnected as BFFs. :)

And off we rushed the next morning, on our way to Lehi for some Bishop family time. Oh yes we DID see these fun little road signs for a couple hundred miles!

(and guess who decided to STILL go 75? ;)

We had a great little family reunion at Brent and Jenalyn's house that night, with all the siblings and family that lives in Utah. (Brian has four sibs down there now!) A hayride! So much fun!! 

 Ashton and Samantha -- another reconnection as BFFs! They're just four months apart, and, in my opinion they kinda look (and act) like they could be sisters. Cuties...

 Janice bought pumpkins for each of the kids, and provided fun googly eyes and wires to decorate their pumpkins like spiders. It was a hit!

 Here's one of the gals of the house, after dinner...

The hard part about all our time with family was that it just went toooo fast! We were eager to get home, of course, but we wish we could have spent a few more days visiting around with everyone in Utah, instead of having to rush off and stick to our schedule. Oh well... fun memories, for sure!

Next stop, Blackfoot -- home of Idaho's World Famous Potato Expo. I promise, sometime I will post a photo of that special exhibit. But for now, here's my photo of our Blackfoot trip. It's the Hones.... all 26 of us!

It was a fun reunion, let me tell you! Good food, great company, and an awesome new addition to the Honestead -- my parents just finished remodeling, adding a nice master suite and closet, and extending their guestroom by several feet. Very snazzy! This picture was taken in their new bedroom, in front of the fireplace. The little kids were sitting up on the mantle of the fireplace.

And then, the moment we had been waiting for... home again, home again, finally home. We made it! And I can't find the fun pics we took of our "Welcome Home" banner on the garage doors. Hmm... must be on the iPad. Mark and Dalana's family put up signs and came right over to help us unpack. 

And now, here were are, five months later. Phew! I'm glad I finally got this one covered. Now maybe I should resume blogging some more recent stuff, eh? 

A February Update

Oh, blogging energy, where have you gone?!
I really have no excuses, though I'm sure I could readily invent some. Instead, I think I'll just give a quick update of how our month has gone. If I were blogging, for REAL, I think most of these newsy bits could probably deserve their own posts. But... apparently I'm not really blogging. Sigh. So anyway...

-- Top news: Yet another camera bit the dust this month. I'm proud to say we had this one for nearly three years this time, I think. We're not even sure what happened to it. Brian was using it in the garage one Saturday to take pics of some stuff to post on craigslist. Then it was gone for a few days. And then, somebody found it in the road and kindly put it on our front porch one evening, all banged up and not working. Bummer. Hmm... Natalie??

-- More top news: (Actually maybe this should be the first top news?) We have a FIVE year old in the house! Yep, Spencer celebrated his birthday last Friday. Three cheers for our Spencer boy! He hit the jackpot this year with THREE parties in one day -- a party at his preschool class, a kids' party in the afternoon, and a birthday dinner party with both sets of grandparents and cousins. I think he felt pretty special, and we sure think he is!

-- A Valentine's getaway... That's right, folks! Brian and I actually had a little ESCAPE this year for Valentine's, and it was wonderful! Brian's parents watch the kids for us for two nights, and we hotwired a nice hotel in downtown Boise. We spent Valentine's evening with Mark and Dalana, then went off to our romantic room. Then we had an entire Friday day all to ourselves, working out forEVER, roaming around Boise, visiting museums, going in little "don't touch" shops that we'd be terrified to take the kids in, and we even went to a video/seminar at BSU about linguists and dying languages. (I know, that last bit probably sounds a bit dry to some of you, but we thoroughly enjoyed having some intellectual conversations about things that really interest the linguist I married. :)

-- We got our YMCA membership back. Yippee!! We've been meaning to do it since we moved back, but I guess we were both kinda waiting until we got really SERIOUS about this whole lets-be-healthy-people thing, ya know? So, now we're trying it again. And it's fun. But I don't really like cycling, I've decided again for the umpteenth time. And I'm officially sore from my ONE try at getting back into yoga. I will try again, maybe. Next month?

-- The snow and cold have gone! And THANK GOODNESS for that! We still get our occasional flurry and some nasty wind. But that frigid phase of ice EVERYWHERE and below-zero nights left us at the end of January. And I happily say GOOD RIDDANCE! Winter is nice and all... from inside, for a day or two, right around Christmas time. I'm ready for Spring, people, and the ground hog predicted it'd come early this year. Bring it on!!

-- Our ward at church got split. They actually took two wards and divided them to make a third. We're technically in the "new" ward, as in, we got a new bishop, a new meeting time, a new name, and everyone got released from their church assignments and callings. However, ours was actually the ward that didn't get ANY new people added to it all. They just took some of our best people (goodbye dear Shermans, Dougals, Tingeys, Cheneys, etc!!) and now we have holes to fill to make this new ward work. Brian was asked to serve as the new executive secretary to our new bishop. Any bets what my new calling will be? I'm lobbying for primary chorister, but well... we all know lobbying isn't how it works, right? :)

-- Natalie has taken to using markers. EVERYWHERE! In fact, tonight there were new marks on Samantha's sheets, in her bed! What!? This child is tricky, sneaky, stealth!! No one really ever SEES her in the act, well at least not most of the time. (There was that one time I caught her drawing a 3x4ft mural in our hallway when she thought I was napping one Sunday afternoon. She quickly tried covering it with her hands and body, threw the marker on the floor and started shouting, "Only on paper!! Only on paper!!) Let's just say, this girl knows what she's doing is wrong, and she does it anyway. I cleaned up two of Samantha's dollhouses last night that were all marked up. Brian had her help clean the couch last week. The stairs were pretty bad the week before. And the kitchen table. She even drew a mustache of sorts on herself the other night, with black, permanent marker. Any ideas? We've already tried scolding, time-outs, spanking, making her clean it up, throwing away any marker we find that she's touched, etc. If you come over, just don't judge us by our two-year-old artwork, eh?!

-- Spencer did a soccer class this month, with his cousin, Cole. And he really enjoyed it! He's now in gymnastics with a couple of friends from church. He is enjoying it, too. We've had our struggles lately with him and his many anxieties. I almost wrote a post a few weeks back, but I was afraid of over-venting, if that makes sense? He went through a couple of weeks where he was REALLY terrified of EVERYTHING. I mean, like, he was asking me to say prayers for him, for things like, "say a prayer that a toaster won't get stuck on my head.... that I won't lose any body parts... that hot lava won't come in my room and get me in the night... that I'll never see a ghost in my whole life... that I won't die, ever... that those scissors on the counter won't jump up and get me... that my eyeballs won't fall out." I'm not kidding. These are all from his actual list. Phew. He was up all night, many nights, crying and screaming and refusing to be consoled by most anything we tried to do for him. Thankfully (knock on wood!!!), the worst of it seems to have past, and he is coping better. But I still feel for him. I wish I knew what was going on in that little head of his sometimes.

-- Samantha has been doing great with her piano lessons lately. She just started learning to play chords with her left hand, and she's LOVING it! Her songs are starting to sound more like songs, to her. And it's making her excited to learn. I'm so glad... I want her to like it and to feel like she's making progress. She's also doing really well in school these days. She just won second place in first grade for an art project, and her picture is hanging on display in the first grade hallway for everyone to see. She's very please about that, as art is her favorite subject and she's felt that they don't do nearly enough art in this new school. :) She had an accident at school this week, and got her hand smashed behind the outside door. She was the door holder for her class, and someone came in and pushed it open really hard, I guess? It really smashed her hand up. She'll probably lose the first two fingernails on the right hand, poor thing. The school nurse had me come get her and bring her home for a few hours to recover. We're glad she's okay.

-- I should probably be done for now. I just wanted to at LEAST get one entry for February! And, let's give a big round of applause to welcome March! I like March... spring, rain, and birthdays for my mom and grandma. We're celebrating Grandma Eva's 90th this year!!! Big things ahead, as you can imagine. So, off I go for now...

Getting Through January

I've been thinking about it.
And I've decided, January is still my least favorite month of the year.
I've believed that for many years now. But I decided to give it a decent chance this year.

And, to be fair, this has been one of my better Januaries, as far as Januaries go. First, our Christmas Break lasted all the way until the SEVENTH!! -- which knocked out one whole week, right there.... nice days of sleeping in, lounging with family and friends, continuing the glorious holiday-style gluttonous eating, and putting off the New Year exercise regime for a few extra days. Not a bad way to introduce January, I suppose.

Yes, I admit the ENTIRE MONTH has been freeze-your-bum-off cold out there. (Sorry for the crude expression, Mom, but it's just too true.) But, I got an electric blanket for Christmas this year (thanks Mom and Dad!), which has been practically life altering for me, in a I-can-tolerate-frigid-January-much-better kind of way. I could write A LOT about the new blanket, I bet... but I won't. ;)

Also, I've been taking my vitamins. Religiously. And I can see a difference. Or, more accurately, I can feel a difference. I actually wanted to write a completely separate post about the glorious transformation of taking my daily vitamins consistently, ... but I might as well include it here with a testimonial that this one little step has really made a difference for me. I have more energy, my hair has stopped falling out, and I'm not feeling so seasonally down, like I have many other Januaries. The Vitamin D and the Fish Oil are my real charmers. Good stuff right there, I tell you! And, I take those yummy gummy vitamins for the other multi-daily pack, since I hate swallowing those horse pills. Highly recommend it, I'm telling you!

Another "bright side" this January is the fact that I haven't really gotten sick with lots of the crud that seems to be going around right now. I usually do. But not this year. Hooray! That's something to be thankful for, eh? Maybe I should chalk that up to the vitamins, too??

Anyway, all that said, here I sit on the 24th of January, thinking, hmmm... it's STILL January??

STILL??

It's always that month that seems to drag on forever, even when I'm sure it should be February already!!? One year, when I lived in Boston, I remember I didn't see the sun AT ALL for 21 days straight in January. I counted.

I'm not counting this year, but I'd say we're running close to that, with the ugly inversion going on out there. To make things seem even less pleasant, Brian's on some killer deals right now, which means we've seen very little of him, and he's seen even less of his bed, poor guy. Plus, the kids are.... restless? sleepless? stir crazy?? (They really do deserve their own post, hopefully coming soon.) ... I'll just say, I guess they have a bit of January fever, too, it seems.

So... I say, sorry to all you people who have special occasions that fall in January -- birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Maybe those events help to "perk up" your long January days?? I personally hope you get to go to Hawaii or to the Southern Hemisphere occasionally to celebrate your special dates. That's what I'd prefer to do, if I had "occasions" in January. Phew.

Instead, I'm still just hunkering down, thanking my lucky stars that it hasn't been that bad this year. But I'll be ready to see it end, for sure. Move along, Bleak January Days. Move along.

Anyone else with me on this one???

Road Trip, Again: Santa Fe to St. George

 Day 10: Santa Fe to Farmington, NM
Monday, Oct. 7

So, we decided to go to Santa Fe, just so we could visit New Mexico's state capitol building. (And you've already heard me tell how unimpressed we were, right?) Well, one sad thing about that -- we found out that if we had chosen Albuquerque instead, we could have lucked into the International Hot Air Balloon Festival, which was going on that whole week! Can you believe?! Our one consolation was that our schedule didn't really match up with any of the big balloon launches. But still... next time, eh? :)

So, Santa Fe...
Brian woke up early and took a bike ride around the town, capturing some of the fun southwestern architecture designs, like this...

 Once we got loaded up, we stopped at the Native American Indian museum, to buy some souvenirs (colored corn necklaces, beaded rings, etc.) These artsy old west guys were in front of the museum...

And then, we opted for the scenic route to Arizona, heading north to hit some Aztec ruins and Four Corners monument. It was a bit desolate, but pretty...

Camel Rock (below)... Do you see it? :)

The Aztec Ruins...
I really, really love these kinds of things, so, I was glad to see my kids were enjoying it, too. We took about 30 pictures of the ruins, but I'll just show you these few...

They recreated a replica of what one of the towers might have looked like inside. Very fascinating! Natalie loved the echo, Samantha and Spencer loved the hidey holes and ladders...

So, after visiting the ruins and eating a bite, we realized if we kept driving toward Arizona, we wouldn't make it to Four Corners before it closed. Believe it or not, I was mildly devastated. I even started to cry a little bit. (Give me some leniency here, please... I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Four Corners, AND, I had been on the road in a minivan with three small children for ten days at this point. AND, I had just sacrificed the majority of Houston, and we all know I would have enjoyed spending a week or so there. So, I vote that the tears were in order! You can vote too, as long as you agree. :)

Brian was the sweet hero who decided not to cross his tearful wife... er, I mean, ... decided we should stay in Farmington for the night, at a nice Marriott with a fun pool. (No pics of the pool, too bad!) Even though we had only driven about four hours that day, and it was only 4:30 in the afternoon. It was a wise choice, and made for a much better Day #11 :)

Day 11: Farmington, NM to Page, AZ
Tuesday, Oct. 8 -- Monument Valley and Grand Canyon Day!

This was our earliest morning of the trip. I think we were on the road by 7:30 a.m.! Gooooo Bishops! (If you know us, you KNOW this was a GREAT accomplishment!) On our way to Four Corners, we passed by a lot of "nothing" and then, this famous, big rock, called Shiprock. It's actually an old volcano -- our kids freaked out when we told them that. ha!

 At Four Corners, we were some of the first visitors of the morning. We each took our turn standing -- or kneeling, I guess? -- in four states at once: New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado.

Seriously, though, can you blame me for wanting to go there? I know it's just an imaginary border line, in the middle of the desert. But I love it! I've always thought it would be such a cool place to visit!

Brian's been before, but he humored me, and drove us waaaay out of the way, so we could do it. :) Fun!

Next, well... hey! There's the Mexican Hat rock. See it? Get it? It's a big rock, that looks like a Mexican sombrero hat. See it now?? :)

And then, below... yes, we DID get everyone out of the car to take a picture by the famous Monument Valley, the very moment we first saw it on the horizon...

Then, we managed to take 50 MORE pictures of it from every angle as we passed by it, through it, and around it, for the next two hours...

Hey, isn't this shot from the movie, "Cars?" ha!

FINALLY, the amazing finale of the day... the GRAND CANYON!! We got to the parking lot, and literally had to spend a full five minutes playing on these rocks (below), before we could drag the kids down to the main attraction. ha!

Here it is, and here's my handsome man, too...

Natalie was our little climbing maniac. Seriously, we should all be thankful she is not at the bottom of the Grand Canyon right now. She was relegated to the stroller shortly after this picture was taken...

Samantha loved it...

 Brian took some great sunset shots...

 And yes, we even begged some fellow tourists to take a group shot of us...

(If' you're eager to see the other 150 pics we took of our Grand Canyon adventure, just email me. :)

What else is there to say about it? Yes, it's everything everyone has ever told you... massive, gorgeous, awe-inspiring, etc. We loved it. We want to go back someday and hike it... maybe without children. :)

We stayed so late, oohing and ahhing over the views, that we had a hard time finding food and a place to stay that night. But we lucked into a great 1-bdrm apt. in Page, AZ, after checking tripadvisor.com. (Hint: if you're ever in Page, visit tripadvisor, and get in touch with Jake!! And no, I don't get paid to say those kinds of things.)

Day 12: Page, AZ to St. George, UT

Wednesday, Oct. 9 

We had a nice, leisurely morning in Page, enjoying our lovely apartment and stocking up on some groceries. Then we were off to visit the nearby Glen Canyon Dam, at the Head of Lake Powell... 

Pretty amazing and impressive, even for the kids! We went into the visitors center and they had some great exhibits showcasing how the dam was built. What a project! Another small sidenote: I get a tiny bit squeamish standing at the top of huge dams. But again, I just be brave, and I'm still alive after many ventures on top of big dams.

And bridges, like this one...

Proof that we were in the visitors center...

Next stop, Zion National Park. (Aside: We were actually smart enough to buy an annual National Parks pass at the Aztec Ruins, back in New Mexico, which practically paid for itself by the time we toured the Grand Canyon and Zion. And now we've got the rest of the year to keep banking free trips on it, wahoo!)

Note of significance: we turned over 4000 mile on our trip odometer right as we entered Zion. (And technically, we should add and extra 25 miles or so, since we didn't actually set the trip odometer at the start of our trip until we were a ways into New Jersey.) Anyway, it was exciting enough that I made Brian stop and take a not-so-focused picture...

Even more exciting was the view around us a that moment. Hello, Beautiful Zion...

 I seriously LOVE Zion, and my kids and Brian loved it too. Even right on the heels of the Grand Canyon, we were all amazed at the grandeur of the whole place. Amazed, I tell you...

 One-mile tunnel through a red rock mountain. Super cool!

 I even snapped a not-very-good picture out the "window" of the tunnel, halfway through. (They don't let you stop, or you can be sure my pic would have been better!)

Then we rode the bus through the park to all the most noteworthy sites. (Spencer's back there studying the map, to be sure. That kid LOVES maps. Samantha too, actually.) ...

 We let Samantha have the camera while on the bus. So, we got a little of this...

 And some of this...

 And this...

And we took it back when we started getting this (close-ups of the butterflies on her shirt)...

We got off the bus at the end of the line, up near the starting trail for the Narrows, with the Virgin River.

 We let the kids play in the water for a half hour or more. It was seriously one of the highlights of the trip, for all of us. It was coolish, but still comfortable. And the air smelled so fresh and clean. And the kids had so much fun stomping around in that water, playing with each other, building little dams, etc. It's one of my "happy moments," especially looking back.

 Natalie was not about to stay dry, so we removed her clothes and let her splash to her heart's content...

 Spencer was picking up mud off the bottom of the river and building something with it. Very exciting...

 Funny thing about Spencer -- after so much digging in the mud, his shirt was getting quite dirty. So, I told him to maybe not keep wiping his hands on his shirt so it didn't get any dirtier or wetter. He looked down, saw the dirt on his shirt, and immediately laid tummy-down in the water to wash it off! Needless to say, he was drenched, but I don't think he minded too much. :)

Seriously, it was all sooo majestic and beautiful. We stayed a long time and soaked up the awesomeness of it all...

 And we took about 50 more pictures like these...

 Then, on to St. George for the night, to stay with my Aunt and her grandkids at their vacation house. I'm sure you can hardly wait for the grand finale post, where this road trip will finally come to an end. Stay tuned for one more round of good stuff, coming soon...