Sophie's First Food

On Sunday, Sophie turned 5 months...we celebrated by giving her rice cereal for the first time.  She spent most of the time with her hands in her mouth, but managed to get a few good bites in.  Enough that she slept all the way through the night again.  :)   She has been waking up lately....guess she was just too hungry!  

About a year ago, Rich gave a talk about writing in our journals.  He gave his own bad example of journal writing.  He was great when he was on his mission...and then he was sporadic.  If someone were to read his journal, they would have known we met, he got into pharmacy school, had a kid...not much else. 

Applying it to my blog, someone would know that Parker was born, Braden came along....and then nothing for the past 1 1/2 years.  I have finally realized that I may NEVER catch up on my blog.  So, my only hope is to move forward...and then try to back date what I can.  

Life is much different than last time I blogged.  Life is busy and just seems to get busier all of the time.  I am loving life with 3 kids (yes, that is right...Sophie came along and we are loving having a girl!)  It is because of this that I find that I spend far less time on the computer and far more time changing diapers, cleaning up messes, going on outings, cooking, doing hours of homework, and somehow wondering how to fit it all in :)  I guess that is what being a mom is all about and I love it! 

So here's to a new start with the blog...we'll see how long it lasts.  Ha ha! 

Thanks for the motivation Natalie!

Happy Easter

We had many Easter Celebrations this year! I figure why not let the fun last the whole month, right?! First, we had a had a fun afternoon decorating cupcakes and eggs with our friends. We loved making bunny cupcakes and dinosaur and monster eggs!
The fun continued with a Easter Egg hunt with friends from a couple of wards. We all gathered at the park with our filled eggs and treats and then let the kids hunt :)
Since Parker had his eye appointment in Salt Lake, we decided to make a trip out of it and spend Easter with our families. We had a fun Easter Party at my parents house with all of the cousins that live in Utah. We dyed eggs, made bunnies, did the chicken dance, played games, and had an Easter Egg Hunt! I love when we get to come to these family events!

The party continued at Grandma and Grandpa Bishop's house where the boys had their very own Easter Egg Hunt. By this time, they were experts (and it helped that they were the only hunters!) Easter Morning arrived with church at 9 AM, so the boys had to wait to find their baskets. They even posed for a few pictures in their cute Easter clothes :) (Okay, they may have been told they couldn't look for the baskets until they smiled...or stuck their tongue out. ha ha!)

At last, the time came find the baskets. Parker thought it was hilarious that the Easter Bunny hid his basket in the dryer. Braden just loved getting even more candy! Rich...well, Rich wasn't quite as willing to smile for the picture.

Happy Easter!

A trip to the hospital

In April, we went up to Primary Children's Hospital to have a vision test done under anesthesia. They basically put a contact lens on Parker's eye and tested his response rate. It is always a scary thing to explain to a child that they will be put to sleep. The first time we told Parker, he immediately went to my mom and told her that it was a bad idea. He wasn't happy about it. Luckily, we had time to prepare him for what was to come. His cute friends brought him presents to help him be brave.

Primary Children's is amazing and they were so good about everything. They gave him a fire engine, let him ride to the operating room in a fire engine, and had him blow bubbles to practice breathing through a mask. What made him mad? The hospital clothes (and he didn't even have the awful gown that most patients get!). He was fine with everything else except for having to wear hospital clothes.

Luckily, he responded well to anesthesia and we were able to get the results. His optic nerve was pale and he has a delayed response rate to the stimuli...so we were sent on our way for the next test.

"Making a Cake"

I used to blog more frequently until things like this began to happen. One such day (when I used to blog), I walked into my kitchen to discover that Parker and Braden were "making a cake" as they put it. Parker dumped an entire bag of flour on Braden's tray. Luckily I caught them before any more ingredients were added...but still it was a DISASTER!

Red Cliffs with the Daynes

In March, my nephew Nick had a baseball tournament down here in good ol' Dixie, so we were lucky to have the Daynes Family come to visit us. We loved cheering him on at his games, going out to eat, and playing games. They introduced us to a new game called "Perpetual Commotion" was was very fun and very addicting. We got to the point where we kept adding rules to keep it fair...competitive but FUN!

We also discovered a new hiking place. We decided to venture out from our traditional St. George hikes and found Red Cliffs Recreation Area. We hiked through a slot canyon and waded in the water. The kids were dirty and wet, which must mean that it was a successful activity. Greg even carried Spencer through the water so that he could be part of it. We loved it! I definitely need to go back there!

We had a fabulous time. It is always fun to have someone come and actually stay with you because then you can put the kids to bed and stay up and talk all night. We are hoping they will come back soon!

Hogle Zoo

Going to the Hogle Zoo is always a little bit nostalgic. I remember spending many summer days there with my family and cousins. Although some things have changed, most remains the same...like drinking out of a lions mouth and measuring yourself compared to the gorillas.

We had to make a quick trip up to Salt Lake in March for the first of MANY eye appointments that we have had this summer. Luckily, we were able to fit in a fun trip to the zoo with our cousins as well :)

Sledding in Pine Valley

Most of the time, I love living in St. George...but occasionally, I really miss the changes in seasons. I miss playing in the leaves, cool autumn days, and those first magical snowstorms. My kids definitely don't get to experience much in the changes of seasons. Instead, we have to go other places to get our fill of fun.

One February day, we had one of those magical days. We joined our friends in Pine Valley for a day of sledding (behind a 4-wheeler). We played in the snow to our hearts content. My kids experienced what snow is all about...and LOVED it!

California in January

Huntington Beach
My sister Rachel lives in California, but couldn't join us in the fun of Disneyland because she had a 3 week old baby. She did, however, decide to join us for a morning at the beach. It was a perfect day. Who would have thought it was January?

Swimming in the Pool

Newport Temple

We ended our trip visiting the Newport Temple before my mom had to fly out and we started our journey home. It was a perfect family trip! Thanks everyone who helped make it so memorable :)

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time (in January), we went to Disneyland...It was magical! We arrived just after lunch on a Wednesday afternoon and met my mom and my sister Heidi and family at Disneyland for the beginning of our 3 wonderful days of DISNEY.

The magic began immediately when Parker walked into Disneyland to be greeted by all of the Disney characters...Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and more!

Day 2: California Adventure
This was a first for me! We loved all of the Pixar characters and or course fell in love with the Toy Story Mania Ride! Aren't these little cousins adorable? Hannah and Braden are only 6 weeks apart and oh so cute!World of Color was amazing! Parker loved hanging out with his Aunt Heidi!

I think we wore these kiddos out! The four youngest children all managed to find a way to get in a nap when they couldn't handle the excitement anymore!

Day 3: DisneylandPirate IslandToon Town
And just for memories sake ... here are a few things I don't want to forget (most that I stole from my sister Heidi...because to be honest I have already forgotten after 8 months):

*The SUN! It was so gorgeous.
*Characters on every corner. We had so many interactions in fact, that we chose to cancel our character breakfast. We had already seen everyone!
*Watching Parker's excitement to get the characters' signatures
*Hot chocolate and donuts and muffins every morning for breakfast at our fabulous hotel, The Candy Cane Inn. One such morning I spent about 2 hours there because Braden woke up early and I knew that everyone else needed the sleep!
*Parker falling alseep for a nap and staying asleep while we carried him on the rides.
*MISSING the shuttle every evening and walking home after a long day in the park.
*Parker LOVING all of the character cars in Toon Town.
*Parker's explanation of where the different characters were and why Daisy was not at Disneyland (because she was too tired)
*Listening to at least 20 people recite the lines along with the narrator in the Haunted Mansion. "There are no windows ... and no doors ...". Screaming just for fun when all the lights went off.
*Being able to walk straight on most of the rides. Going in January is fabulous!
*Somehow managing to go on all of the spinning rides because none of the other adults would go with the kids...and I thought that I would have an out!
*Monte Cristo sandwiches. Yummmm.
*Laughing because my sister would try to make me nervous on rides and then after going I would have to tell her that she built it up a little too much! But still loving the adventure :)
*Watching Parker and his cousin Teagan have so much fun together. Especially when they were wearing 3-D glasses on Toy Story Mania.
*World of Color in California Adventure.
*Braden being scared of every character. He liked them from a distant, but didn't want to get anywhere near them. The only character that was remotely okay was Handy Manny.
*Eating funnel cake late at night.
*Swimming in the afternoon.
*Parker running into a pole and getting special attention from the Disneyland employees at lunch
*Applesauce, cookies, treats, ice cream, and more
*Parker writing a note from the parking lot as we were leaving my sister to go home and insisting that we write a note to Uncle Derek because he missed him so much.
*Realizing that I really don't like the Finding Nemo submarine (even though it doesn't go under the water) because I guess I am claustrophobic!
*Losing Asher's shirt. Finding Asher's shirt. My sister losing one her my diamond earrings. Finding the diamond earring (!). Losing my phone. Finding phone after Parker's sweet prayer. ALL of this happening on different days at different times but as we were going on the SAME ride. There must be a curse with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ...
*Having far too much fun.

Gale Center of History and Culture

My sister Andrea introduced us to a fun museum in South Jordan called the Gale Center of History and Culture. It is a cute little museum set up with different sections as they would have been many years ago. There was a grocery store, house, school room, recess, car, etc. It was a like a small (free) children's museum and my kids loved it. We went on a fun little tour that told us about it and then played. It was fun to discover a new place :)

Museum of Ancient Life

My mom and I went on another fun outing with the boys to The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. This is another one of those places in the valley that I couldn't believe that I had never been to before. I guess that is what happens when you move out of Utah when your oldest child is only 3 months old...It makes it fun to go back and visit and see new things though!

We LOVED the museum. At first when I told Parker about the museum he didn't want to go. Come to find out, he was nervous that they were real dinosaurs and that scared him a little bit. Once I convinced him that they were just bones, he was much more excited to go. He loved it and kept pulling out all of these facts about dinosaurs (since one of his favorite shows is "Dinosaur Train.") We loved seeing all of the reconstruction of bones, the fossils, and of course digging in the dirt.

After the museum, we went to IKEA where it just so happened to be a night where kids eat free. Sweet...Can't beat feeding all of us for $5! We had a great outing and made me wish I live closer to my mom so I could go on more outings together. Thanks for a fun time :)