Christmas 2011

Christmas with kids is so much fun! Our kids are so happy and grateful for everything they get that it's just fun to watch them open presents.  

Christmas Eve

To put it plainly, it was AWESOME! While we miss being with family horribly at this time of year.  There is something that is very relaxing and wonderful at staying home and making a great dinner for just your family.  We loved it!

Christmas Break

 The boys got out of school on the 16th so we've had a lot of time to sleep in, play and just be together.  I've loved it!  We had friends over and did ginger bread houses and played.  The kids also made these finger snowmen.  I love how unique the boys turned out.  Olivia did a few things on hers but I mostly did the faces:) They were really fun to make.

Another night we took the kids to the Woodland Lights.  They had carnival type rides there and a walking path to look at lights.  Santa was there in a little wooden house and to say it mildly HE TOOK FOREVER.  We waited in line for about an hour, the whole time thinking it was the kids in the line who were taking so long.  Then when we got there we realized it was Santa who took forever.  He would ask what the kids wanted and then ask what else and our kids would look dumbfounded at Santa and sit in silence for what seemed like forever.  If you can't tell I was slightly annoyed with Santa that night:)

Basketball

Porter finished his basketball season off with a bang! It was fun to go and watch him play.  It was good to see his skills improve too.  He remembered every shot he took and would want to talk about them all on the way home from each game.  We love this boy!

Family and Friends

For Logan's baptism we had a houseful, and we loved it.  Nate and his family came out, my mom and Brandon's parents, and the Arrhenius family all came out.  We mostly just hung out at our house, ate, played games and ate some more.  I'm always kicking myself for the lack of photos that I take when a big group is together, but here are some of the ones I did get.

 These 3 cuties finally got a turn to jump on the trampoline with just each other and loved it.  The weather was great that they could be outside playing and not freeze.

 My mom brought out her "money jar" for the kids to grab as much money as they could hold in their hands.  Olivia had just woken up from her nap and was the 2nd one to go, and she was not very happy.  She picked up a nickle and was done.

 Porter with his competitive nature got the most out of my kids with $7.55.

 Logan kept trying to cheat and use both hands to get his money out. He came out with $6.35.  My kids loved it.  It's one of those things that we miss out on every year because we don't live in Utah. :( 

Brandon's parents were able to stay a couple extra days, and Brandon took a day off of work.  We decided to go bowling and get lunch.  Porter talked a pretty big game and did really good the first game.  The second game, he started to get hungry and not scoring as high. He had an emotional break down, but it all ended up being a lot of fun.

We love it when people come to visit.  We felt especially grateful that we had so much family come out for our special weekend.

Turning 30 and 31 weeks along

After we got back from NC, I turned 30. I think I was so busy with the trip and then the next weekend was Logan's baptism that hitting that mark wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be.  I had a very relaxing day with my family and going to church.  Brandon made all 3 meals and cleaned up each one, which was awesome.  So the point being made by this is that 30 feels no different than 29:) 

 Here I am at 31 weeks I think.  I had to laugh when I saw this picture because I am pointing straight out with my belly.  This pregnancy is going way too fast.  We still don't have a name for the little guy but we're excited for his arrival.  My doctor said he would induce me on the 24th of Jan if I want him to.  Which I will just so I can plan.  When you live away from family and have just moved to a new area it's a little nerve racking trying to find people to help you out.  That and I'm not very good at asking for help:)

Thanksgiving

We went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving to spend time with Nate and Jami and their family.  The weather was beautiful, the food was great and the company even better.  I'm grateful that I have one sibling out in the east with me. 

 These 2 little girls were so cute together.  Olivia loved spending time with Jilli and was so sad to leave.  On the way home she kept asking where Jilli was. 

 The boys are all at such a fun age where they get along really well.  McCade and Jaxton showed our boys their "fort" and they all spent a lot of time there building in it and playing the Wii.

Jami and I did black Friday.  We went to Walmart which wasn't too bad, and we were able to get everything there.  I almost put myself into labor by carrying a huge box of pogo sticks thinking I only had one.  Brandon met us there and got a few things for me too.  Then we headed to Target and after we waited for about an hour decided to just head home because the line was too long.  When we got back to Jami's car we realized that we had a flat.  Yes, we could have fixed it if we had to, but luckily Brandon came to the rescue and came and changed our tire for us.  Then he happily told us to go on in to the store and get what we wanted there.  We were able to get what we wanted everywhere.  I counted it a success.

We really need to do more trips to see them. It was so much fun.

Breaking Dawn

I went to a Breaking Dawn midnight party when the movie came out.  It was so much fun! My friend Kori came up with the idea of dressing up as the book covers.  Since I had the big belly I made mine the apple from the cover of Twilight.  We lots of comments on them and even more looks. 

 I actually really liked the movie.  It was much better than any of the others and the specail effects were really good. 

Brandon went in to work a little late so that I could sleep and he got the kids up and ready.  Unfortunately he forgot what time Porter's bus came and had to wake me up so he could take him. 

It was a fun night!

Logans Baptism

 We had Logan's baptism this last weekend and it was amazing.  I loved seeing my sweet boy make this decision and to be able to see Brandon baptize him was awesome.

 We had Nate and Jami and their kids come.  Grandma and Papa Bishop, Grandma Peterson, and the Arrhenius family come.  It was such a blessing that people were willing to be here for this special day.  We truly felt loved.

 Logan loved every minute of it.  He had pure Joy all over his face the entire day.  He is such a good boy!

 We asked Logan who he wanted to give talks and prayers, and who he wanted to confirm him. He had Nate give the talk on baptism and Grandma Bishop gave a prayer.  Then Papa Bishop confirmed him a member of the church.  There's just something so special and amazing when the words, "Receive the Holy Ghost" are said.  He gave him a sweet blessing and Logan was so glad that his papa could do that for him.

 We had a double baptism with another family in our ward.  I tried to get a picture of them together which neither of them were too thrilled about.

This was a great day for our family.  We're grateful for family and friends who are willing to come out and support us and those who support us from far away.

Porter

Olivia

Logan

A visit from some friends and Christmas!

 We had a visit from our friends the Yorgasons.  We were so glad that they came to see us.  I was so sad when they left and realized I only took these 2 pictures.  Olivia was in love with baby Mia.  It was fun to see her interact with her.

 Mia is such a happy, fun baby.  She sat there and tried to squeeze the diet coke can over and over again.  It was hilarious to see.

 We have family coming into town for Logan's baptism next week and we're going out of town this week so we set up Christmas for FHE.  The kids favorite part was putting ornaments on the tree.  It's fun to see them put up their ornaments from previous years. 

Olivia got an Aurora ornament which she is fiercely protective of.

 I had a really hard time finding something for each of the boys.  I wanted to get an Ohio ornament but all I could find is Ohio State and we're not going to have any of that in our house, (according to Brandon.)  So I found these little mushrooms that looked like they came from Mario Brothers World and since our family beat that game this year.  That's what they got, both of them.

Then Porter got upset and decided he didn't want to be in a picture at all.

 Olivia loves the tree so much she and all her gal pals decided to read underneath it tonight.  Can I just say I love my daughter and her imagination.

8 is GREAT!!!

It's happened again.  I blink and my kids have another birthday. 

 We had a birthday party for Logan at the Chaos Room.  It's a place where you can play video games on movie screens, we played arcades and had pizza.  Logan loved it!

 Logan was able to spin a wheel and get a prize he spun and got 2500 tickets, plus he had an additional 500 from being the birthday boy.  So instead of spending it all on one big prize, he wanted to divide it up and buy a bunch of little dinkie ones.  After spending forever at the ticket counter he spent them all.

He recieved some money from his birthday as well and really wanted to buy a DS game.  After thinking about it long and hard, (literally) he asked me, "Mom what will happen if I don't have enough money for college?"  That's my boy, the worrier! :) I reassured him that he would be okay and that he could spend some of his birthday money:)

We love this boy so much and are so proud of him.



Church is Hard!

Really I could just stick with the title and say enough said.  But lately church has become a total nightmare!  Without fail Olivia will throw a fit during the sacrment because she wants something she can't have.  Porter will try to go out to the bathroom because he "has to go so bad!" even though he went 10 minutes before. And then start poking everyone around him. Logan is finally at that stage that for the most part he sits and he's quiet.  Whether he's getting anything or not out of sacrament is another topic.  I just feel very frustrated.  Today Olivia and Porter got into a shoving match and she started screaming and had to be taken out.  I then got after Porter and he was mad a sulky.  The testimonies started and things calmed down for a moment.  A young woman in the ward got up and stared talking about following her parents advice even though she didn't want to she knew it was the right thing to do.  She bore a beautiful testimony and Porter looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, "mom I'm feeling the spirit so strong!"  Tears welled in my eyes as I held this sweet boy.  Yes church is frustrating with little kids! Yes it's a battle to get there on time and to sit still for the sacrament! But it is so worth it.  While most of the time I feel like nobody in my family is getting anything out of this and why do I do this to myself by going back each week.  I get to have these little moments with my kids, where the spirit will touch them and they can recognize it and they share it with me.  I don't know if I'll really miss this stage of life of taking little kids to church, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to see my childrens testimony seeds start to grow.

Random Stuff!

 After 4 months it's finally official about Brandon's job accepting him.  They put his name up on the wall outside:)  I tried to get him to stand by it and he kindly declined.

 Another Oliviaism is her playing with this statue.  She calls her Rapunzel and she loves her.  She talks to her, hugs her, puts jewlery on her and if I would let her she would carry her around.

My little cheeser!