June 10, 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
I guess summer is here! It is warm here in Vegas and I am glad that I am not having a baby in August. My poor sister-in-law is due at the end of September so she will have to endure the entirety of the hot summer in a pregnant state! Yikes! I do have good news about my liver. As many of you may recall, I had to be induced with Jaceroo because my liver stopped functioning. I am still itchy and my liver is not working perfectly, but I am not in an at risk state. So…I think I will get to go into labor naturally- yahoo! Pitosin is evil! I hate it, hate it, hate it! I am not sure whether I am wishing to go into labor in June or if I would like to wait until July. In some ways I think it would be great to have a 4th of July baby-fireworks for a new life along with our great nation! Independence Day has always been a treasured holiday for me because my parents always made it such a big event growing up. Likewise, it may be fun to have a baby on Father’s Day and that would bring relief to my back. My back has been hurting for about a month and some days I just have to lie down and allow the boys to be on their own for sometime. The clean up is not fun, but I just have to rest it, and I can only accomplish this by lying down. It would make more sense if it was my lower back, but it is the center of my back down and it sends shooting pains down my legs. I even go numb at times and this just complicates the situation and brings me more discomfort. Yes, I am ready for this all to be over, but at the same time, I also know that sleepless nights come when he or she arrives. I guess since I rarely have any difficulties during pregnancy, it is time I have a little.
We have hosted a few parties here since the last time I wrote. We had all of Mitch’s family over two times—one was on Mother’s Day to give my mother-in-law a break from always hosting the get togethers and the other was last Sunday. It was our turn to host the Family Home Evening/celebration of June birthdays evening. We had a fun time both Sundays and I can honestly say that it is so nice to have such a roomy house. We actually fit now. We are snug, but not on top of each other like we were at the Savory house. We also had a party for Mitch’s co-workers last night. One of his co-workers took a job with the county so Mitch wanted to send him off in style. We had another fun evening, and I think everyone genuinely enjoyed themselves. We made it a potluck, and everyone left all of the uneaten food. This made it possible for us to have dinner in its entirety and feed Mitch’s brother and family as well. Crazy! I tell you, all of Mitch’s single co-workers must think that because our family is the size of an army, we must eat like an army- Not yet. Although this will happen some day, for now, we do not need 5 quarts of rice J.
Our recent adventures have included many comical encounters with strangers, as they stand with mouths gaping open as I have four boys in tow and I am obviously going to be delivering another soon. At the library, bank, grocery store, and retail stores, I get the questions, “Are they all yours?” and “Wow, how does this happen?” all the time. I just laugh. Sometimes people just talk about us and do not try to lower their volume at all. I have been out to lunch with Mitch once and out to dinner once and literally everyone in the restaurants just stare at us. Many people make comments and I get an occasional “your boys are so well behaved.” I guess I bring some amount of comedy to the people of Las Vegas. So happy to oblige! I did have an afternoon doing a smog check and oil change and another at the car wash and the people were so kind and helpful with entertaining the boys while we waited. I am so appreciative of these times too. A few people still do have a heart and have a desire to help a mother of young boys.
I am busy tutoring still. I have four and another three who are interested, but I am not taking any more students until after the baby comes. I am not sure how the baby will be so I am waiting until I get a routine established before taking on any more kids. I also have been trying to catch up on scrapbooking, but that is impossible. I have scrapped two times in the last month though- progress.
Smart Night (the evening tutoring program) is over for the summer so my Tuesdays nights are now free. We had an end of the year shindig last week and had a great time. Mitch made a power point game of 1 vs. 100. The kids had a lot of fun! If anyone wants it, we can email it to you. I feel bad that we only played it one time for all that work. I am sure it will come in handy again. We also had a full spread of Mexican fanfare. I was worried that the kids would not come, but they came and they ATE! We had absolutely no food left over. I guess I should never doubt the power of food with teenagers! I was glad to have such a successful final event. Now I need to gear up for next year. We are opening the tutoring up to middle schoolers so I need to find more tutors and get the word out.
Mitch has been busy with writing his final project for school, but it is nice having him home some weeks. Tomorrow he does not have class, but he has a groundwater meeting- nice eh? Actually I cannot complain. It could be much more evening commitments. I will celebrate when I do have him. Work has been fine as well. The state legislature is now over so he has a little bit of a carefree summer ahead. We even stole away two weekends ago and had dinner with some friends- it was a fun evening. We need to splurge and do that more often.
For Memorial Day, Mitch had the day off so we went to the LV Wash and out to Lake Las Vegas. We enjoyed the sites and sounds, but not the heat. The boys have a new appreciation for binoculars and they want to go camping- TOMORROW! As if. I just laugh at how easy everything is in their minds. We do hope to go to Lake Tahoe (camping) and Ely (a day trip to ride the historic steam train) this summer. We will see.
Grey finished preschool. He is sad that it is over and already can not wait until next year. Gage is anxious too. Gage is trying to learn his letters this summer so he will be ready for school next fall, but he remembers them for a day or so and then forgets them again. I know this is normal, but we will still work on them this summer. I am also trying to get Grey to write a little more. If he would write more, I know the reading will come even faster. He is so ready to read too. He can read a few books now, but he simply has memorized them. It is so exciting to have this happen. I am glad to have the mornings with them both to work on these things while Aiden is at school.
All while the boys are working, Jace is tearing up the house. He is so into everything. I really do not like this stage of development! I know that it helps his language acquisition, but at times, I do want to lock him up in a cage. He loves water, dumping, and getting food out of the cupboards (opening and dumping some more). He also is constantly on the island in the kitchen. If I am cooking, he is “helping.”
Speaking of cooking, I made 11 freezer meals the other day. I am making them with two other new friends I have made and I also made a few extras as a service. I am trying to do this to get a few in the freezer for when the baby comes. I will hopefully make a few more next week. That is the plan. I am planning on doing a chicken pot pie. Any other good recipes- I will gladly take. I need more ideas. The two friends and I are planning on swapping two meals a month. That way we get 6 all together to eat over the course of a month. I hope it works well. I am excited about the potential of it.
And this last week we had swimming lessons (just mention of all this makes me want to take a nap.). Aiden is working on freestyle with side breathing. He is getting better, but this takes a lot of coordination. He can swim underwater pretty well and is holding his breath much better. He can swim the whole length of the pool now too, but it takes quite a bit of effort on his part and he is exhausted at the end of it all. Grey can swim to you and has finally gotten the breathing under control. He is now blowing bubbles and not drinking half the pool. Gage is a little reluctant, but he holds his breath better than I can and floats phenomenally well. We will practice the skills that we have learned. I am hoping to swim once a week if at all possible. I have hopes…it begins there, right?!
I think that is all for now. I need to go and rest my back. But I need to tell you the funny stories too.
- Grey knows that I love orange so as they were giving out flyers to a Primary “Breakfast with the Bishop” event, he asks if he can trade his blue flyer for an orange one. He then tells his Primary teacher that if he gives his mom an orange flyer, then she will probably let him go- as if I would not let him go?!
- Grandma Dian came over to watch the boys while I had a doctor appointment. She always brings them strawberry and chocolate milk. She pours the milk and gives a cup to Gage. Gage takes one swig and declares that it is yucky and he does not want it. This puzzles Grandma, but she pours him strawberry instead. When I come home she tells me about it. Later that afternoon after grandma had gone home, I take a sip of it. As I taste it, I realize it is mocha cappuccino- Oh, I laugh and laugh. Grandma is giving my boys coffee instead of chocolate milk.
- Vegas now has a Café Rio. If you have ever been to Utah, you know what I am talking about. Well we went the other night for dinner after going to a new educational/historical/museum attraction at Mitch’s work called the Springs Preserve. It is seriously the coolest place and the boys absolutely loved it. Anyways, we ran into one of Mitch’s coworkers there and he asked the boys if they liked it. After each of the boys said what they like, such as seeing the gila monsters, playing on the giant concrete rattlesnake or the train, Gage launches into this very animated description of the flash flood exhibit. He said, “The water came so fast it splashed right in my eyes!” Well that sent all the boys, including the baby, into a fit of laughter around the table. Mitch then said, “Yeah, you can see that our life is kind of like living in the Muppet Show.”
- At the Springs Preserve employee preview night, we walk in with all our boys. Well when we went to one of the museums, the general manager (Mitch’s boss boss – you know the top jefe) is there and she just looks at us and goes “Oh my!” Apparently Mitch hadn’t ever really had a chance to tell her exactly how many kids we have.
Well, that’s all for now that I can think of. Take care and happy summer to you!
Love,The Bishops
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