Trip to the Aquarium

I was able to go on Karson's field trip to the aquarium yesterday. I had not been to the new one in Sandy, so we were pretty excited. They started us off in "The Albatross" shipwreck, and taught us about tides.

I was proud of all of the kids. They were very attentive listeners.

This was my DELIGHTFUL group of kids. They are all so cute.

Karson loved this part. He is fascinated by Rays. He has done his animal reports on them two years in a row, and the reports are even different!

In the rainforest

Our poor little Octopus friend was blinded when I didn't read the sign that said "Please turn off your flash" Sorry Mr. Octopus. :(

After the Aquarium, we went to a park in Sandy to have lunch in the blistering heat of the day...it must have been 29 degrees! We had a nice little hurricane force breeze that made it feel like 12 degrees. I am still cold. But as always, Karson was happy to be Karson. He makes life truely enjoyable.

Thanks for letting me share this day with you Karson, and for still wanting me to go on your fieldtrips. It makes me feel great! Love you.

Happy 60th Birthday Grampa Bishop

This year for my dad's birthday, my mom surprised him with a trip to the IFly in Ogden. He was totally surprised, and the whole family (minus Aaron & Rawls) were able to come and watch. What a blast!

Dad had THE BEST instructor. Mom bought him a deluxe 10 minute package so they were really able to get into the learing of how to turn, go up down etc.

Here, dad is learing to go right to left, and left to right.

How to go up...

What a rush!!!

AAAHhhh aren't they cute. Mom was so excited, and dad was just as giddy!

After the flight, we all went to the Pie for dinner.....YUM!!

We ended the funnest day ever at our house for cake and icecream.

Daddy, I am so glad that you had a nice birthday, and to all my sisters, and the grandkids...way to go keeping the big secret!! Not usually an easy feat for any of us. :)

Karson gets his Wolf

Karson received his Boy Scout Wolf badge last month. We are so lucky that our ward is VERY into scouts. I only wish that I could get excited about it. I guess it will come. This month's theme was "Hollywood" Each of the boys getting an award got his own star on the walk of fame.

They had a spotlight on which didn't make for great picture taking. But in this picture Karson's den leader is announcing that he received his Wolf badge, 1 gold arrow, 2 silver arrows, a soccer belt loop, and a marbles belt loop. She was very proud of how hard he had worked to get the arrow, and so were his dad and I. I was even more excited to get my mother's pin. :)

Karson was really excited about his star.

Here are three boys in Karson's den that advanced. They get their faces painted each time. The boy on the end got his bobcat, and doesn't he looked thrilled. :)

We are very proud of what Karson accomplished. Great Job little man!

So Close...yet so FAVRE away!!

Another beautiful football season has come to a close for us...EARLY!!! Being a Viking's fan for well over a decade now, and bearing three more, we've come to expect this. Vikings fans have all the hope you could ever want, but our expectations...well? However, with the addition of the deliciously golden Brett Farve we had both. The season went great, and then we lost the NFC division game against the New Orleans Saints. It was THE MOST exciting game I have ever watched! We had over time, dropped carries, and 1 fatal interception. The game went into over time with a score of 28/28. The Saints won the toss, and it was over with a STUPID field goal 31/28. Don't get me started on the rules of overtime, or this post would be 48 pages long, but I will say this. I think that overtime should be an additional quarter like they do in college football so that each team has equal opportunity. I'm just sayin... Off the still mulpy box. We had PaPa Kunz, and Uncle C, along with the Richmans over for the event.
Karson and Luke were READY for some Football!

My Boys

It was so much fun to have PaPa up, he always makes the party.

I think this might have to be my all time favorite picture. I have no doubt that if Luke wanted to, a football player he could be. This shot was totally on his own. He truely loves the game, and was wahooing the whole time.

Oh so handsome Mr Favre, if you are reading this, ;) please, oh please just one more year, I know you can do it.

The lesson I tried to teach, was my lesson to learn...

I want to start by saying that I am so proud of the young man that Karson is becoming. He amazes me everyday with his wit, and wisdom far beyond his almost 9 years.

The story starts about a week ago when I was pulled over for speeding. It had been years since I had been pulled over and I was a little frazzled...not to mention looking like a million bucks. It was one of those days I was lucky to replace my scrubs with jeans before I went to pick Abby up from dance. Anyhoo... I ended up only getting a warning for the speeding, but WAS issued a ticket for not having my registration certificate in the car, and get this...an EXPIRED drivers license. Well tonight was when I was to appear before the judge which is another part to the story because the officer issued the ticket to say that I had NEVER had a license to begin with. OOPS...

So I was able to talk to the prosecuting attorney, I showed him my newly attained current license, and registration cert. He actually said that he had been in my same situation before, and because I brought everything in, he was going to dismiss both of the charges. WONDERFUL!!!!! So as Karson and I are waiting to appear before the judge again for the attorney to dismiss the charges the following conversation takes place.

Karson: Mom, your drivers license WAS expired right?

Mom: Yes Kars, but the attorney was nice enough to let us off the hook, it's okay for him to do that...it's all right.

Karson: Mom, I really think that you need to pay the fine.

Mom (to herself): Are you freakin kidding me? Angel, Devil, Angel, Devil...after a few minutes, and asking Karson if he was sure SEVERAL times (I was actually trying to debate with an almost 9 year old.)

Alright Karson your right, I should pay the fine.

As a side note, I MADE Karson go with me to court for moral support, and to learn what happens when you break laws, and rules. Do ya think I was wishen he stayed home...who's to say, but he taught me a valuable lesson.

So I was called before the judge, and the attorney moved to dismiss the charges, I said "Excuse me your honor, on the advise of my attorney I have decided to plead GUILTY to driving on an expired license, and would like to pay the fine." The judge, prosecuting attorney, balif, clerk, and all others waiting to see the judge burst into laughter. The judge said referring to Karson "That little guy?" I then said "Yes your honor". Smiling, he then ordered me to pay my $30.00 fine and we were on our way.

The moral of this story is...Don't start trying to teach your child a lesson unless your really prepared to follow through. I may be out $30.00 but I am raising a son who will have a great impact on our future. We must be doing something right.
I love you Karson! Lesson learned.

The Newest Addition to Our Family

As many of you know...we are TOTAL dog people. To be more specific German Shepherd people. After our YoYo died we got Mack the mut (Shepherd/Lab/Pit), and love the little bugger. Kira is in the Winter season of her life, and as we say our final goodbyes we want her to be comfy. Mack is 2, and VERY active. I saw an ad for Gracie on line, and couldn't resist. She is a year old, is crate trained, microshipped, spayed, and trained to stay, sit, and lay with hand signals. All of the hard work was done by someone else. :) She has had a rough go of things for a couple of months, and was very sketchy, but has adapted to our family so well in just a day.

Mack is in seventh heaven. They already have "wars" like Kira and YoYo used to. It's really fun to see. And hopefully Kira will be able to live out her days in peace, and maybe teach Gracie a thing or two about being "The Best Dog Ever".

It's gonna be REAL crazy at our house for a while, but the kids are loving every minute of it...just wish I was so sure. :)

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. I really think that it's the first year that the kids really understood what Christmas was all about. They each got their Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve.

Karson wanted to be the one to read from the Bible, and he did a wonderful job.

Karson made sure to write Santa a pre-gift Thank you note and put it up in the tree. I am so proud of him, and glad he's still a believer in the magic.

The kids were VERY easy on Santa this year. Karson asked for a German Shepherd webkin...he named him YoYo. Abby asked for "Noisy Red Shoes", and Luke loves that Backyardigans, so he got a talking/dancing Pablo. The stockings were stuffed with all sorts of fun treats.

That afternoon we went to Gramma & Grampa Bishops house. It was alot of Madness, and even more fun!! Gramma made all of the kids pillow cases, and the girls darling twirly skirts with matching hair flowers. She is amazing!

A few days later we went to Yia Yia & PaPa's place. Ham, German Potato Salad and all of the fixins...YUMMY! The kids were thrilled with the presents. Alot of thought went into the individual kids, and they hit the nail on the head with all of them. However, all Yia Yia wanted for Christmas was a nice picture of the Grandkids. This is the result. Poor Tommy! :) Maybe next year.

We were also able to adopt 3 Angels from the Angel Tree at Aaron's work. Aaron picked kids that are our kids' ages. It was fun for each of them to shop for the kids, and gain a better understanding of just how blessed we are. I hope that Juan, Wendy, and Deigo had a Merry Christmas! We have been very blessed this year, and are looking forward to the year ahead. We wish you all a very Happy New Year.