Visitors from far, far away

Two weeks ago, my friend Rachel called to let me know that she was in town from Colorado. She also let me know that our good friend Jake was in town from GERMANY!

We tried to meet up at Macayo's, but they had sent most of their help home for the night, so we walked next door to Metro Pizza. Here we are, the Bishops' kids from the Mtn. View/Mtn. Vista Ward (from left): Ryan (his dad is the current Bishop), his wife Katie, Rachel (her dad was Bishop after my dad), Jake (his dad was Bishop after Rachel's dad), Julie (her dad was Bishop after Jake's dad), me, Kevin, and Braden (not pictured).

Jake is living in Germany with his wife and son studying for his PhD. I've really enjoyed spying on his family through his wife Jasmine's blog for the past couple of years, but I have to say that it was nice to see him in person and find out firsthand how things are living in another country.

A week later we got a visit from Jessica all the way from her med school studies in Atlanta. It's too bad the timing wasn't a little better - I know Jake and Jessica would have loved to have seen each other.

Here is where the three of us got started - freshman cheer.

Here we are four years later at graduation with Jeff and Chris.

And here we are ten years after graduation with Julie's sister Jessie and my Rebecca.

I've had so much fun getting caught up with Jessica this week. She's been great to do kid-friendly stuff with me so that my kids are entertained while we talk. She is in her fourth year of medical school at Emory University in Atlanta. She hopes to become an anesthesiologist. She loves Atlanta, so I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up settling there, although I would love her to live closer to us so that my kids can stay close to their Auntie Jessica.

Good luck with residency, Jess. I hope you find a fun place to do it in. I can't wait for our fun trip together!

Five Months Old

Braden is five months old and full of personality. He loves his brother and sister and is always trying to talk to them. He likes to try to sit up, and he rolls all over the floor. I'll put him on one side of the room and leave for a minute, and when I get back he is on the opposite side of the room facing a different way.

He is taking a bottle once a day since his mama started working this week. I started a teaching job yesterday at American Heritage Academy which is a small LDS based private school on the other side of town. I'm teaching Algebra to eighth graders, high school kids, and one advanced seventh grader. The job has been pretty ideal for me so far since I have three kids under the age of five - I teach two classes on Tuesday through Friday, and I'm finished and ready to leave by 9:35 am every day. My kids stay with my sister Jodi in the morning, and they seem to barely notice that I've been gone when I pick them up. Rebecca will start preschool at American Heritage in two weeks, and her tuition will be covered by my salary. On top of that, I will make a little bit of extra money. This is not a life change I was looking for, but I think it will be good for me. Sometimes I feel like my life needs a little bit of a shake up.

So that's where we are right now. We'll see where this new adventure takes us.

Bring It On

What's better than a princess dress?

A cheerleading skirt. At least he's wearing it with a manly baseball shirt. My poor son.

Finally

The last time we took family pictures...

Rebecca was six months old. As I was scanning this picture for this post, I noticed the copyright on the back of the picture said 2005. So sad. In my defense, we planned on getting pictures done when William was a baby, but then I found out I was pregnant. So we decided to wait until the baby was born. I love this old family picture, but we now have two more kids, so we were way overdue for an update.

We called our good friend Amy Adams to do our pictures. She did an amazing job. Here are some of my favorites:

I have so many more favorites, but I don't want to overload you on pictures. If you're interested in seeing more of Amy's work, she has a photography blog. There's even a post about our little family if you scroll down. Thanks, Amy. I am so happy with these new family pictures.

Have I let him go too far?

William started off wearing these. Today I caught him wearing this:


Maybe I should ask myself, "Have I let her go too far?" since I'm pretty sure Rebecca helped him put this on.

Visitors

My roommate Meighan came down from North Salt Lake two weekends ago with her husband Chris and their two gorgeous daughters Alina and Makayla. Sorry I'm a sweaty mess in this picture. We met up at Town Square, and it was so HOT. But the kids got to cool off at the splash pad.

Meighan and Claire were my older, more mature roommates during my second and third years of college. They helped me grow up A LOT during that time. Meighan taught me to appreciate some of the finer things in life like stage productions and ABBA. She also helped me get through the really tough final semester I had at BYU.

It's been about five or six years since I've seen Meighan - way too long, so I was so happy that she called me while they were here. She dated Chris while we were roommates, and we all took a fun trip to Disneyland with Claire and some friends of Chris and Meighan, so it was great to see Chris too. I'm happy they are doing well, and it was so nice to hang out with them again.

What I'm Loving Right Now

1. Hearing classic Michael Jackson all over the place

I was walking out of Target last week, and this guy was blasting a Michael Jackson song in his car so loudly that I could hear the song even with his car windows rolled up. Then on my way home, I heard four Michael Jackson songs in a row on the radio. I think the station was doing a tribute to him from noon to 1:00 pm. Today I heard a Michael Jackson song being played at the grocery store. I hope one good thing that comes from his death is that we'll start hearing his songs more often.

2. Mormons on my favorite reality TV shows

There's Chelsie Hightower - my favorite professional on Dancing with the Stars. She was also on So You Think You Can Dance last season. When I read she was from Orem, Utah, I knew she had to be Mormon, and I found a clip of her on YouTube that confirmed that.

Has anyone been watching this show that comes on after The Bachelorette?

I have been loving this show because of this couple:

Here's their bio from abc.com:

Sarin & Jed Hinkins: Virgins when they got married, this couple's honeymoon was the very first time they were together. Their honeymoon hotel turned out to be a clothing optional resort - which was incredibly awkward for them. Hometown: Cedar City, Utah.

So Mormon.

Then there's Randi from So You Think You Can Dance this season:

When I saw her cute A-line haircut, and she mentioned on the show that she was married, I thought, "This girl has to be Mormon." Sure enough she lives in Springville, Utah, and she attends Utah Valley University.

3. This sweet boy

Braden turned four months old last week. Right now he loves his feet and putting his toes in his mouth. He sticks his tongue out a lot, and he rolls from his back to his stomach. He likes tummy time a little bit more since he puts himself there now, but he still gets fussy after a few minutes of it and wants to be rolled back onto his back. We are all loving this boy, especially Rebecca and William. He is such a joy. I couldn't ask for a better baby for my #3.