My Boy Lollipop

I'm just loving all the little things that Dallin does that Evan didn't. For instance, my favorite thing he does right now is suck on his toes like they're lollipops. I just thought Aaron & Sarah made gumby babies but I think most "normal" babies can stick their toes in their ears. It's nice though because when he looses the precious binkie he just pulls those chubby little stumps up and starts sucking on his toes. So much for his thumbs huh! Evan grabbed his foot a couple of times when he was about 9 months old, but he was about as flexible as Matthew. If you know Matthew he can hardly bend over and touch his knee caps. It cracks me up!

Labor Day Weekend

We spent the weekend camping at the biggest freshwater lake completely in California. Wowza, huh! It was a place called Clear Lake and we went with some friends from the ward. We drove up Friday night after school and it was a beautiful drive through the wine country. We set up camp and roasted marshmallows. Mike & Heidi arrived Saturday morning and then we spent most of the day at the lake enjoying the sun and relaxing. We had G&G Nielsen's boat and took it out for some fun. The paddle fell off of one of the oars and Matthew said it was probably the greatest moment of his life finding that at the bottom of the murky water. Nice huh! Evan played non-stop all day and Dallin just got so tired watching him that he was zonked out most of the time. Sunday we planned on going for a nature walk, but it was just too hot and we were too tired from staying up late and talking around the fire. After some cowboy dinners Mike & Heidi left and we stayed for another night. We had a great time and the boys were so good. It was actually a very relaxing and enjoyable camping trip with no major injuries, except for Austin eating a mysterious fungus and Evan temporarily blinded by bug repellent We are glad to be home though seeing as we've slept on the hard ground for 3 nights (no pads whatsoever). We just made some blueberry icecream and we'll probably spend the rest of our break eating that and watching a movie. Happy Birthday Bridgette!!!

Rembrandt & a Rolly Polly

I just wanted to show one of my big messes to you, Sarah & Jen. Evan has been painting for almost a year now and he like to paint the table sometimes, but nothing like this. It was my own fault though so I couldn't get upset. It was nice to be able to finish the book I was reading, "Girl with a pearl earring". Kind of ironic huh. He was pretty proud of it though and I thought it was pretty creative of him. I'm just glad it wasn't anything else.


Dallin is getting cuter and cuter. He discovered his tounge and has started mimicking us. We can get him laughing the cute deep belly baby laugh. He's rolling over but it takes him longer to get from his belly to his back. He always has to be where the action is and he loves to watch Evan, whipping his big head around trying to watch every little thing he does. I sure hope he's not taking any notes because 2 Evan's could be a real challenge. He is still just the greatest baby, and just so much fun!

Tennesse Valley Cove

We went with our friends to this really beautiful place about 5 minutes from our house called Tennesse Valley Cove. It's about a 2 mile hike back to this cove at the ocean and it was absolutely gorgeous. Apparently long ago a captain made a big navigation mistake and wrecked his ship, the Tennessee, on his way to find the Golden Gate. You're suppose to be able to still see part of the wreckage. Evan and his friend had a blast playing in the water and exploring the rocks. They even did some "dangerous" climbing. He played so hard he zonked out on the jog back. The relaxing sound of the ocean waves kept Dallin asleep most of the time. There are so many beautiful places here I might not get to see them all before we leave. We're having as much fun as we can. I got a double jogging stoller and I feel like a new woman with so much freedom now. I love it!!!


Dallin rolled over for the first time on Friday but hasn't done it since. He's such a sweet little boy and is always smiling and talking. He gets a real kick watching Evan going a million miles a minute. We're signing him up for some soccer classes at the local rec center. I'm excited for him to expend some of his energy on someone else besides me. I know he'll love it too!

So beautiful

This new place we're living has some of the most beautiful parks. We've just begun to explore all the fun new places around here. It's great and Evan loves all the exploring. This one we went to last weekend reminded us a lot of good ol' Oregon. It was crazy. We're driving down this normal city street and we take one little turn and we're in this whole new world. It was like the forest in Oregon and there were houses everywhere. Little cottages and cabins blending in to the scenery. It was so neat, and we're looking forward to finding some more fun places.

Big Boy

We've been working on the potty stuff AGAIN and it's not going as great as I would like but we're having fun. We've got a few stickers up on the chart. I'm beginning to think that maybe Dallin might be trained before him. He doesn't care once single bit. That's my stubborn little mule. Such a mamma's boy. Ain't he cute though!

Book Worm

Evan is really into books lately, I love it. He'll be quiet for a while and when I go and check on him and he'll be sitting in the rocking chair reading books. It's so cute! He'll even sit and read books to Dallin. I'm glad he's such a little book worm.

Use the Force Luke

I'm not a Star Wars fan and I've seen them maybe once, but when i saw this little guy I thought he look just like a little Ewok. Don't you think so? I love it! Thanks again for the towel Kendra, it's great. I've got to make one for Evan now because he's jealous of Dallin's. Maybe I'll make one for myself too.

Earthquake

I just remembered that me and the boys experienced our first earthquake on Wednesday the 2nd of August. It was a 4.something up in Santa Rosa and we just felt a little tremor. It was just after 8 and I was working on getting Evan into bed. I was walking down the hall and Matthew was sitting on the couch. Evan didn't notice, probably because he was running away from me. I've been waiting for my chance to experience an earthquake, although it was pretty weak. At least now I can say that I felt it.

Dallimus Bo Ballimus

Our little Dallin is so fun to have around. He smiles practically all the time and if he's not smiling he's cooing and talking. That is if he isn't chewing on his fingers. Needless to say he is always a slobbery, wet mess. Which makes the fact that he has his father skin with exzema all over his arms and legs a little more difficult to take care of. It doesn't seem to bother him so much, but it makes me so sad because it looks like it hurts. There isn't much that bothers him though, he's so patient with his big brother who wrestles and tackles him all the time.
Evan loves Dallin to pieces and always wants to be right there with him. He really is a big help and is so sweet whenever Dallin is crying. He finds his binkie and holds it in his mouth while talking sweetly to him or singing his song. I love watching it. Of course Dallin thinks the world of Evan. He laughs at him all the time and just lights up whenever he sees Evan. It's so great for a mother to see. I hope they always stay buddies. Dallin is a great sleeper as long as he has his blanket on his face. It scares me, but he fights it unless his little face is covered. He has spent the past couple of nights in his own crib in he and Evan's room. He sleeps from 8-3 or 4 and then goes back to sleep until anywhere from 6-9. It's so great to have a little boy that does everything so easily. He's just a great kid and we all love having him around.

Messy Marvin

We go for a little walk to go the beach here in Sausalito, and along the way we encounter these gigantic wild blackberries. Of course we pick as much as we can and Evan downs them quicker than I can fill the bowl. "I yuv backberries"! He loves them so much that he thought he needed to share with his little buddy. When I came upon the scene Dallin had blackberries smeared all around his mouth. The next day or two noticed a few little berry kernals in the little man's diaper. I hope he enjoyed them.

Brentwood

We spent Friday night and Saturday in Brentwood with Marsha and Whitney. It was a real nice visit. We watched Pride & Prejudice Friday and just relaxed. Saturday we ran some errands and then hopped in the pool to cool off. Although the water was pretty warm since it was 112 degrees out there. We then made a trip to Olive Garden to fill us full of delicious grub. Evan went home with Grandma & Whitney to play while Matthew, Dallin & I went to watch Pirates. We enjoyed it and it was nice to go on a semi-date. We relaxed for a little bit more and then had to head home so we could speak on Sunday. There were 4 of us speaking and Matthew and I were the last two. Needless to say we had about 10 mintues for the both of us to speak. Well, at least we got it over with. Happy Pioneer Day everybody!

New Friends

The greatest part about moving so much is all the new people we get to meet. Evan and I have these great new friends that live in our complex. We've played with them pretty much everyday since we met them. Evan is about a year older than Brighton and Dallin is 2 weeks younger than Kanyon. We went to our "new" beach. Evan likes it more because it's a lot more calmer than our "old" beach. It's just the docks here in Sausalito and so it's part of the bay. We caught Dallin and his little buddy holding hands. It was so cute! They are just both at the age of grabbing on to everything and they just kept grabbing onto eachothers hand. Later on Dallin sat and played with his head and put him to sleep.
Evan and Brighton though they would take the kayaks out for a little trip. Kanyon follows Evan around everywhere and Evan is becoming such a good big brother that he doesn't even mind. He really has matured quite a bit in the last month or so. I'm so proud of him! We are having a great time here in Marin City with our new surroundings and friends!

Happy Birthday Evan

My little boy is 3 years old. I can hardly believe it, but he'll proudly let you know. It wasn't the funnest day ever for him. We're still in the process of unpacking boxes and getting everything situated. I thought it would be a good day to unpack his toys, the poor guy. We did manage a little birthday party. I was watching 2 kids so they were our party guests and we had cake and opened his presents when Matthew got home from his white coat ceremony. We gave him a bicycle "The Gravel Buster" and a helmet. He got a box of wooden blocks from Grandpa & Grandma Bishop and some "Cars" underwear from the Wolfe's. Hopefully, we'll get him in those soon. He had a pretty fun day and was glad to have cake with lots and lots of frosting. It was suppose to be a soccerball for those who can't tell. We went in for his 3 year checkup today and he is doing great. He is about 30th percentile for weight and 20th for height. Dallin had his 3 month as well and is also doing really well.
He is 20th for height and 50th for weight. He is about the size Evan was when he was 7 months old. It's so fun and he is such a good kid still. Practically perfect, never fussing and always smiling. Evan really loves him and can make him laugh. We're all adjusting to our new surroundings and Matthew is busy with school. He sees his first official patient on Monday. He's kind of nervous but I'm sure he'll do great!

Time in Utah

We drove to Mike & Heidi's in SL on Monday June 26 and spent the evening chatting until Mike went to work. Of course that didn't stop us. We kept Heidi up talking all night long. The next day we just hung out and talked more. We tried to play a game or two with the little ones helping us out. It was nice to see Evan eventually stop picking on Austin and be friends. We all went down to Provo on Wednesday. I wanted to video tape some of the places that were important to Matthew and I. Like where we met, where our first kiss was, where we lived etc. It was fun! We met up with Meghan and Casey and chatted in the Wilk. Then Matthew and I wandered around the campus. It's amazing what one new building can do to make us forget what it use to look like. We've only been gone for 3 years. We met up again with Mags & Casey to eat at Cafe Rio. There are some things we really miss about that place. On our way to Dan & Julies we stopped at my grandfathers gravesite to visit him for a bit.


Dan & Julie were a whole lot of fun. They have 2 cute little girls now. We had never seen Sienna before and Holly was so much bigger. We stayed with them 2 nights and had fun like we use to do, plus 4 kids. Sure wish we lived closer to them. We drove up to Bear Lake Friday morning for my Bishop reunion and spent some time in the water. I've wanted Wave runners forever and I think I finally convinced Matthew to seriously consider it. I saw a wild side of him I'd never seen before. He even managed to throw me off one. Evan was a big fan of them as well, as long as he was the one driving. The lake was gorgeous and we enjoyed being out in the sun & rain & hail. Evan had more fun playing with cousins and playing in the nature.
We stuck around in Logan on Sunday because my brother blessed his baby boy, Ian Bradley and then headed to Kaysville to visit Grandpa & Grandma Green. They seemed to be in pretty good spirits. Of course grandpa was cracking jokes the whole time. They got a kick out of watching Evan running around their house. And also enjoyed meeting Dallin for the first time. After that we spent the night with my sister in Tooele, got up (not too)early in the morning the next day and made the long trek home, both boys were angels but got pretty tired of it near the end, but by that time we were already in San Rafael so it wasn't too bad.

Having fun

We just did a whole lot playing. We had a picnic at the park with some cousins. There were 2 large play structures so Evan was back and forth the whole. Grandpa got stuck with swing duty for a while. We went to a neat toy store afte and played with Thomas trains for a while. We celebrated my dad's birthday (Wendy's b-day) and then fathers day and then my mom's birthday (Marsha's b-day). Needless to say we had lots and lots of sweets and good food. Bridgette and her family came over for a few days and played. We went out on the boat.
Matthew and I rode the tube and realized the next day that we are a couple of old farts when 1 ride on the tube can make us so sore we can hardly move our arms. It was fun though! We hopped in the hot-tub quite a few times and Evan was always in the back yard just excited to be outside on nice soft grass. We had many visits from Becky Ann & James and Evan really like playing with JJ. We took Evan to the Meridian Dairy Days carnival. We splurged and let him ride a few of the little kid rides. Nothing too exciting, but he enjoyed it. We stayed and watched the Dairy Days parade and Evan got a TON of candy. Of course his favorite part was all the cars. Speaking of cars we went and watched Pixar's Cars and Evan thought it was great. He keeps asking to watch the Racecar movie on the big TV. A few days later Grandpa took us all to watch over the Hedge and Evan has been nicknamed Hammie now. If you've seen the movie you know why. Grandpa took Evan to the zoo too. Ummm, I think that about covers what we did for the few weeks we were there. I loved enjoying the sun and my family. Matthew enjoyed watching the Soccer games and relaxing. Evan just played and played all day long. Dallin was spoiled rotten by all the loving he got, especially from Grandma, but it's hard to resist someone so darn cute.

Idaho & Bushman Reunion

My parents drove me and the boys to their house on Memorial day. We spent the next day helping my mom celebrate her retirement at school and then a dinner at our house. I was able to see some old teachers and friends and show off my 2 handsome boys. What mother doesn't love to do that.
Then on Thursday we drove to Heber, UT to stay at the new Girls camp place for our Bushman reunion. It was great to see lots of family that I haven't seen in quite some time. Especially those of my immediate family. It had been over a year since I had last seen Bridgette and her kids. It was a nice place, especially for girls camp. Dallin always had some one to hold and kiss him. Evan loved having lots of cousins his size and age to play with. I never knew where he was at and it was dirty from head to toe all day long, but oh did he have a blast. His uncle Bradley took him on a hike down to a lake and he was a real trooper. We actually stayed in a hotel, thanks mom & dad, and so every night he was concerned that we were leaving all his friends on the mountain. The first thing he would say when he woke up was, "Where are all my friends?" I love reunions and I think Evan does now too. All the while poor Matthew was going to school, studying for finals and getting our new apartment lined up. Thanks for being such a hard working dad!

We're Back!

We just got back from our nice, long vacation. We had a blast and got to see lots and lots of family and a few friends. It was so nice and went by too quickly. We came home on the 3rd to our new place full of boxes. We've been working like crazy trying to get settled but it is taking a little longer because Matthew has been sick and I'm chasing Evan and taking care of Dallin. I'll give some recaps on our fun times but I want to post the pictures I took of Evan and Dallin for Mothers Day. They turned out so cute and I used the one for our baby announcements which I am still working on getting out. I'm a few months behind because I was having too much fun.

Tilden Park

I've been wanting to check out this park in the Berkeley hills because it has a steam train. So while my parents were here we decided to go. We saw some gorgeous views and the train ride was great. The park even had a Carousel that we let Evan ride on a couple of times. It was a nice place for a picnic although we didn't have one. We'll definitely go back and ride the train again. We met the Nielsens at Plearns and of course had some yummy food.
Me and Dallin went back to San Fran with my parents and Evan & Matthew went to Fentons with his family to top themselves off with some icecream. It was fun day out and about and it's always good to spend time with family.

Angel Boy

We blessed Dallin today in church so I guess he's officially Dallin Brant Nielsen. It was so great to have his Grandpa & Grandma Bishop all the way down from Idaho. Of course Grandpa & Grandma Nielsen came over from Brentwood and brought with them Meghan, Casey, Emily, Whitney, Joshua and even Uncle Dave. The 2 grandpas and Dave stood in the circle with Matthew. Afterwards we went to China beach and had a little picnic. It was pretty windy down at the beach, but overall a very beautiful day. Dalllin was and is just the best little baby.
Very sweet until he has to get his diaper changed and then the rage appears. Me and the boys are headed up to Idaho tomorrow for a few weeks of fun. We still don't know where exactly where we'll be but we're all packed up and ready to go. We're excited for the arrival of little Joshua tomorrow. Good-luck Sarah!