The Bishop Family: July 2008

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Birthday Beach Bash for Owen

We went to the beach for our nephew Owen's 3rd birthday!

Playing in the waves, surfing, exploring, creature hunting, BBQ, photo shoot, bonfire, s'mores, birthday presents, cupcakes, family...Fun! Fun! Fun!

This weekend we watched Tyler, Kylee, and Jacob while Aimee and Mike went to have some fun for their anniversary! In the morning, Aaron made crepes with nectarines from our tree and strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries. Yum!!

Then we filled up some waterballoons for some backyard fun!

Games like: break the waterballoon on Aaron's head

hit the balloon with a tennis racket.........................catch the flying balloon in a bucket

pass the balloon over/under

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

My Sweet Grandma Lois

This is my wonderful Grandma Lois! My dear Papa Maurice died in October...her companion and soulmate. What a true picture of love they were. On our way home from Elk Grove, we visited my grandma at the assisted living facility where she now lives (in Manteca near my aunt). It was very difficult for me for she has always lived in the house where my dad grew up in Coalinga. It was hard for me to see her there. So many decorations from her house were there which I think made it more difficult for me...but of course good for her. My aunts and uncles and parents did a wonderful job decorating her 2 bedroom "apartment" with pictures and many of her favorite things.

My grandma putting on lipstick before we went to lunch:)

This wonderful woman is my Auntie Shelly (Michele)...my dad's sister. She is amazing! She visits my grandma every day and watches over her care. The entire staff of the assisted living place know and love my aunt and my grandma and take such good care of her. My aunt doesn't complain and considers it a joy to help her mother. What a true servant. She is special. Thank you Auntie Shelly.

Taking care of an elderly loved one is not easy. It is a privilege but so much more difficult than people realize. My mom and dad took care of my Grandma Flossie (in our home) for the 10 years before she passed away. They sacrificed a lot but what a lesson for my sister and me about compassion, committment, selfless love, and putting others before yourself.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Pucker Up!

Macie loves "wip gwoss" lip gloss...and dressing up!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Our gardens of the past have always produced many vegetables!

We usually eat zucchini every day in the summer...sauteed zucchini...stuffed zucchini...zucchini bread. One year pumpkins took over our yard. We had a giganitc pumpkin vine grow the entire distance of our backyard. It grew like 20 "pretty big" pumpkins!

Garden 2005

pumpkin from our vine

Garden 2006

This year we had a problem!!! GROUND SQUIRRELS! We had ground squirrels take over our yard! They dug deep holes and HUGE mounds of dirt resulted! Their worst offense...eating all of our zucchini plants, tomato plants, and sunflowers! We tried humane traps but they were too smart! Aaron became angrier and angrier! I know some of you think squirrels are cute and I do admit it was kinda cute seeing them run around our yard...but Aaron was over it!!!

Garden 2008
At this stage the zucchini plants in the front row and the sunflowers in the back row should be huge already.

zucchini plant eaten by squirrels..................................................sunflowers eaten by squirrels

2008 now

We think the squirrels are gone for now. I'll spare you the details of how we finally got rid of them (poison). Some of our plants are trying to make a comeback but it may be just too late for them. We still have hope for our corn.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Water Girl

Macie loves water! At the beginning of the summer, she really hadn't gone swimming and was perfectly content just hanging out with me on the side of the pool (various friends' pools we've been hanging out in)! Then she got in one day and has been begging to go swimming every day since! Every morning she wants to put on her "soup"...her suit!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Fourth of July 2008

Our 4th of July weekend began at my sister's house in Bakersfield. Staci and Gabe were at the Olympic Trials but my parents were at their house watching Reese and Hudson.

We were on our way to Elk Grove to visit Caryn and Dave (Aaron's sister).

On our way to Elk Grove, we stopped in MacFarland to eat at Aaron's favorite place. Yes, that is a large travel bubble on top of our car. My Uncle Carey gave this to us and it has been awesome!!

Aaron's whole family went up to Caryn's house...27 in all! We all slept at their house! It was really fun! Don and Gerda had all 16 grandchildren in one place!