Happy 10 year Anniversary to us!

Today Steve and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. We are so happy to be married to each other and have enjoyed these years together very much. We were sealed together in the Los Angeles temple May 8, 1998. It was the best day of our lives. My Grandpa Waite sealed us. The other day Steve and I were remembering something Grandpa told us that day. He said; and this is a paraphrase of course, "You both love each other so much today. And as much as that is, you might find it hard to believe that you will love each other so much more as time goes on." We both agree that has proven to be true. I remember when he said it at the time, I didn't believe it. I was thinking, "There is no way I could love Steve anymore than I do now!" But somehow my love for him has multiplied and continues to do so. He's a fantastic husband and father and the kids and I adore him. Each year we have tried to go on one "mini-moon" together to celebrate our marriage. They have lasted anywhere from 24 hours to 2 days. Really quick, fun, and wonderful trips together that I will always remember and treasure. We've gone places like Portland, SLC, McCall, Manhattan, and so on. We usually go to a temple as part of these trips. I really love going to temples. I think I've been to about 22 now? Below are a couple of photos from these mini-moons. Our first anniversary. Manti Temple.

Mini-moon to Zions National Park Summer 2000.



Today we leave for another great mini-moon! This time we are going to New York. This will be our longest one too. Thanks mom and dad Bishop for making this possible! We will be back Sunday night. We will go see Niagara Falls on Friday and spend Saturday and Sunday in Palmyra, NY seeing church history sites and the temple. I can't tell you how excited we are!

Love you Steve.

Anyone want a hermit crab?

Isn't it gorgeous? Come on people! We decided a few years ago that our children could get a pet when they learned to read. Celeste was the first to get her pet. A parakeet. Sunshine. Lovely bird. Guess who ended up always taking care of Sunshine? Amanda. The whole Sunshine story is an interesting one I'll have to share later. She's no longer with us though.
Then Jonah learned to read. He chose a gold fish despite our warnings that it would probably die within days. He insisted he wanted it anyway. We told him he couldn't get a new pet if his fish died. We all even took bets on how long the fish would live. Guess who won the bet? Amanda. 6 days.
Then Eden learned to read. She chose a hermit crab. She cared so little for this hermit crab that she gave it away to Celeste within a day. And Celeste seems to care even less for it. Guess who has taken care of this hermit crab for months? Amanda. Guess who's tired of it! Amanda.
So does anyone want it? Free of charge. Supplies and all. Please...anyone!?

Is anyone else as excited about American Idol as I am???

I have been watching American Idol since Season 3, (Fantasia.) I love this show! This season has been great hasn't it? I have liked most of the top 12. Hated Amanda Overmeyer, but the rest I liked. My favorites are David Cook and David Archuleta though. I've said for weeks that it will be the two of them in the finale. I can't say which will win. But they are both fantastic! And Brooke is such a nice person you can't help but want her to do well. Last week was Andrew Lloyd Weber week. I really like a lot of his music so I enjoyed it. My favorite was David Archuleta's rendition of "Think of Me" which I've posted thoughtfully for you to enjoy as well!

More Memories

I was able to go to a private viewing of a rehearsal for a new contemporary ballet company in town called The Trey McIntyre Project. SUPER AWESOME!!! Steve has a co-worker who's wife is their fund raising director and I got the hook-up. It got me thinking about old dance days.

This photo is of me at age 10 I believe. It was me in our living room in my costume for the ballet "Aladdin". It was my first ballet. It was a blast! My big sister Anna was in it with me. It was great getting to dance with her. I started taking ballet lessons at Bakersfield Ballet Theatre when I was 9 or 10. I enjoyed it so very much. I worked so hard. I was put in a beginning ballet class at first and practiced and pushed myself like crazy. The owner and director kept moving me up in levels until I was with advanced dancers and dancing on pointe at age 10. Growing up, I loved dancing more than doing anything else. The best part of ballet was performing on stage. I loved the acting in the ballets and being in front of large, live audiences. I also did jazz, modern and tap. But ballet was my niche. Below is a picture of me at age 13 in a costume for "The Nutcracker". I performed in this show for 5 years. Some of the best memories ever!!!!

Below are a few photos of me from 3 years ago. I was asked to perform at a Relief Society function and told them I couldn't do it, but that I would display photos instead. So I had this fun photo shoot with some photographers who had two daughters who were students of mine. It was fun playing around and trying all kinds of poses. All of these photos are looking pretty sad because they are just scanned. But you get the idea.

Leaping. I loved leaps and turns the best.

This photo was me trying to be a contemporary cool, muscle woman. Didn't quite work out that way, but still fun!

I do miss dancing now. I gained about 20 lbs a while back and have been too embarrassed to get myself to class since then. I have struggled getting the weight off! Excuses, excuses. Now I feel like I've lost all flexibility and strength. Every now and then I do have dreams of dancing though. As in sleeping dreams. I dream I am spinning on pointe and I just keep going and going and after about 20 spins in one step, I decide that I will casually, end with a pose.

Lionel Ritchie - Ballerina Girl

So I remember seeing this music video on TV when I was probably 8 years old. I LOVED it! It's what got me wanting to be a ballerina. I just watched it today for the first time since then and I just had to laugh. I mean, if the ballerina girl was "so lovely" why did he totally ignore her. Very cheezy stuff. But great memories!

Calling all first kiss stories

Lately I've been looking back on my life a lot. I think I want to start sharing stories from my checkered past :) Unload my luggage, and take care of all that dirty laundry so to speak. Just joking. I just feel like talking. Or writing I should say. Here's my first installment and I am calling to all of you to share your first kiss stories. Even if it was with a cousin. Correction. Especially if it was with a cousin! You know who you are. I hope Steve isn't dismayed by this. Graphic content ahead.

My first kiss.
I don't typically count this one, but it deserves an honorable mention. I was in first grade and my boyfriend, Rodney, was a younger man. (Kindergarten). We sat on the bus together. We put our jackets over our heads so nobody could see us. We were still in that phase of thinking "if I can't see them, they can't see me" like in peek-a-boo. Very clever. We kissed. He actually slipped his tongue in my mouth and I remember thinking it felt like licking cold raw meat. I was grossed out by it.

Official First Kiss
I didn't kiss anyone again until I was 17 and a freshman in college. (I had graduated HS a bit early.) His name was Grant and I thought he was pretty cute. We ended up dating pretty seriously after our kiss. I was in his apartment and we were standing close together and he just came in for it. I was freaked out!!!! He had a short crop of facial hair and it was scratchy. I did not know what I was doing and it was very clumsy. To this day I bet Grant remembers me as a bad kisser. Are you out there Grant? Sorry buddy!

My first kiss with Steve
By this time I had kissed too many people. I wont give you the details of the kiss but I will say that my heart was hammering and when it was over, I knew that Steve Bishop truly loved me...even passionately. Wow! That was a very unique and special thing. We were engaged a few days later.

You're Beautiful

I hear "You're Beautiful" on the radio every now and then, and I get a flood of happy memories. Remember Waites? At Christmas we had our reunion and that was a popular song that was played and competed with on PopStar. I love hearing that song now because it reminds me of that time together.
I want all my family and friends to know that I love you so much! You wouldn't know it sometimes because I can be a really crappy sister/sister in-law/cousin/niece/daughter/friend... I rarely pick up the phone and call someone. I'm so awkward on the phone. But I do think about many of you a lot. At times it's daily. I think you are all awesome. I long to be with you. I fantasize even!

Update

Lately, people have started asking me questions about our pregnancy loss. Enough people have asked certain questions, that I decided to post the questions and answers here.
1- Question: "So did they ever figure out why you lost the baby?"
Answer: Not really. The amnio test came back and there was nothing wrong with the baby. Genetically he looked great. However, there were two theories given to me. One was maybe the blood clot I had in my placenta that they saw in the ultrasound weeks before had something to do with it. Or when I delivered Benjamin, the cord was really twisted up and the doctor thought that may have been the cause as well. Who knows. We do know that it wasn't the baby.
2- Question: "How are you feeling now?"
Answer: I was pretty depressed for a few weeks afterwards. Then it got better gradually. It has been over a month since I delivered him now and I am feeling much better than I thought I would be only a month later. I still feel sad about it. But instead of being consumed with sorrow I have tried to throw myself back into life and that has helped. I have been volunteering at the school more, attending the temple often, working madly as Young Womens President, trying to get my house more organized, and training for a 10k race next month, among other things.
3- Question: "When are you going to start trying for another?"
Answer: I can't help but be obsessed with the thought of having another. I have been reading lots of books, researching on the internet and surveying people who have had similar experiences as me, about pregnancy after miscarriage. The doctor told me she wanted me to wait 3 months. But I found that statistically your chances of miscarriage do not go up if you got pregnant a month sooner than that. Plus I have talked to women who were told by their doctors even after a stillborn that they could try again right away. So the opinions on this are all over the place. I've been taking really good care of myself with diet and exercise and taking prenatal supplements as well as iron as the doctor prescribed after losing all that blood. I am doing everything I can to be in good shape with my health to try for another soon. I am hoping that we will be expecting another within the next few months. Hopefully it is God's will too. We'll have to see.
There have been other questions posed to me, but these are the ones that have come up the most. So I'll just leave it at that.
Thanks for being interested and concerned, (if you were of course.)

So typical

I went to print something yesterday. It kept saying "load paper" and wouldn't print. I would again "load the paper" and it still wouldn't print. I finally pulled out the drawer to find an animal cracker in the printer. I had to laugh. Only in a household with children. You gotta love 'em!

NOOOOO!

This picture was taken this morning. Dead Serious!