I'm on a Boat...

It's true, Aaron and I come from VERY different backgrounds.  When we started dating few people thought this would ever work out.  Aaron was a free spirit - skater, studying fashion design/marketing, fresh back from working in New York, cashed his checks and lived until the cash in his pocket ran out, and the ultimate ski bum.  I, on the other hand, was the uptight scholarly girl with savings and investment accounts at age 20, wrangler-wearing "redneck" cowgirl, avid hunter with animal heads lining my college apartment room walls, and entirely too dedicated to my job and education.

But there is something we have always had in common... fishing.  (Okay, there are a few more, but we will just consider fishing right now for dramatics and in order to tie into the bulk of this post.)  Aaron used to love fly fishing ANY river with his dad, and my family always made ANY type of fishing a priority.  Most family vacations were usually planned around some sort of fishing excursion. 

These are some of our favorite memories as children.  And we want the same for Isla.  Plus, let's face it, many activities are limited with a 1-year-old.  So this year we tried to do as much fishing as we could.  We don't get many pictures of fly fishing because I am not allowed to carry a camera since I fall into the river frequently, and Aaron is carrying a baby on his back while flyfishing so his hands are usually full.  But on occasion, we are able to convince my parents into taking us out on the lake in their boat.  It's seriously our little piece of heaven.  Ahhhhhhh.

The first time out we caught NOTHING.  Not even a BITE.  So the next time we went out we didn't have many expectations.  But we did come prepared this time with a bag full of magazines, gourmet food, and a great music lineup.  And of course it was because of this that we couldn't STOP catching the fish.  Literally, all day long there was at least one fish on at any time.  Up to all four of us having fish on the line at one point.  It was crazy.  I think the total count ended up being over 60 fish caught that day.

We are so fortunate that my parents are willing to share their boat with us.  I am grateful for the relationship we have with my parents, which is more like we are all best friends rather than parents/children.  We always have such a great time, fishing or whatever adventure we happen to be up to.
 

 

 Aaron's fish.

The sweet thing about Aaron is he still gets excited, no matter how big or small the fish is.

 Most of the time our fishing day turns into some sort of competition.  The Bishops are all about competition.  Usually it's girls against boys.  Judging by our smiles, the girls are winning.

 

 Papa is teaching Isla how to fish.  She absolutely loves him and wants to do everything he does.

 Good thing the boat has autopilot.

 Getting bigger.

 The captain.

 Isla reeling in.

 Isla's first fish.

 She would play in this bucket of water all day.

Happy Halloween

from our sweet ladybug and the wolf-pig. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Give and Get is Here!

Give and Get is Here!: "Enjoy 30% off from November 11-14 at Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy plus we'll make a 5% donation to a non-profit."

Races

Upon having a conversation with our neighbors last week that started with "um, you guys like to exercise a lot, huh?"  We decided that we have 2 options.  Either (A) stop our 11:00 pm basement interval sessions with me on the treadmill and Aaron on the road bike trainer, TV turned up as loud as the volume will go (do you know how LOUD a treadmill and trainer can be in an echoing half-finished basement?), all with the windows wide open for air flow or (B) move to a home in a more remote location where this kind of behavior can't be heard by the neighbors.  Ooops. I prefer Option B.  Just so ya know.
Aaaaaanyway...
Two weeks ago Aaron and I were eating dinner (I think it was a Thursday night) when we realized that we had BOTH signed up for races the same day, the same time.  Not just any ordinary races either.  Aaron had his greatly anticipated Heber Century bike race and I had the long-coming Dirty Dash.  So we convinced Grandpa to babysit (which really didn't take ALL that much convincing) and parted ways.
I was able to make the start AND finish line of Aaron's race.  Because obviously I run faster than he can bike.  (ignore the glaring fact of bike race=107 miles, dirty dash=6.4 miles).
A little background info, the Dirty Dash is a 10k race traversing mountain trails covered in deep mud.  Oh, and add in some obstacle courses and a massive mud covered slip and slide.  Teams of five could help each other along.  It was by far the most fun time running I think I have had yet.
These ended up being the last races of the season for us - and what a great way to end.  Aaron killed the bike race and mom and I... well the Dirty Dash was more of a race to see who could get muddiest, moreso than finish time.  So I would say we were successful as well.

This is at the finish line with our good friend Travis.  Travis is his race/riding buddy.

Here is our team pre-race waiting for our start time.  Nice and clean.  I think there were around 4,000 racers.

Coming up to the finish line.  You had to go through this massive mud pit to cross the finish.

After...

Washing off via fire hose.

 

I also competed in my first triathlon this fall.  I used to swim competitively when I was young (I blame my unusually wide shoulders on being a well-versed butterflier at age 5), but I haven't swam since college.  That was over 5 years ago.  Man I seem OLD.  But how hard could it be right?  The swimming portion was just in the pool.  One of my really good friends did it with me.  Even though we didn't find out we were both doing it until a party the night before.  I was just doing it for fun, as a goal I guess to prove to myself.  But when we left directly after I finished (baby was SOOOO sick, and it was horrible weather) I got a call from Ari saying I placed!  Holy Cow! 

  

(I am the one in the 3rd lane up... next to the guy in the red swim cap.)

 

I'm Isla and I'm ONE!

My  mom is a little slow posting this because she is very busy hanging out with me and working too.

I turned one year old three weeks ago.  I had TWO birthday parties.  One with all my mom and dad's friends, and one with my awesome family.

I have to say, this birthday was way more awesome that last years.

Luckily for me, well before I came along my dad accustomed my mom to the idea of a "birthday week".  Thanks dad.  I may not remember much about my first birthday party when I grow up, but I had a great time!

Birthday week started out on Thursday when my mom and mimi took me to Salt Lake for a girls day.   We went to lunch with my great-grammy, my aunt Chrissy, and my cousin Addie.  Then we went shopping for new clothes for me, then to my favorite store Costco, and to the chocolate store to get some special dark chocolate for my birthday cakes.  I really love hanging out with my mom and mimi.

 
Friday my mom started singing happy birthday to me.  I think she is weird.  I played with my mom and dad then I went to bed and my mom stayed up late getting things ready for my big party, including making me an awesome shirt to wear.

Saturday evening we had a great party with my "aunts" and "uncles".  I had lots of pink decorations because that's my favorite color.  We ate yummy cafe-rio style pork salads and burritos and peach cobbler.  I got some really cool presents like books, a kite, a new swim suit, a John Deer farm band, some bath toys, and a Cabbage Patch doll!

And of course I had my very own dark chocolate cake that I devoured.  I wasn't quite sure what to do at first, my dad had to keep telling me it was okay.

Sunday my family all came over for ANOTHER party!  Both of my grandparents and even my great-grandparents came a long way to see me.  My uncle and aunt, and 2 of my cousins came too.  We had more delicious cake and played and laughed.  I got really tired by the end.

So by the time it was my actual birthday I was totally worn out!  When I woke up my dad had already gone to work but left me a note.  We went to the park and ate some dinner and went to bed.

A few awesome things about me now that I am one:

I love to dance to music

I still crawl.  I will occasionally walk along furniture, but if people will carry me, why do I need to walk?

I laugh at myself A LOT.  I am pretty funny

I went from being 95% in weight to 25% in weight in 3 months so my doctor wants me eating lots more food  I like to eat anything my mom and dad eat, but I especially like scrambled eggs, oranges, hot dogs, cheese, pb&j, crackers, spaghettios, and fat boys (when my mom isn't looking and daddy sneaks them to me)

I like to play in mom's garden.  She picks peas and beans and puts them in a bucket and I take them all out again

I can sort of say mama, dada, papa, mimi, baby, bye-bye, and poo

I know who my papa is!  He is the only person that I can point to and accurately recite "papa" (grandpa O)

I can whinny like a horse

I sleep so much.  Oh I love to sleep.  I like my crib but I don't like it when my mom and dad put stuffed animals in my crib with me.

I love books.  

I like to crawl on my dog Finn.

I love to be pulled around like royalty in my chariot bike trailer

I am also going through some attachment issues.  But they say I'll get over that.  Whatever.

Oh yea, and I have mom and dad wrapped around my little finger.   :)

Summery Summary

I am so proud of my title cleverness.

I am easily amused these days.  Exhaustion?  Being confined to a home office in Heber? Just plain being awesome?  Probably.

Whew so where has the time gone?  This summer seriously flew by.  I have mixed feelings about this. So here are some nonsense ramblings about what we have been up to.  They are in no order, have little relevance to anything, and probably don't matter to anyone.  But Isla is napping, I just finished the submittal from hell, and I feel like writing.  Consider yourself warned.

If you know me very well at all, you can attest that I HATE the heat.  I hate being hot.  The only thing I hate worse than being hot is not owning a boat to be on a lake when it's too freaking hot.  More on that later.  But I have never had to be home all day to fully appreciate the sauna affect that a home produces in the blistering 3 - 4 week mid-summer heat wave.  Did I mention that we don't have air conditioning?  Well we DON'T.  Which isn't normally a problem, except during said 3 - 4 week period.  So we do the best we can, wear as little as possible, and try to complain as little as possible.

Aaron and I recently realized the magical time-zapping power that babies have.  Having Isla around has made our lives seem sooo much busier than we ever realized.  I think of the quote from Anchorman when Ron Burgandy is speaking to Baxter who just ate an entire block of cheese, "I'm not even mad, that's incredible".  But to get a little sensitive on you here... it really has made us come to appreciate the small and simple things in life.  A peaceful shower is nothing short of a miracle.  And the days that I actually get to wash/dry/style my hair after said miracles are priceless gems.  Days that I don't have to run pushing a jogger are like little presents that Aaron gives me.  And there is a lot of improvising and creativity going on with making things possible with Isla. (ie, Aaron mowing the lawn with Isla in a hiking backpack)  

This summer has dreadfully and semi-unintentionally been dedicated to home improvements.  To sum it up - it is the price of a sweet vacation, but a TON more work and not as much fun.  Lame.  But many loads of soil, many yards of concrete, countless railroad ties, and buckets of drywall mud later... we are still in the midst of 1,000 projects.  

As spring was coming to an end we vowed to each other we would go camping at least twice a month.  HAHAHAHA.  This weekend will be our first time of the summer.  Things just always kept coming up.  And that's a stupid excuse.  

My garden is my secret passion.  I have loved working in there pulling weeds and talking to my plants.  (A little tactic I picked up from Sue.  She swears by it.)  Isla loves to sit out in the garden in a diaper and make muddy messes.  And let's be honest, eat the mud.  But she loves the garden too.  Aaron used be a BIG hater on my garden.  But when served fresh produce daily from the backyard he has become very stoked on it.  

Now for the fun stuff (and probably the reasons we don't meet our camping goals).  Aaron decided that our family didn't have enough hobbies and that we needed to get into road biking, cycling, whatever you call it.  You know, what those Euros do in Tour de France.  Aaron initially got the ball rolling, but I soon followed in suit as I am not one to sit idly at home and babysit my weekend away.  Aaron has been competing in several races including Tour de Park City and he's actually pretty good.  I am sure his unexplainable Fat Boy consuming skinny little body plays to his advantage here.  With what I call the "equalizer" (a trailer for Isla) hitched on behind Aaron, we are able to pedal around nicely and at a relatively similar pace.  I still run avidly and am currently training for the Dirty Dash.  A 10k race through pure muddy hills.  Yay.

The rest is just jibberish details.  We enjoy eating out on the patio most mornings and almost every night.  Aaron consumes anywhere between 1 and 4 Fat Boy ice cream sandwiches a day.  Aaron and I both have great jobs and bosses/coworkers and we feel so blessed.  Isla is just a doll all of the time.  We have had some awesome family parties this summer, campouts at the ranch, shooting tournaments, volleyball battles, lots of fishing, boating when possible and of course, all the horse riding we can squeeze in!  I got a sewing machine and consequently have about 12 half-finished projects.  I am constantly trying to keep the house clean (unsuccessfully) but sometimes that's what summer is all about.  What can I say?  I LOVE this family of mine.

We celebrated our 5 year anniversary with a wonderful date night ALONE!  The first date night we have enjoyed since Isla was born!

One of our favorite things about summer? Lemonade stands.  Aaron ALWAYS makes us stop and support the young entrepreneurs.  

And that's about it.  We have been so busy that we really haven't even been able to take many pictures.  Here are a few that I could dig up...

 

A Little Too Quiet

Today I looked over and found this - 

 

In case you were wondering... I picked every last one up, folded them all back properly, and put them back.

Because I am cheap like that.