Bishop Family Reunion

Here are some fun pictures from our family vacation at the cabin in North Carolina.

Sisters! (picture taken by the mother because Rosie (of Rosie's Cafe) did not seem like one of those friendly southern ladies who would be happy to take a picture for you !) :)

The Uncle Michael Home Gym!

Uncle Michael started a fun game with one neice and it turned into an all out balloon-sword battle!

More pictures to follow (sometime)

Our October Snow

What's that you say? It's December? Well, let's pretend that I've kept up with my blog a little better than I actually have and enjoy the pictures of snow. This was the earliest snow that I have seen. It was warm before the snow and after so even though it snowed over 2 feet much of it melted before it started sticking and it was all gone several days later. The pictures I've included are funny to me and show how unexpected this snow was.

The time change is killing me!

Here's what I think the deal is. I flew to the east coast on the Saturday of the time change - early morning flight and a time difference. Then I spent a week there on vacation - not a regular schedule and the time difference plus the days are longer down south. Now I'm back in Montana and recovering from the time difference and the early morning flight - but I wasn't prepared for the time change. Down south on vacation the sun was up and shining by 7 (I know this because the nieces were up by then) and it did seem to be getting dark earlier, but that's to be expected. Here at home, the sun is barely cracking the horizon by 7 and it is pitch-black dark by the time I get off work at 5:30! And the days are just going to get shorter and shorter for another 5 weeks or so. I hope I get used to it soon!

Back from Vacation

Thankfully, we don't need a vacation to recover from our vacation. We're getting some extra sleep to recover from the time change and the time difference and the early flight back, but other than that, we came back relaxed and ready to get back to business. What's the business we have to get back to?

• hunting - we have to stock the freezer for next year, send up a prayer if you will, we've got 2 weeks left
• church - music and AWANA and sermon and planning for Christmas and planning for next year
• pharmacy work - back to work, remembering what I knew before I left and learning more stuff

Also, pray for Phillip as he really was sick on vacation and the doctors are treating him for pneumonian (I actually spelled that right the first time!). Apparently, Aunt Christina also passed on the great car-sickness gene to her beautiful nieces and Anita and Phillip and to suffer through that on the way home. We love you all, and miss those we didn't get to see terribly!

Vacation

Well, I'm currently with almost everyone who reads this blog, but because my brother-in-law is making comments about how often I blog, I'm using his computer to for this post. We're in the "mountains" of North Carolina. I'm surrounded by family I haven't seen forever. My sisters and nieces that I haven't seen in two years, uncle I haven't seen since Michael and I got married and second cousins - well, I didn't know their husbands names or how many kids they had.

We're having a great time hiking around and exploring the lake and making sure my nieces and nephews remember who I am after so long. I should be blogging more later this week. Tomorrow Michael will join us. Love you, babe.

Grilling

This may not seem like the time of year for this blog title, but let me tell you a story. Last Thursday, when the snow storm was approaching, we decided to have friends over for dinner on Friday. When I asked Michael what he wanted to do for dinner - he said he would grill! When I questioned him, he said all he had to do was "step outside the garage door, what's the big deal?"

If you think that's funny, keep listening! I went to work Friday morning and told this "funny" story to my co-workers and their response was a collective blank stare. They thought that there must be more to the story, because what's the big deal about grilling in the snow?

Here's to figuring out how to do everything in the snow :)

SNOW!?!

Yes. It's Saturday late afternoon and the snow started a little less than 48 hours ago. And it's supposed to continue for another 36 hours! This is the earliest snow that I've seen since I've lived up here. There are probably 8-10 inches at our house. In town, probably 6-8. And some of our friends that live on the top of a mountain are having to wade through thigh-high drifts (that's about 2 feet of snow!) Visibility isn't too great, so everything kind of looks like a greyscale picture. I love to watch it snow!

Hope my weather report helps you cool off :)

By the way, if you need some encouragement or are always up for some good Bible reading, read Colossians and focus on all the places that tell us what we've gained in Christ, as individuals and as the church. It's a sweet, sweet time.