Hopkinson Family Reunion

Surprise! I bet y'all thought I'd never blog again. Well I wondered myself if I'd ever get the motivation to catch up but we've seriously had such a fun and eventful year I just can't let it go undocumented.

So... here goes.

This summer we went to Bear Lake for Scott's family reunion. It was the perfect escape from the AZ heat and we couldn't believe how perfect the weather was...in July! This is everyone and I mean everyone. It was such a blessing that every person from that side of the family could make it. We got to see people that we haven't seen in years and I got to see people I'd never even met before.

We all took family pictures. This is one just of the cousins.

Except for a few people who stayed in a nearby cabin, this is where we all stayed. Pictures really don't do it justice. It is absolutely gorgeous and ginormous. It was so cool that we could all stay there because it gave us a chance to hang out all the time and get to know each other better. This is Scott's Aunt Royce and Uncle Scott's cabin in bear lake. They live here during the summers and were kind enough to accept Scott's invitation to host the whole family for a reunion. We seriously had the best time all thanks to them.

One of the many fun things to do at the cabin was zip lining. There was a more mellow line that even the kids could go down which was fun but then there was a much faster, adventurous one. One ride down the little one, I knew I had to do the big one. No one bothered to tell me that it still had some kinks to work out before I rode it but I'm not sure I would have listened. I was too excited. This picture is me when I took off...before I hit the end, banged my head, and sliced my ankle. It actually was really fun and fast and I would've done it tons of times had there not been multiple injuries on that thing. Now I have an awesome scar across my ankle to remind me how tough and adventurous I am. One day we went to the lake and just hung out.

We also went to some caves, which were pretty cool, but would've been a lot cooler had we not had to listen to the tour guides tell ridiculous stories about stalagmites look like the Grinch or the seven dwarfs when really there was just a green light shining on it or seven all in a row. But obviously I'm over it now and I just remember how cool it looked. I'm pretty sure this formation was called strawberry cause it's red, of course :)

We also got to go rafting the Snake River. It was probably the funnest and scariest thing I've done in a long time, or ever, maybe. I rafted the snake river when I was a teenager but I don't remember it being all that crazy. Apparently they had had a lot of rain so the water was really high which also means it's very fast with big rapids. Before we started we learned that LOTS of rafts had flipped already that morning. We weren't going with guides because Scott's uncle and cousin are experienced but I have to admit some of us were a little nervous about it. The raft in front of us, which had a guide, flipped on pretty much the first big rapid and I thought we were done for, but I was wrong. Our rafts were literally vertical and people were thrown on top of each other but despite the class V rapids and the fact that most of us were obviously inexperienced, neither raft flipped and no one fell out. We really could've used a GoPro (a video camera specifically made for capturing events just like that). We came back feeling like we could take on Godzilla himself...or someone big, mean, and scary anyway. Although we were pretty adventurous that day, I have to say the ones back at the cabin with all the kids had to be the bravest of us all. Here we are before we headed out.

Saturday was the "official family reunion." We played all sorts of games like donut on a string, 3-legged race, water balloon volleyball, who's that baby?, tug-o-war, water relay, and much more. It was a blast! I can't wait til we do it again someday.

It was brought to my attention that I forgot to mention a big part of the trip...the nightly game playing. We stayed up playing games every night and Mafia was pretty much the game of choice. I'm not certain who was pushing it multiple times EVERY SINGLE NIGHT or why we all agreed to it, but it always ended up being a good time. We learned a lot about each other playing that game :)

Some recent pictures

Umm...I guess I started a post and never finished. Here's some pictures.

Where the heck has the time gone?

WARNING! THIS IS A LONG ONE!

Ok so I'm 3 months behind on blogging and every time I would think about it, I'd get less motivated and put it off...one of my favorite things to do. Today is the day I actually begin the process of catching up! Last night as I was talking about how much Grayson has changed and how guilty I was feeling about not documenting it, I decided enough is enough.

Well...where do I start? We have been moved into our apartment in Huntington Beach for over a month now. We've already given talks in our new ward and have met lots of new friends. Life here is fun and exciting and very busy. The beach and downtown Huntington Beach is like 2 miles away, we have tons of parks within walking distance, an awesome library, lots of people to have play group with, and probably 10 toddler age kids right in our little complex for Logan to play with. Oh and did I mention they're also in our ward? The weather is perfect pretty much every second of the day. Scott's really liking his job and the people he works with. I've had to adjust to the crazy life, Scott getting home later than 4:30 every day, and a little apartment but I really can't complain.

The boys have really grown up in the past few months.

Here's a Grayson update...I know this is ridiculous but I need to give a summary of the past 3 months for him. Lot's of changes with this guy.

At 4 months he weighed 14.9 lbs (50%) and was 25.25 in (75%)

He's now 16.5 lbs and 30 in long

He started eating cereal at 4 months and loved it so much he didn't even make a face.

He started scooting at 4 months (I think I already posted he could roll over at 2)

He laughed and cooed and squealed

At 5 months he was getting up on his knees and rocking. He also would get up on all fours and try to move which always resulted in a nose dive.

At about 5 and a half months he started going from his back/stomach to a sitting position.

At 6 months he was crawling and about a week later he started standing up by pulling himself up on the toy box...yep I'm in serious trouble.

He has started taking steps while we hold his hands.

He reaches out to us when he wants us to hold him.

He just cut his 2 bottom teeth but I'm happy to report he didn't have near the trouble Logan had when he was teething. Just a few wake ups in the middle of the night and that's it.

He has eaten squash, avocado, teething buiscuts (his favorite), and cheerios. Real food wasn't as easy with Grayson. He gagged to the point of puking the first few times I gave him squash and avocado until I toned them down with cereal. Now he handle's them like a champ.

I recently started giving him pieces of avocado and cheerios to see if he could pick them up to eat and he does pretty well.

He is a mama's boy and will look right at me and make loud squaking noises to get my attention.

He's already very particular and will do everything in his power to get the specific toy he is after.

He is definitely a pacifier baby. It's like magic how that thing just calms him right down and puts him to sleep.

He has a laugh that sounds like he's crying and the only way you know which on he's doing is by looking as his smiling face.

Everyone comments on how happy he is and how much personality he has.

Okay now it's time for a Logan update...

Logan is talking in sentences now and is a little parrot. Everything he hears, he says. Some of his favorite phrases stolen from mom are "Oh man! Shoot!" "Oh my gosh!" "Crap!" and "Dangit!" I really have to watch what I say. I'm pretty sure he's heard me say those phrases once but that's all it took.

He got put back in his crib with the move and mom getting little sleep but he learned very quickly how to climb out of it. He also climbs into the pack n play to wrestle with Grayson and pretty much climbs up onto anythng possible. He's our little monkey and nothing is out of his reach.

Logan can open all the front and back doors/screen doors AND unlock them. The only one he doesn't usually attempt is the deadbolt. It's been quite a challenge to keep this boy detained.

He LOVES the beach and loudly announces to everyone when we're going to the BIT** as he pronounces it

We started a "pre" preschool with 5 other boys and their moms. 2 days a week we take turns hosting and Logan absolutely loves it. He proudly carries his "letter book" and repeats "A" for alligator "A" for apple.

One of his new favorite activities is jumping off things. For Logan, the more dangerous the better.

His absolute favorite song is "wheels on the bus" which he could do for hours and never get sick of it.

Who would have thought...

My life has been a bit of a whirlwind over the past couple weeks. If you would have told me 2 months ago that Scott would be starting a new job and we'd be leaving everything we love behind in Gilbert and moving to Huntington Beach I would have said you were absolutely crazy. I'm not sure exactly how it all happened. I guess it really started around Thanksgiving when Scott's brother in law, Matt, told him he should learn his job and come work for his company. Scott looked into what he does and thought it seemed interesting but that was about it. We really didn't think much about it after that. Then Matt mentioned it again about a month ago and Scott just decided to send in his resume. For some reason, this time, it seemed like a good idea. Well, long story short, Scott got a job in California, a different one but for the same company as Matt and he's starting a month later. What? One minute we're just living our normal day to day lives working on projects around the house and making lists (Scott's favorite thing to do) of new projects we plan on starting and next minute we're picking up and moving...leaving it all behind. No matter how great of a career opportunity for Scott, how much money they would pay, or how great living by the beach would be, we have to be crazy moving our family of 4 to California of all places into little apartment. Yet it just seems so right. We knew it was what we were supposed to do the moment Matt mentioned it the second time, we just didn't want to admit it. We had so many concerns. Would we be able to rent out house out for the price we needed and would we be able to find people who would take care of it? Would we be able to afford Cali? Would be be able to find a place to live that has everything we need and want for our family? Would we be able to do all this in time for the job to start a month later? 2 hours after we put our house up for rent, we had multiple people wanting to see it and 2 days later, it was rented to a family that we really feel will take great care of our home. All of our financial and medical cost concerns were resolved. It's mayhem here, but we're almost all packed up. All we need is a place to live and, though time is running out, I know we'll find it. We are so excited to live in Huntington Beach just blocks from the sand, minutes from Disneyland, and enjoying 70 degree weather every day of the year. Our prayers have been answered. This definitely isn't what we thought we wanted or what we were praying for, but the Lord knows better and I trust in that truth. Here's just a picture of the place we'll soon call home.

3 months and 25 months

I know this post is almost a month behind but I mostly just wanted to put up some recent pictures. I'm having so much fun with my boys. I'm getting so used to everything being rough and loud and crazy and everything exciting involving cars, trucks, sports, danger and any creature that growls. Anyways, Logan is still loving being a big brother and Grayson is still so laid back he doesn't mind Logan's over zealousness. In fact, he lights up every time he sees Logan and gets a huge grin on his face even when Logan is being a little too rough with him. I can already tell they are going to be best buds and it just melts my heart every time I see them together.

Logan's first attempt at eating corn on the cob like a big boy. He actually did a pretty good job at taking care of that corn.

This is Logan's favorite place to hang out. That morning he decided he needed to watch a movie on his own personal DVD player with breakfast.

Birthday and Blessing Day

May 1st was a big day for our family. Grayson had his baby blessing and then we celebrated Logan's birthday with all the family and friends that came for the blessing.

I, of course, had to make Logan a car cake. He didn't really eat any cake but he was super excited about his new cars.

Aunt Sue and Nana and Papa came in town for the big event. I didn't, however, get any pictures while they were here except this one.

Logan got to celebrate his birthday for a few days. Notice in every picture he's opening a present, he's wearing a different outfit. Yes, for at least 3 days in a row Logan got to open presents.

Grayson wore the same blessing clothes that Logan wore. I decided to include pictures of both boys.

Grayson...

Logan...

Sadly I didn't get any pictures of everyone that was able to come so I'll just include a list of all the people who could make it.

Nana/Papa Vawter

Aunt Sue

Grandma/Grandpa Bair

Thompsons

Grandma Donna/Milt

Uncle Matthew

Knapps

Hamberlins

Kings

Bruce/Melanie/Alex Bair

We were so glad those who could make it could share in our special day with us.