Christmas Day

We stayed up last night watching old home videos of past Christmas's and finally got to bed around 11:30pm. We were up at 7 am this morning and had a very relaxing time opening presents. It was a very nice morning. Josh got a new camera, a CTR ring, a foot bath and some video games. Layton got an RC car, a stereo, legos, and some video games. JoJo got some new chew toys. Vance got some ties, some chocolate, and some nice homemade things from the boys. I got a new winter coat, a book, and some floor mats for my car. Then we went to church and listened to a beautiful Christmas program performed by the choir. We came home and I attempted to make my mom's scalloped potatoes and ham. I also made rolls. I think it was a success because I doubled the recipe and it all got eaten! I have an apple cobbler in the oven right now and while we wait for it, we are working up an appetite playing Fruit Ninja on the Kinect. Thanks Santa! There is still snow on the ground outside but we didn't get any new snow today.

I am one of those people, so yes, my Christmas tree is all packed away already. I love how it looks before Christmas, but I'm ready for it to go away by Christmas day so that has become my tradition every year. It was fun hearing from family today and learning about their fun day. The kids have one more week off before they go back to school. We have already experienced some bickering over video games but we quickly nipped that in the bud and hopefully they won't forget that over this next week.

We have plans to go tubing in the snow, catch a movie, and maybe go to the pool this week. I'm excited to have my boys home with me this week, but I'm thinking I might be just as excited to see them go back to school! We'll see...

For now, I am happy, my kids had a good Christmas, and all is well in the Hoopes Household.

I'm a lucky girl!

This is a special Christmas for our family this year. We are in a new town, a new home, there is no family close by, we are going to have a very small, quiet Christmas. It is sad that we will miss Grannie's annual Christmas Eve seafood dinner to celebrate her birthday. We will also miss our annual Christmas dinner of scalloped potatoes and ham at Grandma's house. We will miss visiting cousins and friends to see what Santa brought them. We will miss the huge variety of stores to visit for after-Christmas sales. We will also miss the Temple lights at the Mesa Temple. And although we will miss so much, I am hoping that we will gain a renewed closeness as a family. I hope we will enjoy the quiet stillness of just being at home with each other. I hope we can be reminded of how much we love each other and how much fun we can have together. I hope we'll make memories that the kids will cherish forever. Santa will come tonight and I can't wait to see my boys enjoy their gifts in the morning, but what I am most looking forward to is putting it all aside, getting into our Sunday best, and going to church to hear beautiful music and inspiring words that will remind us why we celebrate this day. I love it when Christmas falls on a Sunday! I love my Savior. I know He lives. I am so blessed...with family, friends, health, a new home, a car that runs, a husband who has a job, food on the table, and so much more. And I know that ALL my blessings come from Him. And the greatest blessing of all is that I know I can be with my family forever. I'm a lucky girl!

Merry CHRISTmas!

And more pictures...

More pictures...

Some pictures of our new home...

I love my new house. It needs a lot of work and it's definitely a fixer-upper, but thats part of what drew me to it. There is a hall bathroom and a spare bedroom bathroom but the master bathroom is just an empty room, waiting for us to turn it into a bathroom. There is a large room upstairs that is unfinished that wants to be a game room but for now its just plywood and rafters. There is no garage so we'll be adding one later. There is a family room, but no living room, so for now, my piano sits in the dining room until we add on a living room later. The master bedroom is so big, I don't have enough furniture to make it look normal so I have avoided doing anything with that room. There is an awesome fireplace in the family room that keeps us so warm that the heat never kicks on. It was built in 1973, though, so it needs some updating. We haven't bought any blinds for the windows yet and most of the light fixtures need to be replaced. The kitchen is big and spacious but the cabinets are falling apart so we plan to basically gut the kitchen and start from scratch when we get more time in the spring. The boys' rooms are painted bright colors from the previous owner's choices. Josh's is lime green and Layton's is blue with a huge wallpaper mural of a football game on the wall. I haven't done anything in their rooms yet but believe me, I will! That lime green is a killer! Outside, there is a pond in the backyard that I like, but will be filling in because it's in a weird spot. There is a huge barn that Vance will be using as his shop. There is a stable with 3 stalls for cows or horses (we want to get cows) and a large pasture area for them to roam. There used to be a chicken coop attached to the stable but apparently it wasn't structurally sound and it collapsed under the weight of the last snow storm. We will be rebuilding it in the spring, as my boys have big plans to have chickens. There are a lot of fruit trees, which I love, and a big garden area where I can't wait to plant my garden! The thing we have the most of right now is MUD! I can't wait to plant grass in the yard and pour concrete in the driveway! We have big plans for this house and I am so excited to get started on all our projects! For now, I am grateful we have a good roof over our heads, Vance has a good job, the boys are happy up here, we are warm and healthy, and we have a place to call HOME.

We're having a white Christmas!!!

We are so excited to be celebrating Christmas in our new home up here in the White Mountains. We bought a house in Taylor and moved in just after Thanksgiving. Josh and Layton love it up here and are enjoying their new schools. Josh is a freshman at Snowflake High (Go Lobos!) and Layton is in 5th grade at Taylor Intermediate, where there are only grades 4-6. He has a male teacher for the first time ever and he's happy about that. Our little dog, JoJo, loves the snow (and the mud) and has settled in quite nicely! Vance graduated this past summer with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy and is now employed by Summit Healthcare at the hospital in ShowLow. He really likes it and he's very good at it, as his patients love him. We are still in the process of moving our stuff in and getting settled but its coming along! Shortly after moving up here, we were hit with a snowstorm and ended up with about 18 inches of snow and the kids were thrilled that school got cancelled so they could play in it all day! Since then, the snow melted but its snowing again now and its looking like it may not stop for a while! I've lost my camera in all the moving but as soon as I find it, I'll post some pictures of our new house.

I Have a Blog!!!

Holy Cow, I don't know what I'm doing but I'm gonna give this a try! My awesome sister-in -law, Misty, created this gorgeous blog for me! Hopefully I can do this because I've always wanted to try.

Our New Home!