Enjoy the Little Things

My first born child is almost 15 years old. He was such a sweet little boy. I am shocked at how quickly time has passed and he is growing up. At 6 feet tall, he is one inch taller than his dad. He is a very kind boy, and very funny. He loves to build things and invent things out in the garage. He spends way too much time on video games and not even close to enough time cleaning his room. He is a good friend and a good son. He needs to invest some time and effort into his schooling, as he barely manages to pass his classes, because I know he is very smart. Just a little unmotivated. He loves fishing, camping, shooting guns, going to the lake, playing football, and other outdoor activities. He hates cleaning, homework, chores, and pretty much anything that takes away his free time. He makes me absolutley furious sometimes and so very happy most of the time. I am proud of him for his good choices and accomplishments. I have high hopes for him. He will be a great husband, father, and leader someday. I love my sweet Joshy Boy!

 Josh had his Eagle Board of Review recently down in Gilbert. He did his eagle project last year for the City of Mesa  Fire Department. He painted over 200 fire hydrants. We moved a few months after he completed the project. The picture above is of Josh with the person who interviewed him. We found out after the interview, that he is the head guy in the district over all advancements. He was very impressed with Josh for his ability to carry on an adult conversation and for starting his own lawn mowing business and keeping it going for 3 years. The picture below is of Josh with his Scout Master, Chris Strong, and Deacon Advisor, Monti Monthierth, down in Gilbert. They helped him out a lot in scouts and played a big part in getting him where he is today.

Time to Get Caught Up...

We went to Big Lake this past week with Vance's parents and celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary on June 8th. It was a nice trip, no rain for the first time EVER since I've been going there, but it was windy and the fishing wasn't very good. We really had fun though. Below is a picture of 3 generations of Hoopes fishermen. Josh is 14, Vance is 36,  and Larry is 71. I don't know how old the fish are...(haha)

 The picture below is of Vance's parents, Larry and MaryAnn Hoopes.

 The tent below is where Vance, JoJo, and I slept. Josh had his own tent and Layton slept in the trailer with Grannie and Poppie.

 MaryAnn made this awesome cherry chocolate cake for their anniversary and then we ate so much at dinner that we were too full to have any cake so she took it back home uneaten.

 The photo below is one of my favorites. I love my boys. They fished in Poppies little boat while the adults fished on our boat and the whole 2 hours we sat out on the lake, we could hear laughter coming from their boat. We could see them goofing around and being silly and just knew they'd never catch a fish, but they each did! There's nothing better than hearing your children enjoy each other. And look at the beautiful scenery behind them! Gorgeous!

 And of course, JoJo loved the boat too!

 In all the years I've been going to Big Lake with the Hoopes family, (I was 17 the first time I went) MaryAnn NEVER got in a boat or went fishing. Her anniversary gift to Larry was that she would fish with him this year. And she did! And she caught two nice ones!

 Because it was so windy, we spent a lot of time playing cards back at camp. We taught Grannie and Poppie how to play and it was lots of fun. If you've never played "SCUM", I highly recommend it!

 This is the last morning we were there. Breakfast consisted of bacon and eggs, grits, biscuits, gravy, steak, fruit, and whatever else was laying around. We really rough it when we camp.

 It was so dry and windy that it was impossible to keep JoJo from getting filthy so when we got home, it was straight to the bath for him! There was black sludge going down the drain. Ew.

 Layton has been playing baseball this Spring and was asked to try out for the All Stars team but we were at Big Lake when they had try-outs so he missed it. But he had a great season! The picture below is of Layton, #12, hitting the ball out toward the shortstop, his best friend, Coy. He made it onto first base. I've never seen an kid run as fast as Layton can run. He is so fast!

 I know I posted earlier about Josh's Ranger "Incident" but this is a picture of him in all his injured glory. He is recovered now and only has some soreness when he runs. He's getting ready to start football season in a few weeks so I hope it doesn't give him any trouble.

 In May, we had our Pack Meeting and did an Arrow of Light Ceremony for one of our Webelos moving on to 11 year old scouts. It turned out nice. We had the 11 year olds come and welcome him to their group. Layton is the one putting the neckerchief on the newest member.

 Also in May, Vance went to San Francisco for a PT class to get certified in something to do with lymphodemia. I'm sure I spelled that wrong. He was gone 5 days. Below are some of the pictures he took while he had some down time.

 I love this picture of the moon. I didn't take it, our friend, Raymond Shumway, took it. It's amzing how big and clear it was! The picture is awesome but it doesn't even do it justice. So cool in real life!

 Most recently, actually today, Vance's sister, Michelle, brought her boys Mathew and Andrew over to see Josh and Layton. They're such good friends and now that we've moved, they miss seeing their cousins. We played cards, had bacon cheeseburgers for lunch, and then spent about 2 hours playing Twister. Isn't that ridiculous? But they had so much fun! And wore themselves out! Vance got in on some of the action too. The playing mat was way too small for all these big boys!

I'm certainly going to try and stay better caught up on this blog. There's so much I don't remember to put on here when I wait so long in between. We've planted grass out front and a lot has come in. It's spotty because of the wind and rabbits and birds so we have to reseed and try again. We have 5 new chickens we've added to our coop and they're getting big! We started with 8 babies and lost one the first night to the cold, and then a couple weeks ago, we found two more dead with a snake eating them. Josh shot the snake with a BB gun and we threw them into our firepit and burned them with the snake. It was a bloody mess and I was traumatized. I get too attached to these sweet chickens! A week ago, I was confined to my bed for 5 days because I put my neck out. Its so awful to not be able to do everything I used to be able to do. Lots of friends took care of me and brought in meals for my family. Right before we went to Big Lake, we decorated a wedding in Snowflake for our good friends, Raymond and Laura Shumway's second daughter, Delsy. It was beautiful and I'll post pictures later. For now, thats all I can think of thats been going on in our lives. We stay very busy and are really happy and life is good for the Hoopes!