Sarafina

So, for a few days my dogs were trying to kill something under our deck. I assumed it was the rock chuck that keeps coming around. My husband looked under there and said I think it is a cat, so I crawled under there to find a tiny little wet, muddy kitten cold and terrified. Of course my hubby and I have a problem when it comes to animals, we cannot turn our backs. I wrapped up the little thing in a towel and brought it in. When I laid it on the kitchen floor it collapsed, it was so hungry and dehydrated it could not walk nor lift it's head. I immediately wrapped it back up and began feeding it sugar water from a syringe. By the end of the day we got her to eat some soft food and she was walking like a drunk. We took her to the vet where she weighed in at a whopping 1.6 pounds. She was very sick, we also found out she should have been twice her size but because of the starvation she had stopped growing, she also did not know how to play or chase things.
With some vaccinations, antibiotics, warmth, food and love, she is eating, playing, eating, sleeping, eating and using her litter box, did I say eating??? I have been calling her fatty catty. It is good to save a life!
The kids have loved her so much, she never has to walk anywhere, in fact I'm surprised she knows how, one kids puts her down and another picks her up. Jeff and I get to snuggle her at night after the kids go to bed. I think she is relieved when she gets put in her box for the night.

Happy Halloween

We had an awesome Halloween! We kicked off the festivities with a huge costume party at Klub Karaoke. We also made it a fundraiser to help Sarrah and her friend Whitney Keller earn money for dance competetion.

On Halloween night we had a haunted feast of guts, bat wings, skeleton bones, blood to drink and donuts, after eating it was off to trick or treat.

Our haunted walkway was the bomb. Lights, smoke, thunder, lightening, grave stones, dead things and skeletons that chase you with a feed wacker. For awhile I sat on the porch in disguise as a dummy and would scare the older kids when they looked at me.

The kids dressed up for school, only being able to wear a little of non scary make-up and that is it, they save the good costumes for Halloween night!

Olivias graduation from Preschool

The evening started out okay until the shoes had to go on. She really wanted to wear flip flops, she wears flip flops everyday, I did not think it was a lot to ask for her to wear nice shoes. As you can see by the picture, I got a look like how can you make me go out in public like this! She forgot all about it when we got there. She sang her heart out, smiled, posed and loved all the attention.

Wolf Flats

This summer me and the kids went exploring and found this wonderful place along the snake river called Wolf Flats. We stopped and built a fire, talked and enjoyed the quiet and beauty of the river, roasted marshmellows all just 15 min. from our house.

Ethan my pitcher

I know I am posting a lot today, but I have been sick for a week and this is as good of time as any to catch up on my blog.

I love watching my kids...Sarrah with competition dance team, softball and skiing, Olivia with dance and skiing, Gabe with baseball, football and snowboarding and Ethan with baseball, football and snowboarding.

I need to take my camera more, but I find I'm so wrapped up in the games that I forget to take pictures or video. I was watching Ethan pitch to Jeff (I won't catch for him, it stings and hurts!) and I was noticing his facial expressions. I had my moms big lense for awhile so I was able to get some shots of him pitching.

Thinking about our Farm.

We have a farm in Tetonia Idaho, near Driggs. We love going there to relax and enjoy peace and quiet, float the river, fish, ride motorcycles, horses and the dogs love all the manure! At night we wind down with a beautiful sunset on the Tetons, and then spend the night listening to fox, cyotes, and owls. In the morning we wake up to an amazing sunrise.

The joys of gardening!

First, I love the new fresh dirt in the spring after I have tilled it to a beautiful soft milk chocolate fluffs, I love to walk barefoot in it and feel it run between my fingers.
I hate weeds!
Planting is not as exciting, but I do love when I start to see my new little babies poking their heads out of the milk chocolate fluffs.
I hate weeds!
I love the day when I go out to check on things in my little piece of heaven and see that I should have brought a bowl.
I hate weeds!
I love sitting down and eating a dinner of grilled onions, greenbeans, potatoes, carrots, zucchini fresh from our garden.
I hate weeds!
I love sharing my garden goods with neighbors who don't garden.
I hate weeds!
This year I planted a flower cutting garden. With the crazy weather this year, I did not have the success I thought I would, but I did get several beautiful bouqets of flowers and cute little hitch hikers (ladybugs).
I hate weeds!
I also planted corn for the first time, and tonight I had corn. It was wonderful! I only got 6 ears at 6 inches long each, but they were sooooo good!
I hate weeds!
I also started harvesting sunflower seeds.
Did I say I hated weeds????

Mozart is in the house!

Olivia decided that she wanted to learn to play a song on the piano. I put up a note and key helper, wrote out the keys to a song and showed her. She plays is over and over. My other kids showed interested too, jumped on it and got them started on piano lessons, the excitement fizzled out fast. I would love one child to play the piano!

Back to School

On the first day of school dad gives each of the kids a blessing and then we drive them to school. On the way out of the neighborhood my sweet Jeff says "Well mothers are rejoicing everywhere right now" My kids asked why? Is there a party for just moms today? In my mind I'm thinking yes, each one of us is having our own celebration. Wow what did I not do???? I cleaned, sewed, read, exercised, watched a movie I wanted to watch while I folded laundry. It was glorious! However, it was sure nice to see their faces walk in the door later. Then the fighting, teasing, carpooling craziness began!

Olivia started her last year of preschool. She informed me she did not understand why she could not go to kindergarten with all of her friends. She said, "Mom, I can write my name, I know all my shapes, numbers, colors, letters, and I have to go back to Preschool." Reminding her that she is still only 4 does not seem to help.
On the second day of Preschool, she reminded me that she was almost 5 and almost in Kindergarten, that I no longer needed to walk her to her cubby in the school, that I should wait by the gate if I needed to, otherwise I should just go because she can do it herself. So my last baby does not need me anymore. Everyday I wait by the gate not because she needs me to, but because I need to.
After 14 years of constant company, I am finally able to go to the bathroom without an audience. I love my 4 little snuggies and I am REALLY enjoying my quiet time, but I sure miss them while they are gone.

Just watched a great movie called, Pay it Back. It was about a class project where the kids were supposed to do 3 nice things for someone else, in return those 3 people had to do something nice for 3 people as well. What a great concept! I was checking a website of an author I enjoy and he was giving away a free copy of his new book , all you had to do was write on his blog one nice thing you have done this week. So, I am going to copy cat...anyone out there who reads my blog...do something nice for someone this week and post a comment letting me know how it went.
We have a couple in our neighborhood he is kind of quiet and seems shy, she is really mean. She has even threatened to kill our dogs. Well I noticed that their yard is looking pretty bad. A neighbor called and informed me that he has cancer and is too sick to work on his yard. About 20 people showed up and spent about 2 hours weeding, mowing and talking to this lady. She actually really is a nice person, just going through a bad time. Her and her husband could not believe that so many people would show up and do this for complete strangers without expecting anything in return. It is called service.

Rigby Lake

We finally are able to go and spend several hours at our local lake. No one needs a nap and everyone has a great time together. We have our special spot that we like and we like to groan really loud when we drive up and someone is already in our spot. Sometimes the kids fish, from the shore or from their pontoon boats. Olivia is actually the only one that has caught one.

Rigby lake has great sand, grass, playground, walking path, a small slide that goes into the water, firepits and now a snowasis (not to be confused with a snow shack, which is by far the best snowcones ever!)

Usually I read and lay out because I find Lake water pretty gross. I prefer to waterski in it, swimming in it just grosses me out. Well today I surprised all the kids by running and jumping in and dunking all the kids. It was actually pretty fun as long as I did not think about what was lurking below!!!

My kids are HAMS! I don't mean the meat!

Monday night we went to a party at a new club in Rigby. The family hosting the party rented out the whole place so the kids were invited. The basement is a karyoke area, with a stage, lights microphones etc. Olivia was the first one up on stage to sing. She sang you are my sunshine and twinkle twinkle little star. Sarrah and Gabe sang poker face and Ethan sang a song from Linkin Park. I got up to sing it's Tricky from Run DMC with Stasha and Ethan ran up on stage and did the dance he made up at school (it is hilarious). The upstairs is a dance floor with lights, fog, DJ etc. the music is loud and the lights are cool. Olivia and Gabe tore up the dance floor. Olivia was doing her spins, leaps, splits, floor rolls. Gabe was breakdancing. Olivia then wanted to request a song. She went up to the DJ and said she wanted to hear Move it Move it. He turned it on and everyone was dancing and Olivia loved it! At the end everyone was chanting Ethan, Ethan trying to get him to sing his opera. He wouldn't do it, so I invited everyone over on his dish day, that is when his opera singing begins. He says it makes dishes bearable! Love my kids!

Proud of my boy!

I am so proud of Gabriel. He just finished his Wolf in Scouts. He has two great leaders right now, Maureen Thurstan and Christy Crandall. I am so grateful for people who take this calling seriously and help these boys love scouts. I am grateful to my parents for taking Gabe camping and helping him pass off so many things. Gabe is so excited and I love seeing him feel so good about accomplishing something so great. He is such a wonderful boy, with a good heart.

On a side note..Gabe was holding his hamster "Jack" we have had Jack for awhile now. Jack sometimes gets overly excited and pees. I could smell Jack from where he was curled up in Gabes lap. I said "Gabe let me see Jack for a minute." I looked at Jacks underside and low and behold Jack was missing a couple of things and had nipples. So there you have it. Jack is now Roxy!

We are off the spend the day at Boy Scout Camp with Ethan and Jeff. We miss them and today is the day families get to come up for activites and dinner. I am excited to see my boys, won't be long until Gabe is there too, then me and the girls can have a nice non stinky, non loud week!

The JOB JAR!

So Sarrah and I were watching some show called "worlds meanist/strictest parents" something like that. This family was LDS and had 2 bad teenagers come live with them for 2 weeks. One of the things that this family had, was a JOB JAR. Whenever anyone was fighting, teasing, back sassing etc. instead of getting angry with the kids, the parents just held out the JOB JAR and all parties invovled in the trouble had to pick a job out of the jar. So I sat down and typed up all the little jobs around the house that I would like done that take me awhile to get to and some others that were nasty (toilets). Now every Wednesday is bathroom cleaning day anyway, but boy do I love on Monday when one of the kids draws "clean all the toilets in the house" I now have the cleanest toilets, cleanest base boards, cleanest kitchen cupboards!

Temple and Family Pictures

I am working as a teacher for a company called Poppyseed Projects. I just wanted to show you a sample of the two options I have right now for my classes. There are several different temple prints available with new ones being added. There are also different options for the family picture. Check out this website to see the options. These are large pictures 26.5" X 32.5". If you are interested in doing a class or interested in earning a free picture by hosting a class email me at valariehoopes@poppyseedprojects.com.

http://poppyseedprojects.com/TempleAndFamilyPortraits.html

Temple pictures

I'm going to start teaching this great new class. It is huge in Salt Lake and Logan right now and just starting up here in Southeast Idaho. I will post some pictures of what I will be teaching.

Fourth of July

We had a nice weekend. I started my festivites on Thursday with a girls night out to dinner and to see Eclipse. Friday a fun BBQ with a kickball game. Our team lost, but we also had all the really little kids on our team and they pretty much were done playing after the 2nd inning. It isn't about winning though, it is the fact that we were all having a great time, even though my friend Sukey heckled me everytime she got on first! I did realize how old I am getting.. I had to run in twice to pee (darn bladder!) and I had to go in and get my shoes with the orthotics in them. It won't be long and I will be running bases with a walker and depends!
Saturday another BBQ and fireworks with friends, Sunday...nothing but naps...I love Sunday's. Today swimming lesson start, a trip to the lake, a parade and fireworks.

Jeff left early this morning with 6 -13 year olds to Scout Camp. These dads that go are so amazing, to take a week off work to hang out with these boys. Thank you, Thank you!

Sarrah has been working so hard lately. She started a pet sitting business last summer, this week she is watching 3 bunnies, 2 cats, 3 dogs and 1 crazy puppy. On Tuesdays she volunteers at our Veternarian office, watching and helping with surgeries, cleaning up and walking dogs. I wish Ethan could find something he is good at to earn some money. I don't pay very well for babysitting and extra jobs.

Well I am off to supervise the kids on Monday's jobs...oooh bathrooms!

The Joys of Family Camping Trips

Jeff, Ethan, Sarrah and Gabe
Lizzy made her way across the river to Jeff, gotta love the ride back to camp with two wet dogs!

Hoopes and Heiners

My nephew Trent, was happily filling his bathing suit with rocks...maybe that is why he kept sinking at the pool??????

We just got back from a fun filled week at Lava Hot Springs. Finally after a couple years of cold weather, we finally had the perfect week. We went on an excursion up a canyon we had no idea about, it was beautiful! We found a place in the river that we could walk around, we found the perfect skipping rocks. We floated the Prortneuf river and had a blast. This was Gabes first year floating and Olivia's. Gabe loved it, Olivia said once was enough. Grandpa got hurt a lot this time, but kept on floating. Saturday was our big day at the pool, speed slides and platforms. I was walking Olivia to the waterslides when I heard a bunch of people cheering for someone up on the platforms. I looked up and there on the top 40 foot platform stood my 8 year old Gabe. I was terrified for him, for me, proud that he was so brave, but mostly afraid. He jumped....he came up and swam to the side....I cried because he was safe. Then the little fart went up the stairs to do it again. Is one heart attack not enough for me??? My friend Melinda said he is preparing me for a future of wild acts of craziness.
It was nice to see all the family and visit with them, I think it is getting to the point that Lava is the only time we are able to get together. This update is mostly for Kay, she informed me I needed to update my blog. I'm glad I have someone who reads my blog Kay:) I will try and be better:)

Rain

One of the smells I love most is the smell of a nice summer rain on hot cement, but I also love to listen to rain. I love to open my windows and let that amazing smell come in and listen to the rain and thunder.

The best is to be camping and sit inside the trailer playing games and listening to the rain hit the trailer. It is not the best, however, if it has been raining the entire week!

I love the way the earth looks after a good rain storm, it seems to cleanse and replenish. Colors seem brighter, the world smells clean and it is so quiet and peaceful.

Love of a Dog

I just finished watching a movie tonight called "Hachi". If you are a dog lover it is a true story and great story. I think I cried through most of it. My kids watched it earlier today as we were driving to Pocatello, Sarrah tapped me on the shoulder, when I turned around I saw my sweet 4 year old Olivia crying. She had the biggest gator tears just streaming down her face. I said what's wrong Liv? She answered Hachi waited he loved him so much.
I have two good dogs, Ben we found at the Lake 6 years ago. He was so afraid, he hated loud noise, yelling, quick movements and he would never look you in the eye. He has found love at our house, he looks me in the eye now and he even groans when I love him. Lizzy, just loves us. She loves to be with us, near us and will sit and groom us like her little pups if we let her. I think she doesn't realize she is a dog.
A dog doesn't care where you live, where you work or what you do. They don't care if you wear Big Star jeans, if you are too fat or too skinny. They just love. I believe god put them on this earth for us to learn unconditional love, because that is the only kind of love they give. I feel grateful and blessed to have loved a dog and I feel blessed to be loved by them.

His Hands

Are the tears Old Age???

I don't know what was up with me yesterday, is it old age? I was very emotional about several things.
My day started with scripture study with the family as we finished reading the book of First Nephi, the last few scriptures are of Nephi's testimony of the truthfulness of the things written on the plates. I have prayed about whether the Book of Mormon was true long ago, I was so touched to the truthfulness of it testified to me again. Then Gabriel brought home his first second grade essay. It was about me, how much he loves me and how much joy I bring to his life. Those simple little things bring a mother so much joy. Last night we had our RS Birthday, we talked about our hands, our serving hands, our hands of joy, gratitude, unconditional love. We talked about how our hands are like Christs hands that we are here on this earth to do the Lord's work, to do his will and that is to feed his sheep. We ended with a short movie called "His Hands". I love the song anyway, but with the pictures I couldn't stop the tears. I felt so much love for him, for my Heavenly Father and so much gratitude for the blessing I have because of this gospel.
I also felt a lot of love and gratitude for my hubby. I tease him because he wears the same red "Angels" sweatshirt everyday to work in (he works at home) something about his messy hair and red sweatshirt touched my heart today. (Maybe because I washed it and it was clean!)

school programs

Tonight was one of those busy mom nights. PTC at 3, drive carpool at 4, drop of one kid at 5 another at 6, pick up one at 6:30 etc.... you get the idea. Gabriel had a special 2nd grade program tonight that they have been working on for months. Usually I am on the front row but because of busy mom night, I had a seat way in the back. It was actually funny to watch from the back. The gym was full, families talking and laughing, the lights went low and I watched as a gym full of proud parents all at the same time went quiet, sat up tall and turned on the camcorders. Each parent smiling to themselves, capturing every movement every song every look their child gave. I wonder how many of those parents go home and transfer the movie so it can be viewed over and over. My camera gets full, then I am forced to download it to some file and it won't be watched until I'm old and retired and need something to do.

The kids tonight did a great job and sang some fun songs!

Laughter

Have you ever been in a store and heard someone laugh and their laugh just makes you giggle. My son Gabriel has always had such an infectious laugh, I notice when I haven't heard his laugh in a while. Then I heard it, deep and infectious, he had pulled his mattress up to the top of the stairs, and I watched as he and our dog Lizzy rode the mattresses down the stairs flying off the mattress when it hit the bottom. It was the funniest thing.

I was thinking about a day at the ski hill, I was riding the lift up and I heard this deep, let loose laughing of two girls it didn't take long to recognize they belonged to my girls. Sarrah was chasing Olivia down the ski hill saying "I'm going to poke you in the butt with my pole!" They played this game for 10 runs, belly laughing and having such a great time. I loved watching them and all the people on the lift catching the laughing fever too.

I watched my kids,their friends and our dog Lizzy on the trampoline yesterday-jumping in the hail and snow laughing, having fun, being free to be themselves.

Our dog Lizzy really doesn't know she is a dog, she thinks she is our 5th child.

I am grateful for Laughter.

"A day without laughter is a day wasted"

Kozy Shack

So, I'm going to tell you all a little secret I have. Normally I eat pretty healthy, but I do have one indulgence that when I have it, I cannot stop at one serving, nor two or three. There are actually 6 servings in one 22 oz. container and I can pack the whole thing away! There you have it. I EAT THE WHOLE THING!!!!


Each day I am writing about what I am grateful for that day....today is Kozy Shack.

It is not my birthday, mothers day or my anniversary, but the Kozy tempted me today and I did eat. Jeff was in the kitchen when I pulled it out of the bag, my family knows very well not to even ask for some, but I decided to share with him today. I placed a very small serving in a very small bowl for him. I ate my first serving trying so hard to make my Kozy last, but Kozy called to me and when I went in the kitchen there was Jeff helping himself to another serving of my Kozy! Really risky for him, I think he felt safe in doing it because he was on his way out the door on a business trip. Smart thinking my dear. On Mother's Day I will be hiding my Kozy in the back of the fridge behind some broccoli or something! I must protect my white gold!

My Sisters

I sat in Relief Society today (I have to sit at the front for opening exercises) looking at all my sisters. I sat thinking of the things that makes each one of them special to me, whether it be their kindness, their love, their willingness to serve their sense of humor. How blessed I am to have so many sisters to serve and love...too bad we can't all share clothes!

I also feel gratitude for a family that sits quietly in sacrament now. I watch the exhausted faces of the parents fighting with their kids the entire time and I love that now I can sit and actually listen to what is being said.

My hubby wrote me a love note in church today, we have this running joke that at the end of our love notes to each other we write..... Will you go with me? Mark the box " yes " " no" " maybe". When I was in 4th grade I got a note like this, but I also got a few cute little smelly erasers, so Jeff wrote today that he had many cute little smelly erasers for me if I mark the box "yes"