Happy Halloween!

The famous Taylor Swift

"I'm just a golfer" says P-Man

D-Man and his best bud as NeRdS!

We had a busy halloween weekend. We started with the church chili cook-off and trunk or treat. Only Gretchen and I braved the chili. She ate 2 bowls, so whoever made #16 you have a new fan. The kiddos had a great time with their friends. Even Rich and I dressed up as a couple of friends in our ward....Rich and Matt are twins split at birth, in looks and brains. ;)

Then we headed out Saturday morning to participate in the 1st annual Mostly Fun Run 5K. Kuddos to our awesome friends for setting up a great candy burn-off challenge and even making us super cool tees to wear. And everyone was a winner!

We had a fun filled evening of trick or treating on Sat night thanks to the same awesome running friends. We were able to bring candy for the cause and visit their neighbors since they were the only ones in town holding beg-o-ween on Sat instead of Sun. Evidently all our town had the same idea because we saw every kid in a 20 mile radius that night.

Here we are enjoying the FUNtastic evening of people watching by the fire pit and glad that our
halloween was full of treats!

Intrigue Invitational part 2

The start of this post is after this one....sorry they posted backwards.

All that hard work pays off!

Intrigue Invitational

One determined gymnast waiting her turn on the uneven bars

I love to watch this girl on the beam....she has great form.

The Fancy New Duds

The new competition leotard

The new warm up

WATCH OUT GIRLS.....my little gymnast is ready to rock it!

"Laughter is an instant vacation."

Milton Berle

Good thing I have these 3 around....

Because that means EVERYDAY is a vacation in the Hopfer house!

Blast From The Past

Dallin on his 1st day of school.

This year he is headed into 7th grade.

Parker, age 3, waiting to sneak attack Dallin & his friends.

Today, he still waits to attack Dallin & his friends with Nerf guns.

Gretchen, age 18 months, sporting her 1st pony tails.

Now she sports them almost daily.

Sometimes it seems like time just flies by...at least where my kiddos are concerned. It seems like Richard & I just got married and its almost been 14 years. It seems like we just found out we were having our 1st baby and he turns 12 in just a couple of weeks. Its been a great 14 years with Richard, a fun filled 12 years with kiddos. My life is blessed as a wife and mom................

and I've got the pics to prove it! :)

Sneaking In Dad's Suitcase

Rich always complains about how lonely it is in the hotel when he travels. Well this trip he happened to be going to one of our favorite places: Chattanooga. He was going to be super busy this time & in fact the kiddos still didn't see him until day 2 @ dinner. So we packed our bags and hung out in downtown. Chattanooga has a great downtown, so we were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go: the aquarium, Genghis Grill, the pool, riverfront park, etc. I think Rich was still pretty lonely because this time we had all the fun without him ;) He did get to go with us to the zoo on the way home Friday. Its a cute, small zoo with the funniest little monkeys. They reminded us of Spike from Gremlins.

Richard's BFF

I took a pic of the kids like this one last summer so we recreated it while down in Chattanooga.

Parker & Gretchen stood and watched this duck for about 10 mins waiting to see his
"missing leg". He had one leg tucked up underneath him and they were sure he was a one-legged duck.

This was the kiddos favorite part of the aquarium. They were able to touch the stingrays and sharks in the touch tank. The aquarium worker even gave them a little cup of squid pieces to feed them.

This was my favorite part: the penguins. These guys seem to have a lot of personality. Each of them had a different colored bracelet then you could id them and tell their name from a chart on the wall. My fav: Big T

Parker is fan of the sharks. These 2 kept circling the tank and we were lucky enough to get both in the picture. Don't ask how long we stood there watching....that's what summer is for, right?

We swam in the hotel pool twice a day for the 3 days we were there. We definitely got our money's worth from this hotel...thanks Marriot cause it was roasting outside & we needed relief. And because the place was full of business travelers, we had the pool to ourselves.

The gang on the pier.

Since Richard got me my new camera, my kids know they should just be quiet and let me get my pics. They know I won't leave them alone if they don't cooperate. So SAY CHEESE!

Pack It In & Fill It Up

BEST teacher EVER!!! This amazing lady turned Parker's attitude about school around. He has not enjoyed school or wanted to go since kindergarten. Poor kid....he is super duper smart but all the chaos, strangely behaved kids, etc drive him to anxiety. BUT ALAS.... he had a great year....thanks to her awesome classroom management and her insanely good teaching skills. I am so grateful to have a happy guy with some good 3rd gade memories.

The end of the year would not be complete without a super fun field day.

Parker & his buddies preparing for the over/under sponge relay.

Girl Scout Bridge Ceremony: From Daisy Scouts to Brownies

and Manners Tea Party

Gretchen's Troop-now new Brownies

6th Grade Spring Band Concert
Dallin is playing the trumpet in front of the drummer in the yellow striped shirt.-for those who don't want to play where's waldo? ;) This is about 1/4 of the kiddos-its a huge 6th grade group.

End of the school year for the kiddos brings a lot of fun filled activities and events. The last few weeks are jam packed with end of the year parties, concerts, programs, field days, and more. Dallin had a great 1st year of middle school and Mom seemed to survive the transition pretty well too! 3rd grade for Parker was a success-he actually enjoyed school for the 1st time since kindergarten. And Gretchen breezed through 1st grade. She loves school: the teachers, the new things she learns and all the friends! We are happy to be on a little bit more of a relaxed schedule. We are still keeping busy with gymnastics training, golf practice, and lots of summer fun. I am sure before we know it school will be starting again....Aug 12th will be here too soon!!!

For those who like to read this blog of fun:

Hehehehe......I am almost caught up with real blogging time!

Spring Break the Sequel....Zoo Safari

The crew at the zoo

Our only close encounter came with this cute gal, those fuzzy camels and her big pink hair flower clip. Gretchy loves to feed these big drooling things EVERY time we go and begs to ride them-join the circus! This time after feeding, she decided to give that camel a BIG old Gretchy hug.....a tiny mistake. She turned for a "picture", cause the girl also loves the camera, and Mr. Camel tried to take a big old nibble off her flower, hair, cheek. UhOh! Luckily she was not hurt and was giggling the whole time. I wonder if she'll feed them next time....or hug them!?

Gretchy and her fav, the zebra.

Dallin got a kick out of this sign. We wouldn't want to make the animals sick from eating US. That'd be just plain rude of us!

One of the Red Pandas....he looks like a cute snuggly guy :)

P-Man chilling with Mr. Billy Goat Gruff

We spent the day at one of our fav hangouts while Dad was working in K-town for the day. It was the perfect day for a zoo safari: sunny skies, not to warm, and not very crowded.....just the way I like it! They have a new Kid Exploring part with places to be a ticket taker, zoo vet, animal trainer, etc. Of course, the boys were too cool to play in make believe zoo land but Gretchy was all over it. We pretty much had to drag her out of there. The zoo has some great animals: elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, even a white tiger, plus all of your birds, meerkats, rhinos, etc....All of our fav animals and then some, just like a zoo safari. Our only close encounter came with the camels- crazy drooly furballs! Gretchen loves to feed them, and can ride them. She loves the wild things....2 peas in a pod!