Hello 2009...

So, the new year is upon us and already I have to apologize for falling behind...please bear with me as I try to catch everyone up on the Hoopes' Holiday Happenings. What started out with the intentions of being a quiet, laid-back Christmas in our tiny little apartment turned into a last-minute, rip-roaring trip to Fallbrook, CA.

We seriously love visiting the Golden State, although time seems to fly by way too quickly when we are there and we never get a chance to visit everyone we would like to. Plus, with it being the holidays, I didn't want to interrupt anyone else's family time...which means we pretty much kept to the Hoopes' homestead in Fallbrook this trip. It was cold and a little rainy, but that didn't stop us from living it up and having a blast with family, games, and LOTS of good food. Doug didn't get any surf time in this trip, but he did have fun hitting up the go-carts and movies with the other guys in the family....not to mention the hours of video games he was able to play without the fear of getting in trouble from the Mrs. The only bummer of the trip was the leaky roof we all woke up to on Christmas morning...not exactly the kind of present you hope to get on the traditional day of cheer.

The trip was very short, as we all had to return quickly back to AZ for the baptism of our niece....the baptism was wonderful and we are so glad to have been there with Ashley on her special day. Since everyone on the Hoopes side (well, almost everyone...we missed having Uncle Dan out here with us for the after-Christmas festivities) remained in Arizona for the week after the baptism, it continued to be a very fun, chaotic, non-stop week for all. I don't think AK or Roo got to bed before 10pm for an entire week straight...and daytime naps were completely out of the question. We spent New Year's Eve at Doug's sister's house...it was pretty low-key (especially since I was one of 3 adults who fell asleep before ringing in the new year). Other than drinking the traditional Martinelli's, we didn't even do any poppers or noise makers or bang on any pots and pans. I guess the activities from Christmas to that point had finally caught up to me! Needless to say, we were ALL pretty exhausted by the end of the week and have since taken a few days to relax, recover, and recuperate.

So, now that I've brought you all to speed on the latest happenings of our lives, here are some pictures from our hectic holiday!

These were taken in AZ, before we decided to go out to CA. It was a lot of fun decorating the tree - I did the lights and garland while the girls hung the ornaments. It was really cute because they chose only 3 or 4 branches on the entire tree to hang ornaments from, so all the ornaments ended up being clumped together like in the picture above. AK demonstrated some OCD tendencies - she went through and picked out all the striped ornaments and hung those first, then she went and picked out all the sparkly pink ornaments and hung those next; she continued in this pattern until all the ornaments were hung...it was pretty amusing to watch!

Christmas Eve jammies (a Hoopes Family Tradition) - Roo's response was "Oh, I love them!" while she clutched them close; AK's response was along the lines of "Look it - HEARTS! Jammies so pretty, mama!" I cannot tell you how much I love, love, LOVE these girls.

These are of the girls being silly with their cousins (always) and opening presents on Christmas morning. AK and Roo seemed pretty happy with their gifts, but I think some of their favorites this year were their princess sets, their pink "laptops," and the adorable tin of hair bows, necklaces, and bracelets from their Aunt Smecky.

Boys will be boys...as long as there is a video game system close by. And of course...Doug had his furry little sidekick near him most of the trip. Yokwe, Kupua! Ej et am mour? Jouj im jijet.

We did things a little differently this year as far as family gifts were concerned. The cousins drew names and gave only to one person; the adults did a "favorite things" exchange. I was pretty used to the drawing names thing, because that is how my family has done Christmas for years (c'mon, with seven kids in the family you HAVE to think of some way to make Christmas affordable), but the favorite things exchange was something new to most of us....all-in-all, I think both turned out pretty well and we all seemed to have a lot of fun.

POST-CHRISTMAS CONFESSIONS:

1.) I am a complete moron and left our camera in AZ during our trip to CA, so all the pics from Christmas are compliments of my sister-in-law Kary and her totally awesome camera. Thanks K for sending those my way...you totally saved me!!
2.) I also forgot my cell phone charger at home...which is totally random, because I only have a car charger, but whatever. So, for those who didn't get calls on Christmas it was because my phone battery had died and I was completely out of luck until we got back to AZ. Sorry...I'm a complete space case, I know.

3.) My seemingly incurable tendency for tardiness has resulted in us not getting Christmas cards out. For those whom I had email addresses for, I did manage to send out a little Christmas e-card. I know it's not the same as the real thing, but it's the best I could do for me. I would still like to get something out in the mail for the New Year, but I'm not making any promises. I am sorry to those who felt shorted or neglected this year...please just know I will try and do better this year. Here is the Christmas card I sent out by email...Enjoy!

4.) Shauna - I feel like an absolute shmuck for not coming by to see you. I really wanted to, especially to see how you all were doing after C's surgery, but I talked myself out of it because I didn't want to bother you guys after being in the hospital for a week. I felt I was being selfish by wanting to see you because it would have taken time away from you, AJ, K, and C...I also felt we would have created more stress and excitement than you guys really needed. I realize now I should have just gone down anyway, so please just know how bad I feel and how sorry I am for missing out on visiting with you guys.

Playtime at the Park

Earlier this week, the girls and I discovered a new park in our area...more accurately, a new playground at a park we regularly frequent. The construction on the play area has been completed for just over a month or so, but the girls and I hadn't previously had a chance to go and check it out. The playground was huge - and it had a lot of fun and different activities for the girls to play on. I made great use of the camera while the girls ran from one area to the next. AK did manage to get an "owie" at one point, but that didn't stop her from thoroughly enjoying herself. The pictures express much better than I could in words just how much AK and Roo liked their day at the park.

BTW - Roo is in the white striped shirt w/brown sweatshirt and AK is in the brown shirt w/pink sweatshirt. Roo loved the rope bridge ("Look mama...I like Spiderman!"), the dizzy devil, and the teeter-totter (or see-saw...whatever they're called). AK loved the swings (her usual fav), the wobbly stepping stones, and the rock climbing tube-thingee. I loved the fact that we got to walk to the park and back (I pushed the girls in the stroller), which meant that even mama managed to get a little bit of exercise that day.

Needless to say, we will be visiting this particular playground quite frequently from this point forward.

HoHoHo...Christmas Tag

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper…more hassle than the gift bags, but so much more fun to open Christmas morning.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real – the colors are so much brighter and I LOVE the smell that fills the home.

3. When do you put up your Christmas Tree? As a kid, we would beg my mom to put them up the day after Thanksgiving….that was the rule, wait until after T-Day. Although I still love to decorate the tree, I don’t have the same sense of urgency – we put it up when we put it up…we don’t even have ours yet this year.

4. When do you take the tree down? When I am tired of vacuuming up the needles.

5. Do you like eggnog? Not the store-bought kind, but I love my mom’s eggnog; really, it’s more like sweet, frothy milk than eggnog, but it’s fabulous none the less.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don’t know if I appreciated it so much as a child, but every year I received an orange in the bottom of my stocking…fresh picked from our tree outside. What I wouldn’t give for one of those oranges this year.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Doug – he doesn’t give me a whole lot of ideas to go from

8. Easiest person to buy for? The girls – so far, they seem happy to get whatever they’re given, so I’m not worried too much about disappointing them.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yup – we have a few that were given to us as wedding presents…that’s what happens when you get married a week after Christmas.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? My intention is always to get them sent out in the mail, but it doesn’t always turn out as planned….sorry folks.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can’t recall any.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The old animated ones – Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman…you know which ones I’m talking about, right? Doug’s favorite is the Christmas Story. The girls would vote for anything starring Mickey Mouse.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? This year I started on the dreaded Black Friday….total chaos, but lots of fun.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don’t believe so, but it is possible.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Thing…as in singular? Come on…you all know me better than that when it comes to food. Let’s see….freshly baked orange rolls w/icing or homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, hot cocoa with marshmallows, candy canes, all the munching food (seven-layer dip, veggie platter, celery sticks w/cheese spread), those white mints w/the red and green waxy centers from Brach’s, Toblerone, honey glazed ham w/cheesy potatoes or turkey w/mashed potatoes, homemade rolls that melt in your mouth, dutch apple pie, spiced apple cider or some of my mom’s friendship tea, gingerbread cookies….I could go on and on.

16. Lights on the tree? Yes...Definitely

17. Favorite Christmas song? The music is one of the best things about Christmas…I love pretty much all of it, but my favorite CD’s are from Mannheim Steamroller, Carpenter’s Christmas, and Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Some of my favorite jingles are Joy to the World, O Holy Night, Hallelujah Choir, and Angels We Have Heard on High

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph.

19. How do you countdown the days until Christmas? Doug's mom always buys the grandkids chocolate advent calendars...Doug and Roo eat up most of the chocolate before the month is halfway over. I got a few cute ideas for handmade advent calendars, but those will have to wait for next year I suppose.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Always had an angel on the tree as a kid; I bought a star after we got married but it broke a few years ago and we haven’t bought a new one…maybe I’ll take care of that this year.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We carry on the Hoopes Family tradition of opening Christmas jammies on the 24th, then everything else on Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? How greedy and inpatient people get. Just try to remember the reason for the season, folks…and simply enjoy it!!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? An eclectic mix of everything…red, green, silver, teal, brown, homemade, hand-me-downs, store bought…it all works.

24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? See reply to question#15

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? For the girls to be potty trained…which would take a Christmas miracle!!

26. Christmas or X-mas? Christmas

27. Have you ever been smooched under the mistletoe? Nope, can't say that I have

28. Icicles or ribbon on the tree? Ribbon, garland, candy canes, and ornaments - anything but the stringy icicles...they are way too messy

29. Favorite holiday memories/traditions? Going to see the Sapphire Lights in Alta Loma, visiting nursing homes and singing Christmas carols when I was a kid, singing in the Upland 3rd Ward Choir Christmas program, playing Mary in the ward Christmas pageant, watching the Upland Christmas parade as a kid, Christmas lights at the Temple, annual Ward ice skating party (complete with donuts and hot cocoa out in the parking lot), sneaking out to peek in our stockings then having to wait for hours until we could wake our parents up and open presents.

30. Real or Fake snow? Real...although I'm not a fan of living in the snow, there is just something magical about it during the holidays. Wish we had some here in AZ.

As usual, I'm not going to officially tag anyone, but if you have the time and the desire, feel free to post this on your blog with your responses!!

T-Day Fun in Good Ol' California

Here are some pics of the girls from our Thanksgiving week trip to California. I was a bonehead and didn't use my camera for most of the trip, so I didn't get pictures of the girls with their cousins. Regardless, AK and Roo had a blast - they played hard all week and loved, loved, LOVED seeing relatives from both the Leach and Hoopes families.

They couldn't get enough of the swing set at their Aunt Shauna's house, partially thanks to Uncle Ben's endless supply of energy and willingness to push them on the swings and tire swing. They loved being in Fallbrook with the Miles (Grandpa's horse) and Kupua, and enjoyed getting as dirty as any 3-year old should get (I am still trying to get used to this, but I have to remind myself that I wasn't exactly the cleanest of gals myself - I used to love playing in the dirt and climbing trees as a kid, so I can't really fault the twins for wanting to enjoy nature). And, they even managed to get into some "parmesan cheese mischief" with their little friend Riley at Round Table Pizza's All-You-Can-Eat Pizza Night.

Doug enjoyed getting to surf Thanksgiving morning with his best friend Clint...nothing better than a good surf session followed by great food and good company. And, the entire week was a MUCH NEEDED break from his normal UOP routine...there is something calming about California that is simply good for Papa's soul.

I enjoyed being with family and friends...and the food wasn't too bad either (especially since we ended up having 2 Thanksgiving dinners...one on Thursday with the Hoopes family and one on Saturday with the Leach family). I got to spend some time with some of my siblings who live in Utah and whom I don't get to see too often. And, for the first time ever, I participated in the total chaos known as "Black Friday," thanks to the promptings of my good friend Casey and my fun, FUN sisters-in-law.

Family, Friends, Food, Shopping...and CALIFORNIA; now that is MY idea of a WONDERFUL holiday.

These were at my sister's in San Diego - my camera battery was dead so I only got a few shots, and Roo was being less than cooperative, but I'll take what I can get with these two when it comes to pictures...

These were taken at the Park at Oceanside Pier. This is one of the girls' favorite spots to visit whenever we are in California. They had a blast...even the cloudy skies and cold temps didn't phase them.

These were taken by my sister-in-law Kary when we stopped at her house on our way back from CA. The girls received some cute horse stuffed animals from their cousins for their birthdays; they immediately named them Miles and couldn't stop smiling the entire time we were there. Don't mind the runny boogies from the noses or the ratted hair - we had been in the car for the past 5 1/2 hours.

Happy Birthday To You...and You!!

Well...it's official. The girls are now 3 Years Old. It's hard to believe that exactly 3 years ago, I was in the hospital with two tiny new babies, wondering just what the heck I was going to do. I didn't feel ready to be a mom. I didn't feel worthy of the two beautiful angels who were sleeping so soundly in the bassinet next to my hospital bed. I didn't understand how I was going to be able to share my love and time and energy between two babies at the same time.

The past three have flown by faster than I would like, but they have been a HUGE learning experience...together, AK , Roo, and I have grown and matured in ways I never thought possible. Often, they have been the teacher and I, their mother, have been the student. They remind me to be patient, forgiving, caring, loving, and sensitive to others, but also to have fun and enjoy life to its fullest. I love hearing their infectious giggles and seeing their beautiful smiles. I can't fully explain the feeling I get when I hear the words "I Yuv You mama" emanate from their tiny lips.

Simply put, my life....Doug's life...our family...would not be complete without Roo and AK. I love them more than I explain.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girls!! I can't believe you are already 3 YEARS OLD!!

The slide show is a compilation of birthday festivities and the girls trip to get their haircuts.
BIRTHDAY: We did presents and cake on Monday night, since Doug had his last night of class on Tuesday and he wasn't able to get out of going to class. Technically, we didn't have cake...Roo said she wanted cookies and AK said she wanted cupcakes, so I made both. The girls helped me bake them Monday evening, which was pretty fun...they like helping me out in the kitchen. They loved blowing out the candles...we ended up relighting them about 6 or 7 times because they got such a kick out of it. The singing, on the other hand, they didn't seem to care for...unfortunately, Doug and I aren't the best singers around. We kept the presents pretty low-key this year...we figured this will probably be the last year we can get away with being "cheap" ...(that sounds terrible, I'm sure). Regardless, the girls absolutely LOVED their presents...as would be expected seeing as how they personally picked out some of them earlier that day. You wouldn't have guessed they knew what they were getting by their reactions, though...they were so excited to unwrap their new princess dolls. It was a really fun night - I think all of us had a blast.

HAIRCUTS: The girls seemed very excited to get "big girl haircuts" (we have been talking about doing it for quite some time), but once we got into the place, neither of them wanted to go near the stylists booths. After some begging, pleading, and bribing, I finally got AK back into one of the chairs....she insisted on sitting on my lap the entire time, which made it quite difficult for the stylists, I'm sure. Once in the chair, she didn't cry at all...she was wonderful. Once AK's haircut was complete, we had to try the same tactics with Roo. I got her into the chair with me, but as soon as the stylist went near her hair with the scissors, she started crying "My hair, my hair...no want my hair cut, mama..." That nearly broke my heart, but I talked with her about it and she eventually calmed down.

End result, I think the haircuts turned out really cute. Each girl had about 4-5 inches cut off (I think...I didn't have a measuring tape handy or anything)...I cringed when I saw all the hair on the floor, but it was something that needed to be done. The cuts are a little different...Roo has bangs now (slightly), so hopefully that will make it a little easier for people tell them apart.