Veterans Day

Grandpa spoke to all the fifth graders at Rozie's school for Veterans Day. I learned many new things and my reverence and gratitude for him and his experiences increased. A BIG thanks to Jason for helping me figure out how to upload and share this video :) It starts in the middle of Grandpa's introduction - he is talking about when Matt was hit in the crosswalk out in front of the elementary school...he went to the same school Rozie teaches at!

Grandpa Speaking from Tammi Hopkins on Vimeo.

26 years later

Well, 26 years later I love this guy more each year, even without the beard -- which I hope will come back some day :) We were able to take a drive from San Francisco to LA. This pic is from the Giants game. It was an afternoon game, very low key, very interesting and fun. We got to see the stadium, Lincecum sp? pitch, Randy Johnson pitch, and some of our favorite players.

I guess that's it. I went and heard my grandpa speak for Veteran's Day. He was in World War II. Sometimes I get complacent about the blessings of living in America. I hope I don't anymore. I hope we all take time to thank those in the service of our country. I am hoping to post the video of his talk as soon as I figure out how.

Much love.

SAD WEEK FOR BUG!

Just realized that I made no mention of Larkin being sick with CROUP - yes she should have outgrown it by now. . . She missed work all week except Friday. . .Get better Buggy! We love you!!!!!! A BIG SHOUT OUT TO CODY for taking care of her :)

HAPPY NOVEMBER!

We really have nothing new to "blog" about - just wanted you to know we are alive! Frankie spent October taking care of me (flu), running the store, running the household, on and on... what a trooper! He is an excellent caregiver:)

May I just state here for all to read that I love Halloween! I love the kids dressing up and coming over. I actually had one beautiful ballerina bring me a beautiful bracelet! She is my buddy, Sophia. Riley came with her sweet little "thank you"! Then my cousin, Courtney, brought Kalli and Tarek. Kalli played her Halloween recital piece on the piano - it was awesome! Tarek and I were both scared by an older teenage girl scantily dressed as a vampire or something. . . Of course, it wouldn't be halloween without Bailey coming by and my sweetheart Izzy! Then our last trick or treater was an adorable lion, JACOBY! Can you say absolutely adorable. He was chatting up a storm. So stinking cute. . . truly should be against the law. Thanks to all who brought their kids over!

We were able to get back in touch with some dear friends the Gustafsons. Their little guy, Bridger, has successfully had a bone marrow transplant down in Texas. His mom has always been so fun to be around. She has a blog that chronicles their experiences. We are so happy for them and hope things continue going so well. They are a great example in so many ways - thanks!

May I say thank you to all of my cousins and nephews wives who blog? I am so glad to read about how you are - THANK YOU! Hope you are all loving the Fall. I need to learn how to put pictures on to spice things up! I will work on it.

Much love (really!)

There's no place like home. . .

What a crazy month! A few of the highlights for us:

For Larkin's graduation, I took her on a trip to the land of my forefathers: Indiana! It was so good to show her my old stomping grounds and to introduce her to family that I love! We flew into O'Hare and drove over to Indiana. We were able to stay with my cousin, Jill, and her family. What a great time! They were wonderful to stay with and we had so much fun. My cousin, Cara, put together a surprise party for my Grandma Luke's 90th birthday. She was surprised to say the least. It was wonderful to see my aunts, uncles, cousins, their kids, etc. There were some family members I hadn't seen in 20+ years. It was wonderful to be with people who love and miss my parents as much I do. Larkin had a wonderful time meeting people who thought she was wonderful instantaneously. After spending time in Indiana/Michigan, we spent a couple of days in Chicago. What a fun place to visit! We hit museums, shopping, a White Sox game, and the 95th floor of the Hancock Building. . .yes I am afraid of heights, but did it anyway! I believe there were promises of a visit out west by certain people:) On the way back, we were bumped to Minneapolis. Sad day, Mall of America called our name for a few hours! Larkin was so disappointed. . . not.

Frankie and I were able to make a trip down to Provo for Larkin's thesis defense. She officially passed! Then we were able to go down for graduation. The day before we were able to hook up with Urpy and Rob Rogers and their girls! We love their family. We hadn't seen them in way too long. It was a terrific bonus! What an amazing day to see Bugs achieve a masters degree in communication disorders. She did it! All her hard work paid off. We were thrilled for her and the progress she made over the last six years. Way to go Bug! She is now working in the Alpine School District as a speech pathologist.

I was able to go to Minneapolis and "help" Brittanie and Marcus Darrington with their third baby, Will! It was more like a vacation to play with two darling girls and their baby brother. Marc is a wonderful father - it was kind of weird to see him in that roll ;) They were a sweet family and so fun to be there!

Two days after I returned, Frankie went to Casper to drive his mom to Grand Junction, Colorado. Frankie's oldest brother retired and the HMO he was the CEO of had a big shindig. Frankie's brother, Rod, was able to fly in as well. He had such a good time. The scary part was that he was giving his mom computer tips - anyone who knows Frankie know that as a family, we never imagined him giving anyone help on the computer! Way to go Frankie!!!

While Frankie was gone and David worked, Jessie orchestrated their move into a new townhome. Man, talk about family stepping up big! Terry, Savannah, Roz, Brad, Tanner, Jackie, Mark, and Dan helped move. We did it all in one trip thanks to everyone's trucks and Terry's trailer! And of course, Camille watched Bella! Thanks to all.

Then to wrap it up our nephew, Travis, got married to Betsey! We love them both. The next day our cousin, Markell got married. We are excited for both couples. Needless to say, life has been incredibly busy with good things.

September. . .we hope is slower. . .and we hope to be home more. . .

Much Love.

And the beat goes on...

Sometimes do you feel like life is passing you by and somehow you are on the slow train and no matter how fast you try to move forward you are stuck in mud? My lists seems to dominate my time and they are increasing in length and difficulty. The things I really want to do go undone; part of the things that "have" to be done get done and the rest roll over to another list another day. . . BLAH! I wish I could scoop my kids up in my arms and transport us all back to when they were little and the hardest decision was what to make for dinner and making sure we played hard all day. . .

The moral of the story: Don't blog late at night when you are melancholy!

Where to begin. . .

The top ten reasons I don't want to write this post:

1. Trying to catch up is frustrating and ruthless with the month we just experienced!
2. I am not clever and you all are!
3. I would have to write pages to cover the great trip to Las Vegas, ie pool, hotel, midnight bowling, dance competitions, shopping, fun! fun! fun!
4. My nephew Taylor is now 16, that would age me greatly to write about all of my memories of good times with "Tay Tay". He is awesome and I absolutely adore him; however, the age thing you know.
5. If I write about Taylor's birthday then I must give a shout out to Grandma Luke, Terry, Jill, Stephanie, Robert, Grandpa Parry, Matt, Stacie, and on and on. Then what I want to remember about them etc. It would be endless.
6. I really don't want to have to write about Frankie, Cody, Larkin, David, and Jessie going to the Incubus concert on July 16.
7. It would make me sad to think that Jack's Pack is over for another year. It was so fun to watch.
8. There are truly not enough words to adequately describe the trip Larkin and I took to Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin (thanks navigator bug)! We went for my Grandma Luke's surprise 90th birthday party. a HUGE shout out to Cousin Cara for planning it.
9. I would have to sit in one place long enough. . . AND
10. You would be able to see how incredibly blessed my life is and think I was spoiled :)

Sad but true

So today Frankie was supposed to be a witness for one of the people who broke into the store about a month ago. His mom and "meth head" sister were there, but he was not. He had waived his preliminary hearing. . . noone told us, so there we sat. While sitting there. . .

A nice looking young man was brought in for his preliminary hearing in handcuffs and leg shackles (?). His parents were sitting beside me. His mother was trying to maintain some type of composure. However, tears filled her eyes and quietly trickled down her face. I wanted to cry with her; such a sad looking face. I pondered that her tears were not because of her feelings, but because she loved her son so much. She recognized that his decisions had taken him down a path that would cause him problems. . .I wanted to reach out and hug her but realized that would probably be crossing MANY boundaries! When we were leaving we ran into the detective in the hall. . .

He showed us the picture (read mug shot) of another suspect they were trying to arrest today for the break in. It took my breath away. . .we knew him. Now I really felt like crying. He played babe ruth with David one year. I had tried to be a good friend to his mother and to him. His mother had surgery and we had helped with meals etc. He had been in the store shopping etc. I knew their family was dysfunctional and that this was the path of least resistance for him; however, I hoped. . . but the drugs, alcohol, and gangs were too much temptation. . .

So, today I am feeling pretty sad. Is it better to hope and be sad or accept and harden ourselves?

The good news: I LOVE MY CHILDREN! How grateful I am that they are safe and sound. Although, David is outside in the rain working at the airport tonight. . .He is working!

More good news: I love my husband for understanding my sadness today. I don't think I am allowed to go to court with him next time though.

Thanks for listening/reading if you made it this far.

Much love.

Two random thoughts!

I just realized that the previous post sounds like a command. . . it was really two separate thoughts. . . Example:  Venting over the rude customer.  Secondly: Shout out to larkin. . . My apologies to anyone who actually reads this. . . I really was not trying to be bossy or obnoxious (unlike the customer who kept me late ;)  The title of the previous post just sounds rude!  I am sorry :(  It was not said in a rude voice at all. . .however, it is hard to hear my voice in the world of blog, bummer.

Much love anyway.

Get off the phone and congratulate Larkin!

SO if you go into a store five minutes before they close, do NOT get on your cell phone and talk for 20 minutes instead of staying focused on the task at hand and leaving so the people there can go to an important softball game!!!! (This has been a public service announcement, we will now return to your regularly scheduled blog post).

So just wanted to give a shout out to LARKIN! She has turned in all of her thesis stuff and even collected and analyzed the forgotten data. Thank you, thank you to all who returned and read the extra sentences! Way to go, Idaho! I was pondering how she got to this point. She has really done it on her own. Although in junior high and high school, she would ask me to proof read papers and then be offended when I would offer suggestions. The kind of proof reading "don't tell me if there is a typo or misspelling or grammatical error." But to be totally honest she truly has blossomed into a confident, educated, compassionate, articulate, amazing, beautiful young woman. We love her more than she can possibly know. (Those of you who know me realize that I don't normally sing the praises of my children, but receiving a masters requires a nod from your folks)

Frankie has been in Casper visiting his mom and brothers/sister-in-laws. He comes home today and that is probably a good thing. This working stuff makes it hard to keep up at home. Plus, I miss him.

David and Jessie are on a cruise. I think today they are in Cayman, I bet the wind isn't blowing there :(

Life is good here, even the hard parts. Funny how you think when you get old like me, you will have it figured out. It is a myth. I learn more now than I have ever before, maybe I am more teachable? At any rate, gratitude is such an important lesson.

Much love.

SLACKER, for sure

I felt I needed to update our blog even though I have nothing specific to write about. I wish I could be witty etc. I so enjoy reading your blogs:)

We have had rain almost every day! It is wonderful for the grass and flowers. Maybe not so wonderful for being outside. Summer will come soon enough. The tulips are finally opening up. I love tulips in bloom; does anything scream spring quite like them? We love the fun of flowers popping up and seeing which ones do better each year depending on the weather etc. This year the winner so far is the berginia. They are pretty awesome. The lilacs do not even have buds on them yet.

I tried to type a story about forgetting where I parked in the POURING RAIN and thinking that someone had stolen my car. . . I am a little paranoid now since someone broke into the store last Sunday night/Monday early morning. Nobody stole the car, I was just having a senior moment, of course while getting totally drenched!

I am looking forward to going to SLC, Utah, this weekend for my cousin, Johnny's wedding to Cassie. It will be great fun! We love them both!!!! Then on the following weekend my cousin, Matt will get married and then two weeks later his brother Derek will be getting married. Yes, spring is in the air!

I want to give a shout out to my niece, Katelyn! I am thinking of you and are loving my pioneer niece!!!!

Much love to you all.

ps Don't worry I recognize this is quite possibly the lamest blog post ever.

HELP OUR BABY!!!!

Yes, I know that we haven't written since February and we blew right through March and most of April.  You wonder what would cause me to write. . .here you go!

Our daughter, Larkin, is working diligently on obtaining her masters from BYU in Communication Disorders.  She needs girls between 18-40 years old who have lived in Utah their entire life.  It would require coming to the clinic on campus for about a half hour.  PLEASE if you meet this criteria let me know or if you KNOW someone. . . There are more details on her blog which is linked here under Larkin and Cody.  THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

It's already FEBRUARY??!?

How did February get here? That is shocking to me. Almost as shocking as Frankie without a beard. Yes, you heard me, the beard is no more. There is no facial hair on his face. I must admit that when he hugged me and then pulled away and his face rubbed my face it totally FREAKED me out! I am slowly getting used to it:) Hopefully he will too!

I am doing nothing so drastic as altering my appearance:) Oh wait, I did get new living room furniture after 16 years! It is comfortable and Frankie and I both like. That is a miracle.

I have also been trying some recipes from our good friends, the Darringtons, cookbook. They are all amazing cooks so we have loved everything we have tried!!!!

It was "warm" enough to walk outside three days last week. Bundled up for sure! It was great to be outside. I am still working on not singing out loud with my ipod. It is especially hard when "johnny and june" and other uptempo songs come on.

Jessie and David have been here for a few weeks and will be moving on to their own apartment in a couple of weeks. They are excited to have their own place with their own stuff! Jessie is working at the bank full time and David is at Sky West full time. They are getting ready for school here. Jessie just took the ACT.

Cody is getting ready to gear up for the construction to pick up. He finished a big project of creating and presenting an employee handbook for the company. He took the GMAT and is preparing for the LSAT. And last but not LEAST! Larkin passed her prospectus and is moving forward toward completing her masters in speech pathology/audiology! You go girl!

Okay, so I cheated by writing about the kids. I do have to say that I had a date this last week with Tanner to Red Robin and then to Taylor's basketball game. It was awesome! Thanks to you both for providing me with such a fun night:)

Much love!

SIMPLE JOYS

Frankie playing his latest addition.  Actually tuning it, because he told David he could play it first, when he got off work at midnight:)  

As you all know, Frankie and I are fairly private and simple peeps;)  But I must say, when he is strumming and looking so handsome, THAT is one of life's SIMPLE JOYS!

He has played for both of the bambinos. . .especially when they were sick:(  He played for me whenever sleep was not my friend.  Although the amp gets LOUD and I prefer the acoustic. . . it makes me smile and enjoy life's SIMPLE JOYS.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

i was told a blog without pictures was BORING and i need to post pictures! So here you go: New Year's Eve at the stroke of midnight!

My brother-in-law, Brad, said he would be dead if he chose to let off confetti at their house. . . it really wasn't hard to clean up the next morning, and it beat being outside in the COLD!

These beautiful girls are from left to right, my nieces Camille (Boo) and Savannah, my daughter-in-law Jessie, and daughter Larkin.

They came to SLC with me for my LAST doctor's appointment for six months! Yea! All is well with my health and more importantly, I had so much fun with the distraction of good shopping, good food, and good times with four of my favorite people!

We took a picture by this fountain on temple square because none of us remembered this fountain and wondered if it was new?!? It was sweet irregardless. It was a beautiful night with so many fond memories. I love these girls and am grateful they were able to come. We did miss those who couldn't and thought of them.

I am working on my new year's resolution of reconnecting with people that mean a lot to me. Please consider yourself one of these people if you are reading this:)

Much love.