Color Run, Laex's first 5k

 Laex's school along with the Grace Elementary school held a 5K color run fundraiser.  Laex decided over a month before that he wanted to run so several weekend mornings he joined either LeGrand or I on our morning runs and 'practiced' up for his first 5K :)  He had ran a little over two miles with LeGrand and was super excited for the color run.  I stayed with him and helped him pace but he wasn't sure he wanted to the run the whole time or would be able to make it - I kept encouraging him & then we'd come upon one of his buddies and his competitiveness would kick in and he would find a whole new wind :)  He did awesome running the whole thing without stopping - it wasn't a timed race but we figured that we finished in around 36 minutes, not bad for his first time!

Labor Day Reunion Fun!

The much anticipated Hoopes Family Reunion was a hit once again!  We just love being able to spend three days with the cousins we don't see much and the kids have a blast together!  We made the trek to Grand Junction, CO breaking it up with a night in SLC at the Holleys - it's nice to break it up so the kids do get quite so tire of the car!  On the way home we drove straight through and it was a LONG 6.5 hours!

This year's reunion was 'Elvis' themed with our family getting 'Ain't nothin' but a hound dog'.  We had a breakfast meal and served 'breakfast dogs' :)

We had fun making crafts, rifle shoot, kids trade, raffle, FHE all about G-ma Hoopes, eating plenty of yummy meals and treats and laughing lots - never a dull moment :)

The kids loved the water!

Loa had fun with the kids crafting home-made dough!

 

Playing with cousin Adessa!

 

And more water fun!

Lytzi had so much fun we could barely keep her awake long enough to get from one place to another and let her have a nap!

Lookin' Good Elvis!

Hoopes Bunch at our B-fast!  We REALLY miss Trev, Ramey and the kids this year as they had already made their move to Texas and didn't get to come.  Also missing is Cade & Shaylee who had to head for home the day before.

Fall Soccer!

I'm kind of a competitive mom I've discovered!  I love that he loves to play and that he is so good at everything he does!

 Laex had a really fun Fall Soccer season with all of his best little buddies on his team, it's just a littel rec team that doesn't keep score but 'if' we did I'd say his team was easily in the top three. I love watching him play and cheering him on from the sideline :)  He told me he wishes he could play soccer year round!

Busy Body

Wow!  This little lady keeps.me.going!  She started walking at 10 months, by 12 months she was running & now she's climbing on everything!

I often catch her just chillin on the couch, it's too cute :)  It only took her falling off a couple of times before she learned how to get off the right way!

As do most kids she struggles to make it through sacrament meeting, it so hard for me to keep her contained for that long and by the time the closing prayer is said she is headed straight for the door, it's quite comical!  On the Sunday's that LeGrand isn't at church it often feels more like work than 'a day of rest' but it's worth it, I think :)  Someone should totally come up with a pre-nursery class for kids from 12 months-18 months!


At a year old she weighed 22 lbs & was 30 1/4 inches long with a head circumference of 18.5 (we know how to grow brains!)

Loa goes to Pre School

She has been counting down the days since school let out last summer :)  She was SO excited to be able to go to her own school and everyday she reports about the awesome time she's having.

She gets to go to Ms. Melia's pre-school the same place Laex went when we moved here 3 years ago!

She loves picking out her outfits and making sure she has her backpack, what a woman!  Funny first day of school story, she got in the car and said she made some new friends but the only name she could remember was Brixton, I said oh, is that your new friend you played with, she said yes then I continued to ask her about school eventually asking if there were any boys in her class that she knew.  She said, 'Mom! Brixton is a boy!' (I guess that's what I get for assuming Brixton was a girl, and apparently she's into the boys already as that's the only name she could remember :) )

Family Pics

I wanted to get some new family pictures before school started this year, so we set a date and just our luck it rained most of the afternoon.  Following a major downpour we ran out to grab some pictures of the rainbow and everyone got wind blown & wet so we were looking fabulous for the rest of the pictures :/ oh well, they turned out pretty good.  I wanted to capture our little 'piece of heaven' here in grace and I feel like we did just that!

Second Grade, Thatcher Elementary

Laex started school on August 20th.  He was pumped to be going back to Thatcher Elementary, we really love that little school!  Due to busing issues they called two days before school started and asked if I had a problem switching Laexin to Grace, I hate to be the 'problem parent' but I wasn't going to make Laexin leave all of his friends and the school he loves, especially two days before school started!  Luckily by the second week of school they had the buses figured out so it worked out fine.

He loves his new teacher Mrs. Despain - although when we went a couple of days before school started to drop off his school supplies and see his classroom he wasn't quite sure about taking a picture with her :)

And I get to be the Room Mom this year, wahoo!  I'm sure it will be lots of fun!!

He reminded me that we didn't get the first-day-of-school-pose picture, so we did it about a week late :)

So glad he gets to have the experience of going to Thatcher and that he loves school so much, what a good kid!

In the meantime it was quite the change for Loa to get used to not having him home-- we made koolaid play dough his first day back! She's such a creative soul!