Grammie, Jichan, and Allye

Quick Update

2011-08-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well Holly mentioned we've been a little remiss in posting to our blog. There's a lot to catch up on, but I'll take care of the saddest. We lost our Bailey last month after about 3-weeks of moping, vet visits, worry, and a lot of heart ache. July 31 st, Thursday was a really rough day. We will miss him!

By a stroke of good luck, a lot of Heaven's intervention, and some more money, we found Allye up north in Loveland. We just brought her home this past Wednesday and she is fitting in just fine. We'll post more about her later and soon I promise.

2011-02-27T20:08:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been nearly 2-years since we've updated this blog. We have just let life get in the way. Much has gone on this past 2-years...Holly's going back to school, I'm a civilian (working for the government, Air Force), We've been busy with work, medical issues, travel (TDY), life, serving as the Relief Society Pres in our ward, serving in the High Priest's Group Leadership, life, etc.

I'm sure there are pictures I should post, but just can't think of one that would be appropriate. We are going to try really hard and keep this more up to date...at least monthly not bi-annually.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD/PAPA

2009-10-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Dad celebrated his 91st birthday on Oct 16th.

He's looking good, blew out all of the candles on his cake (not 91, just 10), and enjoyed a birthday dinner at Sizzler.

Super Summer

2009-09-27T21:11:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe that summer has come to an end and we're back to school, work, cool evenings, changing leaves, and even a touch of snow.

Families are the best and we had such a great time visiting with all of you over the summer. We love you and thank you for helping each other, sticking by in rough times, and being there when we need you.

Summer started in Chicago in early June.

Kim, Kate and I had a girls night out at the Talbot's outlet. We decided to make it an annual event. Cory and Angella we hope you'll come with us next year!

We had fun riding bikes, exploring downtown Chicago with all of the kids, and meeting Chris for lunch at Macy's.

Thanks Blythe for sharing your room with me.

Tabernacle Choir at Redrocks

2009-09-27T21:03:00.001-07:00

In late June we made our first trip to Red Rocks to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Getting there was easy but we hadn't anticipated the large crowd and small roads so after we got off the freeway it was slow going...but well worth it. We had a wonderful time. Music of the Choir was beautiful and the setting incredible. I'm looking for a good excuse to go back there again.

Marysville

2009-09-27T20:57:00.001-07:00

I spent 10 days in Sunny California with Mom and Dad. We had a wonderful visit and accomplished a few things around the house that Mom had wanted to get done. They have hollyhocks growing in the back yard and Mom wanted proof of how tall they got this year.

The visit is never complete without a visit to Taco Bell!

Thanks Mom and Dad ~

Salt Lake City

2009-09-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

We made a two day trip to Salt Lake City to pick up ammo (Kevin's gun habit). Josh and Angella had just moved into a new house so we helped unpack some boxes and had fun with the girls. Thanks Josh and Angella ~

Council Bluffs and the Mississippi River

2009-09-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

We spent two days in Council Bluffs. While there we visited the Temple and the Mormon Pioneer Visitor's Center. I had to go back and take a picture of the oxen because I couldn't believe how huge they were. (as Sammi would say)

Kate and I dipped our toes in the Mississippi River. It was cold!!!

Nauvoo

2009-09-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

We were able to travel to Iowa in late July to see Kate and Jonathan. We spent a night in Nauvoo, attended the Nauvoo Pageant, and went through a session at the Nauvoo Temple.

Thanks Kate and Jonathan for being such great tour guides and sharing your home with us.

After leaving Nauvoo, we drove up the road to Carthage and toured the jail where the Prophet was martyred. It was interesting to think that we were traveling through the same country, same routes as the Prophet Joseph and others did at that time.

Since October...

2009-02-15T19:52:00.001-08:00

I know it's been a long, long time since I've posted anything on our blog and I think it's probably because I have such horrific memories of last time and trying to include photos and make them go where I wanted them to go and decided it wasn't a healthy past time for me (I'm sure my blood pressure surged...). After much prodding and pressure and help tonight from Kate and Cory, I thought I'd give it another try.

In October Dad and I went to California for Papa's 90th birthday. This is a photo of Grammie on the afternoon we got there. She was all "gussied" up with a new perm, rosy cheeks, and pink lipstick. This picture really doesn't do justice - but she did look really cute.

We started our Christmas holidays with another trip to California. We enjoyed some quiet time with Grammie and Papa and helped them get the house decorated and some shopping done.

It wasn't too long after we got home that Kate and Jonathan, and Kim, Chris and family came into town. We went to the dog park one afternoon and Spencer had a great time and made made many new friends of the canine variety ~

Who's really into the Nintendo DS?

Jonathan tried to be jolly but alas...the flu bug bit him hard!!!

The boys were great and we had a really fun visit that went by way to fast ~

Kim and Baby Blythe off to Disneyland!

(Okay, so I did lose a couple of pictures somewhere, but I guess that's just incentive to try again next week.)

Aside from the pictures there are some things I wanted to share with you so here are some "Mom" notes that I hope you'll think about.

As we began the new year studying the Doctrine and Covenants in Gospel Doctrine I really loved the very 1st lesson and the emphasis that was placed on counsel we receive from the prophets. They speak for our Heavenly Father - so, if the prophet is telling us at conference to have our food storage, get out of debt, read the Book of Mormon, etc., - it should be as Heavenly Father is speaking to us directly. I know this is something we've all been told many times, but for some reason it really hit home to me during this lesson.

Mom note #2 - I read an article the other day by Elder Hafen and one of the quotes which I'll paraphrase is that we can't have one hand on the Temple and one hand on anything that would take the Spirit away from us. We must live with both hands on the Temple.

(Do you all have current Temple recommends? If not, get them now!!)

Mom note #3 - If you haven't had a recent review of your budgets, now might be a good time. With the economy as it is I think it would be prudent to sacrifice if need be so that you all have some savings to fall back on if needed. Dad and I are doing the same. I think this is something we should really be serious about.

Mom and Dad note - WE LOVE YOU ALL

Grammie made me do it!

2009-01-21T17:36:00.000-08:00

I'm still amazed...

Last Saturday, Holly convinced me, with Adam's help, to go furniture shopping for the basement...well we were out nearly 6 hours and spent way too much money... We bought a couch, a recliner and a wall unit.

Oh, we also bought a new chair and ottoman for the living room. Holly's decided the rocker goes downstairs too.

We get the chairs on Saturday, but the wall unit will be here in a couple of weeks.

Hopkins' Thanksgiving Tradition?

2008-11-28T11:17:00.000-08:00

Well... We all remember Thanksgiving 4-years ago... the time the full on screamers went through the whole family, of course Kate and Jonathan got married, Grammie had a stroke, Kate had a pink/red eye for all her wedding pix... remember?

Well, this year Holly and I both got sick... me on Monday afternoon, and Holly on Wednesday... Holly's still really not feeling well and I'm slowly getting better...I actually ate dinner last night, but passed on desert... when was the last time you ever observed that? I did have a bite of Holly's amazing apple pie this morning, but it's not sitting well. I'm tending Holly and she's watching Veronica Mars, first season,

Adam, the Energizer Bunny, conned Chris and Britney Riggs to accompany he and Cory shopping this morning... They came home with a new TV and a blue ray player for me. I asked them to get one for me if they could find one like I wanted at a good price... they did, so they did.

We need to get some pictures posted, I'll get to that soon I promise.

For Kim, we're not "Cake pan-haters" we just wanted some new posts.

Love you and and are very thankful for all of you!

A Quick Update

2008-11-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

It's Grammie's turn, but she hasn't had to much time, so I thought I would give you an update. We drove down to Pueblo on Saturday to see my Dad. He's doing well as far as health goes, but he's forgetting more and more. He recognized us, but he's a little foggy on a lot of other things.

We bought Shannon a ticket to come over here for Thanksgiving. She is leaving Salt Lake on Tuesday and flying home on Sunday. Josh is going to pick her up and getting her to the airport and picking her up on Sunday. Thanks to Josh for that!

We Love you all!

Great Thoughts to Ponder!

2008-09-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

Total Saturation with the Savior's Gospel

"We begin the process of being born again through exercising faith in Christ, repenting of our sins, and being baptized by immersion for the remission of sins by one having priesthood authority.

" 'Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life' (Romans 6:4).

"And after we come out of the waters of baptism, our souls need to be continuously immersed in and saturated with the truth and the light of the Savior's gospel. Sporadic and shallow dipping in the doctrine of Christ and partial participation in His restored Church cannot produce the spiritual transformation that enables us to walk in a newness of life. Rather, fidelity to covenants, constancy of commitment, and offering our whole soul unto God are required if we are to receive the blessings of eternity. . . .

"Total immersion in and saturation with the Savior's gospel are essential steps in the process of being born again."

David A. Bednar

Two Versions of Fishing...

2008-09-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is Jichan's version of fishing.

This is Grammie's version of fishing.

As you can see, we have our own version of fun, but still enjoy nature together...just in very different ways.

Wow!

2008-08-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since we put something on the blog. We've had a very busy past three weeks with Kate & Jonathon, and Adam & Cory, Sammi & Paul visiting, plus Josh and Eilis too. The house is eerily quiet now and Holly and I both noticed no “little” shoes by the front door Monday evening when we got home from work…kinda sad.

We’ve both been really tired in the evening this week after we ate dinner, so we’ve been only doing the very important things.

We’re planning on staying home this weekend and catching up on the many chores, and projects we want/need to get done. We’ll drive down to Pueblo either Saturday or Monday to visit my Dad, but other than that we’re just staying home.

It’s been great seeing all you this summer. We really enjoyed our visits. We got to see Josh and Eilis twice when he came over for the weekend for Paul’s blessing.

Adam and I went “camping” (read 4-wheeling, eating, fishing, and sleeping) for two days. The area we had planned on going was closed (still from the Hayman Fire five-years ago) so we ended up driving all over Park and Teller counties to find a place to stay and fish. Adam caught the lone fish, only to loose it after he got it in his net. I’m not sure what Adam’s problem was, but I know mine was lack of practice. That was the first time I’ve been fly fishing in 10-years.

We love you all and pray for you every morning and night.

Grammie is a "blogger"!

2008-07-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well, with encouragement from Cory and realization that this could turn in to a journal, here I am doing my first blog!

Thanks so much to all of you who let me come and share in your lives this summer. I had a wonderful time and hope it can all happen again. I'm missing the kids/babies and wish we could be closer. Thought you might enjoy some pictures from my summer adventures - Someone from work asked me what I had done so far during my vacation and I told them I went swimming, played baseball, played Barbi's, pushed swings, crashed off a slide, took baby dolls on walks....and loved every minute!

Chicago -

Spanish Fork -

Salt Lake City -

Breckinridge -

You are all doing such a great job of parenting....it truly is reflected in these sweet little spirits.

Our summer isn't over yet as we look forward to having Kate and Jonathan here in a couple of weeks and Adam, Cory, Samantha, and Paul the following week.

Happy Birthday Kate on August 3rd!

Just some last "Mom" talk....

This week we were able to go to the Temple with our Stake Leadership group. President Brown (Denver Temple Pres) spoke to us in the chapel before the session and counseled us to come to the Temple often. We all know that but sometimes let other things interfere. I just wanted to pass on some quotes that he shared -

President Hinckley: "If a bishop can get his members to the temple, 90% of the members' problems (and bishops' problems) will go away."

Promise by Pres. Benson: "I promise you that, with increased attendance in the temples of God, you shall receive increased personal revelation to bless your life..."

President Monson: "As we come to these holy houses of God...we shall be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation."

President Hinckley: " I make you a promise that if you will go to the House of the Lord, you will be blessed; life will be better for you."

We love you all so much. Thanks for indulging me - I am going to get better!

Quick Trip to Utah

2008-07-07T19:06:00.000-07:00

As you all know I drove over to Utah to pick up Holly. We had a great time...short, but a great time. We stayed with Josh and Angella, but Adam & Cory, and Sammi and Paul came up to Josh's for the 4th. Adam brought up a bunch of Class-C fireworks and the kids had a great time.

On Sunday, we had the opportunity to bless little Hollie. My cousin, Beth and her family came to Josh's sacrament meeting too. Josh, gave Hollie a sweet blessing with Adam, Drew McMillian, and I in the circle. Angella bore a beautiful testimony too.

New's flash, Kathleen is seeing a guy and they're talking March dates...
We left Josh' & Angella's this morning at around 8:00 and stopped by to see Adam, Cory, and the kids before we headed up Spanish Fork canyon. Holly and I are staying two nights at a friend's condo at Breckenridge. We went out to dinner tonight and then stopped by the "City Market" to buy some snacks and stuff for breakfast. We'll head home sometime Wednesday morning.

We'll post some pix later.

To see the magnificant job Adam's done on Grandpa's house go to www.utahrealestate.com and enter 84106 and between $350 and $400,000 then you can scroll down to find the house...take the virtual tour. It's amazing!

2008-06-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

"President Brigham Young instructed parents by saying: " 'If each and every one of us who are parents will reflect upon the responsibilities devolving upon us, we shall come to the conclusion that we should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish them to imitate.' (Journal of Discourses, 14:192.) "If we are to instill faith in our children, they must see us demonstrate our faith in their young lives. They must see us on our knees daily, asking the Lord for His blessings and expressing our gratitude unto Him. They need to see us using our priesthood to administer to those in need, and to bless our children. They need to see us reverently worshiping in our sacrament meetings. They need to see us cheerfully and willingly giving of our time and talents to the building of the Lord's kingdom here on earth. They need to see us proving our faith by the payment of our tithes and offerings to Him. They need to see us diligently studying and discussing the scriptures to increase our faith and understanding."

L. Tom Perry, "Train Up a Child," Ensign, May 1983, 78

2008-06-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Guys

Your Mom suggested I put my Dad's mailing address on the blog, so you guys would have it and send him a note once and a while. That would save mailing it to us and waiting for us to take it down to him when we go visit. So, here it is:

Liggett W. Hopkins
c/o Pueblo Veterans Community Living Center
2600 Oakshire Lane
Pueblo, CO 81001

Thanks for all you guys do for our family. We love you all!

Summer Travel Plan Proposal

2008-05-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

Aisuru Minasan,

Your Mom and I just sat down and tried to come up with a potential travel schedule for our summer. As you all know I have some vacation time issues because of last years requirement to use up 27-days. This schedule takes Spencer's baptism, Paul and Hollie's blessings, and your Mom's desire to spend a week with Grammie and Papa sometime. This is our best effort and hope you'll be able to use this as a framework for your schedules too.

20~23 June Kevin & Holly in Chicago for Spencer's Baptism
23 June to 7 July Holly in Salt Lake
3~7 July Kevin in Salt Lake (Paul and Hollie's blessings on the 6th)
19~29 July Holly to Marysville

I know it is being somewhat presumptuous of us to set the schedule before you've set the dates, but your Mom was getting a little stressed about getting some kind of schedule laid out so we could try to fit some stuff in for us.

Kate, you and Jonathan are planning on coming over here in August and so is Adam. You all are welcome at the same time, overlap, or at separate times...you're just welcome, so let us know a couple of days in advance so your Mom won't have to stay up late getting the "house in order" for a visit.

I love you all and hope this helps...

Dad

2008-05-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

I came across a great quote from Elder Bednar today…guess I missed it last year in the Ensign.

You and I can be prepared with 'the words of faith and of good doctrine' (1 Timothy 4:6) and initially cleansed through the ordinances and covenants administered by the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood…

"Proper preparing and cleaning are the first basic steps in the process of being born again.

"…You and I are born again as we are absorbed by and in the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we honor and observe the covenants (D&C 42:13) into which we have entered, as we 'feast upon the words of Christ' (2 Nephi 32:3), as we 'pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart' (Moroni 7:48), and as we 'serve [God] with all [of our] heart, might, mind and strength' (D&C 4:2), then:

"Because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters' (Mosiah 5:7)."

David A. Bednar, "Ye Must Be Born Again," Ensign, May 2007, 20-21)

What a week...

2008-05-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

As you all know my Dad was given an imediate evection notice from Sterling House. We received the certified letter last Saturday. I talked the folks up there to let Dad stay until Wednesday morning. I was anticipating moving him to the Pueblo VA Community Living Center Wednesday morning. Well, just as plans began to come together for tomorrow's move, I received a call from the admissions director at Pueblo today at 2:00. He told me that their doctor in reviewing Dad's charts from Sterling House, she noted his frequent diarrhea and decided he needed to have a stool sample sent to the lab and get the results back before he could move in. The test takes 72-hours and he can't move until the results are back. I left work and drove to the VA clinic, Bijou and I-25 before they closed at 3:00 to pick up a sample kit. Then I got to sit with him (3.5 hours) until he had the urge. On my way to the VA I called Sterling House to let them know and if it was in anyway possible he might be able to spend a couple more days there. They're so nice there and they said yes. Now, just pray with me that the tests come back okay and he can go down not later than Saturday. I'm just not sure how much more of this I take of this. If it wasn't for Holly and you guys I think my life would suck.

Pray for us.

Jichan

Oh Boy!

2008-05-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

First, we're happy, Adam and Sammi are here. Second, we have a storage locker full of crap... again... We just can't get rid of the junk, just as we get it mostly taken care of, we get more. I think this is going to be the last load of stuff. Kim, we have your table near the door and as soon as I can figure out a good way to get it back to you, it's on the way.

I know we haven't written anything for a long time; sorry. We've been going pretty fast the past month or so. My knee has actually gotten quite a bit worse the past two weeks. I was pretty crippled last week by the time I got back from my trip to Dayton, Ohio. I called the doctor and got my appointment moved up a week. I'm going in next Monday.

This week I had to go to Denver Tuesday thru today. We only drove to the exit just before 470 (the road to the temple) We parked and took the light rail downtown. I'll tell you, that's the way to go downtown. Parking is free, and it only cost $8.00 round trip. Parking at the hotel we were going to was $20.00 per day, and we would had to fight traffic all the way downtown.

Holly is in heaven with Sammi around. She's upstairs right now giving Sammi a bath.

I sure wish we all lived closer...with eight and soon to be nine little guys, we'd love to be nearer to them all...I know that's not realistic, but we get to have our wishes.

I really want to get us all together next summer ('09)...start thinking about that.

We promise to be more regular about posting. love you all.

Life can be tough...

2008-03-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

I read a great quote today by Elder Boyd K. Packer...

"[Today's children] will see many events transpire in the course of their lifetime. Some of these shall tax their courage and extend their faith. But if they seek prayerfully for help and guidance, they shall be given power over adverse things. Such trials shall not be permitted to stand in the way of their progress, but instead shall act as stepping-stones to greater knowledge."

"Do not Fear," Ensign, May 2004, 77

I love encouragement from our leaders...

2008-03-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about what an amazing responsibility parents have in the world today...raising a righteous generation in today's world. Holly and I had it pretty easy compared to what your guys face today. Several weeks ago, at our Stake Priesthood Meeting, President Porter introduced the theme of “Raising a Righteous Posterity.” I don’t remember too much about the other talks, but the concept and responsibility of raising a “Righteous Posterity” began to sink in.

To my children, I’m sorry you’re all married and beginning to either raise or plan to raise children of your own, and I’m just beginning to really figure this out. Thankfully, you’re all well demonstrating your proficiency in this weighty responsibility. You all are making wise decisions, remaining active in the Church, and striving to keep the Holy Spirit with you.

The one thing I remember Pres Porter saying is that we as parents must stay close to the Lord, seeking His guidance and inspiration as we nurture our children. He at one point did look right at me and say something like…those of you that don’t have any of your children at home are under the same commandment and responsibility. You must remain involved in your children’s lives and the lives of their children. Not to be the decision-makers, but stay close to the Lord, listen closely to His Spirit, and pray, fervently for your children and grand-children. I promise to follow Pres Porter’s guidance. Holly and I love you all and pray for you guys daily.

We love you all!

2008-03-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, we're new at this so don't laugh. Jichan wrote the first one, then forgot to tell me we have a blog...I'm getting worried about him sometimes.

We were talking this morning about the kind of thing we want talk about on this blog...well, we still don't know...we're several months behind all of you so be patient with us.

Christmas Season 2007

2007-12-30T11:25:00.000-08:00

We've had a great Christmas this year. Kate & Jonathan drove out from Iowa and Adam & Cory brought Samantha over from Utah. Naturally Adam brought his abundance of energy, Sammi brought her smile, Kate & Jonathan brought their happiness, and Cory, her sweetness. We had a great "Gyoza" dinner on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning was kinda lazy, but we did get up earlier than in past years for Sammi.

Of note, Adam is fired from picking out the Christmas day movie for a couple of years...this year he picked "I am Legend." Most of us were traumatized that night. Jichan had to sleep with a light on.