Happy Birthday

My mom turned 56 today!

Just thought I would give her a shout out for being some amazing! She is a wonderful cook, great sewer, glorious librarian, spectacular grandma, and so much more!

Thanks for all you do MOM!!!

PS: Happy Birthday to Miss Amanda Hansen as well!

(Notice that my mom's post is in UNC blue and Amanda's is in DUKE blue)

Family Pictures

We don't really take family pictures in my family. We take a ton of pictures, but none of the whole gang...except at Christmas! Jordan always gets us all together so at least we can document that the Hoppes family does exist! 

The bottom one is obviously my favorite. Way more our personalities than the top one! Plus I'm the center of attention and who doesn't love that? 

I sure do love my family!

Real Life

Sometimes when I'm off track my life doesn't really look like normal life! I tend to leave Utah and go off the grid. Well I'm back! Life is getting back to a more normal schedule and it's nice to be surrounded by great friends again.

Kid Dinner: We eat all those favorite kid foods that are straight sugar and fat! This dinner included mac and cheese with hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, teddy grams and frosting, and Hi-C! There was something in that Hi-C because we were all a little wired after a few...or 5!

I took down the Christmas decorations and decided to go straight to Valentine's Day! 

 Ed Sheeran and I are great friends at the moment. Lyrics from my favorite song of his! (written on the mirror for V-Day)

 The biggest/best news...I GRADUATED FROM PT!!! They were going to move me from 2 days a week to 1 and I said I think I'm ready. They gave me a test, which really wasn't hard, but after 2 hours of working out on my knee it was a little more tricky. I had to do box jumps where I stand on one leg and jump on top of a box 20 times in a row while they time me. I do this on each leg. Then I had to do a dot maze on both legs and lastly a 5 dot jumping thing. They time me to see if my left and right leg match up. I was very pleased to see that my RIGHT (bad knee) was stronger and quicker than my left in two out of the three!!! I PASSED! I got this wonderful T-shirt too! I'm so grateful to RPT. I really enjoyed working with everyone there and will miss them, but I'm going to try and stay away from them FOREVER!

 My friend, Charlotte, is obsessed with Buffalo Wild Wings! She has been inviting me to come at least once a week since they have opened and I never can go. Well I finally put it on my calendar and it didn't disappoint!

 Jon and I...first timers!

 Alpine! 

Quick trip to the Chiropractor and a good look at the mountains. We have the worst inversion right now so it's freezing and smoggy and no mountains in sight. Thank goodness for a semi clear day!

 January 22, 2013...the day I have been dreading! BACK TO WORK! I love my job, but who doesn't love getting paid to vacation??? It's time for me to be a teacher again to 22 crazy kids!

REALITY CHECK...I'm a grown up!

IDAHO!!!!

After being gone in sunny California for almost 3 weeks I headed back to Utah. That latest a day and then I took a little road trip up to the other place I call HOME...IDAHO!!! There was a storm that rolled in the day before and I didn't think the trip was going to happen. After checking the cameras along the drive in the morning I made the trip. Thankfully the roads weren't as bad as the news made them sound. I took my time and just enjoyed the drive. I made a few pit stops along the way and ended up in Rexburg! I had a wonderful weekend seeing some of my favorite people, checking out BYUI, going gun shopping, and trying not to FREEZE! Negative degrees constantly! 

It has been awhile since I've been on campus. There are so many changes! It is not my small little BYUI that I know and love anymore. I took pictures, giggling most of the time and texting my friends. It was a true memory lane! It was so cold otherwise I would have taken more pictures!

 The old gym! Spent a lot of time hanging out in there! Guitars Unplugged, basketball freshman year, dances, pretending to study while watching people play, etc. Red Rocks..still ruining pants! Kirkam Auditorium..watching devotional, concerts, climbing the rafters. Courts...watched/played intramurals a lot! Cubical...oh the library! I was shocked how quiet it was. The 3rd floor no longer is for socializing apparently??? I found I did a lot of giggling in here thinking about the silly things we use to do instead of studying! Chapman Hall...I lived here for 2 years! Now it's men's housing? I don't feel good about this!

I LOVE BYUI!

I stopped by the Idaho Falls Temple to admire it's beauty. Along the drive home I took a few pictures of the fields. There are a lot in Idaho, and they look beautiful in the snow at sunrise (it was -9 at that point)

Highlights of the trip: Amazing chili! Reed's Dairy Ice Cream! Gun Shopping! Campus tour! Seeing great friends!

Who knows when I'll get back, but I hope sooner than later! Who knew I would live in Idaho for 4 years and love it so much 8 years later!

California Adventures

There were a few BIG things that I did while I was home. You'll laugh when you see what I consider big! Ha Ha! But they were more out of the ordinary so they count as big!

Date Night:

A couple years ago I took Camden to see the movie How to Train Your Dragon when it first came out. It was his first movie theater experience and is now one of his favorite movies. He was watching TV and saw a commercial for the LIVE DRAGONS. Cami thought this might be a good date night for the two of us to take so she bought us tickets! We kept it a surprise from Camden. He just knew that he was going to get to do something really fun with Aunt Ashlee. As we pulled up to the location he saw the sign and said, "Ashlee this is the Dragon show!!!" He was so excited! We bought some glowing horns and had a blast! The show was really impressive! Camden still is dead set on the fact that they were LIVE DRAGONS!

 These dragons were HUGE and incredibly well done. I couldn't believe how great it all looked. If you love the movie then you would love this show!

 I couldn't have asked for a better date!

New Years Eve:

Allison has ditched Utah and moved back to California. She lives outside of San Jose in Morgan Hill with her sister Lisa and family. She talked me into coming for New Years and we spent the evening eating, watching chick flicks, eating, hot tubing, eating, and toasting to the NEW YEAR!

 The drive takes about 2 hours and includes crossing my least favorite bridge...

 Morgan Hill Sunset

 The bubbly is ready!

 Cheers!

I'm a little surprised we made it to midnight! We crashed pretty soon afterwards though! Thanks Allison and the Fisher family for a fun New Years Eve!

Alumni Game:

Every year the T-Girls get together for an Alumni game. I rarely get to see my former teammates so it's something I always look forward to. This year because of my knee I wasn't able to play, but I sat the bench and cheered as the Alumni beat the T-Girls. 

3 small adventures for this girl! Lots of fun!!!

California Vacation

I am off track during Christmas break so I got to stay a little longer than everyone else in California. I love spending time with the kids and doing every day activities with them that I usually miss out on the rest of the year. 

Valley Vista

 Yes he is one of the cutest kids you have ever seen!

 play time

 Dad, Kyle, and I went to watch the boys play one night. I couldn't help but love all the memories I have in this gym. I have spent many many hours there playing basketball and volleyball, watching games, coaching camp, running around during summer league as a kid. Very happy times!

 Finally came up with a nickname...Peter Parker (aka Spiderman)

 Cami and I use to put headbands on Kyle when he was little. We thought we would try it out on Parker! Looks great!

 My parents and I went out to Sea! I can't get enough of their yellow curry!

 Parker only wanting Grandma and NOTHING to do with me!

 I was on babysitting duty one night! Yes I survived 3 kids in one bathtub!

We spent a lot of time snuggling and reading

 Camden had to go back to school :( 

When he got home we got started right away on homework...in Spanish. I think it's adorable that he does his math in Spanish.

 These kids LOVE their Grandpa. (Who wouldn't?) Grandpa got to be Camden's basketball coach this season. They both had a blast together. One night during dinner Camden said Grandpa can we shoot some hoops? It was getting pretty dark and Grandpa had a meeting to go to, but he said if you hurry and eat we can play for a few minutes. It melted my heart to see my busy Dad take a few minutes to teach Camden about shooting and just have a good time with him. I can remember doing that with him and it brings so much joy to think about. I'm glad he still does it with his grandkids.

 Cami had work early one morning so we had a sleepover and I walked Camden to school. That morning he said Ashlee I need spikes in my hair! He got out all the hair products and we spiked his hair. Man I love that kid!

These two are the loves of my life! Oh boy do they have me wrapped around their finger! We decided to take a trip to the park one day. One more slide because 10 more slides! We had a blast and loved the warmer weather. I love that they are best buddies and have so much fun together.

 Petaluma Hills! 

I can't get enough of all the green! Makes me so much happier than snow!!!

As you can see my vacation is basically just hanging out with these adorable kids! I wouldn't have it any other way!

Takahashi Hoppes Christmas Dinner

I was super lucky to make it in time for the Takahashi/Hoppes Christmas party! My Auntie Lynne is AMAZING! She (with the help of many others) threw a wonderful party for the family. Her family is HUGE now and we don't really get to see them unless it's a big event. It was a lot of fun to get to see my Grandma, cousins, aunts and uncles as well. 

Skits were performed, songs were sung, Santa came to visit, food was eaten...great party!

 Great Grandma Hoppes with the Bushey kids!

 The kids performed a nativity! I love that there are so many kids in this family. Camden got to be Joseph. Haddley was a sheperd and Jayden was the cutest cow anyone had ever seen!

Grandma Hoppes and I

We all had a great time! Thanks Auntie Lynne for hosting!

California Christmas

I'm so lucky to get to go home to California for Christmas and be with my whole family! It's always fun to be with them laughing and messing around. It gets a little loud and crazy with 5 kids running around, but I sure love being with them. Here are some pictures of our craziness!

These two cuties know how to pose!

 The Bushey kids

 Patiently waiting to open presents

 Santa apparently thought I was good this year!

 Camden and Haddley LOVED the tree!

 Presents, naps, silliness, food...sums up our Christmas!

 The Bushey family getting a little wild!

 Parker rocking his new Duke hoodie

 I had a lot of wrapping to do once I got to California!

The Hoppes Crew

 

Presents!

 I got Camden and Haddley a basketball hoop for Christmas!

 Santa Came!

Haddley is turning into Jordan!

Boys will be Boys!

 FOOD! The Carmel Apple Pie was the best!

 Monkey LOVING her drink!

Ryan is kind of a Grinch! But....this year he came in his comfy spandex pants and a lovely Christmas sweater. Of course then we needed to have a photo shoot with him!

One of my favorite ornaments (thanks Nicci)

We had a great Christmas as a family! We are so lucky to get to spend it together every year. Hope that is always the case!