Some of you may know that my brother Bryce currently serving in the army and is stationed in Iraq. I can only imagine how hard the holidays will be for him and his family. I know these cards through XEROX don't actually go to him but I know if it's hard out there for him it's hard for all those serving our country and our freedom. My brother is pretty lucky with supportive family and friends but he has friends out there in Iraq who get no mail and have no support. So please, it seriously takes 1 minute to do this card thing and it'll make 1 soldier happy. And if any of you feel generous this Holiday Season to send a card directly to my brother or his family, please let me know and I'll give you his address. I know he'd appreciate it.
Thanks,
Carly
XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL
If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq.
You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.
How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!
It is FREE and it only takes a second.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these?
Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.
This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you.
Please take the time to send a card, and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's.
Thanks for taking to time to support our military!
Over the summer the Hopkins Family had the opportunity to have the one and only Bryan Niven do a family photo. Check out Bryan's blog for the full image.
I know this is like a month late but that's the story of my life. We are so glad that everything regarding Shad's trip to China in May is over with! The week leading up to his exhibit was such a stressful week for all of us. Shad was eating meals at school and he practically lived in the print lab/dark room. Cru and I made many visits that week just so we could catch a glimpse of him (and bring him food). Towards the end of the week I was asking people to watch Cru so I could help Shad (thanks Chels and Joy). In the end it was amazing. I have never been so proud of my husband. He is so talented and I love the pictures he took while in China. I also thought that Lucy, Reed and Jessica did a fabulous job. Thanks to everyone who went to the exhibit to support the photographer's and especially Shad. It was amazing to see our friends and family making the exhibit a family home evening activity, a friday night date, a stop on their way to the oh-so-important football game! thank you to all!
Picture of the group in China. left to right: Valerie Telford, Lucy Call Millward, Reed Rowe, Shad Hopkins, Jessica Bingham Kehl, John Wong (photographer: John Telford) Students that went to China: Jessica, Lucy, Reed, Shad
James, Shad and Cru (Lucy and James are married)
Shad, Cru and I in front of Shad's pictures. Notice how Cru is NOT looking at the camera. He is instead pointing at the picture of the pig behind him that now hangs on his bedroom wall. He loves that pig.
Shad Cru and Joy (shad's sister)
Hopefully in the near future Shad will put his China pictures up on his website. Until then, you get to look at them through my camera! :) enjoy. We would love to hear comments on pictures you like from the exhibit.
P.S. I know this is going to make my mom DIE but it was really cute listening to him giggle while he slid down the stairs. This is pretty much all Cru wanted to do while we were at the exhibit reception.
First - the day before Halloween we were so lucky to be able to meet up with some friends that have moved away from Provo. It was fun! Here's a few pictures although I didn't really take too many.
I really love this picture. Emily with the kids (sorry Addie, I have no idea where you were wink wink). Emily used to babysit Cru (forever grateful) and she's holding Heidi (her daughter) and Cam (Cru's other babysitter's newest baby!) and then Cru!
and this is obvious why I'm not the photographer and shad is. sorry Sean, cute picture though. Cru loves you!
Cru was a good sport for staying up so late!
Second - HALLOWEEN. Well, I'm pretty sure that Cru was the cutest Zebra ever made! And he didn't hate the costume as much as I thought he would!
Cru looks so tired here. Poor guy. After an eventful Halloween (mall trick or treating, ward party, Chelsea and Jacoby's trick or treating, and the Millward party) he was so tired!
here's some pictures from Cru's first birthday party! It was fun and I was exhausted for a full 24 hours after (pathetic I know) but it was so much fun. Cru got fun new toys and clothes and he loved his dinner and loved even more his dessert!
Cru is 1 year old today! How time has flown by! But our little Cru is so perfect now. Even after his rough start! We just love him and are so glad he's is in our life to bless us every day! Happy Birthday Cru!
I know it's been a long time. I've been slacking. Maybe it's a good thing I'm not sitting on the computer all day lately! Cru and I have been crawling around a LOT and he's been getting into a lot of trouble. We moved back to Utah at the end of August and started our life here again! Enjoy the pictures...I'll post more soon (disclaimer - these are from my cell phone. I couldn't find my camera battery charger and the battery was dead and I couldn't upload pictures onto the computer until the battery had life!)
our very own tribal chief!
cru loves his berry smoothie from costco. maybe we shouldn't give it to him but he has teeth number 7 and 8 coming in and quite frankly, if it makes him happy it's his!
probably one of my favorite things to do. put sweet glasses on him.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
highlight of my day yesterday...cru stuck between the toilette and the bath tub. so cute.
Well, I guess I figured that while Shad was in China for a month I'd go on hiatus! Actually it felt like quite the opposite! Cru and I had an exciting month, we didn't get to experience China like Shad but we tried to stay busy. Here's an overview of the last month and then you can see the slide show below.
Shad left April 30th in the weee morning hours. Sean was so nice to take Shad to Lucy's house for the ride up to the airport. I'm so glad I didn't have to wake Cru up and put him in the car seat at 5 in the morning! I finished some last minute packing of the apartment the rest of the day. Around 4pm I left to drive up to SLC. I hung out with Riley until my parents flew in and Breanne got off work. The next morning we woke up early to drive back down to Provo for my GRADUATION! Dad, Riley and I got to UVU at 7:15 while Mom and Breanne took Cru over to Kate's so she could so kindly babysit him all day (while having her own 2 boys and being pregnant and then having her sister's baby dropped off later that day!). After graduation we went to lunch, finished a few more things at the apartment, sad good bye and took off for St. George.
So St.George is where it gets interesting. Basically the interesting part is that I gave Cru formula for the first time and he was allergic but we didn't know if it was the pea's, formula, or shrimp I had eaten that day and then I breast fed him. So note to self: when the books, doctors, websites, pamphlets, etc. all say only to give your baby 1 new food item at a time and wait a few days before introducing a new one....LISTEN! So around 10pm we decided to take Cru to the ER after he couldn't sleep and he was scratching so hard it was bleeding. After 3 projectile vommits, a dose of benadryl and prednisone and then sitting until 1am we were finally released. we then had to go to Wal-Mart to get more benadryl for the night. Thankfully my mom was with me at the hospital the whole time. I couldn't have done it without her!
The next morning we left for California around 8am. We made quite a few stops but over all Cru was really good. And we appreciate my dad driving our crummy vibrating car for us.
Since I've been home we've:
- flown to San Francisco (with a 2 hour delayed flight...1 hour before and 1 hour on the plane! Cru was a gem!) - stayed in a hotel in S.F. with Elise, Lily, Emerson, and Cru. We all shared 1 Queen bed by the morning except for Lily! - Walked our feet off in San Fran. - Stayed 7 days in Copperpolis, Ca - Celebrated Emerson's 2nd birthday! - Went shopping, swimming, driving, playing, while staying with Elise. (I watched the kids a few of those days while she went to school and work) - Memorial day weekend Lily and Emerson stayed with us while Elise flew out to see Bryce in Georgia (for those that don't know my brother Bryce is in the Army stationed in Georgia) - picked up Shad from the Long Beach Airport on May 26th! and also said good bye to Lily, Emerson, and Elise - hiking in Wildwood to Paradise Falls
um...I think that's about it. Hopefully this update makes a few people happy! We miss our friends in Wymount and our family up there but we are enjoying California...a lot!
*I can't wait to have a washer and dryer - 3 more weeks
clarification - my sister just called and wanted to know what the big fuss was about, since all he did was pee out of his diaper! well, here's the explanation! Cru had pooped out of his diaper. He does it almost everyday. If we make it through just one day, we will be happy! We've done all that we can do, I think ;)
We have tested every brand of diaper - pampers is the most expensive for a reason We have attempted every method of stain removal - oxy clean is a lifesaver We have trained our ears to hear the explosion - keep Cru close at all times We have tried to time the length of time we leave between explosion and diaper change - no time at all
but there are some moments in life, some moments everyday really, that you realize, for only that moment - life can't always be controlled. In fact, Cru's poop can't always be controlled.
So I really can’t believe that Cru is 4 months already! He’s getting so big. Well, more like filling out since he was always so long and skinny! And he still talks just as much as he used to. It’s hilarious. We’ve got a little schedule going and it’s made all of our lives easier. I changed my schedule at work to 7am – 11am which has worked out a lot better for us and our baby sitters. (we are so lucky to have good people to watch Cru) AND we get to see Shad more often during the day which is fun.
What Cru likes to do: • Put EVERYTHING in his mouth! • Drool • Play with his feet • Roll onto his side • Play with toys • Watch baby Einstein • Kick his feet • Taking a bath • Giggle • Smile • Climb over a pillow thing – pictures to follow – SO funny • Go for walks • Getting out of the house! • Hanging out with the moms and kids at the playground (he got “the lip” one day when Shad picked him up from the babysitter when she was out there…Shad was very hurt but I thought it was funny!) • Um…get attention! • Dance (more like bounce) when music is playing (this is true…it’s happened a few times, ask Emily if you don’t believe me!) • Watch me do the dishes (this is not really his first choice but I tend to sing to him while I’m doing the dishes, so hopefully it’s more that he likes me singing (right!) than watching me do the dishes!
okay, so Shad keeps getting mad at me that I'm making such a big deal about this, but I'm excited for him. Shad entered a picture in the BYU visual arts: Vera Hinckley Mayhew Student Creative Arts Contest. And his picture is up in the HFAC on campus for display until March 16th. So go take a look. We went with our neighbors for FHE last night...and it's free!
Finally we got a Hopkins Family Photo...only to be outdone by the one and only Bryan Niven this summer (still in the works). But I thought why not add it to the blog for a while.
