Saying Farewell

We will always love you, sweet Dakota.

Thank you for enriching our family.

Dakota Marie Hopper

2000 - 2010

Fall 2010... so far

I love Autumn and all the wonderful things it brings. This has been a very busy Fall for the Hopper family so we're going to share a few of our favorite things.

1. Grandma and Grandpa Hopper came to visit!!

2. September 19th was a special day- We celebrated Brian's birthday with so many loved friends and family who joined us for Jacob's baby blessing.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

3. Our annual trip to Apple Hill with Grandma and Grandpa Jones and the Fry's. Mommy forgot to take pictures after the first stop. My sister took a bunch, as did my mom. Maybe they'll share with me??

4. Elizabeth celebrated her 4th birthday at BounceU and we had a BLAST!!!

5. Bishop's Pumpkin Farm!!!! My very favorite fall hotspot.

We've been five times... and counting!

Trust Brian to teach his kids to lay on the train tracks.

Sleepy Jameson

Think he was ready for his nap??

Cracking Heads

Our first child to have stitches was, of course, Jameson. He was injured while playing with his sisters in Grandma Jones' living room. Jameson's little forehead met the corner of Grandma's brick fireplace. He was such a little trooper, despite being covered in blood (only 15 small drops made it onto Grandma's white carpet), rushed to urgent care, waiting for two hours to be seen by the doctor, waiting another thirty minutes for the topical pain killer to work (it didn't), then being held down by three people (his bawling mom included in that number), getting a shot right in the middle of his forehead to actually numb the spot, then getting two stitches. It looks much better today.

He's actually quite proud of his war wound:

Elizabeth's First Day of Preschool

She was such a big girl and so excited. She insisted on wearing her new backpack and taking pencils, erasers, and a notebook. She wanted to "learn my letters."

Empire Mines

We drove up to Grass Valley to the Empire Mines on Saturday. It was great to get out of the heat and we absolutely loved walking through the gorgeous landscape of the mines.

The kids were fascinated by the frog pond and loved it when their dad caught a frog for them.

The kids loved ringing the (very large) dinner bell that was used to call in the miners.

Brian loved panning for gold!

Katharine caught her own tiny frog.

Elizabeth loved playing around all the beautiful plants.

Jameson kept reaching for the rocks. He threw them every chance he got. One of the funniest things to happen was when we first arrived. Jameson had fallen asleep on the drive so when he woke up and got out of the car, he looked up at the towering pine trees and said in a voice filled with awe, "Whoa, big."

Even Baby Jake had a great time. Not a peep out of him, probably because he spent most of the day in the Baby Bjorn with Mommy.

The First Day of First Grade

Katharine got up and got ready for school so happily this morning, all because she got to meet her teacher on friday. Up until then, she did not want to go to first grade and wanted to stay in kindergarten or not go at all. Now that she met her teacher, saw her classroom and saw her very own desk, she was FINALLY excited for back-to-school. She said, "I guess Mrs. Harvey (kindergarten teacher) and Mrs. Carr (new 1st grade teacher) are the best teachers." I think it helped that Mrs. Carr told her she was friends with Mrs. Harvey.