Here is the video!!

Mic opening the post office box to see if his call came It came!!!!! It was the only thing in the box, a big white envelope. He is all smiles

Elder McKinly Thomas Lopp. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the video of Mic reading his call. The only thing we forgot was to film all the people down below Mic. Our whole front room was packed with family and friends. You can almost here a pin drop while Mic was reading his call. Everyone was so excited to hear where he was going. I totally forgot to get pictures of the huge crowd we had. I can't believe I forgot to take pictures. I was so concerned about getting it on video that I forgot about pictures. Mic said the view of all the people was amazing and intimidating! It was so much fun to have everyone over and support Mic in this amazing time in his life.

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mic got his call on Wednesday. We went to the post office to get the mail with all the cameras we have and pushed record before he opened it and the only thing in the box was slowly pulled out and it was a giant white envelope!! It was HIS CALL! It was so cool. I just wanted him to open it right then. I was so excited and my excitement starting taking over me by making me jittery, shaky, laughing and saying over and over; "I can't believe it's here." We drove right next store to get a yummy chocolate donut from Holiday to celebrate.

We drove to Staples to get little smiley stickers so everyone could put them on a map to guess where he goes before he opens it. We decided to open it at 9pm, so we had to wait like 11 hours! It was a very long 11 hours. While we were at Staples and buying our purchases, Mic bought his first and when he was done started walking towards the door, so did I with my items to buy. Mic said to me "Mom are you not going to buy your things?" I said "Oh yeah!" I almost forgot to buy my stuff because my excitement is taking over me. I guess it's time to just go home and wait.

We tried to keep busy all day, lunch, shopping, working, piano, cleaning, YW, and finally 9 came. All the cameras ready, guesses made and everyone there. Mic stood at the top overlooking everyone over the railing. He opened it and was so nervous said "where do I read it." He finally found where he was to read it and once there was total silence, he read, and even before he finished a huge loud cheer erupted when he said SWEDEN. He had to read it over to tell us where in Sweden. Stockholm, Sweden. He then read when he would leave; July 28th and he would be speaking Swedish, another cheer erupted. He leaves right during girls camp. Haley and I will have to come up with the Relief Society on Wed night.

With all the excitement I wanted to make sure I got everything videotaped and so we had 3 cameras going. I totally forgot to take still pictures. I'm so mad at myself for not taking any. My Mom got only 2 or 3. We did not even get a picture of the mass crowd of people in our front room looking up to Mic. There was a ton of people, the whole front room was crowded with family and friends. I did not even videotape the eruption of cheer that exploded. I told Mic we have to do it all over again.

I still cannot believe he is going to Sweden. I keep saying it out of the blue and it's been 4 days. I can't believe it!

I'm in St. George right now using my sister's lap top so I can't post the videotape of it, but I will when I get home. Check back later.

Yeah, Stockholm, Sweden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WOW!

Prayers needed! The wait is almost over!

It's coming!!!!!! This week we are hoping. I'm bringing the camera to the post office every day with Mic. His call just has to be there this week because Mic is home for his spring break all week and Andy will be home too. It just has to come. Party at the Lopp's Wed or Thurs to watch him open his call, if it comes. They say they are supposed to come on Wed or Thur. EVERYONE SAY A FEW PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!

19 years ago and a TERRIFIC VALENTINES!

19 Years ago I was in the hospital with Mic and he was only 6 hours old, weighing in at 7lbs and 11 oz. I will always remember that weight because of the 7-11 convenient stores. Valentines was over for me 19 years ago, but hey what a great valentines gift. Actually I have gotten double. Andy and I still go out just the day before and he got me a dozen red roses and balloons for me this year and he was home and so was Mic. It's been a great Valentines this year!!!! We have done a ton this weekend as a family and we needed it. Both Andy and Mic leave tomorrow:(:(, but we look forward when they come home again because we will probably be opening Mic's mission call all together. It's driving me crazy wondering where he will go. I can't believe we will have a missionary! That's just crazy!!!!!!! Happy Birthday MIC! Love ya

All stitched up!!!!

So I got a call around 2:15 from Parker asking me if I could come and pick him up from school to go get stitches. What happened?? He said he was playing circle ball in his weight lifting class and ran into his friend and his cheek bone connected with Parkers eye. Nice! 8 stitches later and a matching scar from his other eyebrow he's home and proud of his lovely stitched up eyebrow. I think he needs to wear a helmet cause he has been stitched up 4 times on his head in his life. You can faintly see the scar in the middle of his forehead, ( top left of the picture) then he has a scar on the back of his head and on the other eyebrow. Nice!!!!

Where oh where have the Lopp's been

I just realized I have not updated my blog since Nov! Wow! That's been a long time. I'm usually up on that. We are getting ready to send Mic's papers off for his mission. Feb 20th is when he can send them off. Wow! I'm old sending a missionary off. Yikes!!!!!!! He is way excited tho and can't wait.
Here are some random pictures of what we have been up to:
Christmas candy houses

Anual family Santa party at the lopp's

We have gotten into bowling for FHE. The kids all love it. This was when Mic was home from college. The only person missing is Andy. He was home one time with us, but Mic was gone.

Reilly recieved his Tenderfoot award in scouts and has finished his 2nd class and almost his 1st class(I can never remember which comes first... 1st or 2nd class)
Zac will get his Bear at the Blue and Gold Banquet this Thursday

Playing in the snow and building a very cool snowman with Zac.

Be the Best of Whatever You Are

This is a picture of a trail that Haley took and I used this picture in my lesson last week and we found this poem that worked great with it. I wanted to share it with everyone. Hopefully you can read it. I love this poem and it reminds us to just be the best we can at the things we do. We don't need to be that pine on the top of the hill, we can be a trail, scrub or a leaf on a tree. That's a good place to start. Enjoy! If you click on the picture you can read it better

Canyon fall pictures and Ibuprohen

We decided to go up the canyon while Mic was home from a break from school in St. George to take some pictures with all the pretty leaves. It was fun but kinda stressful and by the time we got home 3 of us had to take Ibuprofen because we had headaches. As you can see in these pictures Zac would not cooperate very well. There is only a few that turned out with him somewhat smiling normal. The pictures are a little blurry, but we got them done and can choose one for a Christmas post card.

I wanted to get one of the kids with the leaves as the background so they just layed down in front of each other.

We brought a box of leaves and had the kids throw up the box so I could get a picture of leaves falling on them, but it did not turn out. As we were leaving a family of 4 were taking pictures in the same spot but by a tree and one of our kids said "Hey Mom that Dad just shook the tree while they smiled" What a novel idea. Well, I was too tired to try it again, so here is the picture of leaves falling on them.

Ah... Love this picture

Okay so Parker the brave, daring person he is, started walking across this log over the river of rocks about 15 or 20 feet in the air and HE ALMOST FELL. He had to get down on his knees to get back and made it.

Helping Hands

LIMES

The other day I was walking out of macey's grocery store and the lady in front of me had a employee helping her push her cart and the cart hit a bump and a box of about 25 or so limes tipped over and started rolling everywhere. I held on to my cart and started picking up as many as I could with one hand or my cart would hit the same bump. Then as I was picking the limes up I looked around and people were rushing over to help. People walking out of the store and into the store. Mom's with little kids were helping and single people. I just had a really good feeling then and thought that it's nice to have helping hands to be there when we need it. I think that made my day to be a part of those helping hands. It would be nice if everyday was like that, then maybe the world would be a better place.

STRESS

Here is my stress for each day:

Cleaning house, laundry(wait I just washed these towels yesterday), jobs, school, kids, dogs, bills, church, broken things, car problems, homework, getting chores done, needing more hours in a day to get all this done, car pool mom, soccer, scouts, college stuff, grocery shopping, no time to read, or watch TV or relax, school clothes(wait that will have to wait), yard work( when I have time, but I don't so that will have to wait too), trying to stay awake when I have a moment to lay down, having a bedtime at midnight or later most of the time, doctors, dentist, listening to a faucet drip that won't stop, oh and dinner which normally has a saying; left overs, cereal, or haley can you make dinner, and what ever else comes up(which it usually does).

Anyone want to trade a day?

Who said you could......

So I was looking to put a new post on my blog and I came across Haley's pictures and this is what I found. THEY ARE ON THE ROOF!! When did this happen? They could have fallen! Haley, you are in big trouble.

Uhm.... College life... maybe I should be more stressed

Crazy faces, girls, funny hats. Is this college? Actually Mic is doing well and not starving anymore since the Baughs brought him a box of treats I put together for him and his meal plan is working now, so he is doing good. He has been meeting lots of people and met his Bishop today. He LOVES being on his own. He has been gone a week and our piano is getting dusty, and it's quiet. SAD! Haley has been too busy with soccer to play it. I might play it or try to. Anyone is welcome to come over and play for me. I'm missing it.

Starting school and COLLEGE!!!

Mic going off to college!!! This is a day I thought I was prepared for but lost it an hour before he left. This was a day I was supposed to go with my sisters and my mom to party all day cause all of our kids are in school all day. Breakfast, shopping, pool and a treat, but I missed the first one because I wanted to stay until the very last moment to get Mic off. I wanted to spend every last moment with him ( a friend came to our house to pick him up cause she was going to Dixie too in St. George). First he got all packed and ready then I had him sit at the piano and have him play my favorite songs and sing one of the songs. This is when I lost it and I cried through all the songs and just watched him. I was even crying drying my hair thinking about him leaving. He is only going to be about 4 hours away, but it feels like he is going to be millions of miles away. My sister Shelley said this will help tho for when he goes on his mission and it won't be so hard to let him go because I have a taste of it now.

This is a picture of him with all his stuff that we fit in her tiny car. She already had a microwave and another huge box in the back seat so we stuffed and stuffed and got it all in. I am so grateful for her taking him down, it helped alot and he probably had more fun anyway.
I This is a whole new change for us and I was not prepared for how I was feeling. I'm really missing the younger years. And to top it off, his phone is not working down there and I have only talked to him on his friends phone 2 times. He starts school tomorrow and I hope his scholarship money is in. It wasn't when he left. This college stuff is stressful and makes me miss the younger days even more. Treasure those little days, every second, cause they go by fast. I wish there was a way to slow down time. I try not to think about all these changes but they are all around me and I can't stop them. They just keep coming whether I'm ready for them or not. Chocolate helps a little but too many changes will get me fat with eating chocolate with every change. What to do? Just remember to treasure the little days as much as you can cause they go away too fast! Some of the elementary kids going off to school. This is my favorite years that I'm missing of Parker, and Mic. I love this age

This is another growing up part that you just want to hang on to. Jr. High with the 2 Haley's and Parker in 11th grade. I made Mic stand in too cause this is the way we always have taken first day of school pictures. This will be the last picture of Mic on the steps. SAD!!!!! Very SAD!

"His Hands"

As I was planning my Laurel lesson this week which is on service, it talks about Heavenly Fathers tools and the tools he gives us to use, to serve others, and I thought of this song and found a video to go with it. It's amazing! It reminds us how we should use these tools (hands) to lift others up and to be more like Him. Doug Taylor was so nice and put it on a DVD so I could show my class this amazing video. Thanks Doug. Hope you all enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFibyjcyYsE

Too many changes

Do you ever feel like life is going so fast and so many changes are coming that you don't want to deal with anything sometimes. Life is crazy here: Mic going to college at Dixie, and mission coming up, new job for Andy( which could be stressful for our family but we need the job bad), Feeling like YW is so busy and feeling overwhelmed, but I love it and I love all the girls( I just want all the girls to feel loved), friends moving, school starting, and the list goes on. All these changes have made me feel stressed and feeling like I don't want to go on, but I have to, so I force myself to do things. I feel better after I do them, but these feelings are still there and don't seem to go away. I'm always on the verge of crying, but I try to think of good things and have stopped it a few times. I think all these feelings is why I have not blogged in a while. It was nice to sit down today to read everyone's blogs. I have not done that in awhile.

I have been walking/running lately and going on 4 weeks now. The canyon is my favorite and that's where I think alot and I think has helped me with these bad stressed feelings. I hope it does not get cold soon, cause the canyon and running is helping a little. I don't like to run in the cold. I think running, the canyon and reading all your blogs help. I will post some pictures soon if I have some.

This summer has been very boring for our kids. Except for Haley. She has been gone for 3 weeks this summer. Girls camp, EFY, Soccer camp at Dixie, and Student council at Dixie. She paid for all of it herself. She made over $700 this summer and we are so proud of her. Paying for all these things have made it more meaningful for her. We have not done much but go to a movie or two, just working alot and trying to make it. Our California Beach trip(family vacation before Mic leaves to go to school and his mission) got thrown out the window, but there is always next year. Sorry Mic. I think the kids are actually excited about school starting, hey my house will stay cleaner too. I'm excited for school to start and it might make things better. Hope everyone is doing well.

Kinda a little bit NERDY!

This was our Daddy/Daughter Nerd Night at Young Womans. It turned out to be a success. All the dads were troopers and dressed up and did all the activities, mainly eating contest. Hope no one got sick. I better run and hide with posting this picture. All the nerdy girls

All the nerdy Dad's. Great face Mark. Ha Ha!

AMAZING Girls Camp 2009

The whole team with our famous football jersey's on

Girls Camp was amazing this year, as it always is. This is my 3rd year and I want to go until the whole time Haley goes. This is such an amazing spiritual experience. You can just feel the spirit right when you drive into Camp Shalom. This year the weather was a little better and we had a few breaks from the rain. It was cold, but we had fun anyway. Haley and I with her crazy glasses on the last day of camp. Nice hair guys. They all teased their hair for the fashion show.

Haley waking up the girls with the song "Reveille" Some of the girls were laughing and some were not.

All the amazing leaders!

Ah..... me and Haley, sorry it sideways. We brought these PJ's to see the reaction of the girls, but not much of a reaction. They even have those cute little feet in them. Haley loves hers and wears hers when she is cold. I borrowed them from my sister Shari who went to girls camp the week after us.

VOTE FOR MIC EVERY DAY!!!!

Here is a website where you can go onto to listen to Mic's song and vote for it so he can win and earn money. He is in 5th place right now and needs your vote every day. He has 58 votes and the first person has 307 votes. Push him up to first. He would love that. You just have to log in, then go to showcase and find Mic and vote. Start voting every day through the whole month of June, but you need to vote every day to push him up.

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I feel old today

MIC"S GRADUATION DAY Mic had an awesome day today. He had a smile on his face the whole day. I do feel old today because I can remember my graduation day and that seems so far away and to have our son graduated from High School just made me feel old. In this pictures below he got to sit on the stand because he tried out to speak at graduation. He came so close and his tryout speech was awesome! He is sitting on the second row from back 7 over from the right. He is sitting between 2 girls and has silver cords on. He got the silver cords because he got the award for being in the top 10 % of his class in GPA.

This is Mic again on the left. The guy on the right is a speaker, so when they showed the speaker on the big screen Mic was in the background. They turned off the lights during the remaining program so you could not see Mic anymore when speakers spoke, but it was cool to see him on the big screen for a little bit.

Mic opening his gifts and he got money and was so excited!

Mic's piano cake that was fun to make.

90 rolls in one night!

You know how you spend hours making a meal and it's gone in like a half hour. I normally don't do that, but Sunday I thought I would try it, so I put a roast in the crock pot with peeled and cut carrots and potatoes and onions and seasonings and cooked it all day.. okay that part did not take me hours, maybe 1.

Then I had this idea to make rolls from scratch, my moms rolls. They are so good and I knew my kids and Andy would love me. I made the whole recipe which makes about 90 rolls, thinking we would have left overs or some to share. I made the dough and let it rise for 2 hours then punched it down right before church and rolled them out, cut them and placed them on the pan to rise for 2 more hours, but I knew it would be 4 hours before we got home so I hoped they would not rise too much.

We got home and they were perfect, then I baked them and brushed them with butter. Is your mouth watering right now? Can you smell them? Oh, they were good and all gone an hour after dinner. I kept looking at the pan and more would disappear, then they were gone. I did not even get one to save for a snack later. WE ATE 90 ROLLS!!!!! Holy cow! That's like a dozen each. Well, I did not eat a dozen, maybe 6 of them. Sorry, I was going to share but they were gone like that and I forgot to take a picture of them.

It might be awhile before I make them again cause they take a lot of time, so my family will have to wait. I might make bread sticks out of them for the Young at Heart tho.