Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I decided to take part of this day to let everyone know what I am grateful for:

*I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and all the blessings that entails.

*I am grateful for eternal families

*I am grateful for my wonderful husband who puts up with me

*I am grateful for my loving parents and all the help and support they give me. I am convinced that there are no better parents than mine.

*I am grateful to have our mold gone

*I am grateful for Christian's job...especially in this economy

*I am grateful to have a home

*I am grateful to live in this great country.

*I am grateful I do not live in war-zones and can live a happy life without the worry that someone will come and kill my family and/or friends.

*I am grateful to have a wood stove in my home

*I am grateful for a husband who has learned how to raise our own food...we are trying a goose for turkey-day!

*I am grateful for my friends and the fun we have together

*I am grateful for my Dad's hard work and him helping us put our bathrooms back together.

Christian just came in an needed help...the in-laws are coming for dinner and we have to find a goose recipie! (We have never cooked one!)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Husband Tag!

WHAT IS YOUR HUSBAND'S NAME? Christian Floyd Hooper

HOW LONG HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN MARRIED? 6 years in December

HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? We were friends before his mission (I called him Chris then) and then he came back and we started hanging around. I don't know about the exact dating time...probably 3 months?

HOW OLD IS HE? 26

WHO IS TALLER? Christian

WHO CAN SING BEST? I can

WHO IS SMARTER? Depends...I have more common sense.

WHO DOES LAUNDRY? I do. He sometimes puts his clothes away.

WHO PAYS BILLS? Depends on who gets to it first.

WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? Is the right side if you are facing the bed or in the bed? I normally am on the side where there is a wall...that way he can kill any bad guy who may enter our house!

WHO MOWS THE LAWN? I do...sometimes Christian

WHO COOKS DINNER? I do.

WHO'S THE FIRST TO ADMIT THEY ARE WRONG? Christian, I'm trying to get better at that...or maybe he's always wrong? Either one. :)

WHO KISSED WHO FIRST? Christian kissed me first.

WHO WEARS THE PANTS? I agree with my sister-in-law when she says, "Hmmm...depends on the event." We discuss and make joint decisions...but I get my way a lot. However he does put his foot down if he doesn't agree.

I tag: April Lines, Jennilynn, Suzanne, Danielle, and Marie.

Is My Tag Showing?

I have been tagged by Jen and I haven't had the chance to respond until now. Here it goes:

Seven Random/Weird facts about me:

1) Even though it may not show, I am somewhat of a perfectionist. I like things to be put away and organized. Sometimes others I live with may not do things they way I want and I have had to learn to not let it bother me...I'm still working on that!

2) I don't care for Halloween, even as a little kid I didn't like going trick-or-treating.

3) I'm not a dessert person. I can easily pass up chocolate, cake, cookies, brownies, pie, etc. However I CAN NOT pass on cheesecake or ice cream.

4) I don't care to wear shoes. I like to be barefoot or in socks...especially around the house. My mom always hated it because I used to not like to wear shoes or socks and she always felt my feet were cold. I didn't think they were! :)

5) I like my bed to be clean. I don't like the bed not made and I don't like Christian laying in bed with his street clothes on...even if the bed is made. I prefer he changes into his PJ's for a nap or goes in the TV room. I HATE food being eaten in my bed...once again, I'm still working on this! (Oh and no dirty socks...they have to be clean before they go on my bed.)

6) I can't stand to have dirt or chalk on my hands. Anything that is dry and powdery. If I have it on my hands I can not touch much or hold anyone else's hand until I have thoroughly washed them and applied lotion. Christian thinks this is WEIRD! I can't hold his hand on the way home from hiking or shooting.

7) I have to make sure my fingernails and toenails are always clean. I don't like dirt under my nails and I like them neat and not jagged. If I don't get to them to fix jaggedness, it eats at me until I can trim them.

Eight (Supposed to be seven) People Tagged:

"Kannie," Courtney, Katie, Cami and Ty, Nathan, Ashley, Sarah, April Lines

Mouse in the House?

I have nothing else to say besides:

DING DONG THE MOUSE IS DEAD!

Tag, We're it!

We've been tagged. THANKS SUZANNE! It's a great way to get to know everyone...so I had Christian help me this time. Here's what we came up with:

Christian's 8 Favorite Shows:

*Cops
*King of the Hill
*The Office
*Survivorman
*Mythbusters
*Man vs. Wild
*America's Funniest Home Videos
*Football

8 Things Christian and Kendra did yesterday:

*Set mouse traps
*Went to the bathroom (Christian's addition to the list)
*Took a shower
*Worked on my paper (Kendra)
*Slept
*Did breathing treatments (4 I think-obviously I didn't do the, Christian did!)
*Watched the puppy cam
*Everything else listed in the previous blog...which all happened in the wee morning hours. (Mouse, crawlspace etc.)


8 Things we look forward to:

*Vacation
*Cure for CF
*Time with spouse and family
*Anything with guns and animals not necessarily at the same time (Christian)
*Bathrooms being completed
*The Second Coming
*Getting our degrees from school
*A house with no problems


8 Favorite Restaurants:


*Local Ocean Seafood (Newport, OR)
*Sonic-for their onion rings and mozzarella sticks (Christian) Strawberry milkshake (Kendra)
*Panda Express
*The Reef
*Chile's
*Red Lobster (Endless Shrimp-buffets are a good thing with Christian)
*Subway
*Kendra's cooking (Christian)

8 people to tag:

*Jen Hunt
*Kendra Miles
*April Lines
*Dani Olsen
*Ty Kenworthy(Cami just did it)
*Krista Norton
*Nathan James
*Ashley Holladay

Saturday, November 15, 2008 - A Day in the Life of the Hoopers

The day started out pretty good. We woke up happy; after all it was the day of the big rivalry game. In case you all would like to know (I know Matt would, so Jen, please let him know) that Boise State beat University of Idaho 45-10. We were so excited!

Our "hired help" (my dad) has made drastic improvements on the bathrooms. The master bath is looking AWESOME! We have the new vanity in and the granite counter top (leftover from Mom and Dad's cabin build) is installed. The light fixtures are going to look GORGEOUS with the medicine cabinets and the faucets and everything. We are getting so excited. THANKS DAD!

Each week of work bring more and more items being able to be put into a cabinet or NOT in the office. The house is feeling less stressful, which is perfect because I'm heading into finals. Boy how I missed those!

One thing I have found that helps ease any tension is the "puppy cam" on ustream.com. It's basically a web cam in a dog crate of 6 Shiba Inu puppies. VERY CUTE and very entertaining. If you have kids, they would love it.

So the rest of the evening played out like this:

10:30 p.m. - Kendra tries to finish her book for her paper

11:30 - Kendra looks up and sees a mouse in her bedroom by the bathroom. (yes there are a ton of holes in the floor etc because of plumbing)

11:35 - Christian and Kendra hop in the car and run to Wal-Mart to get mouse traps and Decon. (No Christian did not want to keep the mouse. He knows better by now.)

12:25 a.m. - After buying a lot more than just mousetraps and Decon we return home and Christian goes in the crawlspace to find that there is a BIG puddle of water under where the master bath is. Luckily no mold though!

12: 40 - Kendra is still trying to talk herself into going into the crawlspace to assist her husband who is sick.

1:00 - we get finished and are able to crawl out of the crawlspace. (Yes we, I made it down a little ways in the crawlspace-I am a wuss and I know it!)

Then came laundry and snack and then the thought that I still haven't finished my book for my paper which is due on Monday for my night class. What did I do? I blogged about it...it's pretty therapeutic. I just hope that I have time to finish my book and take a shower before church tomorrow morning...we shall see.

I am off to read my book and pray hard that a mouse doesn't run across me in the middle of the night. Thank Heavens I have dogs who are loose in the house now and will chase anything away.

That is a day (of course the boring information was left out) in the life of The Hoopers...I guess it's two days since it's now 1:30 a.m? Oh well, good night!

More Noise at the Hoopers

Christian and I (and probably our neighbors too) were so excited that the geese were gone because it was REALLY quite in the neighborhood. That was until our chickens grew up and learned how to crow.

With our batch of Cornish Hens Christian also ordered some Silky Bantams. He had been watching, "Bizarre Foods" and saw an episode in China where they were serving black-boned chicken. In America we call them, Silky Bantams. He knew that he had to try some of this chicken because it's skin, flesh, bones and everything except it's feathers (yes even it's beak) is black.

They are pretty cute I have to admit, and they don't grow as fast as the Cornish Hens. Christian had decided that we were going to keep them and see if they laid eggs and what the eggs looked like. Then when they grew up a little, we noticed that some of the "hens" were in fact roosters. The company we ordered from also threw in a couple of random chickens...which also turned out to be roosters.

You know where this is leading right? Roosters-crowing-crowing at the crack of dawn-I think you have the picture.

Of course it is our luck that our roosters can't tell when it's dark or light and so they crow NON STOP! All day and night. I now remember why I hate chickens, they are dirty, smelly, and loud. (They remind me a lot of geese.) I only like them for dinner!

I can't find the pictures I have taken of them, so here is a picture of them as little chicks. (Heavenly Father knew to make thing REALLY cute when they are young because they are so much hassle they probably would not live long if they were ugly.)

Journey to the Center of the Voting World

This is a random entry with no fantastically interesting information, but that is our lives!

As everyone knows Tuesday was voting day. Since I don't work on Tuesdays, Christian and I waited until 11:00 to go and vote. We did not have to wait in any lines, it was wonderful! We had come prepared with books etc. in case we had to wait in line, but we didn't even have time to crack them open.

We were happy to hear that proposition 8 passed in California. Thanks to Courtney and everyones hard work to get the point across that marriage is between a husband and woman. HUGE high fives, kudos, knuckles or whatever you prefer. We are proud of your battle.

Unfortunately we are not too proud about the outcome of the Presidential Election. We were feeling a little sick to our stomachs, but the world goes on and so should we. Christian kept telling me, "with the bad, there has to be some good right?"

I tease him that the only good thing that came from our president elect is that there will soon be stricter gun control laws and so Christian's Christmas present (a gun of some sort) was now a necessity! We went shopping Wednesday night with my Dad. Let's just say, Christian is really happy now.

We also decided to rent a movie from the Redbox on Monday. We still haven't seen "Journey to the Center of the Earth," and so I ran down and rented it. (I am blogging about this so you too will not make the same mistake as I.)

Christian and I popped it into the DVD player and started watching it. We thought it was weird that there was no closed captioning, and that the acting was bad and it was cheesy...and this was within the first five minutes!

We still had yet to see Brendan Frasier but we kept waiting. Then I realized that there were only women in the movie. I started getting worried and asked Christian, "you don't think this is a porno do you?" He laughed at me and said that they wouldn't rent something like that at Redbox. Soon one of the women got eaten by a dinosaur and so we knew that we were safe.

We then noticed that I had rented "Journey to the Center of the Earth," and in smaller print it said, "The Core." This is my warning...if you go to rent it, make sure it's the REAL movie and not a bad spin-off!

CHRISTIAN! -Parental Supervision Recommended

Let's all flash back to a previous post, the one with the video of Christian cracking up. My sister-in-law posted a comment that I should watch out and that her only request was no bathroom footage! Jen-I appreciate you putting the idea into Christian's head! :) Just kidding, he doesn't need any help getting those ideas into his head.

Side note: Let me take this time to apologize to everyone in advance if you are terribly offended. If you don't like it, don't read it! :) Sorry, but this is something that will make Christian laugh, which is why I am posting it.

We still don't have a wall in the bathroom and so we use the "honor system." You know the one "I won't look at you while you are going to the bathroom." (It's unnerving that our dogs don't use the same honor system.)

I was "doing my business" and all of the sudden Christian is laughing hysterically in front of me holding a camera. Just when I was saying, "DON'T YOU DARE" there was a click and a flash and then he ran away laughing so hard. "It's perfect because you can't see anything!" -Christian

He wanted to post it for everyone to see...however he doesn't know how. I figured that I humiliated him enough and that I probably deserved a little humiliation in retaliation. I don't think I deserve a TON of humiliation and so I posted the lesser of the two pictures. You better be happy Christian!

Halloween in Demand!

I have had numerous requests to post what I looked like on Halloween. (Okay, so my sister Cami was the only one...and she said that she would post her costume if I posted mine!) Anyway, you all have to see it now.

We had a Halloween celebration at work. We had a cubicle decorating contest, pumpkin carving contest, costume contest and a pot luck. I'm only working part time now and didn't have the time to decorate my cubicle this year, and I didn't have room among the mess, I like to call my house, to carve a pumpkin either. I thought, I better get a good costume!

Off to Goodwill I went to see what I could find. Anyone who shops at Goodwill knows that it is full of great finds and half the stuff there is brand new. They had tons of wigs, gloves, fake eyelashes, tights, and other various Halloween items that were brand new and still in the original packaging. I just went up and down the isles throwing things into my cart.

When I got home I put it all together and came up with a costume. I would be Tinker Bell's cousin...Rocker Bell. The wig and the eyelashes were awesome! They were so awesome that I won the costume contest at work. Here are some pictures.

My fake eyelashes were purple and had crystals on them.

My tights were purple and black striped. This is a funky shirt I also got at Goodwill.