husband.

let me just tell you about my handsome husband here.

he is so caring, thoughtful, forgiving, selfless, loving, diligent, etc. so Christ-like. and just plain amazing.

last week i was really sick with constant fevers, chills, body aches, and a horrendous stomach ache. after 3 days of pain with no improvement, we went to the urgent care and after talking with the doctor, an x-ray, and drinking some nasty stuff, i was told i had a peptic ulcer. (stomach ulcer.) crazy, huh? all those fruits and veggies are making holes in my stomach! okay, not really. it's from the bacteria h.pylori, or heliobacter pylori which i learned allll about in my microbiology class and nutrition classes. nasty bugger. 

anyway, my sweet husband was working so much but doing everything he could for me.  filling up my water bottles, making me drink the water (which was so painful), calling his nurse mom, calling my unofficial nurse mom, taking my temperature, getting me my drugs, making me what little food i could eat, and making like 3 jamba juice runs (oh and lauren and emily each made one for me, too. it was about all i could get down).

things were crazy but this husband of mine was there for me every second. 

his brother, michael, just left town yesterday morning. it was so fun having him stay with us the past few days. steven is so good to his siblings and such a good example. he wins brother of the year award every year. and definitely wins husband of the year and will win father of the year in a few years...not yet.

i love him.

going green

i'm going green.

okay, i already am.

i'm pretty much obsessed with vegetables and salads.

mom bought a juicer.

she made us some vegetable juices last week.

i covet.

steven and i don't really need one right now.

erin found a good recipe for a green smoothie.

i normally put a handful of spinach and sometimes put in some carrots or cucumbers too, but today it was all veggies. well, and half of an apple for some sweetness.

it was good. really good.

the sunday evening post

remember how i used to have the sunday morning post? and then i got engaged/married. well, it's back today. so without further ado...

{wednesday}

i wasn't feeling 100%, but i was definitely much better than before and was well enough to sit in the car for 8-9 hours.

we filled up the oil, filled up with gas, grabbed some grub, and hit the road.  

about 2 1/2 hours into the drive, the check engine light came on. we stopped in cedar city, got some lunch and went to the car place.

whoops! emily didn't put the oil cap back on! $47 mistake she'll never make again! and about 2 hours later we were back on the road.

{thursday}

first we visited this guy. my grandpa. grandma bonnie died a few weeks ago.  mom and her sisters have been spending a lot of time there. he is SO funny. he told us they moved things around in his bedroom. now he can run to his bed if someone is chasing him. pretty funny for an 86 year old!

we took a trip to the courthouse to get our marriage certificate and then visited the social security office to change my name. next i have to register my car in utah and get a utah license with my new name. exciting. but not too exciting because i am so not okay with having a utah driver's license and plates! but, that's what happens when you get married and kicked off the car insurance!

the whole fam + g.ma and blake went out to stonefire to celebrate emily and steven's birthdays.

{friday}

we went to the beach.

mom got a vegetable juicer and made us a lovely vegetable juice blend. it was so good. so nutritious. i want one sooooooo badly and i found a good one at a good price at bed, bath and beyong and we have tons of gift cards still but steven says we don't need it. we do. it's just buying all the produce to use it, which i buy a ton of anyway so...we'll see. it's totally worth it.

erin and mike joined us at maggianos for dinner. they catered our wedding and although we ate the food, we weren't really able to enjoy it fresh, so we used a gift card on friday night. and if you order a classic pasta {i splurged with the gnocchi and steven got some other thing} then you get another classic pasta free to take home! so we got the raviolis and the lasagna.

we drove down with them to their place in ladera ranch. that was our first time seeing their place. so cute. my parents and dana met us down there and we watched steven and mike play tennis. i wasn't allowed to play. but at the end i hit a few balls in my sandals. and then my stomach hurt so i stopped.

dad was being REALLY funny. the 4 of us girls sat on the bench. my dad sat by the fence and we told him we'd make room but then he took out his cell phone and started texting someone. and he texted my mom, "where you guys at?" so we said, "at the tennis courts. where are you?" and then he said, "me too. raise your hands so i can see you."  so we did.

then he was pretending to be the sorting hat from harry potter. it was SO fun.  GRYYYFFFFFINNNNDOOOOOOR!!!

{saturday}

we went to these guys wedding. {photo by amelia lyon}

their sealing in the temple was so beautiful.  their reception was so cute and fun.  i didn't bring my camera, but my mom shot a few pictures of us from her phone at the temple.

fun weekend. we left at 5.30 am this morning so we can

quick notes

i've been a little bit sick lately. like a lot actually.

i finally updated that "we" picture thing on the left so you can click it and read at your own risk.

my running shoes came last tuesday. i tried out one pair wednesday morning and now i wait until i'm all better {another week or so?}.

steven turned 22 on monday. to celebrate, i asked him to get me a jamba juice and fill up my water bottles and take my temperature and get me my meds. we will celebrate next week.

m.hopps {michael} came into town. sorry bro, baaaad timing. i'm happy you are here and so sorry i made your weekend slightly miserable. if it makes you feel any better, mine was too.

we're going to california today. i need to wake steven up. and i need to shower. i'm still moving pretty slowly. and i promised my husband i'd make him a smoothie. i've been holding out on him.

i'm going to go outside today. i haven't since wednesday. minus going to and from the car to the urgent care saturday. it's all good. the sun will come out tomorrow, too.

em is probably ready, so i need to start getting ready.

p.s. katie and kyle are getting married on saturday!!! and i'm a bridesmaid :)

wedding pictures {III}

temple photos

round II

bridesmaids / groomsmen

it looks like hank is a puppeteer puppetting michael

'at a boy, michael.  i mean, spider man.

us at the temple next time.

a few thoughts on a monday.

first thought:

i wish steven didn't have to work to earn money. and i wish i didn't have to either. i wish we could just spend all day everyday together. because we are kind of in love.

second thought:

one time steven and i were folding a blanket or something like that and he told me to hold it taunt.  excuse me?  i laughed and said, "you mean tight?"  no, he meant taunt, meaning without slack.  oooookay, babe.

he always uses that word, but i've never heard it used before.  it sounded familiar, and i believed him it was a word, but i was curious to know the dictionary definition.  so like 6 months later, i've finally looked up the word:

yeah.....it's not a word.  so i looked up tight in the thesaurus. and the actual word is taut.

i emailed that picture to steven and he responded, "That's why i married you."

third thought:

i came home from work late saturday night to a sparkly clean kitchen and flowers!

did i mention i love him?

fourth thought:

thursday we celebrate our 2 month anniversary.  2 months! feels like forever--in the best way!

fifth thought:

sundays are my favorite day of the week. church and family and relaxation and food. moving away from home made sundays hard. we ichatted a lot and i just wanted to be home with them. it was still my favorite day of the week, though. then steven and i started dating. better. then em moved up here. even better. then steven and i got married. even better still! and then lauren moved up here and her and emily come over for sunday dinners and stay all night and we play games and watch a movie. and steven and i get to spend all morning together before church. I LOVE IT.

wedding pictures {II}

temple photos
{round 1}

my parents {dad's idea, i'm sure} right before steven and i made our big debut as mr. and mrs. steven hopper.
see next photo, please.

yeah, steven fits in juuuust fine.

hopper side.

hopper fam.

kendrick side.

kendrick fam/where are you michael santiago?

our wonderful, amazing parents.

more with the bridesmaids/groomsmen later.

and, of course, more of us.

wedding pictures {I}

our wedding photos finally came

{for some reason they got sent back to our photographer, so she dropped them off at my house and then my family finally forwarded them up here.}

today's photos will feature: dresses, rings, and pre-reception photos.

all photo credits to andrea filio.


{click to enlarge photos.}

without further ado...

more of our ring ceremony, reception, and temple photos to come...

nike goddess

pretty much describes me in a nutshell.


okay, maybe not.  but i will only buy my running shoes from nike. i had a pair of new balance my fresman year of high school when i was in cross country, but that was so like 8 years ago, totally. 


it was a big debate: 
1) get them from this online outlet store in the color i wanted and get some gym trainers for my classes {like body combat when i'm in CA, or my super sweet step class, old school i know but so fun}total is $4 cheaper, free shipping?

OR

2) get them from nike.com in my 2nd choice color that's not as cool as the above and pay $8 more and get some different trainers that would be a little better and are $12 less, and free shipping? 


so pretty much that's the big debate. and the difference is really only $4 less for a cooler color, or $4 more for a better cross trainer?


 and i went with...


option 1. 

okay so these are actually not really cross trainers {like in option 2, but i went with option 1, remember?}, but i like them and they will be good for the purpose i will use them for.

and these are my new running shoes. nike lunar elite 2.  i have the lunar elite, but these are just an upgrade on last year's model, so i am pretty pumped.

it's independence day

martina mcbride. independence day. great song.

the day's events, in the following order:

saturday: 4th of july festivities started with the stadium of fire fireworks {after we both worked til 8.30 and 9.30 pm}. we drove up a little bit on the mountain behind our house then climbed on the roof of my car.  some little kids were on their truck running up and down the hood and windshield to the top of the truck. it was so funny.

in the morning, steven had to work, teaching.

i went running and yoga-ed 

{with shiva rae in my living room}.

tennis lessons. open courts {for once}.

we polished my forehand {one of many polishings needed}

and worked on my backhand. although, i failed on my serving.

we are running low on groceries, so it was a snack for breakfast, so we were pretty darn hungry! we finally hit up cafe paesan {3rd time! so good!} for lunch.  first we went to target to get some more {60} tennis balls and a neti pot.  em met us there after work. then she took us to her other work {farr's fresh--frozen yogurt, and soft-serve ice cream and frozen custard} for some FREE ice cream. 

we're just funny

see?

i told emily i looked like a man and made her retake the picture. i think it's just a bad hair day!

em was so happy that she was FINALLY able to go to cafe paesan. 

i was rocking steven's world on words with friends.  i play it a lot, on his phone, by myself.  so then he calls it words with self because i just play back and forth with myself.  i'm keeping my brain cells alive, okay?

we neti potted and then we napped. then we bbq-ed and i cooked up some corn on the cob.

em and i went on a bike ride.  her cruiser is still in california, so she rode steven's man bike. we hit up provo's mini washington monument for the veteran's. and we sang the last verse of the star spangled banner {it was engraved on the base of the monument}. yeah, we're pretty cool.

not pregnant. just wearing a flowy shirt, okay?

and now it's time to cuddle up for a movie on our beautiful new plasma flat screen.

life's pretty darn good!

God Bless the USA.

we are so blessed to live in this free country.

and God Bless those honorable men and women that have fought and who do fight for our freedom. and Bless their families and loved ones.