The Hoepfner's Down Under

We were fortunate this year to be able to take the kids on a family vacation, and Curt's cousin had been trying to get him out to Australia for years!!!

We all had a blast, even though it was only for 7 days. The first day we were there Curt and I went out with Drew on his sail boat and went racing. It was the first time I have ever been on a sail boat and I had fun. We ended up taking 1st so that made it even better!

The next day we all walked down to the beach and just hung out for a bit. We had to get back at a decent hour so we could have Thanksgiving Dinner. Kim's been doing Thanksgiving Dinner for the past three years and it was fun to be a part of it.

Every Sunday, Kim and Drew's girls go down to Surf Club and they learn about the waves, surfing, and saving lives. It was fun to go down and watch them. After Surf Club we all piled into the car and drove up to some sand dunes and went riding in this BIG monster truck and then went sand surfing.

The next day we got on a Ferry Boat and went out to Rottnest Island for three days. It was nice and relaxing but you can only spend so much time on a small island where the only way you can get around is to walk or ride a bike! We went snorkeling, site seeing, and hung out with the Quokkas.

The day after we got back we went to the Perth Mint and watched them make a gold brick! Then we went to the Wildlife Refuge and were able to pet Kangaroos, Pandas, and a Wombat! How many times can you say you've pet a Kangaroo?! It was also my birthday so Kim was sweet enough to buy me a birthday cake that was absolutely delicious!!! That night we went to a restaurant that is owned by Kim and Drew's neighbor. At the end of dinner they brought out a BIG bowl of ice cream with a sparkler in it.

The whole vacation and birthday was perfect!

Catch up time!...

I know, I am officially the worst blogger EVER!!! I just get so wrapped up in everyday life that by the time I think about updating the blog I'm just too tired! I'm gonna try to do better, but here is a breakdown of the past couple months.

We had Kalea with us from the first of June till the day after the July 5th. It was a lot of fun having her up here with us. On the 4th we went to the Stadium of Fire and watched the Jonas Brothers. Yeah Curt was probably the best Dad in the world in Kaleas eyes that night. :) On the 13th I left for Ft. Rucker, Alabama for my Warrant Officer school for 5 weeks. It wasn't too bad, just a pain being away and playing the mind games. I graduated August 18th and became a Warrant Officer. Curt flew out to Alabama a couple days before to see me and actually pin me at graduation, I was really awesome to have him pin me!

The second I got home I was busy! One weekend we went hiking up Timpanogos Caves and Bridalveil Falls, hung out with friends, and tried to catch up on work. In September we went to Zions National Park and went hiking with Kalea and Mom. Then we went camping with Dad, Robyn, Glen, Uncle Roy and Aunt Norma, and the kids up to Otter Creek. At the end of that month we went to DC for the week with the Utah Honor Guard and went and saw the sights. That was really cool to go and walk around that area and just soak up the history! The next weekend we went up to Snowbird for Sr. Enlisted Conference. While Curt was in meetings I hung out with Sam and Stephanie.In October we have just been trying to get things organized in our house and figure out what the heck we are gonna do with the house! Curt started finishing the basement and hopefully it will be done before Christmas. Our neighbor, Nick, has been over a lot helping out so that has been nice. The first part of October Kalea actually danced during the halftime show of the BYU vs UNLV football game so we went down to Vegas and spent the weekend with her and watched her dance.

This month has just really been busy with work so far and it has sucked!!! The only good thing is on Wednesday we are taking the kids to Australia for their Birthday/Christmas. Curts cousin lives in Perth, so all we had to do was purchase the tickets and get out there. Kim has been awesome planning our entire trip out there. It will be something that we will all remember!!!

Other then that we have just been enjoying spending time with each other, friends, and family.

I promise I will try to be better at this blogging stuff!

Pony Days Express Concert

This past week in Eagle Mountain they have had their Annual Pony Days Express. We didn't really do much cause we were working but Curt took Kalea out to the parade on Saturday morning and then that night we went to the concert on the grass to salute the troops! It was really good night. Curt did the flag ceremony with the honor guard so we were able to be some of the first people in so we got front row seats. Josh Gracin and Darryl Worley performed and they are sooo supportive of ALL branches of the military. Kalea was cute, when Darryl Worley performed she was up at the very front of the stage and she said that he looked down at her a couple times!!!

So much to catch up on!

Well, I don't even remember the last time I posted anything on here! Things have been so busy and crazy getting ready for the wedding, then going to Greece for a week, and then going down to Curt's parents for their 50th wedding anniversary; we feel like we need a vacation from our vacation. The wedding was perfect and it was great to see my friends and family. I haven't gotten my wedding pics yet so I'm anxiously waiting for them. Here are some of my bridal pics and our Greece pics, enjoy!

Tulip Festival

This weekend my brother Chris came up for drill out to Camp Williams so he brought up Morgan and Kalea to spend the weekend with us, it was a nice suprise! Even though the weather wasn't the best we went out to Thanksgiving Point and went to the Tulip Festival. We were lucky enough that it didn't rain on us, just sprinkle every once in a while. I didn't realize how big the garden was out there and there are some flowers that haven't bloomed yet so we'll have to go out there again to check those out. Coty had Prom this weekend so he didn't get to hang out with us.

Earlier this week we worked on our yard and I think it looks great now! So here are some pics and I'll post Coty's prom pics when he gets them to me.

The BIG 40

Yesterday was Curt's 40th Birthday. All weekend he's been a really good sport about going "Over the Hill." This weekend was the 30 day reintegration drill from coming home from deployment so the State paid for our Battalion to stay up at Snowbird. We had mandatory briefings that we had to go to with our spouse but after that we could do what we wanted. By the time we were done with the briefings it was to late to go skiing or anything so we all just hung out and caught up with each other. Saturday was Curt's Birthday so we all went and had dinner at this Mexican Restaurant and then we just hung out. This morning when we got home, Coty had blown up a bunch of black balloons and put up an "Over the Hill" sign. It was pretty good. Because we were up the canyon all weekend we wanted to do something else for his B-Day so we went and ate sushi. It was soooooo good!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY, I love you!

Wedding update

The past couple days Curt and I have been stuffing envelops, ya!... Man there are some things that I just do not like at all when it comes to wedding stuff. It actually took us a couple days to get our invite just the way we wanted it with pics, wording, or whatever so that was a little stressful. But it got done, and we are excited for them! I'll admit I don't have all my address' yet cause we still need to call some people but it should be all done by the end of the weekend! Last week we went up to Millcreek and had our detail meeting to figure all the rest of the details out that they need to do for us on our wedding day.

These are the only things we really have left to do:

-Address lables

-Curt's ring

-Bridal photos

-Register at Home Depot

-Finalize ribbon for flowers and cake

I'm sure I'm missing other things and I'll remember them while I'm in bed and have nothing to write on!

Here are some wedding invite pics that were taken by both Robyn and Steve. I love all of them!!!

Medal of Honor Luncheon

Today I had the most amazing lunch ever!
Last week I got an email from my friend Scott Faddis, who works for the State Command Sergeant Major, he asked me if I wanted to go to this luncheon with four other soldiers and hear a Medal of Honor recipient speak. I told him yes and then I didn't really think any more of it until Monday when I was told I needed to wear my Class A's because there were going to be some Legislative people there and the Governor might be there as well. I actually started to worry because I still had my Staff Sergeant rank on and I needed to change it to WOC rank. Curt got me squared away so I was good to go and not worries there.
Well today we all met up and the Command Sergeant Major and the Adjutant General and he drove us to the luncheon Downtown. When we got there, SFC Sammy Davis was there waiting for us to say hello and we all were able to get pictures with him. After pictures we all went into the lunch area and the presentation started. They started by showing a video of what SFC Davis did to earn his Medal of Honor, and by the time the video was over my eyes were glossed over with tears. He is such the most amazing soldier, person, hero that I have ever met! After the video he got up and talked to us and just shared stories with us. If you don't know who he is or heard his story, you'll need to look it up online and read about him. I couldn't do him justice by writing what he has done because I'm a horrible writer!!!!! One thing though that was really cool that I want to let you guys know is in the movie Forrest Gump when Forrest is receiving his Medal of Honor that is actually SFC Sammy Davis! For the movie they photoshop'd Tom Hanks head over Sammy Davis' into the original clip and that is what you see! After he told us that, he took off his medal and had his Grandson walk around with it so we could all touch and see it!
I wish I had the pics to post, but I don't know when I'll get them.
But please read his story so his history can live on!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend this year! Unfortunately Coty was sick all weekend so he didn't make it down to Richfield with us. Dad wanted Curt to help him put in a new door at the house so all day on Friday they were working on it. It wouldn't have been a big chore except the house is built out of old adobe so it's hard to secure nails to it. On Saturday Me, Curt, Kalea, Robyn, and Dad went shore fishing out to the Piute Reservoir. It was a great day because we all caught fish and they were all a pretty good size. Later that night we went over to Glen and Robyn's and colored Easter Eggs. I haven't done that in a long time so it was fun to be able to do it with Kalea. Today the Easter Bunny totally spoiled Kalea and Angie (Robyn and Glen's niece). There were oodles of candy and eggs out in the front yard and they both got very cute Easter Baskets! Such a great day!!!

Curt working on the door

Robyn, Dad, Kalea, and Curt

Coloring eggs at Robyn's

Hunting for eggs on Easter Sunday

Kalea with her Easter Baskets

Another busy weekend!

I don't think I'm gonna have another free weekend until next year! I'm not complaining, but it's exhausting trying to play catch up for a year.
We went down to St. George this weekend for Kalea's baptism and sense we were down there we made an appointment for Coty to get his braces off. The baptism went with almost no hiccups. When Kalea went under the water, one of her knuckles didn't make it under so she had to do it again, better safe then sorry! Afterwards we went to Pirates Island Pizza. That was our first time going there, and it wasn't that bad. The kids had fun so that's all that really matters.

The next day Robyn and Dad went with us up to Pioneer Park so she could take some pictures for us to have options for our wedding announcements. I hadn't been up there forever, so it was fun to hike around with the kids and take pictures. The rest of the weekend we just spent time with the family.

Today we went to Cedar City so Coty could get his braces off. He was so excited for them to be gone. He's gonna get a zebra retainer, such a nerd. :)

Curt has drill next weekend so I shouldn't be going anywhere so I hope I have a weekend of sorta relaxation!

Too much to do and no time to do it!

Well, it'as been a while sense I've been on here to update you guys with anything! We finally closed on our house on the 4th of March and was able to start moving in. The house is double what the Townhouse used to be so I now have all this open space to try and figure out what I want to put there. Of course though I pretty much have it filled in now. We went to RC Willey's the other day and bought almost all the furnature we will need to fill in the house. It's not in the house yet (they are delivering it today) but I'm excited to see it all come together. I'll post pictures once I have everything in place. Curt makes fun of me cause I didn't want anyone coming over to the house when we had boxes scattered everywhere and now that the boxes are in the basement I don't want people coming over when there is nothing in the house at all! I know I'm a dork that way, but oh well. I want the snow to stop because I'm excited to start working in the yard. I already have ideas what I want to do out there and we also have some planter boxes outside for a little garden and I already bought some veggi seeds to plant!
With the wedding planning things are starting to come together. The first week I was home we had an appointment to go and meet my coordinator up at Millcreek. This place is perfect, especially for the fact that they do everything! I'll I have to do is go to their providers and pick what I want, and they take care of the rest. We went and met with their flower person and I already have my flowers basically ordered, I just have to make some final decisions more close to the wedding (how many centerpieces do I want...). Then we went and met their cake lady. She is super nice and funny and she makes this chocolate cake that is to die for!!! This weekend we will be in St. Goerge and Robyn is gonna take some invite pics for us then next week my old boss is gonna take some as well. Now all we have left for major stuff is the DJ and someone to marry us. Those are Curt's job so I need to make sure he's on top of that... :) Last Friday we went up to Millcreek for a four course sampling dinner to check out their food and service. The food is soooooo yummy there that I'm excited to eat on my wedding day!
As for work, I moved into my new office last week and I finally have it sort of arranged the way I want it. Of course I'll probably change it around again within a month or so. Before I can pin on my WOC (Warrant Officer Candidate) I have to go to a board on Wednesday in my Class A uniform and answer all these questions that the board members ask. I heard that some of the board members might ask me what the capitol of Bangladesh is (heck if I know that)! They ask those kinds of questions, just to see what our reaction might be and how we handle it. I'm not super nervous, I just want to get it over with!

New Job

Well I just wanted to let everyone know that I interviewed last Thursday for a Warrant Officer Job and I got it!!!! It's in the same section where I was working before I deployed so it wont be a total big adjustment. I'm excited about the new change and it will be another adventure to add to our list! We are still waiting to hear on Curts promotion but we should hear something soon!

My first weekend back in Utah

My first weekend home has been a whirlwind of family, house stuff, and wedding stuff.

I flew into the Salt Lake Air Base on Friday at 5:30 AM and almost all my family was there to greet me, it was great! The rest of the day was just hanging out with the family and shopping. Later that night Curt and I were on the phone for a couple hours working out some kinks in our home loan. Yeah that was fun... We had to go though a whole new lender, big headache. but things are working out so now we should close on Thursday (I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

On Saturday I had to go out to Camp Williams and finish up some out processing stuff and pick up the rest of my gear. Afterwords we went to my future house and our Realitor let me do a walk through for the first time. I only saw the house in pics so it was exciting to see it in person. Curt did a great job and I love it! Now we just need to close on the dang thing. We ended up going to a late lunch at Olive Garden with my parents, Curt's parents, our kids, Robyn, my niece Morgan, and the girls friend Taylor. Man, I really have missed REAL American Food! We went to Boondocks and had a blast. The three girls went off runing playing on whatever they could get their hands on and the adults played mini golf. We all had a blast!

On Sunday the girls went with me to David's Bridal so I could try on wedding dresses and Kalea could get a Flower Girl dress. It was a "no hassle" business time. I had looked online for dresses for months in Afghanistan and I new what I wanted. I tried on about eight dresses and (of course) the last dress I tried on was the one! I am super excited for May 15 to come, it can't go fast enough. We got kalea this very pretty dress as well. So wedding things are slowly coming into play. On Wednesday we are going to look at flowers and stuff like that, so that's gonna be another busy day!

Back in the USA

I'm sure most have you have already heard that I'm back in the States. It still seems unreal because I'm not in Utah yet, we still have some work to do up at Ft. Lewis, Washington to make sure we are all squared away. It is nice though breathing in fresh American air, using real tolets, not having to walk 100 yards to a bathroom/shower, not living in a "box," and just feeling safer all together! I should be to Utah by next Friday.
I just want to say thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers through this deployment, Curt and Myself couldn't have made it though this year without you. We are thrilled for me to come home and start our lives together.
The next couple months are going to be a whirl wind of wedding planning and house organizing, so I'll keep you posted on the updates. I am thrilled about it all cause it's NOT Army stuff!!!!

Our new house!!!

Well, the past month Curt and I have been looking into buying a new house when I got back. The Townhouse that we have right now is just not big enough for our growing family. We kept going back and forth on weather we wanted to wait until I got home to find a place or do I just trust his judgement and if he finds one that we both would love to just let him get it. Well, we've put offers on about 5 houses and finally last week one of the owners accepted our offer!!!! Curt should be closing on it within the next couple weeks and will hopefully be moved in by the time I get back to Utah so he can just take me to our new house!!! It's in Eagle Mountain, and it's perfect for us! I am super excited about it and once I get home and we get settled in we will have an Open House or something!

Coming Home

As the time is getting closer for me to go home I'm running out of time to everything in order! We have all these requests that we need to get taken care, of course ALL of them are the number one on the important scale. We are moving out of the B-Huts next week so I have to pack up all my stuff and inventory it, I have to pack up my office, I have to make sure my weapons clean so I can turn it in for a different one that I will be traveling with, and then I have my replacement here that I get to train while I'm doing all the other stuff! It seems like this past week the panic button got pushed. I'm not totally complaining because this is one of the necessary steps we have to deal with to get us home.
Besides getting us out of here Curt and I are looking at houses to buy, we are planning for a wedding, and I'm getting ready for job interviews to become a Warrant Officer.
Man, you gotta love the busy world we live in. In the end I will be gratefull for everything and how everything will end up working out! Only 30 more days till I'm back in the United States!!!

The holiday's

I finally had some free time to get on a computer and get on the blog. The holidays here in Afghanistan are not really holidays. Yes, we get cards and boxes and they feed us good, but not being with the family really sets the mood for the whole season. I was able to talk to everyone from my family on Christmas Day so that made it nice.

Curt took the kids to spend Christmas with his family up in the mountains. They all had a blast staying in a cabin, snowmobilling, and making cookies for Santa! Of course the kids were spoiled, I have a nasty shopping habit... but they are worth it.

Here are a couple pictures from Christmas and a Hot Cocoa Social we had here for Relief Society. The Hot Cocoa Social was actually pretty fun cause we were able to get away from work and just sit and spend time with each other and catch up!