Hoopes Family Reunion

(Alan Stauffer photo)

We just had the greatest time up in Star Valley at our Hoopes Family Reunion! My Grandpa (pictured above with Thomas) is now 93 years old. He and my Grandma have 7 children, 42 grandchildren (about 30 of those married), 112 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren. That's about 206 people I think and about 140 of them were all together this weekend at the reunion.

Below is my immediate family. It was great to have us all there together (I actually stole these 2 pictures from my cousin). The first picture is us singing Ragtime Cowboy after someone said something about BYU. My parents now have 14 grandchildren.

The girls had fun getting there early to help decorate a little bit. My cousin and his wife did an amazing job! They added so many little details to make it the perfect reunion. These were some of the signs we saw coming in.

The family tree with all of our names was inside the pavilion. Outside the pavilion was the table with all of the tshirts. Like my family's Montesi reunion, we decided to do different colors for each generation. I was so excited about how the tshirts turned out and looked in the pictures! The picture on the left is the original picture that we used for the front of the shirts. These pictures are of my Grandpa with his horse pulling teams. (My dad is in the back of the picture on the left and in the front of the picture on the right). Grandpa and his sons and later grandsons would travel and compete (and usually win) horse pulling competitions all over Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana, a little bit in Colorado, maybe Nevada, etc.

There were lots of introductions that needed to be made! The best was showing off our new little boy! All of the cousins had fun getting to know new cousins and playing games with them! (You have to see the cute video)

About 40 people went on the hike up to Intermittent Springs. I stayed behind with Kierra and Thomas and was so mad at myself that I didn't send the camera with Matt and the girls, so again I stole pictures from my cousin. Here is Kaylee getting ready to go on the hike and then a picture of the beautiful springs. I haven't been up there forever--I really do wish I had gone!

As people got back from the hike my cousin took us all on wagon rides with my Uncle's horse pulling team. This was really a highlight!! My memories of Star Valley always include horses, wagon rides, magic carpeting, etc. It was so great to be able to do that here at the reunion!

Later that night we sat and visited while others sang, played guitar and told stories. There was also an amazing video with hundreds of pictures of the family from 1935ish until now! So many memories!

Oh--and the harmonica--this is also a must see video!!

Ballgames!! Another huge memory. The family used to always play ball on the grass in between my Uncle's house and my grandparents house. The family got a little too big for that and had to graduate to the "Box H" field. Now we were on two different ball fields playing and having a great time!

Again, my girls had such a blast! It is amazing how they quickly become so close with cousins they never knew before! We were so excited to finally get these 3 together for a picture. They really are so much alike in looks and personalities!

We had so much fun remembering Grandma and writing down some of the great quotes she and Grandpa have had! This was at the end of the reunion. It took a while to actually get up and leave. The kids were very anxious to leave and swim at the hotel, but I could've kept visiting forever. We had the best time! It all went so incredibly well! I love my family! I have the greatest cousins in the world!! The only way to have such great cousins is if they have amazing parents! And then of course that means Grandma and Grandpa are incredible! I know that Grandpa missed Grandma a lot this weekend. I hate to see him tear up when he talks about her, however, it is wonderful to see that love that he has for her!

Thanks to everyone for one of the greatest weekends ever! Lots of love to my entire family!! You are the best!!