MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
December 2009
Dear Family & Friends,
When we pause to reflect on what we have done this past year, we realize that we have so much to be thankful for. I love this time of year when we can take a minute to do that!
This year has been fun and busy as usual! Some of the highlights include Trips: a few trips to Boise, trips to Portland, and our favorite – a long time coming and deserved trip to PA, pages coming to stay at our home, Keagan learning how to ride his bike, orchestra concerts, power tap performances, talent shows, seeing different temples- including the one Ray & I were married in, going to grandma & grandpa’s house, enjoying our hot tub, getting several trees cut down in the backyard, Melissa getting glasses, couponing(is that a word?), Melissa going to stake dances (yikes!) and reconnecting with old friends!
Dear Family & Friends,
When we pause to reflect on what we have done this past year, we realize that we have so much to be thankful for. I love this time of year when we can take a minute to do that!
This year has been fun and busy as usual! Some of the highlights include Trips: a few trips to Boise, trips to Portland, and our favorite – a long time coming and deserved trip to PA, pages coming to stay at our home, Keagan learning how to ride his bike, orchestra concerts, power tap performances, talent shows, seeing different temples- including the one Ray & I were married in, going to grandma & grandpa’s house, enjoying our hot tub, getting several trees cut down in the backyard, Melissa getting glasses, couponing(is that a word?), Melissa going to stake dances (yikes!) and reconnecting with old friends!
Some of the kids getting ready for the stake(church) dance at the beach
Melissa getting ready for her 1st church dance
My friend Corey & I at my High school reunion. We were neighbors, we have the same b-days & our mom's have the same b-days! It was soo good to see her!
A Good family friend of ours.. my little brother - Adam's girlfriend in High school, who we still love and adore! We consider her part of the family!
My friend Jennifer from High school and church, Sis. B (Alana Brudvik) - my YW president 20 years ago(yikes!). We got together for lunch and had a great time catching up!
Our favorite trip was going to PA!! It had been 4 years since we have been back. We had a great time being with family and seeing several of the sites! We went to Hershey Park (of course!), WA DC, Gettysburg, Harrisburg – the capital building, and a really cool historic museum there. Did you know that the Shoop family has their own cemetery? We spent a day searching it for Ray’s grandparents and couldn’t find them. We went back another day when the caretaker was there and found them right away – they had too big of a headstone, we were looking for something smaller! Of course the best part was to hang out with our family. We have really missed them and enjoyed reconnecting with them. We can’t wait to see them again and wish we didn’t live so far away!
One of Ray’s talents is to find great deals on Craigslist. One of them was to find us a free (yes, free) hot tub! We only had to put a little bit of money in it – mostly to update our own electrical to plug it in. We love to spend time as a family in there and enjoy our new backyard.
Sad to say, but true, in the 17 years we have been married, we have finally lived in one place longer than 4 years! With buying an older home, every year there is some kind of project that needs done. This year was cutting down some of our trees in the back yard. We had 7 cut down (for free – another one of Ray’s craigslist finds). Now the back yard is still in progress and won’t be done until next year (maybe-hopefully). It is so nice to have more light coming in. (Don’t worry; we still have several big trees left).
The best way to stay in touch with us is on the computer, you can e-mail us at rdmkshoop@comcast.net, find Ray, Donna, & Melissa on facebook, and read our blog (rdmkshoop.blogspot.com) and you can connect to Melissa’s and Keagan’s blog from our family blog. I plan on posting this letter on the blog, too with pictures and links.
We hope you and your families are all doing well and in good health. We look forward to hearing from you soon. We’re very grateful for this time of year when we can ponder the true meaning of Christmas and think of our Savior.
Love Always,
The Shoop Family – Ray, Donna, Melissa, and Keagan
*The pictures on the Christmas card (The first picture on the blog) – our family picture was taken at Chocolate World, can you tell Keagan was tired of having his picture taken? The next one is Melissa right before her first stake dance and then Keagan enjoying a water ride at Hershey Park.
One of Ray’s talents is to find great deals on Craigslist. One of them was to find us a free (yes, free) hot tub! We only had to put a little bit of money in it – mostly to update our own electrical to plug it in. We love to spend time as a family in there and enjoy our new backyard.
Sad to say, but true, in the 17 years we have been married, we have finally lived in one place longer than 4 years! With buying an older home, every year there is some kind of project that needs done. This year was cutting down some of our trees in the back yard. We had 7 cut down (for free – another one of Ray’s craigslist finds). Now the back yard is still in progress and won’t be done until next year (maybe-hopefully). It is so nice to have more light coming in. (Don’t worry; we still have several big trees left).
The best way to stay in touch with us is on the computer, you can e-mail us at rdmkshoop@comcast.net, find Ray, Donna, & Melissa on facebook, and read our blog (rdmkshoop.blogspot.com) and you can connect to Melissa’s and Keagan’s blog from our family blog. I plan on posting this letter on the blog, too with pictures and links.We hope you and your families are all doing well and in good health. We look forward to hearing from you soon. We’re very grateful for this time of year when we can ponder the true meaning of Christmas and think of our Savior.
Love Always,The Shoop Family – Ray, Donna, Melissa, and Keagan
*The pictures on the Christmas card (The first picture on the blog) – our family picture was taken at Chocolate World, can you tell Keagan was tired of having his picture taken? The next one is Melissa right before her first stake dance and then Keagan enjoying a water ride at Hershey Park.
1 comment:
Sounds like a great year! Merry Christmas.
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