Merry Christmas

 Santa came......and look at the WONDER on this child's face.

 Santa brought Ryan a digital sketch pad for the computer, Callista was blessed with Saige (this years American Girl) and Chloe received a daybed and trundle for her American Girls.

 A day we never thought would come.  There is a story behind this.....

After this summer of spending a lot of time on Aunt Becky's trampoline and also The Bitton's trampoline's...the kids were begging and begging to get one.  Paul absolutely refused to even ponder the idea.  In fact he said, "We will get a dog before we ever get a trampoline!!!!!"

So......we watched our neighbor's dog, in our home, for a week in November kind of as a dress rehearsal for whether we really wanted a dog.  By day 2 of dogsitting it was ALMOST unanimous.  Callista was and is the only member of our family who thinks that getting a dog would be a great thing. So imagine my own surprise when the UPS man shows up at our house with this massive delivery from Amazon which says "trampoline" on the side of the box.  I couldn't believe it.  He really kept his word (which I never thought he would in this case.....he does not like the injuries he sees from trampolines).  

So now the Shupe's are proud owners of a trampoline....and we LOVE it!

Papa surprised the kids' with a guitar and they enjoyed getting a few pointers from him.  

It was definitely a Merry - Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve

As usual, Christmas Eve at our house is almost as exciting as Christmas Day.  We shared it this year with my parents and also with our good friends, The Walton's.

Callista had been waiting all night for Eli to show up with our bag of silly presents.  He did not disappoint.  The men got headlights that glow in either red or green.

 All the girls got silly socks...

Even the Moms.

 

The men got instant mustaches.

 The boys got mystery magic flyers.  It's like.....magic!

 While the presents and food were great and delicious...the best part was just being with loved ones and enjoying one another's company.

 OK.....does he not look like he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar?

Hope you were good this year Zach cuz Santa is coming tonight!

The Sunday Before Christmas

I always love the Sunday before Christmas!  New Christmas dresses, beautiful music at church....it just starts Christmas week off right.  This year we got to share it with Papa and Nana too.  

Look Who's Nine!

This is one very Happy Boy.  He is currently in an airplane phase.  He eats, breathes, draws, creates with Legos, and plays with anything that resembles an airplane.  Buying him presents this year was EASY!  He got a book on flight, a Wii game all about flying,  a Lego airplane creations kit, and a few  die cast airplanes.

 Ryan's favorite treat has always been donuts.  So when he told me he didn't want me to bake him a cake, he just wanted donuts I was game.  The part he didn't tell me was that he wanted a donut "airplane" cake.  Ummmmmm!  So we gave him the tray, a butter knife, a cutting board, and this is what he came up with.  An "Airplane Donut Cake".  Great job buddy!

Here's to another year full of baseball, airplanes, baseball, and a few more airplanes!

We love you!

Happy Birthday Paul!

Oh to be 39.......the last year before a new decade of life begins.  What will this year bring for Paul?  Lots of laughs we hope.

We spent an awesome day going to see the movie Frozen, and then out to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.  That was followed by cake and presents.

 His favorite cake is Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake...although it wasn't such a great idea to make this on the same day we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory....can you say overstuffed?

If you are related to Paul than you know how very difficult it is to shop for him.  The only 2 things he asked for was a UNLV window sticker for his truck and and a surgical cap with either BYU or UNLV fabric.  I found a lady on Etsy to make the BYU one but she didn't have UNLV fabric.  Maybe next year?  Happy Birthday Paul...here's to another awesome year!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We shared an awesome Thanksgiving with our friends The Richards from Atlanta.  

We went to St. Augustine on a cold and blustery day.
This is the Fort of Castillo de San Marcos.  St.  Augustine is the oldest city in North America being settled by the Spaniards in 1565








They indulged us in our Gingerbread House on Thanksgiving tradition and helped us eat the candy too!






Clare and Callista showing off their masterpieces!


Ryan describes Dane as "practically my cousin".

Callista and Clare.....2 peas in a pod.  They both love blue, neither are fond of "princess stuff", and both have blond hair and blue eyes.

Atley, Chloe, and Brynne.

A friendship that started our first week of college at BYU.  I think she is the only reason I was meant to go to there!

 

Disney World - Magic Kingdom

We took another 3 day weekend down to Orlando to attend the temple.  Yet again....we got no pictures of the temple because it was pouring rain.....AGAIN.  But here are a few pictures of Disney.

Not much else to say about the 3rd Happiest Place on Earth....

It was fun, and definitely made us HAPPY!