Merry Christmas from the Shoop family!
Here is our Christmas card & family newsletter.
2011
We’ve
been making picture calendars for the last 10 years or so for our families for
Christmas gifts. I recently finished
this years. As I look at our pictures
from the year, I realize even more how blessed we are & what fun we have
together as a family.
Ray- He is still going to school and doing really
well. I’m very proud of him for sticking
it out!! He is still working at the
Capital & doing odd jobs. Ray has
been Keagan’s Scout leader at church (this just changed….bishopric) and has
really enjoyed working with the boys and going on campouts with them. Luckily he will still be able to go, just as
dad now. Ray also likes to garden, he was very successful with our tomatoes this
year. He had a great time this year going to a BYU
football game with some friends of his.
They got up early and drove a few hours to Oregon to go to the
game. He thinks this should be an annual
tradition!
Donna- I am still working as a preschool teacher &
still loving it! Where else do you get
to do art projects, sing silly songs, hear fun stories, & hang out with one
of your good friends! This year we
expanded & have 2 sessions (on Tuesdays & Thursdays), we have 8 children
in the morning class (9:15-11:45) and 5 in the afternoon (12:15-2:45). I am working with the Young Women in church
and love being in there with the girls. I am often the chauffer to many events in our
children’s lives. Most of the time I enjoy
this driving. We get some excellent visits
in during these times!! Ray was able to
surprise me this year for a big birthday party!
He had around 30 people there. I
had a few suspicions, but didn’t suspect anything that grand. For those of you who know Ray well this was a
huge feat for him! He did a great job
with the help of a couple of my good friends.
Melissa- She turned “sweet 16” this year!! And she got her braces off!! She went to a BYU clogging conference in June
and did really well. It was her 1st
time in Utah. This school year she is a sophomore. She enjoys High School. She is on the dance team & we have been
having fun watching her perform at the High school football half time shows. She will perform for basketball, too. She is still going to seminary (an early
morning church class) and her goal is to get 100% attendance for all 4 years,
she is currently doing this. She has her
driver’s permit and has been driving us around.
We’re hoping to find time (&money) for her to take driver’s ed at
the beginning of next year so she can get her license.
Keagan- He
turned 12 this year. He is in 6th grade - his last year
of elementary school. Ugh, MY BABY!! This year he was soooo happy when he passed
me up in height! He is officially taller than me now. He enjoys going to Scouts & all things
associated with that – boy things- campouts, shooting guns, fires, etc. J He likes to play wii,
likes history, and we love to tease him.
Thank goodness he is a good sport & he can dish it back pretty well,
too. He really is a sweet & kind
boy! (young man)
This year we were able to go visit my
mom & Thom in Wyoming. They were on a mission for the church serving in
Alcova (Martin’s Cove), the middle of nowhere.
It was a great trip! We took the
kids to Utah, Keagan had never been & Melissa had just barely been. We did the touristy thing in Salt Lake &
got to see several friends that we hadn’t seen for a long time. It was so fun
re-connecting with them!
We are so blessed!!! We have many good life time friends! We have a comfortable home, a good family,
and we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives! We hope at this season & throughout the
year that we can always remember our blessings.
I know we all have so many things to be thankful for! One of my favorite things to read about &
do is to try to think of all the random little blessings we have. I love it!
One of my recent ones was- I’m thankful for a fireplace going on a cold
night!
The cute blonde in our family pictures
is my 8 year old niece Aurora. She
spends a lot of time at our house & we love having her! We jokingly say that we are the “perfect” American
family… we have 2.5 kids. J
We hope to hear from you soon! Our e-mail is rdmkshoop@comcast.net &
here is the link to our blog… I’m not as diligent as I used to be in updating
it, but still do occasionally.
rdmkshoop.blogspot.com
Love – The Shoop Family, Ray, Donna,
Melissa, & Keagan.
