The Shupe Family

24 Years

24 years ago, May 5th, my husband and I got married. And it was a beautiful day!

 My crazy friend Denise was there.


And her darling daughter, just a wee little one, Paige was there.


Today, 24 years and 5 days later, I went to the wedding reception of that baby all grown up.


Has it really been 24 years? I swear the two of us haven't changed a bit (well, maybe a little).
 
 And the two of us have definitely not changed a bit.

It's been a good 24 years.

Happy Easter!

The annual Easter shot. No Christian as he ditched us for the Festival of Color in Spanish Fork. As infrequently as I update this blog, it is quite interesting to see my kids slowly grow older. Wow.
 This one, she's doesn't get any bigger anymore but it sometimes surprises me how big she actually is.
Happy Easter everyone!

Happy Holidays!

Yesterday was the big 12/12/12. And to mark it, I made everyone gather in one room at the same time and take a family photo. I wanted to remember what we looked like on 12/12/12.
This one won't make the Christmas card--I've already ordered those, but there we are.

What a year 2012 has been--busy as the past several years have been. Christian became a Marine, Sidney went to junior high and Spencer and Kristina to high school, I wrecked my van, Spencer got his driver's permit and has not wrecked a van, I traveled a LOT, Dean and I both worked a lot, we kept our heads above water and we made it to 12/12/12.

And to celebrate the year 2012 and the upcoming holidays, here's a little fun. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happy Halloween!

 Yes, it's here. We've decorated the house and carved the pumpkins.



Costumes are ready.

The Bride and Her Maid of Horror

The candy is purchased and we're ready for trick or treaters. Today is a perfect excuse to eat everlasting gobstoppers until my tongue is raw from all the sugar. I think I'll be pulling out "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" for an annual viewing. The weather is perfect. It's supposed to be in the 70's today. It is shaping up to be a very promising Halloween.

Superstitions by James Christensen

Scary movies and superstitions aside, I'm a fan of Friday the 13th. I think it stems from the fact that when I was growing up, my friend's dad considered 13 his lucky number and as a sportscaster for a local radio station, always wore a jersey with the number 13. Secondly, my brother Shawn's birthday is January 13th so every so often, his birthday falls on Friday and heaven forbid anyone bad luck on their birthday.

I can only think of one Friday the 13th that just absolutely stunk. I honestly can't even tell you how old I was. It was either high school or college because I think I had a cruddy day at school. The only thing I truly remember though is wondering at the end of the day if Friday the 13th had anything to do it with it all. But, it must not have been too memorable because, as I said, I can't remember enough details to accurately represent the day. And that's kind of how life goes, isn't it? We have cruddy days every so often and it has nothing to do with superstition or ax wielding movie characters. And sometimes, we have absolutely amazing days, regardless of what day they fall on. And fortunately, the amazing days tend to stick out better in our memories than the bad ones. Funny how that works.

So I say, Happy Friday the 13th! This is the first of three this year--a rarity to have so many in the same year! We'd better make the best of it because if not, we have the potential for three really horrid days this year. And on top of that if the world ends in 2012.... Oh, I digress. I did say I wasn't superstitious, didn't I?

Happy Birthday Shawn!