6.24.18

School is finally out for North Thurston schools! They got out Thursday! I worked a lot subbing at Horizons elementary this year and I’m hoping to get a job there next year. They don’t have anything available right now, but a lot of times jobs don’t come up until school starts when they know the numbers. The principal asked if he could call me if anything came up.

                                               The ladies I worked with this year. 

Friday we left at 4:30 am and drove to Utah. We had Hazel with us and she did pretty well!

 We went up to Logan yesterday. Brooklyn Falter just moved up there and we saw her and Kylie and Lauren and their families. 

Here’s Melissa with Hazel and Rowan (Kylie Falter Maughan’s youngest)

Brooklyn or Aunt Gup as all the nieces and nephews call her. 

We love seeing our RMs. Blake and his wife Kjersti Green.

She loves that she has pockets!

 Chaz and Melissa drove us up a mountain above Utah lake. You could see the “y” in the mountain across the lake, it was near Saratoga Springs. He used the four wheel drive to get up there. Pretty bouncy at times! 
So pretty!

We’ll be here until Thursday when we drive home and then we start the camp Helaman and trek. 

Love ya all,
Sis Shoop

Sent from my iPhone

6.17.18

What an eventful week! And I’m exhausted! In that good, content kind of way, so I’ll be short. 

Keagan graduated Saturday morning! It was wonderful! Not too long of a ceremony and lots of fun being around family and friends all day.

Gpa Thom, K, gma, and his cousin Anna graduated from North Thurston, too.

And today we went to Makayla’s graduation at the Tacoma dome. We needed to pick up Hazel and see Melissa in Graham and wanted to make it to church by 1,  well.. it wasn’t physically possible, so Keagan googled churches close so we could find one to take the sacrament. We ended up in Yelm (it was the closest.. Graham’s 1 was the Spanish branch.). We got there just when they were singing the last verse of the sacrament song. What a blessing it is to take the sacrament and renew our covenants each week. It filled me with a sweet spirit by doing that and that Keagan was so determined for us to get to a meeting to take the sacrament. What a good example he is to me!

And.. our other big news.. he submitted his mission papers! We will know soon!!

Love ya!
Sis Shoop
Ps and this girl! She is the cutest most fun and sweetest girl ever! Being a grandparent is the best!

6.10.18

This week I’ve started to get sad and a little teary eyed at random moments with the thought of Keagan graduating and leaving for his mission. I’m so excited and happy for him, but it will be such a big change for Ray and I to transition into an empty nest. I know it will be great, but quiet.  

So many changes.. I’ve also finally decided to stop teaching preschool next year. I’ve been doing it for 11 or 12 years now. Now I just need to decide on working as a para or being a para sub. I’ve applied to a few different jobs, so we’ll see where that takes me. 

Keagan had seminary graduation tonight. It was nice and simple with great musical numbers and talks. I’m glad both of my kids made the good decision to go to seminary. They have both had wonderful teachers that helped them learn and grow in the gospel.

Daniel Osler, Hailey phibs, Reanna Drees, Makayla McCrackin, and Keagan


Wednesday is Keagan’s last day of school and graduation is Saturday. Melissa and Hazel are coming Thursday or Friday. Melissa’s in laws come to WA every year to get strawberries. They are bringing them up and then we are driving them home probably the 21st and spending a week in Utah. 


We can’t wait to see these cuties! Hazel has been giving the cheesiest grins!




Four years ago! I can’t believe how fast it has gone!


Love you!
Sis shoop

6.3.18

I was so glad to have a weekend to rest! My friends last week wore me out.. I’m not used to staying up late more than one night in a week. I must be getting old. 

Monday we had a great visit with my mom and step dad. They took us out on the boat. It is one of my favorite things to do. It was beautiful!

The weather has been just right.. I am a true Washatonian.. it’s barely hit 70 and been mostly sunny out .
Keagan had prom date #3 with Makayla. This time it was Yelms prom and they had it in some convention center in Lakewood. I was proud of him, the group wanted to go to the melting pot in Tacoma. He looked at their menu online and just about died.. it was $48 for each meal. He called Makayla and asked her if it was ok if they ate fast food first and then went with the group and just had dessert. So, that is what they did. We took them to prom and Makayla s Family picked them up. 
We found this new park (to us) that overlooked the water and we relaxed there while they ate and then brought them back there for their final pics. Haha






And anytime I see MT Rainier put so beautiful, it makes me happy. We are so blessed with so much beauty from our Father in Heaven!




It’s been hectic with all the end  of the year activities. In one way I can’t wait until it’s over, but I know it will be sad, too. Keagan graduates June 16. He has to get his blood work for his doctor visit and go into the drivers license office to get it (he already passed all the tests) and then meet with the stake president to send his mission papers off. Wow!
I’m grateful for his strong testimony and willingness to serve. It will be another one of those bittersweet things in life!

One good thing about Keagan graduating is that we will see Melissa and Hazel! Chaz can’t get that time off work. :(

I love FaceTime!!


I think she looks to big here. 


Love you all!
Sis Shoop

5.27.18

I don’t know how wives of husbands that are gone a lot do it. I’m lucky and blessed to not have mine gone too much. Ray went to Pennsylvania to visit his family for almost a week. I was glad that he got to go and visit, but I sure missed him! He was a big help to his family while he was there. His aunt was in the middle of moving and his mom was in the hospital for a few days. He came home Tuesday night. Here is him and his mom. 

This weekend has been so much fun. We have had a couple of our rms come visit us. One- Zackary Bishop, he’s been home almost 5 years! He came with his girlfriend Jen and his sister Becca. He was nice and took us to the ballgame! 

This is their normal... hahahahaha 

One of my most favorite things to do is ride the ferry. I love being out on the water. It was in the 60s and a little cloudy, so with the wind blowing, a little chilly. I like to stand out on the deck and just breathe it all in. (The Seattle skyline is in the background).

I’m so happy it’s a 3 day weekend! We’ve stayed up Way to late having fun and talking with our friends!

Love ya!

Sister Shoop

Sent from my iPhone

5.20.18

We got some new callings in our ward today! Brother Grubbs and the whole ym presidency was released and we got new ones all from new 6th ward people. Adam Cline ym President, Brother Morrison 1st Counselor, and Brother Chard 2nd. That should be a great presidency! I got a laurels advisor- Darlene Chambers and Tonya Richardson was released from Sunday School teaching.

I’m really excited for President Nelson’s face to face with the youth! He wrote them and letter and put out a short video for them to encourage them to come and gave them a challenge to read the Book of Mormon every day and pray for a purpose- a question to answered at the fireside. You cal just feel his love for the youth in the video! 

Here is his letter. I love it so much!

Dear Youth of the Church:  I am deeply impressed by your goodness and potential. As we prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Savior, I want you to know that you have a personal role to play!  To help you gain a vision of who you truly are and understand your role in the latter days, my wife, Wendy, and I will share a special message with you on Sunday, June 3.  We invite you to gather with your family and friends to watch the broadcast together.  Until then, I encourage you to prepare by reading from the Book of Mormon daily and pray that the Lord will reveal to you what He would have you personally do and become.  Sincerely,  Russell M. Nelson President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

And his signature! He has beautiful handwriting!

As school gets closer to ending ( but still a long ways off for us here in Wa- June 21), life gets crazier. We are trying to get all of Keagan’s dr appointments and everything done for him to submit his mission papers. He is getting really close to being able to submit them! So crazy!

This week Ray was able to go to Pennsylvania to visit his family. I’m glad he could go see his mom and aunt. He’s been a great help to them. His step dad passed away a couple of weeks ago and he already had his ticket for this time, it has been good for him to be able to help his mom with some things. 

Hazel hasn’t started totally dressing herself.. yet, but she has some strong opinions on what to wear. She insisted on having her leggings and shorts on! Hahahahaha 

5.13.18

This week was a really good and fun week, but also a little overwhelming. 

Wednesday night I got to go the David Archuleta concert. My friend Sandy texted me and asked if I wanted to go, she had one extra ticket. They are really into his music.. :). Her daughter Lauren made us custom t-shirts with his face on it. She did all the getting the image and whatever else she did to make it look so cute. We got really good seats and it was so amazing and awesome. Now I need to get his cd.

The only problem is.. I don’t do well with out enough sleep. And it really wasn’t the concerts fault, but I stayed up late talking to Ray and the next day I was not as prepared as well as I should of been and I almost had a melt down..
My special project that I had printed out for Mother’s Day and preschool That morning.. I put in a “special place” and uhm.. I never found where that special spot was. I still haven’t found them. So, I sent the pics to Walgreens to be printed.. again and called Ray, my hero, almost in tears and asked him to go pick them up for me pretty please before preschool was over so we could wrap them and send them to the moms. He’s so awesome and came to my rescue.. but wasn’t too happy. I don’t blame him.
I was in charge of mutual Thursday, too, and helping host a baby shower Saturday. But it all was good.

Luckily the weather has been beautiful this week! That is always cheerful!

Keagan had his North Thurston prom Saturday night. That is #2 of 3 for them this year. They wanted to go to Mormon prom and each of their own high school proms since it is their Senior year. This year his prom was at the children’s museum and he said that it was the best thing ever. They got to play on the toys there. Fun!

                                                                     At the museum

I was thinking about all the missionary phone/Skype calls today! How awesome! And thinking about how next year that will be me. So strange to think of!
Tonight my family came over, my mom and step dad Thom, my sis Cindy and her daughter Aurora, and my brother Adam and his wife Heather and my niece Anna. It was so fun being together and visiting and laughing. It hasn’t always been a good experience, so I was especially grateful for the great time we had all together! Sadly, I didn’t get any pics. We were all so busy enjoying each other’s company!

And Hazel! She is getting so big!

Love ya all!
Sis Shoop