Kitchen Backsplash

Now Chris and I have our struggles, where to go to dinner, which direction should the swing set face, uuummm PROCRASTINATION. BUT, we also have our strengths. Like being awesome dancers, singers, baby rockers, sweet treats eaters, board game players. Big, important stuff. But one of our best and proudest of mine is being financially responsible. (Thanks banker mom) So we usually set goals and save. Or with Chris having a commission we can usually fortune tell what is coming in the next few months. There are definitely times when we credit card it up, but it is usually swiftly paid off. No credit card fees puh-lease! 

So, here were our goals for the Dry Drought Utah Winter (it is sixty degrees today) of 2014-2015. 

One- Kitchen Backsplash

Two- Cabinets in the laundry room

Not to lofty, eh? 

There are tons of DIYers out there doing there own backslashes. We were not ready for that. We also needed a real tile guy to come and look at our master bath shower that was HORRIBLY done when we built two years ago. Some of the grout is turing black (eek!) and the caulking is coming of ev-er-y-where.

Long story short, it isn't mold, it was just laid badly and the color of the drywall is seeping into the grout. Nice, huh? Ugly, but we aren't inhaling mold. Lungs for the win! He says the shower should last a couple more years. So bad and good. Something that we can live with and don't have to pay for now, sounds good to me.

Here are the lovely rosy, colored shots of before the tile was laid. I seriously wish I knew how to use a camera. About half way through I figured out how to make them less orange.

And here is after! Still not the best photography, but it is so pretty and simple and has really lightened up what is actually one of the darkest rooms in the house. We went with the most cost-effective, simple, timeless tile we could. It's your basic subway tile and we went with a medium gray grout. Easy clean, easy on the eyes. I am really happy about it. I just need to add a few more pops of color or some natural elements to get away from the the whole black and whiteness of it all.

Putting in our hood will come along sometime. It only took us two years to put in the backsplash, so maybe two more to put the hood in?

And yes, you noticed. We still do not have a dining room table. Someday eating at an actual table will trump indoor soccer and blanket pull rides. We only have a few more years of that, so blanket pull rides for the win.

4 Months!

Holy cow, it feels like I've given up on my poor little blog! There, there, Shupaloop blog. There, there. Is it time I rename the blog? Or should we forever be the Shupaloops? I'm pretty sure Chris and I are the only ones who know where Shupaloops started from. Eh, we'll see.
So yes, how are you blogosphere? We are good, here are a quick few photo updates to catch you all up:
Chris and I had an actual date night out that included dinner AND a show. Not just one or the other, or fast food and a movie. A sit down dinner and a nice seat to see Jim Gaffigan. It was full of Hot Pocket funniness.

 We met up with my family from Kansas in Branson, Missouri for some long over due catching up. It was absolutely great.

 Halloween brought out the witch, the crow, and the football player.

One regretfully boring Saturday we hopped in the car and drove to the humane society and came home with a mini Spike named Rue.

She also may be part cat.

 Millie continues to have daily fashion shows that sometimes include her dad.

 Someone turned 32.

There's no better way to celebrate 11 years of marriage other than buying dog food. All we needed to do next was buy a package of diapers. That's when you know you are knee deep in wedded bliss.

For the past eight years we've read this little board book every Christmas Eve.

This guy woke up Christmas morning a little too anxious or had too many Christmas cookies the night before. He had a whopping two cookies, but was convinced he over did it.

A case of the barfies will not take away his happiness, though. All the kid wanted was this jersey for Christmas. And it hasn't come off his body since. How did we get a Dolphins fan in this house?

 My mama retired.

 The New Year came. (at 9:30)

This guy turned 32 last week.

Now, I promise I won't will try not to let this happen again. Shupe overload! We have a few house projects coming up. And I will someday soon show pictures of the awesome playhouse Chris and his dad built last summer. It is the best thing ever!

Oregon 2014

So sorry, but this post is going to be picture overload. But be thankful, if I had Chris's phone, there would've been more. In all fairness, this trip was to Oregon. Seriously one of the most stunning places in the country in my opinion. It was my first time, and most definitely will not be my last. 

So let's start our journey.

Our destination: Olivia Beach, Lincoln City, Oregon. Da Beach House.

Our drive started out looking like this:

Then we encountered this:

We played a lot of games, crafts, and movies.

Five hours later and we made to Ontario, OR. Just over the border from Idaho. Happy-I'm-Out-Of-The-Car-Kiddos.

The next day I was doing a lot of this:

The teenager comes out in me when I think of the drive along the Colombia River. I can't. I can't even.

We made it!

We also headed up to Portland for a couple nights on the way home. We hit up food trucks and VooDoo Donuts of course, but the rain really came down on our Portland Parade. The children's museum was awesome. But other than that, we needed to plan a little more when it comes to bringing our kids to Portland. I would love to go back and walk the farmer's markets and food trucks for hours without kids in tow. 

So we ended up checking out early and headed to Boise. On the way to to Oregon we had passed a water park just outside of Boise, in Meridian. So we beat the rain and headed for the sunshine. Roaring Springs was a blast!

I know I say it a lot about our family trips, but this one will go down in the books. A few things we will do or won't do again when it come to the Oregon Coast. 

• We will definitely stay in Lincoln City again. It was central, clean, and most important, not too crowded. We went at the end of July. The weather was great, a little cool, but not much rain at all. And we basically had the beach to ourselves for three of the four days.
• We will stay more than four nights. This place easily deserves a week vacation.
• You only need to drive to Astoria once. We will not do that again. We should've learned from our last trip on the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Fran. IT IS MUCH LONGER AND WINDIER THAN YOU THINK. Which is all fine and dandy and beautiful, but not so great to spend half the day in your car with three littles when your vacation is only five days long.
• The drive. Will we drive again? I don't know. Most likely yes, because we might not have a one year old ever again. And we saved some dough! So we will see.

GO VISIT OREGON!

Miss May's Birthday

Happy birthday to this girl…(last month)…..

This is Laney. This is her face in photos 90% of the time.

Doggie photo bomb. It happens regularly.

Laney had a bird themed party because she is not only our Boo Bear, but our Laney Bird.
I had most of the decorations left over from Millie's previous birthdays and random tidbits from around the house, but I did buy the birdhouses and a couple spools of ribbon. Oh, and I had to make her a birthday hat. Don't you know me by now?

We have used the same #1 candle for each of the kids' first birthdays. I think that little blue candle will live in our junk drawer forever. 

Whew! What a year. And I know our little Laney gets a bad rap (half of it deservedly), but I wouldn't give up a single second of her screaming in my ear. And to her credit, she was our happiest baby on her first birthday. Jack was grumpy and Millie was sick and grumpy. So yeah, you go girl! 

She may be our loudest, most convicted, and by far hungriest one of the bunch, but she is STRONG inside and out. Happy day sweetness. Mom and Dad love you.

Oh, and just for fun. And because I like to make myself cry.

 (And she's our happiest child!)

(He's seven by the way)