i'll have cheesecake with my toast

On Friday, January 15 (yep, magazine deadlines make for one delayed blogger), Bryan and I were leaving for the 70th anniversary gala of the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta when we received a call from Carly

she's engaged!

Andrew asked her while they were hiking Friday afternoon

after Mr. Smith went to Washington, we met up with the newly engaged couple at Apres Diem for a celebratory drink:)

the manager was so excited, we got to toast with complimentary champagne!

and our cheesecake came on plates with a ring and a heart made of chocolate syrup:)

excited for my sister!

snowy scenes

yes, it's the crazy cardinal...he's still here...but he does look nice in the little bit of snow we got last night

a fun site to wake up to! (no making fun of us too much, Vanessa--this is "heavy snow"--and yes, we heard people scampering for milk and bread yesterday--not to mention how school was canceled today :)

charlie tracks!

maybe the cardinal camps out here

99 days till our wedding! (yes, that called for making a newspaper chain!)

carly's back home:)

new decade celebration

taco fixings for our new year's fiesta

My favorite part was when David's new wife Alba (from Honduras) saw the cheddar cheese and lettuce (apparently not so available in her home country) and said, "Oh, it's Taco Bell." The silly things we Americans do---the Hondurans brought over some delicious fare that resembled what we would call a taquito with cabbage on top--YUM!

Jonathan and my dad talking and laughing per usual (and always a pleasure to see!)

Vanessa and I ringing in the new year pots n' pans style

Carly joining in adding a little horn to our percussion section (and is it just me or does she look a little bit like Melman the giraffe from Madagascar? a cute Melman:)

the next photo in the sequence :)

Kyle and Jonathan shooting bottle rockets

carly and andrew

me...continuing the celebration

a new year's call from my dear fiance (who said it took him nearly 10 tries for the call to go through--guess many people were doing the same)

Kyle and Vanessa (who we had to drop off at the airport this morning at 5 a.m.--sad to see them go after such a great week, but glad I'm planning an April wedding they'll need to be at!)

Happy New Decade Everyone!

frozen fountain

We don't know whether it is due to cold weather they brought with them or a sign that it is time for their return, but today after church, we walked to Zucca's and noticed this fountain was icing over! I'm sure Vanessa was laughing as we all touched this "frozen stuff" with excitement. And then the excitement ended just as quickly as it started when my mom announced it would be in the teens next week--eek!

christmas wrap-up

Adding Vanessa into Christmas morning festitivies was much fun--she went along with all of our crazy traditions and we had a really great time!
Kyle is sporting one of his day-of-the-week mustaches and trying out a new self portrait taking device:)

Carly trying on her new frog toboggan.

We got some great surprises from the Bells!

A new warm hat...that matches his pajamas!

Unwrapping presents, practicing duck calls, eating bacon...the fun of the morn:)

Today we saw the sun come out, so we traversed Sweetwater Creek a bit--and we did pretty good at this family self portrait!

Found the perfect log in the sun to stop for a sandwich break.

the sound of the rushing water was so much fun--it's still quite full after all the rain it has gotten this year

trying out the new poles i got for christmas

verdict: winner! they helped me get up slippery slopes, across water and rocks, and they even saved my clumsy self from going face first a time or two:)

Our time all together has been really wonderful--just like being warm and cozy by a big fire.

Carly leaves with the Georgia Tech band in the a.m. for Orlando and then the bowl game in Miami--sure would be fun if they won her last year!

festive with a fiesta

Happy New Year!

The Chupp clan is celebrating this evening fiesta style with a big spread of taco fixings and, of course, plenty of chips from La Parilla:) Charlie is even in the spirit of things!

If you're in town, stop by anytime and say hello!

Cheers!

gangs all here!

Kyle and Vanessa arrived safely last night and the Chupp's had quite the wonderful Christmas today---there were several times we even forgot it wasn't Christmas for everyone else. When our new telephone books were delivered I expressed how unfortunate it was that this woman had to work on Christmas:)

More to come, but there were two noticeable things right away: Vanessa's chopped off her hair, and Kyle...well...hasn't cut his since the wedding!