The most wonderful time of the year!!

Oh ya baby I love the World of Concrete Convention!! It is definitely one of my most favorite times of the year!! While the boys are away the girls get to play!! So on February 3rd Eric and I and Eric & Charlotte Pottle jumped on a plane to Vegas. We got to stay at the new Vdara at the City Center and we loved it!!! Seriously the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in with the most amazing pillows (that by the way you cannot buy anywhere because we actually tried!!!) It is a beautiful, clean hotel with NO casino which equals NO smoke every time you walk through the lobby! Wednesday night we went out for a nice dinner at the Bellagio buffet. YUM! We walked around a bit and had frozen hot chocolates at Serendipity (fun place!!)
Thursday the boys headed over to the convention and Charlotte and I took it easy and then headed to the spa at the Bellagio, which I have officially deemed the happiest place on earth!! Deep Coconut Surrender, there are no words for how heavenly this massage was! We spent some time in the jacuzzi, did a little reading, I sweated off a couple pounds in the steam room and then we headed for an equally as heavenly pedicure! I am thankful for friends who have ruined me by introducing me to the finer things in life. We went to dinner at a reeeally good Brazilian restaurant and of course at way to much. It was a fabulous day!
Friday we had a great breakfast at the Bellagio, the boys went back to the room to work and Charlotte and I went shopping! I'm telling you it was such a torturous trip (wink, wink).
That night we went and saw the newest Cirque Du Soleil show Viva Elvis. We knew it wouldn't be anything like the other ones we have seen but we weren't really sure what to expect, I loved it! The music was fun and it kind of had a little bit of everything and was the perfect finale to this trip!

Our original plan was to fly home Saturday morning but I kind of had a change of plans.
Tuesday before we left my sisters had decided to take a last minute trip to Utah to surprise our sister Missi. Obviously with the short notice I wasn't going to go but it just wasn't sitting well. I felt really strongly that even though the timing was horrible I should really try to go.
It took a little shuffling but we are truly blessed with such good kids and amazing friends, we worked it out! My sister grabbed a few extra things from the my house for me and the 3 of them left Friday evening and stayed in a hotel a couple blocks from ours. They picked me up Saturday morning to drive to Utah. I left poor Eric hanging to fly home with Eric and Charlotte. I hope he knows how much I love and appreciate his support and understanding!! It was a great getaway and we love spending time with the Pottles, great conversation, a lot of laughing and great memories! We are already looking forward to next year!!!

I forgot one.

The day after Christmas the Perkins clan headed up North to visit G&G Perkins in Pinedale and celebrate Christmas with them. We very much look forward to going up there, relaxing, eating good food, playing games and just relaxing together as a family.With all the Christmas preparation and excitement I did not do a very good job packing or gathering cold weather clothing. I knew it was going to be pretty cold and they had already had quite a bit of snow but I really didn't think the kids would brave the cold very long so I wasn't to worried about it. Boy was I wrong!! They pretty much lived out there! Sledding and played in the snow all day! They would come in soaked, freezing with bright red, rosy cheeks, get warm and do it all again!! Grandma and Grandpa feed us well and put up with all the chaos of kids going in and out and eating them out of house and home and we are so thankful to have such a beautiful place to visit!!

Happy Birthday Keaton

January 17th
SERIOUSLY!! How can my baby be 7??? I keep telling him I am not letting him get any older but he says he doesn't know how to stop growing!!
This little guy has so many friends it is awesome and I am a sucker for birthdays. This year it was such a last minute thing, it just snuck up so quick. So needless to say I took the not always so cheap but easy and fun way out and had his birthday at Amazing Jakes in Mesa. It is a little boys dream come true. Laser tag, rock climbing, bumper cars, go carts, goofy golf, video games, various other rides and all you can eat!! I think a handful of them had somewhere in the ballpark of 6 ice cream cones each!!! One of the boys said "I know why they call this place Amazing Jakes, it is really amazing!!!!" My friends daughter Carlee made Keaton the most amazing cookie with the cardinals logo on it! The kids loved it!! Thank goodness for my good friends who came and helped me with all these little balls of energy!! As far as party's go it was a huge success! We didn't lose anyone, they had a blast and nobody got sick from all the junk I let them eat!!

Suckers!!

Back in November our dog Bosco got out of the garage door that was left open by one of the kids. It was hours before we realized he had gotten out and being a beagle he puts his nose to the ground and is oblivious. We looked, asked around, put up posters but we didn't find him.

The kids had been asking for weeks if we could get another dog and we were sticking to our guns on saying NO!! Until Kiley pulled up a picture of a puppy from one of the dog rescue sites. I am such a softy and a sucker for the puppy eyes! I kind of blew it off for a few days and then made the mistake of entertaining it. I told her we could go look. HAHA, what was I thinking, ya right go look! We instantly fell in love. So here we go again with the potty training and obedience training.
So meet DAPHNIE!!
She is part lab and part border collie mix, a total spaz, and a cuddly pup and everyone loves her! We may get this pet thing right yet???

çousins mania

We all have busy lives and busy families but we have felt very strongly about trying to make a valiant effort to get together as families (both sides Perkins and Wright) as often as we can. Especially for the kids sakes. Some of my best memories as a kid were family get togethers and playing with all our cousins. So we are trying to do our part!

The Friday school got out for Christmas break we hosted a cousin sleepover at our house which also included 2 friends, and 2 adorable little ones we babysit sometimes. So I think we had 18 kids over and 14 stay the night. Obviously I was a little preoccupied and unfortunately didn't get any real good pictures but regardless it was crazy fun!!! We had a dance party, played Wii, pretty much dumped out every toy we own, went in shifts to look at some really spectacular Christmas lights in our neighborhood which is a story in itself. I truly have not laughed that hard in a loooong time, seriously!!!! Saturday morning we made a waffle breakfast and played some more. It was a little exhausting but totally fun!!

Christmas (Finally)

I am constantly journaling in my head but I haven't quite figured out why I have such a hard time taking the time to actually write it all out. Here it is April in 2 days and I have so much to catch up on. The last few months have literally been a whirlwind of activities!!!

This past Christmas season has been one of my personal favorites. Not for any particular reason. It just seemed that as a family we just had an overall peace and happiness that hadn't been present for a while. We just enjoyed the moment and didn't get as caught up in the commercialism. I was having overwhelming nostalgia, not for the past, but in the present. I felt so strongly that we need to feel that closeness and make lasting memories. Not that we don't already but I just felt more strongly about it.

We enjoyed our usual traditions which included our Christmas Eve feast and Christmas Story movie marathon. I love that the kids love and look forward to this so much. They opened their Christmas PJs, we pigged out on Mexican food and finger foods, downed a couple bottles of sparkling cider, had a fire going and just enjoyed our night! Christmas this year was scaled back in the number of gifts under the tree but it was perfect and our kids are probably still a "little" on the spoiled side!!! We had so much fun watching them exchange gifts and be silly as we took pictures etc. the rest of the day was so mellow. No matter how hard I try I am still exhausted come Christmas day. I pretty much dosed on and off on the couch while they played with their gifts and relaxed. We had a yummy brunch with everything that is not good for you! That night we had a delicious ham dinner with the Perkins side and Aubrey and her kids. It was so good and again the kids just played together while the adults laid around with the glazed over, I just got ran over by a truck look! I do get so sad every year how fast the season comes and goes but it was a good one so I will try to put on a brave face and get excited for a new year to start and hope that it brings much goodness and happiness!!

This picture of Keaton sums him up! He is our baby and still young enough that you would think he would be all over asking for toys for Christmas, but that was not the case!! All he asked for was football stuff and boy did he make a haul! When he unwrapped his football helmet you would have thought he won the lottery! He kept kissing it and staring at it and was beaming ear to ear!!! Even though we missed out on the fun of buying toys it was priceless watching the excitement over his jerseys and receiver gloves and hats and helmet.Max, Keaton, and Myles sporting their Fitzgerald jerseys!!!
I know I post way to many pics but sometimes it is to hard to choose! I love these guys!!

check it out!!!

Never mind about the fact that I haven't blogged in almost 3 months, (seriously where has the time gone) I have my priorities and right now it is to win a gorgeous piece of bling!!! On my sisters awesome blog she is featuring a giveaway of one of the most fabulous necklaces ever!!! Check it out www.whippycake.com. You know you want one too!!
My hats off to The Pink Chandelier, you have some mad talent girl!!