Ringing in the New Year

Oh my word it's been such a wonderful year & it's almost to a close so I figured I should keep to my new resolution to be more consistent with this blog by posting about what we've done today.

We got in off the train at 3 am this morning, so we started our day off a bit later than usual, but Brigham is with us before the start of the semester so we took him around Provo today to show off some of the sights & around campus. We fed him some Korean BBQ, gave him a tour of campus, found him some of Kellan's old snow boots (poor guy's been shivering all day long & refuses to take off his scarf), went on a snow hike & made a delicious and simply dinner.





Now we're just chilling together at home & I'm watching as the boys play StarWars on the Xbox while I wait patiently to dance. All in all, it's been the perfect low key and stress free day.

Happy New Years to your family from ours & may 2016 bring you only the best!

Marysville & My Kind of Arch

Over Christmas break in California we visited the dump to dispose of the tree and stopped at an old Gothic Revival church. It was so fun to see but we couldn't get up & personal with it because there was a funeral going on, so we decided it would only be polite to go across the street and take pictures there...



I don't know what it is, but I just really love Tudor arches. Something about them just seems so fun and casual to me. Like if arches had a personality I would either be a crazy multi-foil arch or a low key Tudor arch. Simple & reserved with just a hint of interest to mix things up.











This last one makes me think of Harry Potter.

Dancing & Bowling

Not only did Kellan get the Starwars game, he also got Just Dance for his new console. Of course we had to test it out with a dance party!

Later that evening, on our last night, we went out bowling with Dad and chowed down on some delicious BBQ.

The lighting was absolutely horrific & I was just getting used to my camera so the pictures are awful. But I did give the camera to Thomas because he didn't feel like bowling & he managed to capture some fun shots.

It was so much fun & we just love being out there with his family.

Easy like Christmas Morning

Christmas with the Whitakers is always so fun & interesting. Documentation starts as soon as I opened my present from Santa and pulled out a shiny new camera.

Candycane Forestt

Every Christmas in California the family bundles up and brings hot chocolate while we look at Christmas lights. There's a particular street that goes all out with decorations and we love the ELF house the most. This year though I finally made the van stop so we could get out and take pictures!

Thanksgiving Feast

We had a very fun week. Kellan got to take another visit to the doctors & was given more medicine & something for asthma. Hopefully it helps.

Then we made our way down to Vegas where we proceeded to prep and cook Thanksgiving dinner for 30 people. It was a busy couple of days with us getting everything we could ready to bake on Wednesday, brining the turkey, cleaning the house & unexpectedly reupholstering a little bench before the guests came.

Before with a super thin & squished plain cushion. 

We changed the padding & foam & Mom & I picked out a nice silver sage textured fabric.

After finishing the bench quickly, I got to cuddle up with one of my favorite little guys, little Levi & fulfill my favorite role of Favorite Aunt. 

We didn't get any pictures during the meal itself because we were so busy hosting & eating, but apparently Kellan snapped a blurry picture while some of us lounged out in our turkey daze just before starting What's Up Doc with the remaining family. 

Friday we celebrated Jim's birthday & while he & mom went to his daughter's for a birthday dinner, we Perry kids played a little Just Dance & laughed our faces off. 

Levi & the dogs were quite amused. 

Mom finally got me to help her clear out my desk & we found some gems of when I was little. This is us with the first grand-baby & I look like a baby holding him myself!

After cleaning up Kellan & I went over to Courtney's parents' for a late game night that was perfectly delightful. It was a wonderful break and we were not ready to face the traffic and schoolwork that's ahead of us. But on the bright side, it's officially the Christmas season and we can't wait!

So as a parting gift, here's a quick pic of the 6 ft nutcrackers we set up outside in honor of the season. 

Lost & Found

This Sunday was probably the weirdest most interesting one we've had in awhile.

Kellan went on a campout Friday night and left his HDMI adaptor in the cabin so we contacted the owner, a bishop in our stake and asked if we could come up this evening to find it. We showed up at the cabin and two of his daughters and a friend were already there and he pulled in right behind us. After searching for the adapter for a little while we concluded one of the other leaders must have packed it down with them and it wasn't at the cabin. We would have just left then but they insisted we stay and Bishop kept telling us to just "take a seat and read a book."

Kellan & I ended up helping them decorate the cabin for Christmas and set up some lights on the deck. Then they invited up their brother & his girlfriend with instructions to bring up some snacks because we were all hungry and we played Catchphrase to the Alvin & the Chipmunks christmas record.

On our way home we decided to drop off another leader's backpack and see if they had our adapter in the equipment box they brought home. Turned out they were having a little get together/dinner and we totally crashed it right as one of the families was leaving. We ended up staying to play Settlers of Catan & having a bit of their delicious dinner. Oh, and no adapter.

When we finally got home Kellan pulled out his backpack and dumped it out and lo and behold, hidden inside a binder was the very same adapter we'd been searching for all night. This simple little thing led to all the adventure of the evening.

Brigham's Back!

Wednesday Brigham got home from his 2 year mission in Romania/Moldova! He had a three hour layover in Salt Lake so we skipped our classes and hurried up north to meet him. We had asked him what his favorite foods were or what he was missing in Romania & he had said he was missing American pizza & pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. We also knew how much he loved eggnog so we brought those with us along with a t-shirt from BYU to welcome him home.

It was so fun getting to hang out with him for an hour & we're super excited for him to start school here in January.