The Beach House - Perry Reunion

August 10 - 17

Let me start by saying we had the best time ever & didn't want it to end. We could have stayed down there forever. Also, sorry in advance for the picture overload. 

We landed in Birmingham Saturday evening & were met by my dad at the airport. This was a first for Kellan in a lot of ways; he had never been to Alabama, never seen where I grew up & never yet met my grandmother so we were extra excited for this trip. 

My oldest brother & his family had already arrived so when we pulled up to the house the boys ran out to meet us & jump on Uncle Kellan. They were also especially excited to meet new cousin Shelby for the first time ever!

"I want to hold her" was a phrase we heard very often

Uncle Kellan is the best jungle gym

Sunday I got to show Kellan off in my old ward & reminisce about the good old times. Then we loaded up & headed deep into the country to visit my Grandmother! 

A quick word about my Grandmother; she is the best cook you will ever meet, a feisty little lady and the best Grandmother there has ever been or ever will be. 

Perry cousins

Shelby meeting Great-Grandma Perry

Grandmother had bought the kids baby chicks to play with while they were there & they were beyond thrilled. Nate was very disappointed that they couldn't take the chicks home & had told Kellan & I he wouldn't have eaten them but continued to breed them until he was, "rich with chicks." That boy. 

The kids catching lizards

Monday morning we started off bright & early to head down for Destin, Florida! Naturally we had to stop in some backwater gas station for some Cajun Boiled Peanuts. Yum. 

When we finally made it to the beach house we bounded out the car & ran straight for the ocean. We were mere feet from the beach and it was perfect save for the small detail that we couldn't find the key to get in. Luckily Jeff has lock picking skills we weren't yet aware of & broke us in.

We spent the rest of the day boogie boarding in the ocean & building sandcastles on the sugary white sand [which got EVERYWHERE].

Shelby was not so pleased

Quick side note! That night we realized Jeff had lost his wedding ring on the beach & spent hours looking for it to no avail. The next day we met a man on the beach with a metal detector who was kind enough to help us in our search. He was incredibly sweet and spent hours combing the beach searching & found it Wednesday morning almost half a foot buried in sand! Because of this whole event we were able to meet a very kind man & have a missionary moment with him. Best buried treasure he'll ever find! 

Tuesday it was cloudy and rainy so we all stayed in half the day playing games, having exciting dance parties and just having some good old fashion family bonding time. Then when the rain subsided we played in the pool and headed back to the beach to catch some more waves! 

Disaster struck again, only this time in the form of Benjamin breaking his glasses clean in two! Luckily he was able to get a pair of contacts the very next day so all was well. 

Shelby was far more interested in Grandpa Perry's beard than taking a nap

Wednesday Dad rented out a pontoon boat & a Waverunner so we could have some fun with a day of boating. We made our way out to Crab Island & the kids had an absolute blast playing in the sandbar catching hermit crabs & kayaking around. 

Then we hit the open waters for a little more fast paced fun!

We took turns taking the kids out for a go, but Miss Elle was far more interested in "deep sea" fishing. She actually did amazing though & hauled in a big catfish all by herself! Ryan also did great & caught a huge crab but it was so heavy it snapped the line & got away. 

As you can see, there was a storm rolling in & it made the water pretty choppy, but we weathered it out until we finally saw lighting and made our way back to the dock.

Kellan gets pretty bad motion sickness & the stormy sea wasn't sitting too well with his tummy, so we stayed in & made Kellan's favorite meal for dinner. Chicken Pot Pie. Of course I had to put a cute little spin on it, we were on vacation after all. 

That night, after everyone was asleep, the couples of the house sneaked out & headed down to the beach for a little midnight stroll by the moonlight. It was incredibly fun & romantic listening to the waves and stargazing for a bit. Fun Fact: The week we were in Florida happened to coincide with a meteor shower so our first night Kellan, Jess & I watched from the balcony & happened to spot a few shooting stars!

Thursday the men woke up bright & early to go deep sea fishing while we girls and the kids stayed at home to have some fun & go shopping.

Poor Kellan was feeling miserable & slept in the cabin most of the 12 hour trip. This did however make him the most efficient fisher though seeing as he would sleep, wake up & immediately catch something,  & then head back down to sleep some more.

So as far as records went: Benjamin hauled in the biggest Grouper, Dad caught the biggest Mackerel, Hiram got the most sunburned, Jeff lost the most fishing line, Kellan was the most sea sick & John ended up the bloodiest of all the group. 

Clearly it was a very eventful trip, complete with the men getting rained on; but hey, at least they all had fun & caught us an excellent dinner. 

Going out, all smiles

After they got in with their haul we headed over to the Fisherman's Warf & they cooked up our catch for us. Delish! We even got a aerial show as we enjoyed our meal. 

Kellan, who refuses to eat any & all seafood ended up ordering a hamburger while the rest of us enjoyed our seafood fare. I even snapped a picture because I thought it was so funny. 

Friday morning we booked it down to the beach to get in as much beach time as we could. Then we loaded up the cars & headed back on up to good ol' Alabama. We were able to spend some more time with Grandmother where she told Kellan embarrassing stories about me & loaded us down with food and pictures. All in all it was the perfect way to end our trip.

Saturday, just as the sun was starting to rise, we started our journey back home to Utah. We were able to sneak in one last picture of all of the family together at Dad's. Everyone was a little tired & grumpy. We Perrys are NOT morning people.

It was so much fun & we cannot wait till we get to see everyone again! 

A Refresher Course on Chopsticks

August 4 - 10

This week was a pretty normal week with nothing terribly fascinating. Sunday night we went to over to a friend in the ward where they had a campfire in their backyard & we roasted marshmallows. It's not really summer until you've had s'mores at least once. 

Our garden has been giving us zucchini like crazy & I'm running out of ways to cook it. I'm thoroughly in love with them though and cannot get enough, so my little garden, keep growing away!

Wednesday night after Activity Days I was craving Chinese food like nobody's business. It's been way too long so I figured I should go back to my roots. 

It was just what my little Asian soul needed. & we got quite the surprise with Kellan's fortune cookie. A few months before we got engaged, when Kellan first met my father, we were at a Chinese restaurant & he got this fortune. It was incredibly cute & he got it again, what are the chances of that?

The rest of the week was spent getting ready for our exciting trip to Alabama & Florida for my family reunion. Friday night we packed up and headed up to Salt Lake to get ready for our flight bright & early Saturday. 

Ready for takeoff! 

Beaches here we come! 

Splish Splash

July 28 - August 3

Monday was a big day. I put in my two weeks notice for work. This marks the end of an era. Not really, but it was a pretty significant event. 

Tuesday Kellan started preparing for the combined YM/YW activity he had helped plan. A massive water balloon fight. We went out & got about 800 water balloons and begun the arduous process of filling them. 

I don't know what it is about water balloons [or really any balloons for that matter] that are so difficult for me to tie! I think I have pretty slender fingers, but those bad boys are just awful. If it was a matter of life or death I would die! Actually no, whoever it was that was making this a matter of life or death would watch me for a little bit and then feel so much pity for me they'd just tell me to stop and let me on my way. 

But anyways, as we started to fill our neighbor asked if I would be willing to watch her son for a little bit, & of course I said yes. It started off great with Mattix & I hanging out with Kellan while he filled balloons until disaster struck. Literally. 

I kept hearing buzzing but we didn't see any bees or wasps around until I felt a sharp pain in my neck & we looked up to find a large wasp nest. Just like that, Mattix & I were inside the house and Kellan was left to fill balloons all on his own. His young men's group showed up to help but ended up popping about half of the balloons with the wasp spray. Oops. 

Mattix & I hung out inside watching Wreck it Ralph & drinking his milk with a spoon. 

Wednesday Mattix & I hung out again but he got tired of Wreck it Ralph so we watched Tangled instead & colored on Kellan's Anatomy Lecture Guide notebook. Mattix also braved our spare room and found an elephant. 

Hello purple elephant, yes I will sit with you

Our garden has been growing like a weed & I can't seem to document its growth fast enough. Friday we picked up some tomato cages to help keep everything in place, but I have no idea what to do with our gigantic zucchini plants. They're going to take over the whole yard. We also have a very exciting addition to our garden family. A watermelon has begun to grow! It's precious and I can't get over how cute it is. We'll most likely not eat it because I'm not a huge watermelon fan & Kellan is allergic, but for now we're in love! 

Friday Kellan was starting to feel sick and by Saturday morning it was so bad he slept in till about 9 AM. For Kellan, that's a huge deal. So I got up and made him breakfast in bed. We didn't have anything other than milk which wouldn't have been good for his congestion, so he got Sprite & water! Breakfast of champions. 

Then we made our way up to Salt Lake to babysit our sweet niece Shelby so my sister & her husband could go out & celebrate their two year anniversary. Before getting to their house we stopped to pick up some face masks for Kellan so he wouldn't get Shelby sick, & I've got to say; he is going to make one smoking hot doctor. Not many people look good in face masks, but Kellan is one of them. 

After we put Shelby to bed I whipped us up some sugar cookies. Mmmm good. 

Old Souls

I'm so terrible at this whole consistent blogging thing it should be a crime. & I would skip forward to now, but as this is pretty much my sole source of journal keeping I figured I should backtrack quickly.

July 21-27

Tuesday night we went out on a little mid-week date night & saw the Lone Ranger. It was pretty good, but a lot more dark than I was expecting! & those creepy bunnies! Holy cow! My feet were securely pulled up on the seat just about the whole time. [For those of you who don't know, my feet get scared & cannot rest on the ground for fear "things" will reach out from under my chair & grab me. It's a totally rational fear. I know.] 

So the movie was decently good, but the very best part of the whole thing was Kellan & I saw the vision of ourselves in 40 years. A few seats to the left of us was an adorable little couple positioned just like us [minus the woman's feet all over her husband...]. I commented to Kellan how cute they were & that I wanted to still be going to the movies with him when we're sixty and holding his hand. 

Then as we left the theater the same couple followed us to the parking garage & lo and behold they had parked RIGHT next to us! Think that's crazy, just wait, it gets better. They had the same car as us! Their model was a bit newer, but the make and color were spot on. At this point the couple had also begun to catch on to the similarities and I could almost see the thought bubbles saying, "We were that cute once. They have a long happy life ahead of them." The wife & I shared knowing smiles as her cute hubby helped her in their car & my handsome husband held my door open for me. 

Then Kellan & I grabbed dinner and a shake at the Rocky Mountain Drive Inn. 

Wednesday we had work off for Pioneer Day and started it off right with a delicious breakfast at the 1st Counselor's house. Kellan's Young Men came over and helped him set up the back wall for our shed & then we hit the streets of Provo to do some shopping. 

I'm not sure if meeting our future selves the night before had anything to do with it, or all the shopping we had done, but we got hungry extremely early and grabbed dinner at 4:30 in the evening! We were seated and halfway through our meal before the old-timers had even shuffled in. 

We came home and finished our Pioneer Day celebrations with a little Just Dance and a few Fireworks into the night sky. I also learned the very devastating fact that my dear sweet husband does not value fireworks the way I, or any other true American, values fireworks. We've come to the conclusion it may have something to do with him living in Alaska where fireworks in the summer was pretty much impossible, so his family never shot any off till he moved to California. 

Our children will grow up with a very healthy appreciation for fireworks. 

Friday was a very special day. We got news that Kellan's little brother Brigham had received his mission call! We were on a road trip to Las Vegas so we could only Skype via phone but it was still so exciting to see him open his call. Brigham has been called to serve in the Romania-Moldova Mission!! We are SO excited for him, and a little bit jealous of the amazing adventures he will have serving.

Saturday the boys were up at the crack of dawn to go dirt biking and my sister and I stayed with my mom to bake up a storm in her fabulous kitchen. Two ovens, enough space for three cooks & room to spare; who knew one day that would become a luxury?

The accommodations really were superb, minus one little detail. Camillia & Jeff had forgotten to bring Shelby's bassinet and we didn't have one at the house. We were at a loss for what to do, until I had the brilliant idea to put her in a drawer. 

Shelby, if this is the worst you every have to go through you're set

Saturday afternoon we lounged by the pool, had chicken fights [Kellan & I are undefeated] & practiced our water aerobics. We even got my mom to do a little Just Dance! Priceless. 

We stayed till Sunday afternoon & I was able to say hello to a dear friend before we left off for home. 

All in all it was a FABULOUS week!