Crazy times

We are getting ready to leave for Missouri tomorrow and we have so much to do! We are excited to get this trip underway. Probably me more than Jake, he hates the drive. I LOVE being in the car for so long. Gives us a time to just chill with each other and answer all of Gracie's questions and concerns. I don't remember if I wrote this or not in another blog so forgive me if I did...a couple of weeks ago when we found out that Monique and Tom were not going to Missouri Jake made the mistake of saying to me joking "Monique and Tom don't love us, they are not going to Mo this year." Gracie overheard him and the next day just started bawling. When I asked her what was wrong she told me she was sad that Tom and Mo don't love her anymore. :( I had to turn around because I was laughing so hard. She was so distressed.
Monique, since you are one of the two that read this blog...enjoy your new found peace. I don't blame you a second for staying home. Enjoy your "new" home with your very own little family:)
And Ann-Marie since you are the second person who reads this blog-have a fantastic trip! Don't worry about Brad:) Weather permitting we will be there on Sunday to help you brave the Moberly ward!
Merry Christmas everyone!

Mom, are they Jewish?

This is Gracie's most recent favorite question. We were at the store and she just started asking if certain people were Jewish. After she asks about random people she will get more specific and ask about people we actually know. Jake taught her to say "Peurto Rican Jew" except Gracie pronounces it "Pork and Jew" So the ward missionaries are over the other night to meet Jake and Gracie asks me if they are pork and Jews. That girl makes me laugh!

Gracie paints herself

Gracie loves painting and doing anything 'crafty'. This afternoon we painted our pictures and then I went in to wash out the brushes. When I came back in Grace had painted her face and her hands bright blue! I love it. I just had to laugh because she was so excited to show me her creation. Her face is still bright blue, she just had to show Dad when he got home. He laughed as well:)

Yesterday Gracie walked in the room with my purse and says; "Mom, I'm going to San Diego, California. I'll be back later. Love you Mom! -Then- Hi Tom, Hi Monique, Hi Mya! Want to go to the beach?" She has quite the imagination.

Home is the best-

Gracie and I have been home for a whole week now. What a wonderful week!! We babysat for two weeks in Park City. That went well. The kids that we hung out with were great. I took another babysitting job the same day that that job ended. So Thursday morning we dropped one set of kids off at school, took one mom to the airport, got back just in time for the next mom to get in from the airport, Grace was able to squeeze in a nap, take a History exam, then off to pick up a next set of kids, guitar lessons, piano lessons, Jake's done with work, Charity arrives with kids, Michaela, Mark, Seth, Levi, Elaina, sigh...dinner...clean-up, Erika and Ellery come over to visit. So that was an idea of how busy we all were:)
It was great weekend with all of my siblings here, just jam packed. Jake was a saint and he took Gracie while all of my sisters and I went to get facials, manicures, and scalp massages. It was awesome!
Mom's party went well. She walked in about 5 minutes early for her surprise party. Kinda surprised us instead of the other way around. But it was a fun night.
Jake and I are coping with Gracie reverting back to two year old behavior. She's decided that she wants to be potty-trained again because her best friend is. So she just goes the bathroom wherever!! Aaaaaaahhhh:( Frustrating.
For my funny Gracie story of the blog....Gracie wanted to go home with Jake one night while I was in Park City. So I was bringing her over to Jake's work and she was asking me if we were going to Dad's work, when I told her that we were she said; "Mom, are we going to Harm and Evils?" Well the job site is Cam-Harv's so I thought that was what she was saying. Tell about 1/2 hour later I realized that she was referring to when we say prayer in the morning and ask that "no harm or evil will come upon dad" Funny kid! So she does listen to prayers.

"It isn't scary Dad, no bears are coming!"

Yesterday Ann-Marie Marchant came over to play with us. We had such a great time visiting with her. She suggested that we go on the Heber Valley Railroad Haunted canyon ride. It was awesome. This is Gracies version of what happened last night.

"A train did hit a car and it did go right into the water. Crocodiles. Last night, hmmm..Ann-Marie going on a train. We did go'ded in the car and say bye-bye, and all those people were waiting to get on the train. The train Toductor (Conductor) said 'All aboard'. Monsters came in, girls were screaming. There was two werewolfs coming in and out and in."

Pretty much that is the evening in a nutshell according to a 2 year old. The train ride lasted for 35 minutes, the announcer was telling these stories the whole ride up and as he told them we would pass the people outside of the train. Then the train stopped and all these people dressed up as various things came on the train and terrorized/teased all of the kids on the train. Good times!

Yet again, this is for you Monique...

Jake told me I had to update the blog because Monique said so:) Life is crazy here as usual.

Between being mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, student, leader, ect..ect..I have been trying to get this Boutique up and running. It has been a long time coming and a ton of hard work, but we are open!!

Gracie and I go over there Tuesdays and Thursdays for a couple of hours, and I am thinking about being open on Saturdays for a few hours as well.

Other than that going on, we are getting ready to go babysit for the next two weeks in Park City.

I met the dad for the first time yesterday. This should be interesting. I'll let you know how it all goes.

Life in the Perkins home

I have a few moments and thought I'd update...for Monique and Ann-Marie's sake. You both should feel very lucky:)

We had a great time this past weekend. I left Friday night for Id. and Jake stayed at Sharon's so he could hang out with Jay.

Idaho was very fun, but very, very fast! Ben and Kelsie's home is beautiful. Kelsie has the most amazing ability to create awesome living spaces. They've been in their new home for 4 weeks and the whole place is decorated to the tenth degree. Blows my mind. I have about 4 pictures hung and we've been living here for 2 years. Ha! Oh well. The baptism went so well. Ben had already told me the week before that he was going to be emotional. He was right. He bawled like a cow! It was neat how many families showed up to support Eric. During his conformation Gracie, again in her "quiet" voice says; "Uncle Ben is crying mom!" and my personal favorite..."Mom, I have a wedgie, move your arm so I can get it." Yep, that is a once in a lifetime experience. Oh wait, she said the same thing during sacrament meeting. It never ends with her.

When I got home Saturday night from Idaho, Jake and Jay were in Heber getting ready to fly airplanes. So we went over there with them. Good times.

Sunday morning I'm trying like mad to clean up Sharon's (Jake and I have different standards of clean). So I don't do anything for breakfast. Kinda fend-for-yourself day. So it was an all out cereal morning, not a big deal. Then I'm riding back down to Heber with Jay, Jake had ridden his bike up there, and Jay gets a text from Mike saying Happy birthday. I felt like such a heel. Jake had told me it was Monday. We did nothing for him! And he is 30!! Hopefully Jay doesn't hold grudges. Sorry Jay:(

This week I started a little preschool for Gracie and her friend Julien Thomas. He came over and the two of them learned about tigers, and leafs. We had a really fun time. We are planning on doing preschool two times a week.

Well, Gracie and I are off to Traci Johnson's boutique. I've got to get it organized so I can send out fliers to get some buisness going. Next week will be the breaking moment. We are going down to Monticello to do a big sale. Keep your fingers crossed that it goes well!

Another weekend at Sharon's

We are here in Park City, housesitting for our friend Sharon for the weekend. We really love being here. Her house is beyond huge! She has a putting green, b-ball court, pool table, rockband (for Jake), and a ton of other fun things. Gracie is pretty sure that this is our "other" house. We will let her think that for a while longer.
Tomorrow Grace, Erika, and I are going to Rexburg, Id. for my nephews baptism. We will be back Saturday afternoon. This is a very short visit, but I'm sure it will be fun. Jake is really, really excited because Jay Shelby is coming to visit. He's been wanting him to come for such a long time.
Funny story...today when we were at the grocery store this big guy got out of a truck next to us and moaned as he got out. Gracie says in her very loud voice; "Mom, I just heard that cow moo!" I am loving the fun things she says.

Another week gone by...

This week has been awesome! We've had such a great time with our family. My sister Charity came with her two adorable kids Caleb, and Johnny Boy on Monday and was able to stay until Wednesday night. Besides Gracie bullying Caleb around, we had a wonderful time. We were able to go fishing, go to the park, go get ice cream cones, just lots of fun things for little kids!

On Tuesday night Erika, Timi, Faith, Hope, Ellery, and Andrea all came up for dinner. There was lots of talking, laughing! Poor Jake was very outnumbered:)

Yesterday we were able to go hiking with our friends in the Uintahs. What a beautiful place we live in! We had such a great time with them. Gracie really held her own on the hike.

After our hike Faith, Ellery, Erika, and James came up. Faith was a sweetheart (like always) and watched the girls while we went on a double date with James and Erika for Erika's b-day.

This was the 2nd date Jake and I have been on without Gracie in a year! Fun stuff!

Today was Stake conference. Gracie and I went and had a awesome time. It was a stake conference with 135 other stakes! It was huge. There was great music and awesome messages.

Another week has gone by! I'm excited for the next one.

--Crazy days--

This week has been crazy trying to catch up on life. From the moment we got home I feel like we've been going 90 mph. I've been doing fun outdoor things with Gracie b/c it is supposed to snow on Monday. Cramming summer activities into one week can wear a girl out.
My sister Charity is going to come here this week so that should be fun to have her and her two adorable boys to hang out with.
School started on Wednesday. Nothing earth shattering to report about that yet. I'm only taking two classes so it is pretty chill.
Today was a quiet morning of r.c. airplanes, then a crazy afternoon of cleaning and re-arranging. Jake was a total stud and helped me get everything back in place. It feels great to have the house more in order
That is all for now!

Dr. visit

The doctors visit went well. Besides Gracie crying from the moment the nurse measured her til the moment we got into the car to leave. Not just a few tears, full blown terror, bawling her eyes out crying. For some reason she was under the impression that her doctor was Sonic Drive-In. That was a rude awakening.

Anyway, she is healthy. No worries about eating lbs of sand, dirt, chalk, and other misc non food items. So other than being traumitized by having some strange guy look in her ears, shes great!

Monique...this is for you!

Okay, here goes nothing! I'm officially starting our family blog. Here is proof that peer pressure is real:) We just got back from San Diego, California yesterday. What a great time we had! We were able to spend the weekend with Monique, Tom, Jay, Joy(Marsh), Jeremy Shelby and my sister Erika, niece Ellery, ect... It was a fun filled trip full of great friends, family, and food.
We experienced wild animals, jet skiing, sore muscles, sunburnt bodies, amazing bbq chicken, strange flashing lights in the sky, temple guards, border control guards, bottomless steak fries, full stomachs, and car crashes. Very eventful trip. Jake slept from around 3:00 p.m. til 7:00 a.m. this morning. Gracie went to bed at 8:30 last night and woke up at 10:00 this morning. It is good to be home but only because we were sick of being in the car all night. Grace wanted to know if we were going back to the beach today. I guess the 3 lbs of sand she ate didn't quite fill her up. Which reminds me that I need to take her to the Dr. tomorrow and ask if I should be worried that my 2 1/2 year old likes to eat sand by the lb. I'll let you know!