Family Baptism

Last weekend we were invited to be a part of our niece's baptism in Hermiston.  We can't believe that Eliza is already eight years old but we were thrilled to witness it.  Plus, Todd and his family along with Tracie made the trek from Utah to be with family.  We had Todd and his fam with us on Friday night and we had such a fun time reconnecting.  Unfortunately I was so caught up in the visiting that I neglected to take any pictures!!!  On Saturday morning we traveled from La Grande to Hermiston.....in a snowstorm.  We made it safe and sound and went straight to the church.  The baptism was very special and then we spent lots of time visiting and taking pictures.  Here is Clara having some laughs with Aunt Hollie.

Jon and Natalie are wonderful parents and have such cute kiddos!

We had lots of cameras to take pictures with and we couldn't miss the opportunity to have a family photo taken.

We had to include a special picture of the grandkids for Gramma and Grampa who are still in Mississippi and couldn't be here for the occasion.  Six of the grandkids aren't here but we had 11 of them together!

We always look forward to the baptisms and any other opportunity we can find to spend time with family.  We hope we can all get together again very soon!

Emma's Caravel Ship

In Emma's fifth grade class, they have been studying a unit on Exploration.  One aspect of the unit was learning about the difference sailing vessels that the explorers used during their time.  As a class project, the kids were assigned to "build" their own ship - they could choose which ship they wanted to duplicate and it could be built any way they wanted to, as long as the ship existed between the years 1300 and 1700.  Emma chose to make a "Caravel" ship and decided she wanted to make it out of rice crispy treats. :)  So we went and bought Cocoa Krispies and chocolate marshmallows so that the ship would be brown and got to work.  Here she is melting the marshmallows to add to the rice crispies.

She also had to create some masts and she decided to make them out of white parchment paper and kabob spears.

Her dad helped her shape it into a ship.....

.....and add the rigging and masts.

This is what a Caravel Ship looked like.  It is what Christopher Columbus used in his exploration.

Here is Emma's finished product.  It turned out really cute and hopefully she'll get a good grade on it.

And thankfully for us we had lots of rice crispy treats left over to munch on.  Good school assignment!!!

New Beginnings

Two weeks ago the Young Women in our ward held their annual New Beginnings program.  Part of this nice evening is dedicated to introducing the new Beehives who will be joining the Young Women some time during the year.  Emma will be turning 12 in December so she was invited to come and participate.  Each new Beehive was introduced to everyone in attendance and received a special rose.

It meant so much to me to attend with her.  She becomes lovelier and lovelier by the day and she will be such a wonderful addition to the Young Womens program when it is her time.

Trip to Boise

Several months ago our girls became intrigued with watching BYU gymnastics on the BYUtv Roku channel.  They would watch the meets over and over and then began researching each of the gymnasts and learning about them.  It has been a fun hobby for them since La Grande doesn't have gymnastics facilities.  So we decided to plan a trip to Boise to see a gymnastics meet.  We were hoping that BYU would be at Boise State this season but they weren't.  So we chose a meet that was Boise State versus Southern Utah University and made plans to attend.

We came early to the stadium and found some great seats.  We got a program and made ourselves comfortable as we waited for the meet to begin.

The girls made signs ahead of time to hold up when their favorite athletes performed.  Even Clara was getting in on the action and cheered and clapped and hollared.

Here is a picture of the team when the meet was over....

And this is when it was announced that Boise State had won the meet!

We all had a really nice time there and hope that we can do it again next year!

We went back to our hotel and hunkered down for the night.  However, Mark and Emma started getting sick with colds and none of us ended up sleeping very well.  We got up in the morning for breakfast and then hit some stores.  The girls had gift cards from Christmas to use so we went to Target and Deseret Book.  We also spent some time walking around Cabellas.  We had a fun day around town but we were all tired and not feeling well so we headed home a bit earlier than planned.  Clara crashed in her carseat and slept most of the way home.

Emma and Samantha kept quiet with movies and books to read.  You can see how tired they both are....

Despite not feeling well, it was so nice to have a little family getaway and spend time together.  Plus, Mark gets the "Dad of the Year" award for sitting through an entire gymnastics meet and shopping....the things he does for his girls. :)  Fun trip!!

Another Birthday

Recently it was Mom's turn for a birthday and I wasn't happy about it.  I suppose I just don't look forward to being older.  My family tried hard to boost my spirits and help me have a happy day.  I received a gift certificate for a massage (which I loved), I was given breakfast in bed, and then Mark made a nice dinner for me with dessert.

My gift this year was a Jam and Jelly Maker from the Ball canning company.  We go through lots of homemade jam in this house along with our yearly canning so this was a perfect addition and will make my jam making very easy!  I also got a gift certificate for a hair cut which I am REALLY looking forward to in a couple of weeks! :)

Happy Birthday to me - another year older but hopefully another year wiser!

Ouchies... No Fun!

A little over a week ago, Clara came down with a cold.  Gradually her cough and runny nose became worse and worse.  By Friday night, she was coughing so hard that she would throw up or stop breathing for a few seconds.  She came down with a high fever and we could hear her lungs wheezing.  We thought it was best to take her to the Emergency Room hoping to get a prescription for Albuterol.  It was a long evening at the hospital but Clara was a real trooper!

Thankfully her room had a Disney book for her to look at that kept her occupied for a while...... Her blood/oxygen levels seemed to be OK but the doctor decided to do a chest x-ray.  After a half hour wait for the results he came back to let us know that she had pneumonia in her lungs.  Because there's no way to tell if it was viral or bacterial, they went ahead and treated her with antibiotics.

It was almost 11:00 before we got home and she was sooooo tired - bless her heart.

Three days later we took her to her pediatrician for a follow-up.  Unfortunately her lungs still didn't sound good so the doctor hooked us up with a prescription for Albuterol and gave us instructions to begin breathing treatments three times a day. (The doctors' office has great toys for the kiddos - Clara especially loved this kitchen.)

She does really well and holds her mask by herself.  We just put her on the couch and let her watch a cartoon while she breathes in the medicine.

Two days ago we had another checkup and her lungs were still not healed so she is now on a mild steroid.  But she is happy and full of energy and back to her normal mischievous self.  We will go back on Tuesday for another listen.  Keep your fingers crossed that all will be well!

Ringing in the New Year!

Well..... 2013 has come to a close so the Perry Family decided to party it up to celebrate the coming year.  We also needed to celebrate the end of our winter vacation as the girls go back to school on January 2nd.  We decided to stay home to watch the ball drop but also have some fun activities to do.  I found an idea on the internet that I thought the girls would love.  I came up with a list of activity ideas and put each idea on a slip of paper and put it into a balloon.  Each half hour we popped a balloon to see what activity we would do next.

We started out with having a yummy dinner of new years treats and watching Happy New Year Charlie Brown - yeah, we are party animals in our house.  Then we sat down as a family and came up with a list of family goals/resolutions that we want to accomplish together.  The girls had some good ideas!  After that we played a rowdy game of Book of Mormon Go-Fish.  It's actually a family favorite and we have a really fun time playing it. :)

They were all very sneaky with their cards.....

I found some fun New Years coloring pages online and since the girls got a ton of art supplies for Christmas they were eager to participate.  Even Clara colored a picture with her pencils.

Then it was time for our Wii Dance Party!  All three of our girls LOVE to dance.  They sure got their groove on.  Clara likes to listen to music and yell out, "Shake It!"  It's adorable!

They had some really good moves!

We were also supposed to have a Wii bowling tournament so that Dad could join in on the fun, too but apparently our game is broken so we just spend extra time dancing instead.

At 9:00 we poured our glasses of Sparkling Cider and toasted each other.

It was a really fun night celebrating together.

Happy 2014!  We hope it's a great year for our family and yours!

Merry Christmas 2013

Merry Christmss from the Perry Family!  It was a wonderful day spent together - a fun morning and then lazy and laid back as we enjoyed our Christmas treasures.  It turns out our camera has a timer on it....guess I should have figured that out before.... so we attempted a family picture.  Clara wasn't exactly cooperative but at least we all look nice.  This is in front of our fireplace and next to our tree.

Clara is 2 1/2 now so this was the first Christmas with her that she got excited about opening presents and seeing what was in the packages.  One of her gifts was a little kitchen set.  She loved it!

She also received a new Doc McStuffins coloring book and pencils from Samantha as well as some Mickey Mouse flashcards in her stocking.  We use the flashcards to help her learn words and pronounce them a bit better.

Gramma Perry bought the girls new books to read.  Emma LOVES "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."  She finished it the first day!

Art supplies are always a big hit - especially with Samantha.  She spent lots of time coloring pictures.

Sam also received a new bathrobe - it is very soft and warm.  She has been wearing it all day!

This is Clara and her new tricycle... she likes to sit on it but hasn't figured out how to pedal AND steer.

My big gift from Santa was a new bread machine!  I love it and can't wait to use it.  My other one broke this past year so I have been anxious to receive a new one.  Santa knew just what I wanted!!!

Emma received a giant bulletin board.  She wanted to be able to display all of her 4-H and school awards.  This one should do the trick!

The big gift this year was a new basketball hoop.  Emma and Sam love to play basketball but we are no longer close to a park to play.  Santa dropped it off and Daddy spent several hours in the early morning assembling it.  They also received a new basketball from Gramma and Grampa Edwards.  They are set!

There were lots of other gifts given and received - we have enjoyed the Christmas season and we are sad to see it go.  It's hard to think about waiting another year for it to come around again.  We hope your holiday was very special!

Advent Activities

Each December I put together an Advent Calendar of activities for the girls to do.  Hopefully it helps them to enjoy the holiday and spirit of the season.  Some activities are bigger than others but we do something each day.  We have cut out snowflakes, done secret service, watched Christmas movies, and played Christmas games.  One activity that the girls really enjoyed was making homemade snow globes.  They were very easy to make and they turnd out very cute.

I found the figures at the Dollar store and besides needing the jars (which I had), some glitter, and some hot glue that was all we needed.

Another popular activity was homemade Hot Chocolate with all the fixings.  We had whipped cream, peppermint ice cream, hazelnut cookies, sprinkles, marshmallows, etc.  This was super yummy!

We also made reindeer and snowman pancakes - thanks to Pinterest for the reindeer idea!  The girls were really creative and gobbled them up very quickly after they made them.

Its getting harder and harder to come up with activity ideas that the girls will be interested in as they get older.  But it's a fun tradition to have and hopefully they will remember these moments as they get older.