Valentines

It has been a fantastic February so far. We've been celebrating February 14th the whole month! Starting off with a trip to San Francisco, just Mark & I...we needed the getaway to recharge our love and remember what it was like to be just the two of us. Let me tell ya, it was WONDERFUL! Don't get me wrong, I love being a mom, but it is nice to go back to the basics with the hubby and rekindle all the reasons why we fell for each other in the first place!

The high light was just being together and not worrying about anyone else. We truly had a great trip, it was just the right amount of time to be away from my kids, and to be honest I kept thinking how much fun they would have riding the trolley cars, going to china town and riding the Bart. However, staying down in Fisherman's Wharf was perfect, we were able to walk to the pier at night while smelling the salty air, we even managed to enjoy an Art Gallery with some peace and quiet!

We had a big group date planned the weekend before V-day, going to an Italian Cuisine with 20 people was FUN! Afterwards, a few of us went to a movie, but the kicker was....Our friend has connections with RedRock Casinos Regal Movie Theaters, and he was able to reserve a VIP Booth (which is above the normal theater seats, behind glass) The VIP part; luxurious leather recliners, comped movie tickets, comped concession stand food (AKA: Free candy, soda, water, popcorn!!!) The movie, The Vow, was a great love story, perfect for this holiday weekend.

Oh no, I'm not done. (Although I thought I was after such a great weekend!) Mark came home on Feb 14th not with chocolate, or Roses, jewelry (although I wouldn't complain if he did!) or a sappy love card. Nope. None of that.

He came home with a sweet Kindle Fire. I love it. And was totally surprised!

I must say, I love Valentine's Day just for that element. Surprise. Love. Gifts. Chocolate. Love Notes. Roses. Hugs. Kisses. Need I say more?

Valentine's Day with the kids was FUN! We did homemade Valentine's this year (thanks to Pinterest!)

We put on the cards, "You put the color in my world!" I cut out a bunch of hearts on gussied up V-day cardstock and attached the heart crayons via glue dots!

The kids were decked out in their red clothes and Mark fixed pink pancakes and pink scrambled eggs for breakfast! It was a magical day to say the least!

 Another fun thing I found on pinterest: Free printables! I printed this off and put it in a white frame. I love that we can read this every day! (no pun intended!)

Pinterest.

Yes. I'm an Addict. I can't help it when I see so many wonderful recipes, organizational tips, paper crafts, desserts with a twist or a make-over on a piece of old furniture. I just HAVE to pin them all!! And then it inspires me to get my creativity juices flowing, and that can be dangerously fun. With all the Valentine's floating around Pinterest, I just couldn't wait to do another paper project, or for that matter, bust open my new Sillhouette Cameo!! (*sigh*) I still have a LOT to learn, and thanks to a good friend for showing me the basics (similar to a cricut, but better in a sense that I can create whatever I want with the program it comes with!)

 I can't wait to do the next project! (picture found here.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

5 Ingredient Salsa

One of the easiest, most delicious salsa recipes is right here! My kids love to eat it and any one can make this, it's fool proof. You can keep two of the ingredients on hand year round. The other three will last about a week or so in your fridge, but I usually have these anyway...we love Mexican food in our home!  Ready for simple and delish?

The 5 ingredients are.....

1. Hunt's canned tomatoes, drained. You probably don't want to use any other brand....seriously. These are the most delicious, consisten flavor; you get the same yummy tomatoes every time. You can get the Whole Peeled tomatoes or you can get any others that you might like. I love these kind.
2. 1 Jalapeno....add as much or as little of the seeds as you like, that's where the heat is.
3. 1/2 bunch of cilantro
4. 1/2-1 tsp Garlic salt (to taste)
5. 1 freshly squeezed lemon. (I used these lemons from my Lemon Meyer tree I just picked yesterday! There is nothing zippier, tastier, fresher than from your own back yard!)

Put everything into a blender and mix til combined.

Today I added a bit more seeds, so its got a kick to it, but the fresh lemon is to DIE for!

Happy New Year!

Well, since I missed Thanksgiving & Christmas, might as well start with the present! January always gives me a fresh start for our family in keeping goals, and sticking to a better routine with scripture study, more family time and chore charts! With that said...It's been super busy here at the Perry household and quite frankly, I look forward to the days that I don't have much to do. That's when I can do all the fun stuff, like make baby blankets, or some craft.

Most recently I made "scripture bags" for the Sun Beams I teach. They were so much fun to make and extremely simple. (I can do simple!) I got the idea from www.sugardoodle.net, a wonderful source for my lessons and activities each Sunday.

I went to a fabric store and got clear plastic vinyl. (it was about 1 1/4 yards worth, we have 16 sunbeams! and I wanted a few extra to make for my kids, too!). I got felt, and by freehand just drew the first letter of their name and then sewed it on first.

 I also got matching ribbon for the handles and sewed them on each of the corners before stitching the sides up. The handles were the most time consuming, and once those were done, finishing the side seam was quick!

For the embellishing, I found some cute felt stickers to dress up the bags. For the girls, I found ladybugs, bumble bees and butterflies. For the boys I found fish and dinosaurs. I wished I took pictures of them all before I gave them away just to show the Ladybug bag...it was so cute with the red & black!

Now my kids have every excuse to remember their scripture bag and to get in the habit of bringing it to Church every Sunday!

Disneyland trip Part I

We did it again! Disneyland, that is! Our favorite place this past year, and what a fun getaway it has been for our family. I loved having annual passes and I am sad they expired. BUT, that means we will have different vacations this next year and still the same amount of fun!

 Starting off the trip, we went straight over to Midway Mania per Maddox's request!

 Then the merry-go-round for Cali!

 Screamin' was for Bryanna! To say that she loves this ride would be an understatement!

 And I go on it with her, because I love her!

 As you can tell by my face in the picture, it can give me a slight headache at the end!

 With all that we did in the first 30 minutes, you could say it was equivalent to drinking a coke for breakfast...who needs caffeine when there's pure adrenaline?

 I think the roller coaster developers created Tower of Terror just for me. I love this ride!

 Maddox goes on it with me, but I'm not sure he loves it like I do! lol!

 Cali loves the churros!

 Mark's favorite ride...the wet Grizzly River Raft!

 I love Disneyland because we bond in fun ways together! I love this place!

 Redwood Creek park fun!

 Disneyland, here we come!

 I think it was best Cali didn't take a picture with Jack, since she didn't even like Mickey Mouse!

 Heading over to Tom Sawyer's island!

 And going back!