company

While Mark and I were in San Francisco at Fisherman's Wharf, we met this couple who was traveling the world for 4 months. It is really quite interesting how it all worked out. As we were getting to know one another, we told them we were from Las Vegas, and that just so happened to be the one of their next destinations! We gave them our number and told them to call us for a BBQ and swimming. That was all in 15 minutes before we had to take off for our tour at Alcatraz. So that was that!

We'd been home from our trip for one day and they called us!! We did a BBQ and swimming at my parents house. Through getting to know more about them that night, we found that they were on the tail end of their traveling. They had already been to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. For the next few days they were just going to drive back to L.A. and kill some time before they flew of to N. Y. on Easter Sunday. We offered them to stay with us til they had to drive back to L.A. and they accepted!

Crazy. Yes. I am Crazy.

But, they were extremely cordial. Very intellectual. Leonie spoke a few more languages, other than Dutch and English, and Erwin was fluent just in Dutch and English (as if that's not accomplished enough!) I am always amazed with people who speak beautiful English, as their 2nd language. Their vocabulary was enormous, more so than the average American high school student. I was stunned.

During their stay with us, we became wonderful friends. For life. When they get married, Mark and I have made it a goal to fly over for their wedding. (Hopefully that won't happen for another 1-2 years so we have ample time to save for the trip, with ample souvenir money!)

I have ancestry from Holland, and my grandpa went to Holland on his mission, still speaks it, and tells the conversion story of our ancestors (his grandparents) every Christmas Eve.

Erwin and Leonie came to church with us on Easter Sunday. They had just enough time to listen to the choir sing. As they were leaving we gave them Book of Mormons, and they graciously received them. You never know how the seeds will grow after planting them, until the eternities unravel their mysteries...

Banana Bread

Banana Nut Bread

• 2 sticks softened butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 4 cups mashed bananas (about 10-12 bananas)
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs, vanilla. Combine water and bananas then stir it in. Stir in dry indregients. Stir in nuts, except save a handful. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Sprinkle the tops with a pinch of granulated sugar and remaining walnuts. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

**I baked the bread in mini loaves, and if so you only bake for 30 minutes. Its a perfect size when baking a lot...and it makes for a great gift when visiting teaching!

Egg Hunt

This morning we went over to our neighborhood park in Mountain's Edge and partook in a wild and crazy-busy Easter event! It was plenty of fun, with plenty of people!

Peter Cottontail doing his 'thing'

Maddox boy...handsome little devil!

Bryanna, striking a pose! Don't you just love the smile she's giving?

Maddox passed the time by taking pictures with my digital camera, thank goodness for the digital age, I only deleted about 2o images! It would be a different story if there was real film in the camera.

This one was worth keeping.

Our ward choir has been preparing for the Easter Cantata to sing in Sacrament meeting for a few months now. I'm very excited that its finally here. We have some extremely talented people in our ward who can sing just about anything, and some very talented pianists. How in the world they wanted me to be the choir director is still a confusing mystery, for a few good reason. #1: I'm not a soloist, and I don't do duets. I can carry a tune, sing the alto part of hymns, but that's about all I'm vocally apt of. #2: I'm not a very good pianist. At all. I can plunk out a hymn or a primary song. But learning the dynamics and accentuating certain parts in a choir number I knew nothing about. Til this calling! The joys of learning a new skill. I have grown to love being apart of our ward choir. I especially love learning new songs and messages about our Savior and the wonderful meaning of Easter. There is a close camaraderie between the choir members. We (or I guess I should say, "I") have a great time singing, mixed with socializing during practice.

Happy Easter!!

I left my Heart in San Francisco

To celebrate our 5th anniversary, we went to San Francisco with NO kids!! We had a blast walking up and down the hills of San Fran, going to an A's game (Mark's favorite baseball team, he's quite the fan!), touring Alcatraz, eating lots of clam and crab chowder at Fisherman's Warf, shopping at Union Square, and finding deals in China Town. Needless to say, it was an unforgettable trip spent with good company!

endless amounts of taffy candy, with endless flavors, really!


on the streets of San Fran...very cool, old buildings. (something you don't find in Las Vegas, the old buildings get imploded and new one pop up in their place)

Heading into Little Italy

Ghiradeli Sqaure. We sat in the cafe to get warm, our first day there it was freezing, and we wanted to drink some hot chocolate. The cups were extra small and we then we found out why when we took a sip. It was like drinking a melted chocolate bar...like straight DARK chocolate. Not exactly what we were expecting.

Love the hills here. We got Trolley passes, but we also did a lot of walking, which I really enjoyed and needed with all the yummy food we were eating.

Lombardi Street, the most windy, curvey street in the world!

And again at the top!

At the Giant's Stadium. The A's beat them by 1, thank you very much!

We got the traditional yummy stadium food...peanuts, hot chocolate (not the meltd choc. bar!), a philly cheesesteak, and garlic fries.

Second row seats behind home plate!!

Looking out from Alcatraz. After taking the audio tour, I'm so glad its colsed now! It's a scary thought to have all those convicts so close to home.

Viewing Alcatraz from a hillside in San Francisco. Ya, a little too close to home if you ask me!

Riding the cable car. Food for thought, San Fran is the only city that still has running, working, profitable cable cars. And not to mention they are exciting to ride!

Ding Ding!! The gang!

China Town. Dirty. Smelly. Good Deals.

This is not what Japan looks like. Sorry to dissapoint! It is China town with a mix of japanese stores. The only thing that resembles Japan is the kanji, of which I can't read anymore. Sad. I know!

In this picture, it looks like one of the paper lights hanging from the ceiling is actually a hat Mark is wearing!

Capitola Beach...one that Mark spent half his junoir year at while ditching school. I would have too, honey! Beach = Chicks...no brainer!! All of us hanging out...I thought this was a very good, candid group picture capturing the essence of our trip, lots of adult time, spending it with the most dear people in our lives. (besides our children!)

Need I say more?

Union Square

This Anniversary trip was just what the Doctor ordered! A much needed break to focus on just us!

Here's to another 5 amazing years! Love you, babe!!

Monkey Bread

This was the last piece left of the Monkey Bread!! I was going to get a picture of the whole thing after I pulled it out of the oven, but my camera battery died!! I made this for breakfast the other day, and I had more rolls left in the freezer, so I made it again for dessert on Sunday.

Ingredients:

~16 to 18 unbaked frozen dinner rolls
~1 (3 oz) package regular butterscotch pudding mix, not instant
~ 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
~1/2 cup pecans chopped
~1 stick butter, melted

Directions:

The night before place frozen rolls in well greased Bundt pan. Sprinkle dry pudding mix over rolls. Sprinkle brown sugar over pudding mix. Sprinkle chopped pecans over brown sugar. Pour melted butter over all. To prevent te dough from forming a hard crust while it is rising overnight, cover with a camp towel or tightly wrap with plastic wrap. Let rise overnight at room temp. about 8 to 10 hours.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes. Turn pan over into a serving platterto remove. Serve by pulling apart chunks with forks.

my dream kitchen

First off, I have to apologize for all the 'technical difficulties' I've been having. I will figure out this blog arrangement soon. If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it very much!

As I was surfing Home Depot's web page, I saw this picture of a kitchen, and immediately I could picture myself fixing breakfast, or cooking dinner, or baking something in it. I love the open, clean feeling it gives. The spanish/country style is so me. I already have roosters going on in my kitchen, (I know, not ver original, but its so me). Besides the color scheme, I love the big garden sink, and the accents on it; the leg posts on either side, making it pop out a little. And the vegitable sink in the island...double coolness! I love the finish of the cabinets and the hardware. I never thought I'd like cream/white colored cabinets, especially with kids helping me all the time in the kitchen, but they are gorgeous and it works here. I love the backsplash tile design, the chandelier and the exposed beams in the ceiling...beautiful! I don't mind the tile flooring, but I could see wood floors working just as nicely.


If I could afford anything at this point, I have lots of remodel projects in mind. A few of them (besides the entire kitchen) would be hard wood floors, and new, thick/soft carpet upstairs and adding a loft upstairs to replace my vaulted ceilings. I like having the balcony on the 2nd floor, and as I'm cleaning up, I like to toss things up there so I don't have to make a dozen trips upstairs through my cleaning frenzie. I will miss that once the loft is done, but it would be nice adding a tad more sq. footage to the house and giving us a second family room where the toys would go.


We are do it yourself folks. So it's nice to know that there are TONS of resources out there to aid in the process! Thanks Home Depot!

200th post!!

WOW, I really can't believe its been 200 posts! When I think about it, I'm so glad I started this blog and that I keep it going. I know I will look back an be so grateful to have an account of the Perry Happenings. Life can get so darn busy, that if I didn't have this blog and updated it regularly, I would miss out on some of our fun and great moments that we do as a family or just the everyday cute things that my kids do. They have grown up so much just in the past year, I'm glad I have pictures and journal notes to go along with our life!

Some of the funny things that Bryanna has been saying lately, that I have been wanting to write down, because I know I will forget them are:

**Riding home from Disneyland last week Bryanna busts out, "When I grow up, I'm going to be like my mom and do lots of dishes!!" I want to know how does Bryanna view me? Apparently, all I'm good for is keeping up on the dishes!

**Just the other day, Bryanna was sitting on Mark's lap and tapped his chest, she exclaimed, "Daddy, you have strong boobies!" We died laughly at that instant!

**Some funny words she has been incorperating into her sentences: Possibly, Actually, Totally, Awesome, Cool, [that's so] Crazy! I really wonder how much I say these words? Possibly a little too much!

**Bryanna is my clone, whether I like it or not. If I want to look in the mirror, all I have to do is look down at Bryanna and I see myself very clearly (although she is more perfect, more innocent, and smarter!) She likes to give me orders, and so that's where I need a little improvement for sure. Soften the orders I could definitely and should do. She is my helper in the kitchen...she likes to bake just as much as I do...or maybe its getting to lick the cake batter or scrape off the cookie dough from the bowl? Regardless of how much we are alike, I love her and I am very happy that she is like me and does want to be like me. That's not so bad, I really am flattered! I mean, its not a coincidence I get to raise my own biggest fans. I just know Bryanna and I were best friends in the life before.

**Maddox has the sweetest little voice. I LOVE to hear him talk and repeat words. His soft cheeks are my absolute favorite thing in the world, and I love even more that he doesn't mind so much that I kiss them about 20 times a day! He is my snuggle bug, my bug-a-boo, and my squeezable, tickly little baby boy! He's constantly playing with his tennis raquet (and when I protest he cries a very sad and disappointed sob, tears and all!) He loves to play with whatever Bryanna is playing with. He sees her attachment to her blanket, and naturally he has the same attachment to his. They go upstairs together, grab their blankies, drag them down the stairs, all through the house and occasionally I catch them in the backyard on the trampoline rolling around in them!

So here's to 200 posts!

st. patty's day

Happy St. Patty's day!! Today has been very fun! I played lots of tennis this morning in prep for a tough match tomorrow, always a good day in vegas for tennis! Then I came home and spontaneously, Bryanna and I made sugar cookes together while Maddox was napping. I usually like to plan and prepare for fun days like this in the kitchen, but it just kind of happened, and it was fun. I love it when I look at a recipe for all the ingredients, and I already have everything! Its a pain to pull out my recipe collection, find something to make and then be missing one ingredient. I am a planner, so you can see the inconvenience there!

I have SEVERAL different sugar cookie recipes, and usually my girlfriends all love and use their mother's recipes, its just the one they were used to growing up, but I like to try and find the best tasting one that also bakes well. Here is one of the best sugar cookie recipes I've come across in a while:

Cookies

1 c. butter

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 c. sour cream

1 tsp. flavor (vanilla, lemon, strawberry, today I used raspberry, and it was delicious!)

2 tsps. vanilla

2 tsps. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

6 1/2 c. flour

MIX TOGETHER WELL

Bake @ 425 for 7 minutes (will be white)

Frosting

1/2 c. shortening

1/2 c. butter

3 cups powdered sugar

2 Tbs. milk

1 tsp. flavor (vanilla, lemon, strawberry, raspberry, ect)

STIR WELL

I hope you enjoy this one as much as my family and I do. It's a keeper, and my favorite part to this is adding more flavor besides regular vanilla!

More birthday celebration

We found this awesome tractor/back hoe at sam's club for 70% off! He Loves it, and so does his big sister!
the infamous chocolate chocolate chip bundt cake!

I can't believe he is two!!