Christmas with The Perry's

Merry Christmas!! We had a great Christmas this year. It was our first ever alone since we've been married. Weird to be without all our family but kind of fun and nice to just do our own thing. This is a little glimpse of Christmas at the Perry House.

Sherri got bored waiting for Shayne to come home on Christmas Eve so she took the puppies to Petland (they were doing free pics with Santa for your pets) this is Zoey she was so good and just cozied right up for her close up with Santa! Belle on the other hand was bit more difficult. As you can see she just kept wanting to eat Santa's hair and beard. We all had a good laugh she was too cute! Sherri loves decorating for holidays. This is what our house has looked like for the month of December. We had more lights than this but it was just too hard to get a good pic - this is our front porch! The tree and Sherri's simulation of snow on the windows, since we don't get hardly any of the real stuff. Notice the whole bottom half of the tree not decorated? It's like we have kids - the dogs love playing with the tree. We were lucky to escape the season with only one ruined ornament - we thought they were all out of reach but those dogs can be tricky! Gotta have the Christmas Garland! More Christmas Decor! The infamous treat table! This is a very unhealthy tradition we have adopted from Sherri's parents, but.... it is way too fun not to carry on. Every Christmas morning there is a table or area designated for treats. All these dishes get filled with goodies and then it stays up and filled until New Years Day! Christmas morning pancake breakfast. It was fun to sleep in on Christmas since we are used to waking up at the crack of dawn when we are home with family. We were both kind of sick so sleeping in was great and then we had a nice breakfast before opening presents. Bear with us through these early morning pics we realize we both don't look our best but we were willing to take one for the team so we could share our Christmas with you! Santa was good to us this year - we are so blessed! This is our presents for each other and the ones Sherri's family sent home for us - thanks guys you were too generous. We had fun taking our time and opening them! Another fun tradition - Santa always brings popcorn and drinks with our stockings! The dogs had fun helping us open the presents, they couldn't get enough! Oooo what could it be?

Yep the girlys even got there own gifts - this is Belle trying to open her stocking from Santa!

The dogs loved all their new fun toys! Zoey's favorite was this little one from Grandma Adams - thanks!

Of course we couldn't be the only ones to have a treat table. The girls couldn't have a whole table but they got extra treats and were in doggy heaven. I am sure they were wondering why we were being so extra nice today of all days - oh well they don't have to understand it's still fun!

We were all tuckered out later in the afternoon, despite the fact that we had slept in. We took a long nap and then watched a double feature. What fun times - we just love Christmas and spending time together!! Hope you all had a great one too!!

Home For the Holidays

We were fortunate to be able to go home to Utah and visit for awhile. By the time Sherri got her holiday schedule at work flights home over Christmas were a little too pricey so we opted for the cheaper route and went home the week before. Sherri was there for a week and Shayne was able to stay a few days more (he isn't working and still out of school, so why not) and made it home today just in time to spend Christmas with Sherri. It definitely wasn't long enough but it was sure fun to see all our family and friends.

Sherri's youngest brother, Darren turned the big 16 the week before we went to visit. He waited for us to get there so we could celebrate with him, thanks!! We are sure glad he did that cake was yummy! This card game called Bang was our gift to Darren, it has become a favorite among our close friends and family.

This was the yummy birthday cake Sherri's mom made. We had to post this pic because we realized in all our fun and chaos this is the only pic we took with Sherri's mom in it - she was usually the one snapping the pics. Also, the one pulling the cute face is Sherri's favorite and only sister Christie. Darren got to pick his favorite meal for his birthday. We loved it - BBQ spare ribs! Sherri's mom was the master chef and made a great meal along with the amazing birthday cake - thanks mom! This is Sherri's fam, minus her mom who is taking the pic and then her older brother Steve (he is in Missouri and will not be coming out until closer to Christmas - we will miss seeing them this year, it's not the same when we aren't all together)

It wouldn't be Christmas without a picture with Santa, this is us with Shayne's parents.

A really really big gingerbread house - put ours to shame!!We were able to attend one of Darren's junior jazz games. He is getting quite good and he was fun to watch. Sherri had to post this close up because she just can't get over his muscles (look at those arms) her little brother is growing up it is so weird to see!! We opened presents early with Shayne's parents (Sherri's wanted us to wait until Christmas so we would have more to open since we would be alone) It was fun having presents early and we got spoiled, thanks guys you shouldn't have given us so much! This is Sherri with her kitchen aid mixer she's been wanting! Shayne's parents gave him a play station 3. He has never been big on video games but it might be a nice thing to do when taking a study break. He was more excited about the fact that it can play the new blu-ray dvds! We went to Cabelas (an outdoors/sporting goods/hunting store) with Sherri's parents, it's her Dad's favorite place in the world. We had never been and it was pretty fun to see all the displays. Sherri had to take a picture of one of them. However, this doesn't do it justice you will just have to go see for yourself sometime. We were able to go to dinner with some of the rest of Shayne's fam one night. His 9 nieces and nephews gave us this awesome blanket they made. You can't see it in the pic but they engraved our names in the middle and then wrote Ohio State on one side and U of U on the other (the other side of the blanket is solid red) we absolutely love it - thanks guys! Sherri was able to spend a day with her fam skiing. They had a blast despite the fact that she lost her poles off the chair lift the first run of the day. Always an adventure with us, luckily they were able to recover them and Sherri didn't have to feel like 2 year old skiing down the mountain the whole time with no poles. This is Sherri's 2 brothers and sister and her crazy cousin Bryant (the flourescent one). Shayne opted to stay home because he was supposed to go snowboarding in a few days. It ended up snowing really hard and they closed the canyons so he never got to go, he was pretty bummed but oh well- next time! Just couldn't resist this beautiful picture from the top of one mountain to another. We really do love the snow - it just rains all the time in Columbus. We were fortunate to visit with a lot of friends. We are sad we didn't get pics with most of them but that's ok, we have the memories. This is our favorite little guy - Preston. He is too cute for words. He is the son to some of our good friends - the Kings, guess we forgot to add them in the pic. The Carter's in town from North Carolina The Lujan's in town from Oregon.

It was so fun to visit and see you all, we had a blast and only wish we could have stayed longer. There were still many of you we didn't even get to see, we will catch you next time.

Thanks for the fun times and memories we will see you again soon!

Christmas Lights in Columbus!!

When we lived in Utah we would go every year to see the lights on temple square as I am sure many of you do. We were really bummed that we weren't going to see them this year. So...when we heard the Columbus Zoo puts up lights we decided to go check them out with a bunch of our friends. The lights were awesome they put up over 3 million, it felt like it was raining lights (actually beats the amount at temple square by a long shot). Every tree was covered and then they must have had every kind of animal lights as well. To top it all off it was so warm no one really needed coats (we are just wearing them in pics because we got sick of carrying them but it was actually hot with them on). We are having fun discovering all the great stuff Columbus has to offer, enjoy!

Christmas Goodies

What a fun weekend filled with lots of yummy treats. Friday night we got together with friends and made Gingerbread houses. We were going to make them from scratch but once we figured it out we decided it was way too much effort and we settled for the pre assembled kits. The boys were more interested in basketball and eating the candy we were decorating with but it was fun

The girls - Raquel, Molly and Sherri.

Shayne posing like he helped!

Doesn't it look scrumptious!

Our little gingerbread village!

---------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday I helped Raquel make cookies for her ward party. They were so cute and festive (we frosted some with mint icing and crushed oreos and the others with cream cheese frosting and crushed candy canes) it was so fun and they turned out great. There were even enough to take some home and share with Shayne, thanks Raquel!

Don't they just make your mouth water looking at them!

Close up of the delicious goodness!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

We had our first snow storm yesterday and I was so thrilled. It was nothing like the snow storms we are used to in Utah (only about 4 inches, which apparently is a lot for Ohio) but, I figure if it's going to be cold, cloudy and brown all the time we might as well have snow to brighten it up a bit. It finally made it feel more Christmasy too. However, there was one downfall........Ohioans do not know how to drive in the snow!!! You would think they had never seen snow before. I can say this aloud because anyone that is from here will be the first to admit it. I know they don't get snow all the time but they get it often enough you'd think they would learn. Let me just paint a picture for you when I say they don't know how to drive: A normal 15min drive to work for me took 2 hours, why? I don't know. I think part of the problem is they don't plow the streets well at all, but still it was only 4 inches, c'mon! Anyway, I am done venting regardless of the awful driving I still love the snow. 

The best part of the day was watching the dogs in the snow, they were so cute. Belle apparently loves the snow, she kept going out and playing in it, then coming in to get warm and wanting to go right back out. This is weird for Belle because she normally hates going outside no matter what the weather. Zoey on the other hand who usually wants to go outside any chance she can get was not so thrilled, she played for a minute but it was too cold for her. She came right back in whining and shaking and wouldn't go back out. Funny how opposite they are.

He's Back!

I officially have a husband again, only for a month but who's going to complain? Shayne just finished finals yesterday, good job babe! He studied so hard (I never saw him) he didn't even have time for the "little things" like shaving, his hair, clean clothes etc. I started calling him" homie" short for homeless! I kept telling him he looked like a homeless man with his unshaven face, scraggly hair and same baggy hoodies. Then on top of all that he was studying so much and not getting much sleep so he just looked tired all the time. Unfortunately I was not able to snag a picture of this, which I'm sure he will be glad for.  I actually felt so bad for him, I don't think I could be that motivated to study that much. All in all I am so proud of him and happy to have him all to myself for this fun Christmas Season.

It's Christmas Time!

Yea, It's Dec 1st - the lights are on, the christmas songs are going and the decorations are up and I couldn't be happier it's officially CHRISTMAS TIME!!! I love this season of the year, everyone is a little more happy and a little more giving, it's the best! My favorite is all the fun stuff to do: lots of lights, hot chocolate and cider, warm soup, shopping, santa everywhere, fun cookies and candy, gingerbread houses, and the best....Christmas movies. From Mr. Kruegers Christmas, Scrooged and the Christmas Story to The Grinch, Christmas Vacation and Elf etc. I just can't get enough. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and even through all this fun stuff remember the real reason for the season! I feel like Will Ferrell when he reacts about Santa in this clip when I think about Christmas and the whole holiday season!

I'm Obsessed!

Dang you all who convinced me to read the Twilight Series (I had people pestering me as soon as it came out and it has taken me this long to give into the fact that it's about vampires) I am totally incapacitated by it now. I can't put the darn thing down. How is it that totally fictional books do that to you? I read it when I wake up, then on my breaks at work, then again at lunch and then again before bed. Also, I can't stop talking about it. I want to talk to everyone that has read it because I know they feel the same way I do. Shayne just can't understand why I am so obsessed and I'm sure he gets tired of me talking about Edward all the time. Now I am even posting about it. This is not healthy! I could barely pull myself away to type this post. I have read a lot of good books in my day and there are few that I find myself immersed in, who would of thought vampires would do it? The worst part isn't even that I can't put the book down, it's that once I'm done then what? Try to find an equally intriguing book? That will be tough! I guess I always have the movie to look forward to but then that is a whole other issue. I am skeptical to see the movie so as not to ruin a good book. I loved Da Vinci Code and then hated the movie and most movies after books are that way (at least for me). I just don't know how they could make the movie as good as the book. I am nervous who they will pick as the cast especially Edward because if the actors they pick aren't how I pictured the characters in my head, Edward particularly, it will ruin it for me. I tend to like it better when they choose "no name" actors when doing movies after books. (this is why I loved The Notebook because the actors weren't very popular at the time) For example, if they had Julia Roberts playing Esme it wouldn't work because I don't picture Julia Roberts when I am reading. Unfortunately, producers think in dollar signs and many of them think bigger more popular actors will sell better. I love who they picked for Bella so far for this reason... so we are doing good for now. Ok, so I will get off my soap box now, I guess we will just have to wait and see who they pick for the movie but I am not holding my breath, so.... any of you who knows of another good read please please tell me so I won't be left hanging when I finish this series.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY

We had such a fun Thanksgiving! We had some of our friends over for the big feast! And let me tell you it was big - we had such great food and tons of yummy leftovers! We made the main food together but then everyone brought something to share; Candice brought homemade rolls and pies, Molly brought homemade pie, Raquel brought some cute turkey desserts and I made some fruit salad and jello, thanks everybody for contributing! Candice was the only one that had experience in cooking a turkey, for the rest of us it was our first time and what an interesting experience it was! Everyone came over around 10 am. The girls got busy preparing food while the boys watched football and studied (you'd think they would take a break but no, they are die hards!) In between we played some fun games and just talked. Raquel's birthday was in a week so we surprised her with pie and singing since her hubby will probably be studying. Thanks everyone for such a fun holiday especially since it was all our first one without our families - being together made it so much better!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Seeing as it is Thanksgiving today, I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you all some of the things I am thankful for in my life. I could go on forever so for now I will just name a few.

I AM THANKFUL FOR......

1. Of course, my wonderful and amazing husband
2. My family and Shayne's
3. My 2 dogs
4. Awesome friends (that's you reading this right now)
5. A roof over my head and food to eat
6. My education, and Shayne's
7. The sun
8. Living in a free country
9. Water - to drink, and to play in!
10. My bed

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember how thankful we are to have you in our lives!!

GO BUCKS! Beat Michigan

And beat they did, it was a great win considering the awful loss we encountered last week. Like many of you I thought BYU - Utah was a big rivalry, and it is, but it is nothing compared to Michigan and Ohio State now that I have experienced both. They have "Beat Michigan Week" and it is crazy, I won't bore you with all the details but that just tells you it's a big deal when they take a whole week to get pumped up for the big game (and this was an away game). I don't even want to think about what it's like when they play at home. We had a party at our house to watch the big game and had a blast. We had a bbq with lots of yummy food and just had fun hanging with all of our friends. For the record some of our friends are wondering how we could just give up on the Utes (I'm assuming because we never post about them) but, we are still and always will be Ute fans, afterall Sherri did cheer there and it is our alma mater. It's just hard to keep up with them when we can't even get the games broadcast here. Shayne actually has loved college football as long as I have known him and has always kept up with Ohio State even before we lived here. Regardless, I don't see how anyone could live here and not be a Buckeye fan you almost have to be. It is so contagious and besides I think the other Ohioans would have our heads if we weren't as equally crazy about the team as them. At any rate GO BUCKS AND UTES - whichever team it is we bleed red through and through!

To sleep or not to sleep that is the question

As a nurse we are required to be "on call" a certain amount of times throughout each schedule. I have developed a love/hate relationship with this particular part of my job.

I hate it because you can't really make plans for the 12 hour span that you are on call and if it is night call you may or may not get sleep. I love it because I get paid at time and a half and they have a rule that when you come in regardless of how long you are there (20 min or 4 hours) you automatically get paid for 4 hours worth of time.

I have been picking up extra call lately to get some extra moola but unfortunately it is usually the night call (7pm-7am) because I am low man on the totem pole. I am trying to decide though if the extra money is worth the sometimes sleepless nights. As you can see from the time on this post I am wide awake and blogging. We are in between patients and it is such a game. They may tell you it will be an hour and it could turn into 3 or they could be done in half an hour so... to sleep or not to sleep that is the question? We have the option to lie down in between patients if we so desire but as you can see from above I never know what to do - if I knew for sure it would be 3 hours I would be all over it, but then to just lay down and and be awakened after only just falling asleep since the patient was ready quicker really doesn't agree with my body. So.... instead as you can see I mindlessly post unimportant stuff on my blog that most of you probably won't bother to read to try and stay awake. Call - I love it but I hate it too!

We're not too addicted, right?

Nat this post is for you! Since you claim you are addicted to blogging we (ok really just me but Shayne does have fun seeing what I post and keeping up with our friends) found this random site and decided to see how addicted we really are. For anyone else that wants to see how blog crazy they are you can click on this link http://www.justsayhi.com/bb/blog_addiction

How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

64%

Help

So if you notice the last 2 posts the writing is awful. We now have a Mac and so it is different than a PC and hard to figure everything out. When we go to compose a post it looks centered and has spaces and everything that we want but then when we publish it, it just gets all meshed together which is why we had to make the tag colorful so it was easier to see where one started and the other one ended. Does anyone have any suggestions or has anyone else had this problem? I know most people probably have PC's but it is driving me crazy, please somebody help!

tAgGeD!

I've been tagged - I haven't seen this tag before so it should be fun. I'm excited because it isn't as long as some of those out there so enjoy and thanks for the tag Holly.

The Rules: Each player lists 6 facts or habits about themselves. At the end of the tag the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog, Have Fun!! 1) I pop my knuckles probably 100 times a day. It's an awful habit but I can't seem to break it. As many times as I have said no more I end up starting right back up again. I hate this about myself, most other habits I have eventually been able to break why this one is so gosh darn hard I don't know! 2) I love dancing, ballroom and swing. I guess you can say I was addicted to it before I got married. I went at minimum 3 times a week. Shayne doesn't love it like I do and he actually broke my arm dancing when we were dating so.....needless to say I still love it but don't get to do it as much as I'd like, so for now I get my fix by watching Dancing with the Stars and other ballroom competitions only wishing that I was the one on the dance floor. 3) I don't like milk. I actually can't remember when I ever stopped liking it or did I just never like it? I remember drinking it as a kid, so I don't know what happened. I actually have been diagnosed with osteoperosis. Whether the milk drinking has anything to do with it or not I don't know - they have told me it's genetic. At any rate since I have been diagnosed I have to take calcium pills everyday and on top of that I am supposed to have 3 servings of dairy a day. Since I don't like milk I have to get creative with yogurt, cottage cheese 4) I am a clean freak! So much so that Shayne and our friends the Ellis' nicknamed me Monica (from friends - if you can recall she was crazy about cleaning). I don't think I am as obssesed as her but I can't help it, I can't stand it when things aren't clean. 5) I love holidays especially decorating for them I think it is so much fun. My favorite thing to do is go shopping after the holiday is over and get all the fun decorations for dirt cheap! 6) I love Disney and anything to do with it: Disneyland, Disney Movies, Disney Songs, Disney Books etc. My favorite movie is Lion King - I just love it but they are all great there isn't one I don't like. I have been collecting Disney books since I can remember and I think I almost have the whole set. I love going to Disneyland I think because I feel so young no matter how old I continue to get - I lived in Cali as a child and then again on my own in those fun college years, I have gone too many times to count! Disney is the Best! I tag Nat, Sara, Candice, Heather, Amy, Raquel and Molly (I know I cheated but I had 7 people)

Fun Weekend!

We had such a fun weekend after the boys finished with their test, I think it was a much needed break for the guys from school and us poor wives that never see them. Friday I went to the Easton mall with Molly we both had some birthday money to blow. (I know my bday was clear back in May but I had told Shayne I was saving it until we moved since I had heard Columbus had some good shopping). I think we can honestly say we shopped til we dropped. Our feet hurt so bad by the end ( I can't complain though because Molly had on heels and I didn't) but we had tons of fun and made some killer purchases. I think we both only planned on spending a couple of hours but we were literally there all day. We got there around 1:30 and then we knew we were meeting up with our hubbies for dinner (which was at Easton) so we didn't want to have to leave and turn around to come right back. We didn't eat until about 8 so you can do the math on how long we shopped. For dinner we ate at the Cheesecake Factory with a few friends and then went back to the Heatons to watch the Office and play Texas Hold 'Em (mormon style of course - betting with candy) - what a fun day thanks everyone! Saturday we went to the OSU vs. Wisconsin game, I think it was the funnest game yet. Because we weren't completely beating the other team from the get go (it was close there for a bit) we got to really see the Buckeye spirit of the game it was so much fun, everyone was really into it. Afterwards we had a few people over to watch more football games and eat pizza. The Heatons were troopers, we ended up staying up with them until 1:30 am - we were having so much fun we didn't even realize what time it was - we were really excited when we figured out it was daylight savings. What a fun and much needed weekend!

Just a pic of one of the many fun things we did over the weekend. We sit with a group of dental students at each game, these are all the wives that I have become friends with they are so much fun!

Shayne, Chase and James - notice the big smiles on their faces I think this was after we scored and weren't so scared that we might lose.

Hard at Work!

Shayne and some of his friends were studying at our house and I couldn't resist taking a picture. They were up really late and had started out upright but seemed to sink further into the couch as the night went on. I can't believe how much time and effort they put in for school- way to go boys we are all so proud of how hard you work!

Shayne, Chase and James hard at work - notice the pizza hut box on the table? You have to make time for sustenance so you can keep your brain going, even if it is pizza.

James and Chase - I think Chase has had enough!

Happy Halloween!!!

Shayne and some of his dental buddies vetoed Halloween this year because they had a huge test to study for. Some of the other wives and I decided we didn't care and we were going to have fun regardless, so we got together at our house and had a fun girls night. We ate yummy soup for dinner and decorated sugar cookies (I think we ate more of the decorating candies then we actually used on the cookies but that was half the fun of it) Thanks Raquel for the soup and cookies it was all so tasty. We were going to decorate pumpkins but were having too much fun chatting - we talked into the wee hours of the morning, ok only until midnight but it was late enough seeing as we all had to work the next day. I didn't want my pumpkins to go to waste so I carved a few on my own, not too shabby eh? Halloween is a bit different here in Ohio we didn't get any trick-or-treaters because apparently everyone sits outside on their lawns and waits for the kids to come around. Seeing as we had plans inside we didn't have any kids come to the door. I don't know how I feel about it, I guess it is nice for the kids apparently it is meant to be safer for them. However, I don't know about you but I used to think half the fun of trick-or-treating was ringing people's doorbells and besides, who wants to sit outside in the dark and freeze just to hand out candy? Oh how the world has changed - at least in Ohio anyway!

Raquel, Krista and Molly showing off their finished cookies.

A closeup of the yummy cookies just to make your mouth water!

It's hard to tell the top one is a spider, that one took awhile because some of it was so thin.

They don't sell pumpkins by the pound here which is kind of nice I got these 3 for $5.oo and they were all huge - it was great! The puppies (above is Belle and below Zoey) didn't know quite what to think of the pumpkins at first but they had fun jumping on them and sniffing around them.