Happy Trails to You...

Historically, the Perkins family has not been very, well, outdoorsy. Having spent a good portion of our lives in Southern California, we associate being outside with relentless heat, stinging sunburns, dust everywhere, prickly brush, angry insects and unquenchable thirst. Since we hate all those things, we assumed that we hated being outside. We sought shelter everywhere we went. Things like camping & hiking were automatically crossed off the list of things we could ever enjoy.

Then we moved to Washington. Sweet, beautiful Washington. And we realized that being outdoors didn't have to be absolutely miserable. Unfortunately, we still associated being outside with wanting to die. In an attempt to overcome our fear of nature, we set a goal to go on three family hikes over the next 90 days.

Yesterday was our first hike. We went out to Issaquah and climbed the Chirico Trail (thanks Eric, for the tip!). Chirico Trail is actually part of a paragliding school. The trail is something like 1.5 miles long and winds up a mountain to two different launches for the gliders. The path isn't paved, but is so incredibly well maintained that it might as well be. This was our first hike, so we didn't make it all the way up to the launches, but we did hike for an hour up & an hour back down. We were so proud of our kids. They walked that whole way all by themselves with no complaining. Not too shabby for a bunch of city kids!

Anyway, the hike was beautiful. And it was cool, crisp & delightful outside. Instead of dust, there was light mud. Even a patch of snow up towards the top. Also, no bugs. Not a single one. We wore coats to stay warm instead of sunscreen to keep our epidermis from going up in flames. There were no unquenchable thirsts, no thorns stuck in our socks, no cries for sweet, merciful death to come rescue us from our hike. It was actually, pleasurable. I think it's safe to say that we Perkins have been reformed. We are well on our way to tree-hugger-status. Go figure!

Silly Bella!

Okay, can I vent for a minute? I just finished reading the second book in the Twilight series & Bella is driving me nuts!!! Seriously. I finished the book yesterday before dinner and I've been fussing over it since then. I even made Chad listen to me rant about it. Now, I've only just finished New Moon, so maybe the next two books explain why Bella is such an idiot. As far as I know Bella turns into an unicorn in the next novel and moves into a cabin next door to Puff the Magic Dragon. If that's the case, please just laugh at my ignorance. Please don't tell me what happens next. I am frustrated with Bella, but I have to admit I'm hooked on the series. I ordered the next book on Amazon yesterday and had them ship it 2 day mail so that I can have it by tomorrow. Pathetic, right? Along the same vein, if you haven't read the first two books yet & plan on doing so, don't read any further in this blog. I will ruin it for you.

Now on to the source of all my frustration: Why is Bella such a dork? She should totally ditch the bloodsucker and date Jacob. Maybe I'm reading the books too much as an english student & not enough as a hopeless romantic, but it just seems that there are five million reasons why Jacob is the right choice. And here are just a few:
1.) Edward is hard and cold to the touch. She constantly describes him as stone. Jacob is warm & welcoming. I realize they can't control their temperatures, but it seems to be symbolic of their personalities.
2.) Edward constantly tells Bella that he's no good for her. When she's with Edward she doesn't get along with her family or friends. Jacob, on the contrary, is good for her. He helps Bella snap out of her massive depression. She gets along better with friends and family when he's with her.
3.) Edward is all drama. Jacob is just happy & fun. He makes her feel happy and peaceful.
4.) Edward can't figure out what Bella is thinking even though it's supposedly one of his supernatural powers. Jacob can read her like an open book without the benefit of any vampire mojo.
5.) Edward is like five zillion years older than her. Seriously. When I was in the singles' ward, pre-missionary dudes were so young & immature. And so I'm supposed to believe that this guy who has had several lifetimes to grow & mature has the hots for a high school kid. Give me a break. That doesn't sound like a creepy old man to anyone else? At least Jacob and Bella were born in the same century.

And while I'm on my soap box anyway, can I just point out that Bella wouldn't have had any of this drama if she'd just been living the church's dating standards? She is way too young to be in such a serious relationship. And talking marriage? Uh uh. She is so not ready for that. If she were living the dating standards, her and Edward would just be friends. Which means she wouldn't have been hanging out at the Cullen's house often enough to incite Laurant & Victoria. Which means the treaty wouldn't have ever been broken & Jacob wouldn't have been transformed in a werewolf. I'm just saying, she could've saved everyone a lot of trouble if she had kept things on a more friendly level. She would've made it through high school in one piece, grown up, married Mike, had a half dozen kids and wondered why she ever had a crush on a solemn emo kid like Edward.

Whew. I feel so much better now. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Go team Jacob!!!

The Ramblings of a Mad Woman

No, not me. Natty. She has said some of the cutest things in the world over the last week or so. Some examples:

When we got to Disneyland, she looked around with wide eyes and whispered: "Everything is so magical.."

Later that night, in the car, she turned to me and said, "Mom, you were my first love."

Today I asked her to leave Mikey alone so that he could do his worksheet. She responded with, "I just can't. He's just the best brother in the whole world."

Oh, what I wouldn't give to keep her this age forever!!!

Sunny California (NOT!!!)

Well, if you know anything about us Perkins, you know that we love Seattle weather. I mean love. Like happily ever after, prince charming kind of love. So, when we planned our trip to California to visit Disneyland & meet our brand new nephew, we were excited, but hesitant. Sure it would be fun, but it would be California. Sunny, warm, 80 degree California.

Or so we thought! It rained so, so, so hard the whole time we were there! Which would ruin a Disneyland trip for your average joe, but it only made it better for us! The lines were non-existent. Seriously. The wait for Indian Jones was 10 minutes! We walked right on. It was so fun.

I don't get why people idolize California weather so much though. It would be freezing, then hot, then freezing again. No consistency at all. And there was no warning when it came to rainfall. It would be beautiful blue skies and then BOOM--torrential rainfall. Huge, painful bullets of rain. Nothing like the mist that graces our beautiful Seattle skies. I just don't get the appeal.

But, back to our trip. We got to play with the Davies at Disneyland on Thursday & with the Perkins at Disneyland on Friday. Then on Saturday we got to meet Luke, our perfect little nephew. He is the most adorable baby boy I've ever seen (Mikey being the only exception). And so fun to hold.

I'd love to post some pictures, but we only have two that we were able to snap before the rain made dragging our camera around completely impossible. Note the ever attractive rain ponchos. Oh yah. I looked way hot in mine. Nothing says tourist like a trash bag with a head hole and "Disneyland" printed across the back. Sexy stuff.



Also, Mikey lost a tooth. It is so cute. The hole gives him a little bit of a lisp and it is so lovable. What a great kid!

January Adventures

January was such a fun month for us Perkinses. I've done a terrible job documenting it though, so here's a very brief overview of all our merry making.

For New Year's Eve we decided to have a Lord of the Rings themed bash, complete with elvin robes and cool staffs. That was about as far as we carried the theme though. Dressed as hobbits and elves, we noshed on homemade buffalo wings, watched a bunch of episodes of Heroes and played uncountable rounds of guitar hero. Authentic, no, but very fun!


Later in the month, we took the kids to a rock 'n roll show at the Vera Project in Seattle. It is a super cool place right underneath the Space Needle. We saw Casper Baby Pants (Caspar Babypants is also known as Chris Ballew, lead singer of the rock and roll band The Presidents of the United States of America. ) His kid brand of music was so adorable and endearing. You can check it out at http://babypantsmusic.com/ . The Not Its! played as well. Both Mikey & Natty couldn't contain themselves once the Not Its! began playing. They were both up shaking their tushies like mad men (that's supposing that mad men shake their bottoms quite vigorously). It was a blast. Nothing is more enjoyable than watching a pit of three year olds bounce around to super cute music.

Then, our crowning January adventure--a trip to a real, live Renaissance Faire. Wow. That's all I can say. Just, wow. There were tons of people totally dressed up in real, honest-t0-goodness chain mail and armor. Oh, and they were bashing each other with crazy faux swords in some sort of contest to win the "crown." Also, there were fire breathing chicks (which all the guys around me described as "hot." Ha, ha. Very funny, medieval dudes. You are both clever and well dressed...) It was so incredibly awesome. Mikey even got to wear his Lord of the Rings cloak from earlier in the month!
Needless to say, January was a blast. Now we'll have to come up with some serious fun if we want to keep February from being a huge let down!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is Chad and my anniversary. Which means that nine years ago today we were sealed in the San Diego temple in the company of all our dearest friends and family. At the time, I thought I loved Chad more than any one person could love another. Now I look back and realize how young and naive I was! As we've struggled through the successes and setbacks of life, my love for Chad has matured and deepened more than I thought possible. He is my best friend and my most favorite person in the whole world. I love you Chaddy!

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

Well, bad news first. I have had another miscarriage. This is my second in a row. We were totally bummed about it, but we've had symptoms of a miscarriage for over a week (which will not be mentioned here in accordance with our house's strict TMI Ordinance), so we were prepared for it when we went in for the ultrasound yesterday. I was almost 10 weeks pregnant, but the baby had stopped living at six weeks. So, they gave me some medicine to clean out my uterus. Apparently, by "clean me out" they meant give me the gnarliest cramps I've ever had outside of labor. Long story a little less long, we are officially no longer pregnant.

Now for the good news. The upside is that we now know the secret combinations of magical medicines needed to get pregnant. And the doctor says that they consider you perfectly normal and healthy until you have three miscarriages in a row. Which means that after a short break, we will try again and no doubt be successful. As they say, third time is the charm. Also, it must be mentioned that we already have a perfect son and a perfect daughter, so we don't have much to be sad about.

And just real quick, I want to post a big thank you to Chad. He has been so kind and loving and patient with me throughout this whole process. He's stayed up until three o'clock in the morning to hold my hand and listen to me blubber. He's made me dinner, tended to the kids, gotten up early to watch the kids so that I could sleep in (after staying up all night comforting me), let me squeeze his hand to a bloody pulp when my tummy hurt, and reminded me that Heavenly Father's hand is guiding and directing all my affairs. He made me laugh when I couldn't stop crying and made me feel sane when I probably wasn't. And he's convinced me that babies are in our future, that I am healthy and able. In short, he's done the impossible. I love him so very much and couldn't imagine living my life without him. Everything is okay when he is near. And he does it all looking so dang sexy. Thank you Chaddy!!!