Swimming Lessons

Two weeks ago Colby started swimming lessons at a private residence in South Jordan. I was referred to them by a friend. They have an awesome in ground salt water pool. The first day Colby would not put any part of his face in the water. By the end of the second week, session 8 he was jumping off the diving board and diving to the bottom of the pool for toys. I was VERY impressed with the teachers. It's a father/mother/daughter team with two of them in the pool teaching at all times. So they had about 4-5 kids each. If anyone is looking for a good place to take their kids, check out Guy's Swim Gym and I can get the number for you if you need it.

House Hunting

So for the last two months or so, Chris and I have been searching for the right place to call "home". It's definitely been a roller coaster ride to put it mildly. We found the perfect house, had the perfect offer only to find out that someone came in after the deadline with a cash offer that the bank decided to take instead of ours. So off we went looking for the next perfect house. Finally, last week we were able to negotiate with some real humans, I mean not short sales or bank owned just real life humans-which is really uncommon in today's market-and get a great "home". We went under contract yesterday only to find out that the interest rate has gone from 5.0 to 5.6 percent since last Monday causing our house payment to go up by 90.00 a month. I know, crazy right! After much deliberation and number crunching we decided to go for it. So we are officially under contract and hope to close on July 6th unless our agent can get it moved up. So you would think all the stress would be over now, right. Wrong! Now we have to worry about inspections, apprasials, and "gasp" the dreaded underwriting. I know we should be really excited but we are trying to contain our excitement until we actually close on the house. Don't want to get too comfortable yet. As soon as we close I will post pics of the house and all the fun stuff that goes with it. So for any family and friends that live near us, please excuse the stressed out and probably just plain mean Chris and I for the next 30 days. Wish us luck!

Oh yeah, in case you are wondering where it's at...it's in Eastlake Village in Daybreak!

Memorial Weekend at Disneyland

With all the house hunting stress going on we decided at the last minute to get away for Memorial Weekend. We threw several ideas around but of course we ended up at Disneyland since we found such a great deal on a hotel. We left Friday around 1:00 and drove all the way to Anaheim arriving about 10:30 to the Anaheim Hilton. We visited Disneyland at 7:00 both Saturday and Sunday for full days of fun! Monday morning we headed home around 8:30. The drive home was not fun because Colby had to use the bathroom a lot! We even pulled to the side of the road for him since it was so often and sometimes in remote areas where there were no bathrooms. We decided that we were going to ban him from having drinks on the drive anymore. Of course we won't do that but it sure would be nice. We had no problems with traffic until we hit Santaquin and it took us an extra 45 minutes to get home. That was painful, so close yet so far away. We arrived home around 8:45. Here are some pics of our adventure.

It's Cameron's turn to be scared of the characters. Colby just got over his fear last year.

Fun in Mickey's house

Taking Toad on a Wild Ride!

Chris and Cameron on Dumbo

Grandpa and Colby on Dumbo

Preschool Graduation

Yesterday my darling little Colby graduated from preschool. I can't believe how fast time has gone by! It seems like just yesterday we were crying our eyes out at the hospital because they told us he couldn't go home and now he's going to be starting kindergarten.

Colby has been blessed with a great teacher, Miss Lisa, the last two years. For those of you that know Colby, you know he's not the best behaved child, but Miss Lisa must have done something right because he was an absolute angel in her class and the teachers told me numerous times how much they loved having him. (I know they are suppose to say that but it's still nice to hear.) They put on quite the little program. Singing number songs and letter songs and reciting nursery rhymes, and of course getting their diploma.

We enrolled him in a public preschool as a peer leader. This preschool is for kids who are developmentally delayed but a percentage of the class are peer students who are there for the delayed kids to interact with. I have to say I was worried about his development there but I had no reason to. He has learned so much I can't even believe it!

So, thanks Miss Lisa, Miss Terri, Miss Aubrie, and Miss Andrea for all the hard work you guys put into teaching these kids. They would not be where they are today if it were not for you!

"Grandpa from the Missouri"

About two months ago we found out that Gloria, aka Grandma Gator, was going to China to work for about two weeks. Since Grandpa Perkins, aka Grandpa from the Missouri, was going to be all by himself we convinced him to come out and spend some quality time with his Grandkids. Anyone who knows my dad knows that this was very hard for him to do by himself. In the last ten years he's traveled quite frequently but never by himself. With his bad eyesight, he was worried about seeing the kiosks to check in as well as the signs in the airport to know where to go. I convinced him that the people at the airport would help him. With much trepidation, he decided to give it a shot. So last Thursday Grandpa landed in the good ole state of Utah. Colby and Cameron were super excited to see him as was he to see them. We picked him up at the airport and then went to eat at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, great place for a burger. After that we took a drive to Herriman to show him the house we had put an offer on and then home to relax.

Friday it was a beautiful day so dad and I took the boys to Kangaroo Zoo, Chick Fil A, and then to the park. It was fun filled day with lots of playtime!


Saturday we were going to go to Wheeler Farm since none of us had been there before but didn't realize it was May Day celebration that day and it was SUPER crowded. So we drove right on by Wheeler Farm and decided to check out Liberty Park. I have only been there to use the walking paths and Chris hadn't been there since he was little so we really didn't know what to expect. The park was really crowded but we found a place to park rather quickly and headed toward the rides. I have to tell you that the rides were a sight to be seen! If you've seen them you know what I'm talking about. We contemplated for 10 minutes whether to let the boys ride them or not. Let's just say they were probably 50 year old rides. They had a ferris wheel, a spinning car ride, a spinning plane ride and a carousel. We decided to let the boys ride them and they had a great time. After the rides we walked to the playground and let them run around and play there for a while then headed home. We were all exhausted so we decided to eat in and get a movie to watch that night.


Sunday Chris went to play golf in the morning and when he got home we headed to Discovery Gateway. We had a good time there. Cameron probably could have played in the water feature all day and Colby at the construction station. It is such a neat place which was made even better by the fact that there weren't many people there. We went to Iggy's for dinner Sunday night and then hung out at home.

Monday, I had to take Grandpa back to the airport early in the morning. There were lots of hugs and kisses between the boys and Grandpa and I'm sure a tear was shed on both sides. We had such a good time with him here. Usually when we go visit Missouri we have the distractions of all the other family that we don't get good quality time with Grandpa so we loved this so much.

When I picked the boys up Monday night Colby asked in a very sad voice why Grandpa couldn't just live in Salt Lake City. Try explaining that one to a four year old. When Cameron woke up Tuesday morning he was calling for Grandpa to get him out of his bed. I know they both miss him already!

Happy Belated Mother's Day

I just wanted to share some pictures of my sweet little boys from Mother's Day. Sunday morning Chris played golf and I spent some quality time with my boys. Sunday afternoon we visited Chris' mom, Chris' Grandma Carpenter, and Chris' Grandma Weeks. We had a good day, the weather was beautiful and we took advantage of that. I just want to say how blessed I am to have these two little boys to brighten my day and I'm so thankful that I am worthy enough for them to call me mom. Here are some cute pics of my sweet sweet boys!


Here are the boys with Grandma Carpenter and Great Grandma Carpenter.

In Loving Memory of my Mom on this 10 Year Anniversary of Her Passing

Donna Lee Perkins
October 10, 1948 to May 1, 1999

We little knew that morning,
God was going to call your name,
In life we loved you dearly,
In death we do the same.
It broke our hearts to lose you,
You did not go alone.
For part of us went with you
The day God called you home.

You left us beautiful memories,
Your love is still our guide,
And though we cannot see you,
You are always at our side.
Our family chain is broken,
And nothing seems the same,
But as God calls us one by one,
The chain will link again.

If roses grow in Heaven Lord
Please pick a bunch for us.
Place them in our Mother's arms
And tell her they're from us.
Tell her we love and miss her,
And when she turns to smile,
Place a kiss upon her cheek
And hold her for a while.
Because remembering her is easy,
We do it every day,
But there is an ache within our hearts
That will never go away.

We love and miss you dearly, Mom. Even though you didn’t get a chance to meet our kids here on earth, we know you held them and loved them well before we ever got the chance. They miss you too!