Kai Gets Glasses!!

Hey Everyone, Kai got glasses in December this year.  Pretty cute, don't you think?

The Text of our 2011 Christmas Letter!

  The Perkins Family Counting Down to Christmas!

1 is for the one new grandchild we welcomed this year.  Becky was born to Emily & Sam in Sept.

2   is for Britt & Mike’s two moves this year to Twin Falls and then to Meridian, Idaho, where Mike is managing a Best Buy.

3 is for our 3 one year old grandchildren Elias (Davin & Bri) Eleanor (Trevor & Nell) Titan (Becca & Brady) Who are fun and adorable and all totally unlike each other.

4 is four our fun and funny four year old Eva.  She has gone to preschool this year. (Trevor & Nell)

5 is for the fifth member of Ashley and Andy’s family who just turned three and who refers to himself in the third person as ‘the baby’.  (Zach)

6 is for the 6^th month (June) in which Paula and her business partners (fleaology.blogspot.com) and a friend went to Washington to the Farm Chicks Antiques and Flea Market where they all had a blast!

7 is for the number of grandchildren that Scott and I took for an overnight camping trip at Payson Lakes (Which was closed the next night due to bear sightings…)

8  is for the 8 day trip we (Scott, Paula, Darby, Becca & Titan) took to Canada to pick up Elder Perkins  from his mission.

9  is for the 9 years that Brittany worked at Verizon, before quitting to be a stay at home mom and Alex, 5, is thrilled to get to stay home all day with her!

10  is for Ashley and Andy’s son Ian, who turned 10 and who is smart and funny AND helpful!

11  is for our eleven wonderful  grand children who do so much to enrich our lives.

12  is for the new 12 seater van that we purchased after I lost the engine in my convertible .

13  is for the miles that Davin ran in his first ever half Marathon.

14   is for the combined miles Scott is running each week. (3+4+7)

15  is for the 15 hours a day that Briahnna and Davin have to work on their web site business in December.  (Opera Glasses make Great Gifts I guess)( http://www.fineoperaglasses.com)

16 is for the $1600 we spent to install a garage door on our carport, after Scott and Sam framed it in, and which is totally worth the money!!

17 is for the spot on which the Festival of Trees tree we helped with this year was displayed (Q17)

18  is for the combined ages of my two 9 year old grandsons, J. Scott (Trevor & Nell) and Kai (Britt and Mike) and for how much fun they have when they are able to get together, now that they live in neighboring states, instead of neighboring cities.

19 is for the 19^th letter in the alphabet, which is S and which stands for Scott,  who went from supervising upgrading displays in 22 stores to doing the same in 47 stores.

20 is for the 20^th century and Kim is our last family member born in the 20^th century.  This month she also became our first teenaged grandchild

21 is for Spencer’s golden birthday as he turned 21 this year on the 21^st of July in the 21^st century!

22  is for the number of family activities that Darby attended, even though she is working full time and going to school (Where she is carrying a 4.0)  … she ROCKS!!

23  is for the mpg that Ben gets in his new Mustang, gotta pay for style I guess.

24 is for the 24 month mission that our son Spencer completed in October to BC, Canada.

25 is for how many times (at least) that we have thought of you this year, and wished you well.  Here are more thoughts and wishes for a fabulous Holiday and an amazing year to come. 

Christmas Day 2011 in Payson

Well, here it is, our first Perkins family post.  This post includes pictures taken on Christmas day.  The first group were taken in the morning and include;  Dad, me, Ben, Emily, Sam, Becki, and Spencer. The second group were taken after Christmas dinner of the gift exchange.

This is a picture of Becki on her dad's lap celebrating her first Christmas.  She is gazing at the Christmas tree, unseen, to the right.

Emily bought Sam the big screen TV he wanted and went to a lot of work to make sure he was surprised.  She told him he would receive a gift every day from December 1st until December 24th, and then he would receive a love letter on Christmas ....  When he opened his gift on Christmas eve and it was not a TV or anything like unto it, he was noticeably disappointed.  On Christmas morning, first thing, he received his love letter which read something like 'How do I love thee, let me count the ways, I love thee 47 inches, High Def', etc.  He was thrilled, she led him to the attic where he met it for the first time. Lets just say it was love at first site.

Here is our happy and ever wise patriarch, all ready for the general gift giving to begin.

Ben shows off our charming baby Becki to the left, while Becki demonstrates her Christmas gift below.

which was a toy saucer seat from her dad, Sam.

Emily is shown here opening gifts for the baby from relatives in Texas. Emily seems to get lots of warm clothes for Becki from Sam's relatives in Texas ... probably their only chance to buy these adorable snuggy items.

I got Ben this dragon necklace at the antique mall.  We all laughed and he was a good sport.  On the right he demonstrates the hidden knife in the tail!

Then it was off to church at 11:00, with quick dinner set up and prep afterwards.  Davin, Bri and Elias got their gift basket before dinner because we knew they would be running off to take her brother Brock's missionary phone call.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of them, but they really did celebrate with us.

After dinner the rest of us exchanged gifts.

It didn't seem to matter what Spencer got, he was just happy to be home celebrating Christmas with us all, and we were just as happy to have him home.

Eva gave me a smash book of her own design and full of her own art.  Here we are discovering all its wonderful, creative bits together.

More happy 'opening gift' smiles.

Here's our adorable PJ clad three year old, Zach.  Then more happy opening gift smiles below.

 With all the gifts opened, tried on, examined, discussed and shared we are left to our own devices for entertainment.

In these pictures Trevor does his own version of 'Mr. Napkin Head' from the movie 'The Holiday'.

Last of all, more baby snuggles and talking on the phone to the Idaho cousins.  All the kids got a chance and had a ball.

It was a lovely day, but as always it seemed to have trade offs.  We were delighted to have Ashley and Andy and their family, but missed Britt and her family.  We were also sad that at the last minute Uncle Kelly had to cancel bringing down the Salt Lake contingent, including Grandpa Perkins, because he didn't feel well.

Here is hoping that we will all add lots of posts during the year 2012.