Christmas Eve 2010

The festivities in the Perkin's family start Christmas eve around 10am. Unfortunately, things were a little busy that day for (K&T perk) so we didn't actually get over to headquarters till around 4pm. The whole Perk family headed over to the Free Methodist Church for a Christmas Eve service at 5pm. It was filled with singing and the lighting of the Christ candle. Everyone in the church (seemed like 500 people) had their own candle and Pastor Denny lights his candle from the Christ candle and then the light is passed down the pews till the whole church is filled with candle light. The service ended with everyone singing "Joy to the World," it still gives me goose bumps :)
We all headed back to the Perkins headquarters to enjoy a fabulous meal made by the one and only Jeannie Perkins. We had Prime Rib, double baked potatoes, green beans with bacon, a beautiful salad and rolls galore! Mimi and Rich were even invited to join us from Oxnard! It was nice having a couple new crew members around :) After dinner, we played "Screw your neighbor" of course to see who did the dishes... The evening was sooo wonderful that I only actually took one picture of the beautiful table setting.

Christmas Shopping

This is what happens when we go Christmas Shopping all day....

Nutcracker 2010

As many of you know, ballet is a huge part of my life and has been since I was about 3 but more seriously at the age of 8 when I started dancing with Gustafson Dance Theater. This December we had our Rudolph show for students ages 2 1/2-18 and then a couple weekends after that it was time for Nutcracker for students ages 5-18. For the past few years the ballet school has been collaborating with the professional company (State Street Ballet) and incorporating our younger dancers into their show. I personally feel this is such an amazing opportunity for the younger students to feel a part of something much bigger, a professional ballet. I was able to be a part of some wonderful performances and dance a little with State Street Ballet but never at a young age and I really think this would have been very exciting!
With our new addition (Baby P) on the way... this Nutcracker will be the last for a little while. I will hopefully still be a part of the ballet school but as for teaching, that will have to be put on hold :( Here are some photos from my "Mother Ginger Bon Bon" group (age 6) from behind the scenes.

Luckily for me, I had two helpers in my class so I didn't need to be on stage. Not to mention this class had a total of 16 dancers!

Sorry the pics are a little blurry...

I will miss you Nutcracker...

Hiking Hiking Hiking

After over indulging at the Fireman's Ball... we decided it would be a good idea to go on a hike and burn some of those virgin Pina Colada calories :) We headed up to the Tunnel Service Trail to enjoy the beautiful 80 degree Santa Barbara day. It was actually blistering hot, not likely but also not surprising for SB in December... I could hardly breathe in the swealtering heat and I almost joined the boys (Ty and Eddie) in taking our shirts off... poor Kayda was wearing her best fur coat too. I have never appreciated the shade sooo much in my entire life. We reached the top, almost the top of the trail and Ty was nice enough to pour lots of cool water on my head to cool me off. I am very glad they didn't throw me down the mountain for complaining about the heat so much :)

Just starting our journey

Kayda was sooo hot

This felt sooo amazing.
The Barbara Bush Hair do...

Fireman's Ball

This weekend, we attended the Santa Barbara County Fire Ball. It was held at the beautiful Bacara resort and luckily we were able to pull our pennies out of our piggy bank and stay for the night :) Not only is the Bacara beautiful but it just happened to be a beautiful summer day in the middle of December... what? We lounged by the pool and strolled around the grounds as a happy couple and got some much needed alone time!
The Ball was so much fun... we danced our hearts out being goofballs and got to sleep late in the morning stretched out in a huge King bed! I am still trying to convince Ty that we need one!
The next morning we opened the doors to our balcony and we weren't quite sure if we were in Santa Barbara or Hawaii! It was sooo amazing, we were in awe of the sunshine and beauty of the day. We decided to forgo breakfast in bed and head down to the restaurant for a buffet breakfast on the patio in the sunshine! Then we headed to the pool... at 10am :) We thought we slept in but apparently we are early risers.... preparing for parenthood.
Ty ordered a bloody mary, I drooled.... and ordered an ice water. We soaked in the sun and splashed in the pool.
I am still wondering where this came from.... Apparently 4 months pregnant shows! It is a lot harder to keep it all tucked in so I just let it ride..... I know Baby P loved the sunshine and the oreo shake I had later! This is my 16 week bump update. It seems huge..very thick.... is that normal? I have a feeling I am going to have a 9 pound baby!

Tis the season for a tree!

Mimi (sister) came up for the day on Sunday and she was absolutely flabergasted that we didn't have a tree yet! Mimi gets her tree the day after Thanksgiving so we were waaaay behind! I could barely muster up the energy to even think about getting a tree and trying to coordinate my schedule with tyson's is a disaster.... so, we got a tree. Eddie was nice enough to trade cars for a couple hours, so mimi and I headed to Big Wave Dave's Christmas Trees and picked out a winner. It was raining of course, so I had very little time to take pictures but luckily I got the beginning and final products!
At this point, we were just relieved we actually got the dang tree in the door!
This is our final product! Lots of hand-me-down ornaments from mimi but a few of ours that we have been gifted over the years :) The house smells amazing and there really is something about having a Christmas tree in your house that lifts your spirits!!

14 weeks

Is there anything there? All I can see is a round belly that looks like I have eaten a few too many chocolates.... that may be the case but I really can't wait till Baby P makes his/her grand appearance :)
I have finally reached the second trimester and I feel great. Just a little occasional dizziness and very very slooow digestion but all else is hopefully on track!