Is that my litte brother?

I am really behind on some recent life happenings, so I will try to get caught up soon! The first big event was that my little brother, Michael, returned from his mission from Tegucigalpa, Honduras on Tuesday, the 23rd. I am quite shocked at the transformation that he has made, not only physically (he lost 60 lbs!!), but maturity wise as well. He did an amazing job on his mission and I can only imagine the impact that he had on people's lives there.

Since his flight came in at 11:40 pm in Salt Lake, we were all really chipper to be hanging out at the airport at that hour, but oh well! Here is Devin, me, Jen and Chris waiting.

While we waited, we glanced over at the family next to us who was also waiting for a missionary to come in with Mike. We immediately started feeling like slacker family of America as they had hoards of balloons, signs, streamers...and need I go on? We looked at our pathetic little bunch and decided that we would make the most of the means we had.
Turns out all we had was a kleenex and a pen. So here was our big "WELCOME HOME MIKEY" sign. Good thing we think we are funny. It's also a good thing that this picture makes my teeth look like they glisten, particularly one or two of them.

Mike came down the ramp with a completely Honduran wardrobe along with a guitar he had made there slung over his shoulder, no case or anything. I had a picture, but it's blurry, dang it. Instead I have this gem. Here is the, "oh my gosh I am home and who are these people?" look. In case you wondered, everything in Michael's life has been displaced or changed since he left. Who knew that so much could happen in two years? But to give you a short sampling, he had never met Devin (we started dating like 2 weeks after Mike left), my dad got re-married and he had never met his wife, my mom also got re-married and he had never met her husband. Along with that, Chris, my sister's husband, got cancer and due to the side effects is quite different. So, litterally, half the people at the airport were new faces. Also, Jennifer and I are both expecting babies (Mike introduced me to the companion that he flew home with as his "fat sister"--how friendly), both my parents moved while he was gone, his car was sold, his "girlfriend" got married, and we had three deaths in the family (our uncle, our cousin's husband, and my dad's previous wife). YIKES. You have to feel bad for him.

Still feeling a little overwhelmed...here he is with my dad and Sharon.
And judging from his shoes, I'd say he put in some hard work in Honduras. This picture does not even do them justice, but they were flapping all over. Yeah...his emails were like 3 lines per week if we were lucky, so no one had any idea that his shoes were in such rough shape, or we probably would have sent him some more!

Anyway, despite all the changes, we are so happy to have him home. We were up in Idaho this weekend for a few family events, one being his homecoming speech. I have never in my life heard such a great talk from a newly returned missionary, and I am not just saying that because he is my brother. He also had some time to spend with Devin and Chris during baby showers (more on those later), so he got to know Devin at least some. They bonded over Mexican food at lunch while the girls were at the shower.

WELCOME HOME MIKE!!!!!

Getting to Know You Alphabet- Devin

Since I feel like this blog is all about me sometimes, I thought I would have Devin do this so that everyone can get to know him a little better!

A. Attached or single? Attached

B. Best friend? Kim

C. Cake or Pie? Cake

D. Day of Choice? Saturday

E. Essential item? BYU football

F. Favorite color? Yellow

G. Gummy bears or worms? Worms

H. Hometown? Fairview, Utah

I. Indulgence? Sometimes

J. January or July? Both

K. Kids? One on the way

L. Life isn't complete without? Kim

M. Marriage date? April 26, 2007

N. Number of brothers and sisters? 2 brothers and 5 sisters

O. Oranges or apples? Depends if they are good

P. Phobias? None

Q. Quotes? "Enter to learn, go forth to earn!" - An assignment from class

R. Reasons to smile? Yes

S. Season of Choice? Winter

T. Tag some peeps: I don't have chickens

U. Unknown fact about me? All are known

V. Vegetable? Carrots

W. Worst habit? Watching football all day on Saturdays

X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Can't say. Never had one of either.

Y. Your favorite food? Meat and potatoes

Z. Zodiac sign? Good question

The big 23

I turned 23 last Thursday. I can officially claim for about a week and half more that I am older than Devin :) . Not that that is a good thing, but hey. It was a fabulous day. I woke up to balloons and flowers from my sweet hubby, along with a note from him and Hallie telling me how much they loved me. So sweet. We both had to be places that day, me at work and Devin at school, but we came home by 7 to spend the rest of the night together. Devin made dinner for me and it was so yummy. He made manicotti, french bread, and corn. Here he is enjoying his food. (Can you tell he hates having his picture taken?)

Then I got to open my present from him. He got me tickets to go see the 2008 Olympic Gymnastic Men and Women's teams at the Energy Solutions Arena in SLC!! I was SOOOO EXCITED!!! Man, he did his homework and picked out an AWESOME birthday gift. Except, we looked it up online to discover that it had been cancelled. :( Terrible, I know. So instead we are going to go to a play the same night (Oct 3rd) in SLC and make a weekend out of it as it is Dev's birthday the next day. We will stay in SLC and go to conference the next day as well. So that will still be fun.

Later that night, some of my beloved friends came over to eat cake and ice cream with me.

This is Jenn and her fiancee, Thomas. They are getting married November 8th in San Diego. They are really hoping I can either hold off having the baby or have her late so that I can make it for the big day. Just kidding...that would be awesome, but it is never gonna happen!

Jill, one of my best friends from forever, me, and Ashley. Okay, I know I am definitely looking large and in charge in this picture. EEK. Oh, the joys of being pregnant and looking at yourself in pictures.
My hilarious cousin Che' and her husband Landon also arrived. Che would not let me take a normal picture of her because she had waxed her face or something. Let me just tell you, once when I was probably 16 years old, I let Che' bleach my hair. Horrible mistake! It turned out orange on top and yellow everywhere else. Yes, in fact I was turning 16 years old because I was supposed to go on my first date that weekend to the homecoming dance with the person of my dreams (or so I thought) and my hair was atrocious!!!! I didn't go to school for days and finally had to have someone strip it and redo everything. Moral of the story...don't let Che' NEAR YOU with anything beauty related. Just kidding woman... kind of.

We played a nice round of Yahtzee with Che' and Landon. Guess who won? Not me. But Landon lost worse. While we played, they decided they wanted a snack, so of all things, they went for plain lettuce and ranch dressing. Both said it was delicious. Okay, crazies.
My sister and Chris also arrived late that night. I was so happy they came, it made my night. Chris had to be to the Hunstman in the morning for chemo, so they were just going to stay in SLC, but they knew it was important to me to see them on my birthday, so they came all the way. I failed to take any normal pictures of them, of course, but I did get this gem of them sleeping on the air mattress.
We got up at the crack of dawn the next day as they had to be on the road. We had a family classic for breakfast, Eggs Golden Rod. I love it. But, I only got pictures after we were done eating, and only of Chris. Jen and I were not presentable at that hour.

As Jen and I loaded the car, she told Chris to start making his way toward the door. We came back in to find him like this, shoving cake in his face with his hands as fast as he could. Don't worry Chris, next time just tell us you want some cake, and you can sure have some! It was really funny. Chris is such a trooper. Anyway, now that this birthday post is a novel, I think I will sign off! Thanks everyone for the calls, texts, coming over etc...and especially to my Devin and Jen and Chris for making the day extra special.

More Love

I have decided to give up on blogging myself and start just adding links to other people's blogs since they are much more interesting and eloquent than me. So here are a few more-
If you are looking to be inspired please go here: http://gijenandchris.blogspot.com/2008/09/birthday-and-anniversary.html
This is my sister's blog. For those of you that don't know, her husband Chris has been going through cancer treatments for a brain tumor for the past year. They have been through so much, but have been so optimistic and inspirational to everyone around them. I'll just let you read the story yourself at the above link if you so desire.

If you are looking to see embarrassing pictures of me, please go here: http://skellenburg.blogspot.com/2008/09/happy-birthday-kim.html
This is my good friend Kasie's blog. She and I were roommates our freshmen year at BYU (thus the embarrassing pictures). However, I have posted embarrassing pictures of other people before, so I think it is only her right to post some of me. Just remember, we were freshmen.

It was my birthday yesterday, as these posts indicate, so I may return to the blogging world myself to do a post about that a little later on. Happy day!

I have the best friends ever

My wonderful friend Beth dedicated a post to me on her blog. I thought it was the nicest thing ever and I wanted you all to see, so click the link below if you desire.
http://bethandjasonherman.blogspot.com/

Baby Bash

My former co-workers from LA Weightloss and I had a "get-together" (otherwise known as a baby shower) on Tuesday. Ashley, who threw it, told me it would just be a "little thing". Yeah, does it not look like she went ALL out?! Man...everything was SO cute and the food, I don't even know where to start. It was DELICIOUS. I posted the recipe for the chicken Ash made on the Sweat Peas Recipe Blog, in case some of you don't look at it, GO LOOK AT IT. It's amazing.

I literally thought the cupcakes were fake, they were so pretty.
The whole crew: Ashley, Meg, me, Ashlei, Hannah, Holly, Jenn, and Lisa. I miss these ladies SO much. It was so good to be around them and to just laugh and enjoy ourselves. I appreciate each of them individually for the things they have done for me and for the influences they have been in my life. We have mostly all dispersed now from LA, but I truly believe these are people I will be friends with for life.

Meg and I always did like making weird faces.

Ash and Me. She is so awesome to me. I can't even describe.

Ashlei and I. This Ash and I went to high school together, but we were just more aquaintances then. We became pretty good friends when she moved to Provo and lo and behold, started working at LA Weightloss!!
Part of the loot. Again, let me just say, let's hope its a girl! Especially since Ashley gave Hallie a baby tutu! Haha, I can't imagine putting a boy in that...

As for the update, I went to the doctor today and my blood pressure was higher than normal. (higher than normal for me...mine is usually REALLY low). He asked me how many hours per week I am working. I tried to avoid the question, but he looked at me very sternly and so I told him (I will not tell you, though, for I am kind of ashamed, except I am not, because I like working). Anyway, he then told me I need to cut back so I can stay off my feet more. So, we will see how that goes. If anyone has any great ideas of things to keep me occupied in my soon to be found free time, PLEASE enlighten me. The time I am home already is horrible torture for me, usually. I don't have any projects I am working on, except sticking my pictures from the past four years into photo albums, and I am pretty much done with that. I have taken up baking and cooking more lately, but I can't just do that all day, it will cost too much and I will gain far more weight than necessary. So...I am stuck. I also find myself wanting to go shopping (I know, shopping, me?) when I have spare time, and that is never good. So...what to do?!

PS. Thanks for participating in the poll...it looks like Brynn wins in a landslide! (that is kind of what I was leaning towards, but I didn't tell Devin that!)

Mom's wedding!

Forgive me, but there are going to be a lot of pictures on this post. Yesterday was the big wedding day for my mom and Dave. It was a great day, besides the fact that Devin and I were LATE and everyone was waiting for us in the sealing room, but that is another story. Dave and my mom were married in the Salt Lake Temple and many friends and family members were able to attend, which was really nice. Here they are after coming out of the temple. Not the traditional bride and groom look, eh?

Of course we made them take their turn by the big doors. Here Dev and I are outside the temple. It was sunny outside, if you can't tell.
My mom's sisters, Linda, Susan, and Mari Ann. Aren't they cute? My family is extremely close and so I have always had great relationships with all of my aunts.
Che'Lyn, Jennifer, and Cortney decided to match but forgot to send me the memo.Oh but don't worry! Grandma came through and decided to match with me, so then I didn't feel so bad.

The whole crew on the stairs.

My family. Well, those of us that were there. My brother-in-law Chris, my sister Jennifer, Mom, Dave, me, and Devin. My two little brothers were not there as one is on a mission in Honduras (but he will be returning this month!) and the other is at school at the University of Idaho.

It wouldn't be a wedding for our family if we didn't stop in between festivities and shove our faces with whatever is available. We found the vending machines in the Joseph Smith Building while we waited. Good thing Sue, otherwise known as Sue-Dawg had plenty of dollars that she was willing to distribute to everyone. Clearly Sue and Linda love those twinkies!!

Che' and Chris were upset that they were not in the last picture, so they got one of their own. They look like they could be in a powerade ad.We then headed for a real meal at the Lion House, which was DELICIOUS. Don't even worry, I ate all of the following: Salmon, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, green salad, a roll, and a piece of carrot cake. Yep, and that was after the snacks. What can I say, I was HUNGRY!!!

Che' and baby Jack, who is actually my aunt Linda's baby. He is about 8 weeks old. Too bad I didn't get a good shot of his face, because he is adorable.

We decided that in their old age, my mom and Sue are looking more and more alike, so we took this picture to prove it.

Overall, it was a great, spiritual day. We enjoyed spending time with family and are so excited and happy for mom and Dave.

30 Weeks

Here are some updated pregnancy pictures, since I know everyone is DYING to see those. There is a TON of growth since the last ones I posted at 25 weeks, I think. (Oh and the scales at the doctor's office show that too...)

Here are some fun facts to know about Baby Perry:

* Her favorite pastimes include kicking her mother in the ribs, rolling around a lot, and sleeping.

*She recognizes her daddy's voice and often reacts when he talks to her or touches my tummy.

*We have been able to feel certain body parts of hers...at the last doctor's visit, he made us each give her head a good squeeze. I am sure she was thinking, "Ouch! That hurts!" but hey...we do what the doctor tell us. He said she is in the right position, already for birth. At home we have felt her limbs and what we think is her bum.

*We love her already and are excited to be bringing her into our home.

* We really, REALLY, really hope she actually is a girl because if she is not, we have far too much feminine materials for a baby boy.

*She is buying me an early birthday present tomorrow, a new skirt (hopefully, if we can find a cute one) for my mom's wedding on Friday (more on that later)

*Her name is going to be Hallie. Devin is in charge of the middle name and has narrowed it down to two...which are now posted on the blog for your vote, since he can't decide.