October First!!!

My family has a happy-making tradition on October first that I am definitely going to continue in my own household--once college is no longer consuming every ounce of my life.

On this day my mom sends everyone off to work and school and then pulls out her magic. She takes down all the normal decorations and brings out the autumn and Halloween ones, then bakes cinnamon rolls right before everyone gets home from school. It was so much fun coming home from school all those years to the smell of the oven-fresh cinnamon rolls and the sight of the holidays. It was always a surprise, because we always forgot when it was coming! But Mom never did. Thank you mom! We love you so much!

Also, I saw some pictures posted on my cousin's facebook page of the shower we had for her new sister-in-law last weekend, so I thought I'd steal them and put them here. Ha ha!

First off, a picture of the whole group of us. We're at my aunt Patty's house (my mom's sister). It's her son Chad who is marrying Amanda. She is sitting on the second row, second to the left in the gray shirt, with her mom on her right, and my grandma on her left. My sister Samantha is sitting in the very front, in all her youthful beauty, my mom is the blond in the very back, second in from the left, and Heidi and I are on what appears to be the third row, me being the one in pink with reddish hair, Heidi being the one in gray with dark brown hair. We are surrounded by several, though certainly not all, of my aunts and female cousins on the Lewis side, as well as some of Amanda's friends. Now that we're all introduced, let's move on.



This next picture is Samantha and my cousin Danielle.


And finally me and Heidi. Aren't we just cute?

Also, we split the group in two and had a competition to design the most fashionable wedding gown out of toilet paper we could, and Amanda got to choose the winner. Samantha, Heidi, and I were all in one group, mom was in the other. Despite the fact that we three sisters basically took over designing the gown from everyone else, Amanda chose the other groups'. We're still bitter. Here she is with the two models. Ours is on the left, the other groups' is on the right.


Okay, so maybe it looks a little "Prom" instead of "Wedding." Still, we made that headband and flower out of toilet paper. The other group cheated and made their bouquet out of doilies and fower petals that were on the table. Apparently, integrity will have to take one for the team this time.

No Impact Man

I just read an article about a man named Colin Beavan who, with his wife and 2 yr. old daughter, decided to go completely green for a year and make no impact on the environment. That meant, "no elevators, no electricity, no disposable diapers, no food grown more than 250 miles from home, no TV, no takeout, no beauty products, and no washing machine," to name a few. He biked to work while his wife used a push-scooter, and after the year was up they had made some very interesting discoveries.

They saved money, "cutting [their] discretionary expenses by at least 50%—often more." Beavan's wife had this to say about their new lifestyle and diet, "I had long been too tired—from not working out—to get to the gym to work out. But by exchanging my time on the subway for a self-propelled commute, I dropped 10 pounds; my new locavore diet didn't hurt either. I had the energy of a supermom in my slacker mom's body. My insomnia evaporated—the scooter was No Impact Ambien. My palate also began changing. The local food, though heavy on the parsnips, began to taste delicious. Three months in, I started getting through the day without the usual afternoon Dunkin' Donuts high followed by the crash. The pastry mania and shame hangovers were gone. My pre-diabetic condition vanished."

She also talks about the newfound peace of coming home to a place devoid of electricity: no lights, TV, or cell phones. Instead of feeling deprived, she says, "the truth is that when I opened the door to the No Impact house at night, I felt like I was walking into a vacation. The days felt like they lasted forever."

I was so excited when I read this article. Although it's hard to imagine going as radically green as this family did, I want to make a goal to try it. Both the Beavans testify of the happiness and good health they enjoyed as they made the changes to their high-consumption, New York City lifestyles. And, most importantly, they talked about how it gave them more time to be together as a family. What better priority could you have?

Colin Beavan keeps a blog and has written a book about their experience. For more information, visit: http://noimpactman.typepad.com/.

Schooltime Again

Well, summer is officially over and school has begun for both of us. We finished off our last days/weeks of freedom by going to Bear Lake with the Perkins fam and had a really great time. Luke almost got to ride on a jet-ski for the first time too--until it broke. Ha ha! Better luck next year, I guess.

This semester of school is going to be crazy. Luke and I get up at 6am, he leaves around 6:30, works until 1:30pm, gets to his class at the U of U which starts at 3pm, goes to that one and the next one and finishes at 9, then heads home and arrives around 10:30 or 11. So much for being married. We never see each other! Ha ha ha! Although that schedule only happens Mondays and Wednesdays, Tuesday Thursday and Friday he gets home by 6:30, which is much nicer. His classes are drawing, sculpture, an art lecture class, and geography (which he takes online). He is appreciating his teachers at the U SOOOOO MUCH!!! The contrast between this school and UVU is stark. Thank goodness he's finally at the right school and going into the right major. Perhaps we'll finally make some headway. :)

My schedule and classes are similar, though not so extreme. I work in the mornings until 1 pm and then go to four of my classes on Monday Wednesday Fridays and the other one on Tuesday and Thursday. Monday and Wednesday I get home around 7pm, and Tuesday and Thursdays it's more like 4pm. I'm actually happy to get home later on Mondays and Wednesdays so I don't have to sit at home alone for so long. I'm taking British Literature from the beginning to 1500 a.d., American Literature from 1865-1914, History from the beginning to 1500 a.d., Biology 100, and The Bible as Literature. So far I'm enjoying all of them.

We've both been surprised at how not-too-difficult our schedules are going. Maybe it's because we've only been doing it for two weeks and it will get harder later, but hopefully not. This is the last year we'll have to do such acrobatics to make everything work, because I shall graduate in the spring and then we can move to Salt Lake and be close to everything for Luke. Hooray!! It doesn't seem like it can get here fast enough.

Other news is that Luke found two baby kittens and a mom cat living in our backyard! He came and told me and we went to see them. They have cream colored coats and brown faces, tails, and paws, with blue eyes. They look just like Persians! They are so beautiful! However, mom wasn't too happy we found her hideout, so she moved them to a new location. We're putting out food for them and hoping they'll move back so we can trap them and take them to get spayed/neutered. We might even be able to domesticate the kittens and find homes for them! Apparently the best thing you can do for feral cats is to take them to get neutered (the humane society will sometimes do it for free) and then release them back to their homes. That way they won't just go to a shelter to be euthanized, but they also won't be mass-producing and causing major problems. If you find kittens they can be tamed and placed in homes. I really hope we can do that for these little babies. They would have much better lives living with families than trying to survive in the wild.

Last of all we had a dinner with Amanda and her husband Tim, as well as Britney! This was only the second time we've been able to see her since she's been home, and it was really nice. Hopefully we'll be able to continue doing fun things like that with friends throughout the semester. We'll probably have to restrict it to Sundays though, Saturday being entirely reserved for homework. :)

San Diego, Our Anniversary, and More

This post is months late in coming, but better late than never, right?

At the beginning of June Luke and I went with my side of the fam to San Diego for a fun family vacation. We got to go to Sea World, Wild Animal Kingdom, California Adventure, San Diego Temple grounds, and the Beach. It was so much fun! Personally, Sea World was my favorite. I loved all the cute shows they did with otters, sea lions, seals, walruses, dolphins, and of course Shamu the Killer Whale!!!

















My favorite ride at California Adventure was Soarin' over California, by far. You felt like you were in the movie screen, like your feet were going to get wet while soaring over the ocean. It was incredible! If that's the future of movies and movie theatres, bring it on. Right afterward we went on the Tower of Terror, which for me was a big mistake. Rides in general are not my favorite thing, mostly because I don't like the dropping feeling in my stomach. So why did I go on the Tower of Terror, a ride that consists entirely of being dropped, raised, and dropped again? I have only one reply--Peer Pressure. The age-old evil of our times. ;)

Anyway, that kind of ruined the rest of the day for me and I opted not to go on anymore rides except for the Brother Bear water one. Me + Water Parks = Love, Happiness, Joy, Laughter. Me + Theme Parks = Nausea, Convulsions, Crying, Hatred.

Wild Animal Kingdom was cool to see. We got there just before it was closing, so the only thing we got to do was go on the African Safari. It was a lot like the zoo, only much, much bigger, so you don't feel like reporting animal abuse because of the tiny enclosures. The only down side is that the animals were further away and harder to see in general. It looked like there were a lot of other cool/fun things to do there, but we missed them.


The San Diego Temple is just beautiful. We went to see it on the Sunday we were there and Ashton and Kaden had a hey-day taking tons of pictures. I would love to go inside sometime and see what it's like.











Finally, the beach. The beach was the beach. Sun, surf, sand, and much relaxation while lounging on towels. All of us were pretty tuckered out, so we spent most of our time sunbathing, but Ashton and Kaden enjoyed running in the waves and playing with seaweed.





One of the best parts of the whole trip was just going swimming at the hotel! We went two of the nights we were there, Once with Ashton and Kaden and once with Heidi and Devin. It was so much fun!

The weekend after we got home from San Diego was Luke and I's first anniversary. We decided to stay at home and have a nice evening together, since we had just gotten back from a fun trip. We watched our wedding videos and then read the letters we had written to one another. Now I know why my mom always cries when she gets her letter from my dad on Christmas morning. :) After that we went and got frosties from Wendy's, and watched Quest for Camelot, which ended up being a lot more for little kids than I remembered, and Luke fell asleep. Ha ha ha!

Since then the summer has disappeared! Here we were at the beginning, so happy to have a break from school, and now we are just weeks from starting again! Good Grief! Some of the other fun things we have done include hiking Adam's Canyon and having a barbecue with my family for the Fourth of July, going swimming with Luke's family at Herriman's perfect little reservoir, having dinner and game nights with friends, having a barbecue with Caleb and Lauren on the 24th, trying to hike Stewart Falls but not being able to find it (which I blame entirely on the fact that we were with Heidi and Devin. Ha ha! We always get lost when the four of us are together), and so hiking to Bridal Veil Falls instead, and generally having lots of fun.

Well, that's it for the update. We have a few more fun adventures planned for August, and then the summer will be over and school will be upon us again! Luke is actually getting really excited for it. I'm starting to get somewhat excited, but my two unfinished internet courses are making it a little difficult to want five other classes to begin. Ha ha!

We're in Business!!!

Good news!!!!!!! Luke got a job!!!!! Hooray! He'll be working at a warehouse in Sandy full time over the summer, and his first day is on Tuesday. Heavenly Father has been so good to us! I'm so grateful that he didn't make us wait any longer. Now we can save, save, save!!!!!!

1 Down, 1 to Go

I got a job!!! It's a receptionist position at an accounting office where I will be allowed to do my homework once I'm finished with all my normal secretarial duties. It's 9am-1pm, and I start tomorrow. I am so excited! It's another perfect job for school, and I once again have to thank my Heavenly Father for working things out so nicely. I did have to rearrange my school schedule so that I had all my classes in the afternoon, but even that went smoothly, and everything's all taken care of and set to go.

Luke is still looking for a job. He has had several interviews, and we're currently waiting to hear back from one. Hopefully something will work out soon. Luckily he's been able to continue working this whole time because his previous job at QuikCheck hasn't found a replacement yet, so they've asked him to work until they do.

Meanwhile, we have continued to make lovely desserts. Here is a picture of the strawberry shortcake we had last night:

Luke has also started playing Star Craft with Caleb or just the computer, and is thoroughly sucked in. Every chance he gets, when he's not looking for jobs or helping me out, he's strategizing and defeating the enemy. Being a recent megafan of Ender's Game, I can understand to a degree. Still, I sometimes have to pull him back to reality so he doesn't end up a complete gamer. It's intense.

10 Things About Andrea

I had to do this for a writing class, but I was so pleased with myself that I decided to publish it on my blog. Ha ha! Enjoy!

My name is Andrea Perkins and there are a few important things to know about me.

1. I am a devout family girl. I love my fam to death, and now that I’m married (for almost a year, woo hoo!) I have eleven more people to add to them.

2. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and believe in every word of it.

3. I am totally into Holistic Health and Healing. Herbs, Energy Healing, Yoga, Pilates, the works.

4. I can’t live without sweets and so I have to restrict myself to one very small helping a day.

5. I love writing and have every intention of finishing several books.

6. I love reading and have finished several books.

7. My interests are ridiculously wide-spread, making it very difficult to pin down a single major, but also making life endlessly interesting.

8. My husband and I are both home-bodies and I am on a crusade to make us more “fun.”

9. I have always been excited to have kids, but around my husband and I’s eighth month of marriage mark I decided I have to have them. Now.

10. I am generally a cheerful person, except for occasional fits of rage when the printer won’t work or the computer loses an entire paper that of course I hadn’t saved yet.