{2015: Year in Review}

Sitting here in comfy clothes, still enjoying the glow of the Christmas tree... full of a delicious dinner of take-out from my favorite Chinese restaurant, and watching the Alabama Crimson Tide stomp on the Michigan Spartans.  Meanwhile my sweet little boy is running around in his fuzzy pajamas babbling cute words (Mike's trying to teach him "roll dam tide" but to no avail).  It's been a pretty good day.  It appropriately encapsulates how my 2015 has been - filled with the joy of these happy little moments with my family! 

It seemed like a good time to take a few minutes to do my traditional month-by-month recap! 

{January}

At the beginning of this year we were still celebrating the holidays in Utah.  I have always wanted to go to the Salt Lake Temple to do a live session - we were able to take some names with Dan & Krystal for a special session!  They also made a nice cake and pinata for the occasion.  

We were able to go to sweet Saffron's blessing day the following Sunday before heading back down to Vegas.  Yes, that was one of the best pictures we were able to capture of the two cousins :S

At the end of January I was able to travel back up to Utah to go to Aaron's wedding in Provo!  It was so fun to reconnect with Aaron, Emilie, & Morgan!

And ... my favorite part of the month was watching my silly boy grow!  Here are the "Best of" from little man in January- 

{February}

Lisa came down for a visit in February.  Little Cal warmed up to her quickly & loved his snuggles with his auntie. We even got a fun girls night to go see Lisa Lampanelli perform in the Venetian!  

Favorite family picture was taken in February! 

And the Christopherson clan came for a visit also! Calvin enjoyed getting to know his cousins & we loved exploring the strip with them! 

{March}

This was a big month for Mike as he officially promoted to Tech Sergeant! 

I might be biased but that is one good looking guy if you ask me! 

Another fun highlight of this month was getting to go to NASCAR for the first time!  Mike had to do a recruiting booth there so we were able to get in for free.  Someone very kind lent us these headphones for our poor babe (I was clueless as to how loud those cars are!)  It was a fun experience.

Calvin got a round of shots - not a fan.  But look at that face!

I call this one "the grumpy old man."  Baths were not his favorite thing, although he seems to be fine with them now! 

We also got to travel down to AZ and see our friends the Mulders!  We celebrated Elissa's birthday by getting lots of birthday freebies and going to Top Golf. 

{April}

In April the Pinedo family came our way!  Anytime spent with them is a good time - and usually results in laughing until our sides hurt.  

Best buds Milo and Cal 

Other memorable moments this month included celebrating our 4th anniversary at our one of our favorite Vegas finds - Serendipity! 

And  of course discovering the many faces of Vinny!  He looks like  a Disney villain in this one..

This month also marks the beginning of the discovery that I have the PICKIEST EATER ON THE PLANET!  Most times this is his face when I try to feed him anything...

^^^ Pretty apt description on how I feel about that.

{May}

We were blessed with another visit from Aunt Lisa this month!  We took little man on a gondola ride through the Venetian and enjoyed more sister time.  I'll never forget walking through the Mirage together and Cal throwing up everywhere - Yikes!

The weather was so nice Cal and I enjoyed a walk almost every day this month.

Always a fan of shoulder rides from Daddy!

Frequent visits to Daddy's office have him considering the career path of a PJ already.  He's working on his chin-ups. ;)

Whitferd came for a weekend jaunt and we had some fun girls time downtown!  We ate at Dick's Last Resort (it lives up to it's notoriety for making fun of their clientele, let me just leave it at that) and watched the "Tournament of Kings" show at the Excalibur.

Dan & Krystal came for a trip this month & we captured some sweet pictures of the cousins who are only 3 months apart! 

We also learned the lesson that Fremont street is no place for a baby ... whoops!

We got some great pictures at Floyd Lamb Park as well.  

{June}

This month we had a fun visit with my parents and Quincy and Collin!  We spent a fun few hours swimming at the Rec Center (although Calvin might not agree on the use of the word 'fun' in this context).  

And there was a Jenga tournament that got pretty intense (sorry to post the moment of defeat, Mom!)

We love every minute we get to spend with family! 

Dan & Krystal also came down for a weekend as well - we enjoyed riding the roller coaster and log ride at "Buffalo Bills" with them this visit! 

More cousin bonding!

This picture of us is memorable because it was taken the day my family was leaving back to Utah.  It was Father's Day, and I remember feeling particularly stressed about teaching primary and playing the organ because of lack of preparation.  There was a lot going on and I felt pulled in a million directions.  Mike put my needs before his own and I felt extra grateful that he was there as he always is - even on Father's Day, which should really be his day off!  I'm pretty sure I hit the husband jackpot!!

{July}

What an adventurous month we had in July!  It started off with a trip home to Utah - to celebrate one of my favorite holidays - INDEPENDENCE DAY!  I love the traditions and relaxing atmosphere on the 4th of July.  It is a great time to reflect on the profound blessings of freedom and family.

Lisa was also in Utah so it was a rare treat to have the entire Perkins clan together again.  

Of course, we couldn't resist a trip to Lagoon! 

Oh my goodness I love these kids!  (Clear favorite Aunt status going on here Jana... just sayin!)

A memorable 4th of July BBQ hosted by Grant and Marie.

Perkins siblings

"Ohana means family.  Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten." -Lilo & Stitch

July also marked a month of accomplishing one of my bucket list goals - seeing the musical "Wicked" in Seattle!  My thoughtful husband got these tickets for me for my birthday and so I anticipated all year the wonderful trip that was ahead.  And it did not disappoint!

We were able to visit some of Mike's relatives who live in a gorgeous house right on the sound.  It was fun to meet them! 

These are some of the views from their place.  Amazing.

Also got to reunite with Lisa at this fabulous restaurant called "Chinook's."  

We couldn't resist touring the University of Washington Campus - Mike & I both love to see different college campuses.  The Huskies stadium is on the water front and looks amazing!

We spent a day driving along the scenic Mt. Rainier.

Wahoo!!  Finally got to see "Wicked" at the Paramount Theater.  Mike enjoyed it as well, even though he thought he wouldn't... 

I was also able to meet up with a friend from high school, Kim Waite, who is living in Seattle and singing for the opera there.  It was fun to reconnect with her!

Jim and Marianne were sweet enough to come and house-sit and baby-sit for us to make our bucket list goal a possibility.  Calvin was obviously a fan of getting some Grandma and Grandpa time!!

{August}

Grandma & Grandpa Perkins came down in August - look at this spoiled little dude!

It was a rather slow and relaxing month in the Reynolds manor.  

{September}

I officially opened my piano business in September.  I had been running a free clinic all summer to drum up some business and get into the swing of things, and was blessed with the opportunity to teach some top knotch kids!  Most of them continued on with lessons during the school year.  I teach 22 kids, ten of them in a group setting and 12 in private lessons.  It has been a huge blessing for me and I have loved every second of teaching these kids! 

We went on another Utah trip to celebrate Calvin's first birthday with the family!  It was a short jaunt but while we were there we were able to support Collin in his football game.  We also got to take some fun family pictures with Dan & Krystal! 

We had a fabulous first birthday for the little man - football themed of course!  We celebrated by letting little man smash a cake and watching the Alabama game upstairs and the BYU game downstairs.  Sadly, both our teams lost... :( 

But the loss was off-set by the excitement of our announcing of our SECOND BABY ON THE WAY!  Wahoo!  We were so excited to tell our family and friends that we were expecting again.  We announced it by Calvin opening a shirt that said "World's best brother."  Whether he lives up to that slogan or not remains to be seen...

{October}

Emilie & Landon came to see some family down here - so Em and I were able to go on a pretty sweet Haunted Las Vegas Tour!  I am pretty afraid of ghosts so this was actually kinda freaky for me!  But there was so much Vegas history and spooky Vegas facts that I loved every second.  It was fun to spend some time with the bestie for a few days!

If I could pick my top three photos of the year I think this would be one of them.  Just one of the moments that happened this month that I stumbled upon that made me pretty happy. :)

I also flew up to Utah with little man for General Conference weekend & another family visit! I sure do love these crazy people I call my family! 

The Vinster did pretty good on his first flight!

Went on a hike to Cecret lake with Krystal, Dan & Saffron.  It was cold but BEAUTIFUL!

After the hike we warmed up with a nice dinner at The Lion House and a stunning opera performance by Michelle at the U of U!  

One of our fun family experiences was going to "Scary" Cherry Hill with the Colvins, Christophersons and Grandma! 

Our Halloween celebration was pretty much our ward trunk or treat.  Cal and Daddy went as cowboys.

And for our friends party they went as superheroes.  Mom was a little lame and just wore her BYU jersey this year... we'll have to work on costumes ahead of time next year! 

{November}

The highlight of November was spending Thanksgiving in Vegas with Grant & Marie and family as well as Lisa from Seattle!  We enjoyed exploring the strip, eating ourselves into a food coma, and Grant introduced me into betting on football games (uh-oh).  The boys loved seeing the 'Tournament of Kings' at the Excalibur and the Hoover Dam.  Isaac was hilarious and couldn't wait to take a "dam picture" or see the "dam cars." :D It was a nice laid back way to celebrate Thanksgiving! 

{December}

We started off December by meeting our dear friends, the Aubrey's, in Disneyland! Calvin has a potential future wife here so we are just trying to make sure they get to know each other early :)  We had a blast reconnecting with them and Mike loved all the Star Wars stuff!

This is baby Eva, Rachel and Bryce's little girl!

Sweet kisses on the Santa Monica Pier!

It was also pretty neat this month to have my piano students put on a recital at the Beehive Homes Assisted Living here in Henderson.  The folks loved the recital and it felt good to get into the Christmas spirit by sharing the gift of music!

A pretty incredible day happened on December 19th - the day of the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl!  I blogged all about it just last week so I'll keep it short.  I met some football heroes and had a great time watching the Cougars.  The experience was made even sweeter by family and friends who traveled long distances to come to the game.  Rise and shout!!

Christmas this year was incredible.  We were able to spend it up in Utah with family and it was one non-stop party.  I loved spending some relaxing days at Mom and Dad's after the incredibly busy month I had been having - I really needed the relaxation.  It was great to be surrounded by family and celebrate the birth of Christ. 

It was a pretty incredible 2015.  I am thankful for the experiences I've had and the people in my life.  

Can't wait to see what 2016 has in store!  Happy New Year!!