Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwazy Kwanzaa, Tip-Tip, Tet, and a Solemn, Dignified Ramadan

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

We just got back from two days of celebrating. The normal Perry tradition is to see Jen's family on Christmas Eve and Jeff's on Christmas Day (although last year, that tradition got a hiccup, since we stayed home both days. Jen was still recuperating from the car accident).

Jen did a chunk of the cooking for her side of the family at her dad's request, and we got together at her parents' house. We had dinner there, played charades and opened presents. It was a big group; in total there were 13 there.

At Jeff's house, it was a much smaller and calmer group. This year, because of everyone's schedules, it was just Jeff's brothers and parents. Again, we had an enjoyable dinner and visited. We don't get to see Jeff's side too often, since they are about an hour away from us, so we caught up and enjoyed hanging out!

Our big "surprise" to our families were photos of us. It dawned on us that we had never had photos taken of the two of us. Fortunately, Angella, a friend of ours from Colorado, now lives in California in Davis, and she does WONDERFUL photographs, as you can see:

Check out more of Angella's work by clicking HERE.

Overall we got some very nice and wonderful gifts. Both of us feel very spoiled and blessed by our family and friends. Hopefully this week we can post some of the pictures from Christmas, and also write up the Year in Review.

And for those who want to know about the title, it's one of Jen's favorite holiday sayings:

Insomnia Rears It's Ugly Head

Hello, everyone!

We have been fighting colds recently, which unfortunately messed with sleeping patterns. Since we are still up, why not update the blog?

November has been a busy month, much like all of our other months. In the beginning on the month, Jeff's youngest brother, James, came home from his mission. James served his mission in Brazil and we all were able to meet him at the Oakland Airport. This past Sunday he was asked to speak at both his parent's ward and his single's ward. Jeff was lucky enough to go, but Jen was running a fever and had to stay home.

On the 17th we celebrated another milestone. We have now been married for seven years! It has been an interesting roller coaster ride, but one neither of us would change. We had already celebrated our anniversary with the Seattle trip, but decided on the day of to go to Espetus, a Brazilian steakhouse in San Mateo. Dinner was nice, and we took a few pictures, but just enjoyed a quiet day together.

That weekend was the Big Game. For the third year, we went to the Stanford-Cal football game. This year the game was at Stanford and at first Jen had a hard time getting tickets, but she got a really good deal on seats, which turned out to be section 101, front row right next to the tunnel where the players run out. It was a great game, especially because Stanford won, but it was raining the entire game unfortunately.

The following week was Thanksgiving, at Jen's sister's house. It was a pretty quiet day, with just Jen's parents, siblings and her nieces there for the day. The food was awesome, and we got to do the majority of the work, but it was so much fun! Everything ended up tasting great, and then Jen, Jeff, Jen's sister Myra and our nieces Sarah and Rachel went Black Friday shopping.

We decided to hit McCarthy Ranch in Milpitas because The things we really wanted were at Walmart and Best Buy, and they bad both stores there. Jeff, Myra and Rachel waited to get in line at Walmart while Jen stayed at Best Buy. Unfortunately, the line to get into Walmart was insane, and a lot of people were pushing us to get in, so much that we had to yell at them to leae us alone. Inside the store, a lot of people were impatient, and tried to cut us in line. We didn't get much there, and don't know if we will go back to Walmart on Black Fridays anymore. Aoparently a lot of Walmarts had problems like that. Fortunately, Jen got everything she wanted at Best Buy, and now is the proud owner of a new GPS and two new BluRay boxed sets: Lord of the Rings and Star Wars!

Last Saturday we got to go on one more fun outing. We went with our friend Tanicia to go see Carmen at the San Francisco Opera. This was to make up to Jeff who fell asleep during the Opera At The Park event, and he actually enjoyed the opera. The three of us dressed up and went to the city. Originally we were going to go to dinner first, but a small emergency prevented that.

We went to go introduce Jacob to our nieces and while we were there a stray dog approached us. Another neighbor had followed him for several blocks and he was running loose in the neighborhood. The City of Fremont wouldn't come get him until Tuesday (and it was Saturday) so we caught him and brought him home. We posted flyers everywhere, but the old dog stayed with us until Monday. As Jen was calling around to local shelters, his owners found one of our flyers and called to claim him. Koa, we were told, broke out of his yard Friday night and was over a mile from his home, impressive for a 13-year old dog! His owners came and got him, and we miss the old dog lots, but we are happy he found his home.

Today a huge fog bank rolled into the bay area, and although its common to San Francisco, usually it doesn't reach Newark like this. On the way to work, Jen could not see the entire bridge she takes to get to work, and on the way home, she couldn't see the bridge at all! So. Decided to go outside and take pictures because this is an uncommon experience. We took a lot of pictures at the lake near our house, and they (along with our other pictures) are uploading on our computer now. Hopefully we can get them posted soon so we can share them all with you.

Hope everything is going well with you all. School and work are still going but should wrap up soon. We are planning on sending our Christmas cards soon, so please email us your addresses if you would like one!

The Sights, The Sounds, and The Rest

Hello to everyone out there!

Hope you are having a happy Halloween. Ours this year has been pretty quiet. We had two groups of kids come all night, so we get to have A LOT of leftover candy this year.

For those who noticed the change in the slideshows to the side, we uploaded a lot of photos recently. We finally uploaded the photographs from Jeff's birthday in Monterrey and San Francisco, plus we uploaded the photos from our recent trip to Seattle. Yes, October has been a very busy month for us.

First off, we have a new addition to the furry family. Jen's coworker had a pup that needed a home and thought we might be a good fit. Jen had wanted another dog to protect the house, and even though this was a puppy, we thought we would give it a try. Jacob (Jake for short) is a good fit for our dog-family. He is almost 8 months now, and is just a little smaller than Fox (but he is already heavier!) He is mostly husky but his face looks a little pit bull-ish. He is super sweet to us, but already is protective of the house and his friends. He also gets along great with Christopher, but bonded with Fox immediately.

The week before we left for Seattle, we found out that a lot of Food Network stars were touring the country and coming to our part of California for book signings. Within a week, we got to meet three of our favorites: on Monday we met Guy Fieri at his restaurant in Dublin. On Tuesday Jeff got to meet Alton Brown in San Francisco, and was a good sport about taking Jen to see him on Wednesday in Palo Alto. That Friday, Anne Burrell was also in Palo Alto at the Stanford mall, so Jeff met Jen up there for the signing, then had dinner in Palo Alto.

Then we went to Seattle. For those who wonder why, there were a few reasons. The biggest is that our anniversary is in November, but traveling then would not work. It's very close to Thanksgiving, and the weather likely would not be any good for us. So we opted to go to Washington in October. It was very much fall weather, and although it sprinkled a little at times, we had so much fun. We visited the local temple, went to the space needle, Tacoma, and even spent some time hanging in the hotel. The hotel was a studio-style room with a kitchenette that had a decent fridge, microwave and stove. During happy hour one cold evening, we hung out next to the fireplace in the lobby reading and munching in cookies that the staff baked for the guests. Washington was very beautiful, and we even got to play with Jeff's new camera. For a birthday/anniversary/Christmas present, we cashed in three years' worth of gift cards and points to get the camera, a Nikon D5100 with a telescopic lens and a nice backpack case. You can see how nicely the camera works by the photos, particulary of the temple and the space needle.

Aside from our travels, the same is still going on. Both of us are plugging away at school, as the terms are getting closer to ending. Jen is also starting National Novel Writing Month tomorrow, where the goal is to write 50,000 words in a month, so we will see how she does this year.

Until next time...

A Sneak Peek of What's To Come

We've had a busy couple of weeks in Perryland, both the week before our trip and the week of. We're still in Seattle (hence the change in background) but wanted to give you a sneak peek of our trip. Ready?

A visit from Alton Brown...

A puppy named Jake...

... and the view from our hotel window.

But you'll have to wait until we get home for the complete details!

Brief But An Update

Yes, we still exist!

There has been a lot going on in our hectic lives as of late, so we decided to go ahead and throw out another update.

Jeff has been getting better. His stomach issues are fairly resolved but he is still being seen by a doctor. There is no exact diagnosis and what he had could have already resolved itself, but still we are keeping an eye on things. He is also continuing to progress with school: So far his classes are going well, despite having four classes, work and everything else! Work is getting to be crazy; a lot of his staff have left for full-time jobs or school, so there is a bit of craziness there, but all otherwise appears to be well.

Jen has had an interesting few weeks as well. She has gone to the dentist a few times and come back in pain, unfortunately. Although she likes the dentist, her mouth just isn't used to being messed with! To make matters worse, last week she had a slight cold and had to stay home from work. Fortunately, she was able to get a lot of it done from home and only took one sick day (the day for the dentist). School is also going well. She just finished her third class and, although she doesn't think she got an A like in her other classes, she was just glad to get through it. It was a pretty tough class for her. Right now, she is only in one class with a professor she has had before, and she enjoyed being in his class, so she's anticipating getting back into her groove and getting her A again. She is also starting her next class next week, a research-based course, and her advisors have told her that her background and work will likely benefit her in this class, which is supposed to be one of the more difficult. She should finish her first class before our anniversary, and her newer class will be the last for the year! Next year she will have only two classes, one of which is an observational course, but probably just as much work!

We are also going on our anniversary trip early this year. Our actual anniversary is Nvember 17th, but we have been toying with the idea of going to Seattle. A lot of thought went into this. We both need the break, and going to Seattle is not an option in November. The idea first hit us on our way back from Utah. We had a 30 minute stop in Seattle and the skyline intrigued Jeff. With more research we fou d there was a lot that we could do there, so we decided to give it a try! We leave Thursday the 20th and come home on Monday the 24th, and this will probably be the last trip of the year.

Well, time to wrap this up. We hope all is well with everyone and hope to catch up again when we return!

Summer in September

Hello to all out there!

So summer is finally showing up. We have had a few days that were warmer than the others this summer (still relatively cool compared to the folks that have 100+ temps!) It's made for a nice few days lately, even though the days are getting shorter.

This year, Jeff decided to do a garden, and so far it's been successful! We have already harvested tomatoes and zucchini, and he has also planted herbs and cucumbers that haven't really ripened. He also planted peppers that just don't get hot enough to his liking, and originally we only had one corn plant grow. After talking to someone from our church, he decided to try soaking the corn before planting, and sure enough, we now have 100+ plants!! All of this is being grown in our FRONT yard, for fear that the dogs would take them out in the back. On the plus side, our zucchini plant has become a beautiful shrub in our front path!

We also celebrated Jeff's birthday last weekend. Since he wasn't feeling that great (more on that later), we decided to keep it simple and just celebrate together. On Friday, we both took the day off and decided to drive to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Jen's sister had given us passes for the year, so we thought we would go. They recently have been trying to rehabilitate a Great White shark, so we went to see that. Even though we have been numerous times, this was probably the first time either one of us went and there wasn't any construction or closed off portions of the aquarium! It was really pretty and we took plenty of pictures.

The following Monday was Jeff's actual birthday, so we decided to go to San Francisco for the afternoon. We started out eating at a burger joint in the Ferry Building, which is on the water, and do some shopping in the food market. Because of the holiday, a few shops were closed but we had fun anyway. We also went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Although we were only there for a little bit, we did get to try out the famous Mondrian cake and saw some very interesting exhibits.

The bad news is Jeff has been pretty sick lately. A few weeks ago he had to leave work because he had gotten sick. Although we suspected it was from milk we had purchased (the only thing Jeff had that Jen didn't) the doctor said no, it wasn't likely. The next week Jeff had more of the same milk and again got very sick. His stomach unfortunately hasn't been the same, and we spent part of Jeff's birthday in urgent care because it was really upset. All seems to be pretty good now, but we are both being really careful about what we eat.

School is again continuing for us both. Jen began a new class with the teacher she started with in her Master's program, and Jeff began the fall semester with four new courses. Despite sickness, we have been fortunate to keep up with our homework. Work has been great for Jeff, but Jen is wrapping up a study and working on two new ones at the same time! So this month is pretty packed, and we are looking at a trip next month for a much-needed break!

Right now we're uploading the photos from Jeff's birthday but hopefully we can get them posted ASAP. Hope all is well for you all!

In Brief

Hello, all!

We would say that the summer is starting to wind down, but around here it hasn't seem to hit yet! We've had pretty calm weather, with very few really warm days. This mild weather has been very enjoyable, but makes getting back to the everyday grind difficult.

Both of us have been continuing to work hard. Jeff is about to register for his fall classes. It looks like he should be done with the undergrad work by next year, if he can keep up with the work load. Jen is down to one class, and so far has 2 As in her program. She will be picking up another class toward the end of the month, and then there is just one more until Christmas break. Break this year starts at the beginning of December, then goes through mid-January. Then Stanford has their usual two-week closure, so this year, maybe we will actually do something! The last few years, one of us has been sick or, in Jen's case, still recouping from the car accident, so our holidays have been local and very understated.

Although there aren't any trips planned for a while, we're still dreaming of some. Jeff really wants to go to Seattle, or back to New York, possibly for our anniversary, so we are saving up for that. And next month is Jeff's birthday. We haven't quite gotten that figured out, since it lands on Labor Day, we haven't decided if we'll go out the day of, the weekend of, or some other day. But we will be sure to keep you posted!

Time for July!

Hello, everyone!

After a ton of blog updates before in the last month, July is seemingly quiet in comparison. But, we are managing to keep busy and have some adventures to boot!

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In Jen's Family, the 4th of July is second only to Christmas in the hierarchy of family holidays. A small part of that is because Jen's oldest sister, Myra, was born on the 5th and the family usually gets together on the 4th instead. The real, main reason, however, is because Newark, where we live, is one of a few cities in California that still hasn't outlawed fireworks. The sales benefit different booster clubs, and there is just too much money to be made by blowing up your hometown, so every year the family meets at Jen's parents house to light off fireworks.. This year, the dogs made things interesting. Myra's dog, Mason, is not a fan of the loud popping (long story with his personal history) and our dog, Fox, was actually scared this year, so we put the three dogs inside of our RAV 4 so that they we're close enough to see us and know it's okay, without hearing too many loud noises. And, before anyone else asks, Christopher did fine. For some reason, he has always loved fireworks!!!

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The weekend after the 4th, Jen went to a conference put on by the National Urea Cycle Disorder Foundation. UCD is a disorder in which the body has a difficulty time eliminating ammonia from the body. It's a relatively rare disorder, but right now it is actually one of Jen's big research projects. Because of how rare it is, there is only one conference every year for it, and this year it was in Denver, CO. Jeff again went along, and so did our niece, Rachel, who wanted to look at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, an hour north of Denver and where Jen got her first degree. So we went back home to Ft. Collins while we were there and toured the campus and drove around the city. Jen put it this way: it was like going home and finding someone changed the locks. It was familiar, but a lot had changed in the city and the school, which is expected after having been away over five years, but there were a few homey things, like visiting our old apartment.

The hotel we stayed at in Denver was pretty nice as well. It has a rooftop pool that we hung out at, and while Jen was in her conference, Jeff and Rachel got to do some shopping. It was the shortest of the three trips, but still plenty of fun!

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That brings us to this weekend, another busy one for us. We already saw the last Harry Potter in a double-feature with the previous one, and today we went to the AIDS Walk in San Francisco. Jeff had volunteered a few times but didn't get to actually walk some of them, so we went out to Golden Gate Park and enjoyed the day. Although we got a late start, we still had fun listening to the music and enjoying the park and the people. In fact, Jen even got a t-shirt and a keychain from the Pixar Walk Team. The keychain is of the rubber ball that is part of their logo, and her shirt is in honor of Cars 2, with Lightning McQueen driving a red track made out to look like an AIDS ribbon. Between our trips, conferences and walks, we have amassed quite a collection of shirts!!

Well, that is it for now. We haven't uploaded any pictures yet, but they should be posted in one of our albums next to this blog. Hope all is well with our family and friends and we will see you all soon!!

What To Do In Utah When You Only Have Three Days There

Last summer, we had considered coming to Utah in May. Jen's graduation from her program was the first weekend in May, and we thought it would be fun for her to walk with some of her classmates. However, with work and school commitments getting in the way, we decided not to go in May. Fortunately, not long after the decision was made, Jen got an email to take part in a summer seminar at Utah State, and so we decided to go to the campus for the seminar.

While we were there, we decided to walk around the campus. Although we had been to Logan before, we didn't spend too much time there before. This time, we were here for about three days, and really loved the area. It reminded us of Jen's undergrad days in Fort Collins, CO, but a little more spread out. As you can see, Logan is surrounded by mountains and is a beautiful campus. While we were there, we got a few USU-themed items, including Jen's tassle. Now we just have to wait for her diploma to come in the mail!



Not satisfied with just staying in Logan, we also went down to the Hill Aerospace Museum. They have about 100 different airplanes to look at, from a recreation of the Wright flyer to stealth airplanes. Although Jeff had gone when he was younger, Jen had never been, so they decided to take some time to look at the cool airplanes.


While we were there, they were preparing for a retirement party, so we thought Stanley would enjoy being a part of the festivities!!!

We also went into Salt Lake City one night to meet up with our friends, the Crosbys. We met them when they served their missions in our area, and we haven't seen them in a few years, after they had gotten married. They've since had a little boy, and we had a blast going to dinner with them and walking through the mall. There is a picture of the five of us out there, but we still haven't found a copy, so hopefully we can add it soon!

Before we left, we walked around Logan one more time. Outside of the tabernacle, there was a small fair with handcrafted knickknacks that were so cool to look at, like paintings, carvings and photos. We really wanted to bring some things home, but worried about airport security and keeping our things safe, so perhaps next time, we'll make an allowance for that!

Such a short trip, but so much fun! We are definitely planning on going back to visit again, since we enjoyed the area so much.

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Now we are totally caught up with our adventures! Just in time too: next week we'll have a lot more to blog about. We plan on celebrating the 4th of July here, setting off fireworks (since Newark STILL hasn't outlawed them!) and then, off to Denver for Jen's last work trip of the summer (we think!) It will be nice to have more to blog about that ISN'T under the "June" banner, although I think we broke a record for most blogs in a month on here!

Alla prossima!

A Short Update Tonight...

Good evening, all!

Hope you all enjoyed our vacation photos and adventures in the East! Right now, we're winding down the night, but wanted to post another brief update before delving into the Utah trip.

This morning, Jeff had the opportunity to talk in our ward. It was a pretty great talk on sacrifice, and he managed to keep people's attention for almost 20 minutes! It was actually a great and informative talk, and several of the church members approached us afterwords and said what parts they enjoyed. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay for the whole three-hour block, because Jen was in the back of the church, trying hard not to cough very loudly. It appears that the cough is fine for now, and she should be going to work tomorrow, but she still gets a few coughing fits.


Also, today Jen finished her first class in her program. Not only did she finish the first class, but she got an A! Tomorrow we hope to head out for a little treat to celebrate, but then it's back to the books for Jen. She already is halfway through her second class (which ends in the end of July) and starts another class tomorrow. It'll be like this for the next three years, except for breaks in December for Christmas, and another break every May.

The plan is, this week, to go over what we did in Utah, hopefully in one post since it was only three days, unlike the 10 for Philadelphia, and that this gets done before we enjoy the 4th of July and our last trip to Denver.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend, and we will be posting more later!

It's Up To You, New York (or Tales From Back East #3)

Jen wanted a photo of this street in New York City because, as she said, "It looked like the scene from the Cosby Show!"

Hello, blog-world!

So time to update our blog with the last part of our East Coast trip before catching everyone up with the general updates and the goings-on in Utah.

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Jen's conference ended Wednesday, and rather than fly home that day, we decided to extend the stay through Sunday. So, on Thursday we checked out of Philadelphia and drove up to Newark, NJ, where we stayed right across the street from New York City. Neither of us had ever been to New York, so we were really looking forward to it. After checking into the hotel, we decided to drive into the city, and Jen thought it was best to see the World Trade Center first.



It was a very somber and moving place to visit. While we walked the perimeter of the construction, it was warm, but when we looked through the fence, we could feel a chill on the other side. There were lots of people out walking, even though it was starting to get dark.


This is a photo of one of the WTC buildings, and the first to be operational. After 9/11, the seven buildings had to be reconstructed, and this one, 7 WTC, is the first one that was completed and operational. It was interesting and right by the PATH station we took later on to get into the city.


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One of the main attractions we wanted to see was the Harry Potter exhibit. We are both huge fans of the movies, and the exhibit had a lot of the props, costumes and set items from the movie. It has toured North America for the past few years, and New York is the last stop here, but as of this posting, we don't know where it's going next.


Although we couldn't take any photos inside of the exhibit, we did get quite a few inside the gift shop. Sounds kind of silly, but they had some awesome stuff for sale, like wands and toy props and replicas of the set items. Jen also bought a book that showed everything from the exhibit, so if anyone wants to borrow it, give her a call!


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After the Potter exhibit, we decided to walk around the city. The exhibit was not far from Times Square, so we got to look around at the mayhem that was there. It was incredibly crowded, since we happened to be there for Fleet Week. There were quite a few men and women in uniform around the city, and there were a few exhibitions of them displaying things like how their military dogs were trained. Hard to get photos of this, since there were too many people to get a good shot, but it was pretty cool to see so many great people.




We actually had to come back to Times Square later in the trip, to do some shopping for souvenirs and to get a feel for it when it was slightly cooler and less crowded! We did see quite a few crews recording what we guessed were movies and TV shows but couldn't figure out what they were filming throughout the city. The one we DID figure out, however, we got a few good photos of. The Travel Channel puts on a television show, Sand Masters, and while we were in NYC, we stumbled upon them doing their sand castles in the middle of the city. As you can see, they are incredibly detailed, and while we were taking photos, one of their crews took photos of us, so we will see if we end up on TV!

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After our first trip to Times Square, we decided to go visit Dylan's Candy Bar. Dylan's is owned by Dylan Lauren, Ralph Lauren's daughter, and is the world's largest candy store. It was a ton of fun going around the candy store, looking at all the great candy (and bringing home a few treats for ourselves)! Jeff bought some house-made fudge, and we split a SlushPuppy after we got there because it was pretty warm outside. We got a lot of little trinkets from there, and could have spent hours looking around, because each time we went back to a spot, we found something new. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to go visit something fun and different in NYC.


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The last place we visited was Central Park, and Jen wanted to see The Dakota and Strawberry Fields. For those who do not know, The Dakota was the residence of John Lennon, and he was killed just outside. Strawberry Fields was the memorial Yoko Ono dedicated across the street from The Dakota in Central Park. In fact, the photo of the building was taken from Strawberry Fields. Again, lots of tourists there, but it was such a beautiful park, with flowers around the Imagine marker in the middle.

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Well, that is pretty much this vacation in a nutshell. We had tons of fun, and wish we could go back tomorrow, but we will have to wait before going back. There are a ton of places we want to see, and our traveling experiences are just continuing. Although we are down to one more trip (Jen's trip to Denver in July) we are already planning on more vacations, including going back to New York.

Hope all is well with you all, and we hope you enjoyed our adventures!

A Quick Little Update

Hi, all!!

So we made it back in one piece (sort of) from Utah. Jen's conference was a success and we came back with a few souvenirs to boot! The one downside, aside from the trip being relatively short, is that Jen caught a cold Sunday before our flight. She's still pretty sick, and trying to rest and take it easy, or at least as much as she can while still doing homework.

To whet your appetite before our update after next, since we DID skip over the all-important NYC portion of our East Coast trip, the photos we took in Utah are now posted on the blog! Enjoy!

Tales from Back East #2

Since we went back east, we decided to go visit some friends of Jeff's. Jeff served his mission in New Jersey, and we thought, hey, since we're out there, we'll stop and look around.

One place we spent a lot of time at was Wall, NJ. As you can see, it is near the ocean. Even though it was a pretty cold and gray day, we decided to stop and hang out on the beach for a little bit. Despite it being cold out, the water was still warmer than the Pacific!



There were a ton of these little shells all over the beach. Although it's hard to tell in this picture, there were little tiny baby shells inside of this one.

We also had dinner with the Mason-O'Connors-Mohamed-Loxton (had to make sure everyone was covered!) family. Jeff had met the mom, Laurie, and her children, David, Thomas and Victoria, on his mission, and they were kind enough to invite us over to their house for dinner. Laurie was nice enough to BBQ for us, and we had chicken and lamb in grape leaves. YUM!

From left to right: David, Mustafa, Laurie, Thomas, Jeff, Jen, and Victoria (Oldest daughter Christina wasn't able to come, and dad Jeff was taking the picture!)

It was a nice break to have food that didn't come from a drive-thru, and we were all able to catch
up. Hard to believe the last time Jeff was there was 7 years ago. We're hoping to go back again soon, and if not, at least not to wait 7 years before our next visit!

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Another part of New Jersey that we enjoyed visiting was Princeton. Jen was dying to go (although she kept making jokes about John Nash and the Whiffenpoofs).

While there, we met with Jeff's friend, William Sotovando. Since Jeff last saw William, he got married, had a little boy, and they are expecting another baby this summer. They were kind enough to take us on a tour of the university. If you flip through our photo albums, you'll see lots of pictures we took, especially of the Hogwarts-like library.

Jeff with the Sotovando family.

We didn't find John Nash but we got cool pictures of ourselves outside the buildings!

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And that covers the chunk of our trip that was New Jersey! Hopefully we can catch up with our blog before we leave again. On Monday, we plan on heading to Logan, Utah, for a speech-pathology conference for Jen (and, yeah, another mini-break). Hope you've been enjoying our photo album, and now that we've kind of figured it out, we should have more photos up from our next trips!

Tales from Back East #1

So, rather than be productive and clean the house or do homework, instead, now is the time to recall some of the misadventures of our trip to Philadelphia, NYC and New Jersey. Rather than bore you with some of Jen's work stuff, we'll just keep it to the vacation parts itself!

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Originally we had planned on staying at the hotel Jen's conference was located. However, that really didn't go over too well with us when we found out how pricey it would be to do so. Trying to be a little money-conscientious, Jen searched online and found The Rittenhouse. The Rittenhouse is a small little boutique hotel, kind of like a bed and breakfast. Jen liked it because it was an older building near Rittenhouse Square, a park that Jen was able to walk through while Jeff was in New Jersey and play with some local dogs (Jen was very homesick for our pooches). During the evenings they had little mingling groups, and the staff was very helpful at telling us where things were, like late-night diners and the banks. It was also pretty close to the downtown area in Philadelphia, so we were close enough to Jen's conference (less than a mile away) and still close enough to do some sight seeing!

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Here you see the backs of several people. You're probably wondering why we only got this. That would be Jeff's fault ;-)

While touring the monuments of Philadelphia, outside of Independence Hall, we noticed there were several groups of young college kids running around. Some had numbers like a runner in a marathon would wear, others had weird shirts. While we were taking photos, the guy with the #20 shirt approached Jen and asked if she was a local or a tourist. She said we were from California, and he took her over to the group. It turns out that all these people were there for a scavenger hunt, and there task was to find someone from out of state to take a photo with them. The pose they did was from the movie, Rocky, and everyone did the pose with their hands over their heads. Unfortunately, the downside of this was that, after Jeff had taken everyone else's pictures, he forgot to take one with OUR camera. But we did get this of them walking away from us (possibly slightly inebriated). So if anyone recognizes these people's backsides, let me know; I want a copy of the photo!


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We had quite a few more adventures in Philadelphia. It took us a few visits before we saw everything in the historic portion, because the hours were limited and clashed with Jen's conferences. We did manage to go through Independence Hall, but they limit the number of people that go in, so you have to go to the information center, get tickets and then take your tour. We also got to see some of the older buildings, see where the Declaration of Independence was written as well as the Constitution, and check out the Liberty Bell (the photos on the right should be up now, and should show you what we got to see there!).

Philadelphia is also where we had our "big dinner". Usually on vacation, we'll treat ourselves to a nicer dinner than the typical vacation food we pick up on the road or at a quick pit-stop. In Philadelphia, we decided to go to Fogo de Chao. It's a Brazilian churrascaria steakhouse, were servers bring out your food to you. If you've never had Brazilian churrascaria, basically they roast different meats on long swords, just like the gauchos do, and carve off your portions for you. It's a lot of meat, and it's very simply seasoned, but it was delicious! At this particular restaurant, they were very quick to keep the drinks topped off, keep offering us food, and to clean up to prepare for the next customers but still were very friendly. Jen actually timed it; it took 45 seconds for them to remove the dishes, linens and change the place settings on a table!

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Well, that's one bit of our big vacation. Hopefully by the end of the week we can get everything shared, because next week we're off again for another much shorter trip!

Take care, all!

One Trip Down...

Hello, everyone!

We just got back from the first of the three planned trips this summer (and definitely the longest!) Jen's work offered her the chance to go to Philadelphia for a conference. The conference ran from Sunday through Wednesday, but since it was so close to Jeff's mission (New Jersey, Cherry Hill, which we found was combined with others and technically doesn't exist anymore), and we both wanted to go to New York, we decided to make a vacation out of it. We flew out of Oakland and landed in Philadelphia Friday night, stayed in Philly until Thursday, and then stayed the rest of the trip in Newark, New Jersey, which was close enough to where we wanted to visit.

Eventually some of the wacky adventures we went on will be posted on here (probably when Jen finishes her homework projects she's behind on) but we did manage to put some pictures on the blog. Now, to the right, there are new Picasa pictures; one from our trip to Disneyland last January, and then all the photos of what we saw back east.

As a small update to whet your appetite, here are some of the other goings-on in the Perry household.

Jeff completed his Spring semester of school, and did well in his classes. He is now working on getting his practicum going. For his degree, there is a three-part series of classes he needs to take in order to get his degree: the practicum, the externship, and the grants project. The practicum involves volunteering for about 30 hours over the course of a term at a child care facility, giving direct assistance to the children and writing up observations. Then, after he completes this, he must complete an externship with another site, like a day care or a hospital, for a set number of hours, depending on how many units he wants, and do more write-ups and observations. The last portion, the grant writing project, involves doing research and creating a presentation for a fictional agency, requesting funds from various sources to accomplish the agency's mission. They have to be taken sequentially, each one a semester's worth of work, along with his regular coursework as well. Slowly but surely, though, he's plugging away.

On the plus side, work is going better for him. A few people that were not working out left, and now he is back to hiring staff. Despite being short-staffed, all appears to be going well for now, so keep your fingers crossed that he'll find great employees!

As for Jen, coming back to work on Tuesday was a little tough. Without going into details, one of the projects she was working on hit a huge roadblock with the budgets, and at first it seemed impossible to get everything done in order to treat the patients and continue the study. But, with a lot of perseverance and work (and TONS of phone calls and emails!) everything came together this afternoon, in time for her patient's visit on Monday and Tuesday. So for now everything is set, and hopefully there won't be any more hiccups!

School is going well for Jen as well. The bad news is, because of our travels, her schoolwork fell behind a little. Fortunately it's a self-paced course, so she didn't miss any deadlines or anything. And on her physiology exam for that class (a tough topic for her) she managed to score 88%, so she is still in range for an A!

Well, it is starting to get late, so we will wrap it up here for now. Stay tuned for some of our stories!

Almost Made It In April...

Hello, all!

We have been putting off updating the blog until something more exciting happened. We have been pretty busy with everything, so apologies for this being relatively short!

Easter was a fairly quiet day. Jen's sister invited her over to the house, and she and her family had dinner there. We brought over lasagna, and Rice Krispie Treats shaped like Easter eggs. They were pretty good, and she mixed them in with Fruity Pebbles to give it some color. We have some pics posted on our Facebook pages, because we've had a heck of a time uploading pictures onto the blog.

Jen started her orientation for school on the 18th, and it went pretty well. It was essentially making sure she had everything she would need to view posts and work on her schoolwork online. School officially starts tomorrow, so she is excited at starting the work for her Master's degree, even though it means school for at least another three years.

Jeff has been plugging away at school as well. His semester will be ending in the next few weeks, just in time for the summer and a few trips we have planned (more on that later). Work is still going well. There have been a few changes with the staff at his store, but everything is settling in nicely.

The past week, Jen's been home from work. We aren't 100% sure what was going on, but basically it seems to be a stomach flu of sorts and she has pain in her lower back. She's had a few labs done, and so far no answers, but she's been handling it well enough. We think tomorrow will be her first day back at work, so she will have a lot to catch up on, but at least she's feeling a little better.

This summer, we have several trips that we've got planned. At the end of this month, we are going to be going back east. Jen has a conference in Philadelphia that lasts from Sunday through Wednesday, so we plan on flying in on Friday, having a day to look around, then Sunday through Wednesday Jen will be at her conference and Jeff will venture off to visit some friends and family in New Jersey. On Thursday we will leave Philadelphia to see DC and New York, and return home that Sunday.

In June, we are planning another trip to Utah. There is a speech-language pathology program in the middle of June that Jen wants to attend, so during the week, we will fly out and back for the conference. And in July the weekend after the 4th, we are going to another work conference for Jen in Denver. So quite a few travels in store for us!

Well, we hope you are all having a wonderful Spring. It's starting to warm up nicely here already, so it should be a pretty summer!

Updates, Because We Haven't Posted in March Yet!

We wanted to try to keep up with our blog posts, so it is time for a brief update!

Jen is getting busy with her work, and taking on more studies. She started out doing the paperwork and submission for a study of heart transplant patients under the age of 4 months (That's right; MONTHS!) that, at first, she didn't think would go through. The financing for the study got to be pretty expensive, and the sponsor at first did not want to pay nearly as much as she had calculated. However, it appears that there is still some negotiations going on, so it may become an active study in the near future.

Jen is also taking over two studies from one of her coworkers, who is leaving to go onto graduate school to pursue his PhD. One of the studies she is taking over involves how a medication plays a role in certain patients (sorry, can't get more detailed than that!) But her other study is the one she has wanted for a while. One of the doctors at Stanford is working on a Genetic Autism study, where they get skin samples of Autistic children, look at them for genetic abnormalities, and try to see if they can correct them in a petri dish. She has wanted to help her coworker on this study for a while, and when she found out that he would be leaving soon, she eagerly volunteered to take on the job, and got it! She's already met with her first patient, and helped out the team this past week, so she is very eager to continue.

School hasn't started for her yet, but as you can see, Jen's already got her desk ready for school. Jeff surprised her by cleaning off the desk, and she was so happy she HAD to get a photo.

Back to school....

Jeff has been plugging away at work and school as well. Now that the transition to the store is continuing to settle down, he is putting in consistent hours and has a consistent schedule. Although he ends up having to get up as early as 3 AM, he is home shortly after lunch and is still able to spend almost all evenings at home.

School is also coming to a close for Jeff. The term is now more than halfway done for him, and one class is already over, leaving him three classes with projects and tests to do. He should be done by the middle of May, in time for our trip to Philadelphia.

Tickets have been bought, and we will be going to the East Coast this May. We plan on leaving on Friday, May 20th, and returning Sunday, May 29th. This is starting to look like a great vacation for us both, since Jeff has not been back East since his mission, and Jen has never been! Until Thursday the 26th, we will be in Philadelphia for Jen's work conference, which ends Wednesday. We don't have the last three days planned just yet, but are working on it as we speak. There are so many places to see, but it'll be hard to get to everything with the conference being all-day.

Well, enough of our update. Here's hoping that our next one will be longer (and with photos!)

A Bit of Catching Up To Do

Hello, world!

Yes, we have been away for two months now, and our apologies. It's been a busy few months, and so far, everything's been going well for us.

Christmas was a slight downer for us. Because of Jen's back, travel was out of the question, and Christmas Eve and Day were over an hour away. Doesn't sound like too much now, but Jen's back was acting up on her (we think probably from the cold), so we celebrated quietly at home. On Christmas Day, Jen's parents stopped by for a quick dinner, but aside from that, there wasn't much going on. We did not even put up a tree, but we managed to decorate our mantle at least!


FYI - We also barely kept awake for New Year's... so ONTO 2011!!

Before Jen's accident, her sister thought it would be a cool idea to go to Disneyland as a family. The plane tickets were a bargain, and we all ended up in a suite at the Disneyland Hotel, so that was a blast! In total, 11 people went: Us two; Jen's oldest sister; Jen's other sister, her husband and three girls plus a friend; and Jen's sister-in-law and nephew. We were there for almost 3 full days, and instead of posting photos directly in the blog, we'll put a slide show on the side for your enjoyment.

Disneyland was the beginning of a round of good things for us. About a week later, Jen got an email from CSU, Northridge, telling her she had been accepted into their online Master's degree program! She will be the first of her four siblings to go to graduate school, the first of her cousins on her mom's side, and the first to go for a Master's on her dad's side (she has two cousins that are lawyers, though, so not the only one to do post-grad work!). Since it's entirely online, we can stay here and not have to look for another place or new jobs. Her first classes start in May, with a two week "orientation" to make sure she's got her computer set up properly.

A week after that, we celebrated Jen's 30th birthday. Although it felt like the party lasted more than just the day. The Wednesday before, her office threw her a party and bought her Sprinkle's cupcakes. That weekend, we went shopping for some essentials and had a blast just hanging out, but couldn't go anywhere because we were also house-sitting, and on Monday, we went out with two families from church, the Snows and the Bishops, to go get Five Guys, a new burger place near us. The next day, when she returned to work, and her sister (Who also works at Stanford) brought balloons on their carpool together. Here she is entering the office with them:

Then, we had a party on the Superbowl for her! It's a long story, but Jen's birthday clashes with this event, so since it was such an important year, her folks came to our house for a "surprise" party. (We say "surprise" loosely because she started to find out that weekend that SOMETHING was going on)

Also, on February 1, Jen became a complete, full-time employee! She already was permanent since September, but she was at 30 hours/week, and now she is 100% time. This means a little less time at home, but a bit more money, so we're happy for that at least!

Despite working more, we've still found time to have some fun. Last week, since Jeff had the weekend off, we decided to hit the Tech Museum for their exhibit, Body Worlds Vital.


The exhibit itself is pretty interesting. We copied this from The Tech Museum's website, since it explained it so well:

BODY WORLDS Vital, in its first-ever showing, celebrates the potential of the human body and the body in motion. Featuring authentic human bodies, the exhibition shows the body in health, distress and disease. These detailed anatomical studies, compositions, and representations allow visitors a penetrating gaze at what lies beneath the skin.

Physician and anatomist Gunther von Hagens' BODY WORLDS exhibitions are the original, precedent-setting public anatomical exhibitions of real human bodies, and the only anatomical exhibits that use donated bodies, willed by donors, for the express purpose of serving BODY WORLDS' mission to educate the public about health and anatomy. The bodies are preserved through a remarkable process called Plastination enabling visitors to learn what lies beneath the skin.


We got to spend the day in San Jose, then ventured on over to the Great Mall to get a few other essentials afterwards. All in all a great day!

It looks like we'll have quite a few trips this coming year. Even though we don't have to, Jen does want to go to CSU Northridge to tour "her" campus. We are also planning a trip to Utah the first weekend of May for Jen to get her other degree. Lastly, Jen's job has a conference in Philadelphia that we want to turn into a small vacation, since Jen's never been to the East Coast, and Jeff has not returned to New Jersey since his mission.

Hopefully we'll keep you all a bit more posted!