Merry Christmas 2010!

We had a really lovely Christmas at my parents house this year.  It was extreemely relaxing and a lot of fun, though we did not get any snow.  It was a joy to watch our niece helping everyone open their presents.
Kona always loves being at "grandma and grandpas" house with the other dogs and lots of room to run and play.  He got a present to open as well thanks to our friends (his favorite babysitters), and their kids.

Caught Him!

We have just one issue with our sweetest puppy dog Kona, and that is that he tends to sneak up on the couch when we are gone.  He knows he is not supposed to do this, but, just as any rebellious child, he does so anyway.  We cannot figure out how to discipline him since he is usually off the couch by the time we enter the door because he hears us coming.  We know he has been on the couch because he will shy away from us, and there is an obvious dog-shaped warm spot on the couch.  And because he is a dog, we are not sure how to discipline for something that we didn't actually catch him doing... if that makes any sense.  (Help Dog Wisperer!)
Once in a while we will actually catch him still on the couch.  Tonight we walked in to find him on the couch laying completely still and tightly curled up in the corner of the couch while peering out of the corner of his deep brown eyes, hoping that we would not actually see the big black spot on the brown couch.  I seriously think he was trying to blend in with the couch or something... it was quite humorous!  It is SO hard not to laugh at him and how cute he is while doing something he is not supposed to be doing...  Dogs are SUCH great training for kids!!

And as I sit here writing this post on the other couch in the family room (the old green one that we don't really care about), Scott has just (literally just now) invited Kona to come join us on the couch... seriously we wonder why we have problems with him getting on the brown couches?  Poor color blind dog can't tell the difference between brown and green.  Who is really to blame here??

It is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I just love the Christmas season!  It is the only time of the year that I decorate, and I just love it when the house is filled with the scent of the fresh tree!  Sunday after Thanksgiving we headed over to Larry's produce to find our tree.  I have come to love Larry's produce for their fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the summer, and for their trees at Christmastime.  You cannot beat a fresh tree for $30!!  What a deal!  And I love how they display their trees by hanging them from the rafters!  You walk through a bunch of beautiful trees spinning around, it is like nothing I have seen before!

 The tree we selected had a HUGE trunk and was so fresh and full of water Scott couldn't lift it by himself!  We set it up in the street to clean it off and trim the lower branches.

 We had enough left-over branches to make a rustic wreath for the door.

Simply and humbly decorated, it is aglow with light and life!

As I mentioned in the previous post, Scott's entire family was able to come out for a visit from Michigan for Thanksgiving.  With Mom, Dad, Sister, Bro-in-law, Nephew, and Niece, it was a full and cozy house for the week!  We had such a blast with everyone and we were both able to enjoy a few days off ourselves.We spent a couple days in San Fransisco, and then headed back to our house for the remainder of the time. We toured Napa Valley, the kids got to see the Jelly Belly Factory, and we braved the cold to see Muir Woods, and the beach. Scott and I both thought the best parts of their visit was when everyone was in the house together, enjoying each other.  Kona and Jake both got plenty of attention from our nephew and niece as well!

Crazy Hair Mom!

What in the world are we up to?

Well I have had a few people ask me about our blog lately, and I feel so bad with not posting anything lately.  But between my job, my sewing business, watching my niece, my Mary Kay business, and keeping up with the house cleaning and cooking, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of time lately for sitting at the computer to blog.   I do frequently have great ideas for the blog, and then promptly forget what they are the moment I sit down to blog...  So I do apologize for not keeping up with it....

So what have the Persicke's been up to?  Well as stated above, I am busy.  Scott is also busy with work at Trader Joes and also getting more handyman/side work jobs...
We were also very very blessed to have Scott's entire family from Michigan come out to visit for a week through Thanksgiving.  (That will be the next post)  
We would love to hear from our readers (we hope you still exist).
We pray that you have a wonderful and blessed Christmas season...
and be sure to check our blog again soon...  I won't be waiting so long to post again.

 GIVE-AWAY!

 A very good friend of mine from Colorado just started a little business making headbands for little girls.  These headbands are just adorable and I love her creativity. 
I am sure many of my readers have a little head they would like to put one of these headbands on, so I thought it would be fun to do a give-away.
Make a comment on this post and be entered into a drawing to win one of these headbands!
Check out my friend's site on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Dlil-Dva/114682238587766?ref=mf

Adam and Sara's Wedding
My baby brother Adam got married to the love of his life, Sara this weekend in Tahoe.  It was a beautiful and small wedding right on the lake.  Welcome to the family, Sara and Maddison!

My friend Rachelle made the cake, and I helped her decorate it... 

Beautiful Flowers
The Flowers boys celebrated their 4th birthday a couple of weeks ago.  We love these sweet boys and their little brother dearly, and we were so thrilled to be able to spend the afternoon with the Flowers family.  We love you guys so much!!!
I think we are four....right?

 Baby Brother....chillin'

Opening presents is fun!

Taking the presents home.

No, you are not seeing doubles... there are two sets of twin boys, all four years old!

Visit with Friends
Our precious friends, the Longs, were in town a few weeks back for a short visit.  We were reminded of how much we are blessed to know then and have them in our lives even though they now reside far away.  We celebrated their visit with a BBQ after church with all of our faith group from church. What a special time it was!!  We miss you guys so very much!!  Thank you for coming to spend time with us.

The Surprises Just keep coming...
If Scott thought that his birthday surprise party was the only celebration of his birthday this year, then he was wrong!  I had another surprise up my sleeve...   This surprise was more of a layering of one surprise on another...
I arranged for a day off of work for Scott last Friday, and we headed up to my parents house.  He knew something was up, but had no idea what.  My parents told him that they had arranged for us to attend the "full-mooners" concert at the Ironstone winery.  They told him the concert took place the weekend of the full moon and featured local bands and wine tasting.   They told him they had attended before, and it was a lot of fun.  We left Kona with them, and took off for the concert.  We arrived a little early, so we decided to walk around the little town of Murphey's where we "happened" to run into our good friends Teri and Joe.... Surprise, Teri and Joe are joining us!  He was surprised, and very happy.  All four of us headed to the "full-mooners" concert at Ironstone.  I kept making mention of how many people were attending this concert in the mountains.  Scott said he thought that it was because there was nothing else to do in the mountains... little did he know...
We finally found our seats on the lawn and spread our blankets out waiting for the concert to start.  It was a beautiful evening, and such a fun time enjoying the surroundings and good friends.  The concert finally began, and the opening band was "Wiskey Dawn" which happened to be the same band we had seen just two weeks prior at a free concert in Vacaville.  Scott thought that was the surprise, and he was again surprised...  we had enjoyed this band before, and he thought we were there to see them again.... little did he know...
Wiskey Dawn was great, but the best was yet to come... It wasn't until the end of their performance that Scott finally heard them say something about the Mississippi Girl, Faith Hill!   He looked at the three of us who wore big smiles on our faces, not able to contain it any longer....  He finally figured out that we were there to see Faith Hill!!  Surprise!! this was the big surprise!  It was an amazing concert under the stars with the full moon hanging in the sky....it was perfect, to say the least.  The only thing missing was Tim!
Since we could not have our cameras with us, we have no pictures of the concert, just pictures of before...
Thank you for joining us Teri and Joe... it was such a blast!!!

"Trust in the Lord with all your Heart, and Lean Not unto your Own Understanding.  In all your ways, Acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your path."  Proverbs 3:5-6

I know this is a verse that has been overused so much, but tonight it was illuminated to me more than ever before.  There are four verbs in this verse: Trust, Acknowledge, Lean, and Make Straight.  Four actions that need to take place for true peace.  Don't we all seek true peace?
I do not want to become too preachy with this post, but I hope that you will take a few moments to really think about what this verse means.  Many of us have heard this verse so many times it has lost a little bit of it's meaning.  The best illustration I heard in regards to this verse was to compare it to a newborn baby.  As a newborn baby is Fully dependent upon it's mother for everything, so must we be fully dependent on Christ for everything.  The baby trusts it's mother to the fullest...it doesn't even give a thought to where it will find food or shelter or comfort... it just trusts.  The same goes for us... God has promised to provide, we need to trust that He will do what He has promised to do.  Ahh the peace that comes when we truly rest in His loving, gentle, and caring arms!
I just had to share this picture of my dear friend and her newborn.  I hope you do not mind being used as an example Katharine... but there was never a better example. 

Happy Birthday Surprise!

Scott turned the big 35 (today actually), and I decided to throw him a surprise party last night while our friend Steve was in town visiting from Michigan.  I sent an e-vite about a month ago, and then last week I realized that I actually needed to plan the party!  Thankfully Steve came to the rescue with fabulous party ideas!  We decided to incorporate games from the new show "Minute to Win it".
I managed to get Scott and Steve out of the house for a while by telling them that I was throwing a Mary Kay party.  Really I was getting ready for the surprise party with the help of my dear friend Teri.  (Couldn't have gotten it done without you Teri!)
Scott and Steve FINALLY arrived and Scott WAS surprised! 

And Let the games begin...
The first one Matchmaker, Sarah and Scott competed...  Sarah, Great job at beating Scott with your systematic approach!

"Roll With It" Object: to roll two rolls of toilet paper on each arm simultaniously:

"Face the Cookie" Object: to move a cookie from your forehead to your mouth using just your facial muscles:

"Penny Hose"  Object:  To retrieve pennys out of the bottom of "unoccupied" panty-hose without touching your hands to any other body part to assist you.

"Dizzy Mummy"  Object" to wrap an entire roll of toilet paper around your body without breaking the toilet paper by spinning in circles.

"Magic Carpet Ride" Object: to inch the "magic carpet" along the floor and through the "obstacle course"

 "Spoon Frog" Object: To use one spoon to flip the other spoon into the cup (harder than it looks)

And when you are finished with the games, make up other uses for the game pieces:

And the After-party party.... Why not play make-shift ping pong when you have the ping pong balls? Coasters work as great hand paddles

Thank you great friends for making Scott's birthday extra special!