Once upon a time there were 3 little princesses . . .

The girls begged me to do their hair like princesses with crowns for church on Sunday. How could I resist? They are such

beautiful little princesses.

"Toothless"

Lorien has been making BANK off the tooth fairy lately. She just lost another tooth on the bottom so she really is beginning to be TOOTHLESS. The other night, we had her favorite food in the world:

Corn on the Cob.

She started crying half way through dinner because she COULDN'T eat it. Poor thing. I couldn't help but chuckle. The hardships of a six year old. What a cutie.

The Mystery Spot

I love it when a holiday comes around. The kids & THE HUBBY gets out of school. For Martin Luther King's Birthday, Trek & I took the kids up to Santa Cruz to

"The Mystery Spot."

It was in a beautiful area of the Redwoods, & though it was freezing cold, it was fun.

I've been to places like this before, but the kids haven't & they thought it was the coolest thing they had ever seen before. At the bottom of the hill they had a level slab of concrete where nothing LOOKED level at all. Then we hiked up this little hill, but it felt like you were climbing a steep mountain. It was crazy how hard it was to go up.

At the top of the walk there was a cabin that someone had built many years ago that had literally slid down the mountain & hit a large redwood tree. The pull of gravity on this hill was SO off. It was really bizarre. You CANNOT stand upright because it feels wrong. Gravity is pulling you down & it took ALL YOUR ENERGY to stay upright.

It was bizarre. There was a piece of wood that LOOKED like it was going DOWN into the cabin, but when you put a level on it, it was completely level. But when you put a ball on it, the ball rolled UPWARD & OUT of the cabin. At first I thought it was a trick ball, but then the tour guide did the same demonstration with a water bottle (rolled UP) & then poured water on the board. I about died when the water ROLLED UP & off the high end of the board. It was SO STRANGE.

Then we went INSIDE the cabin which made everyone laugh. My first instinct was to throw up everywhere. The actual pull of gravity literally was making me lose my lunch. Poor little Bladen didn't know how to deal with it & kept falling into the wall. He learned you can't fight with gravity & win. ha ha ha.

It was really weird standing on a completely level floor, but be standing at an angle because you felt like something was going to pull you to the floor. Or you could have been like Bladen & just stood with your face in the wall because you couldn't move period. The best way to describe it was like being on the "Gravitron" ride from a carnival. You literally had NO CONTROL of your body.

Because of the gravitational pull in the cabin, you are able to bend backwards without falling over. Cadence was LOVING this.

Trek was the only one of us that wasn't feeling nauseous. He was having a blast playing on everything.

The last area of the tour was the kids' favorite part. They had a bench that looks off balance, but was completely level. They had 5 kids stand on the bench from shortest to tallest. You could very visibly see the height difference between them all. Lorien was the center kid. She was SO excited to be part of a demonstration.

Then they had the kids change places to show that even though the bench is completely level, somehow it's NOT. Now the tallest kid looks like the shortest & the shortest is the tallest.

They did the same demonstration with adults & I was chosen to be a shorty. Surprise, surprise.

At the end there was one more area that was similar to the last area. It had a slab of concrete that was completely LEVEL, but had the same effect. First Cadence is taller, then Lorien is.

Cadence wanted to takes pictures of Trek & I doing it as well.

We all got "Mystery Spot" bumper stickers & we let each of the kids get a treat at the gift shop before we left for home. It was a fun little afternoon for us. I'm glad we have holidays every now & again that allow us to have fun little adventures as a family.

Random Fun

Sometimes it is just fun to take some random pictures of my cutie pies. I bought Bladen a cute little shirt with a beanie the other day for $2 at Walmart & it is SO cute on him. He looks like a little snowboarder. SO CUTE. For some reason he thinks he's all tough when he wears his beanie. I love it.

And there's nothing like getting your kids in a green room photo booth where they think nobody is watching them. (They didn't know we had cameras on them.) HOW FUNNY.

Such cutie pies.

A Very SORENSEN Christmas

So the day after we got home from our Christmas adventure in LA, we got to have our 3rd Christmas (ha ha ha). All the gifts from my side of the family were still under our tree so we got to have another mini-Christmas. What fun!

My mom & dad got to watch us open all of them through our TV/computer. I love that technology allows us to do this. I was SO SAD I didn't get to go see my side of the family for Christmas, so having them watch was almost just as fun.

The kids opened all sorts of fun things from my parents (Mimi & Baba), my grandma Cherry (Mamoo), & my brother's family in UT. We miss them all SO much.

Cadence's favorite present was the sewing machine from Mimi. Now she can sew like mommy.

Bladen LOVED his Toy Story playset. He plays with this thing for HOURS.

My mommy bought me a doll for Christmas. I've always loved Belle & these dolls are gorgeous. She now sits on my bed every day. I love her.

After we were done opening ALL OUR GIFTS, we laid out each of our piles of treasures & took pictures with them so we could always remember what we got for Christmas in 2011. We were VERY BLESSED this year with LOTS of fun things.

Craiger didn't want to be in his picture. ha ha ha.

Bladen got a lot of sports toys & action figures this year. Oh & let's not forget his GUN. Such a boy!

Taya, who was sick the entire time, got lots of pretty pink princessy & girly things. She was VERY happy indeed.

Cadence's favorite thing was her telescope of course, but that sewing machine took a close 2nd. She also got lots of legos, art things, & jewelry which she loved.

Lorien was THRILLED with her Heely's & her BIG GUN. Such a tomboy! She got some fun legos & games too. She was happy as she could be.

Trek got some nice clothes, some techy things, & lots of TOOLS. Hooray! Let's build something.

I felt SUPER SPOILED this year. I got a HUGE pan set with a ceiling pan hanger, a carpet cleaner, & LOTS of other fun things.

After we cleaned everything up, we opened stockings from my side of the family. It's a family tradition we've done since I was a little girl & it's probably my favorite Christmas tradition to this day. I love stockings. My mom hand made every single stocking. They are the most beautiful stockings you will ever see. I love them SO MUCH.

And that is it!

Merry Christmas from the POTTER FAMILY.