Thursday, May 31, 2012

Potter Family Fun

We spent Memorial Day down in Los Angeles with Trek's family.  We love getting together. The kids very rarely get to play with their one Potter cousin, Emery, so they get really excited when she comes to play too.


She is so stinkin' cute.  Since Talon looks identical to Trek & she's Talon's little girl, she looks like she could be one of ours.  I love getting all 6 kids together because they seriously look like they could all be brothers & sisters.  I love it.


The best part about going to Opa & Oma's house is
CAMP POTTER.
What's not to love?  Tents, sleeping bags, lanterns, candy out the wazoo, & TONS & TONS OF FUN.


Emery came straight to me when we arrived which surprised me because I've only held her once or twice.  But I love her SO MUCH & was SO happy she came to me.  Trek on the other hand had to bribe her to let him hold her & she still didn't look to pleased with him.


Oma has a REALLY AWESOME bathtub in her room.  The kids love all jumping in together.  They literally play in there for HOURS together.  It's the cutest thing ever.


Emmy loved anything of Taya's.  She kept putting on her pajamas, her clothes, & her shoes.  It was darling.


Then when it was time for everyone to leave, Emery climbed into my suitcase as I was packing up.  I sure wish I could keep her in there & bring her home with me.  I already miss her SO much.


Before we left, Tarrish had each of the kids sign her cast.  The kids thought that was the coolest thing ever!









We had a GREAT TIME.  I can't wait for our next Potter Vacation.

Curly Girls

I was SO happy to get back to CA & be with my little munchkins again.  I missed them SO MUCH.

The girls BEGGED me to do their hair in sponge curlers for school so I did. They looked beautiful.



Lorien made me laugh.  Sponge curlers on short hair doesn't work as well so she literally looked like Annie.  We all laughed at that.  She's such a spunky little thing that it fit her well.  What a cutie pie.



I love my little girls SO MUCH.

Quick Trip to UT

Well, as you all know, things went south for my dear sweet momma pretty fast.  The day after Mother's Day I got a phone call from my dad letting me know that mom was NOT doing well & that we didn't know if she would make it through or not.  I literally hopped on the next flight out of Monterey.  

Trek was a saint & stayed home with all 5 kids for a WHOLE WEEK.  He missed all of his classes even.  Poor guy.  I'm SO blessed to be married to such a sweetheart.

Though the circumstances were not pleasant, the company at the hospital was.  I would go in & sit with my mom every day for a few hours here & there, & then I'd wait out in the waiting room with all the visitors who came to check on mom.  I loved visiting with family that I hadn't seen or talked to in YEARS.

The best part of the entire trip was spending time with my sweet little niece & handsome little nephew.  I love them SO much & never get to see them.  It was SO fun for me to get in some cuddle time.



Every meal of every day was spent in the hospital cafeteria.  I was surprised at how good it actually was.  Cafeteria food is usually disgusting, but this stuff was healthy, tasty, & there was a HUGE variety.  The best part was that it was dirt cheap too.  Dad & I could eat a biscuit & gravy breakfast with ham, bacon, scrambled eggs, & yogurt for $4.00 total (for both meals).

I loved it when my Uncle Kevin & Uncle Brent flew in from AZ. (Mom's 2 brothers) I hadn't seen them in probably 6 years.  I loved talking & telling stories with them.  It helped me to keep a happy face on when emotions were eating me up inside.



I never officially had a shift that made me sleep at the hospital, but my dad, grandma, Brent, & Kevin did.  I would always laugh when I'd get back to the hospital at the crack of dawn & find them crouched up on 3 or 4 chairs trying to sleep.  Poor guys were such troopers.



It was crazy how I was there a full week & couldn't figure out what day it was by the end of my visit.  The days & hours just start to melt into each other.  It seemed like I was there for an eternity.  Poor mom.  I hope she comes out of this.



Grandma kept putting her hearing aids in Brent's ears because he couldn't hear anything we were saying to each other.  He was HILARIOUS.  He was walking around the room clapping & laughing at all the sounds he could hear with the hearing aids in that he couldn't without them.  I was SO happy to have these little moments of laughter in between all the stress & tears.


We had SO MANY VISITORS.  It was WONDERFUL.  I didn't get a picture of everyone, but I tried to get some of most of them.  It was REALLY nice having Dad's whole family there.  I miss my Aunts & Uncles on the Sorensen side, as well as all the cousins my age that I used to play with as a child.






Unfortunately, I could only stay one week & then I had to come home & take care of my own family.  Mom did really well for a while, & then she just tanked again on Memorial Day.  She heart actually stopped & she died for 6 minutes.  But leave it to my mom to push through.  After 6 minutes her heart started beating again & she's once again fighting.  Someday I hope to be as strong as she is.

We still don't know if she is going to pull through in the end, but she's fighting & we hope she comes out of it all.  We love her so much & can't imagine life without her, but we also know that if she passes away, it's not the end.  We will be together again.  I'm so grateful for a testimony of Jesus Christ & the Resurrection.  We'll be together again in the eternities because we have been sealed together as a family for time & all eternity.


Little Fish

I've sure enjoyed having all 4 kids in Private Swimming Lessons the last couple of months.  They've grown by leaps & bounds in just a short time. 

Bladen isn't so scared of the water anymore.  Taya can put her face in & hold her breath now.   Lorien isn't such a spaz in the water & can now swim quite smoothly.  And Cadence is amazing.  We will have to put her on a swim team at our new base.  She can swim amazingly fast & smooth in every style.  

I'm glad they love it.  I love my fishes.




Oakland Temple Trip & Mother's Day

There is just nothing like being on the temple grounds.  Trek & I had the opportunity to do sealings in the Oakland Temple on May 12th as well as watch all the kids in our ward so their parents could attend an endowment session.  Our friends watched our kids while we did an hour of sealings which was fabulous.

Before all the other kids showed up, we took our kids around the temple grounds to let them admire the peace & beauty of it as well as feel of the Lord's spirit there.  I always leave the temple SO HAPPY & so do they.



This was Craiger's first time visiting the temple.  He loved all the pretty flowers.





On our way home from the temple, we stopped at the Arby's in Gilroy for my "Mother's Day Dinner."  
Yup, I picked Arby's over Outback, Applebees, & any other fancy schmancy steakhouse.  I love Arby's but we don't have one near us so I jump at any opportunity I can to have a Beef & Cheddar sandwich.  I know, I'm pretty pathetic, but they're GOOD.  I was SO HAPPY.


Trek also bought me 2 pounds of fresh cherries from a local fruit stand there in Gilroy as well.  Can we say HEAVEN?

Mother's Day was wonderful.  Trek made me some toast & cherries for breakfast.  Then at church all the men did the women's callings for them so they could meet together for a yummy Mother's Day dessert.  (That was the highlight of my day.)  Then after church I got to open my presents.  Trek bought me another pirate princess watch just like the one I had for 5 years that finally broke.  I was SO excited to have another one.  

It was a great day.  The only thing that was missing was being able to talk to my mom.  She was in the hospital not doing well after a surgery so I couldn't talk to her.  (Little did I know at that time that it was about to get MUCH worse)  I love my mommy.  She made me who I am today.  I am grateful for her example, love, & friendship.  
Happy Mother's Day.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Teacher Appreciation Day

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day.
I REALLY appreciate my girls' teachers this year.  They have been fantastic with my girls.  They have found their strengths & pushed them above & beyond, & they have found their weaknesses & made them their strengths.  I'm SO grateful for both of them.

For Teacher Appreciation Day I wanted to give them something that represented how the girls felt about them.  I immediately thought of flowers.  My girls were just buds at the beginning of the school year & they have bloomed & have grown SO much.  So I found these cute little yellow planters at Target for $3. In the left one, I put seeds for them to grow themselves.  In the center we made a pencil bouquet of sharpened pencils. The girls each made construction paper flowers to attach to the top of the pencils, & then we stabilized them in split peas.  And on the right I made some homemade chocolate rose suckers & stabilized them in white rice.


To each gift we attached a poem that the girls & I wrote:
A new year began & I was scared;
Once again everything was new.
In a great big classroom that we all shared
That’s where I met you.
You took me in like a little flower,
You knew just what to do.
Your love to me was like a shower.
Because of you I grew.
Our time together was gone too soon
But I’ll never take your teachings for granted.
Thank you dear teacher for helping me bloom.
I’m thankful with you I was planted.


They couldn't wait to give these to their teachers this morning.  I hope they liked them. We sure had a blast putting them all together.



Cinco de Mayo

So what would Cinco de Mayo be without a PARTY?

Actually, I hadn't planned much of anything to celebrate it.  I was planning on making tacos for dinner, but that was it.  Once my girls heard that there wasn't some huge party going on, they got right to work & planned their own.

It was kind of fun to see me rub off on them a little bit.  When Cinco de Mayo did come, we ended up having a GREAT party indeed.

They started on Thursday night by making a homemade piñata.



Cadence drew a donkey on a big poster board & then Lorien colored it & made a tail for each member of the family.

What's Cinco de Mayo without Pin the Tail on the Donkey right?  ha ha ha.








Then we broke into the homemade piñata.  They made it SO well that we had to force break it.







We ate our taco dinner & listened to some fun Latin music.  Then we all got up & started dancing.  It was SO MUCH FUN.



Thank you Cadence & Lorien for a FANTASTIC party that I didn't even have to plan.  You girls are the best girls in the world.