Thanksgiving

So instead of making a huge dinner this Thanksgiving, we opted to eat out & play at the mall.  We had just finished unpacking & we were still a little tired from the craziness of the move so we decided to have fun instead of cooking & cleaning all day.

We found an amazing mall only about 15 minutes from our house & they happened to have a huge Nintendo play arena right in the middle of it.  They let the kids play on all the new devices & games.  My kids really took to the new systems.  They loved it.  We spent over an hour there just letting them have fun.  It was the highlight of their day.

Afterward we went to the kids' favorite restaurant: Black Bear Diner.  They only have them in CA & we used to eat there all the time when we lived in Monterrey.  We're thrilled to have one 5 minutes from our house.  The kids all ordered breakfast for dinner & I had Thanksgiving dinner & it was delicious.  The best part of all. . . I didn't have to clean it up.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Potter house.  We are thankful for so many things this year.  We are thankful we survived this big move & we are thankful for the wonderful place we've now moved to.  We're thankful for our family, our faith, & our lives.

Welcome Home

After a full 9 days of driving across the country, we arrived at our new home on Moffatt Field Air Base in Mountain View, CA.  It's been some time since we lived in a base house, but with the prices of living out here, there was no other option.  I was really nervous moving into a house unseen, but luckily the house is completely doable.  

The house is 1900 square feet (about half the size of our house in VA) so it's small, but I think it will be good for us.  It's very open & I'm excited to make it our own.  I will admit, it's cheaply made & falling apart in some rooms, & the appliances are killing me (they're TERRIBLE), but it's a roof over our heads, it's free, & the neighborhood is WONDERFUL.  The kids found friends two hours after we arrived & they've been best friends ever since.  

Trek & I unpacked crazy fast this time around.  We had the entire house unpacked & ready to go within 2 weeks of arriving.  I still can't believe we did it that fast.

Getting the kids into the school system here was rather difficult & took a couple weeks, but they FINALLY got to start 2 days before Thanksgiving break.  They were pretty thrilled that they left school on October 30th & only had to go to school 2 days in November.  I was not a thrilled, but it all worked out.  The schools here are WONDERFUL.  There aren't busses so I get to drive the kids to & from school each day which isn't too terrible.  The school schedules are kind of bizarre, but I've finally got them down & it's not so bad.  Lorien has started the cello & loves it & has already caught up to the other kids in her class who started over 3 months ago.  Cadence tested into the intermediate band playing oboe & she loves the middle school here.  The littles love their teachers too.

My favorite part of living here . . . Tylee lives 30 minutes away & Auntie Marc lives 45 minutes away which means we see them ALL THE TIME.  I think that would drive some people crazy, but I love it.  I love family & having family close.  We love it when they come play.

Auntie Tylee always has quarters for the rides & candy machines everywhere we go.

One thing that I loved after moving here, was getting to pick out a new washer & dryer.  When we sold the house in VA, the new owners wanted to keep ours. . . even though they were 14 years old.  With as much laundry as I do every day, we splurged a bit & got me the biggest washer & dryer you can buy right now.  I can now do twice as big of loads as I did before & it takes less time.  It's a dream come true.

And probably my favorite thing about living in CA . . . 

In-N-Out.

Yup.  I love their burgers, fries, & shakes.  I'm officially in heaven.  Welcome to California.  It feels good to be home.

Welcome to California

We had to leave at the crack of dawn on Saturday, November 7th.  On our drive towards California we got a phone call from Trek's baby brother Talon saying that they had their baby boy that morning.  I still can't believe we missed it by only a few hours.  They live in Utah about an hour north of my mom & dad.  We left at 5 am & Bridger Olly Potter was born only a few hours later.  Luckily we'd see them at Christmas so I could hold my newest little nephew.

After the excitement of the phone calls announcing Bridger's birth, we stopped in Las Vegas, Nevada to visit Trek's brother, Tuhk.  The kids LOVE Uncle Tuhk.  We all went out to lunch together & chatted for a bit. . . & then it was time to get back on the road again.

I was excited to officially cross the "Welcome to California" sign.  We were officially in the state we'd be calling "home" for the next few years, & we were close to Trek's parent's house where we'd be hanging out for a couple days before heading up to our new house in Mountain View.

Opa & Oma were up & waiting for us when we arrived after dark.  Opa even had a treasure hunt waiting for the kids to tell them what we were going to do on Monday.  The kids were SO excited.  We were going to go to McDonalds for lunch, go to a movie, ride the carousel at the mall, have pizza for dinner & then gelato for dessert.  It was going to be the day of every kids' dreams.

Sunday we took it easy.  It had been 6 straight days of driving hours on end.  We went to church with mom & dad, & then spent the day doing arts & crafts & playing together.

And of course Oma made delicious meals the whole day.  My kids LIVE for Oma's yummy food.

Monday was the special day the kids had been waiting for.  We had lunch at McDonalds where the kids all got Happy Meals (heaven for them).

Then we all went to see The Peanuts movie together.

After the movie, Auntie Tarrish (Trek's sister) came up to see us.  She went with us to the mall to ride the carousel.

 

After fun at the mall we headed over to Opa & Oma's favorite pizza place where they make pizzas just the way you want them.  It was delicious.

And if that wasn't enough, we finished off at the gelato shop next to their house.

It was a wonderful little break from our crazy move.  It was nice taking 2 days off before continuing to our new home.

Utah & Family

I was SO happy to see the "Welcome to Utah" sign.  I miss my family SO much.  I couldn't wait to see them.

My mom hasn't had the best health over the last 3 years, but she hangs in there.  It was SO nice being home with her, even if it was only for a few hours.

My little niece Kylie had fun hanging with her Auntie.  I miss my little nieces & nephew SO much.

And last, but not least, I was in heaven spending time with my one & only brother, Justin.  He is the best brother in the whole world & there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him & his sweet family.  I can't wait for the day when Trek can retire & we can go home & be close to his family every day.  

It was a short visit, but it meant the world to me.  I love my family.

On the Road Again

After enjoying such an "Incredible" Halloween, it was time to pack up the car & say farewell to Virginia.  It killed me to go.  I loved it SO much, but new adventures await & you know how much I love a good adventure!!!!

So November 2nd, we packed up the trusty minivan & pulled Trek's car behind us on our 10 day journey across the United States.

Virginia is BIG.  We barely crossed over the West Virginia state line our first full day of driving.  But I must say, some of the most picturesque scenes were from Virginia.  I'm sure going to miss it's beauty.

The kids were thrilled to be out of the car & in a nice hotel room.  I think hotels are my kids' favorite part of road trips.

The 2nd day of our journey was a LOT more interesting than the first.  November 3rd we headed into Indiana early in the morning.  We also passed through Illinois & Kentucky during our journey that day.

Everyone was happy again & ready to rock & roll.

We made a pit stop in Santa Clause, Indiana.  We were SO excited to see all the fun Christmasy things there, however, nobody told us the place was literally a GHOST TOWN on weekdays.  I guess it's only open on the weekends.  So we were a little sad we didn't get to meet Santa or go inside his Candy Castle, but we made the most of it & got some fun pictures anyway.

After Santa Clause, Indiana, we drove all the way to St. Louis, Missouri where we spent our second night.  We got there pretty early in the afternoon, so we walked to Budweiser Stadium & to the St. Louis Arch.

We even crammed everyone into itty bitty elevators & rode all the way to the top of the arch.  It was SO FUN.

The view from the top of the arch was beautiful.  St. Louis is a beautiful city.

Day 3 of our journey took us into Kansas.  I'm not going to lie. . . Kansas was kind of boring & flat.  But I'm sure it has many beautiful things in it too.  

However, along the way we found the Russell Stover Chocolate Factory which was a BLAST.  Chocolate EVERYWHERE.  What's not to love?

We each had a homemade chocolate fudge ice cream sundae & bought some chocolates for the road.  It was yummy.

We stayed the night in Kansas & hit the road early the next day.  Right on the edge of Kansas was the world's largest easel.  Kind of a bizarre landmark, but we thought it was funny so we took some pictures.  We were having fun.

We got really excited when we hit Colorado.  We were SO CLOSE to home.  We stayed the night in Denver & woke up early to SNOW & TONS of it.  Our passage through the Rocky Mountains was completely blocked.  We ended up having to drive an extra few hours up through Wyoming to avoid being stuck.  There was snow up there too, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was in Colorado.

We were SO happy to be through with the snow & be in UTAH which for me happens to be HOME.