2025 Easter Egg Hunt

The day before Easter we had a family Easter Egg hunt at our house.  Justin & Cari & their kids came over as did my dad.  

(This would be the last time my dad would leave his house for fun.  His health went downhill from this day on, but this day will live in my memory of him forever.  He was so cute searching for eggs, giggling & laughing like a kid again.  I miss him so much.)

I filled & hid a ton of eggs all around our backyard.  Some had candy, some had small toys, & in true Potter Family fashion, some had money.

I always laugh at how into this the kids get.  They are pushing each other, stealing each other's eggs, trying to beat each other out for the big items that are hidden.

And then in a matter of minutes. . . it's over.

Afterward, we went inside to see what each person had.  We always like to see who winds up with the most money & who gets the most empty eggs.  (The most empty eggs is always a prize that has to do with Easter & Christ.  This year I gave out scripture markers & stickers)

We visited as a family & I got this adorable video of my sweet dad laughing at the video Trek made for his end of year party at work.

Later that night I put on a passover dinner for the family.  It required a LOT of prep work, but overall, I think it was really neat to celebrate the Easter Season & what it's really about.

It was a WONDERFUL Easter Eve!

 

Canyon's Black Forest Cake - Speech & Debate Final

For Canyon's speech & debate final, he decided to make a how-to video teaching how to make black forest cake.

He knew the final was coming. . . he knew exactly what he wanted to make & what ingredients he needed to buy, he just forgot one tiny little thing. . . . to tell mom.

His speech & debate partner showed up at our house & walked straight into our kitchen & the two of them talked excitedly.  "Mom, where's my ingredients?"  "You're what?"  Oops.  He forgot to tell me about every aspect of this final project.

Luckily, I just so happened to have all the ingredients on hand. . . thank heavens.

The boys got to work & wanted absolutely NO HELP from me.  They recorded the entire adventure, every step of the way. . . & every mishap along the way.

First they made the cherry filling.  They let it simmer too long & in the end they had about 2 tablespoons of filling for their cake, but it was delicious.

Then they made the cake batter & divided it into 2 cake pans.  One had most of the batter, & the other had just a little bit & when they pulled that cake out of the oven I tried not to laugh at how thin that cute little cake was.  It was like a big round cracker.  The 2nd (thicker) cake, they cut in half to make 2 cakes.  Stacked together, their black forest cake will be 3 layers tall.

And of course, without me "helping" in the kitchen, they managed to turn on the mixer a few times while not in the bowl, making giant messed spread throughout the kitchen.  (At least they were having fun.)

Their frosting turned out really good.  They did that one correctly & it was delicious & a great consistency.

Although a lot of it made it to my floor.

They stacked & layered the cake, frosting, & cherry filling.

Then they added whipped cream & cherries to the top to make it pretty.

For having no help from mom, it turned out really really well.  They loved it.

And it was delicious.

 

Lorien's Culinary Final

Just a few days after returning from our Spring Break Moab Trip, Lorien had her culinary final.  She invited Cadence, Trek, & I to come & experience it with her.

For her final, she had to pick a specific worldwide cuisine & create a menu based off of foods from that country & culture.  Of course Lorien picked Germany.  Her menu was delicious.

We started out with the most beautiful homemade pretzels ever.  She complimented them with a beer cheese sauce & a delicious honey mustard, both made from scratch.

Our appetizers were frickadellan (meatloaf) meatballs & they were delicious.  It made me miss Germany frickadellan sandwiches.

For our main meal, we enjoyed a schnitzel with mushroom gravy, homemade spaetzle noodles that were to die for, & a German potato salad.  All of it was SO good.

And the chef was adorable.

For dessert we each got a beautiful black forest cake.

It was such a FUN FINAL.  I'm sure Lorien was stressed out, but the 3 of us enjoyed every minute of it.  It was delicious, beautiful, & presented perfectly.  She did an amazing job.

We are so proud of you Lorien.