Beach Day with Friends

Since Monday was a holiday, we decided to go with 2 friends of ours (with their families) to the beach to hang out for the day. There are SO many beaches here & you really have to take advantage of those days where the sun is shining & the sky is blue. We get a lot of fog here, but the last few days have been gorgeous!! The beaches aren't that busy either because it's still cold, even though the sun is shining. . . the kids don't care! We were there to relax & have fun!

As soon as we got all 11 kids & 6 adults settled out on blankets & chairs in a nice area, we realized we set up camp right in front of a dead sea lion. It was SO sad & SO disgusting! I don't know what happened to the poor thing, but he was missing his face. We would have moved, but with that many kids & that much STUFF, it wasn't worth the trouble. We just made sure the kids stayed far away from the poor thing.

I love being at the beach. It makes me happy. Bladen & I were having TONS of fun together playing in the sand.

It always takes Taya a while to get brave enough to step in the sand, but once she ventures out, she never comes back. She doesn't like the water very much, but she could spend an entire day just playing in the sand.

The other kids, on the other hand, LOVE the water. It didn't take long for all 5 of them to be soaked to the bone in their clothes. It's a good thing I brought swimsuits just in case.

We played in the water & sand for a little bit, & then my friend Kata took some great pictures of Cadence, Cspeke, & Hailey together. We call them the 3 musketeers. Not only are they best friends, but they're in the same primary class at church & the same 2nd grade class at school. They do EVERYTHING together. So it was fun getting some cute pics of the 3 of them together. After playing we all sat down for a fun picnic lunch.

And then it was BACK to the water. Cadence & Lorien could play in the ocean forever & be happy. At least they're not scared of it like I am.

Taya let Daddy bury her in sand. She was SO funny. It scared her at first, but then she thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Once we were all worn out & exhausted, we headed for home for baths & naps. It was a SUPER fun day!

Cheesecake Factory San Francisco

After ice skating, we walked across the street to The Cheesecake Factory! Trek's birthday is next week so we were going to his favorite restaurant for his early "Birthday Dinner!"

It was a 40 minute wait, but Phil & Elliot were great entertaining the kids with magic tricks until it was our time to be seated.

As always, the food was fabulous!!! I've never had a bad dish at Cheesecake Factory. It's always really good. And we had to top it all off with cheesecake of course. Phil shared his with Cadence & Lorien (who only ate the whipped cream!)

Trek got his favorite: Adam's Peanut Butter Fudge Ripple Cheesecake.

Tylee had the red velvet cake cheesecake & I had the White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut cheesecake. They were all to die for!

Overall, it was a super fun trip to San Fran!! I'm so glad we live close enough to go once a month. I'm going to miss it when we have to move in 2 years.

Ice Skating in Union Square

Tylee took us all ice skating in Union Square on Saturday. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I couldn't ice skate (of course. . . being preggo & all), so I watched from the sidelines with the little guy. Trek, Tylee, Elliot, & Phil (Tylee's 2 room mates) took the other 3 kiddos & they had a great time.

The girls were loving it. All three of them were scared at first, but Cadence & Lorien really started to pick it up after about 20 minutes. Taya lasted about 15 minutes before she was DONE. She joined Bladen & I in our endeavor of chasing birds! ha ha ha.

But once they got the hang of it, we couldn't get them to stop. They LOVED it. They were doing really well too!

Elliot was HILARIOUS!!! He was dancing, skating backward, & doing all sorts of funny tricks to make us all laugh. Tylee has the best room mates in the world. They are SO MUCH FUN.

Elliot, Tylee, & Phil. . . we sure love all three of them.

And leave it to Lorien to wander up to another little girl her age & make a best friend. I could hardly get any pictures of her because she was busy playing with her friend. She did SO good. By the time we were done, she was attempting to skate in circles & backward thanks to her skating buddy she met. She might actually have a future in this!

And little Taya was CRACKING me up!!! She bought a Minnie Mouse phone with her allowance money at the Disney Store before we started skating, & for some reason she wanted to talk to her "doggy" friend. I had to take a video of her because she is SO CUTE!! I was laughing SO hard. Ruff Ruff Ruff. . . . Bye, Ruff!

Cake To Die For . . .

Everybody needs a girls night out every now & again. Well, some girlfriends & I got together on Thursday night & went out to this fun little cafe restaurant here in Monterey called Rosine's. It's an Italian restaurant, but it's known for it's baked goods. Can we say "WOW?" They probably had 20 cakes, all 4 layers or bigger, covered in everything you could possibly imagine.

So what did I get? I got the Reeses Peanut Butter Cake. It was devil's chocolate cake (4 layers) with peanut butter whipped frosting (with pieces of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups inside). The cake had chopped peanuts in it & the entire thing was drizzled with fudge & peanut butter. Oh & there was a whole Peanut Butter Cup on top! It was the best cake I've ever eaten. YUM!!!

We'll definitely be going there again!

Taya's 1st Day of Joy School

Taya just started at a joy school down the road from our house. A sweet friend of mine decided she wanted to start one up & I told her I'd put Taya in if she did. It's WONDERFUL!! She goes 2 times a week for 3 hours with six of her friends from church. It's the perfect setting for her. She's learning how to take direction from someone other than "mom" & she's learning her letters. She wakes up every morning & asks if it's a "Taya School" day. I love having kids that are SO eager to learn!

Bladen's "I Want" Face

Bladen is always walking up to me during the day with sad puppy dog eyes wanting something, usually food! It's so hard NOT to give in to those sweet puppy dog eyes. He knows how to work it!! Little stinker!!

Bladen LOVES Lorien's Art

This video was from last month, but I just found it & had to post it. Lorien LOVES to do little art projects & this one was from school. It was a Christmas tree made out of Fruit Loops. But Lorien tends to leave her projects lying around the house where her little brother & sister can get to them. We always tell her to put it where she wants it to go permanently or Bladen might get it.

Well, Bladen found it! SO FUNNY!

Opening Stockings

Stockings are my favorite part of Christmas. I love opening all the presents & then having breakfast & rest time as a family. THEN we open the stockings. It makes Christmas last just that much longer. Santa doesn't fill our stockings. We started this tradition before I was even born. We would each put something in everyone's stocking on Christmas Eve. I remember making paper snowflakes & cards & drawings for the family & would put them in their stockings. They were usually full of homemade crafts, toothbrushes, candies, & small practical things. We loved it. Now some of the gifts have become a little more extravagant, but some remain the same. Cadence made everyone little crafts & put them in their stockings. Both Cadence & Lorien spent their allowance money on a single gift for each stocking from the dollar store. Those gifts are always the most precious to me. I LOVE THEM. There's always one or two big surprises hidden in those stockings as well.

My big "Stocking" surprise this year was for Trek. He's been wanting an Apple TV for our downstairs TV for a while now, but never thought he'd get one. I bought him one & hid it deep down in the toe of his stocking. He was SO surprised & SO happy when he found it. I love my sweetie & am very glad he liked it.

Christmas Morning 2010

Merry Christmas from the Potter Family!! We loved being home in UT with my family for the holidays. Christmas morning was SO MUCH FUN! We opened presents for 4 hours straight, had breakfast, & then opened stocking for 2 hours more. I LOVE that Christmas lasts all day for us.

We all got up together at 6:00 & let the kids run downstairs to see what Santa Claus brought. I guess the kids were good this year (they are good kids) so Santa brought Korbyn a new train set. Lorien got what she wanted REALLY badly: Barbie Video Girl.

Cadence is my child that is most like me. She is interested in science right now & really wanted a rock tumbler for Christmas. Santa not only brought her a rock tumbler, but he brought a bunch of rocks, some jewelry settings to put the rocks in, & a crystal mining set to help her learn more about crystals & how they are mined.

Taya is just a cutie. She is happy with anything! She LOVES to play with My Little Ponies so Santa brought her a stable for all her horses. She was SO happy on Christmas morning.

And poor little Bladen woke up sick on Christmas morning. He really wasn't in the mood to do much of anything other than be held by mommy or daddy. He didn't really know what to think about the giant race car track under the tree. Now that we're home & he's much better, he LOVES his car track.

I think Lorien's favorite gift of the morning was a giant gumball machine from my mom & dad. It came with 200 gumballs & I hate to admit it, but they are all gone & it's only been 3 weeks since Christmas. Silly girl. She's my gum girl for sure.

Bladen got all sorts of fun dinosaurs, cars, trucks, & boy toys, but the poor thing was so sick that he didn't get to enjoy much of it. But we were glad he was still there with us even though he didn't feel great.

Every year we get a "Daddy Gift" from my dad. He's done that since I was about 12 years old. A Daddy Gift is a very special gift that my dad thinks about & buys on his own special for us. Once Justin & I got married, he now does it for our spouses as well. We always look forward to seeing what he picked out on his own. This year Dad got Trek a really cool bluetooth stereo for his car. Trek's been wanting one of these ever since ipods became popular. He LOVES it! He can play music from his phone directly into his car speakers. Dad did AWESOME!

He surprised me with a Cricut Cutter this year. I have wanted one of these FOREVER. I can cut vinyl, paper, cardboard, chipboard, magnet, GLASS, & all sorts of things. I've been having a blast making family member decals out of vinyl for the back of our van, little minnie mouse notes for my girls' lunches, & words for posters for Primary. This was a SUPER fun gift.

Justin got the surprise of his life from Dad this year. Dad bought him tickets to the Pebble Beach Golf Tournament here in Monterey in February. Justin has always DREAMED of going to this tournament, but it always seemed impossible. Well, since we LIVE in Monterey, what better time right? FREE PLACE TO STAY!! So Dad bought him the tickets to the tournament, he'll be staying here with us in our house, & Cari got him plane tickets out here. So basically Justin got the vacation of his dreams for Christmas. We were all VERY excited for him. I'm excited because Dad, Mom, Mamoo, Justin, Cari, & Korbyn will now all be here for Cadence's baptism as well as the golf tournament. FUN FOR EVERYONE!

Poor little Bladen. He was SO sick.

We open each of our gifts one by one on Christmas morning. That's why it takes us hours & hours to get them all opened. And it's fun for everyone to get to see what everyone else got. I loved this fan that Dad got for his room. Mom picked it out.

Cadence's favorite present of the day was her Rapunzel costume & wig (from Trek & I) & Rapunzel shoes & wand (from Opa & Oma). She's been wanting this dress up since the movie came out. Isn't she adorable?

Lorien got Taya a stick horse. Taya LOVES horses.

Opa & Oma also sent the girls a ton of tutu's. Taya was having a blast dancing around in them.

I had a wonderful Christmas this year. Dad got me that Cricut & Trek got me a memory foam mattress pad, a new pan, sketcher shoes for my swelling feet, spa gift cards, & an EMBROIDERY MACHINE!!!! I was so MAD & so EXCITED about that machine. I know it cost an arm & a leg, but I wanted one SO SO SO SO badly. Now I can embroider designs, names, etc. on anything made of fabric. SO FUN!! I also got my hair cut & colored, some fun kitchen things, make-up, & all sorts of exciting things. It was a great Christmas.

Cadence got all sorts of fun things: a razor scooter, dress up, pjs, a toy laptop, aqua sand, craft kits, books, & all sorts of other fun things.

Taya got some fun stuff too: a crib for her babies, a vanity, dress up, kitchen stuff, Beauty & the Beast, books, a toy computer, pj's, & lost of other stuff she loved.

Lorien was thrilled with her many gifts: a razor scooter, books, Tinkerbell movie, gumball machine, dress up, zoobles, pj's, barbies, & lots of other things that will keep her busy.

And even though Bladen didn't feel good, he got a lot of neat things too: dinosaurs, books, & TONS of cars!! He was in car heaven!

Trek had a great Christmas too. I never got a picture of his loot, but he got a new camelback, lots of tools, lots of software, clothes, shoes, speakers, & all sorts of fun things.

It really was a great Christmas morning!