Merry Christmas and Happy 2011

Because I didn't send out a Christmas Card this year, due to a rabid case of laziness, I know, I am on medication...it was THAT scary! Anyway if I hadn't suffer from this horrible, horrible disease, our Christmas Card would have looked something like this (see picture above) with some witty written on the bottom (see below)...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May 2011 bring you Peace, Joy, and Laughter...We are lucky, we have all!

Love the Potters

Zip Line in The Yard

Jim...and I am not sure if he meant to do this pose or not?

Mom...

Spencer looking like he is holding on for dear life

Elijah

Noah

When we went to Warrensburg for Thanksgiving, my Aunt Janice's friend graciously let us stay in their home while they were in Oklahoma for the holiday. It was a huge home with a newly remodeled kitchen, 2 dogs, a lake and a zip line...yes a zip line. On Friday, before we all came home, the Haun's and the Potter's decided to have themselves a good old time and ride the line for a while. Seriously, so much fun...so I got the worse wedgie ever known to man but still, it was fun!

Thanksgiving Pic's

my honey Pots...lol

Lori and Dan

Yes...the Omaha air did make me grow, why do you ask?

me and Mom

We ended up spending Thanksgiving in Missouri with my sister Lori and her family, my Mom who flew in from Sacramento, my Aunt Janice and Uncle Bruce (wwbpd...sorry that is an inside joke) and three of their 5 sons. We were in Warrensburg MO which is about an hour outside of Kansas City...I am not really sure if we were south, east or west of KC because I was completely lost the entire time we were there. But we had a blast...we ate a ton, played some killer (literally killer) dodgeball and had an overall great time.

Elijah...the 9 Year Old

Jammin on his new blue guitar...Jim is teaching him Blackbird

Elijah turned 9 years old on November 23, 2010 so I thought I would write 9 things I love about Elijah.

1. He has the softest hair...it may stink from time to time (well he is a boy what do you expect) but I love to play with it and I love that how in the winter it is brown and in the summer it is blond!

2. He has the driest humor and can make us all crack up with his witty comments and his 'crazy face'.

3. He is the most inquisitive child I have ever met and I am pretty sure that in the next 2 years he will be smarter than I could ever hope to be.

4. He is an amazing artist and I can't wait to see his work in a museum one day.

5. He writes the funniest stories and his teacher always tells me that whenever he reads his stories to the class they are always laughing and cracking up.

6. He is rather musical and wouldn't be surprised to see in print and lights "Elijah Potter..ROCK STAR"

7. He loves his brothers...no matter what he tells you...he does.

8. He is a rather smooth with the ladies...just ask him to sing...trust me, they will swoon someday.

9. He gives the best hugs.

Pictures With The Potter Boys

Merry Christmas...from the Potters

All I wanted was a nice picture of the boys for our Christmas card...that's it! Well, needless to say, 25 pictures later, tears (my part), yelling (my part), and laughing (the boys part), we got one good picture...so here it is.

The Fab Potter Guitar Players

jammin...

jammin with their rock face

For those who may not know, Jim loves to play the guitar and in the last two years he really hasn't found the time to play. However, to help with the stress of law school and being married to a highly spirited wife (yes, I just called my self highly spirited), he has to find some sort of stress relief so he has turned to his guitar. The boys think it is so cool that there dad plays the guitar, was in a band and at one time in his life had a mohawk. Luckily for me, they just want to play the guitar like him...let's just hope they don't mimic his haircuts!

Halloween...Yes it HAS BEEN THAT LONG

The scary group...long gone are the days of my pooh bears, dogs and other cute and cuddly things for Halloween

Ninja...comin' to get ya...well at least your candy

Death...DEATH...death by candy

Headless but not candy-less

Because I have like 50 posts to post and like 60 seconds to do it, I am going to make these short, sweet and to the point...just like how I like everything...except for shopping! But here are the kids in their Halloween outfits. We had awesome weather Saturday for trick or treating...yes we went Saturday...our non-Mormon neighbors were so confused, it was rather funny. However Noah insisted on sitting outside and handing out candy on Sunday. However, I really only had enough for Saturday so Noah, being the sweet and gentle spirit he is, grabbed his candy and dumped it in the candy bowl and handed out his candy that he got the night before. I must admit, this really melted my heart...BTW, I just dumped about 2 or 3 pounds of candy in the dumpster...the kids had finally had enough, after about a month.

Camera Lazy...But Not Mom Lazy

Yes, I know I don't have any pictures but just because I have been camera lazy doesn't mean that I am being mom lazy so I thought I would catch you up on all our doings:
1. We carved pumpkins on Thursday and Elijah declared himself a "pumpkin carving extraordinaire" Do you think he could put this on his resume one day?

2. Now you may be wondering where we got our pumpkins so Elijah could declare himself a "pumpkin carving extraordinaire" Well, I will tell you...I had planned on taking the boys to Vala's but they threw such a stink about going that we ended up at Walmart...buying pumpkins...do you not see how wrong...SO SO SO wrong this is...I tried to explain how wrong this was but much to my chagrin, they didn't care.

3. We, as a family, went bowling, laser tagging, and go carting...and for some weird reason I came in last in all three events. And this was not so I could make the boys feel better about themselves, I tried, I really really tried and I STILL came in last in everything.

4. We went to the Josyln Museum and all that Noah had to say about this was "Well, that was highly inappropriate" Yes, I must admit there were some pictures that were a bit scandalous in my eyes so we quickly took the boys to the children's section...it was better but they were pooped and ready to go.

5. We had a blast roasting over sized marshmallows at our friends the Sledge's cabin. It was so fun and we loved it! Granted we all smelled like smoke and had to take showers so our house didn't smell like a campfire but all in all...it was so WORTH it.

We had a great weekend and I promise, I won't be so camera lazy.

The 6th Birthday Party...just 3 months and 19 days later...

The boys congratulating Spencer on his gifts.

All the boys at Bounce U

Ethan Hogge, Ethan Bate, Spencer, Nick Sledge and Kale Johnson

When Spencer turned 6, we were in Utah for the summer and we did NOT take one picture of this great day in Spencer's life. I know, I know, his therapist will have a hay day with this one. However to help me win browny points with his therapist and to save face as mother of the year, I finally threw him a birthday party. He invited his 4 besties in Village Green (okay Tyler and Jansen, you were so missed!)we went to Bounce U and then came back to the house for cup cakes, which nobody liked except for me and pizza, which I ate most of it. Regardless the boys had a fantastic time!

Spencer, I love you and I am so grateful that you are apart of this family. Your Dad loves you and your brother's love you...and our family just wouldn't be the same without you. Thank you for your funny one-liners and I know when you are a stand-up comedian that only tells dentist jokes, we will be in the front row! (sorry, just a little inside joke!)

In the Black Hills of South Dakota

This was our first trip as a family to South Dakota. The kids and I had never been to South Dakota. Jim went when he was around 7 years old to pick up his grandparents (Mary and Joseph Young) who were finishing their mission there. I loved the Badlands. This is the first pic we took in the Badlands. In fact, it was the first pic we took in the great state of South Dakota. I loved South Dakota. We stayed in Rapid City and it reminded me so much of Montana.

Jim and Spencer just hanging out at the Badlands.

Jim and the boys at the Badlands wall.

And Jim and I at the badlands wall.

The boys throwing Jim over the railing at the Badlands Wall. Those silly boys. We really missed Jim the rest of the trip.

The boys looking for their dad at the bottom of the Badlands wall.

Yeah, this should go at the beginning, you may be thinking, but au contrair monfrair, because this was us leaving Badlands National Park.

As you can see, Jim finally caught up with us at Mt. Rushmore. Besides growing a beard and learning to speak Chipmunkese, everything was fine. We made him cut off the beard.

To kill time Jim planned to carve the family into Mt. Rushmore, but he was only able to finish Elijah.

All the boys under Mt. Rushmore.

Elijah making a break for it.

Spencer making the boys laugh while being a ham on the other side of the camera.

Make that both sides.

More of Spency's work. Spencer brings out the best in all of us.

Noah, the king of the hill.

Spencer showing his dad a very green pinecone.

All the boys posing near the Utah engraving (all 50 states are engraved along the walkway to the main viewing area of Mt. Rushmore) - all these boys were born in Utah.

Here I am with my home-state Montana!

And of course we had to pose with our current state Nebraska....umm, why didn't anybody tell me I look 6 months pregnant when I am not!

Mt. Rushmore from the highway that runs behind the monument. On the way to Crazy Horse.

And the crazy Crazy Horse exhibit, which we refused to pay 3x as much as Mt. Rushmore to see (Mt. Rushmore $10 per vehicle, Crazy Horse $27 per vehicle), as it is not even close to being finished. It was started in 1939, and only the head is carved. Eh... not so much.

This One Is For You Grandma Jones

The side view...how cute is this rocking chair

No I am NOT going to paint this...it is perfect...

I love old stuff...I don't know why, I just do and I always have. Since I was about 12 I have wanted an old trunk, the older the better, however, after 22 years of wanting, I still don't have one. I have quite a collection of enamel boxes, I love, love, love them, however I have too many and not sure what to do with them all. I love old windows, I have four now...again not sure what to do with them, but I love them. And now I have an old medal chair. I remember, with great fondness and much sadness, sitting on medal chairs at Grandma Joneses home, chatting with cousins and aunts and uncles about life in Montana. So Grandma Jones, this chair is for you. It did not come from your home, but it comes from my memory...

Yankess vs. Royals vs. The Potters

Jeter...ya, he was trying to hit on me but whatevs!

If you notice all the 'water' on Spencer's face, well it is sweat...it was like 100 degrees with the heat index and it was so freaking hot!

Walking out of the game...hot, sweaty, but happy...we love our Yanks!

The Royals Stadium...

So for a little last hoop-la and for part of the kids Christmas, we drove to Kansas City, about 3 hours a way, to watch the Yankees play the Royals. It was so fun! We had killer seats, we were right next to 3rd base and got to see the Yankees warm up right in front of us (okay, Derek Jeter is really cute!) We got some great pictures, got Curtis Granderson to sign Spencer's Yankee shirt, and we even got on TV...what else could you ask for in a trip.

Noah the Photographer

Noah has been talking a lot about photography and has expressed the desire to learn more about the art of taking pictures. His cousins, Lexi and Alli, have inspired him to take up the hobby...thanks girls! The other day Jim gave him a few pointers and set him loose. Here are a few of his pictures.