December 30, 2011

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We didn't end up sending out Christmas cards this year cause we never got family pics. So, we sent out a newsletter/email with out a picture, I know you were all bumbed out. So on Christmas Day after church we were able to snap these cute pics, I figured we were already dressed up and matching, so that was as good as it was gonna get. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Our Christmas was very nice. We spend all our attention on Brady and getting him gifts, so it was lots of fun. He got a new 'Cars' race track, a golf bag with clubs just his size, and a cool blue farm truck from Grama Marilyn. We visited my Grama in Tooele, UT for Christmas Eve. My brother Ben was at our house for Christmas too which has been the tradition the last 3 years. Then I prepared a wonderfully large dinner and our friend Mike even brought a ham and potatoes! YUM. My wonderful husband bought me a new pillow and some Palmers Coco butter for rubbing on the buddah belly.
My boys are so cute!! Don't mind that red whale. I'm in that "is she pregnant or fat?" stage. Yes, I'm pregnant, and fat:) Most of you already knew, but in case you don't I'm due June 25 and so far a healthy pregnancy. We'll find out the gender in about a month.
Happy Holidays from the Potters!

November 11, 2011

Potter Halloween 2011: Snowman

So I know I'm getting this post out a little late, but I wanted to post a few pics of our Halloween costumes. Robert had the great idea to dress up as a Snowman! Robert was the big snowball, I was the medium snowball, and Brady was the cute little snowball head of the snowman, carrot and all. Of course these costumes are homemade, but they didn't take too much effort. Sorry the pics aren't good quality, but that's all we got. We had lots of fun trick-or-treating with Brady, we all dressed up and took him around our neighborhood. Brady loved it, of course the idea of getting free candy was amazing to him:)
Robert and Brady with a two-ball snowman: (Robert is hiding his head)
Brady was touching the ceiling with us all stacked up, otherwise Robert would've stood up. When we went trick or treating to our friends the Rehder's house we quickly got up in our Potter Snowman Pyramid and then rang the doorbell, they got quite the trick for a treat! The funny thing is that they had their window open the whole time and could hear us laughing and struggling as we got into pyramid form:)
Please don't mind our messy house, putting together Halloween costumes always produces a huge mess. There is a video of us on my facebook page if you wanna see it, it's pretty funny and cute. Anyway, hope you all had a fun Halloween this year. Unfortunetly we didn't have a costume contest, but if we did, we would have taken first place again for sure.

October 22, 2011

Miniature Golf Tournament: Robert vs. Megan

We've been practicing all summer for the big tournament... 5 miniature golf courses. 81 holes. 2 participants. Our awesome friends Sloan and Julia babysat Brady so we could stay focused on our big day. No distractions. We began the tournament at 10:30am in Orem at Trafalga. (Thanks Pass of all Passes! Unlimited miniature golf for 1 year!) The coast was clear, no one in sight, we thought we would fly through the courses. The temperature was a little chilly starting out, but soon warmed up with sunny and clear conditions. We brought our chosen putters and balls. I had a Topflight and Robert had a Nike. All rules applied. We were allowed to redo one whole on each course.
Here is a picture of Robert after getting a hole in one. I couldn't believe it. That's not the only hole in one that was made! In the end we both got 5 holes in one total. Robert is really good. And all this miniature golfing has actually helped Robert's short game on the real corse:) But I have been practicing a lot too. Lots of days while Robert is at work, Brady and I go golfing. But the true winner of the 2011 Trafalga Orem and Lehi Miniature Golf Tournament is......
You guessed it.
ROBERT!
But with 81 holes I didn't come in far behind, only 7 holes. Robert hit 207 and I hit 214. At least he thought I was pretty good competition, which I was:) We finished in about 2 1/2 hours. Robert is a good sport, or maybe he expected to win, but he didn't rub it in too much. Then he bought me lunch, so I wasn't too crushed:)

October 20, 2011

More quilting.....Hot Pot holders!

Just in case you thought I had had my fill of quilting, think again! The options are endless! I found a way to use my tiny scraps of fabric! And I think this will be my new wedding gift, so if you're getting married soon...you might be able to expect some sweet and colorful potholders:) Take a look:
The back has an envelope for your hand to slide into:
Set #2
These actually were a lot harder to make than I thought they would be when I attempted to make them. I thought, "Oh how cute, they are small and will be quick and easy to make!" wrong! they totally took some time and skill (which the latter part I'm getting better at).
The Back of #2:
Up close -machine quilted spiral:
And if you're having a baby anytime soon, for your gift from me, you can choose between a baby wrap or baby blanket. I can't wait to make my first baby blanket!
Sewing is so satisfying!

October 15, 2011

Brady's Whirlygig quilt

While I was taking pictures of my quilt for the last post, Brady was sleeping all curled up in his quilt, and it was pretty tough to get a good picture, so that's why this is in a different post. This is Brady's quilt that I made for him, its a twin size, and was much easier than my quilt:) I just quilted it on my machine with vertical lines (red thread) and put some yarn ties just for Brady cause he likes to play with them.
The backing is just solid blue as is the binding.
I got this pattern from the same book as my first quilt called "Fresh Quilting". It's called the 'Whirlygig qulit'. Hence the pattern of warm colors making a whirlygig shape:
Both of my quilts' patterns were based on the pairing of warm and cool colors. And although Brady likes his new quilt, it will still never replace his favorite baby blankie that he has to have to sleep with.

October 13, 2011

Improvisational Quilt

Well if you know that I've been busy quilting lately, you've been wanting to see what I've made!
So it all started with Robert's friend giving us a king size bed. Sweet! But I didn't realize that meant all new bedding. I started with buying sheets....then I realized as fall and then winter were approaching we would need a bigger blanket. SO... of course I decided to MAKE one. I found a cute book with modern quilts and picked this one. Its an Improvisational quilt, and yes it's colorful. And no, this does not present any design technique for our room. I just saw the quilt and loved it, and I tend to pick pieces that I love without thinking ahead of how it will fit into a design theme:) That goes for picking out clothes too:) So with no further adieu, here it is:
-from the side-
-from the foot of the bed-
-the back-
-Using a quilt frame, each square was HAND QUILTED, this is viewed from the back so you can see the stitching-
Each square varied between a round spiral, square spiral, two squares, three squares, diamonds, and rounded edge square spiral- as follows:
I was going to hand finish the binding, but I was just to excited to be done with it that I just finished it off on my trusty sewing machine my mom got me at a yard sale, with a zigzag stitch. I probably spent less than $150 on everything; fabric, batting, thread, rotary mat and cutter. It felt SO good to accomplish something so big and awesome. And for my first quilt, I know a king size was ambitious, but that's what we needed! Being my first quilt, I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned a lot, and I'm overall very happy with the outcome! Whadda think? How do you think I could design my room around this masterpiece?

July 31, 2011

Homemaker

So I've been busy lately making headbands. I had this old headband from Old Navy I got like 15 years ago, and it was getting pretty worn out, and I loved it and wanted to wear it all the time but it didn't match everything, so I wanted to see if I could make some! I tried a few and got some ideas. My cousin Andrea also makes them and hers are awesome, but I got that creative bug and wanted to make some myself. I started with making flowers and other designs etc. and they are cute but took too much time:
Exhibit a:

Then I decided to just make them plain but double sided and slightly curved so they fit your head better. Exhibit b:

and c:
And I love them! Now I can wear them with lots of different outfits. It helps me look not so homely too cause I hardly wear jewlry and now I can jazz up any outfit with a fun headband !
Check out some others I've made:http://www.etsy.com/shop/HeyMrsPotter

June 01, 2011

May 05, 2011

When is your Half Birthday?

This post is 100% inspired my sister in Law Lydia whose 1/2 birthday is Today!! happy 1/2 Birthday Lydia!! and Happy Cinco de Mayo, ps. a GREAT day for a 1/2 birthday and all the more reason to celebrate!! So I was curious when mine was so I looked it up....
"When is your Half Birthday?: "Your half birthday falls on Tuesday, September 20th, 2011, which is 138 days from now.
The next birthday is 321 days from now. Which is amazing cause 3/21 IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!! WHOOOAAA!!!! WIII-EERD!
March 21st, 1984 fell on a Wednesday and was 27 years, 1 month and 13 days (a total of 9,906 days) ago. The above assumes that it's Thursday, 5 May 2011"
So there you go.
If you wanna celebrate with me on Sept. 20th, it will be a party!!
When is YOUR 1/2 birthday?
What is the appropriate way to cellebrate 1/2 birthdays?? I like how Lydia did it, ate 1/2 a cake...maybe you just do a halfsies theme. On my mission at my half way mark, I ate 1/2 a pizza;)
How should it be done??

April 04, 2011

Home-made Cinnabon anyone?

I made my Grama-in-law's Cinnamon Roll recipe this weekend for General Conference, and it was amazing (of course I tweaked it a little and added my own touch). If you wanna melt into a squishy, carmelized, soft cinnabun, follow this recipe:
  • 2 pkg. active dry yeast (or 2 Tb.)
  • 2 C. warm water
  • 1/3 C. Granulated sugar
  • 1/3 C. Vegetable oil
  • 3 beaten eggs
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 7 to 7 1/2 C. All purpose flour
  • Tb. Dough enhancer (opt. but it makes the dough better!!)
  • 1 Tb. Vital Wheat Gluten (also opt. but makes dough better!!)
  • 1/2 C. Butter, softened (add a little more if you want for flavor and carmelization:))
  • 1 C. Packed brown sugar (add a little more if you want for flavor and carmelization:))
  • 2 tsp. ground cinnamon (add a little more if you want for flavor:))
  • 1/2-1 C. Chopped walnuts or pecans (opt. but sure makes em yummy!)
Ok so I halfed this recipe not wanting to make too much, which turned out perfectly. I reccommend doing the same unless you are feeding a crowd or large family. I made 15 small buns and they all fit nicely in one 9x13 pan. When halfing the recipe it was tricky, i just measured 1/2 of everthing except I used two eggs (it's hard to half 3 eggs:)) and I actually used the full amount of butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. I also added chopped walnuts which were amazing!!!
Ok so in a bowl add warm water, yeast, oil, and granulated sugar. Beat eggs in small bowl. Measure 3/4 of the flour and the salt into large bowl and whisk/sift. Add water and yeast mixture and eggs to flour mixture and incorporate with a wooden spoon or utensil of your choice. Incorporate in as much of remaining flour as you can. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes. Place dough in greased bowl, cover, and place in warmed oven to rise (at least 30 minutes or until double in size).
Punch down dough, divide (if using full recipe because you will be using 2 9x13 pans). Roll out dough slightly (then let rest 5 min) on flowered surface. ( you won't be able to roll it out all the way if you don't let it rest, it will just shrink back because of elasticity, so let it rest, then continue rolling it out into large rectangle.) (I rolled my rectangle out really big so the dough was pretty thin-the layers were thinner that way which means more surface with butter/sugar/cinnamon/nuts:))
Ok now spred your softened butter all over dough (i use my fingers), sprinkle on evenly the brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. If you want your rolls bigger, roll up dough from the short side. If you want them smaller, roll them up from the long side. Roll it up whichever way, then get some dental floss (unused:)) instead of cutting and smooshing with a knife, use floss by sliding the floss under the roll and wrapping it around the dough and pinching it (does that make sense?) using it to cut the roll, about 2'' for each roll. Should make 15-16 rolls. If you did the full recipe you will now roll out your second piece of dough and repeat with butter/brown sugar/cinnamon/nuts, roll and cut up.
Butter the bottom of your 9x13 pan(s) and place rolls in leaving space in between for them to rise. Let rise in pan for 30 min. or until they look as big as you want them. Turn the oven on to 350F and bake for 20-25 min or until slightly golden on top.
Ok now for the Cream Cheese frosting:
  • 1/2 C. Butter
  • 1/2 C. Butter-flavored Shortening
  • 8 oz. Cream cheese
  • 1 tsp. Lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla
  • 1-2 Tb. Milk
  • 4 C. Powdered Sugar
Beat it all up and spread it on warm cinnabuns.
Grab a cinnabun and bite right into it. Do not regret it, ENJOY the delishousness, softness of the dough, carmelized butter and sugar, crunchy nuts, and CREAMY rich amazing frosting!!! Then tell me how it went!

March 21, 2011

A lot happens in March!

We have a lot going on in March. First it's St. Patricks Day, which is one of my favorite Holidays. This pic is from last years St. Patricks Day, we went on a treasure hunt with our neighbor friends. Brady is on the right, I'm holding his hand cause he had just barely learned how to walk. This year we got together with my friend Camy and decorated cookies and played. I also learned that Corned beef and Cabbage was a classic on St. Patty's day, but my husband told me never to make it. I guess I'll never know.
(Mia, Audrey, Francesca, Sean, Josh, Lilly, Brooklyn, Brady)
All of us mommies with our strollers on the treasure hunt. Brady and I are in the middle. We have the best friends and neighbors! This treasure hunt was so fun!
(Tonya's stroller with Sean in it, Melissa and Calvin, Me and Brady, Neighbor friend, Anjanelle's stroller with Cortnie, and Rachel)
Brady's due date was March 3rd. He was born two months early in January, but I wish he would've been born in March:) This is a picture of him in the NICU. Robert and I went on our Honeymoon to San Diego 3 years ago. Best week of my life! We got married 3 years ago and celebrated our anniversary on March 15th. Happy Anniversary Sweetie! It feels like its been 5 years to me! Marriage is wonderful and having a family is even better:) Six years ago on March 17th I got my mission call!!! It was on a Thursday, in March of 2005. This is a picture of me with the Mission Call packet. Here is a picture of my roommate AnnMarie and I pointing to Spain where I got called! AnnMarie's birthday is also in March. Happy Birthday AnnMarie!! Here is a picture of my roommate Cortnie and I with my call (unopened) getting ready for our big St. Patricks Day party and Call opening party:) love you Cort!
It's also MARCH MADDNESS!!! I'm getting a little tired of Basketball, but I have to see if my bracket wins! It's not doing so good, but then again niether is anyone elses!)
As you can see March is a Big month! Most of the birthday's in my family are in March too! My sister Mekelle's b-day was on March 1st, she turned 22! My brother-in-law Cord's birthday is on March 3rd (would've shared a b-day with Brady:)) My brother Carson's birthday was on March 10th! My niece Averie and my cousin Annie's birthdays are both on March 11th! My niece, Joy's birthday is also on March 10th! My birthday is TODAY, March 21st (I'm 27!)!! My brother Ben's birthday is on the 25th!! Did I forget anyone??
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL OF MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN MARCH!! I LOVE YOU!!

February 21, 2011

Paella

PAELLA ESPANOLA!
I just had to wear my Bata that I bought in Gijon so it was truely a Spanish Experience.
Ok so I've wanted to make Paella for a few months now, and have been gathering ingredients, but I just have been so nervous to do it. So I finally did it after researching and comparing some food network recipies. I had Paella a few times on my mission, and remembered how good it was and how Spanish it was! I had mastered the Spanish Tortilla de Patata, why couldn't I make Paella!

Ok so you start out with a Paella pan or very large skillet (preferably something oven safe with a lid.)

You can use whatever meat you want really. Traditionally paella uses a lot of shellfish, and also might use chorizo, chicken, rabbit, etc. whatever you want, throw it in! So I decided to use shrimp and chicken. Traditionally it also uses roasted red jarred peppers, peas, saffron, onion, garlic, bay leaf, rice, lemon, chicken stock or seafood stock, tomato, and olive oil. I used fresh green and red peppers, and chicken stock with all the other stuff.

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. Hence the reason why I was so nervous to make this dish. I didn't want to mess it up! You can usually find it at most grocerie store, but some stores might not carry it. Shop around and use a coupon if you can to purchase it for the best price. I bought it at Sunflower market for about $7.50 for .01 oz or .3 grams, about 2 pinches or a teaspoon. So yeah.

Ok so here's the ingredients I used:

  • 2-3 Tb. Olive oil
  • 2-3 Chicken Breasts (boneless skinless cut into chunks) a lot of recipies I noticed used chicken legs and thighs with bones and skin on and cooked it whole.
  • 4 Garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 green pepper, cut in strips
  • 1 red pepper, cut in strips (use jarred roasted red peppers if you can)
  • 1 tomato peeled, seeded, and chopped (I didn't peel mine)
  • 1 pinch of saffron (of the .01 oz I bought, I used half so I could make it again.)
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
  • 10 oz or 1 1/2 C. uncooked Valencia or other short grain rice. I used Basmati, but I think it's better to use Arborio.
  • 20 oz. or 3 1/2 C. of Chicken stock ( I just disolved a few chicken boullion cubes in water and simmered it till disolved. then in a cup to the side i disolved the saffron threads in about 1 C. of the stock. for a few minutes.)
  • 2 C. Shrimp ( I used uncooked med. shrimp unpeeled, but it would be easier to eat if they were pre-peeled.)
  • 1 C. green peas
  • 1 lemon cut into wedges for garnish. (After rinsing the shrimp I used part of the lemon and just squeezed it over the shrimp to give them a quick marinade before adding them to the paella.)

Preheat your oven to 350 F. So first heat the olive oil in your paella pan on med-hi for a couple minutes then add chicken and saute till golden. Then add onion, garlic, bay leaf, and green pepper. Saute till onions are transparent. Add the 1 C. of chicken stock with saffron dissolved in it (most recipes use white wine to deglaze, but of course i didn't have any so i used an extra cup of stock). Also add tomato, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil for a few minutes. Then add rice, the rest of the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add your seafood (clams, mussles, squid, octopus, fish or whatever you want. I only used shrimp), and if your peas are frozen, add them now. Cover the paella and bake in pre-heated oven for 20 min. If you don't have an oven safe pan, you can just finish it off by letting it simmer for 20 min covered on the stove.

And that's it! Just make sure your rice is cooked, and your shrimp are pink (if they were uncooked). And enjoy with a Bara de pan or baguette if you can get one!

I know it sounds complicated, but it's really pretty easy. You can do it! And you house will smell like Spain!

February 16, 2011

New Family Pictures

Check out our New Family Pics:
Click on these links to see our new pics:
Enjoy!

February 15, 2011

2010 Year Review

We had a great year in 2010 and here's all the things we did and accomplished:
  • Brady learned tons of Sign language, up to 60 words!
  • Brady turned 1 at the beginning of the year and we had two big parties for him!
  • Brady completed the Mom and Tot swim lessons class in the Spring.
  • Robert took a Physiology class throught BYU and got an A!
  • Brady learned how to walk in March.
  • Robert took the DAT prep class at BYU, and retook the DAT and got 2 pts. better!
  • Robert re-applied for Dental school...and we're still waiting for the good news.
  • For spring break we went with Robert's Sister Wendy and husband Lance to visit their brother Jeff in Southern California. We spent Easter with them; watched general conference; went to the beach; had lots of parties; and went horse-back riding!
  • I sanded and refinished an coffee table Robert found me for free.
  • I made a book of my mission in Spain on Heritage Makers.
  • I made an ABC book of Brady's first year on Heritage Makers.
  • I had lots of adventures in the kitchen including learning how to bake without wheat or dairy.
  • I also had lots of adventures in sewing and crafting including our Halloween costumes, making a wreath out of coffee filters, and a wreath of white felt roses.
  • We attended the temple each month and managed to attend all these temples: Provo UT, Mt. Timpanogas UT, Jordan River UT, Bountiful UT, Rexburg ID, and Newport Beach CA. We also went to but didn't go inside the St. George UT temple, and Salt Lake City temple.
  • We went to Phoenix AZ so Robert could visit 2 dental schools. I visited Anasazi and we also visited with Roberts mission friends.
  • We went to the Grand Canyon for the first time.
  • We went camping and hiking in American Fork Canyon.
  • We won our Ward Halloween Costume Contest (see Halloween Post).
  • My brother Phillip got married in the Rexburg Temple and we attended their sealing and receptions in December.
  • And we spent the New Year with my family in Spokane. They flew Brady and I up for the week and we had lots of fun! Mostly Brady and cousin Dylan played and had a ball together!

Well it was a fun and eventful year! Here are my New Years Resolutions for this coming year that I have already started:

  • Loose 20 lbs. (doing the Jillian Michaels shred, p90x, and counting callories)
  • Read scriptures daily and study manual
  • Pray every morning before I read my scriptures
  • Learn to read patterns (for sewing)
  • Make a new temple dress for myself
  • Read the bible in my spare time
  • and...later on this year, after the go-ahead from the husband...get pregnant:)

That's all folks. I'll let you know how it goes. So far, I suck at sticking to my alloted calories. It's way hard not to eat what I want. Jillian Michaels kicks my but, but I think its working. And my scripture studing is going great- it's so much better to study with a manual!

It's a NEW YEAR! Yeah for New Beginnings!

New Year Update

So, I've been a little neglectful of my blog lately. But it's not like we don't have a few due updates! So since the year began Brady has started and completed a Tumbling Tots class! It was so fun for him and good for me too! He turned 2 years old! He had his first airplane ride! We went to Spokane to visit my family and help with Phillip's wedding reception. That was so nice to visit home for a while. And since Brady turned two, I swear the talking que kicked in. He is saying like two or three new words a day! I can't keep up with this kid! He is up to like 100 words he can say now. It's so fun. (see the list of words to the right.)
We also started a little pre-school with a couple of my friends two days a week. It's way good for Brady and fun for us to get together. We just teach simple concepts like numbers, letters, shapes, and opposites. Then they play for like an hour while we chat!
We would put him in a Start up Baseball class, but he has to be three, so we might do swimming lessons again this spring.
We had a nice Valentines Day. I decided not to spend a lot of money. Robert and I actually celebrated by going on a date on Saturday night. We went to dinner and a movie and got ice cream. It was really nice. Then we exchanged gifts on Sat. night. I made him a Card on Heritage Makers, and he got me .....a 25$ Visa Gift card to go on a shopping spree;) It was a gift a little out of the ordinary for him, but sweet, cause he knows i've been wanting some new clothes:) Then yesterday on V-day I wanted to do something to celebrate again of course. So I decided to make him his favorite Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake, his Grandma's recipe. It turned out delish. I also made a nice steak and potato dinner for two. Brady took a long nap and was sleeping when he got home from work so we got to have a quiet romantic dinner with sparkling cider! He thought I was playing a trick on him cause he didn't believe Brady would sleep so late, and that he wasn't even home. He thought Brady was somewhere else so that I could plan this romantic dinner. Anyway, right after our dinner, Brady woke up. It was perfect:) Hope you all had a nice Valentine's day with those you LOVE. What a nice day Valentine's Day is:) A celebration of Love.