The Potter Post

Peter Pan, Wendy, Tink, Captain Hook & fellow pirate....We had fun at halloween parties and the kids loved trick or treating. Norah sure caught on fast :)

We did it! We made it to Berlin Germany and back! Here's just a few pics from our 11 day trip. This pic is my dad meeting Norah and Ruby for the first time at the airport after 14 hours travel time! It was sooo great to see my mom and dad! We flew 11 hours to Frankfurt and then took an hour flight to Berlin. It was a miracle... we saved a ton of money by not getting Norah her own seat, and both on the flight there and the flight back there were empty seats near us so she could have her own seat. It would have been a nightmare if she had to stay on our laps the whole time. I think we had all 3 children crying at only 2 times during the flights ... not bad. They were troopers. Thankfully John's sister Kristina came with us. It would not have been possible without her.

Our second day we took the subway into downtown Berlin. We were a bit jetlagged.... 9 hours time difference takes a toll on your body!

This is Dresden... the girls using their preferred mode of transportation :)

Mia in Dresden...

We love Nutella!

Ruby and Grandma :)



















We loved seeing the mission office and going to a zone conference to see my dad teach the missionaries. He has 210! Its the largest mission in europe right now.

It was great to see my mom and dad and brother Mike! We had a fabulous trip! We saw all sorts of amazing sights (too many to put here..... John and Kristina even rented a car and drove many hours to see the church where their great great grandparents were married. Pretty cool!) but the best part was being with my parents.

John and I had a deal that when we had a 3rd child, he had to get a new job... haha. Actually we've been looking for a new job for over a year but just haven't found anything with better hours until now. John has accepted an in house position at the company Energy Solutions which is headquartered in Salt Lake. Its all happened rather quickly, and now we have given 2 weeks notice at Orrick.... will go to Germany to visit my parents for 10 days so my dad can meet Norah and Ruby.... and then the movers come to pack us up (I don't have to pack a single box! Hooray! And the company is paying! Double hooray!) and then we head to SLC and I get my husband back! Hooray! So that's the latest with us!

Paternity leave was fantastic! We had 5 weeks together and once I healed up, we made the most of our time. John's dad and stepmom flew out and spent some time with us which we enjoyed going to the zoo, feeding the ducks, playing at the park, mini golfing and all that fun stuff. Mia went with John and his dad to an A's game. She loved the snacks :)

At the end of paternity leave we road-tripped through Oregon. John and I have always been interested in Oregon and tossed around the idea of maybe locating there at some point. So with a 3 1/2 week old baby + two we rented a van and drove 12 hours to Portland area. We broke the trip up over a couple days. Our first night we slept in Medford Oregon at a hotel with an 80 foot waterslide that we all loved!!

You could get some speed on this thing! Mia would even go by herself at the end of our swimming time. I don't know who went down it more, Mia or John :) It was a blast!

Norah didn't care for the water too much.

We had a picnic in Grant's Pass Oregon which was beautiful!

Dinner was in Eugene overlooking the University of Oregon. (This was after accidentally stumbling upon a large group of bicyclists coming at us not wearing any clothes!! Some had fanny packs on but there were definitely no clothes! Ahhh!)

Gorgeous view!

Portland temple!

We saw the rose gardens in Portland and did some other fun things in Portland area, but it was tricky because Norah was not feeling well. In fact she was throwing up nearly our entire trip! It was no good. We had dinner with my aunt and uncle in Vancouver... in which Norah cried through the whole thing and then threw up on their white bathroom rug. Ahh!

Sooo... after some time in Portland we returned our rental van there in Portland and then flew from Portland to Salt Lake City so we could attend John's brother David's wedding. You'd never know that David was throwing up the day before his wedding!! Thankfully he recovered remarkably fast (and for the record Norah didn't get him sick... she hadn't been near him)

John with 7 of his 9 siblings at the bountiful temple where David and Laura were married

Mia threw up the night before the wedding... so she didn't get to enjoy the festivities. She came just for a few minutes to see the bride and take this lousy family pic...haha.

Norah was feeling better by wedding though :)

Thankfully Ruby has stayed healthy through all this crazy sickness!

While in Utah we drove up the canyon so Mia could play in snow. She had a blast shoveling it for some reason. haha

Mia swung on Grandma Kathy's swings forever with her cousin Ally who is her same age. Those 2 girls sure love to play together. Its so fun to see! Mia and Norah also loved jumping on their Grandpa Dave's bouncy house in his basement.

So that's a quick glimpse into our crazy travels the last couple weeks. John has now gone back to work and we miss him so. Thankfully my mother in law has been with me while we all transitioned to him going back. So this week she leaves and for the first time in 6 weeks I'll be trying to figure out life with 3 girls on my own. We'll see how it goes!! Thankfully Ruby is still a sleeper and sleeps for a good 7-8 hour stretch at night. Hallelujah! Love it!

Tuesday, May 17 we headed to Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, CA. It is the same hospital where I was born, as well as Norah and my dad.

Ruby had a heart cut out for her too :)

Now Ruby is one week old and is doing fabulous. She sleeps more than any of my other girls did which I can't complain about! She has slept for 7 and 8 hours the last two nights! The girls are adjusting well to her so far and we are having fun with John home. Hooray for 4 weeks of paternity leave!