Taylor

We got a puppy...

T

Meet Taylor

(Tay-Tay, baby girl, Taylor girl, Taylor Goose)

She loves cuddling, sleeping, cuddling, getting kisses, cuddling, 

making new friends, being held, short walks in the park, and her blankies!!!

A week ago we were not even thinking about getting a dog but here is her story! Last Friday I get to work and hear about these 11 teeny tiny 6 week old puppies that were abandoned and left all crammed in a flea infested box. The local animal shelter was looking for people to foster the pups until they could be adopted into homes. Well this of coarse broke my heart and I thought, I can handle a puppy for a weekend, I can't be more than a few days before someone will want to adopt this cute little face! Which was true...  I feel in love with that sweet face and could not let anyone else take her! So she is an Evans now :) I could not be more happy about it!!! Because of the whole situation we are not 100% sure on her age and breed but the vet told us she is more than likely she 6-7 weeks old and a Chiweenie, a cross between a Chihuahua and the Dashshund. Tiny and cute forever <3

Enchanted Rock

I have been dying for some good old outdoors time lately, I just feel like am indoors so so much. So when I found out both Ryan AND I had a three day weekend for MLK Day I jumped on the chance! We headed up to the "hill country" of Texas to check out Fredericksburg and Enchanted Rock. Fredericksburg is this quaint little town that we had a great time wandering around all the different shops, restaurants and antique stores! I few of our finds where a German bakery that we picked up some pastries at for breakfast, Sweet German pretzel equals life changing yumm! Also that super old badge pictured below Ryan found at an antique store, he was ecstatic, it is pretty awesome! We also tried "The Best Burger in Texas" it was pretty delish! AND I am almost 99% sure I saw Tim Riggins ranch from FNL I need to re-watch the last episode to be sure but it look identical! We camped out that night at Enchanted Rock and in the morning we hiked up/down, all around and even into Enchanted Rock, we had a blast!

Also good news! Turns out that I took more than 2 pictures on my last Idaho trip, not many more but a few!

Kaylee two weeks over due and still looking beautiful!

Me, Emily & Kaylee again!
I don't know where Mom, Dad & Aaron where hiding out!
I also got to see my sweet Grandma Potter, Aunt Lesia, Aunt Su and some of the boys cousins while I was home at lunches and game nights! Fun times, but no pictures!

I got to see Grandpa & Grandma Price while I was home, I am so lucky to have these two amazing people in my life!

Evans girls! This is a good time to announce that there will be 3 new Evans babies this summer, yep 3!!! Shelby, Jessica and Janae are all pregnant! Yay! It was so fun to see all the girls and littleBlaze while I was home, I miss them all!

Azlynn and Grandma Debbie

Cute Anistion!

NY, NY

My hilarious, awesome, sweet little brother Aaron Potter opened his mission call tonight! He will be serving a two year mission for the LDS church in the New York, New York North Mission, speaking Portuguese! I am so excited for him and a very proud big sissy! I know that he will be an amazing missionary and will touch so many lives! I may have been secretly dreading this day/looking forward to it his whole life, not having my little brother around or at the other end of the phone for a whole two years will be tough but I know that it will be worth it and that this will be such an amazing time in his life! Plus there are always letters :) A saying I saw on pintrest put it best I think...
"Missionary (noun): Someone who leaves their family for a short period of time so that others may be with their families for eternity."
Congratulations Bubba!!!

"24601"

I am back to the blogging world! Just needed a little break, I thought about not backtracking clear to October but I have the worst memory ever and I don't want to forget about the last three months of 2011! So I will start where I left off... October. (With a lot of help from Instagram)

It was a great month for us full of pumpkin deserts, gypsy costumes, pumpkin carving, carmel apple making, 0 scary movies and a road trip to San Antonio....

I love weekend getaways!

Next was a trip {home} to Idaho at the start of November, where I managed to capture a whole 2 pictures, go me! I planned the trip to arrive a few days after my sisters due date and to be there for all the baby excitement. But little baby Charlotte was a little too comfortable in there and came on her own time, which happened to be two weeks late. She arrived the day before Thanksgiving happy and heathy! Sadly I was already back home in Texas.

Even though I did not get to meet this little bundle of joy as planned, it still was a wonderful much needed trip home with lots of family time! Charlotte is already growing up to fast, luckily Kaylee is the best and sends me LOTS of pics :)

Thanksgiving we got to skype the fam...

 and fry a turkey! I was a bit skeptical but it turned out to be super yummy-o! We had a delicious dinner with friends!

Of coarse right after Thanksgiving comes one of my favorite things to do, decorate for Christmas! Which I got to do twice this year. Once at the store...

 and then at home!

December was full of work parties, treat making, sugar plum fairies, light watching, dinner parities, holiday music.... mostly just spreading Christmas cheer!!! (I tend to become even more cheesier, if that's even possible, around the holidays! I can't help myself)

It was just Ryan and I this Christmas and just like last year we caved and opened all our prezzies Christmas Eve... I don't regret it, it was too much fun! We were absolutely spoiled rotten.

We rang in the New Year at our friends new house and I finally got to see the much talked about "secret room" it is just what it sounds like, hidden behind a bookcase and all. Ryan is convinced we need one...someday, we need a house to put it in first :) We partied into the wee hours of the morning and then it took us a whole week to recover, well worth it. For my New Years Resolutions this year I am making a "lifetime" list, a bucket list of sorts. I have made lists here and there but this one is going to be official and it WILL have 100 things on it, so it may take me the whole year to prefect it. Feel free to join me, it is going to be AWESOME!

As far as the new year goes we have just been playing with Christmas presents, recovering from strep throat (me..boo) and had a another little day trip to San Antonio. I have been looking forward to this for months, we went to see Les Miserables!

I love it, and I have been walking around singing "24601" all week long. It was not as magical as the first time I saw it in London two years ago it was still amazing, and this time I got to share it with ^ that cute face this time! 

Happy 2012 friends!

CKP

Charlotte Kaye Pond, the newest addition to the Potter family, is one week new today! I can not get enough of her. I am absolutely dying to hold her but more about my trip home and Miss C being two weeks late later, for now Facetime and pictures are my best friends! I am one proud Auntie, congratulations Kaylee (my sissy) and Tyler on having the cutest baby ever!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

“We need enormous pockets, pockets big enough for our families and our friends, and even the people who aren't on our lists, people we've never met but still want to protect. We need pockets for boroughs and for cities, a pocket that could hold the universe.”
― Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close


I just found out that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, one of my most favorite books ever is being made into a movie! Which I am alway excited to see my favorite stories in another form, even though I alway come away saying not as good as the book. But after watching this preview I am pretty stoked, it looks like it is going to be a goodie AND that it comes out in December, how am I just finding out about this!?

Pumpkin Pancakes & Buttermilk Syrup

HELLO OCTOBER, I am oh so happy to see you!!! I am welcoming fall and anything related to it with open arms! Really fall is such a fabulous time of the year!

So... I tried a new recipe this Sunday morning and the second time around it worked and it was amazing! My grandma Potter's Pumpkin Waffles & Buttermilk Syrup, this is deff going to be our new October General Conference tradition. How great was General Conference btw? Seriously some amazing talks that really touched my heart. Can't wait to read them!  So back to these pancakes... they are heavenly, I was in a bit of a food coma yesterday because of them. Yes the title of this post is pumpkin pancakes and the recipe is for waffles, we had to modify the recipe into pancakes because our waffle iron was giving us a hard time.

Grandma Potter's Pumpkin Waffles & Buttermilk Syrup

Pumpkin Batter

2 C. Flour
1 T. Baking Powder
1 T. Cinnamon
1T. Sugar
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 C. milk
1 C. Canned pumpkin
3/4 C. Margarine
1 T. Vanilla

Mix first 6 ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate large bowl, beat 4 egg yokes (save the whites). Add milk, pumpkin, margarine and vanilla to the yokes. Mix well. Add in flour mixture. Beat your egg whites to a stiff peak and fold into batter.

Buttermilk Syrup

1 cube butter
1 C. sugar
1/2 C. buttermilk
1 t. Karo
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla

Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil in a large pan. Once at a boil remove from heat, add baking soda and vanilla. Stir well. Mixture will expand to twice it's size.

Loooove this syrup!

This really is an October must try recipe! Happy Fall dudes!