Someone's Leaving on a Mission...

Well, the time has come to send my baby brother off into the real world. We couldn't be more excited for him! He'll be serving a mission for our church in Busan, South Korea for the next two years. We'll sure miss having him around for a couple years, but we know that the people he meets in Korea will love him just as much as we do. :)

All of my siblings are best friends, but Scott and I have always had a special bond as the "little kids" of the family. For several years during my time in high school, we were the only kids at home so we got to become awesome travel buddies. 

We've spent lots of good times together on the plane, in the car, and a handful of different places across the world. It's been so fun watching him grow up (literally--he's 6'3 now) through middle school, high school, college, and now leaving on a mission. We can't wait to see how these next two years will help him grow up even more. 

We were able to have a great get together with lots of family and friends last week at my parent's house. It was fun to see so many people who have been a part of Scott's and our family's life throughout the years, and we're so grateful for them! We had lots of help in the kitchen and the day turned out so wonderful. 

 We love Scott for his big heart and his sense of humor that always keeps us laughing. Our family gatherings will be pretty dull without him over the next couple years! Scott is the life of the party in our family, and we'll certainly miss that. But I'm pretty sure Kona will miss him the most. ;)

We're so excited for everything that awaits this guy overseas. Here's to a great two years! 

Happy 60th to my Dad!

This post is likewise long overdue, but I couldn't not do a tribute post for my dad's 60th birthday! This year was extra special because his birthday and Father's Day fell on the same Sunday, so we all got to be there to celebrate both special occasions.

Because this birthday was quite a milestone, we naturally had to dig up a selection of old pictures. We put together an album with hundreds of pictures in collages from his childhood till now. Here are some of my favorites:

Aren't these precious? I love that my grandparents took lots of pictures of their kids. My Grandpa was stationed in Hawaii when my dad was born, and we like to joke that my dad has "true" Hawaiian blood because he had to have a blood transfusion right after birth. His little Hawaiian outfit on the left is my favorite!

 Growing up as a kid in Minnesota. He always had his chihuahua with him.

High school graduation pictures - his expression on the left is priceless!

 Aaaand enter the baby pictures. It would probably surprise you to know that I wasn't even the chunkiest out of all my siblings, either! :)

 This has to be one of my all-time favorites. We were at an amusement park in Upstate New York and my dad specifically did my hair like that so I would meet the height requirements for all the rides. Haha. 

Family picture on my baptism day

Thanks to my dad, I've been able to travel to so many places across the world and experience so many cities and cultures. During my senior year of high school, I got to tag along with him on his Europe routes for 24-hour layovers in Frankfurt, Zurich, and Edinburgh. Also, he deserves an extra special award for agreeing to take four teenage girls to Hawaii for my 16th birthday. Ha.

What I love about traveling with my dad is he's not  your typical tourist. He makes it a point to go off the beaten path to find the "true" cultural experiences. I think it's impossible for him to get lost in any country.

My dad is a pretty simple guy and didn't really want any fanfare for his special day. But he did request his favorite pineapple upside down cake. Thanks to Pinterest I found an awesome recipe that turned out perfect. We got to have my sister and her family on Skype while opening presents so it almost felt like we were all together!

Some other good Pinterest finds for dinner. Yum!

I'm one lucky girl to have a dad like mine. He's the most kind, patient, supportive, and insightful person I know. Even though he's 60, he still acts like he's 30 when he's on the ski hill, the bike trail, or anywhere else that requires athleticism. He's a machine! I hope that when I'm 60 I can even be half as great of a person as he is. Love you, dad!

The Rest of Spring, Summer, and Random Instagrams

This is a long and very overdue post! Here's a random mix of what's been going on around the Potter household lately:

We made it out to the Qquirrh Mountain Temple for the first time and were totally amazed by the view!  I don't remember the last time I saw the mountains from the opposite side of the valley. 

Nick's brother and his wife live in Logan now, so it's fun to get to see them as well as my family when we drive up to visit. Nick's three nephews were there for Easter as well and it was fun to get to see them, too. They had grown up a lot since we saw them last summer! 

I experimented with making my first Pavlova. I found this recipe for Pavlova with strawberries and passion fruit via Martha Stewart. I have to say it was a huge success, and Pavlova now ranks on my list of favorite desserts. 

One of our favorite things about summer is using our little grill on our balcony. S'mores have become somewhat of a Sunday tradition around here. 

I love that I work just a block away from this little gem. It's so nice getting to eat my lunch here every day! 

 

 Summertime also means the start of Bachelorette night! Yes, it's slightly embarrassing to admit that I watch this show because it's pretty ridiculous. However, it's so much more entertaining when a whole group of girls get together to watch it. This season we even started a bracket competition. Ha. Combined with treats and nail painting, it's definitely a highlight of our week! 

Nick's been working on his golf game lately, and was able to go with both his brother, Casey, and my dad and little brother over Memorial Day weekend. 

While the boys were out golfing, I got to soak up my time with this little cutie. I'm slightly obsessed with dogs. 

 One of my favorite times of year - Cache Valley is stunning in the spring time! 

Though I know nothing about baseball, it was fun to have an extended lunch break at the Bee's game. One of the perks about working in a predominately "guy" office is that occasionally you get to tag along for "guy" activities. I'm not complaining! :)

We had a fun friend date at Slab pizza (delicious by the way) and The Awful Waffle (likewise delicious). Good friends. Good food. Loved it. 

I fell in love with the rose bushes at the Provo Temple. We must have come during a week when they were in full bloom. The best thing was they smelled exactly like my Grandma's rose bushes, which brought back a lot of childhood memories!

Sushi night with friends (ignore our wolf eyes - gotta love iPhone pics ;) )

This concoction was all Nick's idea - inspired by the Taco Bell commercials. I like to think ours were a bit healthier since they were homemade. 

 Nick and Aaron did Ragnar last weekend and I got to meet up with them in Morgan on my way up to Logan. It was the first time in the relay for both of them, and even though they were limping the rest of the weekend, they did really well! 

Nick's sister, husband, and two little dogs stopped by our place on their way through town. How can you resist this little guy!? Again, we're kind of obsessed with dogs :)

More updates to come! 

Kona, HI 2012

We just can't get enough of this place!

We decided to take an early summer vacation to visit my sister and her husband who were staying in Kona for a month for my brother in law's medical school internship.They were staying the same house that my family vacationed in last August, so it was the perfect set up for us to tag along with them. Originally we didn't think Nick would be able to go because of finals, but he finished all his exams a day early and we both miraculously made it on the connecting flights to the island!

It was so fun to see my sister and little nieces again - they had grown up so much since we last saw them! 

We spent our first day there at at Kukio beach. It's a private resort/community, but they allow public beach access -- we're so glad we found this gem! The golf course and grounds were some of the most amazing property we had ever seen. We found out later that golf course is so immaculate because they charge a cool 250K a year (!) just for a membership to the course. I only took a few pictures, but their website is definitely a feast for the eyes!

We were lucky to have my brother Scott fly in for a couple days before he started finals the next week. It was so fun to have him there with us! We loved having an amazing view of the sunset during dinner out on the patio.

We spent the day on Saturday at Kua Bay, just north of the Kona airport. The water was so amazing! It's pretty rare to see water that bright blue in Hawaii.

The Eskaran's came to visit! Our friends Jo and Aaron moved to Honolulu last summer and we've certainly missed having them around Provo. Jo works for Hawaiian Airlines so they were able to catch a flight over to the Big Island for the day. It was so much fun to hang out with them again.  Hopefully we'll get to visit them on their home turf in Honolulu soon!

Thanks to Aaron for these pictures! (Visit his site to see more of his awesome photography)
And he was nice enough to take a family picture for us.. even though we were still a little raggedy from the beach :)

Had to get a picture with the girls in their pretty Sunday dresses.

  My brother-in-law, Dan, makes the most amazing ribs I've ever had. It's starting to be a tradition for him to make them every time we're together. Charlotte was a big helper with prepping the broccoli :)

Scott was flying back to Utah the same day my dad was flying in to visit, but we had a few hours together to eat dinner. Scotty just submitted his mission papers, so we were extra glad that he could come see all of us together because it will be a couple years before we get to do this again!

These little girls sure love their grandpa!

Thanks to our trusty Hawaii guide book, we found out that there is a small black sand beach just north of the Kona airport. Originally we thought we'd have to drive to the other side of the island, so we were thrilled that is one was only a short walk from a major beach through a lava field.

Black sand is so unique -- I love it! We were also glad that it was overcast weather, otherwise the sand would have been so hot we wouldn't have been able to enjoy it! Walking through the lava field was also really fascinating. It's still amazing to me that the entire island is made of this stuff!

On our last day on the island, we spent some time in downtown Kona at the local market. They had such an amazing selection of leis and flowers that I had never even seen before. I wish I could have taken them all home with me!

We found an awesome local sushi joint that lets you make your own roll. You basically tell them what you want in it and they'll make it for you. The best part was each roll was only around $5. Even though my dad flies to Japan a lot, he's never really liked sushi. But we convinced him to try this with us and he loved it! And thank heavens for the iPhone -- it kept the girls entertained the whole time.

After sushi we stopped to get shaved ice - always a must when in Hawaii.

 

One last sunset picture. I don't think this view from the house will ever get old. Nothing beats a Hawaiian sunset!