Aaron.Robyn Taylor & London

choices...

2012-01-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

Can we see the twin hair in this pic?

Look who's sitting up now!

Grandma Sherry came for a surprise visit this last weekend. Thanks Grandma, we love you!

And to think they wouldn't let us bring her home from the hospital because she wasn't gaining enough weight...17lbs at 7 months...that's my girl!

My little swimmer girl...she literally went down this water slide over and over for at least 2 hours!

My little helper in the kitchenYes...do you need something? I'm reading!We have learned the art of giving Taylor 2 choices to choose from, both of which we would like her to do. For example: "Do you want to put your shirt on while you're sitting down or standing up?", "Do you want to eat your dinner with a fork or spoon?" You get the idea. Well, this is what I overheard Taylor telling her baby doll the other day:

Taylor: "Baby, do you want to go to the park naked, or do you want to wear a hat? It's going to be freezing outside!"

I was dying! Naked or Naked with a hat? Love it! I love the innocence of our little ones. She says the funniest things.

Words to live by...

2012-01-15T20:21:00.000-08:00

According to Taylor Powell...2.5 years old

1. Be a good citizen.
-"Mommy, we're not supposed to go pee pee in the pool, we're supposed to go in the potty"
-This is also true for the tub, she always asks to get out to go "pee pee", love my girl.
-Pointing to the ground, "Mommy, who put their gum on the ground in the ice, we're not supposed to put our gum in the ice, we're supposed to put it in the trash"
-When Aaron flicked one of her toys off the table, Taylor responds: "Daddy, that's not nice, you're being a bad girl. Go to my room for a time out."

2. Sing and Dance often.
-"Head, shoulders, knees, and toes.....eyes, ears, mouth, and TOES"
-To the toon of families can be together forever, "I want to hit Lon-don, and take her binky all day" (ironic isn't it)
-"Mommy, want to hear a new song?" Taylor makes up songs all day long, seriously! I would say she is singing at least 50% of the day. We know she doesn't get that from her momma.
-Taylor likes to dance in front of the TV with music on, even caught her making up a dance the other day when I had classical music on, pretty inventive.
-Her best moves: the booty shake, the knee drop, and the arm swing move.

3. Be Honest
-"Mommy, I want some medicine". Referring to the cough drops that she loves for some reason and trys to steal at all costs. "But, Taylor you have to be coughing in order to get that medicine." Taylor replies, "Ugh Ugh, cough, cough. Mommy I am sick!" With a big grin, holding the bag of cough drops.
-We're at my in-law's house and Taylor walks down the stairs looking like she just got off a horse. Clearly had peed her pants. "Taylor what happened? Did the pee pee get anywhere?". "It get all over Bobby's carpet". She then re enacts the entire events of how she went on the carpet.
-I'm in the car with my mother-in-law and the girls and we're driving past a 7-11. Out of nowhere Taylor says.."Hey! I get donuts there with daddy yesterday. He said, shhh, don't tell mommy". BUSTED! My mother-in-law and I were both crying laughing, it was hilarious!

4. Bargain, when necessary
-"Mommy, I clean up my toys and you give me a treat?"

5. Pray Often
-"Heavenly Father, thank you day, thank you sister and cupcakes, thank you for toys, thank you Caesar (my in-law's dog), Jesus Christ, Amen." To then always be reminded to bless the food, it'll come someday.
-Most prayers consist of: "Heavenly Father, thank you day, thank you (favorite friend/relative of the day), Jesus Christ, Amen." All being said while trying to sneak the cheese off the dinner plate. Already good at multi-tasking!

6. Prepare for the temple
-"Taylor, who are you going to marry someday?"...Her response...Caillou!
-When grandma/grandpa were living here and gone one day Taylor asks where they were. "They're at the temple today Taylor." Taylor: "Oh, they're getting married there? Like me does someday?" (She is listening during family home evening!)
-"Taylor, did you know that tomorrow is the day that daddy and I were married 4 years ago?" Taylor sings completely on her own, "for all e-ter-ni-ty". Melted my little heart!
-"Taylor, when Jesus comes again one day, what are you going to say to him?" Taylor, "Thank you".

The best $20 purchase I ever made...

2012-01-07T21:58:00.000-08:00

Pics of the kitchen, mentioned on the previous (more important) Christmas post.

I had this dream that I would find a cute wooden kitchen for Taylor on Craiglist. All the ones you buy online or at the store are like $250, not a chance! After about 6 months of searching I finally found it! It was super gross, old, and scary when I bought it. Like, I'm talking spider webs, spiders, layer of dirt, seriously gross. When I was driving home I was thinking..I hope I don't end up just tossing this thing in the trash because it's unsalvageable. Well, after 2 months of working during nap times and after the kids went to bed we finally finished. With all the sanding, 3 coats of paint, applying contact paper, making the canvas paintings above the kitchen, and repainting the $10 table/chairs also purchased on Craigslist we had Taylor's Christmas present! I really wanted something she could play with for a long time. We're pretty proud of it and Taylor LOVES it which is the most important thing!

BEFORE PICS:

All the knobs were originally white, I had already started spray painting them metallic.
You probably can't tell from the pics, but everything was SO dirty!
And the AFTER:

We used contact paper for the surfaces and "backsplash". Painted a $2 wash tub from Wal Mart metallic for the sink, and painted all the accents metallic.

Utensil holders are formula cans with scrapbook paper around it.

And I painted the canvas paintings, super easy! Doesn't everyone cook with a helmet on?

We had to do most of the painting/fixing up down in the storage room of the basement, so Taylor was banned from that room for at least a month!

Taylor is now our official cook in the house, that is if you like soup made with: potato, egg, pickle, chicken nuggets, cabbage, tomatoes, soda, pie, and fries!

The Power of Santa

2012-01-07T21:21:00.001-08:00

Can we see the picture here...it's Christmas eve...and we have everything we need for Santa. We have the cookies and milk for Santa, we have the carrots for the reindeer, and what is in the little gift you ask. That is a cute little box that holds all of Taylor's precious binkys!!! Yes, it's true. Santa actually sent me a text and told me that if Taylor gave him all her binkys she could get that tricycle she's been asking for! Isn't Santa so smart and creative?

So, Taylor had to practice 2 weeks before Christmas and did not have her binky. It was pretty rough the first 5 nights or so. She was seriously like a druggie that needed her fix. She had a really hard time, but then the power of the tricycle won her over and she was willing to give it up. The good news is that Santa would give her binkys to a little baby that needed it. So, she chose sweet baby Nora to give them too. She's a cute little girl in our ward, that does

n't even use a binky! It didn't matter and Nora "loves her binkys" that Santa gave her. Hey, I figured if Taylor has been sleeping in a big girl bed since before London was born, and is almost potty trained it was time to get rid of the binky. It was a tough 5 days/nights or so, but now she is binky free, and she's actually not that bad about steeling London's. Phew! We did it! It was as hard for me as it was for her, let me tell you. The second night she didn't have it we drove back from Tracie Ware's house about 1.5 hours away and left at 8:30 at night. Normally she would be out before we hit the freeway with her binky/wa wa. What happened without the binky you wonder?...The longest 1.5 hour trip consisting of Taylor whining/crying for her binky the whole time! But, we did it and made it through! It was a big mile stone for her, so we're so proud!

And...the big tricycle!

Taking cousin Isabelle for a ride.

Ok, I know I'm biased, but doesn't Taylor look beautiful in this shot?!

Christmas morning was so fun! I have so many fond memories of waking up ridiculously early and running out and tearing through presents. I was so excited to have that with Taylor this year since she was so aware of everything. We had the annual Christmas Eve party at my brother in law's house that lasted til super late, so needless to say Taylor didn't even wake up til around 8:30. She came out and was so excited to see her kitchen! (This will be an entire post since I worked for a very long time on it.) It was a day filled with opening presents, Taylor playing with each one, opening more, eating good food, staying in jammies all day. It was great to have just our little family together on Christmas...loved it! And, the best Christmas present ever was that I was supposed to work Dec 23-27the since it was my holiday to work and miraculously I got Christmas Day off. Truly a blessing. I am so grateful for our beautiful girls and an amazing husband to spend the day with, while thinking of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Taylor making London dinner with her new kitchen stuff.

London is the sweetest little girl in the world. Would you ever guess looking at this cute chunker that she weighed 5 lbs when she was born?

The Student's Wife..

2011-11-08T21:01:00.000-08:00

Life has been crazy and fantastic all at the same time! I must say that life with Aaron in school has been quite the ride. With Aaron busy taking really difficult classes, working, and watching the kids on the weekends while I work he is super busy! Which then means I am super busy and alone with the kids for the majority of the time. We don't get to see much of each other during the week, this morning I saw him for 20 minutes, and he'll be studying til super late tonight at school. Some days I feel like I get a glimpse of being a single mom. Here's a perfect example of our sweet little life, this was my night last night...

I had a YW activity at 7 pm. Around 5 pm I took my bro-in-law to pick up his car from the shop. I got home close to 6 and needed to feed the kids and get to the activity (with church clothes on) by 7pm. Not a big deal you might say right? Well, that's asking a lot sometimes especially when by yourself. You never realize how helpful it is to have another person around just to hold the baby or fill up Taylor's drink. That next hour consists of: trying to feed the kids, I have London still in her car seat on the large island counter, with a bottle propped (I know, don't judge, you have to do it sometimes). I'm trying to make Taylor a bean burrito while she is happily reading. Happily reading turns into throwing the books everywhere, but she's happy so I'm fine with it. Taylor needs to go potty, get her eating dinner, change all of us into church clothes, change London's diaper, finish a project I need to present and get out the door, and I eat the last 5 bites of Taylor's burrito for my dinner. Needless to say we don't leave until 7:10. Terrible leader I know.

Hang in there with me, this is where it starts getting good..

We get to the church by about 7:15, walk in and Taylor needs to go potty. After what seems like an eternity we finish the potty process and walk into the activity. Luckily it was the informal part of the YW in Excellence program so everyone is mingling. I pull sweet London out of the car seat and...seriously poopy diaper! Love it, since I have spent about 1.5 minutes at the activity at this point and I need to change a diaper. We head out and get her changed and get back to the activity.

I spend about 5 minutes chatting with the girls and we all get seated for a short slide show. Another leader is holding London, and Taylor is sitting on my lap. Ahhhh, feels nice to sit down and rest for a second. The slide show begins, everyone is happy and calm, and then, wait, something warm on my legs...something wet on my legs...and Taylor says.."uh oh mommy". Yep! You got it, she is peeing on my lap!!! Fantastic! So, natural instinct I stand up really quick and hold her out in front of me and all but run out of the room. Of course I have to be sitting in the front row, figures. So, we head back to the bathroom and change Taylor's clothes. She asks to keep her pee soaked tights on, of course this is impossible at this point. Although we have to clean her shoes so she can put those back on and luckily I have a change of clothes for her. Awesome!

We get back to the activity and...its over! Sweet, I have officially attended approximately 12 minutes of the activity. What can you do but laugh and enjoy the fact that you have two beautiful girls, right? And, the other good news is...I'm wearing a black skirt so no one can tell I'm cruisin around with a pee soaked skirt. I seriously was just laughing about the whole thing.

I love my beautiful family and this is why:

-London has been sleeping through the night for 1.5 months now.

-The girls have been sleeping in the same room for about a month! And sleeping through the night! I have to say I'm just as proud of myself as I am of them. It was hard work on both of our parts. We did it without any major hitches! And, I'm getting better at somehow doing the whole nighttime routine on my own and getting both girls down.

-London is the sweetest baby in the entire world. I need it because Taylor is what you would call a "spirited" girl. She can be the sweetest girl one minute and then the next minute she is finding every button possible to push. Bless this 2 year old stage!

-And, Aaron is doing great! I am so appreciative of how hard he works with school. He will be applying to P.A. school this fall, and lets pray that he gets in!

-And I am so appreciative of wonderful friends and family, play dates, projects, and story time to keep me busy!

baths and "band-dands"

2011-08-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

Taylor fell the other day and insisted she needed one of her princess "band-dands" on her nose. Her nose miraculously instantly felt better and she kept it on for a few hours. Funny lady. She has been a great big sister, and loves to help out with baby London.

We have a belly button!!! Finally! They said since London had the IV lines in her umbilical cord that it would stay on longer than normal. I didn't know that longer than normal meant for 6 weeks! Sponge baths only go so far, so I was pretty excited to give her a real bath. She loved it as you can see, she was super chill the whole time.
Tracie, Troy and the kids came for a visit a few weeks ago. Taylor and Brooke are about 9 months apart and the babies London and Connor are only 5 weeks apart. Can you see a bit of a difference in those two? Little lady.
PLAY DATES. I love our ward, and all the mommas! Seriously, our play dates have gone from the once a week park date, to somehow hanging out sometimes several days in the week. Here are all the babies hanging out. Hudson, Logan, Isabel, and London. All the older babies were rolling all over the place, so it was quite the test to get them all together.
Bought this precious swimsuit for London before she was born, don't know why I was thinking she might actually go in the pool. Oh well, she looks cute in it though!

Our first adventure with the 2 kids at the Denver zoo. Don't worry, one of the crazy bird animals escaped while we were there and they quaranteened us off to one area until it was caught. Crazy. It was close to 100 degrees that day, and we went around noon. We've learned our lesson, but had a great time.
Aaron feeding Taylor to the giraffes...
And for the London happenings at 6 weeks...

-She is a great sleeper for the most part, she'd rather be swaddled and putting herself to sleep in the crib by herself than in the swing or even being held (one benefit to starting life out in the NICU)

-She was 7 pounds 5 ounces at her 4 week appt, so I think she is close to 8 pounds now and plumping up

-She is a great eater, and after only about 4 weeks she was able to fully breastfeed instead of having to breast feed her, bottle feed her since she was too tired to finish, and then pump.

-She has endured the wrath of a 2 year old sibling, it's pretty amazing what the subsequent kids go through with older siblings and survive. Let's just say I can never leave London unsupervised for a second.

-She is starting to get on a good predictable schedule and have actual awake/sleep times throughout the day.

-Overall she is a great, beautiful, and alert baby for her age and prematurity.

-We love her!

Blogging Binge!

2011-07-11T15:19:00.001-07:00

Ok, everyone who knows me and ever checks the blog knows I'm terrible at posting. So, I found some time while both girls were sleeping to do a little blogging binge and do the full update on how we're doing. So, check the last 2 posts to find out all about our little London girl. We love her and are so proud of Taylor the big sister!

Life at home as a family of 4!

2011-07-11T15:06:00.001-07:00

Our first outing as a family at a beautiful park up the canyon. London snoozed the whole time of course.

The water was really high and scary this time of year with the ice melt, but so fun to watch. Isn't Taylor the cutest?!
4th of July! Taylor and cousin Isabelle. Her face is supposed to be painted like a butterfly in case you're wondering.
Taylor's first sparklers..a bit reluctant at first, but then she was asking to do them. We had dinner with family and then I headed home to feed London and avoid over stimulation and Stewy and Taylor headed to the lake to watch fireworks.

Our first little photo session, it took about an hour to get a few good photos. She's one beautiful girl!

A visit from the Ware's. So fun that Tracie and I met 11 years ago, and now live relatively close by in Colorado and have our kids so close together.

The two happy families! Connor is only 5 weeks older than London but twice as big! Crazy! So fun to see them!

London Avery...our sweet surprise

2011-07-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

London Avery

June 17, 2011 4:39 am

5 lbs 7 oz

18.5 inches

So..for the big story...details included...get ready folks.

Thursday night, I had just turned 35 weeks pregnant and had fully began to complain about feeling uncomfortable, although I never really got that big. Still, a pregnant lady is uncomfortable no matter what. I had my visiting teachers over and we were chatting til about 10:30 at night. Come 12 ish, my water broke. Of course it was the same as last time...the little trickle, I was in denial, and Aaron was on the phone calling his parents over to be here when Taylor got up, and getting in contact with the hospital. I was still in denial..kind of. I don't know what it was, I just couldn't believe that it could happen that early, and trying to tell myself and Aaron that maybe I just really had to go to the bathroom and it wouldn't stop coming out. I know...denial. Of course I wasn't ready and some of the first thoughts were..."I can't remember where my nursing bras are, grab my make up, and maybe I should bring some onesies for the baby, and...oh yeah, the car seat!"

So, we headed to the hospital, chatted about what we should name her, and stopped for some snacks at 7-11 since that's the only place open at 1 in the morning (I was starving and knew they wouldn't let me eat for a long time). Still a part of me in denial at this point and feeling stupid if they were to send me back home.

We arrived to the hospital at 1:30 am, and within 15 minutes of questioning the "big flood" occurred and it was fully apparent that my water had in fact broke. Baby was on her way whether we liked it or not. They were preparing us for the worst since she was early. Saying she would be in the NICU for her full stay and may have to be in the hospital up until her due date. That's when I had my first cry, and started to realize that this was really happening and that our sweet little bundle was coming even though she hadn't fully cooked in the oven long enough.

My mom was in Georgia on vacation and I called her at that time...3:30 in the morning their time at that point. Of course it was like turning into a child again and the second I talked to my mom I cried and wanted her to be there. Leave it to the Sherry we all know and love..she arrived in Denver at 10 am that same morning.

Back to the birth story. I was wisked away to the OR, got the spinal tap (which was a million times better than the epidural), and had the c-section. Last time with Taylor I felt quite a bit of pressure and pain with the epidural, but this time I didn't even feel really discomfort at all. It all happened so fast, we couldn't really believe we were having the baby and in the OR, and going to meet her soon. We were really afraid of how tiny she was going to be...but the first words out of everyone's mouth when they pulled her out at 4:39 am was.."wow, she's so big!". She was unexpectedly big for her gestational age...5 lbs 7 oz. A total blessing of course!

First time meeting her for a few seconds.

Going to see her in the NICU after recovery.
She needed to be on the CPAP for about 3-4 days in order to push air into her lungs to help her breath. This was a hard time since she couldn't be held and could barely be touched without her heart rate/respiratory rate dropping. We mostly were just able to look at her. Aaron did get to hold her for the first time on Father's Day.
Taylor meeting her for the first time...she got to touch her toes and held her hands out and asked to "hold her" over and over again.
After a few days she graduated to the high flow nasal cannula for oxygen. Every day we'd go into the NICU she was doing something else amazing.
Sisters...Taylor didn't want to let go. One of my fav pictures!

The proud big sister...first time holding baby sister London.

Our beautiful baby girl...with the nasal cannula and NG feeding tube.

The proud grandma, such a huge help during this whole NICU process. Seriously, she saved our lives while I needed to be at the NICU most of the day, my mom was full time nanny for Taylor, driving me around, cleaning the house, making us dinner, and just being so helpful!

After 13 long days in the NICU, driving back and forth 30 minutes each way, helping London learn how to eat, trying to keep Taylor kind of happy when she was missing mommy, sleepy mommy, and aching for her to come home..London came home to us!

And..she has been growing like a weed ever since.

Came home Wed, June 29th: 5 lbs 8 oz

MD appt Fri, July 1st: 5 lbs 10 oz

appt Tues, July 5th: 6 lbs 1 oz

MD appt Mon, July 11: 6 lbs 10 oz!!!

Can you believe it?! She has been doing so well, has been getting better with learning how to eat, is now breast feeding every other feeding, is sleeping like a champ, and surviving Taylor loving on her!

B.....Wa Wa

2011-04-26T20:39:00.001-07:00

What's new in the life of the Powell's?

Aaron has started school/pre reqs to hopefully go to P.A. school. I am still working prn as an OT and am almost 7 months prego with our 2nd little girl! And, Taylor is the cutest (most of the time) 2 year old in the world.

Taylor-isms:

-B...Wa Wa: is her binky and Wa Wa (the name she gave her stuffed Clifford the big red dog).Truly her happy place when she has the duo.

-She loves baby dolls and is really happy about baby sister coming, although there isn't anythingwe've found yet that she's willing to share with her.

-She wants to cover up her invisible boo boos with bandaids, and calls them "band-dans"

-She now says, "No, Taylor do it" a thousand times a day when she wants to do things on her own.

-She has a ton of beautiful blond hair with naturally beautiful curls at the ends.

-She LOVES to play hide and seek, multiple times a day

-Loves going to the park, the tunnel slide and has to do things "2 times"

-She can count to 17 and has known the "AB's" song for several months now.

-She thinks everyone's last name is Powell, including Mickey Mouse and Dora

-She loves to sing and does a great job at improving the words

Her cute Easter dress, thanks to Grandma Sherry

Grandma came for a visit and they had lots of baby play time

One of her favorite places to sit in the kitchen

Her 2nd birthday surprise..getting to see and ride horses

A little park time, and feeding the ducks

The above mentioned...B Wa Wa...now she only gets it while she sleeps

And her favorite monkey pj's...she wants to wear them everyday, all day!

SUMMER 2010

2010-10-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

The recap of our fun summer. Hope you enjoy!

Southern California Trip

Enjoying the summer...Taylor's new sandbox. So fun!
My first fancy cake I made from my cake decorating class. Roses are hard!
Camping in Steamboat Springs, CO

Vegas...

Taylor's Update: 18 months. 31 inches, 24 pounds
Running. Climbing. Trying to jump. Talking like crazy. Laughing. Loves playing with her friends. Lots of blonde hair. Loves being outside. Loves Elmo & Clifford the big red dog. Loves Snuggling and watching Baby Einstein movies. Is a sweet girl but also has some sass. Love her!

Taylor really is quite a talker. Here are just the words I can think of right now that she says:
bubble. ball. bird. Bobby. go. food. milk. daddy. mommy. mamo (grandma). poopa (grandpa). elmo. ernie. moobie (movie). Maddie. cold. Kaeli. Jenna. Bryce. more. please. pink. sorry. yellow. quack quack (for duck). doggie. zebra. cow. moo. Lolly (Aunt Holly). juice. cheese. baby. drinky. blanky. stinky. yucky. poo poo. potty. pee pee. shoes. peek a boo. ee ii ee ii oo. no. yeah. please.

She's pretty amazing, our girl. Can you tell we're a little proud of her?!

Randomness of Life...

2010-06-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

No we have not fallen off the face of the earth, and yes we still have the cutest little baby on earth that we want to post pics of! We just moved in to a house, and have been busy with all the craziness associated with it. Life has calmed a bit now, so I thought I would just post some random pics. Make sure not to miss the marathon and Taylor's first b-day posts before this. And, we'll see how long I can keep this blog open to everyone because I have been getting some creepy comments on here. Yikes. Anyway, still love everyone and hope you enjoy the pics of the fam.

What Taylor is up to now...
-Crawling at 12 months, and walking about 3 weeks later, and now she's 14 months and running around all over the place and almost wanting to climb.
-Says lots of words...daddy, mommy, bubbles, ball, bird, book, doggie, no, yeah, hi...and I'm sure there's more but I can't think right now.
-She is a little water baby! She is so calm and loves being in the pool!
-She is still a chill baby at times and loves to snuggle.
-She has such a little personality and is cute with using her hands when she's trying to ask for something.
-She has 5 teeth and lots of hair (kind of a sandy blond color)
-She just got her toe nails painted for the first time last week!

Salt Lake City Marathon!

2010-06-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

The said promised pictures from the marathon! We had such a good time running the race. Although I was a little grumpy about the training and not sure why I was doing it at times, I had so much fun that day and felt really good. Stewy and Jared trained together and both did awesome. So proud, hope you enjoy the video at the end, I may have shed a little tear when he crossed the finish line, knowing how hard he had worked to finish!

Taylor's first Birthday! (in April!)

2010-06-24T19:47:00.001-07:00

Taylor was such a little ham on her birthday, as you can see from the cake pictures. She is so funny! She tore in to the cake. All the Powell family and Mom were there to celebrate her big day. The biggest update for Taylor around her 12 months was...she finally started crawling at 12 months! And getting her first tooth!

We did It!!

2010-04-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

Just writing a quick note that we made it! I was so proud of Stewy. He did so well and finished so strong! His time was 4:32:36! He's amazing and looked so good afterwards too, like he hadn't just ran 26.2 miles! I really liked running the half marathon too, I felt really good the whole time. My time was "officially" 2:34:00, but I had to do a porta potty stop that we timed and it took 13 minutes. So, I'm saying my offical time is 2:21:00! I feel fine about that, that's the time I was running. Anyway, we'll post pics later, and post pics of Taylor's first b-day, but just wanted to get the word out! Aaron's brother Jared and wife Kristen also ran the marathon and half marathon. It was great running with them.

Buddies

2010-03-08T15:03:00.001-08:00

Tracie, Troy and Brooke came to visit and we had a good time. The girls especially had fun playing together, as you can see from the craziness of toys. This pic is as they were about to head out, Taylor was on her way to bed, and we were getting Brookie to give Taylor a kiss. It was so cute. They're goint to be good buddies.

Taylor's aforementioned favorite sleeping position. I took this one this morning because it was perfect. Head scrunched all the way to the top (I don't know how or why this is comfortable at all), and left leg propped up on the bumper just chillin, always the left leg. Funny lady.

"Do-ggie"

2010-03-03T19:34:00.000-08:00

Taylor's first word!! Seriously, isn't it precious?! She says it about a million times a day. She used to say "mama" and "dada", but never really on purpose. She loves to say "do-ggie" though, and it's on purpose. It is so cute. My sister-in-laws watch her while I'm working and they have dogs, and she loves them, and just points and says "doggie" all day long! She babbles other little sounds, but this is her word.
We had to break down and buy her a stuffed little dog though because she kept saying it while holding her bear or her dollie, and we didn't want her to have some sort of identity crisis. Of course I found this little guy in the Easter section and he had bunny ears on top of his head too..I had to get rid of it, because that didn't help the confusion business. She likes her doggie though.

What Taylor's been up to...

-not crawling..she hates being on her stomache..like screaming the second you put her on her stomache. I was so good about doing tummy time too, but she just doesn't dig it. I think the whole crawling business is out for her for sure.

-0 teeth. not even a hint of one folks. Which is fine as far as teething goes, and to see her cute gummy smile, but it would be nice to feed her some foods that involve chewing.

-She loves cruising around furniture. Of course you still can't leave her alone because she loves to just go "timber" backwards out of nowhere for no apparent reason, just for fun, just so mommy has to hang out with her to make sure she doesn't go straight back on her head. It has possibly happened a few times. Hey, you can't win 'em all.

-She is a FABULOUS sleeper. I LOVE babywise. She takes two 1-2 hour naps during the day and sleeps 12 hours at night. She usually turns into a pumpkin around 7:30 at night and is ready for bed.

-Funny sleeper....she's stopped moving around as much. She used to have to push all the way to the top of the crib and shove her face in the corner. I mean literally shove her face in there where I have to check if she can even get oxygen. Now her thing is that she sleeps on her back but her left leg is always straight up and propped up on the bumper like she's just chillin. We've even tried moving it, and it goes right back. Funny lady.

-She's grown quite a bit more hair, and leaning out a little bit. She's got quite the chunk leggies still, but she's now 18 pounds.

-She has the sweetest little laugh all the time and when she really smiles she scrunches up her nose and it is precious!

-She is seriously the sweetest, happiest little girl in the world. It's not just because I'm partial, she seriously is an easy baby. I just love hanging out with her. I'll think about shopping and doing errands and I'm excited she's there to hang with. I love that girl.

-She has tiny little feet still..for her size of course. She is still wearing size 2 shoes. Of course she has her mom's tiny little toes, so that helps.

-She may or may not also have the same birthmark that her mom has in a secret spot! Those of you who really know me know where it's at, and hers is in the exact spot. Kinda crazy.

What me and Aaron have been up to...

-Aaron is training for the Salt Lake Marathon, and I'm training for the half marathon. Our knees are killing us, but we're working on stretching better and getting better shoes. It's on April 17th, so we'll keep you posted.

-Aaron turns 30 on March 18th!!!! Craziness. And then our little baby is turning 1 on April 2nd! Big year this year.

-I'm going to be taking a cake decorating class starting next month. I'm super excited...I want to be able to make sweet cakes for my kids' birthdays.

Tay Tay's first Christmas!!

2009-12-29T15:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas and New Year's 2009! We have had a great holiday season. As the Christmas cards have been pouring in it makes me realize that I really should have done Christmas cards. For some reason it makes me feel really old to be "sending Christmas cards out". Oh well, I do want to show off our little girl though, so that's a good excuse right?!

We had a fun Thanksgiving break in Vegas visiting the family and took some shots with the two cousins there in their cutie pie dresses. It was great to see al the friends and fam there as always.

We have been at home in Loveland for Christmas and soaking up the freezing weather! Although there really is something about a white Christmas...and not a white Christmas that consists of spray painting white frost on your windows like in Vegas! We have loved every minute of spending our first Christmas with Taylor. She got a fun present this year..even though she really liked eating the wrapping paper better than the present, but whatever.

So, next year we'll send out a Christmas card, but until then here are a ton of pics for your viewing pleasure. P.S. As you can tell the first couple are pictures of pictures. Tacky I know, but our computer wouldn't scan the pictures, so I thought even a little taste of the pictures is better than nothing. Enjoy, and thanks to everyone for your Christmas cards and updates. It was so fun getting them in the mail!

Taylor and her cousin Madalynn Tobiasson (both 8 months old)

Taylor next to the Christmas tree, I'm pretty sure she had a dress on over this outfit, but it probably got spit up on or something. At least it gives a good shot of her cute chubby leggies.

Taylor's first ornament. Love the expression on her face!

Eating some frozen fruit. The only option was a bath right after this. Seriously, she is such a smiley baby. This is a normal expression on her face, happiness.

My present this year...a jogging stroller! Now we can prepare for the Salt Lake Marathon...Stewy will be doing the full marathon and I will be doing the half marathon, hopefully!

Aaron's brother Dave, his wife Caroline and little Izzy stayed over and had Christmas with us. It was fun to have the little girls at the same stage opening presents. Gotta love the morning dads and the girls' Christmas hug.

Our candy cane girl!

The fam! Don't worry, my hair will grow out, some day!

A few videos for your viewing pleasure.

Not even Halloween Yet!!

2009-10-29T07:28:00.000-07:00

So, if anyone has seen any weather report you have heard that Colorado is getting a lot of snow! We're talking over a foot people! It is crazy! Taylor and I have enjoyed it from inside looking out! We've had a great month enjoying family, friends and the upcoming holidays.

Taylor and daddy after church...pretty much just showcasing Taylo's cute church dress.

We had fun seeing Tracie and Troy for the weekend. What it would be like to have twins!

So, this is supposed to be Taylor's Halloween costume...a cute carrott. But it's huge!! We opted for the classic pumpkin instead...pics coming.

Taylor loves her books, loves being read to, and loves just trying to touch everything she can and tear anything off she can get her hands on!

VEGAS! I was lucky enough to go home last weekend to see fam and friends and to see one of my besties Becky Hale get married. Of course it was a packed weekend trying to see everyone, but it was a great time. My mom had a Halloween party at her place and it was so fun! This is Madalynn (Shane's little pumpkin), Taylor (cutest chubby skeleton you've ever seen, which glows in the dark by the way), and Audrey (Shane's cute pink lady).

Me and my cousin Jen.

My madre the pirate and aunt shirley the biker chick.

Taylor trying to figure out Aunt Shirley. Funny thing is that she is a state senator!!

Aren't these girls so cute?! Only 5 days apart. Can you see the size difference in their feet. Madalynn is all Tobiasson and Taylor is all Powell!

Beautiful Becky Hale Bunker and her new hubby Scott.

Taylo helping daddy with dinner. Yes that is drool covering almost the entire front of her shirt!

The snow!!!!!
Looking out our front room window.

Don't worry, it's been snowing for 2 days straight and it should be stopping tonight. We'll see...isn't it so pretty?!

Too cute for words

2009-09-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a little picture diary of what we've been up to.

Taylor will be 6 months this friday, crazy! She is the best and we can't keep our hands off of her.
She is working on sitting up, getting better at putting weight through her legs, and eating like a champ. She is such a chill baby. I mean, really chill. She has been slow with her development because she is just so content, at least that's what I'm telling myself anyway. You know how they say, "oh, put a toy to her side and it will give her incentive to roll over and play with it"..well, the toy will fall to her side and she'll be perfectly content with looking at her hands! Oh well, she will come along sooner or later.

SLEEPING: What happened? I prized my little gal on the being the best sleeper and the last 3 nights have been torture! Previous to this Taylor had been sleeping through the night pretty much from 8:30pm to 7am, with occasional trips in to her room to just put her binky back in. Well, the last couple nights she has been waking up and screaming bloody murder! She sees that I'm in the room and wants to be with me. I know she has been fed, diaper changed and she's fine! So, what to do?! I am a babywise momma, so I was trying to let her cry it out in her crib. Well, 1 1/2 hours later she would finally go to sleep! Yikes, Rebecca, I need some consoling! Anyway, I'm hoping it's just a phase and that she'll get back on schedule, but until then, I'm tired!

Does anyone remember the beautiful brown full head of hair that my little Taylor had? Well, it's gone folks! Not only has her head gotten bigger so it is less full, but a ton has fallen out. I know everyone said it happens, but for some reason I thought it would be different with my own kids. You know, of course your kids' hair wouldn't fall out. Well, here she is in all her bald glory. At least its turning blond though which will be cute.
Taylor is doing so good at sitting up, she's mostly doing it on her own. Let's just say I have the boppy pillow behind her for the tumbles.

Isn't this the cutest beanie that my great aunt made for her? I love it!

So...we watched our four oldest nieces/nephews for 2 days over the weekend and it was quite an adventure. I thought it was a process getting a baby out of the house...it's nothing like trying to get 4 kids and a baby out of the house!! We had a great time and went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a beautiful day. Do you think some people were wondering how Aaron and I had 5 children?

I'm not gonna lie, I can't remember which waterfall this is, but it was pretty!! Taylor was a trooper and even slept through half of the hike.

The cutest cutie pie in her high chair. She is getting so much better with eating. The dry heaving has been cut down in half...progress!!

Tay-lo and daddy and tickle me ernie!

I was watching Izzy while Caroline and Dave were fixing up their new place. We had a great time at the zoo with our friend Shaina too! They don't look too happy in this pic, but I promise they had a good time.

A dirty story...

2009-08-19T20:32:00.001-07:00

Of course I haven't posted in about a month so it will be a slew of photos/updates from the last month's happenings. First off though I need to tell a little story that all mothers will appreciate. I went to Barnes & Noble today to just enjoy getting out, look at some books and hang out with Taylor. I found a cushy seat, had two books to check out (What to expect the First Year & Twilight Photo Book). That's what all moms have right?! Well, I wanted to hang out with Tay-lo too, so I go to get her out of the stroller and before I could even get her all the way out...da da da...the smell hit me first...blowout!!

I had to hold her facing out and try to not get it all over me. I bumble my way into the bathroom holding her and dragging the stroller behind us. I have to use the gross changing station in the bathroom and my experience today affirmed that those things are disgusto. Let's just say that we were both knee deep in green poo. In trying to get her outfit off, the poo got all the up to her neck, under her armpits, etc. Well, as I'm trying to wipe it off I notice that it is all over my arm...sick. Then she starts screaming, then another toddler in the bathroom with his mom starts asking why the baby is crying so bad. I luckily had a ziploc bag from my lunch that I was able to throw her clothes into. I'm just laughing the whole time because there's nothing else I can do at this point. Let's just say it all went downhill when I had a screaming, naked baby slung over one arm and trying to wipe with the other hand, and poop is going places I can't even control! I used almost all my wipes trying to wipe both of us off. Needless to say I put her new onesie on backwards, I still found poop on her arm 10 minutes later, and the two of us finally sat down to look at us some Edward!! Yikes, the joy of motherhood!! We both took a much needed bath after that experience.

Ok, here are some pics...

daddy daughter time

Taylor and her friend Kaeli at the pool...cutie pies...and the joy of being mostly a stay at home mom

Brookie's 1st b-day at Cinzetti's. Sorry Brooke isn't in the pic

Pool time with daddy. She is really loving the pool these days as long as it's not too cold. She's so cute!! And, I finally gave in and got her swim diapers after going in the pool about 5 times without one. I was asking for it holding out that long, I didn't want to end up being that mom where the diaper explodes in the water so I finally gave in.

Taylor and Grandma! P.S. You can't see it in this shot but this is an outfit with leggings that my mom got her. Seriously, Taylor is more fashionable than me most of the time. My mom was so great and came to stay with us for a week to take care of Taylor while I oriented all week at the new hospital I'm working at. To be honest, I think my mom loved having some alone time with Taylor. Aaron was gone in Florida all week for work, so it was just us girls, and we had a great time...ate out, watched our girlie shows, and chatted. Thanks for coming up mom...you're the best!!

Us 3 girls enjoyed our girls time, but were also excited when Stewy came home. Taylor had a special surprise for daddy when he came home. If you can't tell her onesie says.."Welcome home Daddy-o".

more quality daddy daughter time. I won't say out loud that they are probably watching UFC together. Good quality TV watching. Yikes! She is just watching the colors at this point right?!

We love Colorado and it's erratic weather and beautiful nature. We went to Poudre Canyon and went tubing down the river. Well, most everyone else did while I was busy feeding/watching Taylor, but we had a great time. It was cloudy and sprinkling driving up, and then the sun came out for a few hours while we were there and then the rain started coming down as we were leaving. Perfect timing. It was beautiful up there.

Stewy and our cutie pie niece Laurene walking out to jump off the rock. I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I may have only put a toe in the water this entire trip. I was watching the baby....

Vegas baby

2009-07-18T22:52:00.000-07:00

In the beginning of June I was able to go home to Vegas to see my fam. I was so excited because it was the baby debut! Most of my family hadn't met Taylor yet, and I hadn't met Shane's little gal Madalynn. We had the craziest, packed week and a half of my life. I had to come home and recover afterwards, but it was all worth it. I got to see tons of family and friends. It was fabulous. And of course the best part was showing off my little Taylor girl.

Here is a pic of Madalynn on the left (if you zoom in you can see the sweet, totally natural mohawk) and Taylor on the right. They are only 5 days apart and total cutie pies. Madalynn is a lot bigger than Taylor so in any pictures we would try to take she was trying to hit my little girl. What's up with that?!

My sweet Grandma Verna. It was great to visit her, she's hilarious. I would love to be as sharp as her when I'm at the young age of 90. Living by herself and everything.

Again..madalynn on the right trying to knock out my little taylor.

The proud grandma. I think Taylor had a bit of jet lag, because she was doing a whole lot of sleeping for the first couple days we were there.

Baby Talk!

2009-07-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy...

We have offically moved from Denver, and are loving our new residence in Loveland. Moving was craziness, especially because Aaron was out of town and really busy with work, so I literally packed the entire apartment myself. We moved in a couple of days before 4th of July. I have to give thanks to my Taylor for being the best baby in the whole world and allowing me to put in her every play activity we had to keep her busy while I packed/cleaned. She's an amazing baby.

We were exhausted to say the least, but happy to move in to our new place and get started up here. I got a new job working at a hospital in acute care just doing on call (only working a couple days a month). I'm really exicted. Aaron is really liking his job as a medical device salesman.

On more exciting news...Taylor is growing up so fast!!

She is...
spitting up a ton
sucking on her hands
starting to reach and grab for things
smiling like crazy
laughed one time (on the same day that you asked me about it Tracie!)
doing great with tummy time (her neck is stronger than mine)
getting chubbier by the second
sleeping through the night more than half of the time (yeah for me!!)

Chubby girl.. 4th of July. She's looking all cute in her red/white/blue and wearing big girl jeans for the first time. We saw the fireworks from Estes Park and they were fabulous. Of course Taylor slept right through them. Chillin with daddy-o...lookin cuteThis was one of our pool times in Denver. This is what she was doing before we were about to take her in the water, so you can imagine what happened right afterwards...Cry fit!! She wasn't very happy about being awakened by getting her feet dipped in the pool. We went another time though when she was awake and she was a champ! (The sunhat looks a little weird because it was too big so we had to fold it up, but doesn't she look adorable in her tiny swim suit?! : )Taylor is great at helping mom cook or clean in the kitchen from her bumbo seat. She will check out what I'm cooking and just look around, it's so stinkin cute. She's even great at sitting in her bumbo while I'm doing my hair and make up, and she'll just sit and stair/smile at herself in the mirror. I hope I'm not making her vain! I had to post this pic first of all because of the cute beanie, but second of all so everyone can see her precious profile! Don't you love the squishy roundness?! You can see in this pic that she has my nose! Confession: Aaron has the craziest, biggest boogers I have ever seen. My sweet little baby Taylor girl has giant boogers that I have to get out of her nose every day!!! Even when she's not sick...gross. Here is proof that she is her daddy's girl. I found her like this when she was playing under her play gym one day. Just a few video highlights. (don't worry, those were actually clean towels in there that we were storing in there for packing...I wouldn't have my little girl rollin around in the dirty laundry folks)

smiley girl

2009-06-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

Taylor is becoming quite the little smiley cutie pie. It's so cute when I come in to get her from her crib and she's just all smiling like she's the best thing that hit the earth.
Do you think that's a dimple on her right cheek in the picture below, I can't tell? (did I spell cheek right, I don't know if I've ever spelled that word before). This is my favorite when Taylor is a nakie girl getting ready to take a bath..she's just so soft.
This is the cutest adidas outfit that my aunt Shirley and cousin Jennifer got for Taylor. Name brands..she's more stylish than me!!

So, I am the luckiest mom ever...Taylor is an amazing sleeper!! I have totally followed babywise and I love it! I would say that 90% of the time when it is nap time I can just put Taylor in her crib and she just falls right to sleep on her own. Once in a while I might have to go in there and put the binky back in, but mostly she enjoys her sleep. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of her naps...the video below was one of those times. She was mostly telling me that she is way too cute to sleep. Love this girl!

Those of you who know Aaron, know that he is the beat boxing man. Babies love it! This is how daddy daughter time goes with Taylor and the stew man. Don't you love their matching fo-hawks?!

Moms...what a blessing

2009-05-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, but there is reason to update. Our Taylor girl was blessed by her dad on May 10th...mother's day...and my birthday! It was a special day for everyone. It was great to have all the moms together. My mom flew in from Vegas, Aaron's mom was there, and all of the sister in laws. It was quite the mom celebration.

Taylor did so great with her blessing. She was a little fussy right before we headed into sacrament so I was really nervous. I wanted her to be totally asleep, but she was wide awake. She didn't even have her binky in and she was just looking around and really happy throughout the entire blessing. Again..what a good girl. And she looked beautiful in her tiny white dress.

The entire Powell clan..minus one sister in law Holly and plus my mom. Can you believe that 3 of us have just started having kids? Its going to be chaos when everyone has finished having kids and there are more than 20 Powell kiddos running around and screaming. That's just a guess on how many there will be, Taylor is grandkid number 12 for the Powell side. It's always great getting together, especially since all of us live in Colorado now.

Aaron's BFF Evan and his fabulous wife Rebecca. You know how its hard when your husband has a best friend and you're worried about whether you will get along with their wife? Well, I love Rebecca...we haven't been able to hang out very much but every time we do its fabulous, we could talk for hours! I love that girl. I'm sad their moving to Chicago.

Just a cute shot of Taylor girl looking up at her daddy. She is like a little mini me.

And yet another cute pic. So...there are already a few nick names emerging. Taylo... (say it out loud, its kinda cute), and T-lo ( I don't like this one at all, reminds me of J-lo). Even though if Taylor is like her momma she will have a booty like J-lo. Which one do you guys like better?

2009-05-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

I can't believe our Taylor girl is already 1 month old. We can't get enough of her. She is growing so fast. This is a little bit of what she's been doing...

She is getting better at looking at things and tracking objects

She had her first blow out (which luckily her dad got the pleasure of changing!)

When her mom is lucky she will sleep for 4 whole hours at a time at night

She is a really loud eater...loud!!

She is a really mellow baby...she will just be chill and look around, totally content

1 month

8 pounds 11 ounces

I wanted to get Taylor to her first shopping outing to the mall, girls gotta learn from a young age! She got to hang out with her friend Zak. Do you love the difference in size..Zak is 8 months old and Taylor 1 month. Cutie pies. I met my friend Holly from work at Cherry Creek mall, it was great to meet up and chat with her. I love that place, especially the area where the guy is just playing the piano...I could seriously just hang out there and veg.

She is such a little peanut in her bouncy chair.

Ok really...is this the cutest picture you have ever seen? Precious!!
We just can't get enough of this girl.

P.S.

2009-04-12T13:48:00.001-07:00

I noticed that we haven't disclosed her full name yet on the blog......

TAYLOR ADDISON

We love her!!

~Our Little Taylor Girl~

2009-04-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

So, we are home and doing well. It has been such a whirlwind having a baby. Your water brakes and then all of a sudden within 24 hours you have a baby! Aaron and I talk about how much we love her even though we just met her. She is such a good baby...sleeping, eating, and pooping well! What more could you ask for?! We love everything about her..even when she's crying she's so cute and we can't help smiling at her. We haven't posted in a while and of course we're first time parents so we've taken a million pictures. Here are some of our favorites.

Leaving the hospital...it had been snowing outside so we had to bundle her all up. Her arms couldn't even move out of this position. And, do you notice how they made her little hospital beanie into a "girl" beanie with a bow...too cute.
Her first tummy time on her mini boppy. Isn't she so cute!

Her first sponge bath. She cried a little bit during the bath itself, but she is in heaven when she gets her hair washed. She loves it! She is just like her mom..I make Aaron play with my hair any chance I get.

We have caught a few smiles. I'm sure at this point though it is just the face warning us that she is filling her diaper up!

The happy little family. This is one of the only pictures we have together as the new fam. Aaron wants to make sure to set the record straight that it is a burp rag on his right shoulder, not some crazy shirt/sweater vest!

All the little Powell Cousins. Taylor: 1 week. Isabelle: 5 months. Izzy: 7 months

This is our first attempt at a photo session with her. It was right after her bath, so she wasn't very happy about the whole thing. The first picture shows her true sentiments about the whole situation. We will try again soon maybe while she's sleeping or just after she's eaten. They still turned out super cute though.

Taylor has arrived!

2009-04-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce the birth of our beautiful daughter Taylor. She was born on April 2nd at 6:39 pm and weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces and is 20 inches long. Robyn and I were surprised on Wednesday night (April 1st) at 10:30 when her water broke. She was given pitosin shortly after arrived and for the next 17 hours we waited for Robyn to dilate, but with little avail. After a discussion with our doctor, we concluded that it would be best if Robyn was given a C-section. Just minutes later, I was in the operating room with Robyn as they were slicing her open. It was a scary sight to behold, and all I could do was comfort Robyn and pray. In probably less than 20 minutes, they finally pulled out Taylor and it brought great relief to us both. Despite the fact that she was covered in goo, I felt an overwhelming feeling of love for my new daughter. It was an experience that I will never forget. One minute I was freaking out because I scared for my wife, and the next minute I was so excited to finally see Taylor. Robyn is recovering okay, although we will need to stay in the hospital a few extra days since she is stitched up. Robyn's mother Sherri was nice enough to immediately book a flight when she found out her water broke, and she has been with us to help out R0byn. We have also had family and friends visit and it has been wonderful for all of the support we have been given. Robyn and I are so proud of our beautiful new daughter and we are so excited for all of the adventures that we will have in the years to come.

Baby Tobiasson!!!

2009-03-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Shane and Jen!!

Baby Madalynn Ann Tobiasson was born on Saturday, March 28th at 9 pm.
She was 7 lbs 14 oz, 18 inches

(sorry, they haven't sent any pictures yet except for on the cell phone)

The other kids look exactly like Jen, her daughter Audrey is like a mini me.
Little Madalynn on the other hand looks a lot like Shane with sandy blonde hair (a lot of it), chubby cheeks, and big hands. If you know Shane he has giant hands. We are so excited for them!

I just hope this gives my little girl inspiration to come now as soon as she wants...like today!!! We'll see and keep everyone posted. I have 11 days left, so hopefully any day now!!

Date night!

2009-03-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

The melting pot...yummy!!! We went on friday night and it was delicious! I was feeling pretty full the whole time, so I didn't eat a ton, but Aaron on the other hand really enjoyed it. I think it was one of those male things where he couldn't see really good food go to waste, so by the end of the night he wasn't feeling so good. We really liked it though because it is in this really cool building with tables in little nooks and crannies. We loved where we were sitting because we were right next to the fireplace. So...the funny thing is that I was originally going to sit where Aaron was but it was a tighter squeeze than the other side and we had to switch places because I wasn't going to fit on that side. The belly is getting so much bigger! Anyway, we had a great date night...which I hear is a good thing before baby comes.

Here is the current belly shot. Can you believe this thing?! I still have 4 1/2 weeks to go!!

Valentine's...and Birthdays!!!

2009-03-01T17:14:00.001-08:00

Life has been good in the month of February. We had a fabulous Valentine's Day. We were going to go out to eat somewhere, but nothing sounded good and then we didn't want to have to wait in the crazy lines, so we decided to have a quiet night at home. It ended up being the best night ever.

Here is a picture of my stewy helping to cook a deliscous meal...gotta love the Hawaii apron from his folks. Pretty flowers from my Aaron...

What's better than a dinner at home with my valentine...and wearing sweats! Love it. Notice our amazing kitchen table..yes folks it's the smallest card table you've ever seen. We can just barely sit across from each other and have our plates fit. These are the good days...first married and having a baby soon. cheese ball smile....

Updates: It is Aaron's 29th birthday on March 18th. We are pretty excited about it. We are celebrating by taking advantage of the 5280 week this week. In Denver, during this time of year they have a bunch of really nice restaurants that you can go to and get a great meal for $52.80 for 2 people. We are doing an early birthday celebration for Aaron and going to....

question...

Other birthdays...when is our little girl going to be born? What do you think? She is due April 10th. But will she be born 2 days later on Easter? Will she be born a couple weeks sooner because she loves her mom so much and doesn't want to be kicking her in the ribs anymore?! Will she have any hair? What color? Let us know of your guesses of when she's coming! We are so excited...less than 6 weeks now!

We are alive...and growing!!!

2009-01-31T19:45:00.000-08:00

Well, as always I haven't posted in quite a while so I will have to do a big update on what's been going on in our lives. I am officially 30 weeks pregnant now...only 10 weeks away now! Crazy. I have definitely grown since the last belly shot. It is amazing once you finally pop, its all over from there. We are so excited to meet our little girl though, we can't wait! I'm not gonna lie though ladies...I can't decide if I'm more nervous about giving birth or breastfeeding? Both freak me out big time-PAIN!

Anyway, we spent a great Christmas in Vegas with my family. We saw my whole family and of course we had to do the comparison shot of me and my sis-in-law Jen. My dad got in the pic too...he gives us some fierce competition with his beer belly. This is us at 6 months pregnant.We had a great Christmas break with the family. We had quite the twist at the end though because my parents gave us one of their "old white trucks" (the old roomies know what this means) and it needed a few more things fixed on it then we had planned to begin with. It is a long story but it involved me flying home on Sunday to get back to work, Aaron not being able to drive home until Tuesday..running out of gas in the middle of the mountains in Colorado due to a broken gas gauge..no cell phone service..a ride to the gas station in a big rig..and getting home 14 hours after leaving. Let's just say we're so glad that Aaron finally made it home.

On a more exciting note...on January 12th was our first anniversary!!! It has gone by so fast. I'll tell you this too, I never would have thought that I would be 6 1/2 months pregnant on our first anniversary. Sometimes surprises come in small packages right?! We have heard about this thing called a babymoon where a couple will go on a vacation before the baby comes, so we had a combined anniversary/babymoon mini vacation. Aaron booked this fabulous room at one of the tallest hotels in downtown Denver, and we had a great weekend there eating out and enjoying the view and the nice hotel. Happy anniversary honey....you are the best husband a girl could ask for!I headed back to Vegas towards the end of January for a baby shower. Let's just say it was more than fabulous and so good to see all of my good friends and family! I have never seen so much pink, fluff, and cute clothes in my life. Aaron already a little upset because the baby has a better wardrobe than he does! It was great to see everyone and show off the crazy growing belly. It has been so fun getting ready for our little girl to arrive. We are counting down the days/weeks. Here are my BFFs Melissa and Emily. Emily even flew down from Salt Lake for the shower. and here is the belly update...I've grown a bit from the last shot huh?! 10 weeks left and counting!

Buddha Belly

2008-12-14T13:46:00.000-08:00

Ok folks...here is the belly shot you have all been asking for. This was taken last Sunday...I told you there wasn't much yet here people. I am tall and have a super long torso, so it has taken a while to start showing. I feel like I am actually starting to grow a little bit more each week now though. It wasn't until about Thanksgiving week that I started "showing" a little bit more. I am officially 23 weeks now!! Yeah.

Being pregnant has been quite an experience...a lot of aches & pains, but also really exciting when you feel the baby moving. She is quite a mover. I first started feeling her move around 18 weeks and Aaron was able to feel her move around 20 weeks. It has been really fun. We are just so excited to meet her and see what she looks like! Although the thought of being parents is quite daunting, I must say. I just can't think about it too hard, I just need to enjoy every step. I'll be better about doing updates since the belly is starting to grow now.

Go Cougs!!!

2008-11-21T19:06:00.001-08:00

We headed down to Air Force this past weekend in Colorado Springs to watch our Cougs whoop it up!! It was a fun game to be at and watch. It was sweet to see the fighter jets fly over at the beginning of the game. It got pretty chilly while we were there, but we had a great time. This was mine and Aaron's first BYU game together even though we went to BYU during the same time for 3 years and didn't know each other yet. Then there's miss Tracie...this is 8 years later since our first football games and we are at a BYU game together again...craziness!! And we are now both with child...I just happen to be harvesting mine in my stomache at this juncture. We had a great time...and the hot dog and hot chocolate topped it all off...you can see that Aaron was still enjoying his hot dog in this picture!

On Sunday, we headed up to Loveland for our sweet niece Lorene's 6th birthday party. These are the two newest additions to the Powell clan....Izzy on the left (9 weeks old) and Isabelle (6 days old)...can you believe that my sis-in-law Kristen looks so great after just having a child?!! Soon enough there will be another baby girl to add to the bunch; our little girl will be the 12th Powell cousin...5 boys and 7 girls.

BIG NEWS!!!

2008-11-08T15:58:00.001-08:00

So...the verdict is in...we are having a little girl!!! We are so excited! I'm not gonna lie, I have wanted a girl all along, and not for any other reason than they are so fun and cute to dress!! My mom was in town this past weekend, so it was fun for her to be there for the ulstrasound. It was quite a process and I had to do all these crazy maneuvers to get the little one to move around enough to find out that she was a girl. It took almost 45 minutes to find out and the process included...rolling side to side a million times, eating 4 starburst in a row really quickly to get my blood sugar up, drink lots of water to fill up my bladder, do some stomache crunches, and put an ice pack on my stomache!! But, in the end...alas it is a little girl! And to make my mom a little happier, Shane and Jen found out a few days earlier that they are having a little girl as well!! I think on both the Powell and Tobiasson side there has been a male domination, so us girls are finally taking over!!

Enjoying the Sunshine...what we have left of it!

2008-10-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

Aaron and I had a fabulous weekend last weekend by default actually. We had looked up a hike that we wanted to go on and ended up chatting so much on the way there that we missed taking an important freeway off ramp. Well..it turned out great because we ended up at a place called Heritage Square outside of Golden, CO. Aaron remembered that they have alpine slides there.

Well, we show up to this place and it was slightly creepy, looked like it was a happening little amusement park about 20 years ago, and had scary carnies running small rides for kids. We won't mention that we bought lunch there and it was a big mistake. I'm not really supposed to have hot dogs right now being pregnant and I thought, well we're at this little place and what's better than fair food, right? Once we got our hot dogs we realized it was a grave mistake and I had to eat it because I was starving. We both didn't feel that great afterwards but we are doing ok. Let's just say that I've never seen a hot dog that color...yikes!

Anyway, I had heard about alpine slides all the time living in Utah, but I don't think I had ever riden one. We took the plunge down the mountain and it was so fun. Aaron even took video footage of the ride down...he's pretty proud of it. At the end of the clip you can see the slightly growing Robyn belly too!

After we left Heritage Square we went for a drive up in the mountains. We pulled off the road where we could walk next to the river. It was a beautiful day, so we just planned on going on a nice little jaunt next to the river. By then end of our "walk" we had soaked our shoes trying to cross the river on dry rocks...you know how well and how long that ever works! Aaron was a little sad because he was wearing his brand new running shoes...sad. Not only had we successfully crossed the river, wet or not, we got to a hang up when there were no more rocks to walk along the river and we had to do a bit of light rock climbing (you can see above Aaron's head in the picture). Aaron just wanted to climb over it to check it out and figured I would just wait for him. Well, not me...pregnant or not I did some climbing and was right by his side. It was fine on the way there when our shoes were still pretty dry, but then trying to cross back with soaking wet shoes was a little frightening. I was thinking of reading the headlines..."Pregnant lady falling while trying to rock climb with no ropes and wet shoes!" Really smart for a gal who works at a hospital for people who have had brain/spinal cord injuries. I guess I need to start thinking about being a little safer these days now that I'm prego!

No April Fools!!

2008-09-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well folks, this is no april fools...this is what I will be looking like in April!! I have joined the prego club!! I am due April 10th! We are really excited and can't wait to find out what it is. Don't worry...I don't look like this, Tracie and I were maternity clothes shopping and I strapped on the crazy belly thing to see what the clothes would really look like. It was a little crazy to see. I'm not really "showing" yet, but I'm already feeling fat. Anyway, we are really excited about having a little one, and I'm even more excited for the day when I don't feel nauseous and have a headache!! The fun thing is that my brother Shane's wife is pregnant as well and her due date is April 7th! You can imagine that my mom is beside herself. So...I will keep everyone posted on how it goes!

Picture Update Time!

2008-08-03T17:51:00.001-07:00

Well...I wanted to add a few pics that I can't add from Aaron's computer. I know it has been 2 months since we last posted...so hear goes the crazy summarized picture diary of the last 2 months of our life.

First...in the beginning of June I went to Boston for a girls' trip and met up with my mom, Aunt Shirley, my cousin Jennifer, and my good friend Emily.

June was also the month that our friends Erin and Ryan came to visit and live with the Wares for a month. And we had some other fun visitors during that time...Bri and Dave, Jenna and Drew, and Stephanie and Taylor Cox. Fun times in the summer.Then, on July 24th...we became Aunt Robyn and Uncle Aaron to the cutest little blonde haired asian girl on earth (well...not really blonde, but what's wrong with hoping right?!). Not that I'm a biased Aunt or something, but she has to be the cutest thing on earth. Sorry, this is the brand new (10 hours old pic).

Troy teaching Aaron how to hold a newborn...precious picture moment!

I did not attend an event the night before the 4th book of the Twilight series came out to celebrate with 15 other ladies...it's pretty bad when the little teenagers also in attendance asked if we are "Twilight Moms". Um...I guess we don't fit in with the 16 year old crowd, especially since about half the group we went with are mothers!! We embrace our love of Edward..sorry honey. And we are also not wearing matching t-shirts! We are nerds, its true.

Last, but absolutely not least we ran into some old friends of mine from Salt Lake at another friends wedding, Arianne! She looked absolutely beautiful..even though it was so crazy I wasn't even able to sneak a picture of her. We got to see the Petersons though and Max and Jayme, so we had a great time.

Summer Scorcher

2008-08-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

Robyn made me write a blog entry for once because our friend Tracie told her that she likes hearing from a guy's perspective once in a while, so here goes nothing. Thanks a lot Tracie! jk. This summer has been abnormally hot for Denver. I can't even think of the last time that it was under 90 degrees or when it rained. We've been able to do quite a few fun things in the past two months. Robyn was the big boss at girls camp and I was able to spend the last night there. She had a good time with the girls, but more than anything was just relieved that it went okay and that all of the preparation and stress was finally over. However that relief did not last more than 24 hours. She must have impressed the bishop so much that the next day he called her as the young women's president!

Speaking of Robyn's sweet skills, she was just promoted to Assistant Supervisor at Craig Hospital over the occupational therapists in the brain injury department. She was by far the least experienced candidate for the position, so I was quite impressed (but not surprised) that she was selected. Between having the new position, new calling, and helping with a lot of baby showers, she has been busy to say the least. I try to help her where I can, however I am much busier than I'd like to be with my own job.

Yesterday my brother and I went tubing down the Boulder Creek. That should be a requirement for anyone living not too far from Denver or Boulder. I know it's not the most wild river ever, but it has enough rapids and drops to get your heart going at times (mostly because you are afraid the huge sharp rocks beneath you are going to peel a layer off your bum). Somehow my hand got under the tube and got a good scrape. The water level is lower than average right now, which makes the river slower, yet a little scarier at times because of all of the rocks that poke out everywhere.

I went tubing and rope swinging a few weeks ago with the scouts in our ward (I am in the young men's presidency). Some of these kids hadn't ever been on a boat, yet alone been in water that is over their head. Our friend Tyler has a lake that his family owns and has exclusive rights to (I admit, I'm a little jealous). He took us out on his boat and did some sweet tubing action. The big question- can you not smile while tubing? When the tubes get whipping around a bend and you hit some crazy waves, it's impossible to not laugh your head off. Of course laughing makes it even harder to hold on, which makes it even funnier because you are hanging on by a thread, about to do flips on the surface of the water once your last finger can't hold on anymore. I love wakeboarding and skiing, but I think I may actually have more fun doing some extreme tubing. Anyone agree?

The rope swing was equally as fun. Only one of the scouts had the guts to try it. The rest didn't want to, besides we didn't trust their safety on it. The rope was tied to a huge wood pole and the ladder to get up to the top must was built far too long ago. Every step creaked as if the board was going to rip through the metal screws. The top was super wobbly and it suddenly looked much further down than it did looking up at the thing. Tyler set the standard by climbing to the very top ladder step. Once I saw that, of course Bill (a priest) and I had to try it as well. There were no rails to hold onto, so we just had to rely on our own balance. The top of the pole was extremely high, which made the rope super long, which in turn made for a ton of momentum while swinging down into the water. There was a good gap between the top of the rope swing and the water, which made it that much more nerve racking. Once letting go of the rope, the momentum would chuck us a little higher and about 20 feet further. Once we tried it, we were hooked and went for about another hour. It makes me want to find a higher and crazier rope swing, but I doubt there are any in this area. I saw some huge ones on youtube that I can only dream of doing. I couldn't stop perseverating about the rope swing for the next few days. There are some pictures of it below.

Robyn has done a few other big things this summer, but I didn't go and couldn't give you any good details. I'll leave the next blog for Robyn so that she could talk about them. So I wrote my first blog, I'm so proud of myself. Don't plan on my writing one for quite some time- unless I'm given an encore by several people. jk.

Three day weekends!

2008-06-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

What would we do without 3 day weekends. It was so nice to have an extra day off...it makes such a difference. We planned on going camping that friday night but in light of the recent tornadoes just north of denver we had a change of plans. The campground we were planning to go to had even been hit by one and still had a tornado watch that night we were going to go. Now, let's talk about this folks...I ask my husband if it's safe to go camping in the mountains in a tent when we just had a tornado, especially since the only person that died here was camping. And...of course he and his brother were all for it until they went up there and were finally told it wasn't a good idea. Crazy!!

Anyway, instead the whole Powell clan got together and hung out friday and saturday. We all met up in Estes Park on Saturday and it was fabulous. I love that place. It is a beautiful area up in the mountains that has the most quaint mountain feel that makes you just feel at home. Here is a little glimpse of the craziness that was the Powell family with all 5 brothers and their wives and all the kiddos...9 and 2 (1/2s on the way). Anyway, we had a great time hanging out with everyone.

On Monday we went with our friends Ben and Tarin to Boulder...another one of my favorite places. I have to take every single person that comes to visit me here to Boulder because it is also another gem. We planned on going to a festival/fair but ended up going up and down Pearl Street, the major street in Boulder with lots of shops and street performers. Unfortunately it was raining like crazy so we got out of the rain when we found our new favorite place...Powell's Sweet Shop! Great name huh?! We went in just to look around and found that by the end the four of us had found all the candies, gums, and chocolates that reminded us of our childhood...big league chew, blow pops, and jelly hamburgers anyone!!! We loved every second of it and the lady even gave us some Powell stickers since it is our namesake. Gotta love acting like kids sometimes.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

2008-05-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

First of all folks, are you noticing how much I am posting tonight. You should be so proud Tracie and Troy. Anyway, saturday was my b-day and I had a great day. We went out to dinner with some family and friends to the best Italian Buffet you could imagine...Cinzetti's. It's so good that I have to call my brother in Vegas and brag every time I get to go there. After we stuffed ourselves beyond belief, all of us headed back to our place and had some cake, cupcakes, and a good time.

I'm not gonna lie...I was really nervous thinking that 25+ people were going to be hanging out in our 2 bedroom apt. but it worked out great and we had a fabulous time. It's always so funny on my birthday...I almost forget about getting great presents for your birthday...and I totally scored! My favorite (besides my hubby's present of course) was this cute robot that my nephew Jake made with some serious TLC. He put this funny face on it and we dually named it Jakie Jr (our only kid for now). You have to love how creative kids are.

College Days

2008-05-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

My computer was freaking out and I wasn't able to get this pic in. I was able to go out to dinner with Kirsten and Theresa from freshman year while I was in Seattle. It was great to catch up. In the pick is Theresa, Kirsten's and her 4th child Samantha! Yikes, don't I feel a little behind. Anyway, it was great to see them and chat about old times and friends.

I'm loving Seattle

2008-05-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

So, I headed to a Brain Injury Conference in Seattle last week. I loved it there! I was able to do a lot of sight seeing around the city after the conference was over every night. It has such a great vibe there. It didn't hurt that I stayed in a fabulous hotel right downtown just up the street from the Pikes Place Market and a lot of shopping! Yeah. One day I even did a 3 hour walk around the city by myself and was loving it. Can we say that there is literally a starbucks on every block...a little ridiculous. The weather was even great the entire time I was there, it didn't rain at all! Anyway here is a little photo gallery, you can tell that I was by myself because they are only a few shots with people in it, but hopefully you can still enjoy.

Gotta love the fresh farmer's market!

I am Not Crafty...I need some help!

2008-04-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

Ok ladies and gents...So I was called as the Young Women's Camp Director...wow! Let's just say I'm a little nervous about it. When I think of the camp directors I think of 40 year old mothers who have a lot of experience with cooking, kids, crafts, etc. Yikes, I'm just a young gal and freaked out about having to run camp on my own. We actually have a very interesting mix of girls in our ward (almost like an inner city ward with interesting backgrounds), so it will be very different from the way I grew up , but it will be really fun. We will be able to go camping near Estes Park, which is a beautiful place up in the mountains about an hour away from Denver.

So here is where I need some help folks...I am not crafty!! I almost have a thing against small nick nacks, crafts, and things. I know I need to enjoy it more, and need to expand my horizons. So, if anyone out there has some great/fun craft ideas that teenage girls would like to do, good easy camp food ideas, etc please please let me know! It would help a sister out a lot. Thank you. You know how they say that anything that doesn't kill you will make you stronger....this is my test to see if I can succumb and do crafts! Ahhh! Anyway, thanks for your help everyone!

What we've been up to...

2008-04-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

I know, I know I'm fired. I haven't posted in a month or so. It's funny too, because I was talking to my friend Tarin and we say how hard it is for us to post but then we hate it when other people don't update their blog. Anyway, so here I am making my piece and giving a small synopsis of what we've been up to in the last month.

We went with Dave and Caroline to a fabulous cabin up in Breckenridge. Dave's boss owns it and loves for people to come up and use it, so we were happy to help them out with that. The boys went out that Saturday and went snowboarding while Caroline and I hung out in the cabin all day. We loved it. She is pregnant and couldn't go snowboarding, and well, I like being lazy in a beautiful cabin with great scenary and watching movies all day!

This is about as much snow as I got during the trip...this was standing on the back deck looking right at the mountains. (Right below us is a hot tub that the boys actually went in to the night before when it was snowing like crazy and freezing! Aaron even lost his slipper down there and found it the next morning all frozen...boys will be boys)

Aaron's big day....On March 18th Aaron had his 28th b-day and we celebrated with his (and my) favorite cake...rainbow chip cake and icing. We used to eat this stuff with a spoon in college (we meaning Erin and I). Anyway, we went to Boondocks that night and a few of his bros met up to try their hand at the batting cages. Let's just say that there was only one time that Aaron totally overswung, somehow threw the bat across the entire cage and fell on the ground. We don't know exactly what happened but it was pretty freaking hilarious. Oops, was I supposed to put that in the blog?! Love you babe.

Let's see...other than that I was actually able to go snowboarding as well. I am able to get this pass through work to go to any mountain for free on 4 different days. I am definitely a novice, but here's a little pic of me going off a jump by the end of the day. No big deal.

Yeah right, I wish that was me! Ok, so I think I officially went down the run 4 times, I was practicing toe side the whole time so I did several really big bails and countless falls. By the end of the day (well my snow day) I was happy to sit in the lodge and take a load off while Aaron and his bros finished out the day. I know Aaron wants a snowboarding wife, but I think he's come to terms with the fact that I might go maybe a couple times a year and try to enjoy it.

Lastly, I have been trying my hand at a little decorating around our place. It's been weird to think about having it cute but not too girly since I live with a boy now. Anyway, I found this fabulous bed set at Target and found these great pictures to go with it. I really do love decorating, but it's so hard to put everything together and make it look right. I think I need Kristin Rose to come out and decorate my place.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the update blog, I will try to not be such a slacker in the future, but I can't make any promises.

Quite the Gala

2008-03-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

Last week I got the opportunity to go to a really fancy fundraising gala for work. A couple of us in the office got tickets last minute to the $500 a plate dinner for our hospital. I work at a non profit hospital, Craig Hospital, that specializes in working with people with spinal cord and brain injuries. It was so crazy to be at the fancy party/gala with people in their evening gowns and fancy suits. During the cocktail hour they were serving tons of drinks and appetizers and there was even an ice sculpture that said Craig on it that they would pour martinis through. Let's just say I was a little dissapointed that they couldn't pour diet pepsi through it. Bummer! Here are the lovely OT's and the chaplain at our table...it was in the very back of course. I liked it that way though because during the auction I didn't have to be nervous that they might think I was bidding on the 25,000 pin ball machine! That's right, the affluent people of Denver were bidding at ridiculous prices for items and all the proceeds went to the hospital.

There was a program to honor those who had come to our hospital from being hurt in the war...2 men with spinal cord injuries and 1 with a brain injury. There was a special program for them and they were all honored with the Christopher Reeves award. It was truly a touching moment that made me so grateful to work at such an amazing hospital (and I'm not gonna lie, it made me cry a little bit). I work specifically with patients who have had brain injuries and are often just coming out of comas. Everyday is truly amazing to see how these people are able to recovery from such incredible injuries. It definitely makes you realize how precious life really is. It's great though to see people living again.

How many Powells?!

2008-03-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

So, a couple weekends ago Brent's family (Aaron's brother) came down and we met them at the Denver Art Museum. It was such a unique building in the heart of downtown. Of course with art there were some really cool paintings and sculptures and then there were some things that I thought a kindergarten class could have put together. I'm sure this is bad for me to say, but it's the truth.

Well, afterwards 2 of Aaron's other brothers were planning to come down with their kids and we were all going to watch a movie at our apartment clubhouse. There is a really sweet movie room with a bunch of couches and love sacs. His brother Dave had rented it out for the night (he also lives at the same apt. complex with his wife). Anyway, about a half hour before everyone showed up Dave got a call that they wouldn't be able to rent out the clubhouse to us due to some rule changes.

So, Dave and Caroline have a one bedroom smaller apt. and we have a 2 bedroom apt that is a bit bigger, so what do we do....head to Little Caesars and buy them out of their hot and ready pizzas and have the whole clan in our apt. It was a pretty great experience with 6 kids and 8 adults hanging out in our little apt. It took about 3 minutes for one of the kids to spill something and it just continued thereafter. It was definitely an eye opening experience to the world of kids! We had a great time though with everyone and somehow made room for us all to watch the movie. Here's a pic of the whole clan hanging in our front room. Gotta love family!

A revision...much better

2008-02-22T17:28:00.000-08:00

So, I loved the length of the new cut, but hated the cut itself! I asked for some sassy layers and for a cute A-line and in the back. Well, it just looked like this crazy straight bob thing with no sass, no layers. So, I went yet again, with a little assistance from Tracie Ware, and got it cut for the second time in a week. And...it is so much better, a little shorter and I love it even more! I have to say I've never dealt with not being able to put my hair in a pony tail...it's liberating though not to have all that hair!! So, here are some updated pics.

Miracles do Occur

2008-02-17T14:35:00.000-08:00

So, for those of you who have known me for any amount of time know that I have long blonde hair. It has been this way since I've been a little girl. I have always dreamed of having this cute little cut but have NEVER had the guts to do something about it because I love my long hair. Well, I finally got the gumption to do it once and for all and I LOVE IT! There is a little touching up here and there that I want done, but all in all I like the length and the cut. Prior to cutting it they measured it to see if I could donate to Locks of Love but I missed the mark by a couple inches....they cut 8 1/2 inches off and you have to have 10 inches to donate. Well, anyway I had to post this historic moment because even my friend Tracey K. Tanner had to call and see if I really went through with it since I've been threatening to do it for quite some time.

Before...(I wanted to put this picture in because this was at my brother Shane's wedding last week with from the left my niece Jamie, sister-in-law Melanie, my new sister-in-law/his beautiful bride Jen, her daughter Audrey, me and my niece Sarah)

After...

Honeymoon Highlights

2008-02-08T19:16:00.000-08:00

Finally, we are posting pictures of our honeymoon! We absolutely loved it!! We suggest a cruise to anyone thinking about a honeymoon activity. Our 5 day Royal Caribbean cruise started in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and set off to Cozumel, Mexico and Belize City.

This was our first time cruising, so we were amazed with how much stuff there was on the ship. Apparently it was the 3rd largest ship in the world, so it had everything from an ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, roller blading, mini golf, swimming pools, movie theatre, comedy shows, theatres, and even parades at night!! Let's just say there was never a dull moment!

As you can see, it was like a floating hotel with all the bells and whistles. This is just a small view of the ship. We could only get half of it in the picture.

The sweet view from our balcony! This was when we were departing Ft. Lauderdale. We definitely recommend getting your own personal balcony if you go on a cruise.

This is the "promenade"...where they held nightly shows and parades. There were a ton of shops but we didn't buy much of anything...tacky royal caribbean t-shirts and jewelry were just not quite our thing.

**So, all the talk about amazing food on a cruise is true! There was a really fancy dining room with 3 floors with really nice chandeliers and servers waiting on you hand and foot. We talked about how we felt like we were on the Titanic because everything was so nice. The dining room was open in the middle so that you could see all three floors and could hear the live classical music throughout the entire room. On the second night it was the formal Captain's dinner. We almost felt like it was prom again. We got all dressed up and made it out just in time to catch the end of sunset. It was beautiful! Nothing like just being out in the open waters.

During our 5 days we were cruising for 3 days and went on excursions for 2 of the days. The first day we went to Cozumel, Mexico. Now, you think Mexico and think nice warm weather, sandy beaches, all that good stuff. Well...that's what we were expecting too, but within 5 minutes of renting our topless dune buggy it started pooring rain!!! Yikes. Of course we were wearing swim suits and cover ups and could have led to me getting sick on the fourth day of our honeymoon!

By the time we got to the beach it had just stopped raining, we were soaked, and did not want to even get in the water. Luckily by the time we got to another beach where we were going snorkeling the sun had come out! Snorkeling was a lot of fun, beautiful fish, and did I mention that Aaron's wedding band fell off in the water?! It lasted a good 4 days, and we purchased a really cheap one at the Mexican flea market until we replace the lost one. RIP!

And for the second excursion...we headed off to Belize City. This was definitely our favorite destination. The guide first took us through the city and told us a little bit about the people and the culture. Then, we went into the rain forest and did some zip lining & cave tubing through the Belizian rain forest. Doesn't that sound exotic?! It was so beautiful, and quite the feeling flying through the huge tropical forest.

Here are Stewy & Robyn on the zipline!

So...our honeymoon was fabulous! Definitely something we will always remember and enjoy looking back to. Thank you to all who came to the wedding and participated in our special day in one way or another. So, here we are on our final night enjoying the last sunset of the cruise.

Christmas with the Powells!!!

2008-01-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

So, we had the best holidays here in Colorado and loved it! It is so nice that all of Aaron's families live here in Colorado except for his folks that are on a mission in Hawaii. We had such a great time with everyone. For starters...on Christmas Eve we had a huge dinner with all of us and some extra family, about 35 of us in all! Quite the household, it was fabulous.

The Christmas Eve festivities included...

Santa coming with a bag full of goodies for all the kids

A reading of the nativity story being acted out by all the kids

And of course...Chrismas Caroling!!

(My favorite is when Stewy played the guitar for all of us to sing along!)

And we cannot forget....receiving warm Hawaiian greetings from Aaron's parents!!

Now for Christmas Day!!!

Our first Christmas together as almost Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Powell! We stayed at Aaron's brother's Brent and Holly's place with their 3 boys on Christmas Day. His other brother Dave and wife Caroline were there as well. It was so fun to watch the boys open their presents on Christmas day and it was fun to play with them as well. Another favorite part of the day was just hanging out and possibly not changing out of our pj's until 4 pm. Yikes. I think that part made it feel just like home.

The only part that didn't quite feel like sunny Las Vegas was the wild snow that we got on Christmas day. Starting around 9 in the morning it started snowing like crazy and when all was said and done we got about 6-8 inches. My first white Christmas!!!

We hope all enjoyed the Christmas season to remember our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are so grateful for this time to be with family and friends. We also can't wait to be with all of our close family and friends at our wedding next week!! We can barely hold ourselves together in anticipation for the big day! We love you all, and are so excited to see those who are able to make it! The next post will be of the official Aaron and Robyn Powell!!!

Bridal Showers Galore!!!

2007-12-17T18:55:00.000-08:00

So, I can never complain that I didn't have enough attention and love during my engagement time. I officially had 4 bridal showers (3 in Vegas in one day!!), and 2 bachelorette parties. Hello!! I had a lot of fun with all my ladies. It was so good to see everyone again and catch up, and get some awesome stuff.

I can't wait to see everyone for the wedding. Not that I'm counting, but it's only 26 days away until we get married! I almost can't believe it, but on the other hand 4 months has been a long time. I can't wait to be married to my amazing Aaron. It will be quite the reunion as well for all of the old roomies...I can't wait!

2007-11-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

So, here is one of our favs. I tried to do more, but they came in all small so we will post more as we are able. Our dear Tracie Ware took our engagement pics, and did a great job despite the fact that during our first round it was crazy windy. You can see by my hair that I have the wind blown look, it's not on purpose, it really is windy!! Hope everyone enjoys the pic, we will of course endeavor to update our blog, and I'm pretty sure that Aaron will even partake in this!

We have arrived on blogspot!!!

2007-11-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

Hello all! So, despite Aaron being grumpy pants about doing this before we are married, here we go! This all stems from the fact that I started listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving...he says this is just the same...starting a blog before being married. What do you do. Hope you all enjoy. If I can figure it out, I plan to post some engagement pics. We are getting married on January 12, 55 days from now...not that we're counting! We are so excited. Although we are not the Powell's officially yet, we are calling ourselves the Powellsons until we get married. Can't wait to see most of you in Vegas for the big day!