What we've been up to...

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

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?!

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

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

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

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!!!

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!!!