FHE - Very Traumatic

This is Adam losing his cool when he didn't get to have ANOTHER turn hiding the spoon for "I Spy" during Family Home Evening. We had a great FHE and luckily this meltdown didn't last long.... but sometimes you gotta wonder why this happens every week during FHE. David and I just look at each other and say, "it's because he's so happy!"

Be Careful What You Wish For

This is Tanner mowing the lawn. These 3 pictures show about 1/2 of our lawn and it takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes to mow the whole thing (not including edging).


This cute little yard is about 1/2 of our lawn in San Jose. It took about 10 to 15 minutes to mow.

Yes, we love all the space but we're not too sure if we love all the work. Oh well... it's great exercise!!

Tagged

All the answers have to be one word.

1:Where is your cell phone? ~ Desk
2:Where is your significant other? ~ HomeDepot
3:Your hair color? ~ Brown
4:Your mother? ~ Cooks
5:Your father? ~ Gardens
6:Your favorite thing? ~ David
7: Your dream last night? ~ None
8:Your dream/goal? ~ Mission
9:The room you're in? ~ Office
10:Your hobby? ~ Scrapbooking
11:Your fear? ~ Getting dizzy
12:Where do you want to be in 6 years? ~ Here
13:Where were you last night? ~ Home
14:What you're not? ~ In shape
15:One of your wish list items? ~ Skis
16:Where you grew up? ~ San Jose, CA
17:The last thing you did? ~ Laundry
18:What are you wearing? ~ BYU shirt
19:Your TV? ~ On - XBox
20:Your pet? ~ None
21:Your computer? ~Dell
22:Your mood? ~ Happy
23:Missing someone? ~ Parents
24:Your car? ~ Honda
25:Something you're not wearing? ~ Shoes
26:Favorite store? ~ JoAnns
27:Your summer? ~ Moved
28:Love someone? ~ Yes
29:Your favorite color? ~ Blue
30:When is the last time you laughed? ~ Today
31:When is the last time you cried? ~ Today

I think everyone I know has been tagged. If you haven't been, consider yourself tagged.

Triathalon

Our neighbor who has a swimming pool organized a triathalon for all the neighborhood kids. It was broken up into age groups and then they had to swim laps in her pool, then bike around the block, then run around the block. Your age determined how many laps of each thing you did. For example, Rebecca swam 4 laps, rode 4 laps and ran 1 lap. Rachel on the other hand swam 4 laps, rode 5 laps and ran 2 laps. Joshua swam 10 laps, rode 5 laps and ran 3 laps. They all did great and received medals at the end along with some other prizes. It was very fun and lots of kids participated.

Happy Birthday Joshua

So yesterday Joshua turned 15! Wow! We had a great family dinner and then he opened gifts afterwards. He got a jolly rancher (and a gift card for Panda Express) from his brothers and sisters and a little bit of money from Mom and Dad. He was very grateful but a little perplexed. He said, "are you sure that's all the presents?" We said "yeah" so he happily went about getting his XBox all hooked up since he hadn't done that yet since we moved. We got out the cake but he said he wasn't very hungry. We prevailed and he blew out his candles and started eating his cake. What a surprise when he poked his spoon into something hard and covered with plastic. "No way! There's money in my cake!" It was priceless. He was a very happy birthday cake eater.

Gotta Love Basements

We are in the process of having our basement finished. The progress can be seen in the pictures above. Tanner will get a bedroom which he will have to give up to any guests who come visit... but he doesn't mind. We'll have a game room and also a craft room. Guess who the craft room is for? That's right... David. He is so excited. Just kidding. I can hardly wait to have a place to leave my mess and be able to just shut the door.

Eensy Weensy Spider (not so eensy weensy!)

OK, I told Melissa that spiders don't freak me out. I was proven wrong today when I came across this lovely spider in my house. It was so close to me when I noticed it I started screaming. My family all came running. It was a large, creepy spider. Then, I caught it (top picture is the spider in the bug cage), then we let it go in the yard so I could take a picture of it. Then Joshua grabbed a shoe and smashed it before I could stop him. His exact words were "That's a dangerous spider... it's orange and has horns on it's butt. I don't want it in the yard where it can get back into my bedroom (he's in the basement) and it will lay eggs in my head."

Jared at BYU

Wow! It's hard to believe we have a kid in college. It sounds like he's having a good time and it also sounds like he has tons of homework. That is how I remember college as well.... lots of fun and lots of homework!!

Top of Half Dome to Draper, UT

The Powell family moved to Draper, UT, in August. A week before the move, David, Gaylene, Jared, Joshua, and Tanner went backpacking in Yosemite. We had a great time. We hiked into Little Yosemite, camped

overnight, climbed the back side of Half Dome, camped overnight, then hiked back out to our car. The view was spectacular!! It was beautiful and we hope to do it again with the rest of the kids in a few years.

Gaylene decided that except for childbirth, it was the hardest thing she had ever done physically and mentally. She loved it though and is glad to have accomplished such a thing only 10 short months after major surgery.

The next week, the movers came and loaded up our stuff. On the drive to Utah we spent a night in Squaw Valley Resort and then drove to our new house. Adam especially loved swimming in the resort pool (so did all the kids).

The trampoline is a hit with the Powell kids as well as the new snake pit (yes, there are 6 or 7 snakes in that hole) and the plethora of bugs.

David and Gaylene are enjoying a little more space as well as much more time together given David's short commute time (5 minutes).

Novice Blogger

OK, I can't seem to figure this out. Testing different things such as pictures, labels, titles. Please bear with me.

September in Draper

I am joining the world of bloggers. Please be patient with me as I create and learn.