Politics

Vote for McCain!

Vote Yes on 8!

I have tried to keep my blog fairly free of politics... but since I am somewhat of a political junkie I just gotta post something about it. Vote for McCain!!! Obama is a socialist who wants to redistribute wealth so everyone is equal. McCain wants to help people help themselves by allowing opportunity and freedom. Vote Yes on 8 in California. Marriage is defined by God, the Dictionary, civilization, etc. as one man and one woman.



There, I got it off my chest. Don't forget to vote November 4th.

Halloween Party

The Powells have a traditional Halloween dinner every year! This year we got to invite all our cousins in the Draper area and also Jared came home for the weekend which was tons of fun.

The menu consisted of the following:

Bat Wings & Blood (Blue corn chips & salsa)

Blood & Guts (Cheeseghetti casserole)

Pirate's Gold (Sliced carrots)

Halloween Orange Jell-O

Skeleton Skulls (Rolls)

Swamp Juice (Punch)

Graveyard Dessert (Pictured below)

We played Family Feud and also Pictionary. The kids had a dart gun war in the newly finished basement which happens to include several secret tunnels. Ping pong was also a hit.

Aren't we a fine looking group?!

This is even better. We decided to do a scary picture in honor of Halloween. I left the red eyes in for effect (I hope they show up on the blog).

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

SOCCER

These pictures show the 2nd goal Rachel made.  Their team won 5-0.

Tanner also scored a goal for his team.  They won 10-0.

It was a good soccer day for the Powells.

Rachel Turns 10!

October 14th

It all started with breakfast in bed and presents!!! Her favorite present was probably her new bike.


After school, we all went to Cornbellys which is a huge corn maze (like 12 acres) and has lots of other activities too. It was pretty fun. We rode in a cow train pulled by a tractor, the kids lassoed bulls, jumped on a giant pillow, watched pig races, launched corn cobs out of rocket launcher, played in a huge pit of corn kernals, etc., etc. We did do the corn maze too which was really hard but we made it out eventually. They also had a pyramid of pumpkins all carved and they were very well done. Fantastic!

Rebecca buried in corn.

Then we went home and had cupcakes to finish off the day of celebration!

Happy Birthday Rachel!!

First Snowfall in Draper

Sunday morning we woke up to a light snowfall and about an inch or so of snow on the ground.  Adam came in our bedroom and I told him to look out the window.  He looked out the window for a few minutes then said "Everything is white.  Everything is snowy."  Then he paused and then in a very excited voice he said, "It snowed!!  That is so awesome!"  So, he woke the other kids up and while the whole neighborhood was sleeping (about 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning) those crazy California Powells went out to play in the snow.... in their pajamas no less!!  It was very fun (very cold too) but tons of fun. 

ADAM

Rachel and Rebecca

Tanner and Joshua

We bought a snow shovel a few days ago.  The snow didn't stick to the sidewalk or street so we used it to plow the grass.  I know.... crazy California Powells.  Our neighbors probably think we are really wierd.

By the time we were ready to go to church at 11:00 a.m. all the snow was melted.  We were the only ones who got to play in it.  We even have a few snowballs in our freezer.

Flat Tire - Yuk!

Sunday after conference we decided to load up the van and go for a drive in Provo Canyon to see the beautiful leaves and possibly some snow before we headed to my brother's house in Provo for dinner and then to BYU to drop off Jared. As you can see, it didn't work out as planned. Instead, my brother had to come pick up me and all the kids from the side of the freeway and David stayed with the car until the tow truck came to fix the tire. What a bummer. We missed the canyon but still had a great dinner and visit with Curtis and his family and then we dropped off Jared and headed back to Draper.

Halloween Toes

Rachel and Rebecca painted their toe nails black and orange to help get into the Halloween spirit. You should see their fingernails.... they are green and orange.

First Snow

We had a great storm last weekend with lots of rain. Adam and Rebecca decided that riding their scooters in it was great fun. On Sunday the clouds lifted and we saw some beautiful snow-covered mountains. Wow!

Miracles Still Happen

Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of my surgery. I had an acoustic neuroma removed from the nerve next to my brain. It was a pretty major surgery and one of the scariest things I ever experienced, not to mention all the problems of vertigo leading up to it. I want to testify today that many miracles occured in my life throughout this experience. Everything from miraculous healing to very spiritual experiences that taught me much about God's love and the reality of His existence. It would be ungrateful of me not to thank Heavenly Father for all he has done for me, including letting me have the whole terrible experience for I learned things I could never have learned without such a trial. Don't get me wrong, I don't pray for trials because they seem to come enough on their own, but I am thankful for my experiences and am thankful to my wonderful family for their love and care. I am so thankful for all our friends who prayed for me, brought me dinner, helped with the kids, etc. And I am thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, who was my constant companion. I'm thankful today to be in such good health compared to a year ago.