Three day weekends!

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!!

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

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

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!

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...

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.