..merry christmas..

well it is almost here...3 days and counting! although i absolutely love christmas day, i always get a little sad a few days before bc it means this magical season is coming to an end. i really think i would have no problem living in a world that celebrated christmas throughout the whole year! and while i feel like there are a lot of people who do try to keep that christmas spirit alive and present throughout the whole year, there really just is something different about december - the lights, the colors, the smells, the treats, the everything...i just love it! wishing you and yours a very, very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

..my onesie..

one of the many reasons i L.O.V.E. christmas is because of all the fun christmas parties! i already missed one party (due to work, snowy weather and exhaustion) so i was so excited to go to my first christmas party of the season last night! i must admit i was a little apprehensive to go...bc of the theme. it was a onesie party. what is a onesie? well i had to "google" it, bc i always thought a onesie is what babies wear...with the little snappy buttons down there, but i figured that is not what i was supposed to wear to this party. my second guess was one of those snow outfits everyone wore back in the 80s and early 90s...the one piece suits that are like bibs you know. but then i found out that a onesie is pj's with feet! where the heck do you find one piece pj's with feet in my size, you might ask?! i, too, had the same question...i thought they only made those for little kids! i was wrong. they do make onesies in adult sizes...lots of them...at target. so my friend, shannon, and i hopped on over to target, bought ourselves some onesies and headed to the our first "onesie" party.

..one whole year..

it's been a year year filled with happiness and love, and i love that we have forever to go!

love you mr. lance powell! wish you were here!

love, b

..the most wonderful time of the year..

well hello! life has been crazy the past few weeks. #1 my husband is gone, #2 school is almost over which means lots of papers, tests, group projects, etc... so that has occupied much of my time! this past saturday was the first time in two weeks that i could just relax! not for long though bc it is finals week and i have to get back to the grind...i will be so happy come thursday at noon!

i wish i had some pictures to post of lance's trip, but you'll have to wait until he gets home! it sounds like he has having a blast, minus a few unfortuante occurances -- he got food poisoning so he was in bed throwing up ALL day one of the days. poor guy! as we speak, him and his sister are scuba diving in the galapagos islands...boy am i jealous!

i sure have missed him but it gets easier as the days go by. although looking back, it seems like a lot of things have gone wrong in his absense.

#1 - the day after he left our computer charger completely stopped working so i had to fork out $100 bucks to go buy a new one. thanks a lot for chewing through that chord duke! #2 - i went and bought our christmas tree bc i just couldn't wait to get it up and decorated. i did everything the guy told me to do...cut off a couple inches when i got home and put it in water right away. well guess what? the dang tree didn't drink any water! i gave it three days to see if it would change its mind, but nope...none! so i took it down and went and bought a fake one! haha if you asked me a week ago if i would ever buy a fake tree i would have said hands down, 100% certain, NEVER. i am just a real tree kind of girl and never pictured myself with a fake tree. never say never i guess! #3 - i went to my mom's house for part of the weekend so as i was getting ready to leave i took a load out to the car. included in that load was claus, so i started the car and turned the heat on so he wouldn't freeze and also so the car would be warm when i came back. well guess what? when i came back out, the doors were all locked! yes that is right, this little guy

stepped on the lock button and locked me out! long story short, 2 hours later and thanks to my wonderful family, AAA came to my rescue and unlocked it for me. thank goodness the heat was on so claus didn't freeze to death!

well that is all i guess...nothing too serious. these kinds of things make me appreciate having lance around - haha i guess i depend on him a lot more than i ever realized bc these things probably wouldn't have happened in the first place if lance were here, and if they did, he would be the one taking care of it! sure do love him.
i got my tree up and decorated and the rest of my house too. actually all the decorations (minus the tree) were up in the middle of november! haha what can i say, i absolutely LOVE this time of year! it is my absolute favorite. i have slept on the couch a few nights, just because i love the christmas atmosphere. until next time, happy holidays! hope everyone is doing well!

..gettin into the spirit of the season..

..my little reindeer..

i had this fabulous idea one day to buy a reindeer costume for one of the dogs and a santa costume for the other, then take a cute christmas picture of my little santa and rudolph. i know, i know, i go a little overboard sometimes, but don't we all when it comes to certain things?! haha so anyway, i don't have the santa costume yet, but here are both dogs wearing the reindeer.

who makes the cuter reindeer?!

..our life..

greetings from the powell's! it has been a while, i know, but let's be honest, who reads this anyway?! haha i guess i do need to be better about documenting our life bc i am sure we will look back on this some day in the future and appreciate being able to take a walk through memory lane and see where we were and what we were doing in our younger years! ha

we had a fun october! it was full of friends and candy and costumes and family! lance's mom had a fabulous halloween party. her house was amazing and perfect for halloween!! it was fun to see everyone in their costumes.
..i made this cake for the party. it took forver so i'll probably never do it again, haha.. last week i went to california with my mom to watch my bro play golf. we were only there for a few days but it was a lot of fun and nice to not have to go to work or school! he was playing in stockton, california, which if we're being honest isn't that cool, however it is only about an hour away from san francisco so we drove up there and had dinner on the warf. clam chowder in a boudin bread bowl to be exact...mm mmm delicious! byu finished the tournament in 2nd place, which was so great and exciting to see!! go cougar golf!
lance is currently sick, which is quite the surprise because i am telling you, he never gets sick! i am always - well usually i guess - the sick one! poor guy has a stuffy nose and cough and sore throat and head ache and who knows what else! hopefully he gets better soon because his big trip is in t-12 days! i am starting to get really sad! he will be gone for 3 weeks, and will miss important events, such as thanksgiving, our 1st anniversary and my graduation. OH well. i know he will have a blast, and what an amazing opportunity. i really am excited for him.

and for me, in t-one month and two days i will be donning my cap and gown for graduation! i really don't think words can descrabe what this means to me! haha joy and relief will have to suffice. this is years in the making people! my dad called the other day and the conversation went something like this:

him: "so when do you graduate?"

me: "december 12th."

him: "so are you, like, really graduating this time or is this like all the other times when you tell me you are but then don't?"

haha sad, but true. i will not take all the blame though, i have had some dumb advisors, but that's a story for another day! i am surprised at some of the emotions i have been feeling lately. mostly i'm ecstatic, but there is a little part of me that is kind of sad to close this chapter in my life. just a tiny little part though!

last of all, today is our 11-month anniversary! i feel like a dork counting the months, but let's be honest, you only do that the first year and this is the last month before our first whole year together! what a lucky girl i am! lance is the funniest, goofiest, sweetest, bestest person i know! he is so patient with me and really puts up with a lot...he definitely got the short end of the stick and every day i feel so blessed to have such a wonderful person by my side. love you mr. bug!

oh yeah and on an end note, i just feel the need to say how much i loved ellen on oprah yesterday! i think i could watch that episode over and over and over again! priceless.

ciao!