..happy birthday lance..

today is lance's birthday - the big 27!! wow, he is gettin old, huh?! ;) well even though he wont read this unless i make him, i just want to wish him happy birthday and let him know how much i love him!!!

(i stole this idea from steph!!)

1) what is his name? lance jeffrey powell.
2) how long have you been married? haha 2 months and 17 days!!
3) how long did you date? well we met up at utah state in april of 2006. i commented on his obnoxiously white shoes and that was that. we kind of became friends on myspace (ghetto, i know) and then when i moved back to logan in aug/sept we started dating. we dated for a little over a year, but things didn't get serious until jan 2008 - then a month later we got engaged!! so to answer the question: including our ridiculously LONG engagement, we dated for a little over 2 years before we got married on december 10, 2008!!

4)how old is he? 27 years old today. whoa. old. ;)

5)who eats more? definitely lance!!! haha when we go out to dinner he will eat his whole plate and half of mine!! i prob eat more sweets than him though, so maybe it all balances out!

6)who said "i love you" first? lance did. we had been dating exclusively for 4 months. it was in june 2007 in sardine canyon on our way home from the tim mcgraw/faith hill concert!

7)who is taller? well lance of course.

8)who sings better? hmm...well lance is very musical but he is kind of shy about singing. its prob a tie!

9)who is smarter? well street smarts - he is!! haha by FAR!! book smarts - me.

10)who does the laundry? mostly me right now bc i have more free time than he does. but the first time i took his hamper to go wash his clothes he said "wait what are you doing?" i said, "doing your laundry." he said, "you don't have to do that." i said, "i'm your wife though, i want to do it." and he goes, "well i don't want you to be my slave or anything." haha we had been married like two weeks maybe...it was so sweet!

11)who pays the bills? HE does!! haha he doesn't let me anywhere near the money (and i think we all know why!).

12)who mows the lawn? well we don't have a yard, but if we did he would do it. lance loves to mow the lawn!!

13)who sleeps on the right side of the bed? me..i think?

14)who cooks dinner? depends on what we're havin! i cook the experimental complicated meals, he cooks breakfast, cheese quesadilla's and grilled cheese sandwiches!! haha he is also a very good bbq-er. we enjoy cooking together!

15)who drives? mostly him. he can't stand when i drive, i think bc he's worried about me causing an accident! (i don't blame him, i don't have the best record!!haha)

16)who is more stubborn? that's probably a tie. we are both equally stubborn. and it's not a good thing!

17)who kissed who first? (WARNING: this answer is rated pg-13 at least!) he kissed me. on our first "date" (he was an extremely FAST mover!). we made root-beer floats and watched a movie and when the movie was over he went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, lit a candle and asked me what kind of music i like!! oh man, he DEF knew what he was doin!! i woke up the next day with my first ever hickey and blue lips!!!! who gets blue lips!! must be those bag pipin lips. bad.

18)who asked who out first? he asked me!

19)who proposed? what do you think?! HE did. on valentine's day 2008. it was SO unexpected which made it all the more wonderful!!! he told me we were going to help our friends set up a little candlelit dinner thing on old main hill (in logan). i totally bought it, bc it was valentine's day and husbands do things like that for their wives on valentine's day! him and his friends did an amazing job coordinating it all. they kept calling him to see if we were on our way up to help set things up so i totally thought it was for real! then we get up there and in a snow bank there were rose petals, sparkling cider and two champagne glasses. lance opened the sparkling cider and i said, "lance what are you doing?! this is for dave and jen!!" he poured me a glass, handed it to me, put the ring in it and said,"would you like some ice with that?!" haha it was so funny and i didn't get it until later! but it was def one of the BEST days ever!!
20)who has more friends? lance makes friends with EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE he goes!! haha it is one of the things i love most about him!! when it comes to close, close friends, i would say its a tie.
21)who is more sensative? well on the outside i am! but i think lance is kinda sensative too..awww, cute huh?
22)who has more siblings? he does! he has two sisters, i have one brother!

23)who wears the pants? it is pretty equal. i mean, i do know how to get what i want from him, but he also can put his foot down and surprise me at times. maybe its like 60% me, 40% him!!

24)is he handy around the house? yes and i love it! sure makes things easier..and cheaper!!

25)his hobbies or favorite activities? playing x box! haha jk lance is very out-doorsy. he likes anything that involves SPEED, i.e. jetskis, boating, snowmobiling, snowboarding, driving fast cars and riding his bullet bike. he is very active and always likes to be doing something, no matter what it is!! (except shopping, he HATES that!)

anyone who knows lance knows that he is so fun to be with..he is always up for doing something fun and exciting, but also loves to just chill it home, watching tv and movies. he is such a good friend to everyone. he is one of the hardest working people i know and does a great job with his work. he is so talented in so many ways. i fell in love the minute he sat down at the piano bench and whipped out a tune like it was nothin! he is so sweet to our dogs and to his cute little niece, shaya. i know he is going to be an amazing father! i am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and friend!
i love you love bug!

love, little spoon.

..fun..fun..fun..

lance and i had a great weekend. saturday night we went up to logan to eat sushi with our friends jarron and whit, and the best part about it?!?! THEY made the sushi!! and it was delicious! honestly, i am not a big sushi fan (or i wasn't) but i loved it...it makes me want to eat sushi more often!! only if they make it i guess!! after dinner we drove on over to crystal hot springs where met up with more friends - dan and kristin - and soaked it up in the hot pools...ahhh it was so nice and relaxing, and so fun to be there with such fun friends!!

..jarron..whit..becky..lance....whit & me..

on sunday night, my cutest ever sister-in-laws hosted a "bye-bye boobie" party, in honor of my mother-in-law. i am sure you can infer (from the title of the party) the reason it was thrown. it was so fun to be with all the girls, and to try and make the best of a bad situation! we hope and pray that everything goes well with the surgery.

..some of the girls hanging out, talkin about boobs and watchin the oscars..

love! love! love!

happy (late) valentine's day to everyone!! i was super excited for v-day this year, since it was our first as a married couple! i wanted to make everything perfect for my cute hubby...sadly, things didn't happen quite the way i wanted them to! i kinda waited until the last minute to find him a present, and by then i couldn't find anything!! so, being the fabulous wife i am (not really, ;)) i decided to surprise lance with something i knew he had REALLY be wanting: tickets to the monster jam show. yeah, not really my idea of romantic, but i knew it would make lance happy. it actually is kind of a funny story...on thursday night (two days before valentine's day) lance says, "hey, will you call five all's and see if we can change our reservations for earlier or later so that we can go to the monster truck show on valentine's day?" i kinda flipped and said "lance, remember how we made our reservations a MONTH in advance this year, bc last year we called the day before and they were completely booked? there is NO WAY we will be able to change our reservation. and i'd rather go to dinner than the monster truck show...it's valentine's day!!" i am such a brat, aren't i? then i started feeling bad for being so demanding that we go to dinner...afterall, the restaurant is open all year round and the monster truck show only comes once a year. so the next day i called five all's (which is my aboslute favorite restaurant, but we can only eat there once a year because it's so expensive!) to see if they had any available tables...and surprisingly they did!! haha at 10:15 or later. SO i reserved it, but still kept our 7:30 reservation, just in case monster jam fell through. then i called the delta center to order tickets, and they informed me that there was a matinee!! yay! so i got tickets for the matinee, we kept our dinner reservation for 7:30 and we were both happy campers!! on valentine's i was SO excited to give lance his present (the tickets), because i just knew he would be so happy and excited...and he was!! haha it was like watchin a little kid open presents at christmas! monster jam didn't end up being as bad as i thought it would be, it was actually pretty entertaining. after that, we visited lance's mom and sister, did some shopping (and bought new snow clothes, yay!) then ended the night with dinner, which was delicious, of course! for valentine's lance got me roses and the picture for our family room that i have been wanting since i was born (okay, not really, but i have been wanting it super bad). i had a WONDERFUL day, and i hope that all of you did too!!

...us at the monster jam show...

...one of the trucks goin off a jump...

...a little v-day action at dinner ;)...

...the good life...

life has been great for lance and i lately. we are still happily married, can you believe we've made it two months?! haha what an achievement ;). lance was super busy with work (which has been a huge blessing) up until this week. things in the construction business have slowed down quite a bit, which means lance gets to sit home and play video and computer games all day! haha it cracks me up, bc on my days off i like to clean the house, do all my errands, etc... since lance doesn't have work this week i asked him if he could clean the bathroom really well...has he done it? NO. when i get home from work and ask why, he says "its my week off, i shouldn't have to do anything." it's so funny. but it is nice for him to have some time off, and i enjoy spending all the time we can together. thank goodness he has jobs lined up for next week though!

last week we went to a jazz game with lance's mom and sister, tiffany. i just love going to jazz games, although i must admit i don't get "into it" as much until the playoffs. lance thinks every game is a disappointment unless i scream and yell at the refs (horrible, i know), so this game wasn't as fun for him! it was fun to go with his mom and sister though...you can never get enough "family time." lance's mom, ranae, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. we are not sure how bad it is yet. she is getting an MRI soon, so we will know more then. something like this is never good news, obviously. she is still young and has so many good years left in her. we hope and pray that the doctors will be able to remove all the cancerous cells so that she can go on to live a long and healthy life. please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

last weekend we had dinner with lance's mom, sisters and little niece, shaya, and lance had the wonderful opportunity of changing his first poopy diaper! we really had to talk him into it, but once he got started he was lovin it! okay maybe not, so hopefully he'll feel differently when it's his own kid's diaper he's changin! he decided to be on the safe side and wear a gas mask, so that he wouldn't be poisoned by the smelly fumes! silly boy. he was a natural though, and by the end shaya was feelin (and smellin!) fresh and good as new!

on saturday we went to see "he's just not that into you." i think there was a lot of hype for this movie, partly bc of the cast, and also bc of the book. i know quite a few people who were disappointed with it, but i gotta say i loved it! i thought it was very entertaining and cute. it did tend to drag at times, but i would still recommend it to anyone lookin to see a good flick. yesterday we went to "taken," and that was another great movie! very suspensful and action-packed. for any jack bauer/24 lovers out there, you'll love this movie. and for anyone lookin for a good book to read, "the last lecture," by randy pausch, is wonderful. it is very sad, you know, since he died of cancer and everything. but it gives great insight into how to live life. if you're not into those motivational/inspirational chicken soup/7 habits type books, i still think you'd really enjoy "the last lecture." it's not cheesy or corny or anything like that. it's just some guy and his thoughts on life.

on monday, lance and i went to woods cross high school's performance of "beauty and the beast," and boy was it somethin! now i have been to my fair share of play's - high school, amateur and professional. i have also seen "beauty and the beast" performances in london (which is a musical theater hub), on broadway, at the capitol theater in salt lake, and in disneyworld, so i consider myself qualified to critique such a performance. this particular rendition was phenomenal, especially considering it is a HIGH SCHOOL play. the costumes...the set...the actors...it was all outstanding. lance's cute cousin, hayleigh, played babette (the flirtacious duster who has a crush on lumiere) and she was so freakin adorable...she nailed the part. i wasn't totally impressed with belle, although she did a fine job. the beast's voice was incredible, as was mrs. pott's and gaston's. and lumiere's french accent was c'est magnifique!! i was in tears by the end of the play, and whether that's because i was seeing my absolute favorite disney movie again for the first time in a long time, or because i was just blown away by the performance, i would say it was the latter. i am not sure the exact nights of the performance, but i know it is playing through february 21. if you have nothing to do and you are in the area, i promise you wont be disappointed if you go!

...belle (me! haha) & the beast...

...gaston (aka lance)...
...lance and me with hayleigh...... lance's mom gettin friendly with "the beast!!"...

well that is our last couple of weeks in a nutshell. life is just fun, relaxing and simple. i am really enjoying being a wife (that is so weird to say!) and my cute husband just makes me laugh and smile every day...i couldn't ask for anything more.

duke's close call

well well, last night we had a very SCARY experience involving duke. first, a little preface: it was a regular old evening at the powell residence. lance came home from work, we made some dinner, watched some tivo..you know, just took it easy. lancelot decided to give duke a bath so they jumped in the shower together and before long duke was smellin as fresh as a flower. me, duke and claus were just sittin on the couch when all the sudden i noticed a big puddle of liquid on the blanket. immediately i grabbed claus to check his "thing" bc we all know he pees everywhere, but no, his "thing" was completely dry!! then i notice duke over in the corner, lickin his little pee pee. yes, it was duke who had the accident on the couch this time!! it is very unusual for duke to have an accident like that...he has NEVER in all the time we have owned him peed on a couch, bed, chair, etc.... but we still had to reprimand him for it. of course i let lance do it, i just hate yelling at my cute little babies (plus, duke doesn't take me seriously so it would have been pointless). so lance gets mad at duke, rubs his nose on the pee-stained couch and says "OUTSIDE, duke, we go outside to go potty," then he set duke outside. we have done this plenty of times with both dogs, and every time they go outside, play around for a while, hopefully go potty, then come back in when they get cold. whenever i get worried, lance reassures me that they will be fine and come back in when they are ready. well i am a paranoid mom, so i kept looking out the window to make sure duke was okay. about 10 minutes had gone by, we kept yelling for him to come back in, but no sign of him. so i put on my eskimo jacket and went outside to find duke. where to begin? there are a million places duke likes to run off to and play...behind our apartment building, over to my dads house, over to the pro shop, out on the golf course...but i had this feeling to go check the road. so i walk out to the road (the BUSY road that huge semi-trucks drive way too fast on, mind you) and sure enough, there duke is in the middle of the road. i yelled his name and ran over to pick him up. he was crouched over the way he always does when he feels bad or is in trouble...it broke my heart. i just started bawling and ran inside with him. lance thought i was so emotional bc "it's that time of the month." guys just don't get it, do they?! i mean come on, duke is my kid for crying out loud! i laid down in his bed with him and just cried...all night. i am SO THANKFUL that he was okay...honestly, i don't know what i would do with myself if anything happened to him. so there you have it, duke's close call. i have always believed that i have two guardian angels watching over me...maybe they keep an eye on duke as well. :)

budgeting 101

when we got married lance and i decided to be smart and BUDGET. yes yes, it is an entirely new concept to me (i think it is for lance too, he just wont admit it, haha). needless to say, the first month was a bit difficult for me! put yourself in my shoes: you are newly married, you've just moved into a new apartment together and you want to make it look like a cute, cozy home. according to oprah's interior design guy, nate, the top 5 cheapest ways to make a house look good are: 1) paint, 2) rugs, 3) accent pillows, 4) lamps/lamp shades, 5) throws. so obviously i put lance to work straightaway, and he did a FABULOUS job painting the place. we used some of our pottery barn gift cards to buy some accent pillows and a nice throw, all of which started to transform our apartment into a home, and we didn't even spend a dime! BUT...it still needed a few more things, and this is when the whole budgeting thing got hard. see, the budget we agreed upon (more like the budget lance set for me!) didn't allow for me to buy everything i wanted all at once..obviously. so i had to decide what i wanted the most and go with that. my mother (who has a very keen sense when it comes to decorating) suggested an area rug...so that's what i bought. i had a little money left for the month of january, with which i bought curtains.. they are not the best quality but they still make the place look more like home. then i hung some pictures and a wreath on the wall and voila...a cozy, comfy apartment, all for a reasonable price. i may have gone a little over budget, just don't tell lance!!!
with his money, lance bought the aerosmith version of guitar hero and another guitar...now we can play together! the best part is he waited until january 31st to use his "allowance" for the month of january and i had already spent half of my february allowance! hopefully i will get better at this budgeting thing!