Tagged Again

42 minutes until the new year, my wife is asleep, my son is asleep, I think I'll respond to my sister's blog.

ABC Tag

Here's more stuff about me that you always wanted to know!

A- Attached or Single? I am not a Siamese twin if that's what you mean.

B- Best Friend? Kim and Owen

C- Cake or Pie? Cake is my all time favorite band. I've never heard of Pie.

D- Day of Choice? Day off

E- Essential Item? my phone

F- Favorite color? blue

G- Gummy Bears or Worms? worms

H- Hometown? Along with my sister, I still say Auburn, WA is my hometown.

I- Favorite Indulgence- eating until I have to undo my pants

J- January or July? January in southern Utah, July most other places

K- Kids? 1 boy, 1 more boy cooking in the oven

L- Life isn't complete without? my son screaming my name when I get home

M- Marriage Date? July 17th, 1999

N- Number of Brothers and Sisters? 3 brothers, 2 sisters

O- Oranges or apples? apples dipped in caramel

P- Phobias or fears? most heights, leaving Owen with a babysitter

Q- Quote? If it itches, scratch it.

R- Reason to smile? Our Wii showed up today, and I also just won Ebay item #260198260637.

S- Season of choice? autumn

T- Tag three friends or family (if your name is here you have to do it) Julie, Annie, Jeremy

U- Unknown fact about me? I learned how to drive a stick on the left side of the road in South Africa.

V- Vegetable? Not yet, maybe I'll lose all of my faculties when I'm 90.

W- Worst habit? Scratching

X- X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasounds, I can see my unborn son's face. Amazing.

Y - Your favorite food? Annie gave Kim a recipe for Cajun Chicken Pasta. I could eat it every day.

Z- Zodiac sign? Libra

Happy New Year everyone.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. We didn't do an official Christmas card this year, so this will have to do. Please enjoy our family picture which was taken on Christmas day in the break room at Kim's hospital. Yes, Kim had to work today. It's ok though. Owen felt pretty cool knowing that Santa made a special trip to our house before Christmas Eve morning. We celebrated the big day on the 24th so Kim could be there too.





Here's Owen seeing all the loot Santa left him.










These two swords also came with two other swords, nunchucks, and two Chinese stars.










Owen sat on the mall Santa's lap for about 5 seconds. He wouldn't look him in the eye, and he only asked for dinosaurs. Santa heard him loud and clear. (As well as Nana and Papa.) Here are two members of the herd now living in our house.






Owen got lots of cool stuff this year. (Thanks grandparents and siblings!) This video shows the one getting most of his attention for now...the Smart Cycle.





I have to show off my favorite gift this year. Kim found the Transformers movie in a DVD case that transforms into Optimus Prime.













Due to our work schedules, we did not get to travel anywhere, but our little family still had a great Christmas. We saw the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, (I highly recommend it), and we even ended the night with "special juice that burns our lips." That's Owen talk. You might know it as sparkling cider. The best Christmas present we could ever ask for is coming later...a Wii with Guitar Hero. Just kidding. Well, it is coming later, but that's not what I was referring to. Our best Christmas present is showing up in March. Kim and I are still so shocked, happy, and thankful for her pregnancy.

We love St. George, but we sure do wish we could see family and friends more often. We hope you all had a very happy Christmas. Happy New Year as well in case I don't blog before then.

Sorry Christmas and a Crappy New Year

Blogging has been the last thing on my mind. After temporarily suspending two employees for a missing $870 deposit, and having three other employees quit on me, life has been pretty crazy lately. When you figure in all of the driving to Cedar City, I've been doing 60 hour work weeks. Kim is working full time as well to build up some paid time off for when the baby comes. That means Owen has been spending way too much time at the babysitter's house. Add in the stress of church callings, early contractions, (for Kim, not me), Owen once waking up in the middle of the night not being able to breathe, lots of dog puke, and no time to even give Owen a haircut, and you get a season that hasn't been too jolly. Hopefully things get better soon. (Thanks for sending all of the Christmas goodies Mom. That helps, except for the fact that I've been gaining lots of sympathy weight with Kim again.)




We did put up the tree and build a gingerbread house, so things can't be that bad.





Is anyone else as excited as me, Kim, and Owen to go see the new Chipmunk movie?

Let's Get Caught Up

My brain hurts thinking of all the things I want to blog about, so I will try and make this as succinct as possible.

Our piece of hud Dodge Neon finally drove its last mile. The whole transmission went out. It cost more to fix it than what the car was worth, so check out our new ride. (We got the Super White)

We bought the car while we were in Denver for Thanksgiving. Actually Kim and Owen were in Denver for Thanksgiving, and I flew down the day after Thanksgiving. (See Annie and Richie's blog for pictures. Our camera battery died.)

It was so much fun being in Denver again. We all met up at the Kunz household. Mom drove down with Kim, Owen, and Dexter. Scott and Gari Jo came up from Colorado Springs. Derrick and Courtney flew down from Logan. Rich and Annie were there. Scott Kunz was there. We got to see Emily and Ryley for a little while. Mark, Pat, and Scott Austin, and Tami and Addison McIlnay made an appearance. We played Guitar Hero until our fingers bled. (The song you are hearing is the one song I couldn't pass on Guitar Hero on the hard setting. I will conquer it one day. I will.) We ended the night with a roast for Kim. We celebrated her 30th birthday by performing some of the most embarrassing moments of her life using sock puppets. It was especially good seeing Scott Powell, because he left for Iraq for the third time on November 30th. He's supposed to be gone for 15 months this time, so everyone please pray for a safe return.

Here are a few pictures we took before the batteries died. We were too lazy to go buy new ones.
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I was going to upload the video of the sock puppet show, but it is way too long. Just know that we got Kim pretty good acting out her goose abuse on the golf course, her silent but deadly flatulence the first time she met my mom, her old man abuse on the golf course, and her night terrors.

For Kim's real birthday on the 28th, we went to a local restaurant here called Samurai 21. It's a scaled down version of Benihana's. Owen absolutely loved it. He was taunting the chef, and the chef was mocking Owen. Those two had a good time bantering back and forth. Happy 30th Kim!

Lastly, we elfed ourselves too. Thanks for the link Julie and Kim.http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1129883557

Night Terrors

Anyone out there that has ever had the privilege of sleeping overnight in the same house as Kim knows what I am about to talk about. She is the night terror queen. I've been married to her for 8 1/2 years, and I thought I'd seen everything until this last one. Let me give you a few examples before I begin:

1. Kim and I had just moved from Provo, Utah to her parents' basement in Aurora, Colorado. I was watching t.v. one night, and she went down to bed early. When I came down a few hours later, I creaked the door open as softly as I could, but it wasn't soft enough. Kim shot out of bed so fast, it almost made me scream because I was so startled. She pulled all of the blankets off of the bed, huddled into the corner, and screamed as loud as humanly possible. Everyone in the house woke up. Her dad came running down the stairs. My heart was beating a mile a minute. Kim was screaming so loud, she started losing her voice. The closer I got to her to try and calm her down, the louder she screamed. I didn't know what to do. Her dad barged into the room, probably thinking his new son-in-law was murdering his daughter. She finally snapped out of the night terror, everyone got a good laugh, and I'm pretty sure we both had to change our underwear.

2. I believe I was playing dominoes at the dining room table with Kim's two younger sisters, Courtney and Melissa. Kim was sleeping on the couch in the t.v. room. All of a sudden, we hear Kim screaming at the top of her lungs and see her running straight toward us, blanket in tow. She stopped, turned around, huddled on the ground, pointed at the ceiling, and started screaming, "Spider! Spider!" There was no spider on the ceiling. In fact, with the hundreds of spider on the ceiling night terrors I've witnessed, there has never actually been a spider on the ceiling.

3. Kim and I had recently bought our own house in Centennial, Colorado. As I was in peaceful slumber in our very own master bedroom one night, I felt all the bedding being ripped off of the bed. I looked up just in time to hear Kim scream and then catch a glimpse of her as she bolted out of the door with the comforter, sheet, and a pillow in her death grip. I don't remember exactly what she was screaming about that time, but I do remember being uncomfortably cold waiting for her to come back with the blankets.

I could go on and on, but let me get to the point. Kim had the strangest night terror a couple of nights ago. Ever since her belly has started protruding, Kim has not been able to sleep on her back in the bed. She bought this big nest/pillow contraption that she wraps herself in and sleeps propped up on the couch. She went to bed early one night, but I wasn't tired yet, so I was quietly trying to watch some t.v. on one couch as she slept on the other. I was deeply engrossed in Sportscenter highlights when I started to hear opera singing. Loud opera singing. It scared me so bad, I dropped the remote. I picked it up, muted the t.v., turned around, and saw Kim propped up on her elbows singing opera with full vibrato. Her head was pulled all the way back like a coyote howling at the moon. I asked out loud, "Are you serious?" (She was in a deep sleep and has no recollection of the incident.) I had to wake her up to make her stop. I tried telling her that was one of the weirdest things I had ever seen in my life, but she fell right back asleep.

I need to invest in a time-lapse video camera or something so other people can enjoy these episodes as well.

Holy Road Trip, Batman!

I am not feeling creative right now, so here is a generic travelogue filled with great pictures and boring captions:


After months of debating between Frankenstein, a ninja, Spiderman, and Batman, Owen decided he wanted to be Batman for Halloween.









We made the 16 hour drive from St. George to Pasco, Washington to spend Halloween with my side of the family. We stopped in Tremonton, Utah to pick up some skinny lady named Mom. I don't even recognize this woman anymore.


When we got to Pasco, there was some skinny girl named Kim who apparently is my sister. They've lost 100 pounds between the two of them.



Luckily we had some time for a brief visit in Spokane to see Tim, Julie, Jeff, Drew, Jason, and Nick.


Kim runs a preschool out of her house. I got to relive my teaching days and read some Halloween books to the kids.


Owen got to be a student for 3 days, and he absolutely loved it.


He joined the 4 year old class for two days, and the 3 year old class for one day, so he got double the treats and candy.


We made a trip to the pumpkin patch.


We climbed the hay pyramid.


We found some nice pumpkins, but we ended up not buying them due to a misunderstanding on price. How do those people sleep at night knowing they charge so much?


Aaaaahhhhh. How cute.


The 30th was the Myers' ward Trunk or Treat party.
Me=1967 Seattle Supersonic,
Kim P.=pregnant housewife,
Owen=Batman,
Brady=the Scream guy,
Cameron=Batman,
Ally=Jasmine,
Maddie=lion,
Kim M.=hippie



Jeff=Urine-bag-toting, rear-end-exposed hospital patient


We trick-or-treated around Kim's neighborhood on Halloween night. Owen had a blast. We found out his favorite candy is just the plain old Hershey bar. It was hard to get to sleep that night being hyped up on candy, but we eventually did. We woke up at 4:30 the next morning and drove 16 hours back to St. George.

Click Below

Check out our family pictures:

www.daveharrisphotography.com/powell

Ultrasounds and Microwaves

The day has arrived. We had our ultrasound today. We know what we're having.



IT'S A .........

































HORSE!!!






















Man, I make myself laugh sometimes. Sorry. Back to the announcement.


IT'S A ................

DUCK!!!

Wow. I apologize. This is totally uncalled for. Here, why don't you just look and see for yourself?

Do you see what I see? That is not an eyeball and a tongue sticking out. That's an 18 1/2 week old poop chute and a male organ. Yes, indeed.

We're having another boy!!!








Here he is face down, smelling the uterine lining.











Here he is laying on his side, looking right at the camera. Notice his mouth. He just got done saying, "See you guys in March."




Everyone is a little shocked it's a boy in there. Don't ask me why, but we were all expecting a girl. I would be lying if I said we weren't a tad bit disappointed for a brief moment. We got over it quickly and realized how blessed we are to have another child at all. It could be worse. We could be having a horse or a duck.


To celebrate this momentous day, we went out and bought two more microwaves.


Actually, this has nothing to do with anything, but it's kind of funny. We haven't sold our house in Denver yet. We're renting it out to a military guy and his wife. We obviously don't want two mortgages, so we are renting here in St. George. The microwave that came with our house stopped working. Kim's brother, Scott, loaned us his old microwave a while ago. I put that one in the Cedar City store. When ours stopped working, I brought back Scott's microwave to our house. The property management people said they would try to fix the broken microwave. They couldn't fix it, so they left a new one on our counter while we were at the ultrasound. When we came back, Scott's microwave was missing. We thought they tried to fix Scott's instead of the broken one. We called the property management people to tell them they took the wrong microwave. They said they put that one in the garage. Kim tried warming up some food in the brand new microwave, but it did not work. I got Scott's microwave from the garage, and put it back in where we had it in the first place. Hence, the trifecta of microwaves in our tiny kitchen.

Side note... we are open to suggestions for names. I just don't want to hear any of that made up stuff like Colton or Cason, or last names turned into trendy first names like Carter, Carson, or Cooper. Those kinds of names drive me nuts. (Sorry if I offended anyone.)

Old McPowell Had a Farm. E-I-E-I-O.

Saturday the 13th was my 31st birthday. Very anti-climatic. Very non-monumental. I loved being able to just work half the day and spend some time with Kim and Owen. They got me this really snazzy tie that looks very Halloweenyish with my black pinstriped shirt.

After I got home from work, we went to a local Fall favorite hotspot called Staheli Farm. We jumped on the redneck trampoline,...

played on the redneck slides,...

pet the animals,...

sat on some hay,...














stood on a fence,...















rode on the "Cow Train,"...
tossed some cow pies,...
picked some pumpkins,...

admired a bug-infested pumpkin,...












and navigated our way through the corn maze.















After gorging ourselves at Texas Road House, we came home for some cake and ice cream. Owen decorated this one all by himself with Lightning McQueen and Mater candies.



I can't believe I'm halfway to 62.



Pregnancy update!!! Kim's co-workers have been pulling her into the ultrasound room during slow times at the hospital. So far, nobody has been able to find any boy parts. So I think we're having a girl! (Or a boy with some serious life challenges ahead of him.)

Rumblin' Bumblin' Stumblin' Tumblin'

Owen started his tumbling class today, so I thought I'd post some pictures that I took through a dirty racquetball court window. It ended up being a ward activity with a total of 9 kids from our ward. Kim had to work, so I was the only dad there. It's alright though. I got pretty used to being the only guy around after choosing elementary education as my college major.

Owen loved the class. He's a shorty compared to the other 3 year olds, but he kept up. I'm so competitive. I wanted so badly for him to do somersaults better than the other kids.



Here he is doing the crab walk. (Please excuse the shot of the instructor's hind quarters.)





Here's Owen hovering in mid-air. You should have seen him floating around the entire racquetball court.






Only one kid rolled from one end of the mat to the other without hitting their head on the wall. Guess who it was!...Some 5 year old named C.J.






This is a shot of Owen showing the instructor his ability to do that Karate Kid move where you jump to your feet from a lying position.






Owen gets his skills from Kim. I can't do anything physical anymore without pulling a muscle, slipping a disc, or having an aneurysm.