An update? Could it be true?

Since the blog was at risk to receive some trash-talk from James, I thought it was past time for an update!

The month of December was fun and very eventful. Maybe a little too eventful! The first part of the month was consumed with preparations for our Christmas play at church. The following week was busy with preparations for our women's ministry Christmas party at our house. The rest of the time before Christmas was VERY busy with preparations for Tom and Jane's Christmas present - a cd of favorite songs recorded by all of the Powers kids. It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. It is still not mastered but it really sounds great! The big reveal finally came on Christmas Eve. It was awesome. I know that all of us were relieved to not have to keep the secret any longer! Christmas day was very relaxing. I am now the proud owner of a KITCHEN AID thanks to my wonderful husband! We spent the afternoon and evening at Mom and Dad's. I even got to take a nap! A lovely day if you ask me.

Dan recording and Liz "accompaning" him. :o)

The Monday before Christmas was quite eventful for us as well. We were able to see our little baby again! I'm still amazed at how much development happens in such a short period of time. The heart was beating nice and strong. It had it's little fists clenched up over it's face. The tiny little feet were crossed at the ankles. It was incredible. I will have one more ultrasound on February 17th. If the little one cooperates, we will be able to see if we're having a boy or a girl!

My dear childhood friend, Raechel Paris, got married on December 27th! It was a beautiful wedding and reception. I have never been to a wedding that had 8 children in the wedding party (three of them being infants). It was a great day and we're so happy for them. Thinkphotographics did a great job with the photography (their photos are under Raechel and Michael married).

I was unfortunately hit with the stomach bug during the last week of the 2008. It was awful! Dan was a wonderful care-giver and (thankfully) didn't catch the bug himself. I felt well enough to get out of the house for a little bit on New Year's Eve. Kim and Phil Radcliff has a few of us over to ring in the new year with some guitar hero, poker and a cheese platter very much like the one served at the lovely Palermo Veijo. Good job Kim!


I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Chico, California! We flew into San Francisco on Tuesday and then drove the three hours to Dan's work site in Chico. We are driving to Napa Valley this afternoon and then drive back to San Francisco tomorrow morning to see some sights! We won't fly home until Sunday. We're trying to get some mini-trips in before the baby comes. I plan on posting an entire entry devoted entirely to sunny Cal very soon.

More muted...

Whew! What a week this past week has been! I didn't mean to go this long without posting anything but I didn't have the mental energy to type anything. Our church presented a rendition (complements of Mark and Kara Hubbard) of "A Christmas Carol" (entitled "A Scrooge's Christmas") this weekend. I must say that it was wonderful. We had five performances between three days with an additional day for the dress rehearsal. Courtney Paris was able to come to the dress rehearsal and grace us with her photography skills. I hear that the pictures turned out really well and I can't wait to see them. I'll post some pictures of the play once I get them.


I find myself more and more inspired by things more muted (and by muted I'm talking about color). A recent sneak peak on design*sponge really hit home and I've looked at it many times since it was posted. I had to share these two bedrooms with you because (to me) they are simply gorgeous. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do. The title of the sneak peak is Dutch Canal Home by Uxus.

Lynn's Paradise Cafe with the Rudolphs

We were fortunate to spend some time with our good friends (Davy, Tara & Clive Rudolph) this past Saturday. We met them at one of our favorite restaurants in Louisville, Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Tara and I split the BLT fries and I haven't stopped thinking about them! I should have taken a picture of them because they were ridiculously good. I think I sense a craving coming on...

Clive is one of the sweetest little boys! He was feeling really perky on Saturday and was so good! He really loved his biscuit too.

Happy day after Thanksgiving!

This year was definitely different. I didn't eat one bite of turkey or dressing. Not one bite the entire day! I've been blessed to not have any morning sickness so far in the pregnancy. One thing that does bother me though is the thought of eating any kind of poultry or roast. I can't even stand to think about it. However, I did enjoy (and possibly indulge) in all of the awesome sides. I had to share the recipe for one of my new holiday dinner staples. Recipe courtesy of Kara Hubbard.


Cranberry Salad
Two 3oz boxes of cherry Jello
1 lb. raw cranberries
½ orange with rind (Yep! That's right. Just wash an orange thoroughly and cut it in half. Pop out any seeds that you see.)
1 regular can crushed pineapple (drained)
2 cups sugar
½ cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
½ cup celery (optional)

Make Jello according to directions. Grind cranberries and orange in a food processor. Combine all ingredients together. Put in bowl and chill in fridge to set.
This recipe is so great. I do use the celery and it adds a nice touch as well as a little extra crunch. Hmm. I think I might have to eat some of the leftovers right now.


Here are some pictures from our dinners over at the Ledger house and Powers' Mountain.

Be careful shopping!

The Radcliffs - Take 1

Our good friends, the Radcliffs, had asked if I would be willing to take a few pictures of the family for Christmas. We (thankfully) had some lovely weather yesterday afternoon and were able to get some cute shots of Kimberly and her adorable little boy Ethan. Dad (Phil) would have been there too but he had tweaked his knee playing basketball (again).

I love this one of Kim. Ethan was trying to squirm away but it's still cute. We'll get some more pictures once Phil's knee is feeling better. :o)

Sweet little baby

After a series of not-so-serious events we found ourselves at the doctors office waiting for an ultrasound to see if everything was ok. It took the tech a second to get everything in place and then... the baby popped into view!!!

What an incredible feeling! We could see it's little heart just beating away. The baby is 6 weeks old and my due date is July 15th!

After we left my doctors office, Dan and I went straight to the after-hour care facility so he could get his throat examined. After about 2 hours there, we were finally able to get his prescription and go home. Needless to say, it was an interesting day that (thankfully) ended on a very good note. The baby was very hungry when we finally returned home so I treated it to a spinach salad with cream cheese and pear and a little extra comfort food since it behaved so well at it's first doctor's appointment. :o)

Sleep well everyone! I know that we will. Thank you, Lord!

Twenty Four

Yesterday was my twenty fourth birthday. Dan was scheduled to be in Connecticut over my birthday so we decided that I would travel with him! It has been an awesome trip. We flew into Hartford on Monday evening. While Dan was working on Tuesday, I had the opportunity to explore Hartford and find ways to occupy myself. Mom had been searching the area for some cool places to visit so I punched in the address to a shopping center into the GPS and headed to West Hartford. It was awesome! Great find, Mom! I was able to buy Great Expectations - Your all-in-one resource for pregnancy and childbirth. Not the Charles Dickens novel (like Dan thought I was talking about). I also had to buy a little something from the clearance rack at Janie and Jack's. I couldn't resist!

We went to downtown Boston for dinner. We didn't realize that we would be so close to the city! It was so awesome. I was really hoping for some seafood and the Barking Crab didn't disappoint. It was a little creepy at first but we soon got used to the lobster's antenna brushing against our arms and we cracked off it's claws. Eww! It tasted sooooo good!

You can see how excited I am. :o)

Us outside of the Barking Crab on the harbor in Boston. Happy birthday to me!