'10 Powell Pics

Peaceful Chaos???

After putting Brighton and Lexi down for a nap, I decided to lay down and rest for a minute. Taylor began to scratch my back and while doing so whispered "I love you, mom". It's moments like that, that make my whole soul smile. While laying down I began reflecting upon what a sweet age all my girls are at.

I am the first to admit that most of the time things at my house seem loud, chaotic, unpredictable, and FULL of emotion. There are plenty of days when I wonder what I was thinking having 3 kids so close together. Those are the days that make me appreciate what my mother went through with six of us.

However, there are moments that are so blissful I wish my kids would stay this sweet and innocent forever. Today I was trying to teach Brighton how to smell flowers. I would get close to them and sniff, and then let her try. Every time, she would just burst out laughing the most adorable giggle I could ever wish for. It was the kind of laugh that I wish I could push a repeat button to listen to all day long. This week she learned to say "uh oh" and how to wave good-bye. Just thinking of her makes me so happy.

Lexi is at the age most would call "the terrible two's". I would beg to differ. Yes, she throws the usual tantrum now and then as I would expect, but her pretty blue eyes make even her tantrums seem cute at times. Her angelic face and little high voice have a way of melting me. She LOVES to sing, and I am under the impression she may be musically talented. She is getting lots of practice belting her voice from yelling "MOM!!! I WOKE UP!!!" every morning over and over again in her crib. I can tell that having all boy cousins and friends is rubbing off on her a bit because today she drew a picture of a robot.

Taylor is getting easier to manage by the day. She is my little artist. She colors pictures like they are coming into style. It amazes me how emotionally intelligent she can be. She is always so quick to comfort anyone that needs some TLC . . . especially if it's Brighton. She talks about Jesus quite a bit, and often says pretty profound things. The other day she told me matter of factly "Jesus catches us when we fall". With her big brown eyes, dimple, and raspy voice, I worry about the dating years.

Keep in mind that I always seem to love them more when they are asleep . . . and right now 2 of the 3 are napping. So for now . . . I will just enjoy the very limited quite time I have to remind myself that I do love being a mother.

He liked it, and put a ring on it!

Have you ever seen the movie Enchanted? Don't you think my beautiful little sister looks just like a Princess in her wedding dress? My sister Heather and Kellen were married on Saturday, June 6th at the Salt Lake temple. It was seriously so awesome to see her be sealed to her Eternal Companion, Kellen Pead. They have been dating ever since she was 16, which was 4 years ago. He is such an awesome guy, and we are happy to have him in the family!

Their reception was on Friday night at the gardens in Thanksgiving Point. It felt more like a big party because they had a sweet band playing and we just danced like crazy the last hour. It was seriously so much fun!

Burning one down

We may not have grass in the back yard yet, but don't worry . . . we have a fire pit! Khyl made this magnificent rock fire pit about a week ago, and we have already had a few awesome fires in it. We do have plans to put some other fun things in our yard, but this will have to do for now. =)

This is Taylor, Lexi, and Hailey enjoying the serene warmth of the burning wood.

Brighton Kylee Shumway

Brighton was born around 2 pm on April 21st, although she was not due until the 24th. She weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 and 1/2 inches long. She has been such a precious addition to our family, and we are so grateful for her!

A cute girl from our Provo ward names Kaitlyn Janis took some awesome photo's the day before Brighton was born, then came to our house when she was 9 days old and took the adorable newborn shots. I am so happy with how they turned out! Thanks again Kaitlyn!

Halloween Fun!!!

I love Halloween! I love the costumes, the decorations, the crisp fall air, and of course the candy! Here are a few photos of our celebrations . . .

My friend Kara through an AWESOME pirate party. She had bandanna's and eye patches for everyone, a fun drink bar, yummy treats, carmeled apple decorating, and every pirate decoration you can possibly think of! Thanks again Kara!




Khyl and I took the girls to the Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving Point. I was definitely impressed! I think we will have to make it a tradition. They had tons of games, pony rides, a clown making balloons, and cookies. We even went on a wagon ride where we saw a headless horseman!





Khyl and I went to an awesome Halloween party at Jeff and Stacy Wilding's house. Khyl was dressed like Rex Kwon Do from Napoleon Dynamite, and I was Starla. I am always amazed at the awesome costumes that people come up with. We had a super yummy dinner, and the scariest scavenger hunt I have ever been on. The destinations were chosen from real locations of tragic and scary events. For example, we had to go to the spot where a teen girl's body was found after being murdered by Ted Bundy. A girl in our group had to lay down in the spot in the fetal position and we had to get a picture to prove it. Is that not the creepiest thing ever??? I haven't been that scared in a long time. It was seriously was tons of fun!

Translation

Once upon a time there was an elmo seat it said "ha dee ha dee". It was singing crazy. And so he got into his red car and flew. And there was a ghost that saw Elmo and it said "ooo ooo". And it was so scary. He said "Oh no, I'm scared of the wind. Lock the door!". And so, the ghost opened it and it was just Eszmarelda. So he was saying "Oh, oh no. It's not scary". So he flew in his red car and he layed down, he layed down, and it was a Ghost. It was Santa. He found his pink pillow.

Taylorese - Taylor's Halloween Tale!!

Can you speak Taylorese??? I am in my 3rd year of learning it, and still am not completely fluent. Go ahead . . . give it a try.

I'll give the translation for her scary Halloween story in a couple of days, but I'd like to see if anyone can even understand a portion of her story.

Good luck!

Inspirational Slideshow

I thought y'all should check out this beautiful slide show while it is still online. I fell in love with the music, and bought the c.d (which is rare for me to do, but I love it!). Enjoy!

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/

"I WANT MY WIFE TO HAVE YOUR BABY!!"

So, we love Jack Johnson.

We went to his concert last month and it was so cool. Getting general admission 'pit' tickets landed us front and center and about 12 people from the stage. Between songs I found myself really opening up to him. I yelled "jack, you own me," "don't quit now, jack," and other funny things that had the group around us chuckling and giggling - but no reaction from the band.

Well, I decided I needed to pull something out of my hat that would really get a reaction from jack himself. I opened up my mouth and it just came to me: "I want my wife to have your baby." It got a lot of laughs from all our new friends standing around us as jack johnson started into his song "same girl."

He was only a couple lines into the song when he quit, looked down, and said with a big smile on his face "I just messed up because of what you just yelled." It was so great!" Then he told the rest of the audience of 20,000 "so this guy up here just yelled 'i want my wife to have your baby,' and i was tryin' to play the song, but then i started thinkin' about it - and i messed up the words..."

At that point i grabbed shelly's legs at her knees and lifted her up so he could see her. Her new claim to fame is that, when he looked at her, he said "you're lovely." Isn't that awesome? He such an amazing guy. And he's a gentleman, too - if i were him I would've taken me up on the offer! Maybe he thinks we were in it just for the child support or something.



Anyway, in case you don't know us, it was a joke. AND, if you do know us and haven't heard, shelly is actually prego with baby number three for us!!! Due April 24th so if you're a guy that means we don't know if it's a 'princess' or a 'prince' in tay talk.

Lots of fun - life is great - we love all of you.

- Khyl

Viva Las Vegas!

Every now and then Khyl has work conventions in Vegas. Sometimes I decide to tag along and take advantage of the free hotel stay. So, that's what we did last weekend. His employers always put him in the same hotel, which is, The Golden Nugget. My favorite part is that it has an amazing pool. It even includes a waterslide that goes through huge fish tank with shark! Taylor and Lexi absolutely LOVE it.

This was not a posed shot. Lexi had this smile on her face almost the whole 2 hours we swam!

This is the official 'Golden Nugget'. It's the largest golden nugget on display in the world.

Beauty and the Beast

I have the coolest next door neighbors. Because we live in college town, we have singles on both sides. I have made good friends with the girls who live to the south of us. About a week ago, Daphni called to take Taylor on a date. I ended up going along as well because it was to see 'Beauty and the Beast' perform in a play on Center Street. It was seriously so much fun! Taylor absolutely loved seeing Bell perform in person. She sat wide eyed and amazed the entire time. At the end she told me she wanted to be freinds with Bell, so we took her up to meet her. I think it made her year!

September Fools

Let me start by apologizing for the 2 year gap in blogs. I really have no good excuse . Let's be honest . . . is there a good excuse? Anyway, there really has been so much that has occurred since Father's Day. Lexi started crawling about a month ago. Taylor learned to ride her first bike. Khyl sold the website he built to the owners of the company he works for. Lexi got her first teeth (four of them!). Taylor really does have some nice bones in her body as she grows out of the terrible two's. I got a small job that I bring Tay and Lexi to. Khyl broke 3 ribs, and I am pregnant with twins!
Okay, so the last two were just to see if you were paying attention. They are false. However, I will strive to be much more diligent in my posts. Life moves to quickly to just skip over a few months!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Thanks for being the perfect Daddy that you are, Khyl! We love you!!!



So, lets be honest, we have all fallen asleep at church a time or two, but I feel this is crossing the line. Today in church Taylor and Lexi completely zonked out! I just had to get a picture of it because this has never happened before. Taylor was not feeling well, so she has a good excuse. But the fact that Lexi was out too just topped it all off.

Camping

Friday we went camping with some friends up Spanish Fork Canyon and had a great time! Taylor even woke up crying "I like camping, I like camping" in the middle of the night. I don't know if she was just trying to convince herself, or what, but we really do like camping.

Baby Boot Camp

Taylor is still in the process of putting Lexi through Baby Boot Camp. As you can see from this video clip, Lexi is completely desensitized to any type of fear or pain. She is such a good sport!

My claim to fame!

This morning my siblings and I decided to go be part of the David Archuletta fan crowd at Gateway Mall- and ended up on the front page of myfoxutah.com! We somehow talked my little brother Nate into wearing the 'heart' shirt to be funny. He is such a good sport. The picture is of us and 3 of Holly's friends. Pretty crazy huh?



From left to right: Holly's friend, my sister Holly, my bro Nate, my sis Heather, Holly's friend, Me, my sis Steph, and Critter. Then in the front row: Lexi (no- she's not suffocating and that's not a diaper bag on her face), and Steph's baby, Phoenix.

The one and only . . . Bumbo!

This is my latest favorite purchase. My sister Steph introduced the Bumbo to be and I have been in love ever since! It is like an extra set of hands. I think I have spoiled Lexi with how much I hold her, and setting her in this bad boy is pretty much the only way I can put her down. Highly Recommended!