2008 in Review

I didn't mail cards and photos this year, I simply ran out of time and ideas. I played around with a few card ideas but none of them came together, including the one where I dropped the whole spool of trim in the pot of tea, by accident, and was thrilled that it turned out so great, now I have yards of tea stained trim to use on another project!

As I've received brag letters from family and friends I've wanted to respond. And believe me there were some that made me want to embellish the truth--we are such simple folk compared to some of you--but I haven't made myself sit down and write. But tonight the memories are flooding my mind as I review the past and think of the present. I'm learning that the future will take care of itself.

January began in a thrilling way for me. I took my first piecing class from Meridy on New Year's Eve and spent the whole party in the sewing room (a.k.a. Tim and Meridy's bedroom). I pieced two quilt tops my first month and two more in February. I have always wanted to learn how to quilt but knew I would never finish a quilt because I couldn't get the quilting done. When Meridy began showing me her gorgeous quilts, that were machine quilted, I started to think maybe I could learn to do it too because I couldn't stand not doing it! Reilly and I learned together and her quilt is simply beautiful. It would be appropriate to say that I was/am completely obsessed! The true disappointment is that the only real quilt shop in town closed this year. I was giving two of my quilts to new babies in March so I sent them to Meridy and Martha to quilt for me.

In March Alan and Peggy came to visit (they brought me the quilted quilts and I bound them with a few tutorial phone calls to Meridy and then secret ones to Martha since I didn't want Mer to know I was such an idiot!). I gave one to my friend Jan who was astounded to learn I had made the quilt, she said, "I thought you bought it at Mormon Handicraft or something!" what a compliment! Libby threw a baseball through the sliding glass door the morning Alan got to town. I think she was amazed when she came to get me and tell me what happened and I just sat and watched the safety glass crack. We could hear it for a couple of hours, it was totally cool. I think she thought I would kill her but not only was I fascinated by the glass but it also solidified in my mind what work Alan was going to do when he got there that afternoon. I told him I wanted shelves put in where the door had been. He looked over the plan and got to work. First he had Libby finish off the window with a sledge hammer, then he filled in the floor and brought it up to the level of the living room. He blasted out the rest of the wall in the back of the house--remember it's March--and we lived without a back wall for a week or so. Then he and James worked themselves to death, practically, moving the wall out about a foot and a half and putting in built in cupboards, grinding the floor to make it work for tile, killing the power to the whole house, restoring the power to the whole house, even Southern California Edison couldn't fix it, but Robbie the retired electrician and a can of WD40 came to the rescue. They rewired the attic, we should have died by fire years ago, installed outlets outside, and made about 65 trips to Home Depot--sure glad that's in town now! Alan and Peggy took a short "vacation" to visit Kim and then came back to work.We were so inspired that when our tax return arrived about a week later we went and bought tile and James spent every waking moment of March, April, May, and June doing tile. The rest of us just did what we could around the job site. Our stuff lived out back for those 4 months, covered in plastic and we just hung on for dear life. It didn't rain once the whole time the stuff was out there either! The tile looks fabulous! I love the continuity it gives my whole house. I have a pantry, I have a laundry room, Reilly has a bedroom and I have a scrapbook room that are all part of the house, it is simply amazing! Reilly also finished high school in March. As soon as she turned 16 she took the California Proficiency Exam and passed, she stayed in school until the end of the year.

As if the "project" wasn't enough, April was a somewhat busy month. Martha and Barry came to visit, which was fun for all of us but the real highlight of their trip was when they left here and went to Catalina, that sounds like I was glad they went but really it was a highlight for Libby and Truman because they got to go with the Roberts on this dream vacation. They got to snorkel and go on a submersible craft, they ate seafood and shopped for souvenirs and stayed in a spiffy hotel full of cool antiques. I'm just a tad bit jealous but I love looking at the photos knowing my little ones got the vacation of a lifetime thanks to their generous Aunt and Uncle who treated them like their own. Martha and Barry were probably really relieved to drop them back at home and shrink back to 4 kids! I can't wait for their next visit. I love it when I get visitors! The month ended very busy as I had been elected or duped or something into being the team captain for a Relay for Life team. The relay was on the last Saturday of the month. James had a class he had to take that day. Reilly had her first date--PROM--that day. It was busy, it was CRAZY. We raised over $8,000 and had a fantastic time. I was a little resentful and a little frazzled but agreed to do it again next year and it's coming up really soon--yikes!

May, hmm... I can't remember much of anything in May, Truman turned 6. I wonder if anything else happened...maybe that's the month he got staples in his head after running into a wall, oh, no that was during the Super Bowl... I remember because it was on TV in the emergency rooom. Well tile continued to be put down, in fact I know we finished the living room and were starting to get excited about how it was turning out.

School got out in June and we took Reilly to Utah to work in Hanksville for the summer. It was exciting but a little scary to drive her up and drop her off. I fell in love with Circleville as we drove through and wanted to move there right away, maybe it was the cowboy on his horse that waved to me as we drove by. Libby and I had a fun time driving together. We stopped in Cedar City on the way home and saw Kody and Ashley and their new little baby, so sweet. Libby wouldn't let me just drive home without stopping she's a social person, so strange and wonderful.

At the end of June Duke stopped by--on his way to pick up a dirt bike he bought on ebay--and took Noah to Hanksville to work as well. So it was a really unusual summer vacation for Me and James, Libby and Truman to pack up and head for Utah. We drove the Toyota, no need for a van. We drove up through Arizona and couldn't believe there was gas for sale under $2 a gallon, it was already close to $4 where we lived. We drove through Monument Valley and went to Blanding to visit the Nielsens. Oh how we miss them! We had such a great time in Blanding and wanted to stay forever. Cooper and Delaney missed seeing Reilly and Noah but we all had a good time. From Blanding we drove over to Hanksville and what a drive, I know it's out of the way but everyone should make that drive at least once in their lives, it was unbelievably beautiful, as only the red Utah desert is. We loved connecting with the Alvey's and the Pei's. Most especially the kids loved going to Capitol Reef to play in the waterfall. After hiking around and swimming for awhile they got brave enough to jump off the cliffs into the pools below. Truman went first and surprised us all--well not really--he's kinda like that. Once Libby finally got brave enough she didn't want to quit, and James jumped too. Me and Noah didn't even think about it! We loved the 4th of July Hanksville style. Which meant the ambulance driving through town with its siren blaring to call everyone to the Scout pancake breakfast. At the breakfast one of townsfolk announced he was offering free plane rides throughout the day and so we rushed to the airport for one of the most thrilling experiences of our lives. I went up with Truman and Libby and we flew all around the town and beyond. The landscape was breathtaking and Truman loved thinking he was the pilot. When we were back on the ground we rushed to make the parade. The citizens of Hanksville love a parade and everyone drove their truck, tractor, or four wheeler in the parade--and they all threw some sort of treat. We got more Otter Pops, t-shirts, boxes of Mac-n-Cheese, and candy than we could carry. July is also the month of Girl's Camp. And we survived. Libby loved everything about camp and made sure to track me down once or twice a day for a hug and a few minutes of chatter. Reilly had a good time too and didn't mind being around me this year. After camp we took Reilly back to Hanksville and brought Noah home for Scout camp. He had an incredible time in the Sequoias. Noah was made to be a Scout--or Scouting was made for Noah.

August came too soon for all of us. Libby got her hair done like a skunk, black (dark brown) on bottom and white on top--just for fun... and because she was turning 12. James was back to work and soon the kids were back in school. Reilly started first at Copper Mountain College. And the next week everyone was back. Noah as a freshman at Yucca High, Libby is in 6th grade at Onaga and Truman is in 1st grade. All my kids gone--well sorta--Reilly didn't have class on Monday and Friday and only till noon on Wednesday. That first week I sat around and read Breaking Dawn. I had saved it so I could read uninterrupted. It felt decadent and luxurious and only lasted one week. I have been running ever since and don't know how I ever got anything done with kids at home during the day before!

In September Noah turned 14 and was ordained to be a teacher. He's growing up and is almost a Life Scout. He's doing well in school and even works around the house when he's not hiding out reading a book or playing with his DS.

Halloween comes next and Reilly decided that instead of doing what her Young Women leaders wanted to do for their Daddy/Daughter Halloween party she was going to take it over as a Personal Progress project. So October was very busy planning and working and shopping and decorating. We worked hard as a family and the event was a success. Reilly's decorations and foods were great. They wanted finger foods so we gave them "finger" foods. We had green bread stick fingers, with almond fingernails, chicken fingers with marinara blood for dipping, and mozzarella fingers. For drinks we bought the most incredible goblets that look like a skeleton hand holding a glass, I bought dry ice to go in each glass and about a thousand little flicker candles to light the place eerily. Well I didn't know you can't store dry ice in a freezer for 3 days. The bag was empty when I went to get it. No one really missed it, but Reilly and I were heart broken. It was worse than the fact that James had to work late that day and my kids were at a Daddy/ Daughter event without a Daddy--at least he showed up at the end! Presentation is very important to us Powell women!


For Thanksgiving this year our district had a whole week off school so we got to go to Utah for a week in November. We had such a great time visiting with family and making more quilts. We had a Heifer International fundraiser as part of our Thanksgiving celebration and it tuned out fun. I roped Meridy and Martha into helping me make quilts for the boys for Christmas and we had a marathon sewing day and two marathon quilting days. (see previous post about the quilts...) Thank you Thank you Martha and Meridy and your families who sacrificed so much. To everyone else I'm sorry I was so unsocial that week, I wanted to play but there was work to be done in order to make Christmas happen!

And here we are almost to the end of December. We had a wonderful Christmas. Santa brought a wii to the kids and James, Libby, Noah and Truman have had such fun. I've cooked and napped and cleaned and enjoyed the whole vacation. Reilly has read and refused to play the wii and slept and watched movies. We have been blessed beyond measure. We have many friends and loved ones who have taken care of our kids this year--and us too. We have had prayers answered and we've even grown up a little bit I think. I'm not sure we could have done one more thing this year and survived. The stream of life was packed full and the flow kept us all moving along like we should. How blessed we are.