Yep, you guessed it, another vacation. This time we went to San Francisco. Dave was a board examiner for a dental board at the University of San Francisco and since school was out, we decided to join him. We spent 3 days without him and 3 with him. We had great weather and got a good workout every day. Here is Hannah and Zach on one of the many hills we walked.



This is at Alcatraz. Very windy but very cool.



We celebrated my 40th (I'm not ashamed to admit that!) birthday in San Francisco. That is a Far Side collection book I am holding. My favorite thing to make me laugh.



Hannah took this picture from the top of the Coit tower. Great picture, isn't it?

Remember the movie "The Princess Diaries?" That is the same one that was used in the movie. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, go watch it again.

At the musee mecanique. We had a blast there. Didn't know that old arcade games could be so fun.

Hannah and Zach on the wharf.

Notice the street sign :)

Thanks for taking us along with you, Dave. Where should we go next year?

It's been a week since my baby girl had her fifteenth birthday. I always start her birthday off by telling Hannah all about the day she was born. She's heard it multiple times and her comment is usually, "Yeah, yeah Mom, I know." I also make her look at baby pictures and watch home movies. I am a pround mom. Hannah was 11 days late. Dave's grandpa died ten days before Hannah was born so we think she was spending time with him and getting to know the ins and outs of the Powell family because she is very much like her dad and that side of the family. Hannah was finally born at 9:45 p.m. (Iowa time). She weighed 8 lbs. 4 1/2 oz. and was 22 inches long, a good healthy baby. Her eyes were brown from birth, they really were. A lot of people tell Hannah that just isn't possible, but it's true. She looked like the Gerber baby. Simply beautiful. Many people asked me if she was born c-section because her head was so perfectly round. It wasn't misshaped from birth at all.
Hannah was a good baby and she has always been a good girl. She is so easy to please. Look at the picture of her birthday cake. She wanted a graham cracker cookie tower. Just graham crackers and frosting and, I can't forget, mint chocolate chip ice cream. Her friends decorated her locker and made her a crown to wear all day. She has great friends. She was excited about every present she received, even the planner and the eye brow/eye lash tool. I told her she could exchange or return every gift if she didn't like what I got her but she insisted she loved everything. As we looked at pictures and home movies I used the phrases, "Life before Hannah" and "Life after Hannah." April 27, 1995 was truly the day my life changed forever. I can't imagine life without you, baby girl. I love you, Hannah, more than you know.

Over Spring Break/Easter/General Conference we went to Zions National Park. Hannah and Zach both took a friend along. Hannah brought her friend Jenny Foster and Zach brought Michael Zackrison whom Zach has known since they were babies so he's really part of the family.
We took some great hikes. The first was to the observation area. It was 8 miles and a gain of aobut 2000 feet. It was a little cold, but that makes for good hiking. The view of the canyon was worth the hike.

We did Angels Landing as well. We didn't go the last 1/2 mile really scary part. Jenny and Michael wanted to but we told them to come back with their families and let their parents be responsible for the danger. I would have felt horrible if something had happened to them on our watch.

What is Easter without decorating eggs and having an Easter egg hunt? It was a quick hunt. There's not that many places to hide things in an RV.

Well, another cruise. You would think that all we do is take vacations. Maybe we do or they are the only things exciting in our lives worth blogging about. The cruise was to the Mexican Riviera with the Utah Academy of General Dentistry. It was a wet week. I love this picture of the overcast day but it does explain the weather for a good part of the week.

I love clouds and sunsets.

No cruise would be complete without the unlimited soft serve ice cream. Actually this one was frozen yogurt, even better, and better for you. I didn't feel nearly as guilty eating it.

We invited some friends to go with us. Jen and Bart Nicholes. Jen and I were roommates at Snow College and Dave and Bart were roommates there as well. Jen and Dave were in the same ward in South Jordan and classmates at Bingham High School so Jen introduced me to Dave and Dave introduced us to Bart and the rest is history. We laughed and laughed and reminisced and

had a great time together.

It was very relaxing. I preferred to sit in bed, under the covers, and read or watch a movie - that was after I went to the gym, of course. I still gained 3 pounds on the cruise. The cookies were my down fall.

Dave preferred the deck.

Mazatlan was our warmest and prettiest day. We hiked up to the light house.

I never wrote about out trip to Iowa last August. Hannah and Zach were both born there but we moved back to Utah while they were little. We wanted to take them back and show them the sights of their birth place.

One of our favorite places to go in Iowa was the Amana Colonies. They have wonderful restaurants with tons of food.















This is typical midwest farm land. Hannah commented that she really liked it. I told her that it's because she has it in her blood.

We spent a few days in Nauvoo as well.

Hannah

We had a big milestone at our house this past month. Hannah got her braces off. After a little more than 2 years the hard work has paid off. She now has perfect teeth, according to Dr. Hoggan, her orthodontist. Here are some before and after pictures to prove it.

New Moon

Last night, Mom and I went to go see New Moon. Yupp it was amazingggggg(: I am a huge Jacob fan, so this movie was the best. Taylor Lautner is soooo gorgeous(: almost as gorgeous as Zac Efron, and that's saying a lot. Everyone needs to see this!!(: