You've got questions? I've got answers. Part 2: All about me and my guy!

Welcome to Part 2 of Ask me anything!

This part is about my relationship with my husband.

Jen, Hit 40 and Missy want to know how I met my husband. Kat takes it a step further and wants to know every detail about the early years of our relationship and asks

-How did you meet your hubby?
Alex and I meet at a party in Auburn on January 1, 2000. My little sister in my sorority (who also happened to be named Emily) was dating Alex's brofriend, Webb (who still tries to take full credit for introducing us). Emily and her roommates were having a party and Webb came along with a few of his fraternity brothers. About halfway through the night Emily was concerned that Webb's buddies were getting bored and asked me to go talk to one of them so they wouldn't leave. After scoping out all three of them, I decided on Alex. (No offense to the other guys.) We hit it off that night and much later on Alex drove me home. He called me the next day and asked if I wanted to go golfing with him and his friend and his friend's girlfriend. I accepted despite the fact that I had never even held a golf club in my life. Fortunately, we were given the job of cart-driving. He asked me out again to a party the following weekend. And here's just a funny story: He had a pledge drive him over to my sorority hall to pick me up. When he introduced me to the pledge he introduced me at Natalie, this girl he dated before me! Yep, I was pretty ticked off. But, he eventually earned my forgiveness.

-How long did you date?
We started dating in January 2000 and in April, Alex broke up with me. I went home to my parent's house (they were living in Philadelphia, PA at the time) for the summer. Alex and I talked some during that time. My parents told me that if it was meant to be it would work out. About halfway through the summer, Alex told me he had made a huge mistake, and that I was the most amazing person ever, and that he couldn't go on living if we didn't get back together. (OK, I cant' remember his exact words, but it was something really close to that.) We went got back to Auburn for our final year we started dating again.

Here are a few pictures from when we were dating.

Fall 2000 in front of Jordan-Hare Stadium

Auburn vs UGA 2000 (we're standing in front of Alex's fraternity house)
New Years 2001, at my parents' house in Philadelphia, PA

Spring 2001, right after we were engaged.

-Did he or you propose? How?
On March 17, 2001, Alex proposed. We had dinner together earlier that evening and then he blindfolded me and drove me all around and eventually stopped and made me wait in the car. A few minutes later he came back and led me (blindfold still on) to a bench and had me sit down. When I took the blindfold off, I was sitting in the Arboretum, there were candles all around (only about half of them were lit though...it was a really breezy night!) and Alex was down on one knee. He asked if I would marry him and I don't think I actually said yes. I think I just jumped up screaming! Another funny story: Alex had not told our families that he was going to propose. So when we called to tell them we were engaged, Alex apologized to my dad for not asking them first. And my dad actually said, "Well, we'll have lots of time to talk later." In his "firm voice"! Alex looked a little nervous then!
Alex had told some of our friends, my roommates, and sorority sisters that he was going to propose and had arranged for everyone to meet later on that evening to celebrate with us. It was a wonderful proposal and celebration. (I looked for pictures from the night we were engaged, but couldn't find any on my computer.)
Oh, and here's just another detail to the story. We got engaged on a Friday night and that following Monday, I was sitting in class. There were some guys in the back talking to their buddy about how they had a paintball game going on in the Arboretum and some guy came up and asked if they wouldn't mind stopping their game for a few minutes while he proposed to his girlfriend!

-What is the most memorable moment from your wedding day?
Hm, there are so many wonderful things I remember about our wedding. I felt like my wedding was absolutely perfect. Well, except for the dress incident of course. I don't think I have a "most" memorable moment. But one moment I do really remember is when the preacher introduced us as Mr and Mrs Powell, I just couldn't stop smiling. I have this ridiculously huge smile on my face (and I'm totally aware that I look ridiculous but I simply cannot stop smiling) and we started walking the aisle all happy and excited and I completely forgot to grab my flowers. But we were married and that was all that I cared about! (Although I do also remember a distinct, but brief feeling like I had signed my life away and a "What have I done?!" moment right after that. But I quickly moved back on to insanely happy!)
I did laugh when we said our vows which kind of made Alex irritated and he actually whispered, "What's wrong with you?!" to me!

See? Goofy smile and no flowers.

Julie also wants to know: How did you know that your hubby was "the one."

Truly, it was when we broke up. I had dated people before and there had been all kind of break-ups: mutual, his decision, my decision, etc. But I was just upset when Alex and I broke up. Really upset. And I just had a feeling in my gut that it wasn't over.

Tina asks Do you and your hubby have "date nights" scheduled? If so, how often?

We don't really keep a set schedule although we do try and get babysitters and go out on a fairly regular basis. We kind of go in spurts though. Sometimes, it seems we have a lot of dates bunched together and then we'll go for a while without a chance to go out. We do feel that dates are important though and always look forward to a date!

Lastly, I wanted to let you know that I've updated Part 1 of Ask Me Anything. My mom and aunt felt that I wasn't very accurate in my story regarding Jack's birth and did not give the glory to God as I should have. I did not add all the details, but I will blog about that one day if people would be interested in reading it.

I added this on the end of that question: *Update* Truly, I had a lot of complications and problems during my labor and attempted delivery of Jack. For a while things were very scary and had God's hand not been guiding us all the way, there may have been a very different outcome. I am very grateful for all the people who were praying for me during that time and most of all for the wonderful blessing God gave me that day: a sweet, healthy baby named Jack.