Happy birthday!

Joey recently celebrated a b-day. Happy birthday to my favorite guy!

Just for fun, here he is 30 years ago when he turned three: 

What a cute little guy! Those cheeks look so pinch-able :).

And here he is 30 years later (with his own three year old on his lap!):

I think we're going to make it a tradition to have cheesecake for his birthday.

My greatest asset

Tonight Hailey went to bed at 6:40pm. Miles is still awake, but he's hanging out with his dad right now. In fact, just a couple of minutes ago I looked out the front window and saw this:

Miles and Joey love each other!

I could hear Miles and Joey chatting through the window. The thought occurred to me that the greatest asset I have in raising this little boy is his dad.  I think the same thing is true for Hailey and this baby boy I'm about to give birth to too. I'm so lucky to have Joey! He's not only my greatest asset when it comes to parenting. He's my greatest asset in just about every way!

January 2011

What mom wouldn't love to walk in on this?!

He did it!

Joey finished his Master's Degree on Thursday! It was a lot of work for him. The kids and I missed him so much while he was getting through it. We love you Joey! Congrats!

Name game

 My personal favorite is how Miles used to say his name--"Doughy"

Joey has three names he is commonly called and I thought it would be fun to record it.

When I met Joey in 2002 he introduced himself to me and everyone else as Joey. Everyone at BYU called him Joey.

 But one of the first things I noticed about Joey's family when I met them was that they called him JOE. My favorite memory of this is when one of his aunts leaned over to me and said, "I'm Joe's favorite aunt."  I didn't realize she was talking about the guy I only knew as Joey so I leaned in closer looking at the crowd of relatives around us and asked, "Which one's Joe?" 

Then Joey started work as a technical support for the Church. Church employees would call for technical support over the phone and Joseph would answer. Everyone at his work knew him as Joseph. He started introducing himself as Joseph to everybody. While he introduced himself as Joseph I always referred to him as Joey. Before long we had other newlywed friends where the wife would call him Joey (because that's what I would say when I was talking to her) and the husband would call him Joseph (because that's how he introduced himself.) Sooner or later they'd ask what exactly they should call him anyway--Joey or Joseph?  

We ended up moving back to Joey's hometown just by chance so he could work at Raytheon. This has complicated the name issue a little more. A couple of months ago a new mom I'd never met in our ward came up to me and asked, "Are you Joe's wife?" and I already knew she must have grown up with Joey. My friends and our neighbors all call him Joey because they talk to me most often and hear me refer to him by that name. And most of the guys in our ward as well as everybody at Raytheon call him Joseph. Then there's our families--my use of Joey and Joey's use of Joseph seem to have worn off on family and he gets called a whole jumble of Joe, Joey, and Joseph from the extended family at this point. I can't keep track of what relative calls him what anymore. Although Granny Hancock will always call him Joe and Grandma Jones will always call him Joey--that I know for sure!

And apparently I've changed too. I now call him all three names... He recently told me he can tell when I'm upset about something because I'll start calling him Joe--I guess I do this without even realizing it. And sometimes Joseph sounds good so I use it. And of course Joey works best for most every day purposes.   

So what should you call him? I don't know. Call him whatever you want. Just don't call him late for dinner!

Sneaky Husband

A few weeks ago I received an email from Joey when he was at work. It said:

Subject: Bad news

Tiff,

It looks like the Equinox is leaking oil. There's a small puddle under the vehicle now and it was a little smelly as I was driving into work. I heard a big "clang" noise driving in this morning. I'm hoping it was a rock and not a piece of the engine. It drove fine after that; I'm just concerned about the leak.

I spoke with Douglas Auto and they can take it in tomorrow morning. Do you want to meet at my parents so we can drop it off tonight?

-Joey

We’ve met at his parent’s house after work to take one of our cars into the shop many times, so without giving it another thought I met up with Joey at 5pm.

Turns out, the car was fine. Running smoothly! It was all a hoax---so he could take me out to dinner!

He wanted to surprise me and he did. Joey’s mom watched the kids for us while we went to Olive Garden. We had a great night and I am still impressed he fooled me so well!! I was  grateful for the date…earlier that day he called me and I mentioned to him he was the only adult I'd talked to that day and I missed him more than usual and I even hesitated to say good-bye when he needed to get back to work…little did I know he had the perfect date planned out on a day I could really use it! I’m grateful for Joey!

Father and Sons Campout

Ever since Miles was barely a year old Joey's taken him on a father and son's camp out every May. This was their third time going. Joey's Dad always goes too and usually so does his older brother and nephew!

This year they went out to Carr Canyon. Miles was so excited! Did the excitement wear off by the time this picture was snapped? ;) I heard the breakfast burritos were great!


(There's lots of kid's Miles' age in our ward. Here's two of his buds! P.S. hope you don't mind I'm using your picture Lynette!)

Watching for dad

When it's that glorious time of day for daddy to come home to us we sometimes watch out the window for his car.

How's the knee?

Great!

Yesterday the doctor recommended he get a bike and start riding it often. So last night we bought a new bike. As you can see, it hasn't even been a week and he's almost back to normal. What a pleasant surprise! He keeps telling me that he's trying to get used to not having his knee "lock up" or go out of place anymore.

Arthroscopic Medial Meniscectomy (Knee Surgery)

Joseph has a bum knee. Today he had his second surgery on it. The doctor called it an arthroscopic medial meniscectomy--but I'll just say that they fixed his knee up. Curious about what was going on with his knee? Of course you are! So here it is:

Let's pretend this is Joey's knee.



You see the ACL up there? He riped that a couple years back and had surgery to repair it. His knee has never been the same. Then you see the meniscus at the bottom? He had a tear there. Also, the cartilage had problems too. His knee has been weak, popping out of place, and sometimes painful these last few months.

He'll be spoiled--long naps whenever he wants, food in bed, laptop nearby, etc. I don't mind the extra work cause he'd do the same for me.

Here he is tonight, about half an hour ago:



He's already made himself comfortable and is doing just fine. I can't wait to see what physical therapy and exercise will do for his knee.

Get well soon Joey!

Joey adds: I found this video of what actually happend to me. Before the operation I was told I had a tear and that they would sucher it together. At post-op Dr. Morgam told me that they removed excess meniscus that was causing the discomfort and discolation. Check out the chompers on that thing!

You only turn thirty once

Or you never turn thirty and just keep turning twenty-nine over and over again!

Joey's birthday is tomorrow (the 2nd). Joey and I have a song. In the lyrics it says, "baby, baby you are the world to me." Well, happy birthday to the guy who is the world to me.

Happy Fathers Day!

I am really thankful for all the dads in my life.

Dad, thanks for teaching me not to be scared of the dark, picking me up from kindergarten, spending one Christmas day putting together doll houses for Amber and me (that was my favorite Christmas), and teaching me to have a positive mental attitude and to always try my best.

Dad-in-law, thanks for teaching Joey so many good things as he grew up. Thanks for helping us to fix our cars when they don't work, lending us your car at times, and even coming to our house on occasion to watch Miles so we could go on an occasional date.

Joey, you save me every day. I couldn't do what I do without you. It's a lot easier to be a mom with a good guy by my side!

Happy Fathers day!

Fin!

It's done! Well, for now. We finished the paving, set up the planter bricks, and laid the grass. I'm glad to be able to take it easier on the weekends now, spend time with Tiff, and hang out with Miles.


My dad, me, and Rion last Saturday. Work in progress.


Tiffany packing sand into the bricks. Here I am checking the sprinklers.


Anton & Tom working on the planter. Me sanding the grass.


The finished product.

Special thanks to Rion, Grandpa, Anton, Tom, R&R Pizza, the Donut Wheel, and Eegee's.

Joey and Miles

Joey took this picture. Can you tell who Miles' best friend is?

The two men in my life...

Here they are reading. I love 'em so much!