Our Poor Abandoned Blog...

I know, our blog has been abandoned... lots to show and tell. We've been busy busy with little Joseph turning 1, me finishing my semester, and LOTS of cleaning! We've been going through all the boxes, drawers, and everything in our house, trying to get more organized. It feels good to have so much done! Oh, and this coming semester is sure to be a busy one for us, too. Jopes and I will both be in school, Jopes will be working the early morning custodial job on campus, as well as serving in our ward bishopric. He was sustained and set apart last week. It will be an adventure with little Joseph in sacrament meetings. I know that as soon as he figures out his daddy is up on the stand, it'll be a struggle to keep him from running up to him and distracting everyone. But it's an adventure we're ready to embrace, I guess... Wish us luck!

And I will post more and pictures in the near future!!

Jopes' Finally Got to Celebrate His Golden Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Jopes remembers finding out when he was little what a GOLDEN birthday was, and thinking, "I have to wait until I'm 24 for my golden birthday?!" So, needless to say, he's been looking forward to this birthday for a long time. No pressure, right? Ha. It still wasn't anything too special, but it was fun to plan, and if nothing else, it was fun to spend the day focused on my wonderful husband.

First thing birthday morning.

2/24/2010

The Presents (most of which he knew about before... lame!)

Joseph LOVED the balloons. Truthfully, we got them for him, not the birthday boy...

Since Jopes knew about all of his presents, I tried coming up with something creative. The result was these envelopes, which were opened at different points throughout the day.

1. DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 11:00AM.

-Go to McDonald's. Order whatever you want for lunch. Also order... (stuff for Joseph and I).

2. OPEN AFTER YOU HAVE ORDERED LUNCH

-Go to the Romney building. Meet outside of the large saltwater aquarium.

3. OPEN AFTER ELIZABETH'S LAST CLASS

-Find a redbox. Get whatever movie YOU would like to watch later tonight.

4. OPEN WHILE DINNER IS COOKING

-It's time to go camping. Prepare yourself for a grown man's dinner, some intense winter fishing, and of course, s'mores!

Sealed with a "kiss"

So, the two boys brought lunch and we ate between my last two classes. The food was yummy, and then we spent some time checking out all the cool fish in the saltwater aquarium. Jopes hopes to have a large one like it someday.

After my last class, we stopped and got a redbox, and then went home to make his birthday dinner and cake!

THEN,

We made a tent inside our living room since it's so cold outside!

Jopes requested Hamburger Pie for his birthday dinner.

Gone Fishing!

The pole was made of pretzel rods, the line made of pull-n-peel, gummy worms for bait, and swedish fish to catch... it was cute, though Joseph wasn't so sure about it.

He preferred eating the items instead!

Teaching Joseph how to fish:

His #1 favorite part was eating the s'more makings... AKA, CHOCOLATE!

Yum!

No, he didn't really eat the whole thing. Just a couple bites for the pictures. :)

Little Joseph loved to help us make the cake:

The finished product:

I am NO cake decorator, but it tasted good!

Little Joseph's reaction to the yummy birthday cake:

He was so happy :)

I LOVE MY BOYS!!

Jopes, we hope you enjoyed your birthday as much as we enjoy being with you.

WE LOVE YOU!!

You're the best husband and daddy in the whole world.

:)

Lots of Pictures from January!!

Not gonna lie, we have the funnest, cutest baby... see for yourself!

The many faces of the high chair...

This thing is COOL!

I'm real good at sharing!

Hi everybody!

Bye-Bye!

January Joys

The other night, our friends, Mike, Summer, and Paxton, called to see if we wanted to go sledding with them. Almost before Jopes was even done telling me why they were calling, he said, "She says yes." :)

We weren't at the park for very long because the two little boys weren't too fond of the dark, but we got a little sledding in, and it was fun!

After sledding, we went back to Mike and Summer's and had an awesome spaghetti dinner. It was fun to see Paxton and Joseph play together.

(joseph's not wearing a shirt because he got it very dirty with spaghetti)

Lesson Learned...

We learned a lesson during our trip back home:

DON'T GO OUT OF TOWN

WITH A DEAD CAMERA BATTERY

AND FORGET THE CHARGER!

Yep. The first time we pulled our camera out to take some pictures on our trip, we found out the battery was very close to dead. So, we only have a few pictures. And I mean, VERY few. But here they are, plus a video from tonight. Enjoy!

"This is why I like sitting with dad!"

One tuckered out little guy...

A highchair is not JUST for eating:

Home From the Holidays

We got to go down to Mesa for Christmas for 2 whole weeks! We had a great time with both our families and now we're back home in Rexburg. I'm back in school now, taking 13 credits. My schedule is pretty nice. I don't have any classes on Tuesday/Thursday, so I still get to be home with my baby those days. Yay!! Jopes is off-track now, so he gets to take care of little Joseph while I'm at school. He is also searching for a job. Little Joseph's top teeth are FINALLY breaking through! They started coming in back at Thanksgiving time, so we are very glad that they are coming in now. He keeps getting better at walking, though we're not quite there yet. Heavenly Father has greatly blessed our little family and we are so grateful. We're very excited about the new year and what it holds for us.