Christmas in the Snow

Becca had her Womens Glee Christmas Choir Concert last night and Jopes and I were able to go! We had our friends, Walter and Aria (and little Luca) over for some brats before the concert started, and then Aria stayed at our place to watch little Joseph while Jopes and I went to the concert. Our first babysitter experience, besides family! I was able to get Joseph down to sleep before we left, but go figure, he woke up 20 minutes after we left! Aria was perfect though, and took great care of him, even if he wasn't too thrilled to find his mom and dad weren't home! Rebecca had a bad cough and wasn't able to sing every word, but we thought the concert was great nonetheless! Her choir was combined with the RixStix percussion group. Some numbers were just the choir, some were just the percussion, and the others were performed together. It was a lot of fun to get out with Jopes and know that little Joseph was in good hands (THANKS ARIA!), though I was happy to get home and see him. Rebecca did great and looked beautiful and we hope she gets better soon!!! :)

The Winter Cold Is Here!!

The winter cold has arrived! This picture is from one of the first snows, but since then the temperature of Rexburg has dropped tremendously! I bundled little Joseph up today so we could go out and get the mail. He hates facing inward when we carry him, so of course, he was looking the direction we were walking. Well, the poor little guy couldn't breathe, it was so cold! He kept looking at me, trying to figure out what was wrong! He wasn't sure whether it was funny, or scary, either! He mostly gave me confused/worried looks, but once he giggled a little.

Anyway, besides having the cutest baby in the entire world, we only have a week and two days until Jopes is done with his classes! Then, we get to go home for Christmas!! We're very excited. Oh! We got past our brick wall with the apartment... I'll have to take some pictures and get them up.

Brick Wall

Well, the move has been going very slowly. At first it was going slow because Jopes has school during the week, so we had to wait until he was done with classes to start bringing car loads of stuff over. I was super excited and motivated though, at first. As the week dragged on, however, I got less and less motivated. Now, the last thing I want to do is drag myself over to the old apartment and load up the rest of our junk, and then try to find a nice, organized place for it all here at our new apartment. :-( Boo.

We've hit a brick wall and we don't even have that much left! It seems like a never ending, totally annoying task, though. What to do?? I know, suck it up and get it done. Bleh. Still easier said than done. That said, we've been able to unpack and organize just about all of what we DO have moved over and we really like our new apartment. It already feels like home to us. Maybe because we've already washed a million loads of laundry and dishes! :)

We are thrilled to be using our fabulous washer and dryer, and to have a dishwasher!

Hurray for these tender mercies in life!

Halloween

Happy late Halloween!! We had a good one this year. Last year we moved the night of Halloween. This year, we didn't. We moved the day AFTER Halloween! :) But first, about our Halloween.

As you can see, little Joseph was a pumpkin. Kirt and Brenda let us borrow this wonderful costume, which was made by none other than... Grandma Jamison!!! We loved it. We didn't stuff it though. We needed to fit him into his carseat. He was still an adorable little pumpkin though!

We had a ward party a few nights before Halloween, and then a friend threw a Halloween party the night of. Aria did a GREAT job! She did an incredible job and put so much time and effort into it. The decorations, the food, the games, the company...

they were all fantastic!

Oh! I forgot to mention... Jopes was a scarecrow and I was another pumpkin, though my costume wasn't as cool as the other two. We had fun though, and love being together.

That's it for Halloween news, but real quick about the move--we moved to a new apartment! We really like it, and yes, that means we are no longer assistant managers. We are really enjoying that, too! :) Give us another week to get settled and then we want you all to come visit!! We'll post pictures too, as soon as we can. Love ya! TTFN!

He's HOME!!!

HE'S HOME!!

Jopes got back from his Grand Canyon field trip at about midnight:30 Sunday night/Monday morning. I was SO very happy to see him!! Even little Joseph jumped for joy... literally. He woke up a little bit before his dad got back because he's teething. So, I fed him, changed his diaper, and just as we were finishing that, we heard the door open. We hurried in to the living room and little Joseph stared at his dad for a second, then smiled great big and got all excited. It was wonderful. Except that Joseph didn't want to go back to bed after seeing his dad! As soon

as Jopes was holding him, he started jumping up and down the way he always does when his daddy is holding him (he's figured out by now that mom has no muscle and can't bounce him as

long or as well as dad). So we let him play on the bed with us

while we visited about his trip and happenings here at home.

It has been so nice to have Jopes home again. I did alright while he was gone because I had Becca here to help me and to keep me company, but life is just not the same without him! I really missed him. Little Joseph is happier with his daddy back, I'M happier with him back, and everything is just so much better.

Jopes had a great time. They got to stop at a few places on their way through Utah, including Arches and Goosenecks, and then of course, they ended it all with the Grand Canyon in Arizona. I've included a few pictures from his trip, but he has more for sure.

I've been blessed with a wonderful family. I love them more and more each day. I'm so grateful we will be together for time and eternity!

Welcome Home Jopes!!

HOORAY!!

Jopes comes home tomorrow night!!!!! I can't wait. AND, I have some fantastic news for him!

I took Joseph with me and went to the swim meet this morning to support Becca and the rest of the team, even though Jopes, their coach, wouldn't be there. I was a little late, but when I got there, I found out that half of our team hadn't shown up! PLUS, neither the coach nor the assistant coach were in town! So, I went up to a couple of our guys and asked who all had and hadn't shown up, and found out that only 6 of our guys were there. I also found out that those who were there were totally willing to jump into the other events wherever we were missing someone. :) This gave me a great idea, so I started telling every one of our swimmers that they were MORE than welcome to jump into whatever they could to make up for all our absent swimmers. We just had to tell the meet manager so he could make sure it was all recorded and scored right. It was insane. Poor little Joseph was lugged all over that pool area as I ran around trying to get swimmers into each event, and work it all out with the meet manager. Joseph was so good though! He didn't whine a single time. About half way through, we found out that we were only behind by 20 points. We still had a chance of winning! So, our guys kept jumping in to everything they could, and our girls stepped it up too. They started making up the relays that we were missing, and swimming extra individual events as well.

When we got to the last event of the meet, the 400 free relay, I sat down in a chair with Joseph and thought, "whatever the outcome is now, we did good." Then I noticed the meet manager say something to the coordinator... and the coordinator freaked out. Then he went to the coaches of the Spartans (the 'undefeated' team we were competing against) and they freaked out. I had to know what was going on. So I went and asked the meet manager. He said that we (the Knights) were only down by 2 points. 2 POINTS!!! And all we had left was the guys final relay. At this point, our guys were ahead, but it was still possible for the Spartans to pull ahead. Our last swimmer, who swam 8 events out of the 11 and placed well in all of them, had everyone on our team swarming around him just before he jumped in, telling him he had to swim fast. (DUH!) He did. He was dead tired, but he swam fast and hard and took 1st. FINAL SCORES: Spartans had 1072 points. Knights had 1076. WE WON BY 4 POINTS!! WE BEAT THE SPARTAN'S WINNING STREAK! WE WON THE MEET!!!!!! I almost cried tears of joy. I was so proud of all our swimmers there who stepped it up and did what needed to be done. I don't think I've yelled so much or put so much energy into any sporting event before. But I'm glad I did. It was amazing that we won, and I know Jopes is going to be so surprised and happy when he finds out, and that's the best part for me! Anyway, I can't wait for my wonderful husband to get home tomorrow night. I have really missed him. But I am so grateful to everyone who helped me be a little less lonely while he was gone. Especially Becca, who has been over every day to keep me and little Joseph company. Thanks Becca!

P.S. Joseph has been a perfect angel. I am so glad to be his mom!