Katie Turning Twenty-Eight(ie)

Joey here. I am stealing Katie’s idea of something nice that she did for my birthday this year and hijacking her blog to post a list of 28 things that I love about her, in honor of her 28th birthday (March 20th). This list could go on for miles but I’ll just put 28 of the first ones that come to mind. Here you go:

1) She runs our home like a well-oiled machine.
2) She lets me believe that I am in charge.
3) She is still scared of the dark and, if she goes to bed before I do, she keeps the upstairs hall light on so it’s not too dark in our room.
4) Despite her claims to the contrary, she is an excellent cook.
5) She will do anything for her friends.
6) She is probably the worst person ever at remembering song lyrics and it cracks me up.
7) She is very good at both board and video games (though she claims to hate video games) and is actually one of the best Guitar Hero players I have ever seen.
8) On a related note: She totally could have fronted an awesome girl band, but that ship has probably sailed at this point.
9) She laughs when I tease her about her tramp stamp.
10) She inherited amazing artistic skills from her mother and, among other things, can tole paint like nobody’s business.
11) She has a great sense of style and always looks like a million bucks, even though I usually make her buy her clothes off of clearance racks or from Target.
12) She knows her state capitals.
13) She genuinely enjoys watching sports of virtually all types.
14) She likes my absurdly hairy legs (or at least does a good job of pretending that she does).
15) She has endured three pregnancies (four babies total) and still has a smokin’ hot body.
16) She can’t keep anything from me.
17) She has waitressing in her blood and can’t help but refill my drink when she sees that it’s empty.
18) She loves In-N-Out almost as much as I do (though she opts for the regular cheeseburger instead of the 3x3).
19) We see eye-to-eye on pretty much every parenting issue.
20) She has an uncanny knack for being able to identify celebrities from their childhood pictures. It’s really quite remarkable.
21) She likes watching Jeopardy! with me and is quite good at it.
22) She puts up with my grammar snobbery.
23) She has allowed me to persuade her that Oprah, romantic comedies and the Twilight books are evil and/or ridiculous.
24) She’s an excellent dancer.
25) She never backs down in a wrestling match (though she will plead for mercy, feigning injury, and, once released, proceed to attack me again).
26) She is my favorite person to hang out with and I can talk to her about anything.
27) She understands that being a mother is the most important job in the world and would never put anything above our family.
28) She is the all-around best person I have ever known.

Happy birthday, Babe! I love you.

More Catching-Up

A few weeks ago, we had some of our favorite friends come into town. Joey and Dave served together on their missions in Italy and Dave married one of the most amazing women I have ever met. We loved hanging out with Dave and Marisa back in the newly-married stage of life and now that we have seven kids between the two couples, it's even more fun!

The kids (minus Jude, he was napping in the stroller)
Hayden, Spencer, Lincoln, Noah, Oliver, Sam


A week ago Sunday, Joey, Jude and I were a little under-the-weather, so we stayed home from church and vegged, or should I say, we attempted to veg while Spencer and Lincoln destroyed the house. (Hayden went to church with friends and was not a part of the destroying)

Catching up

This past week we had beautiful weather. Joey was able to take Monday off for President's Day and we headed to the San Juan Capistrano Mission.

We all had a great time. Here is one of the fountains on the grounds.


Here is part of the mission that withstood the earthquake back in the 1800s.


This is the part of the mission that was damaged during the earthquake, just seven years after it's completion.

Me and Link!

The kids in a traditional house of the Native Americans living in this region.


Proof Joey and Jude were there. Thanks Joey for being excited about this family activity. I love stuff like this and it's hard to do with kids, but he was a trooper!


Here is a random picture of my cute kiddos on Sunday before church. The grandmas need to see this!

Happy Birthday Boys!

Happy Birthday, Spencer and Lincoln!

Here are the boys the day they were born!

This might be my all-time favorite shot of the boys together. Spencer is on the left and Lincoln is on the right.

Spencer enjoying his cake on his 1st birthday.

Lincoln playing with his cake on his 1st birthday.

They have grown into handsome little men! Here is the most recent shot of Spencer.
Here is our Link!
We took the boys to a pirate dinner show last Saturday for their birthday. They had a great time! My favorite part was watching their excited faces.


Spence and Link are incredible individuals and we are lucky to have them both!

Jude's Blessing

We were able to have Jude's blessing this week. We are grateful for this little guy. He is a wonderful addition to our family.


Joey, Bobpa (Joey's parents came down from NorCal for a visit) and Jude.

What cute kiddos! And look at Hayden's new hairdo!

"Ode to Joe"

Happy Birthday, honey! I know Joey will find this super cheesy and make fun of me for it, but here are 29 great things about Joey!
1. He is a great hubby.
2. He is an incredible dad, man he loves our kids so much!
3. He converses with the TV during sporting events. He doesn't just yell at it like many sports fans, he actually has conversations.
4. He makes a mean mac n' cheese.
5. He loves root beer.
6. He loves two-day old, refrigerated brownies.
7. He doesn't show his romantic side often, but when he does it melts my heart.
8. He thinks I'm beautiful whether I'm all dolled up or 9 months pregnant.
9. He isn't easily intimidated (I wish I had this quality).
10. He is way too smart.
11. He wants to be on Jeopardy someday (and I know he is going to do it someday, see #10)
12. He wants to go skydiving but won't because it scares me to think of him doing it.
13. He loves Italian literature and art.
14. His dream job would be to teach high school English and coach football.
15. He tells it like it is and I need that!
16. He has strabismus, don't worry it isn't life-threatening, it's just a fancy way of saying he has a lazy eye.
17. He came up with Hayden, Lincoln and Jude's names.
18. He doesn't think so, but he has a great singing voice.
19. I love hearing him speak Italian.
20. He has very hairy legs and I like it!
21. He is very confident, and he should be, he is pretty fantastic.
22. He has very soft feet.
23. He loves getting his back scratched.
24. He can name artists and songs, from all genres, like nobody's business.
25. He doesn't like white sauces, no mayo, no cream cheese, no sour cream.
26. He plays tennis with me just cause I like it (he is really too good to play with me).
27. He is a great secret-keeper.
28. He expects a lot out of the people around him, but it's because he believes in the people around him.
29. I feel completely at home with him, that's more about me that him. He is a strong, honest, spiritual man and I'm lucky to call him mine!

Happy Birthday babe! Enjoy this last year of being in your twenties!

This is just about an hour after he asked me to marry him. Best decision of his life, I mean, best decision of MY life!

Playing with the kiddos!


I couldn't do the mom thing without an amazingly supportive husband. Isn't he handsome with our little Jude!

All Smiles!

Yup, he's smiling and melting our hearts!