February 2012

After a very uneventful January came a slightly more exciting February. February is when our slew of birthdays begin (Joel first, then Heather two weeks later then Mason three weeks after that with Molly two weeks later then Emrie two weeks after Molly's birthday and somewhere amongst all that is our anniversary).

And keeping with my habit of not taking pictures I have once again neglected catching Joel's very exciting advancement in years to the age of 37. Or, if I have taken a picture I have no idea where it is. So, here are some great pictures of Joel in his early adult years:

 

This picture was taken before he and I had met. He was a craaazy college kid, living wild and free - no ball and chain yet. Look how excited he is!

 

This was the first picture of Joel and I together. The picture quality is so bad because this is a scan of the original which had been water-damaged inside its glass and frame. Look how cute he is with his bleached hair and Billabong shirt. You know how there are certain articles of clothing that you wish you could keep forever because of the memories attached? Well that billabong shirt he is wearing is one of them.

 

Strike a pose. I love Joel's goofiness. Look at that lovely garland thingy above the door. I totally forgot we had that.

 

My guy. He drove four hours from Ricks College to Provo every weekend to see me. And since he didnt own a car he always had to find a ride from someone else. Ahhh, true love.

 

Joel happens to be the king of silly poses and yet he still manages to look good in all pictures. This is our "white t-shirt" picture. Does every couple do a white t sirt picture when they are dating? I probably wanted to take these pictures because Joel looks so good in a white t-shirt but I couldn't stop from laughing due to of all the silliness

 

Here is one of our engagement photos. We are just babes! (and by "babes" I mean little/young). Love that boys dimples!

 

At the beach. Oh how I miss the soft sand and beach smell and salty air and the soothing sound of waves.

 

My surfer with his surfboard that we later had to sell so we could move to Utah. So sad.

Joel is the most amazing person I know. He is a wonderful husband and a fun dad. He loves to watch "The Office" reruns, play Zelda, create concoctions in the kitchen (he makes the best sticky buns from scratch). He stays up late and lets me sleep in on the weekends. He does the dishes more than most men do and makes chocolate chip cookies for me on Sundays. Right now he is on the atkins diet and during the week eats only 50 carbs a day or something like that, but on the weekends he eats whatever he wants. He is brilliant with computers and laughs at me when I can't figure the darn things out. He is helpful and sincere. He makes me laugh. He drives a crappy car that we love (it was our first car that we bought together and almost has 200,000 miles on it) even though the AC just gave out. He likes flying kites with the kids and practicing soccer with Mason. He can make Gabe roll on the floor with laughter. He can impersonate almost anyone (which usually leads to Gabe rolling on the floor with laughter). I particularly love his Puss in Boots, Elmo and his Professor Snipe (Harry Potter) impersonations. He just updated to the most recent IPhone and loves playing around with its apps - especially his hipstamatic camera one. I love all this and more. Oh, and did I mention that he is funny? And whitty too and...I could go on and on...Happy Birthday Joel! I love you!