Goats, Owls & Levi

We have a new pet in the back yard... :)

Here Joey is with it ---

& Me feeding it...



Joey Goating around...



We couldn't pass it up!

We had a good day today - went to a couple of yard sales, antique fair type of thing & a movie. Came home & I took a nap. Joey did some yard work and went for a nice bike ride Later we had dinner and went for a little walk. We saw an owl!!!... Here's a picture:
It isn't the best picture... You can click on it to see it better.

Oh & the other day, Joey saw a coyote right out back! Joey immediately turned the grill on and then tried to go catch it. Here he is - kind of scraggly... Not really worth eating.
We are doing well. The baby is growing and has turned to have his head down. We went for our 34 week check up yesterday & we were able to feel Levi's head! He moves real regular. He doesn't hurt me - it's nice knowing he is in there and doing okay.

That's it for now, my creative juices aren't flowing & I need to pay attention. We are watching WallE.

Joey turns 40

Yep --- Joey's 40 now! We had a little get together at our home yesterday to celebrate his birthday, our new home and our new baby on the way.

Our home was full of friends old and new for a good portion of the day. I had to work quite a bit (unexpected) but we made the best of it and Joey is a most excellent host.

Thanks to all the people who were able to come and help us celebrate. We appreciate all the things you brought; your company, desserts and gifts for Joey & Levi. The party started at 2 & lasted into the evening. Last night as Joey and I were sitting back and relaxing we tried figuring out how many people showed up. We counted over 40 people including children. Our company came in waves, so we never had all here at the same time. It was very nice.

Last year, I made a cake for Joey. It had flames on it, similiar to those that are tatooed on his arms. Well I thought I would continue that theme and try to make a cake inspired by another of his tatoos. Here it is ...

Unfortunately - just like last year, the cake didn't really get eaten until after the party. There was so much good food and the people came in waves so it was never really the right time to do the cake thing. We did end up cutting the cake and shared with John & Jess... Over all - it was a great day & we were exhausted by the end of it.

Joey's off today doing the downhill mountain biking thing with John & I am just sittin back and relaxing. I just asked that he be especially careful today since he is older and has a little on one the way! :)

All is well and life is good!

Levi's Room

Joey & I ordered the furniture for Levi's room two Fridays ago. (Thank you Grannie Linda) This past Friday night, they called us at 8:30 pm to let us know that it had arrived. Joey wanted to go pick it up then, I was tired and wanted to wait until daylight but his excitement got the better of me & we took off in Henry and picked it all up. When we got home - he unloaded it into the garage and put the crib box in the new room... We got up Saturday morning - went to a couple of yard sales then came back home and got busy working on the room...
It started off in pieces... But Team Hardwick got it put together and looking like a little boys room in no time. We still have some accessorizing to do, curtains to make & things like that, but that will be done soon. We'll keep you posted!








**remember .. you can always click on a picture to make it bigger. I made the pictures smaller this time so that I could fit more on the post!

It's been a while

It really has been too long since we posted. So much has happened since the first of the year ... so fair warning ... this post is going to be long & kind of random!!! Please forgive me now.

I'm sure that plenty happened before March, but I'll pick up from there... The first of March, we put an offer in on our first home and we moved in April 19th. This was a big decision for us to make, but with the baby coming and the little bitty house that we were renting, it really was the right move to make (plus it has air conditioning!!!)
Here is a picture of what was going on during moving day...

We now live in Littleton, Colorado and we love our home. It feels cozy comfortable to us & we look forward to having friends and family over (whenever they can make it from Pensacola!) . We are still getting settled in, but it is coming together nicely. You should have seen Joey mowing his own lawn for the first time... Oh! you can! He was very proud... & yes, that is Henry the 61 unibody Ford that Joey picked up towards the end of last year. He has lowered it some and painted it flat black. It's fun.

Our home has a two car garage and if y'all know Joey, you know that just isn't enough. We plan to save up so that we can build a garage in the back yard to serve as a shop for Joey ... He needs space to work on bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, hot rods and anything else you can think of... & I would like to park the cars in the garage. It's a dream, but we're working towards it.

We found out in March that our little child will be a boy. We are so excited about this and have pretty much settled on a name. I'll talk about that more later... For now --- our home has 3 bedrooms - all upstairs. The boys room was light blue on top and dark blue on the bottom with a boarder in the middle that just wasn't going to work for us. It took some time to get the boarder off, but I was able to do it. We decided that we liked the blue, but it needed something else. Earlier, I had purchased a comforter and bumper thing for the baby & so we decided to add some green and brown to the walls to coordinate with the bedding. We had been over to a lady's house that Joey works with for Easter and she showed us a room that she had painted for a daughter that her and her husband hope to adopt eventually. We stole her idea and modified it and came up with this.... Joey did an excellent job & I am so proud of him (what a great daddy already!!!)
Here are before, during and after photos!


There's so much more I could say about the house, but I will leave it at this for now. We are very excited to own our own home and grow a beautiful family in it.

We just got back from Pensacola a week or so ago & had a great time. It was hectic to say the least, but it felt so good so see all of our family and some of our friends (there is never enough time!!!) We had a baby shower for me the day after we got to town. It was a great time. It was a little awkward for me to have all that attention on me, but it was fun. It was really the first stuff that we had gotten and it has gotten us motivated to do some more. Thanks to everyone that could make it and to all who made it possible - you know who you are. It was a great time & everyone looked so pretty! Here is a picture of the cake that Betty Ann Weber & Jessica made.


Joey & I got to the beach a couple of times during the week. Both times were very nice. There were schools of rays (Sting rays and eagle rays - we think) in the water so that kept me out. Joey did a little bit of snorkling and found some pretty shells...

Here is a great shot that Joey got of some Eagle Rays playing in the Gulf. Our son got to experience the Gulf of Mexico for the first time during this trip. I got in the water a little bit on the first day, but not after we saw these things in the water!!!





Joey's family had a fish fry for us on our last Saturday in town. It was a great time & I got to finally meet more of Joey's family. Thanks so much to Mary (Joey's Momma), Tammie & Darlene for all of the hard work...& to uncle Bubba for frying the fish. Joey says to say that he loved the cole slaw Momma!

I started this post a few days ago - but didn't get it finished until tonight (Memorial Day). This coming Wednesday, we will be 31 weeks pregnant with 9 weeks to go. The time has really flown by & I have been very blessed with not being sick or miserable. I have had some heart burn, but nothing bad. We have decided his name will be Levi George. George was Joey's Grandfathers name. Levi - just because. We are so looking forward to meeting our son for the first time. I know that Joey is going to be a fantastic father. We look forward to showing him everything for the first time & teaching him things everyday. I worry sometimes about how to do all of this, but I know that we can do it. One day when I was discussing my anxiety with a friend at work she shared with me... The Lord knew our son long before he came to be in my belly & He entrusted Joey and I with him. How amazing is that. Momma has been telling me this all along, sometimes it just takes someone else to drive it home. I always tell Joey that I want him to teach our son how to love me - because if our son grows to love me half as much as Joey loves his Momma, I will be in great shape. How lucky can a girl get!

I am going to stop for now. I will try to be a little more consistent about posting in the future. I have belly photos to post & nursery updates to come. We are considering starting a blog just for baby... what do you think?

We love and miss all of our friends and family back in Pensacola & Milton!

Best Birthday Present Ever!

I don't know if y'all have seen the commercials on TV that have a little boy talking about how the Big Wheel was the best Christmas present ever, until this year --- when he got a brand new car...

Well, I sit here today, one day before my 36th birthday, with confirmation of the best birthday present I could ever receive - and I don't believe that it can be topped by a car! Yesterday - Joey and I went to the OB. Our appointment was at 3, but we didn't get out of there until 6 pm (and we had our parents calling us wondering... ) All is well! We got to see our new little precious baby on the monitor - the heart beat was so strong & you could see the little head and arms and body and legs --- amazing! The Dr seemed very pleased with how things were looking & Joey and I are just so danged tickled we can't hardly stand it! So --- we are 10 weeks pregnant today and will not be able to find out the sex of the baby until 20 weeks --- I think that puts us at around March 11th.

So --- as the year ends and the New Year begins, we are looking forward to the healthy growth of our child and are thankful and know we are blessed for the past year that brought us to this point - from falling in love in 2007, to nuturing that love, respect and friendship throughout 2008, getting married in October and finding out we were pregnant the Monday before Thanksgiving to today --- knowing we have a little baby growing with a healthy heart beat... God has blessed us and we are so thankful for His love.

This and that!

Joey reminded me today that I haven't posted in a while & there are some more things to catch up on. It seems that this posting thing is not as easy to keep up with as I had hoped it would be... I guess you could call me lazy --- or that Joey is always on the cool computer... :) Either case, I am going to try to catch up now.

A couple of weeks ago, Joey put his 1994 Toyota 4wd pickup on Craigslist asking for a trade. He said he was looking for an old car or truck. He got all sorts of offers ranging from a Suzuki DR650 enduro converted to super moto motorcycle to a Mazda Miata to a motor home ... finally his dream offer came in ... a 1961 Ford F100 Unibody. Joey has all sorts of plans for this truck & it fits him perfect.... just his style

... 'cept he wants to slam it down on the ground, add some whitewalls & pant it flat black... here is it now --- before he gets ahold of it. We'll keep you posted on the progress! Here is a picture that I did some stuff to to make it look like it may have been taken way back when the truck was new.

Now --- On to the bicycles. Joey recently met up with a guy that decided he was getting out of the cruiser business. Joey picked up all sorts of frames ( including a tandem cruiser), parts, wheels & rims from this guy. Our garage is slammed full now, but he has gotten a few of them put together, customized Joe2 Customs style. Here are a couple of them.

Then there are these... His friend John has his eye on the aluminum one & I was eyeballing the brown frame, but the way it's made, the seat sits too far back & I can barely reach the pedals. It doesn't look all stretched out, but it is!!!

We had a real nice weekend this past weekend. John & Jess were going to come over, but John had been sick during the week and we told him to stay home because we don't need me getting sick. So ... Matt & Dianah came over both Saturday & Sunday. We enjoyed their company both days. I tried a new recipe on them and it turned out pretty good. I made these Cajun fried pasta things and they were a hit.

Joey & I also went to Wash Park for a little walk on Sunday -- very nice day ... and guess what! --- The squirrel whisperer was back in action! Joey really is a brave one. The ducks were cool too... They were doing synchronized diving for us...

Let's see ... In other news --- Our Dr. Apt has been pushed out to December 30th. I am doing well & we are still so very excited.

Finally --- The Bucs are playing right now and I am missing it... So - I am going to sign off now & help Joey root for the Bucs. Looks like they might be needing it.

I know this post is really long & I am sorry for that. I will try to be better about posting more frequently .... in the mean time, let us know that you drop by sometime - leave us a little note. We don't know if anyone looks at this besides Bethany... And Bethany - we appreciate you!

Hello & and we miss you (all y'all in Pensacola, Milton, Jacksonville & beyond!)

We're Pregnant!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!   Yep -- you read the title right.  Joey & I are going to be parents!!! We are going to have a baby!  We are way way excited.  I went to the Dr today to confirm the home test I took on Saturday.   We called his parents, sister, my Momma & Grannie to let them know.  I am real surprised there wasn't a fainting spell of some sort going on in Pensacola.   Our first real Dr. appointment will be December 23rd ... so we'll keep you posted!!!    

all our love to everybody!!!

Pensacola in the House....

Hey y'all. My Momma was in town this last week and we had a great time. The last time she was here was in 2002 so it had been a while. We didn't do any real touristy things while she was here - mostly we just visited, cooked a lot & enjoyed each other. Joey kept her laughing constantly.
We got her on a couple of bicycles & the scooter... what a funny time... I was really worried about her on a bicycle, but she did real well. Now the scooter - that's a different story all together! Joey had to go behind her like a dad would helping his daughter with her first bicycle. She had Joey just about running behind her & holding her up, because she couldn't balance! & I don't think she was having very much fun with it.
Joey got his scooter out and momma and I went for a little ride on it (about 20 feet!)

Here is a couple of pictures of us looking bad ass ... yeah we're the 'cutthroats'

Here is Joey doing a cross-up & catching a little air - showing us how it's done!!!









Like I said - Joey kept Momma laughing all week. When Joey was working, Momma and I mostly just visited, shopped some, lunched some & cooked dinner getting ready for Joey to get home. I did get my license in my new name while she was here. It's about time - now I have proof that I am a Hardwick now!!!
Here is a picture of Momma & Joey cuttin up in the kitchen on Black Eyed Peas and rice night...









We also worked on sewing a slip cover for a chair that we had gotten at a yard sale several months ago ...

My creative juices really aren't flowing well tonight. Joey's out in the garage and I am a little sleepy --- I probably miss my Momma a little bit too! ;-)

Shop time.......I put together the new cruiser and put some new tires on my scooter.