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.

Manitou Springs Weekend

This past weekend we had a great time. Friday night, we went with Matt and Dianah to Manitou Springs (located very close to Colorado Springs). We stayed at the Avenue Hotel Bed & Breakfast --- this was a very neat place. It was an old Victorian looking home with many many rooms. We stayed on the top floor with adjoining rooms. That night we went for a walk through the town & found a nice place to eat.

As you all know, "Joey never met a bicycle he didn't want to ride" & this one is no exception!

I didn't know it when we made the plans to go with Matt & Dianah, but Saturday was the Emma Crawford Coffin Races. It sounded creepy to me & I wasn't sure that it was really right to attend, but really - it ended up being a good day. The story of Emma Crawford was kind interesting... It had something to do with her being buried at the top of a mountain over 100 years ago, then later growth and building required that her coffin be moved. When they moved it, they didn't bury it completely, then the rains came and her coffin came cruisin down the mountain into the town of Manitou Springs. The coffin races consisted of a team of 4 "paul bearers" & an Emma. There were about 50 teams and they had a parade first, followed by the races. We watched all of the parade & a few of the races. We were right in front and Matt noticed some children sitting behind us and we offered to have them stand in front. The two girls were too cute ... they kept getting high fives from all parade people then after their race they would tell them "good game" ... we got a kick out of it.

We spent some time enjoying the weather on the front porch of the B & B, drinking hot tea / coffee & talking. We bought things we didn't need, ate too much & enjoyed the beautiful weather. We made friends with a couple of black squirrels. I am sure that y'all have had enough of the squirrel stories, but I think Joey may be a "squirrel whisperer"!... Here is one that he was up close and personal with...

Joey took some wonderful pictures on this trip. I have got to learn how to make a slide show so that you all can see them too... but until then ... this is all you get :-)

We had a wonderful time with Matt & Dianah & we think we might try out some other B & B's every month or two!

Our Pumpkin/Squirrel saga...

A little over a week ago we told y'all about the pretty little pumpkin that I carved and about how the squirrels decided that they needed to eat it. Well, here is a picture of it before...

Like I mentioned earlier ... it only took the squirrels about a day to find the pumpkin and start eating on it. One day we came home to find the stem down on the steps to the house, about 10 feet away from the main part, then later that night, we caught the squirrel carrying the stem up into the tree... Here is a picture of that. You can barely see it, but it is in the Y of the tree.

Those little suckers are strong for their size. We decided to just let them have at it. When we went to Manitou Springs over the weekend we wondered how much of the pumpkin would be left when we returned. We came home to a half eaten pumpkin. It was dragged out to on the sidewalk. We were home for little over an hour before we caught some of our little friends getting their fill...

Since it is getting close to real winter here, we decided to let them just eat as much as they can so their bellies will be nice and full! By the way - you can click on the any of the pictures in this blog and it will bring up a bigger picture so that you can see all the details... Like in the picture below you can see that the squirrel has a little piece of pumkin in his "hand" and has is mouth wide open.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Bethany... I am to name 7 of my quirks...

I thought all day about this trying to figure out what my quirks are... Here they are - several of them are food related. For my family back in Pensacola - I am sure they remember all to well how picky of an eater I was growing up!

1. I put french fries in my chocolate milk shakes, I love plain lays potato chips crunched up in chocolate ice cream & finally ... I put french fries on my hamburgers (I learned all of these from my momma!!!)

2. I snap with the wrong finger. I never knew that it was wrong, but Joey pointed it out. I snap with my ring finger & he says you are supposed to use your middle finger. I was just on the phone with my momma & told her which finger I snapped with & she said "yep, that's wrong!" I never knew! :)

3. The pupil in my left eye is off center! I was born this way & no - it doesn't affect my vision.

4. At a very early age, I learned to say my alphabet backwards! ---Hazards of an only child.

5. I love brownies & I love pecans, but I do not like pecans in my brownies!

6. I will not eat anything off the bone ... No chicken, steak, ribs, pork chops.... all have to be boneless. I don't really even like knowing that it had been on a bone!

7. I have the hardest time driving home from work without calling my Momma, Grannie or Joey. I would say that 9 days out of 10, I call one of them for my drive home. I am one of those people make other people crazy - driving and talking on the cell phone!

I would love to tag some people now, but I don't really know any people on blogspot. :(

What happens in Vegas....

stays in Vegas! That's what they say, right?!!! Well -- not so much. I caught a cold in Vegas and brought it home with us. I was sick the first week we go back and Joey has been sick with it for a little over a week now. He really is in bad shape...
We have been married a little over two weeks now. Life is good. There is a subtle change now that we are married ... it is the same, but different (like Ritz bits) - it is the same, but better! :) Words cannot express.
We are still trying to figure out a way to have a little get together here in Denver before too long & we will definitely have one in Pensacola the next time we are home (unfortunately, that probably won't be until after the new year).
We love and miss all y'all in Pensacola/Milton!!!
Those of you in Denver - stop by or give us a call - we would love to hear from you!

Squirrels like pumpkins too...

I carved a pumpkin over at Dianah's on Friday. It was very cool if I do say so myself. I was very proud of it. I say WAS because some of our lovely little squirrels that we get so much joy and entertainment watching decided to EAT it!!! I carved little daisy like flowers on one side (for me) and flames on the other side (for Joey). ~Yes - I do have a picture, but it is way early right now & I do not want to disturb Joey by getting the camera out... ~ I went outside yesterday and found that a squirrel has eaten one of my flowers! There is a nice big hole there. :( I had put little round balls in the center and it was gone too! Oh well - it was cool while it lasted.

That's about it for the weekend. We were generally under the weather and just took it easy.

Our Wedding Video --- online for 3 months only!!!!

Hello everyone --- well the much anticipated internet wedding video is now available for your viewing pleasure. Please click on the link ... http://www.vivalasvegasweddings.com/lasvegaswedding-octobervideos.htm and then find our name towards the bottom (J.Hardwick) and click on it. It will take you to the video! It isn't the best quality, but I think you get the picture! It will be online for 3 whole months, so you can go back to it as often as you like to get your daily dose of joy!
Much love!!!

Chili worth Blogging about!

Hey Y'all -- well we had a nice relaxing weekend. It was very cool out - Don't think it got above 48 degrees. Definitely Fall here in Denver!!! With the busy weekend we had last weekend (getting married & all) and the busy week, we decided it was time for some down time. We didn't leave the house all weekend.(y'all quit thinking that way!) !!

Joey made some awesome chili --- I mean it was delicious!!! I made a little rice (cause that's how I like it) and cornbread. Yummy!!!

By the way --- Both the Gators and the Buccaneers won this weekend!!!!

Miss all y'all back home!!! Much love -- Joey & Lacey!