Joe's Birthday

My sweetheart is 32! We celebrated his birthday while my family was here for my graduation. We also celebrated my mom's birthday. I didn't take too many pictures.

I had been working hard for a couple weeks on everything that I had planned, and it was hard to keep it all a secret and hidden. I got really good at lying; not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

First, I made a new quilt for a bed to use during the summer. I had to work FAST! My sister-in-law Marisa was wonderful. Joe actually helped me pick out some of the material and then later cut it all out. But then schedules got busy and we planned to get it finished after we moved and kids got back into school. This is when I got good at lying. While Joe was in classes, I would go to Marisa's house and work all day until he came home. It took me 2 days to sew it. Once it was all sewn, I had to cut all the edges. That was when it got hard to hide it from Joe. He was coming home early from class, so I had less time to work on it, and the materials left evidence, so I was frequently vacuuming and changing clothes to cover my tracks. One day he came in 30 seconds after I had put it away. It was close! He was definitely surprised and pleased. We have loved using it! It's light enough for the hot nights to not overheat us, but still keeps us warm when the cool breezes come in.I also got Joe a bike so he can ride to work. He's always told me that someday he would love to live somewhere where he can bike to work. Our new apartment will be just over 3 miles away from his school. Once he found that out, he's been begging to get a bike. I told him he'd have to wait until we had more money. He even started looking, but everything he saw was for $100 or more. I had actually started looking for bikes before we even found our new apartment. I'm glad he never saw the ad I had seen. I had the bike in the back of my jeep for several days, and then had to hide it in his mom's shed for a week. It was a great deal and he keeps finding reasons to run errands on it.

My parents got him the helmet to keep him safe

We also celebrated on his actual birthday with his mom. She made us an excellent dinner of some of Joe's favorite foods, and cake too.

Sadly, amongst the days of celebrating, Joe's head was faced with the harshness of a glass jar with granola bars that fell from the top of the fridge. We are just glad that he didn't have to go to the Emergency Room, and that he is feeling better now.

I love my Joe so very much! I'm so grateful to have him as a part of my life! He takes such good care of me. He is encouraging and understanding, thoughtful and funny. I love his smile and laughter; I am grateful for the soothing sound of his voice that can lull me to sleep on long, restless nights. I'm grateful for all that he does to sacrifice for me and for both of our families. I love that he is happy doing what does each day, (well, most days,) and that he works so hard to help others. I certainly have a wonderful man as a friend and companion! There's no one in the world that is better for me, than my darling Joe.