So brave...

At the beginning of the month, didn't I say no more sedation?! Well I just didn't want to think about the eye surgery Joe had scheduled for the end of the month.
Joe was born with a strabismus in his right eye, which means 1 of the 6 muscles in his eye was super strong and it would pull his eye towards the middle, almost looking cross eyed. He was probably seeing double and to try and correct it himself he would tilt his neck. I've always noticed the tilt, but started noticing the eye more about a year ago. I got it checked in San Francisco, but quite frankly I didn't like the doctor and didn't want her operating on my son's eye. When we got here, I got it checked, Steve & I both felt confident with the doctor & he said it was pretty important that we got it done soon.

We took him in at 6:45 on Friday morning and at 8:45 we finally went in to meet with the doctor. I really do not like the whole hospital thing and every time a doctor walked past Joe would run and jump into one of our laps. The nurse came and got him, so sad! The surgery only took 30 minutes and a nurse came out and said, "your son is fine, he just must really like sleeping because he hasn't woken up yet." Yes, we know that from the dentist appointment where he was snoring for 45 minutes after!

He woke up and we went and got to see him. The nurse asked him if he liked stickers and he said, "a lot...I like apple juice." The poor boy was soooo thirsty from not having anything to drink for 12 hours! We got him some apple juice, stickers, and got the iv's out and brought him home. He really wanted to wear his dad's sunglasses on the way home because it was so bright. His eye looks completely normal and if anything it rarely looks like the corner of it is bloodshot. He seems to be healing good and I haven't seen the little tilt since.

Thanks to all our sweet friends and family, the amount of texts and phone calls were amazing and so comforting.

4 years ago today

I haven't posted very much lately and realized I could post something fun about today. I have some special things that occur on the 25th of a few months. For example, my birthday is on the 25th, Steve's birthday is on the 25th, our first date was on the 25th, and he proposed on the 25th!
Four years ago today, we were in St George for the Easter weekend. I was HOPING that my boyfriend would do something cute and put an engagement ring in an Easter egg or something. He obviously went over and beyond what I had ever wanted.

Steve left early the morning of the 25th and I had no idea where he and his brother Mike went. I woke up called him and he said he was at the bank would be back soon and to be ready to go to breakfast. He got back to pick me up and his mom tossed a sweatshirt to me on the way out saying it might be windy.

We walked out their back door and there was a helicopter! We took a ride over the gorgeous red mountains, landed on one and there was a table, breakfast and flowers with a ring box. The box was beautiful and someone from Steve's mission in Brazil had made it out of wood and there was actually only 1 way to close it. He proposed quickly because he kneeled on a not so soft piece of mountain :) and we enjoyed a great breakfast. It had just rained and there were cool little pools all over. Such a wonderful day.

We took a flight over lots of St George and then went to lunch with Bev and Mike at Bajios. So funny how much can happen in 4 years. A wedding, a graduation, numerous moves to Provo, Alpine, Valencia, Provo, San Francisco and now Arizona, a sweet 2 year old, and a loving relationship. I love you babe. Thanks for taking me along for the adventure.

Family came to see us

We have been so lucky to have had some family stop in to see us recently. Steve's Uncle Jim and Aunt Ann from Chicago came out for a few days and we had so much fun with them.
They stayed at Steve's hotel and treated us to the best dinners filled with great conversation.

Joe decided he liked calamari!

He loved playing with Aunt Ann at the park. She was so much fun and got into all the trucks and digging with him. Thanks for coming to see us! We love you!

Chelsea had spring break and went to Valencia for a couple days. On her way she had a 3 hour layover...yes ONLY 3 hours to see her sista sista so we went and got her, got some breakfast and took her to say hi to Steve. Not long enough Chelsea!

Steve's Uncle Bill & Aunt Barb recently bought a condo pretty close to where we live and they came from Canada to furnish it and get it ready to come visit. Uncle Jeff came with them and we only got to see them a couple times, but their condo is beautiful, we had a delicious dinner at PF Changs, and can't wait for them to come back! Joe talks about Uncle Jeff frequently!

My friend, Lora, also came into town for a friend's wedding and we got to spend a couple days together. Joe would not leave his Lorla alone, always telling her he loved her and talking to her about her dogs.

Thanks for visiting! Hopefully people keep stopping in to keep us busy!

Trip to Valencia...over a month ago :)

Valentine's Day was going to be great this year! I was going to my parents for the week to hang out and watch Ben and JK for a couple nights while my parents went to Vegas for a business thing. Well the first half of the week was great. We went to a basketball game, hung out and went to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa a lot. We got JK and Ben out of school most of the time we were there.

Here is studly Uncle JK getting ready for the Valentine's Day dance. Joe wished he could go, but he was "Grandma's Valentine" so he got to stay home.

Uncle Ben not really into the whole dance thing so he stayed home and hung out with us! That would be the extent of my Valentine's Day. My husband drove in and I was so excited to leave my child with my parents for the afternoon/night and do whatever we wanted, until I got the 24 hour flu! I didn't even write on Steve's card! So we spent the evening eating Panda Express and watching some basketball game that was on. Steve spoiled me with a great book and beautiful Versace sunglasses. So not the Valentine's Day I was planning for, but still great because I was with the fam!

Then I had to document this...my good friend Jess called when I was in town saying she needed to learn how to change a diaper because she had just gotten hired as a nanny...Having 3 younger siblings and tons of nieces and nephews, I thought there was no way she was serious, but she was! She came over and practiced on Joe and she did great!

Joe found an interesting place to hide from us...good thing there are air holes. It freaked me out when I first saw him!

It was a fun trip seeing friends and hanging out. Thanks Chelsea for doing our hair!

Thanks so much for letting us come visit, thanks for the spare bed for Joe and thanks Steve for driving out Saturday to come get us and the bed and then for packing it so geniusly so it didn't get soaked on the way home!

Happy 12th Birthday Cassidy!

My B-E-A-UTIFUL niece (all the way to the right), Cassidy is 12 years old today! Yay, she gets to go to Young Women with her 2 older sisters! When I asked Joe to describe Cass he said princess and bootiful, and he was right about both. We love Cass! Her laugh is contagious and she is laughing all the time. She is an awesome cheerleader and dancer. She is SO good at skiing and sometimes forgets that the rest of us might not be and has cut me and Chelsea off a couple times on the mountain to the point where we have gone the rest of the way down the mountain on our bums! She is the best babysitter and is pretty much the only reason I would ever want to move back to Utah, with the exception of being by the rest of her awesome family. Really if Cassidy promised me that she would be available once a week to be Joe's friend and give me some alone time, I would ask Steve to look for jobs in Utah :) Cass, we love you and can't believe how grown up and amazingly gorgeous you are! Happy Birthday!

An update will come soon!

I feel like I have been a huge lagger on the whole blogging thing...not too much going on here just 1. visited Valencia a couple weeks ago
2. came back Joe was acting sick but I thought it was just a cold
3. found out it was strep(sp?) throat
4. got called to be Primary Chorister and have been stressing out about it to the point where I can't do anything productive with the calling because I don't sing!
5. Steve's fabulous Aunt Ann and Uncle Jim came out from Chicago to visit
6. Joe has been sleeping in his big boy cowboy bed so putting him to sleep every night has taken up my blogging time, but I do not mind one bit because I know one day he will not want me to lay with him, read to him, or sing to him
7. Joe had to be sedated yesterday for a dentist appointment and I lost it and never want to do it again, and I have been taking care of him while he is recovering
I will post pictures soon but tonight I just wanted to post what I have been up to for the past couple of weeks to anyone who still reads this!

We are loving our "Child of God!"

This post is very long overdue, but weeks ago we took Joe to our new ward for the first time. We were having trouble finding our ward and finally found it. We decided to take him to the nursery and try leaving him there. Since we were nursery leaders in our other ward we didn't know how well he'd do, and let's face it, Joe and I are never separated! He did great! After 2 hours, I was a little wrestless and was the first parent to pick up, what a nut! Anyways I asked him what he did and he said "song child of God." I said, "oh that's so fun!" I guess he wanted me to repeat it so really loud he looked at me and said, "SONG CHILD OF GOD." And then I realized what he was saying because I really didn't get it the first time. I was so proud of him! Then he told me about the bubbles and trucks and toys. I was so glad he went by himself and has continued to go by himself and likes to go to church to go to nursery.
On a sad sidenote, Steve's Grandpa Guido passed away on January 24th. He was such a sweet man and we were surprised by the sudden news. He was supposed to get a pacemaker just 3 days later. We hurried and got Steve on a plane to Canada to go be with his family. While he was gone for less than 36 hours, poor Joe kept telling people his dad was on a "mission." Since Uncle Mike is on a mission and he had to take a plane to get there, Joe was assuming everyone that takes a plane is going on a mission! Luckily Steve's mission only lasted 2 days! We love you so much buddy!

Happy Birthday Jack and Jack Jr!

My brother Jack and his son Jack Jr have birthdays 4 days apart. I was in Valencia for Jack Jr's but missed Jack's by a day. Jack Jr is hilarious and my best memory of him is when I went to his school variety show and he danced the Napoleon Dynamite dance and it was great. I laughed, cheered, clapped and whistled as much as I could. Love you buddy!
My brother Jack is a great example to me. He is so smart and has a great family. A good memory comes from before I was born, or so I've heard. Everyone thought I was a boy because my dad had had 5 boys already, but Jack thought I was a girl and he was the only right one. A not so good memory, he used to throw me and flip me through the air in the pool at Coronado. It scared me so bad and I was literally scarred from it until right before I got married. Yes, I know, I know how to swim, but it was the whole flipping thing that made me nervous. He threw me a couple years ago and now I'm healed but I'm still a wreck from him and Dan dragging me far into the freezing cold ocean. Thanks guys! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Abby and Josie!

In attempt to be better at writing in my journal I am going to give a Happy Birthday shout out to my nieces Josie and Abby! Josie's 3rd birthday was at the beginning of January and Abby's 17th birthday is today. Josie, I love you and can't wait to get to know you better since you now live in the states!
Abby came into my life when I was in 1st grade and everyone thought I was so cool because I got to be taken out of class one day to go see my new niece. Abby is just awesome. I always have such a fun time with her and my side hurts from laughing so hard. She loves reading like I do and loves sleep like I do. I love her tons and am so proud of the person she is! xoxo

Joe's Birthday Party

There is a fun train park in Scottsdale and we met up with my cousin Jess, her husband Jason and their 2 kids and Heather, Ben and their 2 kids. It was so fun except that I didn't know that the train and carousel stopped running at 5:30 and we got there at about 5! Luckily there are little playgrounds around the park for the kids to be entertained on.

Joe holding the tickets, he was so proud of them

Still holding and admiring his train tickets like they were priceless. So cute, thanks for not ripping or losing them!

Kena and Kiera playing while Joe was probably still counting the tickets :) Such cuties!

How could you not love this sweet little face so curious about everything going on around him?!

All Aboard! We are ready to ride! Last run of the day, the driver seriously drove faster than the normal 3 mph, maybe more like 10 mph and we were all holding on tight to the kids! I guess 5:30 there really means 5:30!

Heather and Kena all aboard!

Joe prepping "Patches" before take off, finding his eyes and ears...

Look how talented Heather is, got all 6 of us while in motion!

Joe picking up his princess in the carriage

Steve is such a good sport, love ya babe!

Kena and Ben making an all star choo choo train out of treats!

Jason and Kiera making their awesome train, and Benson devouring some delicious rice cereal!

So since this was so last minute, I didn't make the cake to take there. I decided to make trains out of candy with the train track and got some cool party favors. The trains are a Joe McKeon family Christmas tradition since we ruined the gingerbread houses every year. The trains are so easy and fun to eat whenever.


Our family at the end of the party. Thanks everyone for coming on such short notice! Love ya!