Happy Birthday, Joey!

I can't believe Little Joe is 2--
Here are some things we love about you:

J--Just cereal. Joey has somehow managed to survive on a very limited diet of cereal and milk.
O--Oh, and did I mention Olives? He has a very distinguished palate. And he is also particular about the actual process of eating his olives. S--Joey is VERY STUBBORN! I can not say this enough. Yes he is...Yes he is...I said he is...is, too... Is, too...Really...Yeah he is! (I have no idea where he got this particular personality trait.)E--Entertainer. Joey loves to be the center of attention and make everyone laugh. He usually does this by repeating inappropriate words he has heard from T.V. (not his parents) Most of the time it is in front of Grandparents or at church or somewhere that makes us cringe with horror. But he loves to see us squirm.

P--Peek-a-Boo. Joey is basically the best peek-a-boo player ever. I dare anyone to attempt to best his skills. He can compete with the masters. Not only does he have the motions and words down, but his endurance is unmatched. Long after everyone else has surrendered, he is still able to bring it. H--Helper. Joey is always looking for ways to help. He especially likes to sweep and order the dog around. Sometimes he helps by cleaning out a cupboard or emptying out a box of cereal. What would I do without him?

Happy Birthday, Joey!

Last week, it snowed for 2 days straight. Finally, when it stopped, we put on our snowclothes and ran out in time to make a snowman before it got too dark. Daisy hated the snowman and kept circling it, growling, and knocking it over. I think she thought it was an intruder. What a great guard dog.

Then, the next day, I took Andrew and Joey to the park to do some sledding.Sledding is a whole lot of this...

For just a little of this...

But, totally worth it.

I am so glad I took them when I did, because a few hours later is when Joey broke his foot. We have to wait until his cast is off now before we can go again.

Sweet Trib-UTE!

There was a parade and celebration downtown for our champion UTES! Andrea and I took the kids down, and Frank came straight from the airport and met us. Ben's buddy, Kelton was a really good sport to put on a Utah sweatshirt and come with us. He is a die-hard BYU fan.

They had the marching band, coaches, cheerleaders, University President, etc. but the best part (especially for Ben) was the players giving everyone five as they passed. It may have been the best day of his life.

Awww...

Here she is, Miss Bella. Is she cute enough? I'm so glad Allison thought to take her camera. Apparently, Mandy and Richard had quite an exciting night, including flying down Parley's Canyon at break-neck speeds, running red lights, and barely making it to the hospital in time to deliver this little angel. That will be a fun story to tell her some day, but for now, make sure she gets lots of kisses and love. You don't want to waste a perfectly good baby... Congratulations, Mandy and Richard!

Oh, Yeah--Christmas

Well, with all of the excitement of late, (Dave and Marshal coming to town, the Utes kicking some Crimson Bootah, Broken bones, etc.) I forgot to post any of these Christmas pictures:

Here we are enjoying our Christmas Eve festivities. Nativity puppet show, (courtesy of Aunt Liz)

The obligatory "Sit in front of the Christmas Tree in your new Pajamas" photo.

Yay! Christmas Morning. Did Santa come? Let's go see...
Mmm...Christmas Breakfast: Egg-nog French Toast.Elmo Live,
Spike the Dinosaur ("You're sure you want to ask Santa for that? Really?")

Some posters from their favorite movies to add a little spice to our basement...

I hope everyone else had a great Christmas, too!

Broken Bones and Dirty Diapers

Well, with 4 boys, we knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. Although, we would have never guessed that it would be this boy.

Yesterday, I heard a crash in the kitchen and found Joey, Cocoa Krispies, milk and his red barstool-chair all tangled up in each other. Joey was screaming and holding his foot. 7 hours later, he was still screaming and holding his foot. He wouldn't walk on it. I called the Doctor's office and they set us up for some x-rays which came out negative for a fracture.

Fast-forward to this afternoon...Joey is still screaming and holding his now bruised and swelling foot. He has taken a few tentative steps on his heel, but is still in a lot of pain. The Doctor called and told us that the Radiologist had reviewed the x-rays and his 3rd, 4th, and 5th metatarsals are fractured. Apparently a "buckle-fracture" is hard to see from the angle of the x-ray.

Here we have Joey telling Dad to take the cast off.

And here...

Now he's telling me to take it off.

Maybe Andrew can get this thing off?

Fine, I'll have to do it myself!

This is going to be a long few weeks.

What makes a jacket a jacket?

I have observed an interesting phenomenon this last week... My sister-in-law, Jana and also, her friend Susana, being California girls, don't recognize the subtle differences between a "jacket" and a "coat." Having received a BA in Linguistics, this little semantical anomale peaked my interest. Who knew that Utahns--famous for phrases such as "might-oughtta" or "usedta-could" would have such a precise definition for different types of outerwear? It is obvious to me as a Utah native what a "coat" is and what a "jacket" is. I am pretty sure that if I showed different examples to other Utahns, the classifications would be the same. Is this because we spend so much of the year in different types of outerwear? Compared to Californians, we do.

Just a little side note: My semantics professor (Carole Georgopolous) hated the claim that the Innuit languages of Canada and Alaska have multiple words for snow because they live in the environment they do--she believes that there are no "true synonyms" and the words identify different types of snow--powdery, slushy, icy, etc.

So, back to the original question. What makes a "jacket" a "jacket" and a "coat" a "coat?" And where do "hoodie," "parka," "windbreaker," and "sweater" fit into the mix?

I would define a coat as something you wear to keep warm--when it is really cold. A jacket is for chilly weather. Just to keep off the rain or to cover your arms when you have short sleeves. Is that a good definition? You would never wear a jacket skiing and a coat is too much for a spring picnic. But, then, there are instances where it gets dicey. What about labcoat or suitcoat? Neither of them keep you particularly warm. Also, sportsjacket. And one of those puffy vests--I wouldn't call that a coat. It's more of a jacket, but it is made of the same fabric as a parka. Just no sleeves. What's that all about? How do our minds keep all these straight? Why do we as Utahns have such a fine-tuned ear for these slight sematical diffences, but still say things like, "I seen it." or "We was listening."

Hmmm...

I love to think about these types of things. So, next time you are with someone from Hawaii or Florida or somewhere that doesn't have our same seasonal changes, ask them. Then, you can ponder these semantical subleties, too.

Please feel free to share any insights on this intriguing topic... As Dave and Jana would say in their Pennsylvania vernacular, "This needs answered!"

(I apologize for my horrible spelling--as you may know, blogger doesn't have spell-check and neither does my brain)