Morgan Joyce

 On April 1st, 2014 we welcomed Morgan Joyce into our family.

Here's mom before the delivery:

And Dad, a nervous wreck:

Our first view of Morgan:

Moments after birth:

A few day 2 photos:

We'll post more pictures once we return from the hospital.

Love you guys!!

6 Years

For our 6-year anniversary we decided to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada for a couple days.  It was only an hour away, but it still turned out to be a really nice getaway for the weekend.

  

We stayed at the Queen’s Landing hotel. We went swimming in the hotel pool and ate dinner overlooking the lake in the Tiara restaurant.

The next day we walked around the village and also down by the waterfront.  The town is full of little shops and cafes.  For more information about Niagara-on-the-Lake you can click on the link below.

 Niagara-on-the-Lake Info

It’s still crazy to me that we’ve already been married 6 years…

I love you Brianna.

NASCAR: Pocono

Our summer of fun continued a couple weeks back when we went to a NASCAR race at Pocono International Speedway in Pennsylvania.  The night before the race we stopped by Scranton to visit Mike and Jenny. 

Before the race we went around to the different merchandise trailers for each of the drivers.  This is a picture of Bri in front of the trailer for her favorite driver Jimmy Johnson.

Going to a NASCAR race is a different experience then going to a normal sporting event for several different reasons.  At regular sporting events it is preferable to sit as close as possible to the field to see all the action.  In NASCAR it is the opposite.  The tracks are so large that it is more desirable to sit farther up in the stands so that you are able to see a larger portion of the track.

 

We decided to rent headphones that allowed us to listen into the conversations between the drivers and their crews.  It was a pretty neat experience to hear insights on the race from the drivers themselves.  The headphones also helped protect our ears for the roars of the engines.

Bri’s favorite part of being at a NASCAR race is watching all the wrecks.  The Burger King car crashed on the very first lap.

Here is a picture of the #51 car right after it hit the wall.

Our seats were right along pit road, so we were able to watch the pit crews work furiously on their cars.  It’s amazing how fast they can fix the car, change the tires, and fill it with gas.  A normal pit stop usually lasts around 14 seconds.

The #20 Home Depot car driven by Joey Logano won the race.  This is a picture of him doing a burn out for the fans immediately after he won the race.

After the race we waited until the traffic died down and then we headed back to Buffalo.

Shipping off to Boston

Over Memorial Day weekend Brianna and I went on another one of our baseball excursions.  This time around we decided to go to Boston to see a Red Sox game at Fenway Park.

We stayed in the North End section of Boston.  It is located right on the water.  It’s also known as “Little Italy”.  There were authentic Italian restaurants and bakeries every few steps.

I especially liked the authentic cannoli we found at Mike’s Pastry.  It is one of the more famous destinations in the North End of Boston.  We stopped by rather early on Saturday morning to beat the rush of people.  Every other time we passed this shop there were people lined up outside the door and down the block.

Coincidentally, the Boston Celtics were also in town for Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers the same weekend we were there to see the Red Sox.  Brianna loves anything green and Irish, so we got decked out in Celtics gear and went down to the game.

The Celtics ended up winning a pretty even game, which made it exciting.  If you look to the bottom right of the following picture you’ll see #00 in red.  His name is Spencer Hawes (like my name except spelled with an extra “e”).  When we were checking into our hotel the guy at the front desk thought I was playing a prank on him when we told him that the reservation was under the name Spencer Haws….

The next day we took the subway down to historic Fenway Park.  Growing up my dad had always told me stories about how beautiful and majestic Fenway was.  When we arrived at the park, we could see that it really did live up to the hype.

Fitz was able to get us really nice tickets because one of his old college buddies works in the front office for the Red Sox.  The view of the field from our box seats was incredible.

Between innings Brianna looked up at the jumbotron and noticed that there was a special message to us from Fitz’s friend….

After the game we jumped back on the subway and then took a cab to the airport.  After a short flight, we were back in Buffalo.  The trip itself was really short but we had a lot of fun.

14 stadiums down…  and 16 more to go.

Next up: Citi Field, New York City. July 4^th, 2012

How to Save a Life

The other day I had the unique opportunity to watch Brianna in action working for Mercy Flight.  Bri watches me work during games and open practices, but until the other day I had never really seen firsthand what Brianna actually does when she’s working.

 

It took place on Memorial Day while I was at home relaxing after our most recent baseball excursion to Boston (blog post forthcoming).  I received a text message from Brianna saying that she was going on a call.  She then said that they would be landing at Green Lake Park...  right behind our house!

So I grabbed the camera and ran over to the park.  When I arrived at the park I immediately saw large green cones spread across the field creating a landing zone.  There was an ambulance and several paramedics standing watch while a crowd of people gathered to witness the events.

A faint rumble in the distant became louder and louder…  until…

Brianna’s helicopter arrived at the scene of the accident!

Brianna then emerged from the helicopter dawning her fabulous orange jumper. 

 She quickly grabbed her fashionable red bag and proceeded to the ambulance to check on the patient.

Before reaching the ambulance Bri removed her helmet and subsequently tossed her flowing hair from her face ala Justin Bieber.

After assessing the patient, Brianna returned to the helicopter to make preparations for the flight back to the hospital.  The paramedics proceeded to carry the patient to the back of the helicopter where Brianna assisted them in placing him securely in the aircraft. 

They then promptly took off for the hospital, launching dirt from the baseball field high in the air.  Minutes later they would land at the hospital where the patient received the necessary medical attention.

My hero…  (sigh)….

Graduation

A couple weeks ago I finished the MBA program at Canisius College.  It’s a great relief to finally be finished with school.  Here are some photos Bri took at the graduation ceremony:

In December Brianna will finish her program at UB.  The end is in sight!  Hopefully at that point we will be able to get back to a “normal” pace of life.

Brianna’s been there every step of the way to help and support me.  There’s absolutely no way I could have done it without her.  I owe all of my success and achievements to her.

Sweetheart, thank you so much for everything.  I love you.

Family Time

Over the last few months Brianna and I have had the rare opportunity to spend a lot of time with our families and friends.  Over the next couple of blog posts we would like to detail a few of those experiences.

The first of these experiences was our annual trip home.  As always, visiting family and friends back home was wonderful.  It was crazy to see how grown up our nieces and nephews had become over just one short year.

On our way up from Utah to Idaho we took time to make a pit stop in Logan.

This allowed Brianna to spend some quality time with her best friend Whitney and her family.

We were also able to spend a couple evenings with our Utah friends.  We played games, filled out brackets, and watched basketball.

Shortly after returning home to Buffalo, Jenny and Mindy came out to visit us. 

It really meant a lot to us that they decided to use their vacation time and money to come all the way out to our cold, wet part of the country.  It was really nice being able to show them where we live and what we do. 

See Jenny & Mindy’s blog posts about the trips here:

Jenny's Posts:

utah-to-buffalo-via-baltimore

ralph-wilson-stadium-and-mercy-flight

niagra-falls

palmyra

our-last-day-in-ny

Mindy's Posts:

spring-break-buffalo-style

spring-break-update-travels-within

souvenirs