Sir Liam turns 1

I cannot believe that it has already been a year since Kortnee gave birth to our dear friend Sir Liam Mauck! We were fortunate enough to be in town for his birthday party so we hopped up to the Matthews Lion Club (easier said than done. Jackson got us lost in the town next to one in which I spent years of my youth. True story! But we did get to see the covered bridge- finally!) to celebrate his big year.

Oh, you don't usually get kids funny t-shirts and a gift card?! HA!

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!"

The presentation of the cake

SUCCESS! 

He loves us. Swear! ;)

He is going to be a big brother soon so I kept reminding him to enjoy the spotlight now. HA! Perhaps that explains the look he's giving the camera above?! :) We enjoy him so much and look forward to celebrating him for many years to come!

Presentation

Sunday was Jackson's last day with me so we decided to make the most of it with an awesome breakfast. It turns out the River Walk is far more enjoyable when it is empty. :)

Morning stroll- lovely!

We had an amazing Mexican breakfast. Jackson had 3 (!) huge breakfast tacos and I had an egg dish. This meal lead me to accept the River Walk a bit more.

This is the pose I get when Jackson doesn't want to take the
 time for a photo and would rather eat- ha!

Later that afternoon Jackson headed for the airport and my friend Jenny got into town for the conference. It was so nice to have a buddy! I had to go down and prep for my big presentation. I was so nervous. I knew my topic, but I'd never really presented to my peers before so I wanted things to go really well. I think they did. I lived! People asked interesting questions at the end that made me believe they thought I knew what I was talking about so that's good. Whew!

This room was pretty full for our presentation!

Jenny is fairly pregnant and needed to have a slower schedule so we hung close to the hotel for dinner that evening. We ended up at an Italian joint that was pretty good!

This pizza was GOOD!

I swear I did attend conferences and didn't just eat, but photos from a conference are not that exciting. Sorry. I also don't know that "normal" people would find the topics that I learned about all the riveting so I'll spare you that, too! The hotel had a great gym so I enjoyed some time there and by the pool when I was on break from class.

The next night Jenny and I got a little further from the hotel on the River Walk (you pretty much don't leave the area it seems) and had an amazing Mexican dinner.

Mexican food in SA cannot be missed!

If you are what you eat, I should have come home speaking Spanish fluently! HA! :)

Spending a conference break poolside? Yes, please!

Jenny left on Tuesday afternoon and my flight didn't depart until Wednesday morning so I spent the evening in my room watching Grey's Anatomy, ordering pizza (fine- I did eat a ton on this trip!) and then went to the gym because I felt guilty for being a bum- ha! I caught my flight early the next morning and sat next to a very nice older man from Colorado who kept me entertained for the whole trip. I love when that happens! Jackson and MacKenzie were at the airport to pick me up and I was pretty happy to spend the rest of the day with the two loves of my life! 

Reunited and it feels so good!! :)

I don't see myself rushing back to Texas anytime soon. ;) It was a good experience speaking at the conference, though!

San Antonio

We stayed just outside of San Antonio in a place called Selma. They had a BBQ restaurant that was raved about online called "Rudy's" so we stopped in. Jackson said he simply couldn't visit Texas and not have BBQ!

What is a visit to Texas without BBQ?!

COULD MY DATE BE ANY MORE HANDSOME?!

Was Rudy's worth raving about? Ehh. Probably not. Jackson liked it,though, and I like him so it all worked out. We made the short drive into the city and got checked into the hotel. Rather, I got us checked in and Jackson managed to get lost circling the block. True story. Since it was a gorgeous Texas day we decided to hang out by the pool for a bit. My favorite afternoons are the ones spent poolside!

Lounging by the pool- ahhh

After we got our fill of sunshine (OK, fine, I got hungry because I hated Texas BBQ-I never actually get filled up on sunshine), we decided to explore the famous River Walk.

Lunch (again) along the River Walk 

Jackson was certain they were secretly playing for him ;)

Cannot escape Notre Shame fans- even in SA

We stopped in at a sports bar to catch football games and eat. We, of course, ran into a Notre Douche. It never fails. No, the couple was nice enough and we enjoyed an extended lunch. From there we walked over to the famed Alamo.

Remember the Alamo 

Jackson being a fool.

There was nothing too exciting about the Alamo. It was really small.

I never figured out what this building was, but I liked it!

We spent more time exploring and hanging out before deciding that we weren't all that impressed. The River Walk (on a Saturday night) was too crowded and lacked anything to keep you from taking an accidental swim.  Whoops. Can't win them all! 

Austin visit

Thursday evening Jackson ran MacKenzie to Kokomo to stay with her Uncle Aaron while we were gone. She usually comes home disappointed to see us whenever she goes there so we have that to look forward to- ha!

MacKenzie making the trip to Uncle Aaron's
She looks sad. She is not sad. She LOVES Uncle Aaron.

Our flight was at 6:39 Friday morning and I again asked myself why I continue to book flights so early. Oh well. Our flight to Houston was on time and easy. Our flight from Houston to San Antonio was delayed, but they went ahead and let us sit on the plane while we waited for a flight crew. Thanks, United. I love sitting on an airplane. The seats are so roomy and comfortable. Oh wait. Anyway, we eventually made it to San Antonio. We grabbed our bags and rental car and hit to road to Austin.

We knew something must be going on in Austin because we could not get a hotel room there even after trying months in advance. It turns out it was the Austin City Limits ("ACL") musical festival. Holy cow were there a lot of music fans streaming through Austin. We knew that our beloved Chuy's was started in Austin so we wanted to see its first location. As it turns out, ACL was right outside its front door. We got to dine and people watch. It was awesome. Side note: I know some people think going to a chain when you're on vacation is odd. I get that and sometimes agree. However, I love seeing the first of a now large business chain. It is interested to see what the kept (in Chuy's case it was mainly décor) and what they changed (Chuy's certainly changed the restaurant's layout for the better) between the first and the subsequent locations. Call me a business school nerd forever if you must, but that stuff fascinates me. In good news the food tasted exactly the same and was excellent.

The original Chuy's!

We made it through the throngs of people and traffic going towards ACL and headed towards the University of Texas at Austin's campus. Holy cow. This is a HUGE campus with a ton of school spirit. I loved it.

Even the road signs on campus have school spirit

It was a Friday afternoon so there were not a ton of students around (shocking), but you could get a good feel for how busy this campus must be especially during home football games. Their stadium is right in middle of campus and it is massive.

Football is a religion here

The campus was really nice and well planned. I was impressed with their use of solar energy for everyday problems. I don't think we get enough sunshine in Indiana for charging cell phones- wah!

A solar phone charging station- genius!

We stopped at the campus store to add to our college t-shirt collection and were amazed at how much merchandise they had. They have dresses! You could wear a dress to a football game and still be rooting for the team. Amazing. My favorite part of campus was an area called "The Drag" which would be like Ball State's Village or IU's Kirkwood. They had all kinds of restaurants and cool-looking bars. Most importantly, though, they had a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I'm obsessed with the iced blended drinks from that place. I wish, wait no I do not or I'd never lose weight, that we had one on campus! Since it was a warm 90 degrees out (in October- can you imagine life without cold weather? Amazing!) this iced drink was especially refreshing. :)

Just the best coffee on the planet.

We left the campus area and headed to Mount Bonnell which was said to be a good spot for seeing the whole city. It did not disappoint.

Does that stairway ever end?

 

The view from the top

Is this kid adorable or what?!

Looks like we made it..

Not a bad view that direction, either

We hiked around that area for a bit before heading back to the San Antonio area for the evening. Austin was a cool city but that music festival overwhelmed its traffic capacity and we were ready for a break! We took a random toll road (thanks, GPS!) that likely cost us $20, but the speed limit was 80 (!!!) and it was fun. We finally made it to our hotel in the mid-evening. We cleaned up, grabbed dinner from the restaurant across the parking lot and went to bed early. It was a long day of traveling, but I am glad we got to see Austin. Today we'll be exploring the San Antonio area. Alamo here we come!

Home, jeeves

Listen, life at home is not always blog-worthy. That said, I still want to remember the small things. Jackson worked in Hartford City on Friday so he came by campus to lunch with me before going home. He looked very handsome and he took me to my favorite spot: Pita Pit. We had a little extra time so we got really wild and went to the new frozen yogurt place in the Muncie village called, "Let's Spoon." It was so, so good. It was also super fun to have a little date with Jackson in the middle of my work day!!

My handsome lunch date! :) YUM x 2

We spent Friday night and Saturday morning at the gym making sure we met out fantasy fitness goals. I don't think we've ever been more in the zone with working out than we are now. I guess having our gym right down the street and being in a fierce competition will do that to you. Anyway, we got a lovely surprise Saturday afternoon when Ms. Josslyn Bates and her parents stopped by. They were just in time to try some banana bread muffins I'd made (but didn't eat because I'm not a big fan). It was Fall weather and banana bread seemed appropriate. Josslyn agreed and gobbled up her little treat. It was so cute! She kept doing the baby sign language motion for "more" whenever she came to the kitchen.


What a cutie!!!!!!!

"I'd like another!"

We had a pretty quiet weekend other than that. We watched Grey's Anatomy on Netflix (only the greatest show ever!) and even hung out with MacKenzie.

"Down here! Share!! Down here!"

We had blueberry pancakes (the whole wheat kind- yum!) and Jackson made MacKenzie one of her very own. Then he made her beg for it. See how he ruins being a kind man?! ;)

I love "pupcakes"

I see this post has a lot of photos of our dog, but that's what happens we spend a weekend at home.

Sleeping with her best friend

Finally, we got this adorable photo of the Porterfield kids from their Fall family photo shoot and I just had to share it. Aren't they just little treasures?!

Is this not the most adorable photo ever?! We love "our" kids!

Fallish weekend

We had a busy week of working and fantasy fitness (more on that subject in a future post), but both felt bad on Thursday and ending up being home together. It was lovely to have an unexpected day to snuggle and hangout. What? We've been married for almost nine years and we're still a little bit obsessed with each other. I hope we're lucky, but maybe we're just weird? Anyway, it was back to work on Friday because I had a birthday party to throw for a co-worker's 50th. I got a cake at Taylor's Bakery right by our house for a mere $38. There was neither gold inside or thought that went into building the cake because it fell apart before I even made it to the office. Imagine my dismay when I went to reveal the cake and it was so ugly. I quickly told my co-worker that I did it on purpose because life after 50 is all downhill. Ha! She loved that. ;) The cake tasted OK, but when I informed the bakery of the incident they didn't even say sorry. Hello, people. You put a dense cake (white) on top of a fluffy one (chocolate) and didn't think that might be a disaster? Jerks.

DO NOT GO TO TAYLOR'S BAKERY
UNLESS YOU LIKE SLOPPY, EXPENSIVE CAKES

Still, the party was a success and my co-worker was surprised so that's all that matters. We had our typical date night at the gym Friday night before hitting it hard there again Saturday morning. Then it was finally time to head to Bloomington to catch an IU football game. We also moved a couch from Upland that my parents didn't need anymore down to Aunt Jill & Uncle Charlie's condo in Bloomington. We love the condo so we were excited to help in the delivery of new goods.

Couch delivery squad

"That way, dad!"

The most adorable co-pilot EVER

"Are we there yet?!"

SUCCESS!

I was so excited because a neighbor was out with his dog so for the small price of holding a leashed pit bull, the dude helped Jackson carry the couch inside. Winning! MacKenzie got to hang out at the condo while we headed to campus for the game.

It was just a lovely day for college football :)

We'd gotten tickets from a fellow gym member who is a season ticket holder so our seats were really pretty good. We sat there for the first half before moving to a less crowded area where we could stretch out a bit for the remainder of the game. (Note: football games are LONG!)

Petefish.

View from the less crowded seats

We enjoyed our time in Bloomington then headed for home. It is tax extension season and I had to put in some hours at Bill's place. Boo to working weekends. I've gotten so spoiled about that since leaving public accounting. We did get to have some fun Sunday night when the Porterfield's had a fire with s'mores. I knew we loved that family.

Gunny, Heidi and Jossi enjoying the evening

It was a PERFECT night for s'mores. Thanks again for letting us crash, Porterfield family! :)

It was a perfect early Fall weekend. I'd pretend to be one of those people who welcomes the end of summer but I don't want to lie on my own blog. I hate when summer ends. :( The only good thing that comes with the Fall is football. Both of our teams (Seahawks for me, Colts for Jackson) are having rough years already, though.

The Colts need help

P.S. The Colts are now 0-2 and MacKenzie has threatened to remove her Colts collar if they keep losing.