Happy Anniversary, Nick & Kylie!

Two years ago these two got married. Jackson and I had just moved to Denver. We flew into St. Louis for the ceremony. We rented a convertible and drove in the 10,000 degree heat (it was so hot) as fast as we could to make it to the wedding on time. We made it. It was lovely. Later in the night Nick busted out some incredible dance moves. I kid you not. I'll never forget Kylie's face as she watched him. Classic.
This year, those two little love birds gave us all a precious little gift: Alex! :) It was a long, hard pregnancy for my sister, but I think we all agree that this little guy was worth it.

To celebrate their second year of marriage, Kylie and Nick went horseback riding. The horse stepped on Kylie's foot and bruised it. There is also word on the street that she has complained of tailbone pain from bouncing in the horse's saddle. Typical. :)

My deep apologies for the delay in sending your card, Leo. I really thought it had gotten put in the mail. Arg. Anyway, we wish you many more happy years together!

Buffalo, NY

We are staying in Buffalo, NY tonight so we decided to hit up the bar where buffalo wings were "invented."
Jackson was pretty excited to give the original wings a try.
The wings were pretty good. They weren't anything to write home about other than the novelty of eating at the first place to serve them. The bar was pretty fun and definitely worth the trip into town.

Niagara Falls

This was supposed to illustrate just how high up the observation tower that we were on really was.
The bridge to Canada. We didn't go as we couldn't locate our passports. I'm not really sad about that as Canadian accents annoy me. (No offense.)
Seriously gorgeous!
The Toronto skyline from the American side of the falls.
It was such a gorgeous evening- 77 degrees and we got there just before sunset.
This is the river that rushes into the falls- we wanted to go rafting!
Doesn't that look like so much fun?!

Jackson and the mist...


Jackson was on his phone nearly the entire time that we were at the Falls because he was missing the fantasy football draft with his friends in Indianapolis. I'm deeming myself as a very understanding wife for not being bothered in the slightest at this focus on a fantasy team. :)
The THINK mobile that the security guards used.
It was all so pretty!

"Baby Machine"

Jax got upset and started to cry when Heidi went to the restroom. Susie picked him up and he was still crying. Jackson got him to settle down (after Heidi gave Jax a pacifier..hmm..) and Jackson was giving Susie a hard time about not knowing what to do. Classic.

Jax @ "Grammy's"

Thursday night Heidi and Jax made their way over to Susie's house to have dinner with the three of us (Jackson, Jenna & Susie). Jackson has really enjoyed finally getting to meet and play with Jax! I took a lot of photos because I wanted to be able to look back and tell Jax that I have photos of him when he was just a little guy!!

I just love this picture as both boys look so handsome.As we have always suspected she would be, MacKenzie was pretty jealous of everyone paying attention to the baby. She also kept trying to get him to play with her. She could not figure out why he wouldn't throw the ball.
MacKenzie would come over and beg for a table scraps for a few minutes and then she would go back and visit Jax.
He's almost ready to start crawling.
We tried to make MacKenzie smile for the photos- she was not having it. Jax rolled all over the place- he was a busy boy!
Jax had a little food on his face that MacKenzie helped him out with- what a nice dog?! ;)
MacKenzie making her way towards her father who was playing with the baby!
"No Dad, I'm right here. Dad! Right here! ME!"

Ghost of girlfriends past

I got a chuckle because I met my Mom for lunch the other day at the McAlister's where Jackson and I used to go when we were dating at American Funds and ended up parked next to a twin of the car that I drove at the time. Ah, memory lane. :)

It also made me laugh when I realized that I would never have believed someone if they told me in April of 2006 that I'd find a car that I loved more than my Volvo (April '06 was our car accident that totaled Val the Volvo), but I did!

Upland

Jackson and I got to go to Ivanhoe's the other night- YUM!
Addie loves to go for rides in my parent's electric car and Jackson loves to drive it- they're a perfect match.

I worked at my old office this morning. It is always so nice to be back there where I'm appreciated and treated as a part of their family. Then Jackson and I met my Mom and Guy at La Hacienda in Muncie. (We missed you, Shann!) We LOVE that place. Then we ran a few errands for Guy. We spent the entire afternoon in Upland. It is just so relaxing to be in God's country. We love playing with the little dogs there. Ah, home is where the heart is!

26 is young

I know that I complain A LOT about getting older. I just really do not like it. I do, however, sometimes realize how 26 is not old. My dear friend Megan sent me a link to this blog:

http://libbyryder.blogspot.com/

Libby is 26. She's MY age. She has a 6 month old daughter, Ava. Libby has an awesome husband, Justin. Libby also has Stage 4 cancer. I read her entire blog today and cried my eyes out. I do not know what it is about her to resonates with me so much. I really think that it is that she's my age. We like a lot of the same things and she's sick. She's really sick. I do not know her. Megan does not know her. I'm really not certain how Megan stumbled upon her blog. I am glad that she did, though, because now we all know about it and can journey along this path with Libby.

I hope you'll take time to learn her story and join with Megan and me in prayer for Libby.

So much stuff

Jackson and I have only been married for a short time. (Ok, almost 4 years. Leave it.) Anyway, in that time we have acquired a lot of stuff. I won't call it junk as it is useful, but still. It drives me nuts. I annoys me so much that I may not ever shop again (that's a lie). We had a lot of stuff in storage here at Susie's. We purged. We kept some of our things in storage. We donated some of our things. We decided to move some of our things to Boston. It was a process. That process is complete now and that makes me happy. If we had a bigger place with a lot of storage I would take it all with me. We do not. All of my holiday decor will just have to sit around and wait to be used. Sad.

I got my hair highlighted yesterday. Susie and I go to the same person, Kylee, at Salon Krelic. I cannot recommend her enough. If you live in or near Indianapolis- look her up. Tell her I sent you! :) Anyway, she had me first and then Susie yesterday. The poor girl. I am sure she was sick of hearing about us by the time that we left. HA! :)

Jackson and I spent the rest of the day in Upland. We stopped in the see my Dad. MacKenzie was disappointed that he didn't have any tennis balls to throw to her! There is always next time. We had dinner with my brother, his girlfriend, my nephew Justin, Mom and Guy. We had stuffed mushrooms, shrimp cocktail, steak, twice-baked potatoes and salad. It was so good! Dinner in Upland does not usually disappoint. We somehow found room and met Christina at Ivanhoe's. She's got a baby on the way! It was so fun to see her and catch up. I cannot wait to know whether it is a boy or a girl. Oh wait, she's not finding out. UGH! (Have I ever mentioned on my blog that I HATE surprises? I do.)

MacKenzie had a great time hanging out with Macy, Madison and Addison. She loves all of the freedom that comes along with life in the country (again- she's her mother's dog through and through). :)

"Home"

It is good to be "home." We did quite a few fun things before we left Denver. We went to dinner and a movie with our dear friend Meg. We will miss Meg a tremendous amount and already look forward to her visit to Boston. We saw "The Switch" with Jennifer Aniston. It was a cute movie. It was quite predictable, but cute nonetheless. I recommend getting it on Redbox as it probably isn't worth full movie theatre price.

Saturday night our neighbor Bri had us up for a wonderful dinner. We will miss Bri and Marla! We really loved our condo in Denver and will miss all of our neighbors and their dogs!

We got into Indianapolis on Monday evening. We had dinner with Susie. It was so good. Then Susie and Jackson went to the driving range. Jackson's golf game at sea level needs a little work I hear. Oops. :) Tuesday Jackson and I had lunch at Moe's. He has missed that place so much. I will admit that their nachos are the best around. Jackson played golf at a place where he worked for years. He caught up with people he used to work with there and got to play for free. I like it! We had dinner over at Heidi and Andrew's house. Our dear friend Laura came over, too. It was so, so nice to see everyone. I have gotten pretty spoiled as I have seen Heidi a lot this summer. It is good for my heart. I love that little redhead. Jackson got to meet his "namesake," Jax, for the first time. (Jackson thinks Heidi named Jaxton for him but didn't want to admit it. Typical ;)) Jackson loves babies. MacKenzie went with us to their house and did not like her parents playing with a baby. I guess that means we cannot have one. Darn. ;)

Heidi makes the most fabulous ice cream cookie sandwiches. Jackson begged her to make them and she obliged. They did not disappoint. Jackson made dinner for us. The whole night was great. We have missed being with our friends so much! It is good to be "home."

Denver to Indianapolis

MacKenzie had the middle spot in the moving truck. She looked very comfortable. She was a great little passenger.
We love this huge cross on the side of the road in Effingham, Illinois. It is supposedly the largest in the U.S.
We got tired and had to stop for the night. MacKenzie was excited that the hotel allowed her to stay there. She snuggled right into bed.
Jackson was awesome. I drove the truck for about 30 very stressful minutes. He drove the rest of the way.
MacKenzie had to sit on the balcony while we packed up and moved out of our condo. She doesn't like all of the mess of moving (truly her mother's dog) and tries to run away.

The flight from Denver to Indianapolis takes well under 3 hours. The drive took us 2 long days. God bless the Wright brothers for discovering flight. As I mentioned above, Jackson received his gold stars for doing an awesome job of driving us here. When we went to pre-marital counseling, one of the lessons taught just to the women in the group was about how men like to feel like we think they are "big men." I laughed at it. We've always kind of joked about that lesson. If Jackson changes a lightbulb, I deem him a big man. The same goes for mowing (if we had a lawn), taking out the trash (if he ever remembered) or getting a jar open that is nearly impossible for me (a daily occurrence). Anyway, I truly bestow big man status on him for driving all of that way. The box truck is not exactly easy to drive. He was awesome. Thank you so, so much Jackson.

It was even me who needed to stop! We ate at Cracker Barrel and it made me so sick. I'll never eat there again. Can you believe that? It used to be one of my favorite places! We made it to the other side of Kansas City, MO before stopping for the night. I was so happy not to be moving anymore. Monday we made great time to Indianapolis and were here in plenty of time for Susie to cook us dinner. Yum! :)

Worst Saleslady EVER

You're looking at a photo of Andrew, Heidi and Jax taken a few days ago at the Indiana State Fair. Heidi has been bothering me for years to reproduce. I refuse. Lately she's been really hard at trying to sell me by doing the following:

-complaining that the fair was "as fun as it could be with a baby!"

-trying to convince Andrew to take Jax with him on his guy's night out so that she didn't have to "deal with the baby"

-admitting that the first 4 months or so of a baby's life are no fun

-wishing another one of our pregnant friends luck with her morning sickness and then lamenting at how much she does not miss that

-telling me how often she now has to wash and change her clothes because of always been thrown up on

-changing a dirty diaper in front of me

Keep up the good work, Heidi. I'll be on my way to motherhood NEVER.

HaHa. Just kidding. Kind of.

Love you, Heidi! :) And Jax is truly a joy to be around!

How it should be

Jackson's boss sent out the following email in response to his departure:

"As many of you already know Jackson aka "The Fish" will be taking his tack to the East Coast and hooking up with the evil empire. With that said I wanted to thank him for his contributions here the last year and wish him and his wife the best of luck and success in their new town near the "Haaaaaaaarborr". My advice is not to triple paaaaark because you might get a paaaaarking ticket and have a myo caaaaardio infaaaaaaarction. Good luck Jackson!"

They've been real sports about the whole thing. Thanks, Great-West! :)

"The meaning of life"

I love this little cartoon. It is so perfect.

The plan!

Ok- so a lot of people have been asking about our plans for the next few weeks so here goes:

Aug. 20th- I'll fly back to Denver to join Jackson and MacKenzie. We get to have one last dinner with our dear friend Meg.

Aug 23rd- The moving van will be packed and ready to go. We will leave the morning early for Indiana.

Aug 24th-27th- We will be in Indiana catching up with old friends, seeing our families, etc.

Aug 28th-29- We will drive from Indiana to Boston. We will stop off at Niagara Falls and other assorted fun places along the way.

Aug. 30th- We will have the moving van unpacked, Jackson starts his first day at John Hancock and I will be busy settling us in the our new place (we got the 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom place in the Seaport through the end of February via the sublease- come visit soon!)

Sept. 4-6th- We will be in Maine at the beach celebrating Labor Day

Sept. 13th- My first day at PricewaterhouseCoopers- yippee!

That is what is going on with us for the next few weeks. Ahh. It is so, so, so much easier to write it all out than it is to try to explain it to people! :)

Catch up day!

My Mom drove me by the house that I grew up in today. The new people are not taking very good care of the place. It is a real shame. We really did the memory lane thing together.
Yesterday was my busy day of visiting. I had coffee with my dear, dear friend Kara. She is just the absolute best. She just got back from a missions trip to the Philippines so it was really fun to hear all about it. I went to lunch with my Mom and our former pastor, Jenny. We went to the Gaither center in Alexandria for lunch- that place was really, really good. It had a little store attached that was fun to shop in, too. Jenny is the poster child for my philosophy that if you never slow down, you never grow old. She is the exact same- energy, appearance, demeanor- that she has been my entire life. It is amazing. She travels all of the time doing missions work for the church so she always has awesome stories! She would be the best person to be deserted on island with as you'd never get bored or run out of things to talk about!

From there I headed over to the Porterfield's house to visit. I love seeing Heidi, Jax, Andrew and their dog Gunner. Jax has grown so much. He's kind of steady on his feet when you support him. He is a good eater, too. Heidi is such a natural at being a mommy!

I met my Shannon for dinner in Fishers. She recently got a promotion at work- congratulations again- so I got her a gift. Back story: a few years ago, Shannon lived in an apartment in Ft. Wayne. Her apartment got broken into and one of the many things the thieves took was a new set of Longaberger coasters. She was SO angry. I now buy Shannon coasters pretty often just because I think it is funny. I saw a coaster set at the Coach store the other day and HAD to buy them for Shannon. She seemed to actually like them! Classic. We had a lot of laughs at dinner. I love that girl.

After that, I went to my old friend's place. Shaya now lives a stone's throw from my rental house in Noblesville. Shaya, Vanessa and I sat around catching up with one another. It is always so nice to see those girls.

As you can see, it was really busy day of catching up with friends. It was really one of the best days ever. I'm so blessed.

Old photos

My Mom had a bunch of old photos on her computer. Oh how I love old photos! This one is from our trip to L.A. to visit our cousin. Everyone looks so young!
My first day of school at Palm Beach Atlantic. Who told me that my hair looked ok? The background is unbeatable, though!
Kylie with the original Alex- our first schnauzer. Isn't that couch just lovely?! :)
Kylie and I with a wax Michael Jordan on our first trip to Las Vegas.
I could not resist posting this photo of Kylie getting her first car. I got a much nicer first car than she did. HA! I love the baggy clothes and long hair. That's the Kylie that I remember!
After many days of being among children it is this photo that makes me want my own (not happening). How cute is little baby Jenna??! Oh my goodness.
I cannot believe how dark and small Madison used to be!
This photo is of Kylie when she was a baby. Now Alex sucks his fingers the exact same way!
Again with the cuteness that was baby Jenna!
My Mom says I have always loved keys and cars. I guess somethings really never change!

Oh how I love memory lane! :)