Halibut Point State Park

We took MacKenzie to go hiking at a state park in Rockport, Mass. It is built on an old granite quary. It was a windy day today, but it was still fun to be there!
Jackson had to convince MacKenzie to get that close to the water- at first.
She was just a little uncertain.
Danielle complained that I never post photos of myself so here is one, D. :) It was so windy- look at my hair!
Exploring the rocks.
I love MacKenzie's explorer pose.
It was so windy down by the water, but it was really pretty.
A ton of stone that was removed from the earth.
An old lighthouse that is being restored now.
The actual quary was really quite beautiful.
"MacKenzie- DANGER!!!" - Grammy will get this joke. ;):)
It was a really crisp, clear fall day. It doesn't look that way in this photo, but it was lovely out.
Mac finally got comfortable and was all over the place on the rocks near the water.

I didn't go on the black parts for fear of falling. Jackson had no such fear. Whatever. He's insured. ;):)

In the video Jackson asks if MacKenzie can "go free" (be without her leash) which is why I ask him if he wants an ocean puppy- the wind made it hard to hear Jackson.

Pooh!

Alex is going to be Pooh for Halloween this year. Isn't he the cutest? This photo came with a caption that read "No one had any honey!" HA! :)
I cannot believe how big my little man is getting already! This picture makes it look like he is almost the size of Kylie already!
He's also the offical candy taster according to his bib. I don't think he even gets to eat candy yet. Even if he did Kylie, the notorious candy stealer herself, is his mother so he doesn't have a prayer!! ;):)

Miracle of life

I think that sometimes we forget just how special a life really is. My sister had 1/2 of her cervix removed 7 years ago due to cancerous cells. She had a wretched pregnancy because of that surgery. She went for a check-up a couple of weeks ago and was told that after 7 years and a mere 6 months after Alex's birthday, the cancerous cells were back. She's going in tomorrow for more testing to learn to options. She's not too hopeful about keeping all of her lady parts. This makes me feel 2 things: 1. joy. Joy that Alex is here. 2. Fear. I fear for my sister and her health. I pray (and hope that you all will, too) that everything goes ok. That if they have to remove some of her lady parts that no cancerous cells pop up any place else. I wish that it was my lady parts that were screwed up so that she didn't have to deal with this.

I got an email last night to my work email (gotta love that Blackberry always keeping me in touch with work...oh wait...NO!) that read:

I just needed to give everyone a head's up. Unfortunately we got some bad news today- one of the two babies passed away. We are in the hospital until at least tomorrow monitoring the second baby. I can really use your prayers for the health and safety of baby B.
Thanks,
Anthony

I thought that Anthony was maybe someone new to my team that I had not met yet. It turns out he is out of the PwC Philadelphia office and had sent the email to all of the exempt organizations tax practice and not just his office. That's ok. I welcomed the chance to pray for and think of him. Then tonight I got this email:

Hi Everyone,

First, I wanted to apologize for flooding everyone's email and sending the below email to the entire group last night. My goal was to only send this to the Philly EO practice. As you can tell, my head wasn't really on to straight last night.Given that I did send this to everyone, I thought I should give an update- Francesca is today 29 weeks pregnant with twins. We found out yesterday that Baby A, Carina Marie, had passed away a couple of days ago. Thankfully, Baby B, Amelia Rose, is still going strong. The drs at this point really do not know what happened to cause the sudden death of Carina. They have monitored Amelia continously since about 5pm yesterday and have collectively come to the conclusion that it is best for her to be delivered. So Francesca is scheduled for a C-section Friday morning at 8am. Amelia will have a long road ahead, but the doctors say that she does has a fighting chance. Even though I screwed up on yesterday's email, we can still use all of your prayers for the health and safety of Amelia.

Thanks so much,
Anthony

It broke my heart. I sent him an email letting him know that while we do not know each other, I will certainly be praying for him, his wife and his new daughter. I'd love it if you all would do the same.

Thanks!

Homeless Danny

Tonight, I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I make a mean chocolate chip cookie, let's be honest. Anyway, a batch makes far too many cookies for our tiny family to consume so I packed a few up to take down to our concierge in the lobby of our building. He was busy when I came down so I headed outside with MacKenzie- cookies in hand. I then ran into "Homeless Danny." He was loving on MacKenzie and I offered him the cookies. He took them and then marveled at how they were still warm out of the oven. He wanted to hug me and had to stop himself from crying because "no one is ever nice to me. People hate homeless people. We're scum." I informed him that I would always be nice to him, that I didn't hate him and that I knew he was not scum. He was quite touched. He ate his warm cookies with a HUGE smile on his face. He asked me why I wasn't scared of him. I told him that people don't mess with women who bring them cookies. :)

Honestly, when you walk by a homeless person do you even notice? Do you remember that they're human, too? That they're someone's son or daughter? It really rocked me down to the core that he thought that everyone hated him. I hope that's not true. I really do.

Eww.

We saw these at our grocery store and I almost puked on the spot. How could Hershey's produce something so disgusting? They should stick to chocolate.

The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,

When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,

Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students, if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.' The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - family, children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions – Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else --The small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' He continued, there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, You will never have room for the things that are important to you.
So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play With your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. 'Take care of the golf balls first --The things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.' One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked'. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

I got this as an email today and loved it.

Mr. Sippy

One month from today I will be playing with my "I can hold my sippy cup all by myself" big boy nephew and hanging out with a lot of our extended family. That fact is certainly something to be thankful for at Thanksgiving this year!!! :) :) :)

Grocery CART!

I'm so happy to I'm not Amish as I would have been confused when I read this sign. It makes me laugh that they call grocery CARTS "carriages" here. I mean really. It makes no sense. In Colorado they called them "buggies" which was equally ridiculous. Odd. :)

Boots?

Jackson has the best commute ever. He seriously walks out of our door and is basically at his office building. We technically go to work at the same time (8:30), but I have to leave a lot earlier than that for my walk and I like to be early to work to get things done before all of my co-workers arrive to distract me with their antics. I love my co-workers- it is so nice to have people to talk to at work again! (It was just me and my boss at my office in Denver.) Anyway, Jackson has MacKenzie duty a lot now. He takes her out in the morning, during his lunch break (he eats lunch at home) and after he gets off of work. It makes me feel bad that he has to do all of that, but his schedule is much more forgiving than mine. If the weather is nice, Jackson and MacKenzie walk to the park near my office to play ball and wait for me to join them after I'm off work. On Thursday it was particularly muddy, but that didn't stop MacKenzie from enjoying her ball game!

She just got groomed last weekend and she's already got mud "boots" on. Ugh.
That little ring around her ball used to be white! It was so messy out there. She had a great time. Then, she came home and was ushered immediately to the shower. :) You win some, you lose some.

Pumpkins!

Listen, I hate Fall. I hate pumpkins. I hate cinnamon's take over of everything this time of the year. I don't particularly love oranges and browns in clothing. I just really don't have the affinity for this season that most people do. I'm sorry. I do have to admit that this picture of my best friend, Heidi, and her baby boy, Jax, was one of the cutest things ever- even if it did center around a pumpkin. Don't you just want to pinch his little cheeks?! And could Heidi be anymore gorgeous? I think not. Oh, I loved it. They look so, so, so happy! YAY! It warms my little heart.

P.S. Bravo, Heidi, on finally posting some photos of your growing boy!! :)

California clients

I work primarily with clients in California at my new job. This is a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing in that during Boston winters (and really all of the time, but I like to key in on the winter) I will be in California for a week at least once a month. And we're talking the good parts of California. (I cannot officially say which cities as people are not supposed to know what schools I am working with. I will just assure you that they are awesome school in great locations.) The curse is that on Friday I have meetings well into the evening. I did not get off of work until after 7 last night. It will be like that every Friday. Jackson turned lemons into lemonade and made Fridays date night. He will just come to my office when I am off of work and we'll go into the city for dinner each Friday. That way he doesn't have to try to time dinner around my crazy schedule. I love that man. Anyway, don't cry for me. I won't be so sad about late Fridays when I'm chillin' in California on PwC's dime when it is snowing here.

Anyway, yesterday I was having a particularly long (11 billable hours!!!) day as coming back from vacation always means that you're swamped with work. I was so happy to check my phone around 5 and see that I had 3 photo messages waiting. My Mom sent me pictures of her two "shaggy" dogs. I love those dogs. I also think they look super cute all shaggy like that. I just think that Madison is the greatest dog because she always looks like she is smirking.
That's little Ms. Macy lounging in Guy's recliner looking cute as a button.
Then I got a message from Jackson and MacKenzie letting me know that they were lounging and waiting for me to get home for dinner. MacKenzie was watching for me to walk home. She'd have to wait about another 2 hours for that to happen! Poor little thing. I loved the photo, though. They're so sweet.

Orlando...

is not the happiest place on earth for me. Ugh. It is like Disney threw up on the entire town. Anyway, I had a lot of time to kill in Orlando before I flew home to Boston so I ended up at the Florida Mall. I have been to the Mall of America so this was not the biggest mall I'd ever been it, but it was darn close. I mean it was HUGE! It had ever store you could ever desire in it. I was amazed. (Thanks to Jackson for finding it for me online. You're the best!)

I got a manicure. That was Tuesday and I still have not bitten my nails. That's a record. I'm hoping that if I keep getting manicures I will finally beat this habit. Although just writing about it makes me want to bite so I'm really not that hopeful. I got the best pedicure I have ever gotten by a man! Seriously. He was so, so good. I wish I could see him every 2 weeks, but that would mean going back to Orlando which I'm not willing to do. I got my eyebrows threaded. I ate lunch at a Chinese place. I did some shopping. Honestly my day that seemed to be wasted was great for catching up on "me time." If only Kylee from Salon Krelic was there to do my hair I would have been totally set. Speaking of, I am thinking of going back to brown for the fall/winter seasons and taking a few inches off. Anyone think that is a really good or really bad idea? Comments are welcome.

I got to the Orlando airport and watched child after child walk by with their overpriced toys from Disney World. I could not help but think of how big of suckers those parents were. I am just saying that those kids will not remember that big expensive trip. Whatever. To each their own. I'm glad that some people enjoy that type of thing. You wouldn't catch me in Disney ever again unless one of my dear nieces or nephews asked me to take them. Then I'd be a sucker, too.

All in all my trip to Florida was a good one. It was nice to spend some time with my Mom. It was nice to drive a little bit. (We just do not drive here in Boston. We went from September 11th until October 20th without buying gasoline for my car!) It was super fun to see Danielle and her boys. I forgot to mention that she has a new house, too. It was gorgeous and HUGE! I loved it.

There is, however, no place like home. I just love my time with Jackson and MacKenzie. :)

The Johnson Family

Reef.

While my trip to Florida didn't go quite as planned (we had no idea that my Grandpa was in such bad shape), I was able to have some fun and go see my roommate from my time at Palm Beach Atlantic. Danielle, as many of you know, had twins boys on May 27th. They both weighed more than Alex did when he was born! I was amazed. They are super cute little guys named Reef and River. My Mom and I visited them for a little while on Monday and then went to dinner at one of my favorite BBQ places- Sonny's! Yum!

River.

Danielle was kind enough to dress them in different colors so we could tell which boy was which! They doctors say that they're not identical. I still had a tough time!

River.

Hey looks like he's saying, "Oh hey!"

Reef.

"Hi, Jenna!" (I was playing with him.)

Reef "reading" a book.

Danielle with River. I cannot even believe how fabulous Danielle looks after giving birth just a few months ago to huge, twin baby boys!
Jaysen joined us for dinner. They were matching in yellow and didn't even plan it. How cute! The boys were none too thrilled to have their picture taken, but you can get a feel for how cute they are.

I kept telling Danielle how nice of her it was to have twins for us. That way Mom and I both got a baby and didn't have to fight about who got to hold one! ;) :) It was so, so good to finally meet the boys and to get to see Danielle. I love that girl!

P.S. Sorry for the delay in posting this, D. I had to fit 5 days of work into 3, I was deathly ill, I had to wait on my Mom to email me the photos and that's about all of my excuses. Forgive me, please. :)

Rough day...

Today was a rough day. It started out with a 4:30 a.m. wake up call to head to the airport. I hate early morning flights, but they tend to always be early and on-time. My first flight was just fine. I had a connection in D.C. that was really tight. I got on my 2nd flight someone was in my seat. She was 5 years old and wanted the window. I am 26 years old and booked the window seat. Tough luck, kid. The father promptly called me a "bitch" because I wouldn't let his kid keep a seat that was not hers. I was so mad. The flight attendants came and told him to have a seat and that they'd deal with him after the flight. He was met by security when we landed. He is no longer welcome on United flights. Take that, mean dude. Needless to say, it was a really uncomfortable flight sitting next to such a jerk. Sigh.

I met my Mom in the Orlando airport and we headed towards Grandpa and Grandma's house. I had not driven for more than about an hour since moving to Boston so I was loving the roadtrip. We got to my grandparent's house and things were worse than we had expected. My grandpa is not in very good condition to say the least. I, as you all know, do not deal well with this kind of thing. I was pretty much a mess all day. I am also really, really sick. I am pretty certain that I've got strep throat something awful. Today was not quite the vacation day that I had expected. My Mom and I went to dinner together tonight and I cried through the whole meal. I don't like illnesses. I really don't like being a grown-up sometimes. Today was one of those times.

Please keep my grandparents and Mom in your prayers. Things are tough, but God is with us.

JEANS!

Alex broke out his jeans for fall today. Does he not look so stinkin' cute? I seriously cannot take how adorable this kid is. I cannot wait to see him in about a month!! :)

An author?

Ever since we have decided as a family that my dream of going to law school should be put on the back burner for now, I have been left in a state of confusion. I like to always be working towards something. Right now the CPA exam is looming, but it is more annoying than anything else. I was at work today pondering life with some colleagues when a great idea for a novel came to me. I obviously cannot share this idea (because there are just so many of you that 1. read this 2. want to write a book 3. care, but anyway. Humor me.) just yet, but rest assured I am going to start an outline for the book on my flight to FLORIDA on Saturday morning. That's right: my Mom and I will be soaking up in the sun in Florida for 4 days- woot! I cannot wait to see my Grams, Danielle and her two baby boys!

Jackson is still sick as a dog. I am starting to feel a little bit better. I think that is mainly because I have been so busy at work that I do not have time to do things like blow my nose, cough or swallow. That's a good thing because all of those things cause me great pain right now. I am really starting to like and enjoy my job. I could really do without this whole working full-time thing, but such is life. I definitely thank the Lord everyday for this opportunity. Jackson is adjusting well to his job and should be up to speed in no time!

We found a place to board MacKenzie for Thanksgiving. PTL! It is really the little things in life that mean so much. I feel so relieved to know she will have a place to go while we're in Southern Indiana celebrating with our families. It cost us an arm, a leg and perhaps a kidney (depending on the rates on the black market these days) to get to Indiana for Thanksgiving, but gosh darnit we'll be there!

We still have not nailed down a Christmas vacation plan yet. Jackson keeps wanting me to go on a cruise. Has anyone cruised? I am just not certain that I would like it. Any input you all have would be much appreciated.

I think that catches everyone up on the happenings around here. We both have new cell phone numbers so if you haven't gotten a text about that, let me know.

Weekend in Btown

Friday night was an impromptu date night for us. (Didn't Jackson just look adorable?!) We strolled into the heart of the city and had dinner at the Bell-in-the-Hand Tavern. It is the oldest tavern in America. It was a really quaint, cute place. We got a seat by an open window and enjoyed prime people watching on a lovely Friday evening. Their food was really good. Jackson had fish and chips and their "chips" looked and tasted a lot like Steak-n-Shake's fries. Yum!
On our walk home, we stopped by the Cheers replica bar to watch some live music. It was so fun. We had a simply lovely date night and deemed it our favorite night in Boston thus far.
We came home and hung out with this little dog. Isn't she just the cutest?!

Saturday we headed down to Wretham, Mass (about 35 minutes away) to go to the outlet mall there. This is not your run of the mill outlet mall, it has a BURBERRY outlet. It was awesome. The mall was PACKED as they were having great sales for Columbus Day weekend. We didn't even know it was Columbus Day weekend, but we happily took part in their major sales. I just could not pull the trigger on getting a Burberry trench coat. Maybe one day I'll get weak. We intended to get rain gear for me and didn't find a single thing. We certainly did not leave empty-handed, but I'm somewhat annoyed with the lack of rain gear offerings here. I'll keep hunting.

Today we both woke up with wretched sore throats and were lazy around the house. We do not have time to be sick and hope that we were able to kick it today. I did get weak and get back on Facebook. I just decided to hide the annoying people and even un-friend some of them. Ah, it was liberating. I also decided not to have Facebook mobile anymore because I think people spend too much "real time" on their phones and are not present in the moment (*clears throat and nods at her husband*).

The day I dumped Facebook

It was a tough thing to do. I loved Facebook for many years. The wealth of information about old friends and current ones was intoxicating for a nosy girl like me, but it was time to cut my ties to the famous social networking site. It was no longer a positive thing in my life. I will admit that it is a very odd feeling not being in constant contact with certain people, but I know that this feeling will fade and become my new normal. I also like to think that all of the time that I save while not surfing Facebook can contribute to my efforts to study successfully for the CPA exam.

Tom Brady's Car Accident 911 Call

We had just moved to Boston when the famous Tom Brady car accident occurred. Based on the way they handled it on the news, I assume this is what really happened. CLASSIC! (Excuse the language and just enjoy the joke. I laughed so stinkin' hard!) The people here are OBSESSED with Tom Brady. They love him more than the folks in Indianapolis love Peyton. It is really something.

**Note: It has come to my attention that some blog readers live under a rock and missed hearing about Tom Brady's car accident. Yes, he was really in an accident. No, he was not hurt. Yes, he did call for a private car to take him to sign his fat new contract with the Patriots. No, Gisele and Jonathan were not with him when the accident happened. This phone call is a skit put on by a company that recently became a client of Jackson's new company. Whew. I think that covers it.

Happy birthday, Duckie!

Today we all wish Guy Duckwall a very happy 57th (gasp! I know- he says the blonde hair throws people on how old he really is) birthday! We hope you have a wonderful day, Duckie. We all love and miss you! :) :)

I really hate...

when people talk about the weather, but this must be said: one does not move to Boston for the weather. Yick! It has been cold, rainy and windy here for what feels like years already. It is ALMOST enough to make a girl miss Denver.

Ball on the Common

Today we walked over to Boston Common to play ball with MacKenzie. The Common is only about 2 miles from our place and it is a very pretty walk.
This was MacKenzie's first trip to America's oldest public park. She was so excited!
Ok, so she was excited because all of Boston Common is an off-leash dog park. She got to play ball without anyone yelling at her! (They were crazy in Denver about no dogs being off of their leashes anywhere.)
She played a lot of ball with Jackson today.
Later she met a little dog with a Patriots jersey on and proceeded to steal that dog's ball. HA! :)
By the time that we walked the 2 miles home from the Common MacKenzie was bushed. She still kept her ball close, though, just in case another game broke out. ;):)