Stroller impact

You guys, we love the Porterfield's kids. They're like the perfect mix of crazy, fun, cute and sassy. They were outside playing when we arrived and my annoying day melted away!

No, this is not a doll. Jocelin is really just that cute! 

Jackson's day off this week was Thursday so he made our new stand-by, the mandarin orange salad, and a new potato salad recipe. Both dishes were awesome and paired with the Porterfield's porkchops made for an awesome meal. Of course Heidi's s'more dessert didn't hurt my evening, either. ;)

This was better than a s'more. No, I didn't know it was possible. 

Fear not, I found the recipe (http://www.bakedperfection.com/2008/07/smore-cookie-bars.html?m=1) online. This is a wonderful find. You won't regret ingesting the 90,000 calories this dish must contain.

Jax is SO SHY! ;)

Jax is still working on doing #2 on the potty. He took Jackson to the bathroom with him and showed how quickly he could get his pants off (HAAAA!), informed Jackson that pooping his pants while in the bathroom was acceptable (baby steps, I guess) and then asked if I (Jenna) had a penis, too. I've never laughed as hard at a story as I did this one. Ohhh Jax! He even wore a fish shirt for our visit. No wonder we love this kid!

"Baby" J is quite mobile and busy these days! 

She stopped to hang out with Jackson for a minute 

They shared a moment and then she left... :)

She loved my phone and even got a photo of us playing with it! 

After Jocelin went to bed Jax and I tried to take down Jackson. The result? Well, it is the funniest video ever. Thank goodness Heidi was taking a video with my phone because I don't ever want to forget how funny this was.

I'd like to point of my favorite things in the video: Gunner trying to take down Jax, the baby still strapped in the stroller, Jackson's Nancy Kerrigan-like "oh my knee!" and Jax's sheer happiness after he  connects with Jackson's knee. I almost died from laughter after this. I'm not kidding. It was just beyond hilarious. We still have no idea how Jax got the idea to go grab the stroller, but I'm glad he did!! ;)  

To prove that Jax isn't just a little wrestler, I'm attaching my interview with him about starting preschool. I got this idea from my sister. I'll have to have her send me Alex's interview. It was pretty funny, too! I love that he has to think about the questions while enjoying some strawberry milk. He cracked me up with his plan to spend 4 years with Miss Lisa. She clearly impressed him during their first meeting. ;) 

Thanks, as always, for letting us get our grandchildren fix, Porterfield parents. We'll be sure to come back again soon! 

All fun and games

Jackson had Friday off of work so he headed to Grant County to get my car from the repair shop (new brakes are a fraction of the cost when Guy gets them for me instead of the Audi dealership down here!) and decided to play a round of golf while he was there. He stopped out at Arbor Trace and was able to use his special relationship with Heidi and Andrew to get a steeply discounted round in- thanks again for "paying for his round" like that Jack, Heidi. ;) I kept getting texted score updates when he shot well on a hole. I just love that when I'm at work... ;)

I even got a glory photo saying, "not a bad Friday morning view!!" 

Once Jackson finished gloating playing golf, he stopped by Muncie to pick me up and we came back down to Indy for our double date with Kort and Heinz. We met them at our favorite sporting event viewing spot: Ale Emporium. We caught some of the Packers pre-season game against Seattle before heading across the street to get our game on in some hoops.

Jackson and Kort before doing battle 

We are obsessed with this Pop-A-Shot game at Dave & Buster's and must have spent over an hour trying to beat Heinzen. No one was ever successful. :( Heinzen actually had to physically remove the token card from my hand in order for me to give up my quest to beat him just one time. I get a little competitive sometimes...

Pop-A-Shot battles in progress 

Heinz schooling me :(

Heinzen took Jackson to school, too! Dang! 

I found a coupon for $5 of free game play today and texted a photo of it to Heinz. He shot back a message to "go practice already!" What a jerk! ;)

Aaron turns 40!

My brother Aaron turned 40 on August 18th and we celebrated with him on the 24th. We were all there: Kylie, Alex, Justin, Jackson, Aaron and me. I don't know if it was more of a party for Mom since she got to have all of her kids in once place or for Aaron's big birthday- ha! :)

Alex wanted to hit golf balls and Addie wanted to help

He's a lefty without proper clubs...a frustrating experience! 

"Let's try to hit it this way..."

Poor little guy is a left-handed golfer and they just don't make many clubs for kids that way so he was getting frustrated. Jackson got out his clubs and they hit long balls letting the dogs go get them. Alex thought that was pretty funny.

Angry birds...the REAL game

Do not play games with Alex. He cheats. He had an Angry Birds physical game that he wanted to play with me except he knocked the pieces down with his hands instead of his bird and claimed to be the winner. Lame. ;) I have NO idea where he would have learned to play like that. Oh wait, Kylie would refute that claim.

Birthday boy!

Aaron hates having his picture taken which is odd because he's 40 and looks fantastic. He acted like it was actual torture to stand behind his cake and smile. Sigh.

How many people does it take to win Angry Birds on the iPad?

Alex loved having so many people to play with him and he schooled everyone on that darned game!

Sibs photo :)

It seems we all share a hatred of photos, but I think it is important to get group photos every couple of years.

Ms. Madison

Madison even let me pick her up after the sibling photo so I had to document such an occasion. She is just the best little puppy.

Justin and MacKenzie

Justin is driving now! I cannot believe he is old enough to drive. Agh! MacKenzie really wanted to go home with Justin and Aaron for some reason and just wouldn't leave his side. It was kind of funny and kind of hurtful...ha! :)

Sir Alex refueling

Kylie and Alex intended to stay for the weekend, but Alex started not feeling well and needed to get home for breathing treatments. Poor little guy must have played too much. No worries, he's feeling better now.

It was a great day celebrating Aaron's advanced age! ;)

"A real fake!"

I had the following exchange as I walked out of my office for lunch today:

Random girl: OH EM GEE! You came back!
Me: *looks around, see no one* Are you talking to me?
RG: Yes! Duh! Don’t I look familiar?
Me: Oh, sorry. Umm…no, but that’s ok. How can I help?
RG: My friends told me that a girl who working in the boring building looked like me and was probably 21. I need a real fake and you're like my twin! 
Me: I’m confused. I think you have the wrong person.
RG: *long sigh* NO! We look alike except I think you’re of age to drink so I need your license. I’ll pay for your new one.
Me: WHAT? Oh honey. I work here. I'm also *gulp* 29! I’m not giving you my license so you can go to bars. We do kind of look alike, though, now that you mention it.
RG: EXACTLY! So stop taking yourself so seriously and give me the license! I can pretend to be old.Me: Pretend to be old! HA! Even if you did have a shot you just ruined it with that comment, dear twin. I hope you have a good weekend.



HA! I shall never again claim that my work is boring. ;)

We're ready to hit the road already

I love that we only have FOUR states left to see (Alaska is missing on this map because we cannot assign it an "I've been there color"-boo) and we're making off TWO of those in 12 days! We're more excited for this trip to Montana and Idaho than I thought possible. I almost want to contain our excitement so we're not somehow disappointed. We've not traveled since my birthday (over two months ago- we hate to go that long between trips!) and we're bursting at the seams ready to be in a new spot for a bit. 

The map's key goes as follows:

Pink- been there, but didn't see much

Orange- been there and saw some sights

Blue- spent a good amount in the state

Green- states where I've (Jenna) lived

White- must see before June 14, 2014

Created at: http://www.defocus.net/visitedstates/

It makes my heart happy to think that my 50 by 30 goal is one that we will reach. I read a ton of travel blogs in preparing for our future world explorations and I'm always shocked at how many Americans travel the world before seeing all of the states first. I've certainly gone to foreign destinations along the way, but I've tried to never neglect the wonderful country that is my home. :)

Indy downtown date night

Saturday mornings used to be something we looked forward to all week. Now we have TRX (a suspension training workout that kicks our butts!) each Saturday at 11:30 which manages to ruin some of the fun. ;) This weekend we even ran over and got our B12 shots (for energy!), went to L.A. Fitness to run and then went to TRX. We were beat!

Jackson decided that we deserved a night out and made some plans. It was quite sweet. After I took a much-needed but accidental nap, we headed downtown to the Indiana State Museum to see "Great White Shark 3-D" at its IMAX theatre.


I asked Jackson make the "IU" sign...he looked more like a ref. calling a touchdown. C'est la vie.


The museum had a replica L.S. Ayres Tea Room in that was closed for the night. Bummer! I'd heard so much about their soup that I wanted some!


We were pretty excited to see our first 3-D movie and our first movie in the theatre since last summer (the Aurora shootings freaked me out and I'd not been back to a movie since). Ok, keep that fact in mind and check out these photos:























Yep. It turns out the museum was having a costume party that evening after our movie with a Star Wars theme.


Jocelin's photo describes how I felt (it really does. That and I love this photo of her so much that I had to fit it in my post somewhere!).


I wanted to act like MacKenzie and hide (ok, I'll stop with the random cute photos now).

We made it out safely, thankfully, and went to Bosphorus Cafe for dinner. It was Jackson's first time having Turkish food and he really liked it.


It was still kind of early so we stopped in at the Fashion Mall on our way home to visit MAC makeup. We walked around and took in all of the new stores (the mall is almost too fancy now!) and then decided to get cheesecake for dessert. We grabbed some extra slices for Heidi and Andrew and then headed North to finish up our evening with them.

It was such a fun date night. We need to do those more often! Minus all of the eating, of course. Whew! I'm still full thinking about it.

River Glen

Jackson is back on a golf kick and wanted to hit some shots at the driving range the other night. We recently got an Indianapolis-area coupon book with buy one/get one passes for River Glen's range so we headed over.


The place was GORGEOUS! Jackson knew all about this place, knows the golf pro and owner there, has introduced me to these people over the years, but never bothered to bring me along when he visited.


Yes, the course is in Fishers near 116 & Allisonville (super busy suburban area for you out-of-town readers). No, you'd never know it. The photo above was the view from the clubhouse to the range. I just stopped and immediately asked why I'd never been here and, more importantly, why I wasn't married in this very spot! I also immediately looked for a home in the neighborhood surrounding the course and promptly remembered to play the lottery more often.


Jackson hit the ball really well and hardly needed coaching...


Or so I told myself as I wandered off snapping photos of all the glory. Ha!


It is safe to say that our days of going to the driving range at Grey Eagle are over. Why would Jackson take me to a range right on the road (FOR ALMOST EIGHT YEARS) when we could be in the middle of the most gorgeous course around? I still don't know friends, but he won't get away with it anymore! ;)

Heidi goes cruising

I think this photo shows that Ms. Heidi is settling in quite well. :)


She's looking awfully pretty for her evening ride!

1st day of preschool

Alex is ready to go!

Oh my goodness. Can you even take how cute this little guy is? I can't! Kylie says not to let the smile fool you as he was terrified, but I'm sure he'll have a great day! Proud Auntie moment. :)

Color Run

If anyone ever tries to convince you to sign up for a Color Run (or any version thereof) DO NOT DO IT! HA! :) No really, it was pretty fun. Indianapolis' was held on July 20th (what? I'm a little behind. You knew that.) and was SOLD OUT. You guys, 10,000 people paid to come out early, run AND have people throw a chalk-like substance at them ruining their clothes and shoes. Wait, what? Yep. It makes right at zero sense, but that is how I feel about a lot of things. ;):) Basically you arrive wearing all white and then you run a 5k with color stations where people throw stuff at you. I didn't breathe in the color stations. Jackson did. He said it was awful. Ha! :) The route for the 5k was that of the end of the Mini-Marathon I nearly died doing completed in May so I kept yelling about having horrible flashbacks.Poor Jackson is so used to my dramatic excited nature that such proclamations didn't even phase him. We had great weather for the 5k and even planned ahead enough to bring beach towels to sit on for the drive home. Our showers afterwards were certainly colorful! I have another similar run scheduled with my friend Amber in September. Jackson thinks he may be retired from such runs. I don't blame him. ;)

Mr. Colorful

Golf coaching

After a busy weekend of long walks, a really hard TRX class, a concert and puppy-sitting, we were ready to do something kind of relaxing. We decided to head to the driving range to work on Jackson's swing. He played golf on Thursday, his day off, with Susie. He had not played in like seriously a year and shot an 81 (front nine- 42, back nine- 39). That's really good! He was not pleased as he used to shoot in the 60's when he played golf every single day. I was SO annoyed with how well he played after such a long time. I'm a great golf coach, but I'm an awful, awful player. Sigh.

Coach got an action shot

Everything was going well, I was coaching Jackson on slowing down his swing and keeping his elbows tucked and we were reviewing the videos I took during his swings. A pretty typical coaching session. Then I looked over and saw it...

ATTACK OF THE GEESE

GEESE! EVERYWHERE!! I was so creeped out. One girl on the range actually hit on them accidentally. I was certain we were goners and they'd attack us all as revenge.

Thankfully, this creepy birds didn't mess up Jackson's swing and we were able to get it in tip-top shape for his next round. He'll be back in the 60's again in no time! :)

John Mayer & Phillip Phillips

Last night we went to the Phillip Phillips and John Mayer concert at Klipsch (formerly Verizon and before that Deer Creek). It is so close to our place now so that was nice. Heidi and Andrew picked us up and we dined at Hamilton Town Center before parking at the Bates' house to save money on parking and walking the .25 miles or so to the show. It was an awesome plan and saved us a lot of time and money. Score!

Pork and Heidi

Jackson and I brought a blanket that turned out to be really small. You'll see Jackson is on the gray blanket. Thankfully, Heidi brought a large quilt that I was able to sit on with them. We laughed for a good 5 minutes at the size of our blanket. :)

Quilt vs. umm...towel? HA! 

We picked a nice spot on the side lawn and settled in for the evening.

I enjoyed getting to chat with Heidi and listen to some awesome, live music. 

Please notice "Skyler" the drunk kid behind us- LOL

We had a pretty good view and could hear really well without it being too loud!

The American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips

The crowd really filled in when John Mayer was about to come on.

Jackson showing off the crowd size

Date night photo

John Mayer was amazing. He is SO talented. I never gave him much credit for that because he always seems like such a jerk in the media. He was really normal-looking (we saw him backstage before the show) and seemed very grounded. I'm a bigger fan now than I was before the show. We really enjoyed Phillip Phillips, too. I'm not generally a huge fan of concerts, but this one was awesome. It was so fun to get to hang out with Heidi and Andrew, too. :)

John Mayer