The Move

We don't move like normal people. Sure moves are hard. I've done my fair share of moving. And since we've been married we've moved four times not counting this last one. But still... we don't move like normal people. This move was rough. Something at every single stage went wrong. And mostly they were kind of big things. Like not having anywhere to live. Or paying an extra month of rent because of a mistake, etc. etc. Here's how the last little bit of time in dear old Denver shaped up along with the first few days in Austin.

Jax joined the foodie community shortly after we got back from Atlanta. He loves food. Like a lot.

Chris's parents visited us one last time from across the mountains. We took Jax to the Denver Aquarium, ate yummy food and they were a huge help with bringing us tons of boxes and packing almost our entire kitchen! Thanks guys!!

We spent the last bits of time we could with friends. We really miss our friends in Denver. It's a bummer for sure. We also hunted boxes. A LOT of boxes. I am proud to say that between what Chris's parents brought us and the ones we drove all around the metro area snagging from Craigslist postings, we didn't buy a single box.

Process shots, family pictures, an empty apartment and Chris and my dad driving away with everything that we owned. My parents came out the last week we were in Denver and oh my gosh they were such a huge help. My mom watched Jax while I packed and then we switched. She helped me run all of our last minute errands and get all of our last minute things wrapped up. My dad helped us pack the truck and drove it all the way to Texas while Chris followed in our car (we are now a one car family!). Couldn't have done it without them!

My mom and I flew to Austin to meet the boys and we had a really fun first weekend in Austin touring around and checking things out. Also, it was SUPER hot. Cue Chris putting Jax in the freezer at Target. That picture that looks like an unfinished apartment is just that. And exactly how we found our supposed residence when we arrived in the Lone Star State. We had known that we would be spending at least a week in a hotel but we ended up staying a little longer than we thought. Details in the next post!

The last little bit in Denver and the first bit in Austin is kind of a huge blur now but I do remember that it was stressful and that we couldn't have done any of it without our awesome parents. Thanks to everyone that helped us and Denver, we miss you!

Georgia on My Mind

In mid July we went to Georgia for Tyler's mission farewell! It was a super quick trip but boy did it feel good to be back in the land of peaches and peanuts. And of course to take my own little peachy peanut to my home place.

You can't tell from this picture but this is on the plane from Denver after running through the airport to barely make our flight. And then Jax cried. A lot. Poor Nugget. Early the next morning we took family pictures and then Chris flew to Dallas for some recruiting meetings. That kid is on the move.

Pool day, backyard baseball, low country boil, Festivus dinner, S'mores and just being together

No trip home is complete without soaking up a little bit of that southern charm. We got our fill with a visit to Kennesaw Mountain, a walk around Marietta Square, and some Miss Mamie's cupcakes

Atlanta Street Food Festival, Homemade pizza night courtesy of dad's pizza oven and the tradition of Chris, Justin and Tyler throwing me in the pool. Clothed. Somehow we all ended up going for a midnight swim.

All I can say about Tyler's mission farewell talk: wow. So good to have everyone together!

Molinaro party! Food, fun and friends. It was so fun to have Jax meet everyone!

And there he goes. Its crazy that Ty has been out on his mission for almost 4 months! He is so amazing and I miss him everyday.

The 4th

We were so lucky to have Chris's brother, Ryan and his wife, Tiffany come to visit us over the 4th of July! The weekend was full of yummy food, pool and golf time, a trip to the zoo and of course some loving on Jax. We always have a great time when we're all together and can't wait to see them in Utah in a little over a week!

Jackson continues to be a huge water baby. We wore him out good and he even took a nap by the pool while mommy and auntie got some much needed sun.

The night of the 4th we drove down to Colorado Springs to meet up with some friends for a party. It was so fun to see everyone! This was the 2nd year in a row that CO has had a fireworks ban on the 4th so we watched the big NYC show on TV and called it good. Oh, and Tiffany and I made a really awesome American flag fruit pizza. YUM.

Love my all-American boy.

While the boys golfed, Tiffany and I took Jax to the zoo for the first time! It was so fun to watch him look at things and tell him all about the different animals. We had a great time!

Chris and Ryan got to golf twice over the weekend. The center picture is an actual shot that Chris took a phone picture of and tweeted to Nike as part of a 4th of July contest. He won a free limited edition American Flag wedge! There were only six made! This kid wins more stuff than anyone I know.

So this is a good story. After golf and the zoo, Tiffany borrowed my car to go to a family wedding downtown. We had just recently started leaving Jax's carseat in the car and carrying him in and out of the apartment without it and wouldn't ya know it, I totally spaced the fact that his carseat was still in the car. So Chris, Ryan and I were starving and had no way of transporting the baby to dinner (we were dying for Larkburger). Chris decided that we could just take the lightrail that was right by our apartment up three stops to near the restaurant and then walk the rest of the way. So we did. But I also left the stroller in my car. And the baby carrier. So we had to carry Jax the whole way to and from the lightrail stop. It's close-ish... Anyway, the food was way worth it and we had fun feeling like we were big city people in the suburbs of Denver:)

We explored a new area of Denver with a hike at Roxborough State Park. We had never been there and it was fun to see some new scenery with all of the red rocks. Jax fell right to sleep in his Baby Bjorn.

After our hike we hit up Snooze. Because let's face it... no trip to Denver is complete without a delicious brunch. Jax obviously agrees. Such a fun weekend!

California-ing

At the beginning of June, Jax and I traveled out to the Bay Area for my good friend (and former roommate) Stacie's wedding.

And since I couldn't go all the way to California for just a weekend, I stayed for ten days with my G'ma. And since I knew it would be even more of a party in Cali if my mom was there, she came out. And since my dad works in L.A. half of the time, of course he came up and joined us. And since Justin and Tyler were in Utah and so close at school, it only made sense for them to come meet up with everyone. And then because Chris was lonely without his stellar wife and adorable baby around he flew out too.

But seriously, that's kind of how all of the planning actually went down. Molinaro family dominos. So naturally we had a very fun few days on the sunny west coast.

On the first night Jax, G'ma and I hit up Sprinkles, a wedding reception and a food truck festival. We know how to party.

Stacie's wedding was so beautiful and she made a gorgeous bride! Don't you think?? It was amazing to see her and also see and catch up with former roommate Rachel and her husband Ben. We had a pretty fantastic time.

Pool time! Jackson loves the water. It was so fun taking him in the pool I spent so much time in as a kid.

Friends, family and food!

Jax loves his GiGi.

Big Basin Redwood Park! Chris had never been to visit the redwoods and the rest of us hadn't been in forever so it was really fun to go and see them.

After the Redwoods we hit up Capitola for a quick slice of Pizza My Heart (the salt air makes it best!) and a stroll on one of our favorite beaches.

We even got to see some of the Play Group! They were so sweet and had a potluck dinner so we could see everyone. It was so fun to introduce baby Jax to everyone. Love these people!

Jax's first Giants Game!

We saw a great one! Extra inning nail-biter win.

I sure love when the family gets together. We can do nothing or a lot and still have the best time. I loved getting to take Jackson to my original home. Can't wait to go back soon!

Six Months

Yes I'm behind. Jax is actually now almost 8 (8?!?!) months old! But this time I have a fabulous excuse. An excuse named Austin. The Texas Austin. And the fact that we moved and are still very much not settled and that life kind of just happened for a while without me being able to write about it.
Anyway, on July 1st Jackson turned 6 months old! This was a tough one for me. How was my cuddly, squishy little baby already a whole half of a year old?? Six is so much older than five and really opens the door right up to seven, eight and so on.
Jax was so fun at this age. Looking back now I can't believe how far he's come since his 6 month birthday but I can also tell that this was the beginning of the big-time fun that was coming soon. I can't imagine my life without these perfect little cheeks.

At Six Months Jax:

Weighs 15 lbs 10 oz

Is 26" long

Loves petting and being licked by Joey
Can hold his own bottle to feed himself
Can be the tiniest bit of a drama king sometimes (a very cute drama king)

Hates napping (at this point we almost had it figured out...now he's a napping pro)

Hates getting stuck on his tummy

Loves to eat and smile

Loves to chew on things and rub things on his gums - no teeth yet!

Has started scooting by pulling his knees up with his face on the floor

Is getting a lot more BLONDE hair

Has eyes that are almost all the way brown

LOVES water

Five Months

BEHIND AGAIN. Oh well. Jackson turned 5 months old on June 1st! He is becoming more and more of a little person with tons of personality. He is seriously the yummiest baby. We love munching on his sweet cheeks and toes. Can't. Get. Enough. We love this little kiddo so much.

At Five Months Jax:

Lifts his head when he lies down on his back (we call it his ab exercise)

Is a rolling champ

Loves holding his bottle himself (such a big boy!!)

Sleeps on his left side with his left thumb

Likes to stare at other babies

Has started to recognize Joey

Loves being put in a sitting position

Enjoys all kinds of toys (especially crinkly ones)

Puts everything in his mouth

Is getting more and more coordinated

Goes to bed really well at night

Hates to nap and miss any action

Memorial Day Weekend

Does it look like we had a fun weekend? Because boy did we.
Chris and I started the weekend early with a trip downtown to see Les Mis (Merry Christmas to me!) Friday Chris got off work a little bit early and Jax and I met him for some delicious Pho.
We spent Saturday morning wandering around the Cherry Creek Farmers Market with Rebecca and Jason (and didn't take any pictures unfortunately) and then Jax and I played while Chris met up with some friends for a round of golf.
Aren't Sundays the greatest when its a three day weekend? After church we relaxed and enjoyed some family snuggles (Joey included of course) before I threw myself into preparing a Sunday feast complete with some of our favorite foods.
Monday we enjoyed the day off by spending the entire day outside. We met up with the Kellys and Hills at Castlewood Canyon State Park for hiking, creek wading, grilling and soaking up the summer (finally!) sun.
Needless to say, Tuesday morning was a huge bummer. Love this little family on mine!

A Quick Trip to Austin

A few weeks ago Chris found out that he had to be down in Texas to train some people in a few different cities. We quickly took advantage of the situation and found me a ticket down for a quick weekend of house hunting. And by house I mean apartment. Hooray for a return to student life! But in all seriousness we are really excited. And we found an awesome place super close to campus! Even though I was only really there for 48ish hours, it was fun to drive around and explore our new home to be.

Jax and I did great on our first solo flight despite a blowout at 30,000 feet but boy, were we glad to see Daddy.
Chris took us to the edge of campus for a stop into The Co-Op. Holy moly. Imagine anything that could be branded with a Texas logo and then multiply it by ten. Everything from every kind of piece of clothing to Texas duct tape and Texas Yahtzee. Amazing.

Chris's friend from his intern days with the Houston Astros was nice enough to let us stay at his family's lake house on Lake Austin. It was a gorgeous place to enjoy some beautiful Texas spring weather and it was fun to see him again and meet his sweet girlfriend.

Jax was a trooper and slept in his car seat the two nights we were there. He also enjoyed some quality outdoor time (quickly becoming one of his favorite things) and we had fun watching daddy try to hit some golf balls across the lake.

Before heading out on the rest of our house hunt, Chris took me out for Mother's Day brunch. We ate at a fun place downtown and even got to sit outside.

Moving is hard. As excited as we are for our next chapter, we both had separate moments of sadness where it kind of hit us that we're really leaving Denver. Luckily it's an easy flight and we have friends and family that have promised to visit. And we'll all be together. And that's whats most important.