2 Year Anniversary Recap

Okay, before I begin gushing about our wedding anniversary weekend, I must apologize; I promised you all on Monday that I'd have my recap post up and ready yesterday but I didn't.. I know you all must have been sitting on the edge of your seats pressing refresh over and over again waiting for pictures and stories to appear so I'm very sorry.

*Crickets chirping*

Oh, you didn't even notice? Oh.. okay then.

Anyway, we had one of those perfect weekends that you never want to end--in fact, every time I scroll through the pictures on my phone, I get the biggest smile on my face! It snowed all day Saturday so we didn't leave the house at all (with the exception of Brandon getting his hair cut), ordered pizza for dinner, and watched movies in bed. It was pure perfection.

Sunday was when the anniversary train rolled into motion.

Brandon and I dropped Jackson off at my aunt & uncle's house mid afternoon on Sunday and headed out for our anniversary date. On our way to the Cherry Cricket (best fries in Denver, btw), Brandon gave me the best surprise ever--he was taking Monday off so we could take Jax downtown to celebrate our anniversary as a family! Best. Gift. Ever!! But first, it was time for just us to celebrate our anniversary as husband and wife--so after pigging out on burgers, fries, and beer at the Cherry Cricket, we trekked on over to the Pepsi Center to take in an Avs game (which was one of my Christmas gifts to Brandon). 

If you're ever in Denver, you MUST go to either an Avalanche or Nuggets game at the Pepsi Center--it' so much fun!

Munchkin head didn't seem to mind us being gone--he had lots of fun playing at Aunt Nancy's (Uncle Rolf even made him cookies)!

After watching the Avs lose (booooooo!) and eating an entire bag of kettle corn by myself, we picked up our Jackson and came home to take baths/showers and hit the hay.

On Monday morning, we all stayed in bed until about 10:30, quickly got ready, and headed to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. When we arrived, we couldn't find a parking spot anywhere because it was a (unbeknownst to us) free day so we were about to give up all hope and head to the zoo next door when we found a spot right out front. It was fate. We had such a blast at the Museum (free admission made it that much better!) and stayed for almost 3 hours before it was time to get sleepy mom baby home for a nap. We picked up some burgers and nachos from Carl's Jr./Green Burrito on the way home, pigged out again, and then all proceeded to vedge/nap/do absolutely nothing the rest of the day.

The DMNS has an awesome new discovery zone for kids with water tables, fossils to dig (pictured), things to climb, etc.--we could have stayed there all day!

It's hard to see in this picture but Jackson and I were wearing matching stripes.

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect anniversary weekend and I couldn't love my life more than I do! Thank you all so much for the anniversary calls, cards, texts, and messages--you all bless our socks off! In other anniversary news, I gifted Brandon new Egyptian cotton sheets for our cotton anniversary (get it?) and he got me a selfie stick.

Brandon wins.

The Cotton Anniversary

Two years ago today, I met the man of my dreams at the end of the aisle, pledged my life to him in front of God and all our loved ones, slow danced with him to Make You Feel My Love by Adele, and became a Mrs.

Since that cold day in January, my life has never been the same.

To be completely honest, it feels like we've been married waaaaaaay longer than two years (and I don't mean that in a snarky way). We've lived in 4 different places, had a baby, changed jobs, bought a house, moved out of state, received promotions, started a business, taken several vacations, filmed a TV show, made new friends.. that's a lot crammed into two short years!

For those of you who don't know the story of how Brandon and I met, here's a very, very brief synopsis (you can read the full version here): Brandon was on his two week leave from Afghanistan and ended up coming to Hays (where I'd just moved in with one of his good friends) a day early to hang out with friends--we ended up hitting it off and stayed up all night talking and laughing. When he returned to Afghanistan a week later, we stayed in touch and began "officially dating" when he returned home a few months later.

Brandon: I'm so glad you decided to come to Hays a day early back in September of 2010! I can't imagine my life without you and thank God every day for such a loving, hard working, funny, handsome, smart, and loyal husband. Thank you so much for loving me unconditionally through all the good times and bad, for always going along with my shenanigans, and for being the best daddy ever to our son. Each day I spend with you is better than the last and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life loving you.

I'll be back tomorrow with a recap of our fun anniversary celebration!

HUGE GIVEAWAY!

Happy Friday! How are you all doing today?

"Whatever Annie, enough chit chat -- get to the big giveaway!"

Okay.. I won't make you wait any longer (and I'll quit having awkward conversations with myself on my blog)!

My girl Nicole over at The Blessed Branch is having a HUGE giveaway in honor of her 1000+ Facebook fans! YEAH!!

A little taste of Nicole's talent!

If you missed my giveaway a few months ago, Nicole is a crazy talented sign maker who can create just about anything you could ever want--and she's giving away ONE YEARS worth of signs (one a month for 12 months) as a way to say thank you to her awesome supporters! Cool, huh?

In addition to Nicole's prize, a few of her favorite shops and blogs have come together to give away even more (handmade items, gift cards, etc.)! Enter now for your chance to win:

https://www.facebook.com/TheBlessedBranch?sk=app_228910107186452

The Evolution of New Years

Happy 2015!

Wow.. that feels really, really weird to type.

I hope you all had a fun and fabulous NYE and that your new year is off to an equally good start. Our New Years was pretty laid back which got me thinking about our past NYEs and how much things have changed in 3 short years.

Let's take a brief walk down memory lane..

December 31, 2012

 

 

With less than a week to go until our wedding, we were young, wild, and free (ha)! Our NYE consisted of dinner/drinks with friends, bar hopping, darts, champagne toasts, and returning home after 2am. 

December 31, 2013

 

 

After getting no sleep the night before (thanks to our sweet little one-week-old), we just took it easy and spent the day with Brandon's sister and kids, took pictures, ate Wendy's, and went to sleep a little before 9pm. Jackson woke me up a little after 1am to nurse and then proceeded to both pee and poop on me. Happy New Year!

December 31, 2014

This year was the most exciting NYE yet--I managed to set off the smoke detectors 5 times while making French Toast, sat completely still during The Young and the Restless so hurting teething boy could nap on me, begged my brother to come over and jump start my car, got said car jumped, grocery/anniversary shopped, made a Mexican feast for dinner, read a mag on my tab, and fell asleep before midnight (Brandon had to be to work at 5am so we called it an early night).

There's part of me that feels a little sad/lame that we didn't do much for NYE (the goings on in LoDo looked awful fun!) but I know there will be a day when Jackson will want to spend New Years with his friends instead of his awesome parents (which is hard to believe, I know!), so heading downtown with my good lookin' hubby is something that I can look forward to when that time comes.. In the meantime, I plan to avoid these whopping 5 degree New Years Eve temps by cuddling up in bed with a good book!

I hope that you and yours have a wonderful 2015--as always, thanks for hanging with me in my little corner of the internet.

Christmas 2014

Words cannot express just how joyous and wonderful Christmas 2014 was for our family.

Headed to Mass with my little munchkin

I'm not sure where he learned this, but this is Jax's new fake "smile" (he squints and says "mmm" while he does it--hilariously adorable!)..

It isn't Christmas Eve until Aunt Nancy and I take our annual crown picture!

2009-2014

We took our first ever family picture on Christmas Eve last year so I felt we had to remake it.. it didn't turn out quite the same.

On Christmas Eve (pictured above), I ran around like mad in search of our sold out party crackers/crowns, met my parents at my Aunt Nancy & Uncle Rolf's house, attended mass, awaited Brandon & my brothers post-work arrivals, ate delicious pizza, and opened stockings. It was perfection and reminded me again of why Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the entire year!

Merry Christmas! We're going to the Avs game for our wedding anniversary next weekend!

My husband (the comedian) wrapped my gift in duct tape which took me a good 10 minutes to open.. but it was worth it in the end!

Typical baby--given several beautiful gifts and only wanted to play with the wrapping paper and boxes.

Again with the face (and is it just me or does Jax look a little Bob Hope-ish here?).

On Christmas morning, we all slowly woke up and got ready (we all stayed the night at my aunts), began opening gifts a little after 10, sat around and visited, and indulged in a wonderful dinner prepared by my Aunt & Uncle--we were blessed beyond measure by thoughtful and generous family members and received way more than we deserved. It was such an amazing and peaceful day (despite almost dying multiple times during the drive home--dang blizzard!) that we won't soon forget!

I hope you all had a great day with your family and friends! I pray this Christmas season continues to give you peace in your hearts and joy in your lives--it truly is the most wonderful time of the year!

Giving Back With #WalmartGrocery

As a participant in the Walmart Grocery to Go program, I’ve received a personal invite and payment for my time and efforts in creating this post. As always, all opinions are my own and were in no way influenced by Social Chorus or Walmart.

The holiday season is always such a special time--the festive lights, family gatherings, and holiday cheer make for wonderful memories and make us think about all of the blessings in our lives. Becoming a mom has really put things into perspective for me and has taught me to enjoy the little things and to never take anything for granted; we have an incredible God who loves us, a roof over our heads, food in the refrigerator, clothes on our backs, amazing family & friends, and good health. 

As far as I'm concerned, we have it all (and then some). 

This really got me thinking about people who may be going through hard times right now and what we could do as a family to help. 

That's where my friends at Walmart come in.

I talked last month about how Walmart Grocery To Go delivered several of my Thanksgiving groceries right to my front door.. but did you know that they deliver more than just groceries? That's right folks; no need to ever leave the house again for toiletries, electronics, or laundry detergent--a friendly Walmart Grocery To Go will bring your order to you!

I'm beginning to get super spoiled by @walmart's #walmarttogo--I can sit back, relax, order my groceries online, and have a friendly person deliver my order straight to my door! #winning #sp

A video posted by anjoyabel (@anjoyabel) on Dec 12, 2014 at 12:07pm PST

Pretty cool, right? (P.S. Noah has delivered my last two orders and is always so friendly and helpful!)

Our church has an awesome program where it will actually deliver food and necessities to families in need so I decided to check out their website and go from there; the website recommended donating nonperishable food items and also listed other needs like toiletries and baby essentials. After talking with Brandon, we decided to go ahead and purchase some of the latter.

No need to adjust your screens--Walmart Grocery To Go even delivers diapers!

Take advantage of Walmart's Every Day Low Prices and save time; just shop and pay online to purchase products in stock at a Walmart store near you, choose a delivery date, and your order will be delivered right to you! To see if you're in Walmart Grocery To Go delivery area, be sure to check out their website. You can also use this link to get $15 off your first purchase!

Now that's what I call saving money and living better.

Thank you to Walmart & Social Chorus for asking me to participate in this program and give back to the community! 

Jackson's 12 Month Update

Today's post is a little bittersweet for me because it'll be the last in depth month by month update I'll do for Jackson--I'll still plan to share monthly recaps but they won't be quite as detailed as the ones you're used to (this will also be Jax's last monthly laying down picture since he's becoming more mobile and less cooperative).

I think it's safe to say that my baby toddler had a wonderful time celebrating his 1st birthday! As I mentioned yesterday, we threw a big party for him on Saturday and were completely overwhelmed by the amount of love our little boy was shown. After a day full of playing with new toys, chasing friends around, and eating 1/4 of his smash cake, our boy crashed hard and slept for over 12 hours (#winning). For his actual birthday yesterday, we did lots of playing around the house and at Barnes & Noble, took a few items to the church, napped hard, and had the rest of his smash cake after supper--it was a pretty laid back day (and I must admit that I look forward to when he's a little older and gets excited about his birthday)!

Here's what our (now) 366 day old was up to last month:

Weight: 18 lbs. 10 oz.

Length: 29 1/4 inches

Nicknames: Jax, Cheeks, Baby, Jacksie

Wearing: 9 & 12 month (still size 3 diapers).

Sleep: Still co sleeping though I think he's trying to break free and sleep alone--he loves to sleep on his side or stomach (which I don't let him do in our bed for fear of suffocating) and pushes me away during the night. We attempted crib training one night when I was sicker than a dog with bronchitis and was given codeine cough syrup to help me sleep (I'm a really light sleeper but was worried that I'd be completely knocked out by the meds and wouldn't be nearly as aware of him during the night).. Long story short, I caved about 30 minutes in (while Brandon was taking a shower), brought him back into bed with us, skipped the codeine, and just took some Robitussin instead; I didn't sleep a wink that night because of my excessive coughing but was better soon after.. we'll try again this weekend!

Jax likes: Shaking his head no, Elmo, having "Happy Birthday" sang to him, all of his awesome new toys, other little kids, showing off, "cleaning," helping mommy & daddy around the house, bath time, climbing on top on things and scaring mommy to death, cats, pulling things out of drawers, the vacuum, giving kisses, watching the neighborhood squirrels, "no peeking" (basically our version of hide and seek), playing at the park, and MOPS.

Jax dislikes: Teething, having to lay on his back for diaper changes, when mommy or daddy go out to the garage without him, having his nose wiped, having to sit still during church, and falling.

Food: Jax is still a pretty good eater but is beginning to get a bit more picky.. His favorites right now are beans of any kind (black, green, lima, pinto, etc.), American cheese, breads, pasta (especially Mac and Cheese), chicken, cookies, carrots, Goldfish, Belvita Breakfast Biscuits, and crackers.

Mom & Dad's Favorite Things: How fun and happy he always is, his adorable toothy smile, when he shakes his head no, and the way he mimics us (he tries so hard to talk and makes the sounds of words like uh-oh, yay, and hi).

Teeth: Still the same 4 on the bottom with the two on top ready to make their appearance any day (you can see them starting to poke through his gums--ouch)! He's seemed like he's been feeling okay the last couple of days but was a mess last week with rosy cheeks, a runny nose, and low grade fever :(

Happenings: First Thanksgiving; meeting Santa for the first time; trip to Grammy & Grandpas for their office Christmas party; KS trip to meet & exchange gifts with Nana and Great Aunt Judy; "Auntie" Ash's college graduation party; visiting daddy's work for a pizza dinner and seeing Santa; celebrating Great Great Aunt Millie's 95th birthday; 1st birthday party; and turning one.

~Baby's 1st selfie--pretty self explanatory (and important).  

~After 10 days of Amoxicillin (complete with a terrible diaper rash & diarrhea) and eye drops, we FINALLY kicked the nasty sinus infection/pink eye that had been plaguing our little guy. After his doctors appointment, we went to King Soopers to pick up his prescription and eat cookies (pictured here).

 ~On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Brandon and my dad took Jackson to Home Depot with them and ran into Santa!! I'm so bummed I missed his first meeting with Jolly Old St. Nicholas but Brandon took plenty of photos and filled me in on every last detail. 

~Jax held on to Brandon for dear life the second time he met Santa..

~I can't wait to share more pictures from Jackson's birthday party--he had an absolute blast and had a great time chasing around/watching his buddy Gibson, sharing his toys with everyone, and being the center of attention! It was a wonderful day I'll never forget!

~This little boy just melts my heart!! I love watching him learn and grow--new this month is him playing "peek-a-boo" with us (by putting something over his face and them pulling it off), pointing to his nose on command, shaking his head "no", and cleaning (taking a towel, wipe, etc., and wiping things down with it).