Nolan at 3 Months

Once again, I cannot believe that we have a 3 month old on our hands. He just gets cuter by the day! :) A few things I want to remember about him at 3 months....

He loves tummy time
He loves being in the bath
He is sleeping well but not through the night quite yet
Loves to be talked to and tries to talk back
Has started to laugh which is so cute
Loves sucking on his hands
Loves to cuddle and i'm just fine with that
Is a champ when it comes to being in his car seat, drove back across the country and was soooo good on the long drive
Only gets fussy when he is hungry
Is just so handsome!

We love him!
The first few months, I thought he looked more like Ryan but now i'm thinking he is a good mix of both of us....

I call him: love bug, little buddy, lovey, handsome

First Week Back....

Well it is Friday afternoon, my first week back to work and first full week back in Raleigh! Man, it is HOTTT and HUMID here....breaking records hot, that's how hot! My first week back in Raleigh didn't go as planned, but with that being said, it wasn't a bad week. While Josh was in town, I went to the store and did all the errands I knew I would have to do during the week. I'm so glad I did that because once I get home with Nolan, it is basically time for him to go to bed. We read a story, pray and then he is in bed around 7:00 or so. We miss Ryan, and I missed spending the whole day with my little buddy but i'm glad I have a job to come back to that supports our family with the things we need right now. We really had a nice time in Denver and I am so grateful that I was able to spend so much time with Nolan and Ryan. It was a great blessing!

The person we have lined up to watch Nolan let us know last month that she was going to be out of town on Monday and Tuesday. We arranged to have someone else watch him on those two days, no problem. Well, the babysitter texted on Tuesday afternoon that her son was sick but we could still bring Nolan over for her to watch him. Well, that didn't work for me.....I cannot have Nolan getting sick while Ryan is gone and since I don't have any sick leave or any leave for that matter (thanks FMLA) I had to make other arrangements. She offered to still watch him, but it was my choice to not put my son in the position where he would most likely get sick. I know he is going to get sick at some point, that is not the issue. I cannot have him get sick now while i'm doing this on my own. (Not sure how single mom's do it....hats off to them) So I was able to get Wednesday covered. Wednesday afternoon I get another text from the babysitter that her son is not better and in fact has gotten worse. So I had to get someone else lined up for Thursday. At this point i'm catching on that her son is probably not going to be better for a few days and line up people for Friday too. This might not seem like a big deal, but when you are alone and functioning on little sleep and just trying to get back in the groove of work, etc. this sent me over the edge. I hated that I had to use friends to watch him with such short notice, but do not know what I would have done otherwise. So cute Nolan has had a busy week being passed around to different friends in the area. I am so grateful to Shantel, Bonnie, the Larkin's, and Allyson Markham for watching Nolan for me. I really do not know what I would have done without their help this week.

We are so lucky that Nolan is such a great kid and is so easy going. He is so happy and I love seeing his smile after a long day at work. I am looking forward to this weekend so we can spend all day together once again. The only thing that would make this weekend better is if Ryan was back with us.....one more week and he will be home!! We cannot wait!

Another Drive Across the Country aka Staci & Josh's Excellent Adventure

On Sunday, July 17 Josh flew over to Denver first thing in the morning, and we hit the road. He was exhausted after being out late the night before, he just got engaged, had to pack, and had to be to the airport at 4:30 am to catch his flight. I drove most of the first day, while Josh slept in the back with Nolan. We drove through Kansas, and stopped for the first night just past Kansas City, Missouri. The Motel 6 we stayed at was not the nicest. It wasn't horrible, but the people we saw outside were pretty interesting to say the least. We didn't care though, we were all pretty tired and went right to bed. Just for my record, we drove on I-70, I-64, I-77, and I-40.

Monday, we drove through Missouri, stopped in St. Louis to see Busch Stadium and the Arch. We continued on our drive through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and most of Kentucky where we spent the night in Lexington at another Motel 6. This one was much nicer and the room was huge.





Tuesday was the final stretch of the trip. We drove through the rest of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and then to North Carolina. We made a stop in Greensboro, NC for Josh to see one of his mission companions family. We ate dinner in Greensboro at Steak and Shake and then headed on home. We made it home around 9:00 that night and I was just glad to be back. It felt strange being on the east coast again, and home didn't really feel like home just yet but I knew it would eventually. We missed Ryan on the trip, and it is going to be a long 3 weeks without him.


I really appreciate Josh driving back to NC with me. We picked the fastest route back, and had a lot of fun talking and just catching up with each other. Being 6 years apart in age and living across the country you really don't get to spend that much quality time together. Nothing says quality time like driving in the car for 30 hours. :) Love you Josh and Nolan loves you too. Once again, Nolan was a trooper and was an angel on the car ride. We made sure to give him plenty of breaks from his car seat and he was pretty much all smiles when he wasn't sleeping. We are really lucky to have such a good baby.

So excited....

...for Josh and Macy to get married!

That's right, my brother is engaged to a great girl! They got engaged on Saturday, July 16 up at Bear Lake. Josh proposed after a walk on the beach at sunset, playing Frisbee at Bear Lake. If you know Josh, he loves all three of those things, and Macy so it was perfect for them! We are so excited and cannot wait for Macy to join the family. The big day is October 8th in the LA temple!!

Our Last Days in Denver

We tried cram in as much as possible during our last few days in Denver. Me and Nolan went to see the Denver LDS temple, me and Ryan had a date night without Nolan, we went to the Denver museum of Art, BeauJo's pizza in Idaho Springs, and went to Casa Bonita. We had a great summer in Denver and lived in the nicest apartment ever! It was fun living by family for the summer and being able to go to Utah and have family come stay at our place. Ryan will come back to Raleigh, on August 6th. He needs to finish out his internship, and I need to go back to work. I wish maternity leave lasted forever! :)

Casa Bonita was so much fun! We went there with Aunt Sandy, and cousin Tyler on Friday, July, 15. The line was very long, but it was worth the wait. You wait in line to get your food, order your food, pick it up, and then get seated at a table. They have divers, shows and all kinds of entertainment going on. We had heard the food wasn't very good, but we had a good experience with it. Thanks to Sandy for treating us for dinner....we had a great time. I cannot wait to take Nolan back there when he gets older, I know he will just love it!

We met up with Will on Saturday, July 16 to go to the Denver museum of Art. The building is pretty crazy looking, but the inside is quite different from the outside and there are some fun exhibits in there. Nolan was a trooper and fell asleep while we were walking around. We could see the building from our apartment window, and had been wanting to go see it, so i'm glad we finally did on our last day there!

Ryan really liked this red horse

Chair exhibit

This piece was being built at the museum - the artist wasn't there that day but it looked cool

After the museum, we met up with Ashleigh, Ezzi, Alec and Dianna to drive up to Idaho Springs and eat at BeauJo's pizza. Mmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about the pizza. Colorado style pizza is pretty good. Idaho Springs is a cute town, with some fun shops. We weren't able to go inside most of the shops, because they closed at 5:00 pm but the ones we did go in we really fun. Great idea Ashleigh!

Colorado Style Pizza = delicious!

Nolan's First Visit to Invesco Field

First Time at the Pool

We have an infinity pool on the roof of our building, and I have not been swimming in it yet. Since me and Nolan are leaving on Sunday, I figured now was the time. We didn't last long at the pool because Nolan was ready for a nap and couldn't get comfy on the lounge chairs. Nolan looked so cute in his swimsuit that my mom bought for him. I kept him covered up under the umbrella, except to get a picture of him with the pool in the background. I was able to swim in the pool for a bit, and it was great! We had the whole pool to ourselves.

Rocky Mountain National Park

On Saturday we went to Rocky Mountain National Park, and it was fantastic! I have been to RMNP a long time ago on a family vacation, but wanted to go see it again before our time in Denver is up. We went with our friend Will Webster who lives in Virginia, but is living in Denver for about a month while he attends sales school. We missed having his wife, Adaire along with us on this fun adventure. The drive there was beautiful, and our first stop was at Buffalo Bills grave.

Coors brewing factory

Buffalo Bills Grave

RMNP was beautiful, fun and well worth the drive from Denver. We drove the whole loop around the park and saw a lot of animals. We saw a ton of elk, I spotted a moose, chipmunks, and a lot of deer. When we were at the highest peak, only 12,200 feet above sea level, we saw a storm moving our way. We waited it out in a parking lot and loved being in the clouds during the storm. Will was hoping it would snow while we were up there, but it didn't. We stopped and played in the snow for a minute and I could not believe how much snow is still in the mountains! At the top of the mountain, it was a chilly 42 degrees. We were not prepared for that....I was in shorts and flip flops. :) It was a great day and we didn't want it to end.