Where are the Cougs?

Nolan keeps amazing us with the things he knows - words, which buttons do what, etc. And then just when we think we couldn't be more proud of him, he goes and does something like this...

haha seriously?! We had no idea until that morning that if we said "Cougars" he'd know what it was, let alone that he could pull up the symbol on Justin's phone! To get to it he has to click on the BYU app, then click on the twitter icon. So smart and cute! I love the look on his face when he gets it up, and how he turns the phone around to show you and waves it with a smile ♥

Now whenever he sees the stretch Y he points at it and says "Cougars" (more like Cooka) and it's adorable! I don't think Justin has ever been more proud of Nolan.

---------- ♥ ♥ ♥ ----------

Some other random silliness from the past couple of weeks (lots of videos!): 

Playing the spider game at dinner. Thank you BJ for teaching me this one. Kids love it!! And they almost always pick it up quickly.

Nolan loves 'helping' me with the dishwasher. I just have to make sure to keep him away from  plates and anything sharp, oey. But I loves his booty shaking dance moves! 

Introducing Nolan to the time honored tradition of putting olives on your fingers before eating them.

He LOVES french fries. Now whenever he sees fries on the menu he gets excited and says, "fies!" Now he's discovered dip, heaven help us.

Pam came into town and stayed with us for a few days which was a lot of fun. We went out to The Old Spaghetti Factory (of course!), and the park (which wasn't quite as fun as other trips, I think because it was a little chilly and there were lots of people :(), and they came to my basketball game! I'm happy to report that Nolan LOVES playing with the basketball! In fact, I hate it but we have to stop him from throwing it in the apartment because we have neighbors downstairs :(

Nolan doesn't often have a real use for his binky anymore (unless maybe his teeth are hurting or he's calming down to sleep), so rather than suck on it like normal, he usually just dangles it out the side of his mouth like a pipe or a cuban cigar. This has led his Uncle BJ to start calling him 'Popeye.'

Just helping himself in the fridge haha

Oh I love that little bum in the air while he's sleeping

Date Night at Bucca de Peppo

These boys of mine like snuggling and lounging and sleeping!

Speaking of daddy, this is what happens when daddy tries to give Nolan a time out. Play time! Whereas I just have to give Nolan the "mom look" and he ain't movin'! haha

Look Who's Walking!

Everyone knows Nolan is a little late to the walking game, and we were honest-to-goodness never worried about it. But every once in a while as the months went by we'd think to ourselves, "oh ya, he's still not walking. I wonder when that's going to happen?"

Well people, it's happened, and we are so excited for our little guy!

We know, we know - we've already had plenty of people tell us not to be excited, and to enjoy his "immobility" while it lasts because now he'll just get into everything, blah, blah, blah ☺ But as our pediatrician told us, "he's already into everything. Now he'll just have a different view!"

Look at that face, how can we not be over the moon happy for him?! His smile says it all.  

"Catch ya later mom and dad, I'm off to do important things!"

About 3 weeks ago was the first time he took more than just a couple steps at a time. Just before this video he took like 8 steps. We were so excited!!

Up until now whenever we tried to get him to walk something like this is all we got out of him. We are so sure he could have walked sooner, he just didn't seem to be interested haha!

A Quick Trip to Las Vegas

Since I had 2 weeks off I knew I wanted to take Nolan down to Las Vegas to see my family since they don't get to come up very often. At first it was just going to be Nolan and I since Justin has been so busy at work, but when he decided he wanted to talk to Preston about a work opportunity and found out that Devin would also be coming with the kids, he decided to make the trip with us. Yay!!

We just think it's always worth it to get these cute cousins together. I have always been really close with my cousins and, in contrast, Justin didn't really have any cousins nearby, so getting together with family is really important to us.

---------- ♥ ♥ ♥ ----------

Swimming at Uncle Beej and Aunt Kirsten's house. They even heated the pool for us! It was like bathwater - the only way (well Justin especially) knows how to swim!
*pictures to come ☺*

Fun on the swings at the park!

Rhett and Nolan

Nolan sporting his super cute Cougar hat

Eating lunch. Ya, I realized not long after this that it wasn't such a good idea to let him wear the beloved hat while eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. While I wasn't looking he took the hat off with his peanut butter covered hands and set it on top of his mangled sandwich. I might have gotten in a bit of trouble with Justin for that one ☺ Justin - "What were you thinking?!" hehe

Uncle Preston showing off his getting-kids-to-walk skills

Nolan and Rhett's first fight

Cute boys all ready for church

Telling Gp Mathews something important about the lesson I'm sure

Dog pile on Uncle Preston!

Uncle Andy is always a hit with the kids (well, everyone. He's just awesome)

Birthday cake for Devin and a surprise baby announcement!! Baby Mathews #3 is coming in September!

My dad had a red spot on his ear and Nolan thought he'd check it out

Using Granky to get to the other side of the couch. He loved smiling at Granky, but he usually had to be about a foot away haha, silly kid.

Bedtime stories with daddy

Watching the Lego Movie with Uncle Beej

Giving Granky a hug goodbye. I wish I would have gotten a video :( I love how Nolan's 'hugs' are basically him putting his little forehead against you. So sweet!

We met up with my Gm and Gp Hunt and Andy at their new house in Hurricane. My Aunt Paula joined us and we all went out to lunch. Nolan was seriously cute in that Cougar hat slurping up a chocolate shake!

From Ancestry.com to FamilySearch

For awhile now I've been looking to switch up my employment. I've been really happy at Ancestry.com for the past 6 years. I've learned SO much and met so many wonderful people, but I've been feeling very stagnant lately and knew there wasn't really a pathway for me to progress. Part of me wanted to just ride it out at Ancestry and work there until we decided I should stay home permanently, but when the perfect opportunity arose at FamilySearch I couldn't pass it up!

I applied for the job and for the first time in several months and quite a few applications, I felt like I was a perfect candidate. I felt confident in my experience and knowledge and thought they'd be crazy not to hire me, but at the same time, I know getting a job is always a bit of a gamble.

I called up my friend Megan who used to work at Ancestry with me (in fact we have pretty much the exact same work experience. I guess I kind of follow her around haha) and found out that the job I applied for was on her team! She and another former Ancestry co-worker, Bryan, put in good words for me and soon I got a call for an interview.

Two interviews later and I was extended an offer! It felt so good to be not only qualified but sought after for my knowledge and experience. There are honestly no downsides to accepting a job at FamilySearch - it's so much closer to home, a promotion, and much more pay. So while I will really miss my friends at Ancestry and will be forever indebted to them for helping to jump start my career, I'm so excited for this next chapter in my life.

Here goes nothin'!

From

to

Going away lunch at Wallaby's with some Ancestry friends.

L-R: Tiffany, Melissa, me, Stephanie, Katie, BreeAnn

L-R: Dan, me, GilliaN, Patrick, Wes, friend, David, Tyler

L-R: Anna, Tracy, Krista, Chris Spencer, me, Lisa

So Many New Things

Notice he's holding his prized possession in his hand

I'm kind of mad at myself for taking so long to write about all of the new things Nolan has been doing lately. It seems like every day he's learned to do a new thing or say a new word! He's growing up so fast!

I remember the first time I knew he understood what we were talking about. I was at Jeanni's house picking him up in the evening. He has this habit of taking his socks off. It doesn't matter how cold it is outside, he's always taking them off. Anyway, Jeanni pointed at his feet and said, "He's left them on for at least half an hour!" I then looked at Nolan and said, "Good job buddy for leaving your socks on!" As soon as I said the word "Socks" he looked down at his feet, smiled, and pulled them off!

I showed Justin and he was so surprised! Then a few days later Justin was getting Nolan ready and he said, "Hey Nolan, where are your pants?" And Nolan turned around, crawled over to his pants and held them up! Then he tried, "Go get your ball." And sure enough, he went and grabbed a ball!

This kid is smarter than we give him credit for!

---------- ♥ ♥ ♥ ----------

So in no particular order, here's a smattering of fun things Nolan has been doing/saying lately:

When you ask him, "Nolan, what does a lion say?" He responds with the cutest "Rrrawwwwrr" you've ever heard. One Sunday a few weeks ago, Nolan sat on our friend Melanie Campbell's lap for like 20 min. and played with her 4 or 5 year old son,Wes. When Nolan came back to our row to sit with us he stood on my chair facing Melanie. We whispered the question, "what does a lion say?" And he gave a super loud roar , right in the middle of sacrament meeting haha! It was too funny!

Nolan enjoyed playing with Wes's baby transformer cars so much that we decided to get one for him ☺. Our justification for the purchase was that he was so good at the doctor's, even though he got 3 shots!


He's started saying "Amen" after the prayer over dinner. It is seriously the cutest! 

One of the first words he learned was "Bye!" And after a while he finally learned to wave as well and the combination is adorable!

A couple of weeks ago we were skyping with my family. Of course Nolan's sole mission was to get his hands on the computer. Finally he got up on the couch and up to the computer. He looked into the camera at everyone, then all of the sudden said, "BYE!" and shut the computer! hahahaha! My family was dying!

He looks like he knows what he's doing!

One of his favorites words is "Up!" when he wants you to pick him up.

Some other new words (I can't think of them all unfortunately):
popcorn "paw po"
buttons "buh bo"
all done "ah don"
grandpa "papa"
I know (Sometimes we'll say, "Nolan, you're the cutest!" and he'll respond with "I know."
ball
light "ligh" (and he always points at the nearest light)
Nolan (at first it sounded like he was saying "Nona", now it sounds more like "Noah" ☺)


And our personal favorite: "I love you."


Nolan loves peppermint bark! If you ask him to go get the 'Bark' he knows right where it is. Sometimes I'll say to Justin, "I think Nolan ate his dinner pretty well!" Justin knows that means he gets bark and I'm honestly not sure who's more excited, Nolan to eat it, or Justin to get to feed it to him!

Funny story: 
One night Justin was feeding Nolan some bark. After a bite or two Nolan decided he wanted to share and started handing the pieces back to Justin. He did this two or three times so Justin decided he'd grab a bigger piece, since he'd eventually be eating it anyway. So he picked out a bigger piece and handed it to Nolan, expecting he'd get it back. But, not to be out-smarted, Nolan decided he wanted that piece and shoved it in his mouth! Hahahaha, he 'aint no dummy!

He likes to stand in front of his bookshelf and pick a book, then crawl over to you with it in his hand. Then he'll hand it up to you, and crawl in your lap. So cute. We love that he loves books.

"Nolan, give me a kiss!" Then either opens his mouth and plants one on you, or closes his eyes and puts his forehead on yours. I melt every time. Although it's kind of hit or miss these days, about 75% of the time when you ask him for kisses he shakes his head no ☺

Here's a long video, but we got him giving daddy a kiss


Still not walking, but is a really fast crawler (naturally).

He loves playing peekaboo under his blanket.

He is still crazy, and loves swinging with daddy.

He loves drinking from a glass. But not just any glass, he wants your glass. We always give him his own cup, but most of the time he still wants to drink out of the glass we are drinking out of ☺

He also wants whatever spoons (or knives or forks!) we're using, even serving spoons haha. And if we're using peanut butter or salsa (basically, whatever is the largest receptacle on the table) he wants to touch it and have it on his tray with him. Silly kid.


A new car seat!

 Hiding from the camera

 Can I take the Lexus out for a spin daddy?!

Not on your life son! (Look at that dejection!)

 Oh remotes! This kid has always loved remotes. I swear his mission in life it to find every remote in the room. And he knows which ones do what! For awhile we tried to out smart him and just give him the remotes we weren't using at the time. Even going so far as to pretend to push buttons on them. That only worked for a few weeks. Now he knows if you've given him the DVD remote, but he wants the one that turns the TV on and off.

He also crawls with them in his hands

and sleeps with them! 

(most kids like a teddy, oh well, whatever floats your boat kid)

There's always fruit at work so sometimes I bring home a pear for Nolan. Last week I walked in the door and showed him what I brought for him. He immediately said, "Pear!" and grabbed it. I'd say he enjoyed it haha.

And he even wanted to share ♥

---------- ♥ ♥ ♥ ----------