Hogle Zoo

Jeanni was sick one day and it happened to also be a free day at the Hogle Zoo. So I braved it with both boys and we had a super fun time!

Nolan's favorite thing was for sure this slide. He wanted to go again and again.

 

He even took Branson down two times!

 

Star Wars Night

I follow an Instagram account called Utah With Kids and saw that the bowling alley in Holladay was having a Star Wars themed night, so of course I signed us up! I kept it a surprise for Nolan and he loved it! Unfortunately Justin had to work and couldn't be there, but Gm and Gp Bailey joined in the fun. Jeanni even came at the end ☺

A family of storm troopers.

At first Nolan was really scared of the guy dressed like Darth Maul, but after about 20 minutes he kept seeking him out so he could duel him haha.

Jedi/Sith training

 

Here are some pics a photographer took of the night.

 

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Nolan has been wanting to see Star Wars episode 8 for a long time, but we honestly weren't sure how he'd do in a theater and if he'd sit for that long, even for Star Wars. So we kept telling him he'd have to wait until it came to the dollar theater. But then I remembered $5 Tuesday's at the theater so we decided to make a SW night out of it and surprise him again!

We met daddy at In 'n' Out for dinner and then grandma took B home while grandpa, daddy, Nolan, and I went to the theater in Fort Union.

Nolan was all dressed up and ready to go. He was so excited to find out we would be seeing Star Wars, but the excitement turned to terror when we actually got into the room. I think it was just really dark, and loud (he hates loud noises, why didn't I think of that?!), and he didn't know what the previews were. So we took him out and worried we wouldn't get to see the movie at all.

Once he heard the Star Wars music he was at least willing to entertain the idea of watching it. So we went back up to our seats and Nolan sat in daddy's lap while daddy covered his ears for the first 30-45 min. It was actually pretty funny because Nolan was just stone-faced the whole time. No emotion. And he had his DV hoodie on which covered his eyes so all you could see was his tight lips ☺ I'd ask him if he liked it and he didn't move a muscle.

Then at one point he said he needed to go potty so I took him and when we got back he was a new person! He sat on my lap and after a while he didn't even want me covering his ears. By the end of the movie he was super in to it! Standing up and doing the force at the screen haha. It was awesome. It's kind of crazy that the more into the movie it got (and it's a long movie) and the later in the evening it got he was MORE into it. But whatevs.

I'm so happy he loved it. He talks all the time about wanting to see it again!

I tried to sneak a picture of him standing in the theater, but it's hard to see.

Of course he wanted to pretend to drive a car in the arcade too ☺

Snow!

We finally got some snow! So naturally, we went sledding ☺ The boys loved it! Although we probably spent about the same amount of time getting them ready as we did at the park haha. So worth it!

I literally stuck Branson's legs in a snow pile to keep him from moving while I got Nolan ready since Justin was upstairs grabbing something haha. 

We went to Creekside Park in Holladay since it has good hills.

Snow angels! 

Nolan wanted to make a snowman, but I discovered that we're actually not that practiced in the art ☺

Nolan got daddy good with a huge snowball!

A beautiful street near our house.

♥ My new favorite picture of my handsome boys ♥

We had so much fun!

At Work with Mom

My boss, Ojae, got a real kick out of Nolan when he came to my office dressed up as Darth Vader for Halloween. He told me Nolan is "a pretty cool kid," and has since asked me how Nolan is from time to time. He particularly thinks it's awesome how much Nolan loves Star Wars and how much he knows about it.

Over Christmas I was telling Ojae about how we've been watching Star Wars Rebels and that Nolan has been saying he really wants a lightsaber like Ezra's. Well, if you haven't seen SW Rebels, Ezra's lightsaber is one that switches on command from a lightsaber to a blaster. I assumed they didn't make a toy that could do that and had to explain as much to a disappointed Nolan. 

Apparently I don't know what I'm talking about ☺.

Over Christmas Ojae asked what kind of Star Wars stuff Nolan was getting for Christmas. I told him and then explained how he really wants an Ezra lightsaber, but I didn't think they made them. Then during one of my one on one's in January he asked about Nolan again and again Ezra's lightsaber was brought up. I joked about it and then Ojae said, "Well, they actually do make them...and...I got one for him." WHAT?!!! haha, it took me a good 2 minutes of asking him if he was joking and if he seriously bought my son an Ezra lightsaber before I believed that, yes, he did actually get him one! He said he was at a toy store getting a Kylo Ren lightsaber for his son when he saw it in the corner away from the other lightsabers and just had to get it for Nolan. SO so nice!!

I had to figure out a way to get Nolan in to my office so Ojae could be the one to give it to him. So, on a slow day he came with me to work!

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Ojae coming in with the new lightsaber! He was pretty excited to give it to him which was cute.

I'm not sure who had more fun, Ojae or Nolan!

Luckily a lot of people were gone because Nolan was running around and hiding under people's desks haha.

Another co-worker, Dave, was super sweet and let Nolan use his tablet to watch a show while he ate breakfast (and so I could get some work done)!

Nolan was seriously SO good. I had planned to just have him there for a couple of hours and then run him home at lunch, but he was so good I just kept him there with me.

He melted a lot of hearts with his cuteness and made lots of people laugh with his Star Wars knowledge and intensity. Even weeks later people were coming up to me and talking about how cute he was!

We headed down to daddy's office to say hi (he melted plenty of hearts there too).

Then to City Creek for lunch

Back at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

I almost forgot! I was pretty daring taking Nolan on this kind of outing when he had been potty training for less than a week. But he did amazing!! We even brought his chart along.

After work I had my piano lesson so my plan was to drop him off at Jeanni's for an hour, but he really wanted to stay with me. He'd been so good I figured, why not? And he was really good there too, didn't even interrupt us except for at the very end.

After the lesson Chelsey ran the train they had out on the table and Nolan loved it!

It was such a treat to hang out with Nolan all day. He really is fun to be around (as all of my co-workers can attest to). The day made me resolve to make sure Justin and I spend some one on one time with each of our kids often to make sure we're connecting with each of them. And I was happy to know that Nolan wanted to spend time with me as well ♥