Noah - Month 5

Well folks I am finally almost all caught up on pics of my little man!  He turned 5 months old on October 11th over a weekend stay in a cabin with his Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Shay. I can't believe he is 5 months already.

By the end of the month he weighed 12.9 pounds and I am guessing is somewhere around 26 inches. We will have an official weigh in next month. When we last went to the Doctor he was in the 3rd percentile for weight which is worrisome, but he was in the 85th for height....so he is just growing up and not out! Hopefully this month he will gain a bit more weight and be good to go for his exciting 6 month checkup.

This month he started sitting up for a few seconds on his own (he is getting better and better at this daily) and he LOVES to put his feet and anything else he can grab onto in his mouth! He is a terrible nap but sleeps fantastic most nights. For a few weeks we got 9-10 hours straight which was amazing.  Then we went out of town and screwed it all up! Hopefully we can get back to that soon!

Beginning of the month...



Watching football with daddy



Foot in mouth....check out that finger too hehe.  Made me crack up!

First baseball game! Go Dbacks!

He's been holding his own bottle too for awhile

Just taking a stroll sporting Rattlers gear!

Nakey baby!

My fav picture of him made it onto the Carters website!

In his submarine outfit in honor of Uncle Shay in the Navy!

Pile O' Pumpkins!

Love that smile

Caught this right before he fell over haha

Had to get snuggled up for our cabin trip up north in Pinetop!

Fishing with daddy

Go Spartans!

With Uncle Shay

Terrible hand daddy....what are we going to do??

Best Bachelorette Weekend Ever....Seriously Though

I am headed to Cleveland tomorrow morning, so first I have to say, Go Rattlers!!!  I can't believe C and his team have made it to the Arena Bowl yet again.  The game will be broadcast on Saturday night (8pm Eastern) if anyone wants to check it out.  It should be a REALLY good game!

Anywho....this past weekend was my Bachelorette party! We planned on going to Sedona (Northern Arizona) to spend the weekend doing wine tastings.  I was told to bring white flip flops, a white cross body purse and a cute white dress for going out.  We left friday afternoon after lunch.

Two of the girls picked me up and we all piled in her small SUV and left to pick up the fourth girl. One other would be meeting us there.  When we got to her house, they gave me a cute little gift bag with a poem.  Also inside were these:

Yep, they tricked me.  We weren't going wine tasting at all.....we were going to Disneyland!

I honestly couldn't believe it...though now it made more sense as to why we were leaving so early!

When we arrived at the hotel, the room was decorated by the fifth girl, my best friend, who lives in San Diego.  It was soooooo adorable!  She had little gift bags for each girl set up as well as snack packs for the park the next day.

That's the bridesmaid who couldn't make it :)

 In my gift bag, I found a cute little backpack for the park, a "night of" kit for going out dancing and a "day after" kit for any hangover symptoms before we hit the park, a little white veil to wear out that night and white leggings.  Why white leggings you ask?  I asked the same question.

It was because not only were we going to Disneyland, we were all going to be sporting the cutest tutu's ever while at the park! Ahhhh!!!!  I'm pretty sure this Bachelorette party couldn't have been more right on and fit for me.

"Booping" everyone on the head while we got ready with my fancy wand!

That night we headed out to the only club around, the girls in black and me in white (with my new mini veil).  It lasted about a whopping two hours before we all decided we were bored and headed back to the hotel to rest up for Disney the next day.  Yeah, I am definitely not the partying type!

After the heat and stupid smoke/dry ice machine got us in the club...FLAT hair!

This is 100% posed and probably the most rebellious/inappropriate thing we did the whole trip

Disney was absolutely awesome.  People loved our outfits and it was so fun to get congratulations from complete strangers.  There were even a couple of people that stopped us to take a picture so they could show someone else back home!

Screaming bloody murder (not faking it) while they point out I'm getting married....I dislike steep drops!

Hearts and showing off my ring :)

Cutest ever!

Finally leaving the park at the end of the day....dead tired!

Before

After

We stayed at the park until it closed and then dropped into bed when we got back.  The next day we got up early (for me) and headed back to Phoenix.

It was a short but incredible weekend, one that I will never forget!  I am so grateful that my friends really know me and planned something that I would love!  I can't tell you how glad I am that I didn't have any of the "traditional" bachelorette party items!

Next up......my wedding!  18 days and counting!!  Eeeek!!!

A Portland Recap

Well as you all know, Portland was awesome.  I mean, I did get engaged to C while there, so why wouldn’t I say that!  Also though, it is a beautiful city and I got to spend some quality time with my mom and brother!

When we first landed there on Thursday night, it was cold and rainy.  I went from 100 degree temperatures to the 40s and 50s! It was such a change.  We checked into our hotel and immediate found some place to eat….Red Robin.  I highly suggest you stay away from their pretzel bites appetizer, it was quite terrible.

Rainy but very green!

 The next morning we woke up and went in search of the famous Voo Doo donuts! Usually, there is a line around the block, but because the rain was still off and on, there was really no one there!  We waited in line for maybe 10 minutes.

After that, my poor brother got to go on an all-day shopping excursion!  I introduced my mom to my favorite store, LUSH, and we spent several hours at several different shopping areas in the city! At lunch, it was drizzling, the pouring, then hailing, then drizzling and then the sun came out.  All of this happened within a 20 minute period of time.  It was pretty crazy!

When lunch was over, we headed to the famous ice cream parlor, Salt & Straw.  It had a seriously cute feel to it and some wildly creative flavors.  I mean, sea urchin? Wild flowers? Pear and Blue cheese?  Who puts these things in ice cream?  They do! We tasted tested almost all of them, including Orpah's all time favorite ice cream...Olive Oil. In case you were wondering, it wasn't bad, but it was pretty darn boring!

After shopping some more, we headed to the Portland City Grill for happy hour, a place a friend of mine had suggested.  It is on the 30^th floor of a building downtown and has beautiful views! We ate (or and drank) to our hearts content and then headed back to the hotel to relax.

View from PCG

Saturday around lunch time we took a tour of the Widmer Brothers Brewery.  I think it is so incredible to go and check out the operations of pretty popular brands.  We also got to taste several of their varieties, which hey, I’m not gonna complain about that!  After the tour we headed over to their Pub for lunch…..and several more samples!

After lunch we picked up C from the hotel (he was finally in Portland!) and went back out for some wine tastings. And another wine tasting. Oh and one more wine tasting.  At least I think.  After that many I was good and happy, we could have done anything!  Since C had a game the next day, he was our designated driver which was awesome. 

After a tasty Italian dinner (and I believe a visit to some food carts) we headed back in for the night to play some Farkle.  Have you guys ever played?  It’s a really fun and easy dice game.  My mom got us all started and C and I play almost every week!

Sunday was game day! Mom and I shopped a bit in the morning and then we all headed out to the arena after lunch.  The arena in Portland that C played in was the same one the Trailblazers (NBA) played in the night before.  It’s so amazing to see how quickly they transform those places for a completely different sport!

As I mentioned before, C played an awesome game. He had 3 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble return.  He ended up being named the defensive player of the week and even won the “sack pot” he does with the guys (hello Groomsman tux donation money)! 

After the game we headed over to Buffalo Wing Wings…..and we got engaged :)  Then we partied all night long.  Or until 1am haha. I’m definitely not a wild one.

The next morning we hopped into a car and drove all the way to Seattle just to fly home!  I wish we would have had more time to explore Seattle, but those darn Trailblazers had to be in the championship tournament!

Mount Olympus in Washington

Portland was really beautiful and I would love to go back for a longer period of time.  I am sure C and I will definitely be taking more trips there because it instantly became a special place to us!