My Dad's Visit to meet the baby

My Dad and Teresa came to visit & meet Johnathan for the first time (Grandpa Bell and Grandma "T"). They were here Sept 12th through the 17th and we had a GREAT time together! They loved meeting Johnathan and adored him right away. And Johnathan smiled back at them quite a lot. We went on a little hike outside of Morrison, CO at Mt. Falcon Park. Pretty views! And I took them to the Denver Aquarium, which is where I got that HILARIOUS picture of me in the deep sea divers suit with a baby hanging off the right shoulder!!! We had fun!

His First Hike...

So we got some great pictures from Johnathan's first hike. He's a lucky dude to be able to say his first hike was in beautiful Rocky Mtn National Park. Nate carried him in the front carrier the whole way (which gave my back a break). Nate said it worked well. Little John did however have another huge blow-out diaper right at the start of our hike and soaked his left pant leg again. I don't know what's going on. : ) hee hee. We saw cute little squirrels and got a great family photo on top (at Alberta Falls...probably about 9,800 feet elevation). He wore his cute little hat to keep the sun off his head and he slept the whole time. We all really loved getting out in nature.

Stayed at the Stanley Hotel

We got the opportunity to stay at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park Colorado for FREE! Nate went to an Immunology conference there for PhD school and they paid for our stay! That was great! So the baby and I tagged along just for the experience and to get out of the house for a couple days (which was so nice!). The Stanley Hotel was the hotel that the movie "The Shining" was filmed in. On Wednesday, we bought a parks pass and went into Rocky Mountain National Park and as you can see we saw a HUGE buck Elk. It is the start of rutting season so there were elk everywhere. Then we went on our first hike with baby Johnathan and got a cute family picture. More above.....

Cute and Funny

To start off our trip to Estes Park, CO...we got some cute pictures in the hotel room. Here is Mom and Baby in red. Can you see any resemblance? Then the second picture I think is HILARIOUS. It looks like Johnathan is some super baby walking along the windowsill at just 6 and 1/2 weeks old. He looks like he's just bee-bopping along. So Funny! Don't worry, there was a window screen there that you can't see.

Johnathan and Christopher

Before Jan (Gma) came, I went down to Roxborough area and hung out with Ma & Baby Browning. : ) The two babies are pretty much the same size now! Christopher is 5 weeks older than my little guy. But they are the same lenth about and Johnathan is getting pudgier than Chris. Funny! We went on a nice stroller walk around her neighborhood with the beautiful mountains in the background.

Baby Blessing at church (& FUNNY story)

Johnathan had his dedication blessing at church this Sunday since Grandma Pennock was in town. Johnathan is now 6 weeks old. The assistant pastor Howard Waller did the prayer and it was really special. They gave us a little dedication certificate and a children's bible for him. : ) But I have a hilarious story for you all. The blessing was in the very beginning of church at 9:00am and prior to leaving for church I had changed his diaper and fed him. After church started, the pastor said, "And now I'd like to invite a very special couple up who just had a baby on July 25th..."...and right then Johnathan (in his carseat in the pew) had the biggest, most gigantic BLOW-OUT diaper that you can ever imagine! I couldn't believe my ears...but then immediately after that, I couldn't believe my eyes and sense of touch. I picked him up out of his carseat (he was wearing overalls and a white long-sleeve onesie and white socks), and walked him up to the stage in front of the large congregation. I felt his whole entire left leg and buttocks jeans material was completely soaked. Then I felt it on my arm and looked down at my left hand and had fresh poo all over my fingers. I felt my shirt getting wet even! So I was suddenly so embarrassed and I tried to block the evidence with my body. I kept him in one position so the audience couldn't see POO all over his back side and on me! So I barely paid attention to what the pastor was saying & the prayer because I was so distracted by this amazing blow-out diaper. Johnathan was making sure his Dedication was a memorable one! We will NEVER forget this day! : ) So afterwards Jan and I went to the ladies restroom and cleaned it up. Poo was covered on the inside of his overalls. His white onesie and socks were soaked and stained with yellow poo. And I washed my hands and arms well. Luckily we had an extra outfit in the diaper bag. But it was literally the biggest baby blow-out I had EVER seen! So funny that it had to be right before his baby blessing in front of so many people. I guess we've got good ammo to embarrass him with when he's 17 years old and dating. : ) Nate joked "the lesson here is: even when we are waist deep in shit, God still blesses us". : ) hee hee.

The second picture is the best one from the weekend and it is at lunch after church at a Thai restaurant. Great weekend with the NEW Grandma!

Our First Date!

(I wanted to update the blog chronologically, but I just haven't had the free arms to keep up with it. So I'll write about 2 things, and then go back and add older pictures from before.) Nate's Mom came and visited us this weekend (for 48 hours)!!! It was so nice for her to finally meet baby Johnathan. She offered to babysit him so that Nate & I could go out on a date. It was the first time his Mama left him for more than a little while, but I did okay. And we had the best date! We first went to the "Zoppe Family Circus" which was REALLY cool. It was an old Italian traditional circus. We had fun. Then we went to dinner at Macaroni Grill and had a nice worry-free dinner and a glass of wine. Thank you Grandma Pennock for letting us go on a very needed date!