two fun weekends in a row

Last weekend, M and S flew and I drove to SLC for Mark and Katie's wedding. Beautiful scenery, delicious food, wonderful friends and family, aahh. It was a blast. I was so busy taking care of S that I did not get a single picture of Mark and Katie. Argh! Mom and Dad met us there and took S Friday afternoon and evening while I worked and drove up. In my dad's words, "S has a lot of endurance" (she cried for three hours straight for them). She is still getting used to the babysitting thing after being with mom and dad all day every day for the past 5 months. The girl has lungs, too.

Mom, me, and S at the wedding.

I started back to work for real this week and most of the students arrived today. I'm glad to have them back, but it was nice and quiet around campus with only faculty around. I think I've decided that motherhood is both better and worse, or easier and more difficult, than I thought it would be. The difficult part has come out this week while I've been working. It is really hard to leave S with a sitter, even if it's a good friend and I miss her while I'm at work. At the same time, I love my work, am glad I'm using my education, and this job provides an amazing opportunity for our family, namely for M to stay home part time. At the end of the day, I can't wait to see my girl and it is nice to feel that way, but sometimes I wish I could just be a stay at home mom. It's hard to know that that really will never be a possibility.


This weekend M had a class in Golden, so S and I saddled up and joined him and we all stayed with Hannah and Jarred. Their son Noah is nearly one year old, so the two babes played and we moms understood eachother. We hung out, walked, chatted, drank lattes, etc. H and I actually took the kids out for breakfast Sunday morning! Without the dads! We were so proud of ourselves and the eggs and hollandaise tasted fantastic after maybe a bit too much wine Saturday night. We can't wait to host them now!

A sweet pic of the Noaster.

S tried swinging for the first time and loved it! She takes after her mama.

Drooly babies on the floor.

Happily playing just before Noah stole S's toys. And so it begins...

A rare moment of two babies and two husbands, all eyes open, all looking at the camera.

Cutie.

Cousins.

So much going on, so little time to blog! And way too many pictures...

We started off the summer with a BANG! (as seen in previous posts, 6 weeks in the road-tripping van, fun had by all). We returned to Colorado for my not-so-little-anymore cousin's wedding in July. Before the wedding, Wes and Stef were nearby in Ft. Collins, so Wes and Mike headed into RMNP for a long awaited ascent of Longs Peak's east face, the Diamond. Mike had done the face twice before via different routes, and it had been on Wes's tick list for a long time, so they were very psyched for the rare cloudless day.

Looking down on Wes climbing. The Diamond is a huge and intimidating face. It is slightly over vertical and all above 13,000 feet. The not at all casual and "easiest" route on the face is the "Casual Route", at 5.10.

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The Winter Park wedding was gorgeous and it felt like a huge Nutting family reunion with lots of friends thrown in. I didn't get a single good photo of the happy couple, but here are a few other shots.

Noah and S playing in the grass. S was surprisingly tolerant of Noah's hair pulling. They are 6 months apart and sure to be good friends. Noah is a little chubber and the sweetest baby you'll ever meet. He loves to clap and laugh and play.

Aubyn, me, and Hannah--cousins and wonderful friends.

Todd and Grandma Claire at the reception. Does she not look amazing for 81!! I can only hope to look that good!

The F family.

4 generations of women. Selah wasn't super happy about having her picture taken apparently.

Mike is still getting the parenting thing down. This was before S had discovered toys, so he didn't realize babies put everything in their mouths. Thankfully, Hannah took the rock Mike had given him away before Noah knocked his teeth out.

I gave Selah a little taste of cupcake frosting on the way home from the receptions and she was really happy about it!

S playing in her beloved ExerSaucer. Great for her and for me to get an occasional break.


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In between the wedding and heading to Europe, we moved and I ran a local race, the Mount Sopris Runoff. It was a 16.5 mile gravel and road run with a big climb the first half followed by a nice descent. I was feeling a little out of shape but decided the morning of the race to sign up and go for it, thinking it would be a much needed hard workout. I was pleasantly surprised with a 2:34 and third place, about 20 minutes faster than I anticipated. Mike and Selah missed my finish, but were there to watch me get my ribbon.

The best part of our new place, which we have aptly dubbed "The Cave", is the sweet patio and yard, a first for us. We have started grilling and eating outside lots.


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Traveling abroad with an infant was both easier and more challenging than I anticipated. Airplane rides (which I was very nervous about) were a cinch, but getting her to nap at all was nearly impossible. In a group of 9, there was just too much going on and too much noise for her to sleep. So, she was a bit fussy, but overall did really well. It was a really endearing experience to be around Petra's family in the Czech Republic. They treated us like royalty, arranged a quaint little cottage for us to stay in, fed us, led us around to ancient castles and churches, and were simply some of the friendliest people I've ever met. Even though they spoke little English, we laughed and had a lot of fun together.

This is the view from our cottage. It was in a tiny village of about 150 people. Petra is from a nearby larger town called Zdar Nad Sasavou, population ~20,000. Zdar is pronouned "Shtee-ahd". Needless to say, we only butchered the Czech language. It is normal for a Czech word to be 12 letters long with a single vowel.

The wedding was in a 750 year old church courtyard in Zdar. Thankfully, there legally had to be a translator there so Danny knew what he was committing to.

The happy couple at the reception.

This is a picture of what I did the majority of the time we were over there. This is fried bread with garlic, cheese, and ketchup, but I mostly just ate pastries. Loads of them. They were SO delicious and SO cheap and there were tiny bakeries EVERYWHERE. As a result, we have eaten really really well since returning--spicy curried lentils, saag paneer with homemade naan, elk fajitas, homemade bread, salads for lunch, fresh strawberries and mangoes for breakfast, etc, yummy).

One of the castles we visited.

We made a quick 24 hour detour to Vienna. We just walked around and looked at stuff.

Margie at a train station in Vienna.

The whole crew.

Mike and I thought the cigarette warnings were hilarious. There lots more, like "Smoking will cause a slow and painful death" and "Smoking kills". Maybe now that the FDA has taken over tobacco regulation, it will be the same in the US.

The three of us stopped in London for a few days on our way home to visit with Jared and Vicky. Jared and Mike are friends from elementary school and Vicky is 36 weeks preggers. They were so fun to be with! Selah was really into London, as you can see from the above picture.

We did stop for ice cream, though, and S loved it.

more pastries...

The boys BBQ'd a beer can chicken for dinner one night. I don't envy the chicken...