Charlotte living

We moved into our new place mid-May and we love it! It's nice to have a little more room and have a two-car garage. I love the extra space. My favorite thing? The location! We live in uptown Charlotte. Very close to everything! Logan can walk to his office or ride the free trolley (less than a mile away). It's so convenient and awesome. When we were first looking at places, I did not want to live in the city. I wanted to get a place with a yard and in a nice community. Logan convinced me otherwise, and I'm so glad he did. It's going to be fun to have this "city life" experience while the kiddos are young. It's been surprisingly very easy to make the adjustment. Someone asked me recently which do I prefer Raleigh or Charlotte. I love both places, but I think we prefer Charlotte. There's just so much to do here! If Charlotte just had our Raleigh friends (we miss them SO much) and a temple, then it would be perfect.

We walk just about everywhere - museums, libraries, splash pads, playgrounds, lunch with daddy, grocery shopping, dry cleaning, etc. The only thing we really need our car for is Costco, Target, the mall, and church (about 20 minutes away). Hudson was so sad one Sunday when we had to get in the car for church. He threw a fit and screamed, "me want to walk!!!" We are also making new friends with neighbors and at church. Our church congregation is a lot smaller than the one in Raleigh (for my LDS friends - it's a fairly new ward, about 5 years old). It also means that we already have church callings right off the bat, Logan is in the Elders Quorum presidency and I'm on the RS Activities Committee. Fun stuff.

We really love it here. It's been so fun getting to know the city. Logan is also really enjoying his job. Yep, I think it is safe to say, we will be here for awhile.

Below are some pictures to give you a glimpse of what Charlotte living for us looks like:

living room area

fireplace area decorated

Hudson's room

Romare Bearden Park - this view is a 10 minute walk from our house

Hudson loves playing in the water area

He also loves pretending to be a lion on the giant rocks.

This place is called "The Green" - we meet up with Logan for lunch here sometimes. 

I pack our lunches and the kids play in the water fountains. 

Shakespeare in the Park (at The Green)

This is another cool spot. 

It's a church playground right in the city that we like to come to. 

This is Hudson after most of our days walking around the city. 

Imaginon (children's library) is also really neat. We go here often. 

Hudson likes to put on a puppet show for me every time we go to the library. 

I bought a blow up kiddie pool for the kids. They love it. 

We also love going to Discovery Place (children's museum) in Uptown. 

They had an art exhibit called Van Gogh Alive that we went to. 

at Romare Bearden getting some sun 

Here's Hud and his new friend, Charlie. 

They are just lounging, getting dry after playing in the water. 

summer days wear Hudson out

walking into the city

This picture melts my heart. He is getting so big and independent! 

We are having so much fun this summer. I can't imagine what we will do once the weather gets colder in the fall/winter since we walk everywhere. I guess that is what the museums and libraries are for. So, did I convince anyone to come visit yet? We would love visitors!  

Graduated

Logan graduated beginning of May. We are so proud of him! He worked so hard to get into the Master of Science Analytics program at NC State and completed it in a short (but intense) 10 months. The program is amazing; this year it had a 100% employment rate after graduation (most students averaged 13 job interviews and 3 offers). Logan was lucky to have a few competitive job offers that we considered, but ultimately we decided to move to Charlotte so he could work for a consulting firm. It was a good choice! He is enjoying his job and the city is great too (more about that later in another post).

Here are a few pictures from graduation day. Big thanks to his family for joining us!

Logan's practicum group. 

He worked with this group on a big data project for United Airlines. They did a great job and went to Chicago to present their project to the company. 

Logan's mom and Amelia were there too, but grammy volunteered to change an explosive diaper (bless her). 

I love my little family!

 one of my favorites from the day - daddy with his (little) biggest fans

Logan left right after graduation to run a Tough Mudder in Texas with a good friend from his mission. It was his graduation present. He had a blast. I don't know how you can call being covered in mud and getting electrocuted a blast, but that's what he did and loved it. (Thank you for the pictures, Allison!)

John and Logan about to run the race

My little sister, Amanda, also graduated (the day before our big move to Charlotte). She graduated from VCU with her bachelor's in Exercise Science. It's been a month now from graduation, and she has already found herself a job as a rehab specialist. I am so proud of her! The kids and I were able to drive up to Richmond, VA to be there for her special graduation day. (We left Logan to clean and pack up our moving truck. He did a great job - thanks Log!) 

Blurry, but I love this picture of Hud with his Aunt Mans

Before graduating

Logan got done with classes and had about a week before his graduation day, so we spent some time as a family and then went up to VA. It was a nice refresher from being in school mode and before the big move to Charlotte.

We went camping at Umstead. Well, the boys camped. Amelia and I just came for dinner and the treats.

Video: Hud and Log making a fire

We went up to Virginia for Carson and Leisha's VA wedding reception (sorry no pictures from that). We got to see our families and play with our buddies (Williams family).

Hud found tadpoles in the Corbett backyard. He was in heaven!

tadpole search crew

This was at the Baltimore Aquarium (thanks Williams family for taking us).

best buds

 I also snuck in a little trip to NYC. Thanks for letting me tag along, Delilas.

World Trade Center