Nance Family Reunion

Last Thursday through Sunday, we went to the annual Nance family reunion. It's always so much fun to spend a few days on the lake with family, and this year was no exception. Last year, Norah was only 7 months old when we went, but she enjoyed it much more since she's older this year. She loved visiting with her family (especially her grandmothers), going in the lake, looking at everyone's dogs, eating watermelon, and playing in the dirt. Josh and I also had fun going out on the lake and getting to visit with family. We look forward to the reunion all year. It really is a fun get together.

The Nance family always impresses me. They are Josh's family, and it's so funny for me to compare them to mine. They get together every year (some of them are there for a whole week!), and there is never any fighting. Everyone gets along and genuinely enjoy spending time together. There's usually a bit more drama at my family get togethers. They are definitely a close knit group. What a blessing it was to marry into this family! (And for my family reading this, it's also a blessing to have each of you in our lives too!)

The Miller side

Norah's crazy hair one morning! 

Norah playing with Jacy.

Norah and Grandbee

Silly Norah 

Paw Paw (Loy), Norah, Granny (Nelsie)  

Gdad and Norah 

Norah, Grandbee, Gdad

I didn't get any pictures of Norah playing in the lake. I was too busy enjoying it too! Thanks for the fun time Nance's! We are already looking forward to next year!

Beachy Keen

The last time we visited my family, we decided to make a trip to the beach. Norah had never been to the beach before, so I knew she was overdue for a visit. She had so much fun, I don't know what she liked best. She enjoyed the waves coming at her, she liked building a sandcastle with her dad and uncle, she had fun playing with the little clams she found, and she enjoyed putting handfuls of sand in her mouth when no one was watching (silly girl!). It was a fun afternoon!

I only took my iphone, so the pictures aren't the best quality. They still captured the moment!

She was eating a piece of ice here, not sand

Five Years

Yesterday, Josh and I celebrated our five year anniversary. It was a fun day, and I'm so lucky to be married to such an amazing man. Thank you, baby, for a great 5 years!

We woke up and went and got donuts for breakfast. We all enjoyed them, but I think Norah liked them the most.

Since five years is the traditional wood anniversary, we decided to plant a tree this year for our anniversary. We went with a crabapple tree, which is a pretty tree that makes flowers in the spring. I'm already loving having a tree back there!

Later in the day, Josh's parents came over to watch Norah so Josh and I could go out. We went to dinner at Outback and had some really good conversation. Then we went and played Putt Putt. Josh won, but we were both pretty bad. Neither of us is going pro in putt putt. Ha! Then we went to DQ and got some blizzards. I know it sounds like a pretty typical date night, but we don't get to go out just the two of us often, so we really enjoyed it.

Thank you so much, Larry and Denise, for coming and watching Norah for us. I know she had a lot of fun with you. We love you!

Norah and her grandad.

Josh also surprised me earlier in the week with an amazing gift. For our anniversary, he got me a Nikon d700. I was so shocked, I nearly cried. I've been wanting this camera for a while, but it is not cheap. He believes in me enough that he thought I needed a pro camera to go pro. Thank you, Josh. I loooooooove it! And I looooooooooove you :)

Wendy & Josh, 2007

Wendy & Josh, 2012

Wendy, Josh & Norah, 2012

Our Fourth

Something about Independence Day makes me want to take family pictures. Maybe because it's a relaxing day, maybe it's because it's the one day we're all color coordinated, or maybe it's because I'll take any excuse I can to make Josh and Norah sit with me for a picture. Whatever it is, I like to take them.

Here is our independence picture from last year:

And here are some pictures this year:

Look how much Norah has grown!

We didn't really do anything special to celebrate the day, just enjoyed time together. We did grill hot dogs, which felt like a fourth of July thing to do. We also watched fireworks. Our back porch is in the perfect spot to watch the city's fireworks. It's so nice not having to fight crowds or traffic to see them. And when they were over, we were able to put Norah right to bed. It was too dark on our porch to take pictures of Norah watching the fireworks, but for the first few minutes, she did like them! Every firework brought a, "Wow! Pree (pretty)!" from her. But after about 3 minutes, fireworks became an old thing to her. You'd think we sat on the porch and watched fireworks every day by the way she acted. I think she'll really like the whole show next year.

I hope everyone else had a relaxing and fun Independence Day!

Chalk it up to...

Sidewalk chalk! That's what Norah came home with after she went with Josh to a quick trip to Walmart. (He likes to get her little treats when he takes her to the store. Our kids are gonna be spoiled!) So I thought it'd be fun to go outside and draw with it yesterday morning. As fun as it was, I think chalk might still be too advanced. She didn't draw anything, but she did enjoy carrying it around!

Moving her chalk from one spot to another.

She took all the chalk out so she could hold it.

After we got done drawing, Norah had some fun playing in the yard. She is very taken with our neighbor's peach tree. She goes straight to it when we go out.

Want S'more?

Saturday was a pretty relaxing day for the Ripley's. I did a little housework and made homemade hamburger buns (they were delicious!). We made hamburgers out on the grill, and I thought it would be fun to make s'mores over the hot coals. Norah has never had a s'more before, and I just knew she'd love it! So after dinner, Josh did some yard work while it was coolish and Norah and I made a quick trip to the store for supplies!

"Mom, what is a s'more?"

When we got back, Josh got to work on the s'mores.

Helping Dad with the s'mores.

Getting excited!

What do you think, Norah?

Oh yeah, she liked them!

We had to finish our s'mores inside. Poor baby takes after her mama. The mosquitos LOVE her. Her poor little foot got swollen from one of the bites. Note to self, get bug spray!

S'more please!