Family Reunion

Today, Drew and I drove to Crystal Lake for the annual beach day/family reunion for Drew's side of the family.  We were all supposed to meet at 10 AM, but the rain forced us to move our meeting time back to 1 PM.  Thankfully, the rain left us and we had a beautiful day.

After everybody had eaten and play a little bit, I decided to start taking some photos.  This is Rhett with George (I think.  I have all of the aunt/uncles and cousins down, it's the 2nd cousins that still confuse me.  Drew's dad's side of the family is LARGE and I still think they all need name tags).  Poor little guy was all sorts of tuckered out from swimming.

Great minds think alike!  This is Carrie.  Her and her husband, Stephen, live in the DC area.  We just found out today that they are expecting their first child in January.  And, as if that wasn't exciting enough news, Stephen's job is sending them to Bangkok in a year for a few years.  Amazing!

Jerrad's daughter, Beatrice is the newest member of the W clan.  She is a beauty!

This is Annie, Rhett and Katy's newest addition.  She is stunning!

Drew's cousin, Luke, and his family are back here visiting from where they live in Zambia.  They have lived there for quite a few years now.  I met them for the first time before Drew and I got married.  They are doing missions work there.  Luke has the biggest heart for God.  He prayed over Drew and I before we left.  I think that it's so powerful to watch the way God speaks through him.

Every time that I leave after spending time with Drew's family, I feel so blessed and thankful for the family that I have married in to. 

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Back To Reality

Drew and I recently got back from a vacation on Hutchinson Island, Florida.  Drew's grandma has a cottage down there and was kind enough to let us use it.  I think I only took about 6 pictures while we were there.  I know -- unreal, right?  We spent a lot of time at the beach and the pool and it was just the right kind of vacation that I needed after the miscarriage. 

I have a few things to catch up on around here over the next few days.  I'll do a vlog tomorrow answering the questions that were asked.  So, last chance to ask me anything to answer.

How's the weather been around here?  Basically, it's hotter than hell.  It's hotter here than it was in Florida.  We're talking temps in the 90s with heat indices in the 110s and greater.  I can't say when exactly the heat started, but it's been going on for quite a few days.  I'm not complaining because I would rather have this over the cold any day.  And I know that winter is going to come way too soon.

Speaking of that. . . .  Can you believe that we're more than halfway through July already?  I think that time is constantly speeding up.

Wesley's First Birthday

Our house was the location for our nephew's first birthday party today.  He finished the basement just in time to set up for the party and have everybody over.

I started by taking a few shots of the inside decorations.

This is Kristen and Jessica, who are cousins.  Kristen and her daughter, Madison, were our first guests in our brand new guest room. 

Drew was "volunteered" to be the griller. 

4 generation picture.  The woman in the yellow is Drew's mom's sister.

The birthday boy with his parents.

Another 4 generation picture.

Cake time!!!  Jess ordered a 10 inch cake for Wes' smash cake, not fully realizing how big a 10 inch cake is.  That sucker was huge!!

He was so not impressed!!!

There's a smile for me!!

His dad, Eric, was so sweet and smeared Wesley's hand all over his face.  Wes was such a trooper.

After everybody ate cake, it was time for presents.  Wes was very excited for the paper.

This was our present to Drew and I bought it, not just because I figured that Wes would love it, but because I knew that Jess would just love to pick up all of those balls.  "It's 100 more!!!!!!!"

Kristen and Jessica came up with this idea to put all of the balloons around a chair to take a picture of Wes.  Wes was not very stoked about it at first.

We finally got a smile out of him though.  What a cutie!

We had such a great time opening up our home for Wesley's party and having so many family and friends over.  Wes was so good.  I can't believe that he's going to be one soon.  Time flies!

Family on the 4th

My sister-in-law, Jess, her husband, Eric, and our nephew, Wes, are in town for a week (!!) for their summer visit.  They arrived from GA late Saturday, but due to us having chores to do around the house to get ready for Wes' birthday party this coming Saturday, today was the first day that we got to spend a good chunk of time with them.  They came over to our house, along with Drew's parents and grandma, to grill out and spend the day together.

We grilled a great lunch of hamburgers, brats, a hotdog for me, corn on the cob, potato salad, chips, and seasoned oyster crackers. 

Here's Jess and Wesley watching the domino game after lunch.

We almost always play dominos anytime we spend time with Drew's grandma and parents.

I'm pretty sure that Debbie won, but I wasn't following the game too closely.

While the game was going on, Jess took Wes into the yard to visit with the dogs.

Wes really seemed to like Maya and Maya seemed to do pretty good with the baby.

I love having family over!  This was the perfect way to spend the 4th of July.