::smitten::

2 1/2 months.

so in love.

::first day of first grade::

my sweet sweet girl.  

i cannot believe how quickly you are growing. 

i am so proud of the girl you are and i am praying for you every moment of today.

happy start to 1st grade!

waiting for the bus with our new neighbor!

::lake lemon::

lake lemon is an integral part of the wiley family.

for as long as i have known ryan, their entire family has been invited to tim and jana's lake cottage each summer.

and without fail, they all come for a beautiful weekend of family togetherness.  

when ryan and i started dating in high school, they so graciously allowed me to start coming to these awesome family weekends.  and i quickly realized that the lake weekend is something that sets the wiley family apart and makes them so special.  they move mountains to be together for this weekend and it is a huge priority for every person in the family.  and once they are all together, the love and generosity abounds.

this year, we were able to attend the reunion and we were so very blessed to be there.

the kids were showered in love and it was so wonderful to see them out on the lake doing the things that ryan grew up doing every summer.  it was good for their souls...and mine.

grandma pat with her great-grandbabies

inaugural tubing trip!

della getting lots of sweet love from jana

precious sadie was showered in love on her last lake lemon trip.

these three are trouble...

thank you so much, tim and jana for so graciously hosting us this year!  it was a weekend of creating beautiful memories!

and thank you so much, kathy, for helping us to get there!

::big traveler::

della is 2 1/2 months old.

and at this juncture, she has traveled from:
texas to virginia
virginia to north carolina
virginia to indiana

phew!  our little one is quite the trooper when it comes to taking trips!

last week, we left virginia to head to indiana for a few days.

ash and her boys were in z'ville and we were so anxious for them to meet della.
we spent our days catching up and visiting family.
della got to meet her sweet cousin torrence, who was born one day after her.
and we spent time with jayden and julia at a park catching up.

it was so good to be home and to be together...

della resting up before a day of travel.

cool evenings!

duke's big haircut!

lots of cousin love!

thank you muffy and skippy for making our invasion so wonderful!

we love you!

::welcome::

we are so fortunate that our family is incredibly generous when it comes to visiting us.

brandon, nakita and kathy came to visit us last week and we were so thankful they came to spend time with  us in our new home and meet della.  

we spent a lot of time outdoors -- picking food, eating food, taking walks to get food all outside.  it was lovely.  

we also spent a lot of time getting wet -- in a downpour that caught us off guard and swimming while the kids had swim lessons.

it was a beautiful visit and we were so thankful they came to welcome della into the world and us into our home.

thank you!!!