Summer Happenings Part II

It is the end of August, Nathan is back in school, so even though it was 104 degrees here not 4 days ago, I guess 'summer' is coming to an end. Here's a little more of what we've been up to this summer:

At the end of July we had Nathan's parents in town for a couple of days. We loved having them here, but I think I speak for all 3 of us when I say, it wasn't long enough. We hope they come back soon!


Since they arrived shortly after Norah's birthday, they came baring gifts. A cute baby doll in a stroller. Norah loved it! Well... she loved the stroller. She immediately took the baby doll out and put her beloved 'Piggy' in, and declared it "Piggy's Stroller." (Let's hope she's not so dismissive with another baby due to arrive here any day.) She's been loving pushing Piggy in that stroller ever since.

In early August we headed back to Utah for one last visit before I reached my 'no fly' status, and so we could see L & B before their little one arrived and they leave the country. Check out these two 'babies in waiting:'

(It should be noted with great enthusiasm that baby Ethan Thomas Miller arrived last Thursday! Congratulations Bret & Laura!)

We've been lucky to travel to Utah a lot this year, so Norah is very familiar with going there and what is there. She is obsessed with this yellow construction hat at my parent's house, and the very first thing she does every time we go there is find this hat and put it on.


Nathan's grandparents have a cabin up Provo Canyon, just down the river from Sundance resort. Both Nathan's mom and Nathan spent many summers up at the cabin growing up, and Nathan's grandparents, now in their nineties, still spend every summer there. It is a special place, and is where we blessed Norah two summers ago. It is one of our favorite places to visit in the summer, and we are always glad when our trips to Utah can include a visit to Wildwood.





We loved capping off our summer with a trip to see friends and family. We were lucky to get to see many good friends:



And to spend great quality time with family.


We had a great time!


The rest of our summer has been filled with various activites. One of which is Norah's newest obsession, jumping:

And with temperatures in the the triple digits the last 2 weeks, there has been a lot more of this:



and probably too much of this:

This Month Is Such a Special One...

So, in our family we affectionately call July the 'Month of Fun' since all 3 of us have birthdays in July. I realize that going forward we may have to refrain from referring to it as that so as not to make certain imminent newcomers to the family feel left out, but until then, behold the Month of Fun...

I am usually especially great at documenting Nathan's birthday because it falls on the 4th of July, but this year I guess I was a real deadbeat wife, because this was all I managed to capture.




We did have a really fun day though, barbequeing and watching fireworks with friends, and celebrating our first Fourth of July in California.

Norah's birthday was a lot of fun. She woke up extra early that morning :), she must have known it was a special day. We started the day opening presents, then went for a fun family hike up to a waterfall (one of Norah's favorite hikes), came home and made Mickey Mouse pancakes and then crashed before the birthday party that evening.




Her birthday happened to fall on one of the hottest days we've had this summer, so what we had hoped would be a nice evening in the park turned out to be pretty sweltering. We appreciated everyone enduring the heat to come support Norah and eat melting popcicles with us. She had a great time.




Norah had very few requests for her birthday, but one thing that she kept asking for was 'a pink cake with two candles.' Wish granted.

And since I wasn't sure everyone would want bright pink cake (including myself) we had a back-up to share with friends.


For the past couple of years my birthday has sort of gotten lost in the shuffle of bigger life events such as the birth of our first child, and moving our family across the country. So this year it was fun to be able to spend my birthday just hanging out with my two best peeps. The bonus was that our BFs the Mills happened to be in town too!

We spent the morning in Santa Monica having brunch and walking around the Farmers Market, and then the rest of the day taking great naps, great walks, and going out for ice cream. It was a really perfect day.

Until next year 'Month of Fun.' Or as we'll probably call it next year, 'July.'