Dorward Double + one

So summer has come and gone, and maybe I'll update about that some time. but I thought I would share what we did just recently...we went on a cruise! we left our baby girl at home for about 10 days and sailed away to the carribean. We missed her like craaaazzzy, but it was a nice vacation! i just posted some of these to FB, so sorry for the repetition. Leaving Miami we went with kay and mevlin and christa and albert and carrie and nick The Ship First stop-Grand Turk. Super small island, but gorgeous sand. felt like flour it was so soft. Interesting fact:they have no crime on the island (so said the tour guide) and no guns. We went power snorkelling with the cool machine things. we saw cool fish and swam with a super creepy barracuda! i guess they don't hurt you but are super curious and so they just tag along and was a couple feet from me once. didn't like it. matching tanks! Second stop:Suan Juan. we just walked around and saw all the cool buildings, and a world war 2 defense fortress and stuff like that. it was pretty cool actually. I kept saying to spence how if I was 15 i would be hating every second of that, but we loved it! so interesting. so pretty Third Stop:St Maarten beautiful blue water we went to airport beach (forget the real name, maho beach?) anyways, it's right by an airport tarmack so the planes land right over you! it's pretty cool. The only part that wasn't so cool was when a huge plane took off and blew stuff into the water and pelted sand at you. carrie and nick has some casualties with electronics...sad day. Next time I would just put our stuff somewhere else or stand by and laugh at all the dumb people which I'm sure people were doing to us. Fourth Stop:St. Thomas WE took a Catamaran to a nearby island to a private beach and went snokelling. It was fun to go on the sail boat and see the island and learn about it. THey said that a gallon of milk there costs about 7 0r 8 dollars but their rum was ony like $3. and you can drive with open alcohol, but you can't drive without a shirt on. go figure Mini golfing on the ship. pretty fun, almost as fun as playing basketball with the 12 and 13 year old boys there and having them SCHOOL me. the boys loved it though and spent countless hours up there. seriously. Melvin dancing with our waiter. a regular occurence. Tomi convinced me once to get up there with everyone, but just once. Dress up night we were super girly and put on our 'hotel' robes and got ready together. i felt like i was high school again! our handsome husbands and of course we had to have some slushie drinks. too bad they aren't included in the price of the cruise, so sad to say this happened about..once, maybe twice :) We really enjoyed our time away with each other and our friends, but i've never actually been excited to come home before to see my little girl. She just stared at us for like 5 min in shock. Then she was super happpy and for the next few days kept coming up to me and giving me hugs and kisses all day. and I didn't mind it.

So my awesome friend Rosalyn took some pictures for us while were in Calgary a few weekends ago. She did such an awesome job! thanks roz! So if you're ever down there, give her a call :) or just check her out www.rosalynphotography.com so here are some of my favorites. it seems so much harder to choose one to frame now that there are three...and that one of them just turned 1 and was not happy about taking pictures. do you take the one where we look decent, or where she is kind of happy, or what?! it would have all just been easier if she was her normal smiley self!!! i am not so sure what was going on that day, but somehow she is still just the cutest And this is what Blakely thought of the whole thing

when you're sick you are allowed to cry and throw tantrums and watch tv all day fall asleep anywehre you want sleep on your mom while she is working and sleep in your parents bed let's just say it's been a few sleepless nights...it's so sad when someone so small is so sick..but I love those sick cuddles. they are priceless.

For anyone that actually ever reads this, it's been a while. I know. Life gets crazy with a kid and getting a new job and Spence getting a new job etc....well, thats all i'm gonna say about that! just wanted to give an update of the last while. First off, Blakely turned 1! I can't believe how time flies. but seriously, that was the fastest year of my life. I dont know how, but with kids i think the time just never slows down. Which is good..and bad. I can't believe the difference a year makes. since i haven't really posted since she was born, I thought I'd share a few of my fav pics from the last year, cuz if you're like me, I'd rather see a bunch of pictures than read a huge novel of text... picture overload? probably!!! little update for anyone that has made it this far and wanting some text... Blakely is now walking! full out. and getting pretty good. She is a bit of a fireball sometimes and I'm worried she is going to be a bit of a spazz like I was. She is such a fast learner and can pick things up from just watching me do it. She is also definately a girl. She loves to brush her hair, use my make up brushes, play with her kitchen, dolls and stuffed animals. She is really friendly and makes friends everywhere we go. She waves to EVERYONE at the grocery store and has started to hug everyone.Blakely loves music and loves to dance and sing. She loves her bunny and teddy and cannot sleep without both of them. Even when I sing her a lullaby at night in the rocking chair we have to have both with us. and since she's getitng so big i can hardly hold all three of them. It's been so much fun to see her personality and watch her grow. and since she just turned one we had a little birthday party for her. thanks to everyone who came! it was so fun to have friends and family here to celebrate with us. can't wait to see what another year brings.