never enough time

Holy moly. I am so behind on my blogging. I still haven't finished details of our cruise. Then we went to Branson. And we've been to Utah and Mexico too! Yikes. Lots of catching up to do. It's a little overwhelming, but I love the fact that I know I can print this all off and make it into our family album. I'm so grateful for my family and the time I had to spend with them in Utah. My parents are rock starts for watching my kids while Landon and I whisked away for a week in Mexico (which was AMAZING). Kam ran my mom ragged. She is so busy and just gets into EVERYTHING. You seriously can not turn your back on her or she'll be ruining something or putting herself in danger. It's exhausting. She is so cute though. She's talking more and it's so fun to see her explore. I've decided that there are just certain things in my life right now that I'm going to have to give up. She needs my attention and deserves it. I want to teach her how to be a loving and obedient child...and it's going to take a lot of work!! I had a great talk with my sister about the devotion it takes in being a good parent. Anyone can be a parent...but I want to be effective and loving and cherish my role. My kids deserve ME to be present in their life.

Well, hopefully I'll still find some time to blog and use this as my outlet because it has been such a blessing in my life. Gotta go! Kam has chocolate smeared all over the place...

let's play freeze tag

I can't believe time has gone so quickly. It seems not so long ago that my little babe was this tiny.

5 lbs of nothingness.

Preemie outfits too big.

I want to always look at Kambrie with this gaze, overwhelming with love, so happy that she's in my life.

Kambrie has been so dang cute lately. She's turned into such a cuddle bug and we love it so much!!

I wish life could be like freeze tag. We could freeze the moments we wanted for awhile...and when we were ready to "play again" or resume life, we could unfreeze time.

I love that she still hasn't grown in her front tooth.

I love how she pretends to read and speaks her own funny little language.

I love how she plays with her brother, and would always be so anxious to give him a hug and kiss when he walked in the door from school.

I love how she drags her blanket around with her everywhere.

I love that she said MOM for her first word!

I love that she says ball, mom, dad, Tanner, thank you, please, cheese, hi, more...all with her own inflections and sounds. So so so cute.

I love that she's so special. I love that she's my daughter!!

And this little boy who has my heart completely just makes me melt every day. He can certainly be ornery and uber hyper, but he has such a tender heart. He is so sweet and loving, I'm so proud of him.

I can't believe he's almost 7.

As I tucked him into bed tonight, he asked me to lay down and snuggle with him for a minute. I was about to say no and then paused and thought I want to cherish these moments forever...so I cuddled up next to him and rubbed his face while he talked my ear off. He's just so precious. I know he won't want mommy to cuddle with him forever, so I'll take it while I can get it.

(another thing about Tanner, today he said he wants to work on a cruise ship when he grows up, be on TV and be a pirate like captain Jack, and on his days off drive a limo. Then he asked what color of limo he should get...blue, or pink? I encouraged him not to go the pink route!! lol)

Being a mom can feel like the hardest thing on the planet some days. Other days it brings the greatest joy and happiness one ever thought imaginable.

TANNER and KAMBRIE, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

I'm so lucky and thankful I get to be your mother.

finishing up Half Moon Cay

So I've already told you in previous posts, this is the best island on the planet.

You saw my parasailing excursion to heaven.

Now let me wrap this up with the cute little cabana we rented which provided us with drinks, food, snorkeling gear, and SHADE.

It was perfect for the babes to sleep.

Kambrie and Cambree napped just as we were hoping for.

Perfect.

While they were sleeping, a PIRATE (if you can even call him that. lol. his costume didn't come in time so he improvised!) named PIRATE WILLY came and led the kids on an adventurous treasure hunt leading to a big treasure box full of loot!! HOW AWESOME!

So to sum it all up...

HALF MOON CAY is HEAVEN ON EARTH.

If you ever get the chance to go. DO IT.

This is my dream:

to live in this cabana and watch the world go by

high as the sky

I've always wanted to parasail. We had an excursion planned to go last time we visited the Bahama's and it was too windy so they cancelled it.

Well, I don't let things die...this time I was adamant about making it happen.

I did. It was AWESOME!!!!

Here is our fearless gang! The girls. And Kevin!

The rest of the men had to stay back and babysit. ☺

We were all excited to go! And maybe a little apprehensive.

But the adventure was going to be worth it.

IT WAS AMAZING.

It felt like we were just floating in heaven. You could barely feel any movement and all you could see until the horizon met the ocean was brilliant blue water and the beautiful tiny island below.

It was an experience to remember forever!

It was fun going with my mom.

Emily and Amber went tandem as well.

Kevin went solo.

We all did it...without any tears, without crossing our legs letting the guys know we needed to come down, without any vomit...just smiles and memories forever!

Our assistants said we were totally the best group ever! lol.

Half Moon Cay

This island in the Bahama's is our all time favorite. It was our second time being here and Lando and I could hardly wait. It's a complete understatement to say it's BEAUTIFUL.

The blue sky melts into the turquoise water and the sand is so soft it's like walking on clouds.

Grand Turk

If I wasn't blogging to make these into books/journals, I would totally quit. It takes too long and too much energy. ☺ Or maybe I'm just not in the mood right now.

Is anyone else over the blogging thing?

Well, this was our first stop on the cruise: Grand Turk.

It was a pretty island. We didn't do any excursions. Just played at the beach and then swam in one of the resorts awesome pools. It was a fun day in the sun!

Kam loved the sand and dove in first thing...eating it and dumping it!

Tanner loved the water and jumped in first thing...he's a little fish!