Sunnier Days Ahead!

This last year has been kind of rough for me. I really have to be quite frank and say that 2009 kind of stunk!

Yes, we had wonderful things happen like the birth of our beautiful baby boy, Cash, in February...but with that came not only the baby blues but full blown postpartum depression and anxiety. It was a very real struggle for me for the first few months and unfortunately I couldn't enjoy life and my new baby boy like I really wanted to and like a new mother should have.

Shortly after that our dog got sick and passed away and there were other things throughout the year that caused a lot of stress and worry with other members on both sides of our families.

To help get me through the rough patch, Chet told me we would plan a nice vacation without the kids. That got me going and helped keep my head up, but after putting hundreds of $$ into our van and not much talk anymore about a vacation I was beginning to think it wasn't going to happen.

When you're going through a rough spot and you hear the term "There will be sunnier days ahead.", that is definitely the truth! Quite literally!!! My awesome hubby started looking around on the web and made me SO happy!

Come May I will be on THIS!

That is going to be our ship and this is what our cabin will look like...SO excited for the private balcony! :)

And how awesome is this???

They will show a movie on deck when it gets dark...

This will be our 3rd cruise and we loved our last itinerary to the Western Caribbean so much that we decided to do it again but may do different excursions this time. We are headed to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. I was feeling a little guilty at first and having anxiety about leaving my kids for so long...until Chet told me that the last time we went on a trip ALONE together (no groups or kids) was our HONEYMOON!!! OK, since you put it that way!
Oh, how I can't wait to be WARM and in beautiful waters on beautiful beaches!!!
The only bummer about it all is that since we will be doing a lot of stuff in the water and leaving things unattended if we snorkel etc., I will not be able to take my baby! Not Cashy...my camera! Here we will be in a beautiful place and I can't have my camera :( I am still going to take it on the trip, just might not be able to use it at all of the ports...boo hoo!

Although...on another happier note, I got a new toy for my baby! For a while now I have been wanting some good, fast glass with a wide aperture. I love a lot of bokeh (background blur making your subject stand out) and I have been debating on two different lenses. (Although the bokeh is not the only reason I was wanting these particular lenses) Well, after a lot of research and reading LOTS of reviews I finally decided on one and bought it. I won't bore you with all the technical details but here is an example of what this lens can do...

The first picture was taken with an F stop of f8 and the second was taken at f1.8, indoors with no flash. Look at what happens to the background and the lines in the tile...

Even Luke's feet are a little bit blurred giving his face full focus and sharpness.
here is another one of Luke at f1.8...
FUN, FUN, FUN!!! At this moment I am truly the happiest I have been in a very long time....almost a year to be exact!
Thank you to Shellie, Sonda, Felicia and Jake for being willing to help with our kids so we can go cruising! :)