Pink or Blue

Mary and John are expecting a baby in January 2015 and this past Saturday they had a gender reveal party and revealed to us Baby Stewart's gender. They had a BaByQ and sent invitations telling us to wear PINK or BLUE based on what we thought Baby Stewart was. My guess was PINK all along and so was the guess of the majority of the people there.

The box that held the BIG NEWS

All indications it's a GIRL

The BaByQ spread

Cake pops, lips and mustache cookies

Nana and Poppa Bill wore PINK for GIRL

Doug and Will wore BLUE for BOY

The suspense was killing us all so Mary and John decided to open the BOX and we were happy they did. 

John slowly cutting the box

Open the box

IT's a BOY. They shocked us all and you can tell by the expression on John's face! 

It's a BOY! 

Tucker Rice Stewart will be joining our family in January 2015!

After the opening of the box it was then time to eat and fellowship and talk about Tucker and all the boy stuff Mary gets to experience! 

The kids table

Some of John's extended family

Sara Beth, Mikki, and Mary

John, Matt, and Ryan

Anna Grace was undecided on her decision

Nana and Poppa Bill with Mary and John

Papa Randy and JaJa with Mary and John

So excited for these TWO! 

Tucker Rice Stewart is named after our Mamaw and Papaw on my dad's side. Mamaw's maiden name (Pearline Smothers) was Tucker and Papaw's middle name (Doyle Smothers) is Rice. It just so happens to be that Mary and John bought and completely remodeled Mamaw and Papaw's house and will bring Tucker Rice Stewart home in that house where so much love from Mamaw and Papaw was given to our family and passed down to us. Plus, Rice is Will's middle name too and Tucker Rice is due just 4 days before Will's 3rd birthday. So January is going to be crazy and full of the unknowns. 

I'm so excited to meet Tucker Rice Stewart in January. He is already LOVED so much by Aunt Kara. Welcome to the family Tucker and we can't wait to meet you! 

Cruising back and Coming home

The last day on the ship was spent onboard cruising back to San Juan. We had a very relaxing day of sleeping in, eating, and sunning by the pool. We slept in, had a nice breakfast, stayed by the pool most of the day, ate lunch again, and topped it off by having steak and lobster for dinner. If we were leaving the next day then we were going to "live it up" so they say and that is what we did!

We did get a chance to walk around the cruise ship for one last time and guess what I found....A Starbuck's. Yes on the LAST day of the cruise, after being on the ship for 7 straight days, and not venturing around much, I found a Starbuck's on the LAST day. Doug said "thank goodness" because I would have been there every single day if not more than twice a day. But I endulged in a nice mocha at 3 in the afternoon and it felt good!

So we took one last before dinner picture and went on our merry little way to endulge in steak and lobster and the best of all KEY LIME PIE, which I began craving for about 2 days ago and they finally put in on the dessert menu for the last night. 

Later that night we got word from the Captain of the ship that Tropical Storm Bertha was expected to hit San Juan tomorrow morning around 10 but we were cleared for docking if we ported in San Juan by midnight and that is what we did. Of course, we were asleep when we made it to San Juan but thank you Captain for getting us to San Juan safely and allowing the ship to dock and unload because I had a plane to catch home. 

On Saturday, we were off the ship by 7:30am because we had a flight at 10am and I was not missing it. Tropical Storm Bertha was rolling in and unfortunately our flight to Orlando was about 45 minutes delayed in leaving San Juan. Luckily we had a long lay over in Orlando that it didn't make us miss our connecting flight to Birmingham. 

On the bus, waiting to leave for the airport

So we left stormy and raining San Juan with Tropical Storm Bertha behind us and arrived in sunny Orlando about 1 hour before our next flight was to depart for Birmingham. We were starving so we made our way to the airport food court and had lunch then boarded our flight home. We arrived in Birmingham on time and ready to retrieve our luggage and hit the road towards Tupelo and to see Will. It felt like time was creeping by because we were so ready to see Will. We arrived in Tupelo, grabbed some Connie's chicken to go, and headed over to Doug's parents house to get Will. They were outside playing and when we pulled up Will just stood there and continued to pull his green wagon. What a welcome home from him we got. Guess he liked staying with Nana and Papaw more than he wanted to see us! He ended up wanting to be chased but unfortunately, I grabbed him up, gave him a HUGE kiss, and snapped a few welcome home pictures. I was sooooooo happy to have my baby back in my arms again. 

We had an amazing time on our cruise and yes we want to do another one in time! Our favorite ports were St Johns, Antigua and St. Lucia. We want to go back and stay at a resort and visit those islands again. We just fell in love with them. My favorite excursion was the Catamarran sail in St. Kitts and I believe Doug's was the Stingray adventure in Antigua. 

So for now, I will stay local and LOVE on my baby for a while! Here is to one amazing 10 Year Cruise with my hubby! Cheers!!!!!!

Bridgetown, Barbados and 10 YEARS

We arrived in Bridgetown, Barbados on JULY 31st. It was a special day because it was our 10 year anniversary day. Doug had bid on a 50 minute hot stone massage and won so that morning I had my massage which was wonderful. We then met for a nice breakfast in the dining room where we had our own table (so romantic). After breakfast we had some time before we boarded the bus to our beach destination for the day. All I wanted to do that day was get a massage, eat and simply relax. We had the best day. We enjoyed the most scenic ride to the beach through Bridgetown where we got a short tour of the city. It was the day before their holiday so town was extremely busy that day. After our short city tour, we arrived at the beach for the day. It sprinkled off and on but we had the best time relaxing on the beach.

Welcome to Barbados

Aerial view of Barbados

View of Barbados

On the bus ride to the beach

Look at all those taxis 

The parliment (government area) 

This is a bridge that raises where you can come in with your boat from the ocean  

Cute little house. They lease the land their houses sit on. The houses are made from materials from the island where they can be disassembled and moved quickly. 

The beautiful beach (minus the seaweed)

Beach

Beach

Us on the beach

I asked Doug to make a reaction about how he felt about 10 years and unfortunately we made the same reaction! 

We made it 10 years! 

After we returned from the beach, we shopped and found WIFI again and were able to see more pictures of Will. We then went to dinner and had a great meal complete with an oh so delicious lobster tail in which Doug ate TWO. They were sooooooo good! 

Us at dinner

The delicious meal

Our amazing condiments/drink waiter who never let my wine glass get empty or Doug's tea glass. He is from Bali. 

Then we had front row seats to the singer I fell in love with on the cruise and enjoyed her hour long performance before we called it a night. 

Then this thing showed up in our room. Is it a monkey, baboon, or a roasting chicken? I said monkey and Doug said roasting chicken! 

Happy 10 year Anniversary to my incredible husband. We have had an amazing 10 years so far filled with many, many ups and downs. The Lord has blessed us immensely and we are so thankful for his guidance in our marriage. From 2 houses, 2 dogs, numerous vacations, many Ole Miss games, to going through 5 years of infertility and trying to become parents, to finding out on your husbands birthday that you are expecting twins, to experiencing an early pregnancy delivery with 2 of the most beautiful boys, to loosing one son and giving him back to God and watching the other one fight for his life at the same time, to experience the joys of raising a child together, and then to simply seeing the joy our child brings us every single moment of the day and reminds us how precious life can be. I cannot imagine going through life with anyone else but Doug. He is my rock, my best friend, and the best husband and daddy around. Thanks for an incredible 10 years and I look forward to many, many more anniversaries!  

July 31, 2004 

TO

July 31, 2014

Casteries, St. Lucia

We arrived in Castries, St. Lucia where it was raining. We opted for a beach break this time. We again ate breakfast in the dining room and then boarded our bus to the beach. We were told we only had about 4 hours at the beach but the first hour was used by sitting underneath a pavillion at a restaurant because it was raining. We made the most out of our dreary day at the beach and were able to enjoy the water and the beach after the rain subsided.

Welcome sign

Trying to enjoy the beach but not much sun

The beach

The beach

Aerial view of St. Lucia

Aerial view of St. Lucia

St. Lucia

After getting back to the boat, we ate lunch, got showered and decided to go out shopping and try to enjoy the rest of the day and the sun finally came out. We finally found WIFI and were able to facetime with our parents to check on things and Will back home. We were also able to get a few pictures of him sent to us through our email. Seeing those made us feel better about him! We knew he was in good hands when we received this picture! 

That night we enjoyed a nice dinner and then called it an early bed time because we were exhausted. 

A swan flew into our room

Next stop - Bridgetown, Barbados to celebrate our 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!