A lil' tribute to my BFFF

This post is dedicated to miss Bree (yes I'm pretty sure I've done this before lol)

But I just had to let everyone know that I have the bestest BFFF! (yes there's an extra f and yes it's an inside joke).

Nothing exceptionally special has caused me to write this post, just thinking about thanksgiving I guess and all that I am grateful for. Bree's one of those friends that will just last forever. She's kind, thoughtful, and just all around amazing. Many of you know that after Nixon was born I suffered from post partum depression. (and I'm not ashamed of it, it's normal, it happens, I got help and worked through it.) Anywho, I was sad, depressed but mostly ridiculously hormonal and crazy... and then I met Bree. Bree literally brought buckets of sunshine and happiness to my life. She talked to me every day, brought me cookies, treats, food, treasures, made me leave the house... and what I'm most grateful for... her friendship. Once I kinda got back into the swing of things and was feeling a little more chipper her service and amazing love didn't stop... it continued. Randomly, she'd still bring cookies, brownies, crave cupcakes, make me go on countless adventures, watch my kids, love my kids... there was no end to her loving care and no way out lol. I was hooked, I found a soulmate, someone I could depend on and tell anything and everything to. Someone who would never even think to judge me.

I just want her to know how much I love her and how grateful I am for good friends in my life. I have been blessed with some amazing friends throughout the various stages of my life thus far and hope that I can be as good a friend to them as they have been to me.

Breanna Jean, You're awesome and I wil forever be indebted to you for your graciousness and love. I love you!

Crazy Crazy Summer!

So this summer has been INTENSE! We have been back and forth to Utah and organizing all sorts of stuff for Candlelight Serenade (The benefit concert we put on for Child Rescue). It was sooo much work, but at the same time... just so excellent! We had amazing volunteers and help and really put on an awesome show! And we got so much awareness out there.

Child trafficking is such a difficult cause to talk about, but it is very real... right here in North America, so it was great to be able to voice that in a way that causes people to action and not to depression. We had some AMAZING bands! We had Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessionals, Nick Hexum of 311, Relient K, Neon Trees, Vedera, Sherwood, Making April, Priscilla Ahn, Steel Train, Fictionist and Allred, who even wrote a song for the cause that many of the artists came on stage to sing.

Candlelight was such a fun night and definitely the highlight of my summer. I just loved it! Everytime I think about it, it makes me get a little teary-eyed because so many people came together... saw our vision... joined our cause... and helped us on our journey to once again abolish slavery.

Check this out for pictures of Candlelight. or Check out our FB Page. -more pics will be up once I finish setting up our Flickr account.

For ways on how you can volunteer or help out with Child Rescue, check out childrescue.org or contact me.

Part Two...

So we get to St.Vincent and it's night time, hot and we're exhausted! It is soo humid and oh the warmth was just wonderful... it was kinda funny, in the airport, there were guys wearing jeans, shirts and thick hoodies... I was slightly confused... Anyways we get there and all we want to do is GO TO SLEEP! Luckily, my uncle who owns the guest house we're staying at had made arrangements for someone to pick us up at the airport. So we get into this big van and drive. I was pretty excited despite the overwhelming exhaustion that was coming on, but I looked out the window and thought it was so amazing to have stepped into such a different world... the people on the streets, the music, the scenery... it was dark, but I could tell how different life there was, sooo different, yet so simple and so beautiful and so inviting.

We finally pulled up to the place, and walked up some stairs, found our room, and went to bed!
The next morning, I showered, got dressed, helped the kids get ready and then Nick came in from outside asking if I'd looked out yet. I hadn't and he insisted that I should. The night before it was soo dark we could hardly tell where we were let alone see any kind of scenery, so I decided to look...

Isn't it beautiful?

I was soo excited... we were in paradise, I was gonna meet my family I hadn't seen in forever and I was just soo excited! So the first day, we made a few phone calls to relatives and then decided to go into town to get some money, food and visit a few people. So.... we decided to hail a cab...

Now cabs in the Caribbean are not your typical taxi... they are people... anyone who'd like to... who buy a 15ish passenger van complete with NO seatbelts, they paint it so you know it's theirs, and then shove as many people as humanly possible into it (like 20 min), charge you all a few bucks and drive as fast and crazy as they possibly can until you tell them where to let you off and do that all day long. So, to enter into such an adventure, you stand on the side of the road and wave at the said death trap, if they aren't full to the max (and sometimes even if they are) they pull over, usually a few feet ahead of you because they're going so fast that they drive past you, and you climb in, sometimes over people and take your seat... or portion thereof. Did I mention that fearing for your life due to the speed and clear negligence for any safety laws was only a small fear as you look out the windows and see the crazily windy roads (purposely built as such to reduce the speed of motor vehicles) and the fact that you're positive you're gonna end up in a head-in collision with some oncoming traffic because you keep forgetting they drive on the left here, but it doesn't really matter because the roads are so narrow that there's no humanly way possible that 2 vehicles can make it going in opposite directions... yet they do... and somehow, miraculously... you survive!

The Long Awaited Post

So I have no idea why it's taken me so long to post about our vacation but here it goes!

So after Christmas we headed to the Caribbean! My parents were both born and raised on an Island called St.Vincent. It's pretty close to Barbados and not too far from Venezuela. I've visited before but when I was 3, 5, and then not again 'til this year... when I'm 24! So needless to say it was very much like visiting for the first time! So here's the story from the beginning:

Flights from Canada to Barbados only leave from Toronto, so our first leg of the trip was boarding a plane to the T-Dot at 12:00AM! Or something like that. It was sooooo much fun with the kids (3 1/2 and about to turn 2). Sorry if you got a little damp from the dripping sarcasm there... anywho... so the wait in the airport and the plane ride really wasn't too bad... the kids seemed to be fairly decent... Liv fell asleep and well.. Nick had Nixon! So the girls got some rest on the 5 hour flight and then we met up with my Mom in Toronto and waited just a couple hours for our next flight to Barbados! So that went not too bad either except the boy hardly slept! Then we get to Barbados! OH MAN!

Barbados was warm and beautiful and we started to get excited for our vacation... until...
Until we had to wait in line and go through customs even though we were just hopping on another flight! Well.. the plane to St.Vincent only allows you 1 piece of checked luggage per person unlike our planes from Canada.. (and a baby doesn't count... they have more crap than the rest of us!) which was fine for my family... but my mom had extra baggage so we had to juggle luggage around while at the front of the line to check in and while trying to make our next flight which was leaving VERY soon! (within 30 min) So... we move stuff around, get it all done and then we have to go through security and OH YA since we shuffled our crap around Nick's shaving kit ends up in a carry on and they throw out like all of his stuff.... toothpaste, shaving cram, hair stuff etc. etc.! AND our kids start freaking out and crying!

SO Nick is the first one through security... my mom and I are juggling all our carry on stuff, trying to take off belts and shoes, dealing with rude Airport people (VERY common in Barbados) and both kids while trying to get out passports and what not when Liv decides to have an even bigger freak out and that she doesn't want to go on another plane and wants to go back home... So what does she do?! SHE BOOKS IT BACK THE WAY WE CAME! Oh man I was about to kill her! SO I had to drop all my stuff and chase her down the airport!I catch up to her and she starts screaming and kicking (14+hours after we started with only like a 2-3hour nap when she's supposed to be asleep for the night... think she's tired much?)!

So I get Liv, we get through security with lots of looks and comments and then book it to the plane that has already boarded! We make it on the plane and are the last ones there... 30 minutes later, we're in St.Vincent! FINALLY!

Liv on the Plane.... when she was happy!

To Be Continued.... (wanted to add dramatic effect and I'm kinda tired lol)

Adventures in Breesitting! (warning.. this is a loong one!)

Haha like that title? Clever huh? (in case you are too young to know... or too old to remember, it's a play on "adventures in babysitting" (late 80's film)) ANYWHO.. the tagline for the movie is:"She thought babysitting was easy money - until she started hanging out with the Andersons."
So.. my tagline for this post will be: "She thought being a stay at home mom was slightly boring - until she started hanging out with Bree Johnson."
hahaha ok so I haven't posted in a while, but I wanted to recap some of my eventful adventures with the Bestest friend ever!

-Adventure # 1 (not our 1st.. but 1st I'll blog about) -The Settee!

Oh man, so this beauty was at the dump in Okotoks (Actually Salvage Yard but Dump sounds funnier). So we were at the dump (where the salvage yard is located) and Bree stopped dead in her tracks! She had found a Settee! Actually, I think she fell in love with the chair first, but whatever. After humming and haaing over it for quite some time she figgured she probably wouldn't have enough cash to buy both (sometimes they suggest the size of your "donation") but she was set on the chair. After tracking down a worker, she asked "how much" and to her amazement, the worker said... $15 for the set. "SOLD!" haha so that was the easy part! We couldn't fit both in either of our vehicles, so we had to put the couch aside until we could come back the next day with my truck. They had us haul it accross the salvage yard and into a room... it was funny, but awesome! So we paid and all was well. The next day, we went back and this awesom rugby player from Wales helped us carry and tie down the settee to my truck.. .it was quite the event!

-Adventure #2 -Saskatoon Berry Farm

This actually should be like adventure 1.5 'cause it occurred in between trips to the Salvage Yard, but meh. So... Bree and her Succulents!!! haha. We went to the SBF 'cause Bree was wanting succulents and I wanted to show her how awesome it is with the beautiful plants and just diviineness! So, since I was driving the truck (to pick up the Settee, Bree had my van... with ALL 4 KIDS! haha it was hilarious! She said it was fun singing ABC's with Liv and I wish we got a picture of all those car seats! It was LEGENDARY! The kids loves the SBF 'cause there are some sheep, pigs, chickens, dogs and lots of pretty things to look at! There was an old mechanical horse that was only a quarter a ride! It was soo much fun!

-Adventure #3 -Vintage Shopping!

Well.. more like adventures 3-25 lol we go vintage hunting a fair bit! But Bree has this draw to hats! She LOVES old hats and I swear everytime we go out she finds another one to try on! She hasn't bought any yet.. but she has had her eye on many a vintage hats! Oh man though.. vintage shopping with us is a complete gongshow! Our kids leave trails of food, nearly brake things, scream, cry... but we LOVE it! The vendors never seem to mind when we come in either! It's just soo much fun seeing all of the old treasures and wondering who owned them and what their stories are! We have been vintage shopping this year more than we probably would because we're both doing Antiqued Kids' rooms. Lotsa fun! Next time we go.. why don't you come along? The more chaos the better haha!

-Adventure #4 Spa & Okotoks Day!
So for Mother's Day Nick (with some encouragement) got me a spa day! Well it wasn't like a full day although it took up most of the afternoon! Anywho, I went to the spa and Bree came along! We got pedicures which were delightful.. mainly because they had awesome massage chairs and put us close to each other so we could talk and laugh the whole time. After the pedicures, I got a massage and my eyebrows done while Bree just relaxed and enjoyed some alone time! It was Heavenly! We had such a good time together there and then we went to some of the Boutiques which was extra funny 'cause it was raining so we were running through the rain from store to store jumping over puddles and laughing our heads off! One of the best days ever! At one of the stores they had the CUTEST hats so we both bought one and I'm sure you've seen us wearing them 'cause we both do all the time haha.

(sad, can't find my other pictures from this) -Adventure #5 (really occurred well before "Adventure #1" but meh! -Bree's surprise Birthday Party!
So I facebooked Brandon and told him I wanted to throw Bree a surprise party.. he had no problem letting me do that and it was awesome! haha I had so much fun.. it had a james bond theme because we were all sneaky and then we went Laser tagging but I gave the address of one place and the directions to another and everyone else surprised Bree while Nick & I sat waiting at the place we usually go to and then we all met up and it was hilarious! Oh man! Then we went back to my place where we drank fancy drinks and laughed all night! Such a good time!

-Adventure # 6 -MY surprise Birthday Party!
haha so this is a good one lol! Apparently Bree & Steph (my sis-in-law and dear friend) were planning this for some time and Steph was awesome at not letting me know anything! Bree on the other hand lol... No.. Bree was great! I knew something was up.. but I didn't know what. I knew she wanted to take me out for my bday so I thought we were gonna get food and then come back to someone's house and ppl would be there... UNTIL she made a phone call! She said she had to call Brandon and tell him to close the garage except Stephanie who was really on the other line was loud and very high-pitched! SO I knew it wasn't Brandon, but I didn't know who it was. We got to the restaurant and a bunch of my favourite people ever were there! IT was awesome! I loved it! Best birthday ever!


Oh how I love my little Doe! And that concludes the adventures... for now haha!