Jilly is 1 Today!!

Jillian turns one today and we are so excited! I can't believe how fast this year went by. It seems like just yesterday that Julie and I were pregnant (and miserable :-)) together and now we have two adorable and amazing one year olds!
Happy Birthday, Jilly! We have so enjoyed watching you grow this year and we are excited for your birthday party today. We love you!!

Martin Family Beach Photo Session

On our last night of vacation, I did a little photo shoot on the beach for my brother and sister-in-law and their girls. I am, by no means a professional photographer, but I have a great love for taking pictures and a really nice camera (thank you to my loving and generous hubby!!) and I am always snapping photos of everyone, so I was glad to do it. I have often thought of fine-tuning some of my camera skills and taking pics on the side, but who has time for all that with a one year old and a full-time job?? Maybe some day, right?? :-)

I am really proud of how most of the pictures turned out and hope Julie, Brian, Kayla and Jillian will enjoy them for years to come.

Here are some of my favorites...

Myrtle Beach Vacation-Part 1: The Beginning

We just got back from our first vacation with David's family and although we are tired, we had a great time! There were sixteen of us, all staying in two condos that sat right next to each other on the beach in North Myrtle Beach, SC. Ally had 5 cousins on this trip, all ranging in age from almost 1 year old to almost 16 years old. The kids really enjoyed their time playing together and spending quality time that they don't normally get together. For most of the kids, this was their first trip to the beach, so it was very exciting for everyone.
At night, it was nice to sit around with all of my brothers and sister-in-laws and just hang out and share a lot of laughs. We don't get to all be together very often, so it was nice.
While we were there, we celebrated the 25th wedding anniversary of David's mom and step-dad. I would like to thank them again for wanting to celebrate their anniversary with us and for taking us all on this wonderful vacation! We will cherish these memories forever!

I literally took almost 1000 pictures while we were at the beach and though I won't be sharing all of the photos, there are quite a few that I would like to show, so I will break them up into several posts.


This first set of photos are of our drive down and Ally's first time seeing the beach and the ocean!
Our first water sighting!!
We are so close!!!
Ally sees the beach for the first time and LOVES it!!

Myrtle Beach Vacation-Part 2: Our Days at the Pool

We had a great pool at our condo in Myrtle. Not only was it on the beach and in plain sight of our condo balcony, but we had a large pool, baby pool, hot tub and a lazy river! The kids had a blast floating around all day and it was never overly-crowded, which is a HUGE plus in my book!

A Butterfly Birthday Party

Today we had Ally's first birthday party and oh what fun we had! She was surrounded by tons of loved ones and we so appreciate everyone helping us celebrate this special day with our baby.

We had the party at our house and enjoyed GREAT weather and lots of yummy food and fun. Ally did a great job eating her butterfly cake and was not shy about it all (we weren't shocked by this, 'cause the girl loves to eat!). Mommy ended up doing most of the gift unwrapping, while Ally played with all of her new toys. :-)

Thanks to all of our wonderful family and friends who came over for Ally's party and for being so generous to our little girl. You all helped make this day wonderful for us and we appreciate all of your love and support, especially over this past year with our Allyson.

Mass quantities of pictures coming your way... :-)