Paul's Christmas Surprise

This year for Christmas Paul and I agreed that our cruise to the Bahamas was going to be our Christmas present to each other, but we all know that you can't not get something for your husband or wife on Christmas.  I got Paul a couple of small things (a sweater, a photo collage, a stocking filled with toys, etc.) and what Paul got for us can only be shown with picture proof.  So, without further ado, I present our 2010 Chrismas presents from my wonderful husband:

Oh yes, that's right, he got us adult footie pajamas and it is the most comfortable article of clothing that I have in my closet.  It even has a flap in the back for using the restroom - talk about awesome!!!

I never know what Paul has up his sleeve but one thing is for sure, he never disappoints.

Christmas in Gulf Breeze

Paul and I weren't sure if we were going to be able to make it home to spend Christmas with our families because of our work schedules but we decided that we needed to do whatever we could to make it happen...so we did!

I love the fact that we grew up in the same town because although we can't spend every single holiday with both families, there is the special occassion when the Rawson and Gerrety clans are able to get together all in the same place and enjoy quality time catching up - and what better time than Christmas.

Here are a few fun photos we got on Christmas Eve at the Gerrety's house:

It was so great to have both families in the same household - and we owe Mama T the biggest "Thank You" for making the whole spread of food by herself.  It was such an unbelievable meal and every single person just couldn't get enough - Thank you Mama T!!!

On Christmas morning Paul and I woke up to spend the day with my family and Nana (my mom's mom).  Nana just recently moved to this wonderful retirement facility (not far from her house) and she's made such great friends with the people that live their too.  It was really special because we got to have lunch with her in the dining room before we took her out and about around town to go see other relatives.  Here's a couple of photos we got while we were visiting her:

How adorable is my Nana!!!

What a great Christmas Holiday - too bad it doesn't come around more than once a year!

Office Christmas Picture

Every year we take a Holiday picture of all of us ladies at my office to send out to our business contacts and today we took the picture for this year:

What a bunch of Hot Mama's!!!

Date Night

On Friday night Paul and I made the quick 45 minute drive to St Augustine to see the St Augustine Nights of Lights (http://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/nights/).  It was our second year going and just like last year it was absolutely beautiful --- and as an added bonus, the weather was perfect so we weren't distracted by the cold.

Here's some photos we got while out and about in St Augustine:

What a great way to start celebrating the Christmas!!!

(Sorry about the quality of some of the photos but we were testing out some different settings on our camera)

Flash Back Friday

Over Thanksgiving, Paul and I went with my family to spend some quality time with my NaNa (my mom's mom) in Fairhope, AL, where my mom grew up.  While we were there, we found a bunch of old photo albums and my NaNa told us that we could keep them - how special is that?

So today's flash back Friday is dedicated to my parents and some of the photos that were in one very special album:

I love that my NaNa saved all of these wonderful photos - how special it is that I can look back at the albums she gave us and see photos from the day that my parents got married.  Can you believe that she even saved a copy of one of the actual invitations?  Maybe that's where I got my strong need to keep ALL things that might someday mean somthing to someone.  See Paul, I'm not crazy - hee, hee.

Happy Friday, and good luck with all that last minute Christmas shopping!!!

FYI: That's not all of the photos that were in the albums so there's plenty more to come in future Flash Back Fridays.

This Time Last Year...

This is what the Rawson and Gerrety families were up to:

We were taking ugly Christmas sweater pictures while in St. Thomas.  Oh, what wonderful memories!!!

Happy Thursday!!!

First Anniversary Trip

I absolutely cannot believe that Paul and I have now officially been married for 1 whole year.  It seems like just yesterday that this was us, sitting on the beaches in St Thomas, the day after we got married:

And now, here we are, a year later having just gotten back from the Bahamas celebrating our First Anniversary.  Boy-oh-boy does time ever fly!!!

Now, about the trip.  We had such a great time over the long weekend but we've decided that we're definitely not "Cruise People" - and yes, there is such a thing.  We loved getting to drive a scooter around, eating what the locals eat, drinking what the locals drink, and simply just checking it all out.  But the part that we didn't so much enjoy was not being able to decide for ourselves just how long we could spend at each destination.  I guess you could say that we're not so much the planning types when it comes to vacations and when we're in the Islands, we want to be on Island Time.

Paul and I still had a total blast so here are a few pictures that we got while we were away:

I want to say thank you to Paul for making me happier than I ever could have imagined.  I feel so blessed to have been your wife for the past year and I can't wait to keep it going for the rest of our lives.  You're my honey and I love you with all of my heart.  Thank you for choosing me to be your partner for forever!!!