10th Anniversary in Punta Cana

Last summer, we started throwing around the idea of taking a tropical vacation to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We started researching locations I wanted somewhere all-inclusive and not too far and Patrick wanted all-inclusive and not Mexico.  I really wanted to go to Mexico again but Patrick had no interest.  We contacted a travel agent (yes, I know you can book these things yourself but I wanted to talk to an actual person) and she sent over several ideas.  We decided on Punta Cana.  We booked it last August and we'd been counting down the days! 
We had to be at the airport at 5:30am so we took the kids to my parents Wednesday night.  We were kind of sad to leave them but so excited for a weekend away.  Patrick had never been out of the country and I'd only been to Mexico.  I was really nervous for the logistics of the trip but I knew it would be worth it when we finally arrived.

Bright and early at the airport! 

After 10 hours of traveling our first picture in Punta Cana, in the shuttle to our resort! 

We stayed at the Secrets Royal Beach.  It was beautiful!

We were handed a glass of passion fruit juice, while we checked in and Patrick was adjusting to luxury very quickly.  We got checked in and we were so ready to see our room and unwind. 

I joked with my friends that I was going to Instagram all my outfits.  I think they thought I was kidding. This was my travel outfit.  This sweater is so soft.  It was a little warm when we arrived in Punta Cana but I was fine.

We just had a tropical view room.  But we didn't mind it at all.  We weren't in our room enough to be bothered by the view.

We decided to go ahead and get ready and head to dinner.  We went to the seafood restaurant Oceana.

I couldn't wait to wear this dress!  It screamed vacation to me!

That nights entertainment was supposed to be a beach party and fire show.  We really wanted to go but we also really wanted to sleep.  We rallied and decided to go.  We walked outside our room and it was pouring rain so we decided that was a sign to go to bed early.

Friday morning I woke up before Patrick and ordered room service. While we were waiting for it, I headed out to the balcony with a cup of coffee and my bible to read.  It was a perfect start to each day.

We ate breakfast and headed straight to the beach!

I'd bought this bikini thinking there was no way I'd ever wear those bottoms in public.  But here I am, wearing it to the beach.  Partly because I just don't care what anyone thinks anymore, partly because I'm so proud of how far I've come, and partly because a spray tan is like a miracle.  One of my goals for 2018 was to wear a bikini with confidence and I can check that box now.

I made us these cute cups before I left home!  Ten years feels like forever and just a snapshot at the same time.  I know we still have a lot of life to live, but it felt good to celebrate the last decade.

We ate lunch at the buffet and our favorite was definitely the ice cream! 

I was so worried Patrick wasn't going to like this type of vacation.  I don't know why but I wasn't sure it was his thing.  I worried for nothing.  He had a blast.  By the second day we were already trying to plan how we could come back sooner rather than later.

Dressed up and headed to dinner. 

We planned to eat at the Italian restaurant.  We got on the list and got a drink and waited for about 30 minutes and then we decided to try somewhere else.  We headed over to the Seaside Grill.  Its only for preferred club members during breakfast and lunch but anyone can go for dinner. 

It was right on the beach and beautiful!

We each had the 15oz ribeye and it was delicious.  This ended up being our favorite restaurant.  We liked it so much we ate there on our last night too.

This is pretty much the whole trip.  We slept, we ate, we beached, we ate, we swam, we napped, we got dressed, ate dinner, and the slept.  I loved getting a full 8 hours of sleep every night, plus an afternoon nap.

Saturday morning we got up, reserved our chairs in the shade at the pool and headed to breakfast.  The breakfast buffet was my favorite.  It was amazing and the mimosas weren't too bad either.  After we ate we headed to the pool to relax.

This was my view for most of the day. 

Meanwhile, back home, my mom was handling Park Day at the ballpark.  I got a message from one of my best friends with this picture.  My mom had apparently gotten my car stuck in the mud.  We laughed and laughed.  She said Barrett was so mad. 

We were just soaking up the sun.  Patrick was fried.  I look naked in all the pictures because for the first time in my life I can wear a strapless swimsuit so that's all I wore.  Since we ate breakfast late we skipped the lunch buffet and got a snack from the little snack bar on the beach. 

This was our view while we enjoyed our nachos.

Beach bums!  

We ate at the Italian restaurant this night and it was good. 

The tiramisu was my favorite dessert of the trip!

After dinner we headed to the plaza to watch the Classic Rock show.  We got a drink at the bar and waited for the show to start. 

A guy right by us started smoking a cigar that smelled terrible so we ended up sitting on our balcony listening to the show.

We started the day Sunday with breakfast followed quickly by drinks on the beach!

We walked down to the water and took this picture.  When I looked at it I knew we had a similar one from our honeymoon.

So I had to dig through the facebook and find it.  I can't believe how much we've changed.  

Watched some drunk guys play "water polo" in the pool.

We got ready for our last dinner.  We decided to go back to the grill place because it was our favorite.

I decided to have the cheesecake this time.  It was pretty good but I'm sad I didn't get the carrot cake.  It looked delicious.

We got up Monday morning and went to breakfast before we packed up to head home.

One last mirror selfie.  We had to wait a little while for our ride to the airport.  By this point we were ready to see our babies.

Last flight home!  We didn't get land until 11:00, my dad picked us up at the airport.  We originally planned to just leave the kids at their house and get them the next morning since they were asleep but we had to wake them up as soon as we got there.  Barrett was so excited to see us!  It was so sweet!  Then it was back to reality.  

We had the best time.  It was a stretch for us both financially and time wise to spend 4 nights away but it was so worth it!  We couldn't have done it without our parents.  I felt so bad because everything that had been cancelled during the baseball season was rescheduled for that weekend.  My dad had to leave for one night to go to a meeting.  They had to take the kids to a Saturday morning game and park day (my mom did this one alone, she did get my nieces to help but I know it was a lot).  Sunday Barrett had baseball pictures and Monday he had a game, where it was my turn to bring snacks.  But they handled it all like a champ.  And she even washed all the kids laundry!  Seriously, my mom is a saint.  I knew she could handle it but I also knew it was a lot of work.  I'm so thankful for them!  Patrick's parents checked on our house to make sure everything was fine.  I know not everyone is fortunate enough to have family close by that can help so much.  

We're already looking forward to the next time we get to do something like this!  It was exactly what we needed!

Ten Years

We've been married for TEN YEARS!!!  I know one day ten years will seem like just a drop in the bucket but right now it feels huge.  We've lived a lot of life in ten short years!  Some days it feels like a lifetime ago and some days it feels like yesterday.  I'm so thankful that we can both look back on the last decade of our lives and smile.  It wasn't always pretty or happy but there are way more good memories than bad ones.  Plus, a lot of the bad memories made us even closer.  We've laughed, we've cried and we've laughed until we cried!  I think if I had any advice for people about marriage or finding "the one" I would say... Marriage is less about your compatibility and more about your willingness to make it work.  Your commitment to each other is what will make it last.  Patrick and I don't always agree.  We're actually very different.  He's very much an introvert, and I'm more of an extrovert.  He is not a morning person and would rather stay up all night and I usually go to bed as early as I can.  I don't love to get up early but I'm way more productive in the morning.  I'm more neat and tidy, he doesn't care if there is crap piled everywhere.  In fact in lieu of a closet he just has piles of clean clothes everywhere.  I like to go and do and he would rather stay home and watch a movie.  I'm a "the more the merrier" friend and he is more "quality over quantity".  We learned at Financial Peace University we are both "Free Spirit, Spenders" (I have more nerd tendencies but live more as a free spirit).  Which does not bode well for finances.  We're working on it.  Patrick would rather spend money on stuff, where as I would rather have experiences (I will need a cute outfit for the experience though).  Even after 10 years we are still learning new things about each other.  People change so much over time.  This isn't a bad thing, but you have to grow and learn and change together.  

March 28, 2008

March 28, 2018

This was before Patrick left for work, I was still in my robe having my quiet time.  I can't believe how different we look.  When I think about us, I still see those two kids from ten years ago (although I really don't remember Patrick having that much hair or it being that dark).  

We celebrated by going to work and then had take out Chinese food with our kids.  We have a fun trip planned next month for just the two of us.  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I  don't want to wish the time away but I can't wait.  Of course you know it takes an act of congress to travel anywhere without your kids when you have kids.  Especially when they're involved in anything.  But we're finalizing all the details now and it will all be worth it. 

I love this life we've made together and I can't wait to see what unfolds in the next 10 years.

PS: Also my goal for my 10th anniversary was to be able to fit into my dress again.  I'm proud to say that I got in it and even got it zipped the other day!  

Nashville

Well we didn't see Deacon or Rayna but we had a wonderful getaway to Nashville.  We decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to take a little weekend trip to celebrate our anniversary.  We didn't want to go far.  I'm almost embarassed to admit but we decided on Nashville while we were watching Nashville one Wednesday night.  I love the show and Patrick tolerates it.  We didn't really have any plans.  We really wanted to stay downtown but by the time we tried to book a hotel the only one we could find was $400/night.  So we stayed about 10 minutes from town and it worked out fine.

We dropped Barrett off on Thursday afternoon with Patrick's parents and they were so excited to keep him.  We got to Nashville around 8:00 and it was pouring rain.  We were going to try to go to the Bluebird cafe but it was so crowded when we got there people were lined up in the rain to get in.  We decided to go back to the hotel bar for a few drinks.

I had the "Barbie".  It was only ok.

We enjoyed pizza, live music and watching this couple dance like they were on "Dancing with the Stars".  

Friday, I had big plans for brunch at the Pancake Pantry but Patrick isn't a huge fan of waiting in line for food so when the line went down the block to get in we decided plan B would be "The Pharmacy".  Amy had recommended it and it was delicious.  People were lined up to get in this place too!

When we left there we were going to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame but we decided to just walk up and down Broadway and check out the bars.  We went to the "World Famous" Tootsies.  Yall, I was so surprised by how many people were out and about at 12:00 on a Friday afternoon.  There were three different bands playing in this one bar.  There were families with small kids everywhere.  I had no idea that Nashville was a hot Spring Break destination.

After we drank a few beers and listened to some music we headed back to the hotel to take a nap before dinner. 

We weren't really sure where we wanted to eat dinner.  We decided to just eat where ever we could get a table.  Rock Bottom Brewery was the first place we went in and we waited about 10 minutes.  It was so good.  Patrick ate guacamole for the first time and didn't hate it.  We're making progress on him trying new things.  I had shrimp and lobster enchiladas and they were so good.  My margarita was only okay.   

After dinner we walked up Broadway trying to decide if we wanted to fight the crowds in the bars to listen to live music.  We decided on Legends Corner and stayed there for a while

We left there and headed to the candy shop for a late night treat.  I got some candy and a chocolate/caramel covered apple while Patrick got ice cream.  I thought this picture of Patrick double fisting the ice cream was hilarious.

We took our treats back to the hotel and called it a night. 

We planned to get lunch somewhere in Nashville before we headed home but it was raining and we were so ready to see Barrett we came straight home.

It was a fun couple of nights away but we missed Barrett way more than we thought we would.  I think it's important for our marriage to spend time away just the two of us and I'm sure it will get easier to leave Barrett.
A few things we learned this weekend.
-We are old.  We were in bed every night by 11.  There was a group of frat boys staying in our hotel.  I felt like I could fit in with them until the date on his shirt caught my eye. 2013.  That's 10 years after I started college and I died a little on the inside.  Also, they were heading out to get more rubber duckies.  Is this code for something that i don't know about?  If not what the heck were they doing with rubber ducks?
-A beer with lunch doesn't go down as smoothly as it used to.
-The quality of live music gets better the closer you get to downtown.
-We were told the most requested song in Nashville is "Wagon Wheel".  We conducted our own un-scientific survey and determined "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line is actually the most played song.
-We need to upgrade to a king size bed.
-I can not travel with less than three bags.
-Nashville is apparently the Bachelorette Party capital of the South.