1st Wedding Anniversary

This past weekend Tony and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary.  This year went by so quickly.  About 2 months ago, Tony told me that he was planning a surprise get-away for our anniversary.  This weekend was full of surprises.  

Saturday afternoon we were off for our secret rendezvous...Monterey! Tony made reservations at a hotel with a room overlooking the ocean.   When we walked in the room,  sitting on the table were gorgeous long stem red roses.   A side note, when we were on our honeymoon, we stayed at hotels in France, Greece, and Italy and in each of our hotel rooms were long stem red roses.  He is so romantic.  

The weekend was wonderful; enjoying walking on cannery row, taking in all the sights, relaxing and spending time together.   One night he made reservations at The Sardine Factory.  Don't let the name fool you.  It's a delicious seafood restaurant with lots of character.  

Monday our actual anniversary,  we left Monterey but the surprises were not over.  He told me he had reservations for our anniversary dinner.  First we went to Mass and thanked God for our first year of marriage. 

The secret dinner reservations were at Forbes Steak House because he knows I love steak!  Mmm, the steak was delicious!  

Finally we were home and at the front door where long stem red roses.  I was wondering who sent us flowers.  I opened the card and they were from Tony.  He said he wanted me to have roses for the weekend and for our anniversary too.    What a sweet heart!!!!!  The evening ended with eating/tasting our top layer of  wedding cake.  

I prayed to God and St. Joseph for so many years for my spouse.  It seemed like an eternity before that prayer was answered but well worth the wait.  Thank you dear Jesus and St. Joseph for my husband! 

3 more months...Well maybe?

Today Baby Q is 27 weeks old. That means we have 13 weeks until Baby Q. makes his/her grand entrance into the world.  Well, approximately.  According to all baby books plus or minus two weeks.  

I can't believe how quickly the time has passed.  I remember being 8 weeks and 40 weeks seemed a lifetime away.  Oh and how I've grown.  Simple things like putting on socks and shoes or shaving my legs, lets just say not too simple.  

This past Thursday to Sunday I was on a silent retreat.  Imagine almost four whole days without Tony.  (I will post about the retreat another day)

While I was away, Tony was busy preparing the baby's room.  Our sister-in-law gave us a crib, swing, and a few other things.  This entailed lots of work.  Since all the baby things were in lots of pieces and Tony had to move our guest bedroom into his office, which wasn't an easy task since the office has been more of a storage room.  His project started with emptying most of the contents of both rooms in the living room, I didn't get to see that but he said it was a mess.   

By the time I got home on Sunday afternoon, the house was tidy, Baby Q's room was on its way and Tony's office was now the guest room.  

My sweetie-pie-pie was very busy this weekend.

Besides my stomach growing larger everyday, the reality of the baby really set in once I saw the nursery.

More Hawaii Pictures

This picture is taken from the balcony of our hotel.

Tony relaxing.

Waiting for our delicious dinner.

Still waiting for our food.

After dinner.

B

The Sweetness of the Lord

This past weekend we were in Southern California.  Tony, his dad, and I were at Mass.  After I received communion, the priest asked, "Are you pregnant?"  I responded with big YES.  He proceeded to bless Baby Q.

Before the final blessing the priest announced, "If I think you are pregnant, I will ask you, and if you are, I will bless your baby.  Your baby is a person that deserves to be blessed just like us. "  The priest continued, "We believe in life from the moment of conception."  

That blessing brought Tony and I much joy.  Thank you dear Jesus for blessing our child!

Baby-Moon

Getting ready to enjoy a Luau. 

 The pig, the main course at the Luau, was cooking all day in the dirt.

Enjoying a refreshing drink.

Posing for me.

Live entertainment.

More Entertainment.

Tony's homemade postcard.

Picture at sunset.

Crazy fire dancer at Luau.

Crazy Man juggling fire at the Luau.

Sadly, we left Hawaii.  It was a wonderful two weeks.   

Quick summary: 

We landed in Honolulu where we spent a few days with Tony's brother and his family in a beach house, basically, walking distance from Wakiki beach.  We enjoyed great open water swims.

Then off to Kona where we stayed in a beautiful hotel.  We enjoyed a balcony where we could see and hear the ocean and view gorgeous sunsets.  We also snorkeled and enjoyed fine dining by the beach.

My personal favorite was our time in Kauai.  Our hotel was indeed memorable. It was pretty much on the beach but the water was not safe for swimming.  So the hotel fixed that problem by making its own oasis.  There was a huge salt water swimming lagoon with other pools all around the hotel.   We did lots of swimming.

Lots of fish ponds, swans, live parrots, great eats, live entertainment and so much more.  Tony tried to show me around other areas but being pregnant, I ididn't feel that well driving, so most of our days were spent close to the hotels sipping exotic non-alcoholic cocktails, basking in the sun, reading, and swimming in waters of Hawaii.

Hawaii, we miss you already!  We'll be back some day soon.

Having fun in Hawaii!

Having fun on the Big Island enjoying snorkeling, swimming and sunsets!

Hawaiian Luau

Our nephew celebrated his first birthday with a luau  in Hawaii.  It was quite the celebration. We ate all the traditional luau food poi, kalua pig, lomi salmon, opihi, and haupia.  Here we are pictured each with a fresh beautiful lei that was given to us by our sister in law.  This picture doesn't capture the beauty but my lei was made of pikake flowers which is an Arabian jasmine flower and Tony's had a lei with fresh leaves and kakui nuts.    

Here are a few pictures from the luau:

Tony contemplating life by the ocean.

Tony and his brother Alex with guest of honor Nico.

Lounging by the deck.

The Quilici's leading everyone in singing Happy Birthday to Nico.

Sister in law Melissa holding the guest of honor.

Melissa has lots of friends and family in Hawaii.  Here's a picture with some of her friends. Tony was the official photograph for the event and I was his assistant.  Christina and John let us know if you ever need any help.   Of course they had live entertainment.