Honeymoonin' in Paradise: Part Two

I blogged about the first 3 days of our honeymoon adventure here.  Today, I want to share the last half of the week with you.

Day four: very low key day. I was not feeling well and I think I stayed in the bed until 12. I finally mustered up some energy and we made our way down for pizza and some pool time. We had a complimentary couples massage scheduled for 3:00 so we didn't swim for long. The massage was AWESOME!! For 50 minutes, we laid in complete silence while two women massaged out all of the wedding planning stress that had built up over the last year. 

We ended the day with reservations at the Japanese steakhouse. Their Japanese isn't exactly like our and I am a picky eater so I didn't really care for it too much. The picture above was our "appetizer" and I have no clue what it was.

Day five: my absolute favorite day!! We did the Joe Knows tour as our last excursion and lets just say we ended the honeymoon with a bang!

We started off the day on a boat ride that took us to the Piton mountain where we then got to ride a bus to a volcano. It smelled terrible due to the sulfur in the air.

A picture of some of the people on our boat.

When we got to the volcano, we got to rub mud all over our bodies. It was pretty gross. Keep in mind, it smelled terrible. After the mud hardened, we stepped in to this hot tub-like body of water. It was about 105 degrees so it was pretty warm. We washed all of the mud off but left the mud on our faces.

Just look at those pearly whites. 

We then went to this waterfall and were able to swim and wash the mud off our faces. The water was freezing!! However, our skin was so soft afterwards.

This was us after the freezing swim with our tour guide- Big Al. Funny side note- Crawford and his brothers refer to their father as Big Al so Craw freaked out when the tour guide introduced himself as Big Al.  It made him a tad homesick so we had to get a picture with Big Al.

We ate lunch at a local restaurant and it was surprisingly delicious but I couldn't name a single thing I ate. It all looked foreign.  After lunch, we boarded the boat and set off for the reefs for a little snorkeling.

**insert awwww here**

Craw was ready to see some fish.

The water was insanely clear. This would have been my favorite part of the day. However, within the first five minutes of snorkeling and seeing the prettiest underwater scenery I have ever laid eyes on, BOTH of my contacts fell out. Have I mentioned how blind I am? I can't see my hand in front of my face without contacts so needless to say, I was done snorkeling after 5 minutes. Crawford thoroughly enjoyed it. After snorkeling, we got to chill and swim by the boat and listen to extremely loud music. It was a party boat so people could hear our music all over the island.  We ended the tour by the boat literally pulling straight up on the beach of our resort and hopping off.

Dinner on our last night was at the La Toc. I had filet mignon and it was delicious! Crawford didn't like it quite as much as I did.

This was us on the plane ride home. We were so ready to get home and see Hank! I was getting pretty sick at this point and my ears were killing me. Flying with double ear infections (went to doctor the next day) is no fun at all! We did manage to snag a magnet for the fridge and a new Christmas ornament.  I think that will be our tradition when we travel.

We arrived at my parents house at 12:30 am to the happiest/slimiest puppy kisses I have ever received.

We had a fantastic honeymoon and I will forever cherish these pictures and the memories we created!

Honeymoonin' in Paradise: Part One

When it came time to plan the honeymoon, my heart was set on St. Lucia from day one. Crawford, not so much. I have always wanted to go on a Sandals vacation and some close friends had been to Sandals St. Lucia and LOVED it. After some begging and convincing, Crawford was on board and we booked the honeymoon New Year's Day 2014. We scored a major deal on the room and had our own private pool. 

We left for the honeymoon literally right after the reception. Craw booked us a room at a hotel right beside the airport. We checked in that night at 10:30 and went straight to McDonalds. We were starving!!! Neither of us had a chance to eat at the reception so that burger was devoured. We went to bed at 12 and woke up at 3:30 am to pack up and catch a shuttle to the airport. Our flight left at 6:15 am and let's just say that was the longest day of my life. We arrived in St. Lucia at 3:30 pm and then had a 1.5 hour bus ride to the Sandals resort.  We got checked in, ate dinner, and slept for 13 straight hours.

Believe it or not, the pool was actually 5 feet deep.

Living room area.

They would make animals out of towels like they do on cruise ships.

The best shot I got of the bathroom.

Day one: we slept a lot, sunbathed, and swam in the bluest clear water I have ever seen. We also ate at this amazing pizza restaurant in which we went back to 3 more times during the week.

Pool area that even had a swim up bar.

My handsome husband.

My view on the first day. It was amazing!! That night, we enjoyed a nice Italian dinner at Armandos. 

Day two: This was a low key relaxing day. We hung out in the pool for majority of the day. This is also the day when we met up with our friends from Ohio, Katelyn and Joe. Crawford and Joe instantly hit it off because he is a fellow "Clash of Clan-er." By the end of the week, Joe was already in Craw's clan. 

(Side note: clash of clans is a game that he plays on his phone with all of his friends. All the wives hate it.)

That night, we adventured to another Sandals resort, the Halcyon, with our friends from Ohio. We ate at Kelly's Dockside and it was amazing!

Katelyn and I outside the restaurant. Day two was a great day!!

Day three: ATV adventure! This was amazing! We paid for this excursion and it was well worth it. We took an hour bus ride to an ATV shop and went on a 4 hour ride up and down mountains/rough terrain and ended up at a private beach.

The scenery was gorgeous.

My favorite man.

Ready to go!

When we got back, we found a surprise on our bed. I thought it was cool. Crawford thinks they must have too much time on their hands.

We ended day three by eating at a place called Neptunes.

I will blog about the second half of the week next time. I have lots of photos to share for day 5 so it can get its own post.

For those thinking about honeymoon/vacation destinations, Sandals is the way to go! Everything is all inclusive and it truly felt like paradise. 

First Married Thanksgiving

Today I am taking a break from the wedding blog posts to share what we did on our first married Thanksgiving. I was extremely excited for our first married holiday. We spent last year going separate ways since we knew it would be  our last year so this year was super special.

Crawford had to work until 7 on Wednesday. His extended family always gets together the night before Thanksgiving and sadly we had to miss it. I think Craw was feeling a bit down but by the time we would have gotten there, everyone would be leaving. So, I came up with a plan in which we would eat pizza, watch movies, snuggle with Hank, and just enjoy our time alone.

Let's just say that didn't happen either and I am perfectly okay with that. Our neighbors invited us over so I went and hung out with them while I waited for Craw to get off work. Then, my sister and Luke (her boyfriend) came over and we decided to order pizza and hang out. The boys went to get the pizza and while they were gone, Granice (my parents: Gregg and Janice) stopped by. We sat, and talked, and ate lots of pizza for nearly 2 hours. It was awesome just getting to spend time just the 6 of us because that never happens. Once they all left, my neighbors came over and we hung out with them for another hour. It really was a great night, even if it wasn't quite how we planned it.

Thanksgiving morning, we woke up and went to get breakfast in our pajamas. We got Bojangles and came back and ate breakfast in bed while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. IT WAS AWESOME!! Definitely a new tradition I want to start.

We then got ready and headed to my Aunt Debbie's house for Thanksgiving with the Owens. This was our second Thanksgiving without grandma and while it was a little easier, I still felt the emptiness of her presence. We ate tons of food, sung songs with my sister, and then took lots of family pictures.

First married Thanksgiving!!

My family: Mom, Dad, Hillary, and Luke. Love them more than anything!

Sister Sister!!

Hillary and Luke

Group picture with majority of the Owens clan.

After we left my aunts, we picked up Hank and headed straight to Louisburg. Crawfords mom cooked a FEAST! I have never seen someone cook that much food by themselves. It was delicious and she even made my favorites: homemade macaroni and cheese and baked beans!

I loved being with his family and sitting at the table and listening to them share childhood stories. The boys may fight a lot but there is no greater love/bond than those Bolton boys. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures with them but I will make up for it at Christmas!!

After we ate, we decided to attempt to get the Black Friday deal Target was offering on the iPads. We coerced Casey in to riding with us and we had an awesome time! We scored our iPad and Casey even got one! 

I loved being with my family, sharing new traditions with my in-laws, and spending the whole day with my husband. I can't wait for all of the future holidays we will share together.

Wedding Sneak Peak

We chose Carolina Bliss Photography to capture our special day. The owner, Jennifer Pate, has been a friend of the family for many years. Sadly, she is closing up her business for a while since she has small children as well as a full time job. Thankfully, we were her last wedding and we definitely made it one for her to remember. 

Jennifer- Thank you for being such a joy to work with and for capturing all of the magical moments we will forever remember. 

Jennifer uploaded sneak peak pictures while we were honeymooning and it made my day when I finally snagged wifi and saw them for the first time.

Definitely one of my favorites.

So serious.

I just love my husband.

My bouquet was so special. My florist was Flowers by Roberts and he did a phenomenal job. Crawford has always given me an iris as "my" flower so he made my bouquet with white iris', orange-to-red calla lilies, berries, burlap, and (my personal favorite)  COTTON! I loved it!!!

One of my favorite moments. I kept my dress a secret from my dad and planned to "reveal" it to him on the wedding day. I also had a tie patch made that said "dad, I loved you first. 11-8-14" stitched on to the back. This picture was of me sneaking up behind him holding his tie. It was awesome and very emotional for both of us.

Have I mentioned how much I love a rustic field?

My girls. The ones that kept me calm and  brought unbelievable amounts of laughter and happiness to our special day.

The cutest flower girl I ever did see!!

We decided to take some Christmas pictures in our wedding attire to hopefully use for Christmas cards. In the end, we ended up using a different picture but I thought I would share for fun.

Mrs. Bolton

How is it that the entire month of November was a blur? Oh, I remember. 

BECAUSE I GOT MARRIED!! 

That's right, you can call me Mrs. Bolton!

Our wedding day was truly the most perfect day. I try re-living every minute in my head just to savor all of the special moments. I cannot wait to see the video and pictures because I will be able to see some of the details that I missed.  

This was one of my favorite photos captured by a friend. We used the hashtag #audreycrawfordwedding and it linked all of the photos people took of our day. I loved looking through them as we left for the honeymoon.

St. Lucia was amazing and I will write about that another day as well as show the sneak peak of pictures provided by the photographer. 

This was the last picture we took. We couldn't go the entire day and not get a picture with sweet Hank while we were still dressed up. This was the best selfie we could manage. 

I will try to post more pictures this week so stay tuned. 

Love, 

The Newlyweds