first anniversary weekend - thus far

Hello all! Greetings from Fredericksburg, Texas!

We are having the most fabulous time here. It has been wonderful, just being us. The two of us. I love us.

We got into town late Friday night...and then Saturday morning, bright and early, Chris got up to run. He ran from the hotel out to Enchanted Rock, which was a very hilly 18 miles. Yes, he is insane. I met him at Enchanted Rock, and together we hiked up the huge natural rock formation.

We climbed Enchanted Rock on our first trip to Fredericksburg together. Our wedding location was at the base of Enchanted Rock with a great view of it. So, we decided to climb it again this trip...



Isn't it beautiful? And it doesn't look too intimidating, does it?? Oh, it isn't easy! And for some reason, it kicked my butt this time. I had to keep stopping to sit down. A few times, I even had to flop back on the rocks.

I think it was more the heat than anything, because physically it wasn't too bad. I felt like I was going to pass out! Luckily, coming down was much better...and Chris was so patient with me, I was proud of him!! :)

I love this shot of Chris...it looks like he is sitting on the edge of the cliff...what a view, eh?

This shot shows the size and scope of things...everything was massive!

Finally, we made it to the top!!!

And...one of the main reasons we went to the top...to recreate our very first photo that we took together back in 2003. We tried to recreate it as close as possible...will have to compare when we get home!

One of my anniversary gifts was some shopping $$$! Woo hoo! First place I wanted to shop was, of course, the scrapbook store. Fredericksburg has a pretty good one, and I found a bunch of goodies...

My beautiful anniversary gift was the outstanding diamond solitaire necklace...oh, it's gorgeous! Now my engagement ring, earrings and necklace all match...princess cut and very sparkly...

Chris' "main gift" for our anniversary was this stunning 1837 ring from Tiffany. Sooo beautiful. It's sterling silver and midnight titanium. It has an engraving of "T & Co." on it and I do believe Chris loves it. It might be a smidge too tight, so we may need to exchange it for a half size bigger...

First anniversaries are "paper", and the paper gift I got for Chris actually made him tear up a bit. :) I bought a real leather journal and had "August 4th" engraved on the cover. It will be our Anniversary Journal, and every single year for our anniversary, we'll each write a note to one another. Then, when we are celebrating our 50th anniversary, we can read back over the years and relive our love. I got this idea from a novel I read, and I tucked it away for my Chris. I love the idea...

My big "paper" gift was tickets to the Carrie Underwood concert in October!!! Woo hoo!!! I am looking very very forward to that...

We also celebrated our anniversary by drinking out of our wedding glasses and eating a nibble (very small nibble) of our wedding cake top. Not very edible, but hey, it was tradition. We had to do it!!

And I have good news to report!! Us non-wine drinkers have found two wines that we like (one of which we really like). :) We visited three wineries while here, and bought some bottles of our favorite. Grape Creek was our favorite winery, and we went back today to buy our bottles to take home. We decided to sit out on their patio and enjoy a glass together...

Here we are during one of our wine tastings, with all the wine barrels behind us...

Such a lovely weekend so far...and so much love between me and Chris. One year of wedded life...I'm looking forward to what the future holds for us...