The Christmas Tree...Real vs. Fake

I have always heard that marriage is about compromise.  After 8 months of marriage I now KNOW that marriage is about compromise.  For our very first Christmas together our biggest dillema was not how to split our time between our two families for the holiday it was do we buy a real Christmas tree or a fake one?  Or we could call it Ashley vs. Steven!  I grew up in a home where we had a real, live tree.  I love the smell!  Steven on the other hand is always Mr. practical and wanted a fake tree that we could use year after year.  I'm telling you the debate went on until we were at the store pricing and looking at both.  Eventually he caved and bought me my real tree!  That was the best Christmas gift ever!  Here are a few pictures of our first Christmas together as husband and wife!

The Real Honeymoon

When Steven and I were trying to figure out where to go on our honeymoon our original plan was to go up to Carmel.  Carmel is extremely beautiful but also extremely expensive in August so unfortunately we had to come up with plan b.  My sister happened across a deal for a fantastic hotel in Sedona, Az.  I had never even really heard of the place but the deal was so great we had to take it.  I have to say it was one of the best decisions ever made.  Sedona is absolutely GORGEOUS!  Here are some of the highlights...well the ones we are willing to share!

 Above is the Chapel of the Holy Cross.  A beautiful Catholic chapel built right into the rock! Below are some of our hiking pictures.  Sedona has these beautiful red rock mountains and tons of hiking trails.  We spent most of our time exploring the beautiful scenery.  There was one trail that was SUPER steep.  I got up about half way and then sent Steve up on his own.  He came back a few minutes later and I could tell that he wanted me to go the rest of the way up with him.  So I forgot my fear of heights and climbed up the steep trail.  It was totally worth it!  This first picture is the view from the top of that trail.  And I will never let Steven forget that I climbed a mountain for him!

For those who know me you know that I'm not really wilderness girl.  Days of hiking kind of took it's toll on me and when it started to rain on us I got just a little grumpy.  Thus the picture above. On this hike we struck a deal.  If I would do one more hike that day I didn't have to do any hiking the next day.  I took it!  The next day I got to choose the activity.  We drove up to Jerome which is a old mining town which is now a ghost town.  It is built completely into the side of a mountain.  It was pretty cool! Sorry, we didn't really get good pictures of it...you'll just have to Google it if you want to see it! 

Possibly my favorite part of the whole trip was the Jeep tour we took.  You get in this jeep and the guide totally takes you off-roading up into the beautiful red mountains.  I couldn't help but giggle the whole time as we literally bounced our way up the hill!   Below is a picture of Steven once we got to the top!

The whole thing was a wonderful trip and a great new adventure and a perfect way to start our marriage!

Hawaii aka the Pre-Honeymoon

The month before we got married Steve and I had the opportunity to go to Hawaii with my WHOLE family.  People like to comment that it was our honeymoon before our wedding.  My older sister had the best response to this.  She stated, "Ive been on a honeymoon and I've been on a family vacation and they are NOTHING alike!"  Nevertheless we had lots of fun and it definitely helped that last month before our wedding go by much quicker!  Here are some of the highlights from our trip!

First we went to the island of Kauai.  I've been there many times but this was a first for Steven.  It was super fun to show him some of my favorite places and explore some new ones together.

Here we are at Tunnels Beach.  Tunnels is a great snorkeling beach and for those musical fans that is Bali Hai from South Pacific behind us! 

One day we drove down to Poipu Beach to explore and check of the blow hole behind us!

Took early morning hikes to watch the sun rise.

Lounged by the pool and the beach

Checked out some of the local waterfalls

Jumped off of waterfalls!  Steven is the first picture and yes that is me in the second one!

Last, the view from our hotel!

Next it was on to Maui!  Check out the small little plane we flew on!

Maui was equally as fun!  We stayed in these beautiful condos attached to the Grand Wailea.  For those who have seen the movie Just Go With It, the Grand Wailea is the hotel they stay at.  The pools are amazing with tons of cool water slides and a water elevator!  We spent most of our time swimming, going for walks, cruising around in our convertible and of course driving the Road to Hana and the Seven Pools!

At the end of our trip we always take a few family photos!  Here is Steven with his roommates for the trip!

Steven and his future roommate...ME!

And the first Hill family portrait with Steven in it!

I have to say I've been to Hawaii quite a few times in my life but this trip was the best one yet!

Time to catch up!

After a long day at work today I came home and flipped on my computer and the tv.  Of course after a period of inactivity my screen saver began showing me a slide show of pictures that Steven and I have taken over the last year.  Being new to this blogging thing I didn't realize until now that I probably post them on here for all to see!  So here I go with a series of posts and pictures of some of the fun things we have done in the last few months!