One Year

July 27, 2014 ~ Our first anniversary!

 

And what a wonderful year it has been! Filled with adventures, change, happiness, silliness, learning new things, traveling new places, going beyond my comfort zone, and always having my best friend by my side to enjoy life with. We’ve been so blessed this year. We just celebrated with an extra long weekend adventure that I’ll be writing about throughout the week. It included road trips, yummy food, lots of walking, tons of letterboxes, a giant statue, problems, prayers, relaxing, and enjoying married life – basically describing our year. Check back soon to read more! 🙂

Today was filled with memories of our wedding day. I thought about the butterflies in my stomach, and was thankful that I didn’t have to go on stage in front of people like I did last year. I thought about our families and friends and how I missed them. I thought about seeing Curtis for the first time for our first look and being so unbelievably happy, then seeing him cry while I walked down the aisle and feeling even happier still. I remembered how in love I felt while I listened to him try to keep from crying while saying his vows, and even more so when he sang to me. I remembered the feeling of excitement and wondering what a life being married to him would look like. And now, I’m even more happy and in love with him than ever, and I’m loving how our marriage works. I can’t wait to spend the next 110 years with him. 😉

Reflecting on our past year of marriage, here are our highlights from the past year, July 27 2013 to today.

July: Our wedding day; brunch with our families; leaving for our honeymoon; staying in a lighthouse B&B

August: Honeymoon continued – Minnesota, Canada, Michigan, & more; week with families; moving to Arizona; going as far North as Nipigon, Canada, to Nogales, AZ in the span of 2 weeks

September: feeling at home in our apartment; exploring Tucson; making new friends; a 5 mile hike; discovering Krispy Kremes was only 2 hours from us

October: the Albuquerque Balloon Festival; National Letterboxing Week; San Diego for my 21st; learning how to make fancy adult beverages

November: First letterboxing event together; touring Cochise county;

Thanksgiving with family; discovering the puppy store near our home

December: Curtis passed first semester of Jr year even as a married man; getting awesome Christmas gifts for each other; going back to Iowa to spend Christmas with families (7 homes in 7 days!)

January: Going to Missouri & Illinois to watch my sister kick butt in basketball (not literally); buying our first hiking boots and doing a 14 mile hike that almost killed me (not literally); no snow and beautiful weather every day

February: Tucson Letterboxing Event; weekend trips to Rincon Mountains, Madera Canyon and Globe with friends; making my first ever homemade sushi rolls; 7 mile hike

March: visiting Patagonia Lake; planning our first spring break vacation; going on “Great Southwest Adventure” with my brother Grant all over the Northern half of Arizona; seeing Lydia & Jeff in Phoenix; discovering the best sushi EVER

April: Letterboxing event/weekend in Flagstaff/Jerome/Cottonwood with friends; Curtis finally turning 21, hiking 6 miles to visit ghost towns with friends; making my 2014 goal of finding 500 letterboxes

May: hiking 7 miles on Pontatoc trail then conquering Mt. Wrightson (10 miles); visiting Organ Pipe Cactus; learning to drive stick shift; driving 30 hours straight and surprising our families in Iowa; letterboxing event in Iowa; spending a full week with family!

June: Completing our goal of visiting all 15 Arizona counties; hiking Red Ridge Trail; mastering Mt. Humphreys and our tour of the greater Flagstaff area; visiting Kartchner Caverns; getting to experience some great AZ heat

July: finding ways to still have fun adventures with the heat; helping Jeff & Lydia move to Phoenix; discovering the greatest cheesecake recipe ever; gold panning and Kitt Peak; celebrating one awesome year together with an amazing vacation!

We are so blessed. Tonight I’m thanking God for this amazing year, and praying that with this coming year we’ll grow even closer to Him and each other as we continue on with the adventures, change, and love!