1 year. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days.

“You may now kiss the bride.” I can’t believe it has been a year since Craig and I made a lifelong commitment in front of family and friends. What a year it has been! We have learned so much about each other over the past 365 days. We found a really fun “married couple questionnaire” online and decided to interview each other with it! It turned out to be a lot of fun and brought up a lot of awesome conversations! Hope you enjoy our little commentaries that we added during the interview process.

NICOLE INTERVIEWING CRAIG

1. What does Nicole do at work? Be specific.
“She is an optician. She helps people pick out their glasses, measures the distance between their pupils so the glasses are perfectly made for their eyes. She also organizes the glasses and takes care of all the insurance.” (DANG! He knows his stuff!)

2. What is Nicole really good at?
“I really like her cooking.” (I didn’t think he was being serious about this one but he didn’t crack a smile!)

3. What was Nicole’s favorite comfort food when growing up?
“Poptarts.” (That was one of them. Hehehe.)

4. What is Nicole’s dream job?
“Anything to do with political science or journalism”. (ZING!)

5. What did Nicole want to be when he or she was a child?
“She wanted to sell roses on the side of the road (laughing).” (We had a nice laugh about this one).

6. What is Nicole’s top goal in life?
“Going back to school.” (Working on that one!)

7. What does Nicole see as her greatest accomplishment thus far?
“Marrying her husband.” (Very funny hun!)

8. How many cousins does she have?
“Oh my God…ummm….7.” (I told him first cousins would do, he got them all!)

19. What is the name of Nicole’s high school best friend?
“Sam.” (She is the bomb!)

10. What is Nicole’s favorite color?
“(Long sarcastic silence)…Green.” (I am sure that one was SOOO difficult considering my home décor).

11. What is Nicole’s favorite sport or hobby?
“Softball is her favorite sport, but she likes watching football and basketball. Particularly college football and the Steelers.” (I watch it more than him!)

12. What is Nicole’s pet peeve?
“Not putting clothes in the dirty clothes basket, people tailgating her, and when our dog sits on top of her feet while she is doing something.” (The last one is more comical than a pet peeve).

13. What is a cute thing that Nicole does that she doesn’t realize she does?
“I think it is cute when I say something to her and she has no idea what I am talking about. She makes funny faces.“

15. What side of the bed does Nicole prefer?
“The side that doesn’t have the door closest to it.” (Yeah, I don’t know why I am like that).

CRAIG INTERVIEWING NICOLE

1. What does Craig do at work? Be specific.
“He works on the circuit cards inside the B1 Bomber. It basically runs the entire airplane. There is a lot of technical wording that goes along with this explanation…but I can’t even begin to explain it all.” (You are missing quite a few acronyms!)

2. What is Craig really good at?
“He is really good at fixing things and grilling.” (Boom goes the dynamite!)

3. What was Craig’s favorite comfort food when growing up?
“Insane amounts of ice cream, chicken and dumplings, sausage balls, and lemon meringue.” (Now it’s JUMBO ice cream cones at Armadillos. Yummy!)

4. What is Craig’s dream job?
Being a Veterinarian. (I do love those puppies.)

5. What did Craig want to be when he was a child?
“A chef. No wait a cop. Maybe a astronaut? Do you even know what you wanted to be? (long pause)” (Honestly I don’t remember but at one point it was a chef so good job.)

6. What is Craig’s top goal in life?
“To rank up in the military, be a good husband, and an awesome father.” (One out of three isn’t bad…haha just kidding. I do want to be an awesome father though.)

7. What does Craig see as his greatest accomplishment thus far?
“Becoming a Christian.” (It changed my life!)

8. How many cousins does Craig have?
“Jeez let me think…umm 11.” (That’s most of them I believe, but there is a ton).

9. What is the name of Craig’s high school best friend?
“Blaine and Will” (Fa Sho!)

10. What is Craig’s favorite color?
“Blue and Black” (Haha. Is it ironic that they are the colors of bruises?)

11. What is Craig’s favorite sport or hobby?
“Learning golf, and college football.” (GOOOO Bulls!)

12. What is Craig’s pet peeve?
“When I hang up shirts and the hanger isn’t the right direction, and not rinsing the milk out of my cups.” (I hate scrubbing the cups for 5 minutes.)

13. What is a cute thing that Craig does that he doesn’t realize he does?
“He snuggles with me in his sleep!” (And you say I never snuggle.)

14. What side of the bed does Craig prefer?
“Whichever side I don’t prefer.” (Doesn’t matter to me…Bow chicka bow wow!!!!!!)

I know, most of these questions could have been answered prior to our wedding. BUT…some of our answers have probably been affected by the fact that we live with each other 24/7 now. We have learned so much about what it takes to have a successful, God-filled marriage. We have already taken a huge step as a couple by moving far away from everything we have ever known. We are 100% on our own, and I think that has been beneficial to us in the first year of our marriage! We have learned how to upkeep our home, budget our finances, and manage our time.

Being a military family, it isn’t always a walk in the park! I knew what I was taking on when I married Craig. Extended days at work with no extra pay, the possibility of working an entire weekend (again, with no extra pay), and deployments. Even if he works 2 weeks straight with no day off, he still comes home and wants to spend time with me. All of the time away from him makes me treasure the moments so much more. While we haven’t encountered a deployment yet, I feel like our marriage has a solid foundation. We can take whatever is tossed our way (with God’s help).

Another vital part of a marriage that we discovered was prayer. For the past 4 weeks, Craig and I have been involved in a small group for married couples at our church. We have been studying a set of books called “The Power of a Praying Husband/Wife” by Stormie O’Martin. I can’t tell you how this course has challenged us. We learned the differences between men and women that we seem to forget. For example, the most important thing a wife wants from her husband is love, while the husband simply wants respect above all. We discussed children, finances, and submission. All very hot topics in the society we live in today! We found ourselves coming home and talking about how we plan on raising our children (when we have them). We even got so far along in the discussion that we were talking about whether or not we would help him/her get a car at 16, or make him/her buy their own. The course helped us be on the same page in our marriage. It really has been a blessing.

I could not have asked for a better year with the love of my life. I can’t wait for the many anniversaries to come!

P.S. I am writing this post the night before our actual anniversary because I assumed we would be busy tomorrow! : ) I will post pictures/details of our special day later on!

Opportunities...

We have had a few different things come up within the last week. We don't really want to go into detail about it right away because it hasn't happened yet. But just be aware that if things go our way, you will be seeing a post toward the end of March! :) For now, here is a little clue.

Playing Catch Up

This post won't contain the pictures of our new place. I (Nicole) decided that I wanted to tidy up and make it look decent before I go showing the world. :) A lot of things have changed since my last time blogging (which was in the summer of 2010!). Let's start off with a few opportunities that came up for me. Around the end of November or beginning of December, a friend of mine informed me that Pearle Vision was looking for an Optician and a Receptionist when they moved to their new location in Rapid City. She said she was going to apply, but suggested that I go for one of the positions as well. I assumed that in order to be an Optician, you had to be licensed and go through a substantial period of training before you would be classified as an Optician. I applied for the job anyway, hoping that this would be my ticket out of working at Starbucks. Right before Craig and I left for Florida toward Christmas time, I received a phone call that they wanted to interview me. I went in, and they basically told me I had the job right then and there! I was to start January 3rd right after we returned from our Christmas vacation.
I have been working there over a month now and I absolutely love my job! I adore the people I work with and actually feel respected and valued as an employee. This is a HUGE difference from what I was experiencing at Starbucks. I am planning on continuing being an optician and once I feel comfortable in my knowledge, I want to go to Minnesota and take the Licensed Optician test. Some states require that you be certified in order to work at their establishment. South Dakota is not one of them. However, I do want to be able to continue doing what I am doing if/when we move again.
Now, a little about Craig. Craig more than likely would not post anything positive about himself, nor would he brag on himself at all. That is why I am going to write this post instead. He deserves recognition because he is amazing at his job and everyone around him knows it. In December, Craig received a tremendous honor! He was chosen as the 28th Squadron Maintenance Professional of the Month! No one from the 28th MXS squadron has received this award for a long time!



All of his Supervisors, First Shirts, and Flight Chiefs all voted that he receive this award! He won't admit it, but this proves that he is great at his job and all of his superiors feel that he is reliable and responsible. I just know that he is going to do awesome things. :)
Craig has also been shooting around ideas about going to OTS (Officer Training School). This would require him to achieve a Bachelor's degree and attend a technical school for 15 weeks. Once he does that, he is also thinking about trying to get into Pilot training. Nothing is set in stone, but I know he could achieve anything if he wanted to. After a serious amount of prayer, Craig did decide that he wants to make a career out of the military, but he knows he doesn't want to stay in the Avionics career field. So please continue praying for him and that God will show him the path He wants Craig to go on.

I promise the next post will have more pictures!!

New Blog!

Hello all! We are pretty stoked to be back in the bloggin' game! We both have been busy with work, moving into a new place, and MORE WORK! Sorry for abandoning you! We can't wait to start becoming more devoted to updating our blog, and introducing you to all the new and exciting aspects of our life (OK...some aren't all that exciting). Be on the lookout for the second post coming soon! We will have pictures of the new place and more updates on recent happenings! :)