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!