The Married Life: HALFaYEARsary!

Happy first Monday of February. For me its hard to believe that it's already the second month of the year & for Adam, he thought February would never get here! Either way, February means 2 things (1) we are getting another month closer to warmer weather and (2) as of yesterday, Adam & I have been married for 6 months [insert happy dance here]. *Health update, Adam seems to have finally gotten rid of his cough and we are back to normal health around here, praise God!

I realize ~~most~~ all of you do not likely have February 2nd marked down as an important day on your calendars but for us newlyweds, 6 months is fun to celebrate! Plus I am a fan of opportunities to reflect back and dream forward. It is still basketball season here, so this past weekend was primarily spent at basketball games but Saturday night was free for once so we jumped on the chance to have a date-night out. Bonus that the Duke/Syracuse game was on and we had front seats at the bar.

In honor of our halfayearsary + my love of making lists, enjoy 6 moments from our marriage so far!

6 {Number of family budget meetings we have had}

This past fall we took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class together and have diligently been working together to manage our family's money wisely. The first couple of budgets we did together took a long time, it has just been in the last month or so that we feel like we are getting the hang of working our budget together. I honestly look forward to our budget meetings mainly because we get to intentionally be on the same page about money which takes a lot of stress out of purchasing decisions each month. I am thankful for a husband who motivates me to want to be invested in our finances!

Free download: Budgeting guide

5 {Number of seasons in Breaking Bad we have watched together}

After hearing from many people that we needed to watch Breaking Bad, we finally started + finished watching it on Netflix last fall. One of the best shows we have seen, it lived up to all the hype and more. (Minus several scenes where I just closed my eyes, I don't really do blood well) Especially after our year of living 10 hours apart, I am thankful for simple things we get to do together - like enjoy the same TV show in the same room.

4 {Number of special occasions we have celebrated together as husband + wife}

Since getting married we have now celebrated Adam's Birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, & rang in the New Year. Even dating, we never celebrated Thanksgiving or Christmas together - so it was extra special this year to spend those holidays together. Also, we had a lot of fun figuring out what types of traditions we wanted to try as our family now! One thing we forget to discuss pre-holiday was our Christmas stockings. Adam comes from a family where they open their stockings at the end of presents + I come from a family were we opened our stockings at the beginning of presents. We were both surprised on Christmas day when we started opening gifts and Adam went to grab a present from under the tree + I went to grab our stockings. We had a nice laugh about it :) We were blessed to get to see some part of our families for Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Years too.

From our holiday road trip!

3 {Number of times we have rearranged our apartment since moving in}

I love figuring out new ways to decorate, rearrange furniture and re-hang pictures. Maybe a little too much, but Adam has ~~very~~ mostly patiently & willingly helped me rearrange our living room space & our bedroom on several occasions. We continue to love our apartment! Two of my favorite aspects of our apartment are the tall ceilings in our main living space + that we get a lot of natural light in our apartment. Adam loves our garage, since that keeps him from having to dig the car out every time it snows. Guests are always welcome by the way - we love entertaining + having visitors anytime :)

You can check out this post from last fall if you want to see pictures of the last set-up.

2 {Number of jobs we have, also the number of time we brush our teeth together each day if you were wondering}

When I first moved up to Wisconsin right before our wedding, and for the better part of the last 6 months, there were not any job opportunities outside of the home for me. We have always known that both of us being employed in youth ministry would be a unique thing. As we are constantly reminded in new and different ways each day - God is good and takes care of us. For me to start working for a church this January was/is a blessing.

*Concerning our teeth brushing habits, I promised transparency this year with blog posts, so I didn't want to leave that detail out, you're welcome. I prefer Crest toothpaste if you were wondering, Adam prefers whatever is on sale but compromises to Crest for my sake.

{1 amazing wedding to start it all :: August 2nd, 2013}

Getting married to each other was the best thing ever + we were so loved by all our family and friends in the process. Looking back at our wedding week + day there were many incredible and priceless memories made. It is amazing to experience God's love working through other people and our wedding was no exception. Everyday Adam + I pray together that we would love each other more as God loves us + continue to grow closer to each other as we grow closer to God. 6 months down and a lifetime to go!