A Year With The Brewer's

On Monday Nathan and I celebrated our one year anniversary! This year has FLOWN by and has been full of so many new things, surprises, and joys. I graduated from college a month before the wedding, we bought our first house three weeks before the wedding, and I accepted my first teaching job two weeks before the wedding. So, thankfully, I was able to walk down the isle feeling very relieved and ready for this new stage in life! And the new didn't stop there! Here are just a few highlights from our first year of marriage:

--I began my first year of teaching first grade at the most wonderful school, Wooster Elementary.

--Sweet Morgan Summers was born!

--I spent my first holiday (Thanksgiving) away from my family.

--Nathan turned 22.

--Nathan went on a mission trip to Nicaragua for 10 days. 

--I turned 22.

--Nathan missed his first holiday (Christmas) away from his family.

--We stepped way out of our comfort zones and moved from our home church to First Baptist here in Conway as Nathan took on the role of worship leader/assistant for the youth and Thrive.

--We began welcoming a new member into our family as my brother, Taylor, proposed to his soon-to-be-wife, Jessica!

--We welcomed our sweet niece, Gentry Faith, into the world and have spoiled her ever since!

--We celebrated three years since we began dating.

--We got our first dog, Piper!

--We have celebrated with many, many friends as they walked into marriage.

--But most of all, we have loved every minute of learning how to love, live, and walk like Jesus in our relationship with each other. We have been so blessed by the way God has provided for us, lead us, and poured out his blessings on our marriage. We have realized more and more every day how inadequate we are to walk through life, but how more than adequate Jesus is to carry us. Obviously, we do not have marriage down to an art and have so many more things to learn as the years go by, but we are looking forward to this second year and all that God has in store for us!

So to celebrate all of our first year joys, Nathan planned a perfect day for us without any help from me! We started the day by going to Pinnacle Mountain to hike because I had been wanting to go back for quite some time. This is significant for us because three years ago the day after our anniversary, Nathan told me he loved me for the first time at the top of that mountain! It was definitely a hot hike and halfway through I turned to him and said, "Who's idea was this again???" Of course, it was mine :)...Here are a few pictures from the top!

After our hike, we were ready for lunch and where else would we have lunch on our anniversary but at Chik Fil A! We spent the afternoon running errands around Little Rock and then came the big surprise! Nathan told me we were staying at the Capitol Hotel where we stayed last year before going to the Bahamas! I was so excited! That area in downtown is so beautiful!

After we got ready, we headed out on the town! We walked around downtown for a while seeing some of the historical sites. I am the teacher nerd that enjoys these kinds of things! We toured the Old State House and some of the Historic Arkansas sites.

This is the old House of Representatives room--so cool!

With my new obsession with sewing, I thought this was amazing!

After touring the sites, we went to see a movie and had dinner at PF Chang's, Nathan's favorite!

And of course, a date night would not be official without dessert! Maggie Moo's is my fav!

We had a great anniversary trip in Little Rock, but Piper sure was excited when we got home!

Since we were in Little Rock all day on our actual anniversary, we ate our cake topper the next night with my parents and brother! This worked out for everyone involved because not one person in my family actually got to eat a piece of the cake at the wedding! I have been waiting for this alllll year long! 

I surprised Nathan and kept it a secret all year long--our cake topper was Funfetti, Nathan's favorite!

We loved our wedding cake so much! Angelia at Cake Art by Angelia did a fabulous job!

Our anniversary also marked our last jar of green apple jelly beans! These were our wedding favors and we STILL have a jar left after a year!

Thank you for all of the well wishes for our anniversary! We are excited for many more years to come!