Top 5 in Year 1

How do you summarize a year of your life? I'm intensely trying to resist making a "Rent" reference right now..... Anyway.... seriously, how can you sum up the first year of marriage? We have had so many memories, created new family traditions, and discovered interesting things about ourselves and each other!

So, to avoid writing you a narrative novel about everything fun we did this year, we decided to pick 5 categories and we would each pick our favorite thing in each category. Thus, Top 5 in Year 1.

Our Honeymoon plus other Traveling Adventures - Our honeymoon was fantastic and we got to experience several other new places together as well. We went to Charleston, SC; St. Louis, MO; Gulf Shores, AL; The Smoky Mountains, TN during our first year!

Ashley: My favorite thing we did on a vacation was go on a walking tour in Charleston. It was really interesting to learn about the history of the city and the people who lived there. Although, it was a hot day, we both enjoyed this adventure on our honeymoon! A close second, for me, is when we went on the Fort Sumter Boat ride in Charleston.

Nathan: My favorite thing that we did on vacation was also the walking tour. If I've been on one before, I've pushed it from my mind, but this tour was awesome! That being said, all of our vacations have had their great moments.


Koba and Yuki - This year, not only did we get one cat (which I thought would never happen), but we got two! Koba and Yuki are great entertainers and can almost always provide a laugh. We have so many stories about them, so it is a bit hard to narrow it down to one!

Ashley: My best memory of our cats is when they are snuggly. Although I think its funny when they play, its so sweet to watch them nuzzle up next to each other and sleep together.

Nathan: My favorite memory with both of them would have to be when I took them upstairs to their room and I had one under each arm. I (gently) bumped their heads together and Koba took great offense to it, and turned around and smacked Yuki! I guess he thought she had done it on purpose.


Exciting New Dates - We've had several really fun dates this year!

Ashley: My favorite date was when we went to see Miranda Sings live. I've been watching Colleen Ballinger (and her alter-ego, Miranda) on YouTube for years now, so I was so excited when she announced she would be coming to Nashville! Nathan was such a trooper to go and watch her with me ;)

Nathan: One of my favorite things we did was the last Predators game we went to see. The Preds were playing the Blackhawks in the playoffs...I saw several in-person firsts: first playoff win, first hat trick, first time a fan pulled a knife on another fan (that part was scary) but it was awesome!


Holidays - What a special time it has been this year to be able to spend all of the holidays with the one you love! This year we combined our family traditions, as well as created some of our own!

Ashley: My favorite thing we did on a holiday was around Christmas-time when we went to see the "Dancing Lights of Christmas." It was so awesome to drive through the park with the lights blinking to the Christmas Carols! We took Koba with us, and he seemed to love it too! It was a fun night.

Nathan: Taking Koba to the dancing lights was a lot of fun! I also enjoyed getting to go to Patti's at Christmas with my side of the family. 


A Year Together - There are so many wonderful things about being married! God has blessed us with each other and we are honored to love and respect each other. 

Ashley: The top moment of our lives during this year together is really several moments rolled into one. My favorite times are when we are having deep conversations, as well as being weird together. Both of these situations show vulnerability. I'm grateful to have someone who I can be vulnerable with and who feels the freedom to be vulnerable with me!

Nathan: I love being able to tell Ashley anything. There have always been parts of me that I've kept to myself. I share some of my weirdness with everyone, but Ashley gets to see every part of me...probably more weirdness than anything! I know that she is my soulmate and it's fantastic to know that she truly gets me and accepts me, no matter what. Deep conversations, simple dates, just getting to be completely transparent with her are my favorite times. 

Highlights of Our Secret Honeymoon

In case you didn't know, or forgot, we didn't tell ANYONE where we were going for our honeymoon. It started as sort of a joke, but then we just kept on not telling people when they would beg and plead to know where we would spending a week after the big day. We went to Charleston, South Carolina, and, lucky for you, the time has come that we give you the highlights of our week in June. You're welcome.

Day 1: Charleston Strolls - city walking tour. We had decided to do this the first day to get an overview of the city of sorts. We are both so glad we did. It was fantastic! We got to hear about all of the most important aspects of history from a native Charlestonian. Despite his Confederate Pride, his knowledge and insight of Charleston was awesome! We got to see so many neat things in just a few short hours.

Day 2: QuickShot Indoor Shooting Range. They had a "ladies special" that day so we got a pretty good discount on shooting up a zombie. Good times.

Day 3: Fort Sumter. This was the location of the beginning of the Civil War. Not only was visiting Fort Sumter super interesting, it also involved right a boat to the fort. I mean, who doesn't love a good boat ride?! Actually... Nathan doesn't, however, I had a blast! And I'm sure he was secretively having a blast too ;) Additionally, visiting Fort Sumter has sparked our visiting other forts, battle field, and National Parks.

After we were done at FS, we went to the South Carolina Aquarium, which claims to be the best aquarium ever (or something like that). It was pretty fun, but I personally think the Georgia Aquarium is better. Thats just my opinion, though.

Later on that day, we got a couples massage. It was really awkward, but really great at the same time. We'll probably get more in the future. No picture available.

Day 4: Isle of Palms - BEACH DAY! We had a great day at the beach relaxing, playing card games, walking along the shore, taking pictures, patio lunching, and soaking up the sun...... Soaking up LOTS of sun. Too. Much. Sun. Needless to say, although we had a good time, we got really really really burned. Luckily, it was near the end of the week.

Day 5: Charleston Tea Plantation. Did you know that this is the only plantation in America that they grow tea plants! Most are grown out of the country. Did you also know that you can have unlimited tea samples? Yeah. So we were livin' it up with bellies full of tea and skin burned to a crisp.

After leaving the plantation, we went to see the Angel Oak. One word: HUGE. Below is a picture that someone took of us in front of the tree (shoutout to the guy in the red shirt). Yes, they cut off most of the top of the tree. Why can't people take decent pictures? Is it not obvious we want a picture of the how big the tree is? I mean thats why we're here, people... Anyway, if you want to see how big it really is, click on the link above. Thanks random guy. Thanks.

So, as you can see, we did a ton of stuff on our honeymoon. And its fitting because we both love to learn new things, and explore. And now you know. Hope that makes up for us keeping it a secret during the months before ;)

Click here to watch a video of our Secret Honeymoon!!

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