A Year Ago Today...

A year ago today I was excitedly getting ready for the biggest day of my life.  I was all smiles and couldn't wait to walk down the aisle.  The day went by so smoothly and so quickly, and I can't believe Anthony and I have been married a year!  

I was thinking back over this past year and am blown away by everything that has happened.  Here's a little peak into our first year as Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes... :)

A year a go today I had never paid rent, an electricity bill, gas bill, or phone bill.  I had never lived with a boy, let alone in the same city as Anthony.  I had never followed a blog, or seriously thought about starting one of my own.  I had never heard of TeachersPayTeachers, nor had I ever imagined I would be selling hundreds of products to teachers across the country.  I had never known someone to hit the snooze button on an alarm for over an hour, and let's be honest...I'd never mopped. :)

 Being that Anthony is such a numbers guru, here are our year one statistics. :)

• We started 3 new jobs.
• I moved twice.
• I willingly semi-willingly endured 3 needle encounters.  (If you know anything about my needle phobia, you know this is HUGE)
• I flew on 23 airplanes.
• We ate fajitas more times than I can count.
• Anthony cooked dinner a total of ZERO times. :)
• I flew to Dallas 4 times to see Chuck and have my hair done.
• My car was in the shop 5 times.
• We went on 3 vacations and 2 different countries
• I only got lost in Houston twice! Never mind that I was following a GPS while getting lost...
• Our China was used once.
• I've caught Anthony learning new dance moves from YouTube 3 times... this isn't to say how many times I haven't caught him. :)
• We painted 12 rooms/areas in our house... you don't want to know how many hours that is!
• Christmas was celebrated 4 times
• We only broke 1 dinner plate and 1 bowl.
• I called the vet around 9 times because I was worried about something Reese had done or ate.
• We killed only 5 plants! (...we didn't have that many to begin with!)

This year we bought a house, got the most adorable puppy, and watched more sports than I have watched in my entire life.  We tried calamari and spinach and artichoke dip at every restaurant we went to.  We found a new church, a new neighborhood, and, despite my nervousness and shyness, made new friends.  We ate more meals with the Harrell's than I can count, and Anthony cleaned more dishes than he has in his entire life.  I spent my first holiday away from my immediate family, and still got to wear my birthday tiara.  

This year has been filled with laughter, joy, lots of tears, but most of all, happiness.  It has been by far the most challenging, difficult, change-filled, and rewarding year of my life, and I wouldn't change a second of it.  Today is just one more sweet reminder of how God's plans are so much bigger and so much greater than I could ever have imagined for myself.  Between Anthony, our families, and our friends, there isn't a better word to describe it all, but blessed.  We truly are blessed beyond anything we deserve.  So Happy One-Year Anniversary to us!!  On to year two...

Love, Sara :)