One Blissful Year

The title of the post about sums it up. The first year has been a blissful and blessed year for both of us. When people ask us the question, "How's married life?" the answer isn't "Good," or "It's really good!" or even "Great!" The answer is, "It's absolutely blissful." We like words, and we really like to be precise with words, and that one word does the best job describing how we feel about our life together. It's been a blissful first year, and we are so excited to have many more, even more blissful years together.

Here are some favorite highlights from the first year.

We were married on June 16, 2012 in my home church in Wichita, Kansas. It was a sweet and simple celebration with dear family and friends.

And, by the way, all of these photos were taken by the beautiful and talented Emily Bergquist. She works in the Central Kansas area around Wichita, and there has never been a more sweet lady! She totally captured our day the way we had imagined, and she was like a ninja the way she managed to be everywhere totally unseen! She also does portraits, engagements, and family photography.

If you like these photos you can like her on Facebook or check out her site.

Our honeymoon was a week of solitude up in the northern woods of Minnesota in a tiny cabin on the lake.

By the way, do you see the state of my skin? It looks 100% better a year later after some changes in diet, makeup, and cleansing. I'll be writing about it soon! 

After that, it was time to settle in to our new life together! Here's how we kept busy:

This is our lentil loaf and our french bread that we enjoy so much.  

We also went on a few outings in 2012. Here's what we saw on those:

This donkey is about to try to eat Levi's sleeve....

It was 16 degrees outside for our first camping experience!

We're cold, stinky, tired, and in love.

We finally got to experience a real Minnesota winter. All the way from the first major snowstorm (10+ inches) in December:

To the last major (10+) snow in April:

That's me sitting level with the mailbox!

We made ourselves a lot of cool and unique food, and it's one of our favorite things to do together. Here are some of our favorites:

Moroccan lamb tagine with apricots and figs.  

Homemade french bread. 

Combining sweet potato and kale. 

Instead of a bread bowl, a spaghetti squash bowl!

All kinds of stir fry! One of our very favorites!

Sweet potato curry soup. Amazing creation of Levi's!

Gooey, caramel brownies. 

Shrimp paella. The MB and Levi version. 

Tart with apples, brie, and caramelized onions. 

Roasted chickpeas. The best snack ever. 

Our spice mix for our own garam masala, thanks to Levi. 

Our first time making sushi.....at least it was tasty!

Chilled asparagus soup using roasted asparagus, lots of fresh basil and garlic. 

Cheesecake with a gingersnap crust, lemon curd, and a blueberry syrup. 

Our first year has been so much fun! We took some pictures to celebrate today, and we can't wait to continue to share things with you!