What Did You Expect?

Ben and I are starting this marriage conference at our church, What did you expect? Redeeming the realities of your marriage. I can honestly say that marriage has been better than I expected. I thank God often for blessing me with Ben. Other than my relationship with the Lord, he is most important to me. I can't imagine what a different person I would be today had it not been for him in my life. The Lord has used him to lead and guide, challenge and grow me. He is an amazing leader of our home...and as a wife, such peace comes from knowing that your husband is seeking the Lord in everything!

Happy Anniversary

We actually started our celebration a little early. We were able to spend 5 days in WaterColor back in May. It was absolutely perfect and everything we had hoped it would be-- relaxing and fun. WaterColor is really special to us because that is where we took our engagement pictures last year. Every year since we have been dating (2006), we have visited the WaterColor/Seaside area....but this was my first time (Ben's second) to actually stay in a WaterColor home and I loved it. We both agree it's our favorite place to go! We are looking forward to vacationing there for many years to come. Here are some pictures of the adorable house we rented.

After leaving WaterColor, we headed over to Point Clear to stay at The Grand Hotel. This is where we stayed on our wedding night, so it was really fun to go back and reminisce. We even ate dinner at Felix's Fish Camp which is where had dinner the Sunday night before flying out to St. Thomas on Monday.

So, needless to say, this past weekend (our actual anniversary) was pretty low-key. We celebrated on Friday night by enjoying a delicious meal on our china and eating year-old wedding cake. Ben grilled steaks and I prepared the salad and twice baked potatoes (thanks to Fresh Market). It was perfect! Oh, and the wedding cake was surprisingly not that bad...it still had a great flavor, just a little dry :)

The rest of our weekend was spent in Birmingham seeing friends and family. We attended a wedding of a good family friend of mine. The ceremony was at Reid Chapel and was absolutely beautiful. My parents came in town for the event, so we got to see them 2 weekends in a row! We left the reception early to go to a wedding shower for one of Ben's old co-workers and good friends. Steve was so sweet and came to our wedding by himself as he was living in Atlanta at the time. We are looking forward to his upcoming wedding in August as I absolutely adore his bride-to-be. We ended the weekend with lunch on Sunday with some dear friends of ours, Charlie & Hollie. I can't tell you how blessed we feel to be surrounded by such amazing friends and family.

But the best part of my weekend (besides celebrating 1 year of marriage) was getting to see my sweet friend Sarah who lives in Atlanta now. It is such a small world because Sarah's husband is good friends with Steve also......so they came in town for the shower! I had been looking forward to seeing her for weeks and the visit did not disappoint! I don't think we stopped talking the entire 2 hours. Ben said we weren't even making words because we were talking so fast. Sarah is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of friend. She has been such a blessing in my life! I keep praying that one day we will live in the same city again....but until then thank goodness for gmail and lots of "free" time at work. Miss you Sarah!

We have another wedding this weekend......this makes 3 weekends in a row! Do you think it's wedding season?!  

What's For Dinner?!

One of the first things I did after we got married was get a subscription to Cooking Light. It is no secret, I did not cook much before I got married....so I knew I was going to need some help! Sometimes the recipes are pretty good and other times Ben would be fine if I never served it again. However, I keep going back to Cooking Light recipes because it makes me feel better about what I am serving my family :)

This week I knew I needed to use the remaining chicken breast and was searching for a new, creative way to cook chicken. I had pretty much given up and was just going to season it and put it on the grill.......until I found this recipe for Chicken Parmesan. After watching this instructional video, I had a good feeling that it was going to turn out really good (who doesn't love melted cheese!). So, when Ben called to ask what's for dinner, I was confident enough to tell him that he was going to love it.....glad I didn't have to eat my words!

Video

And the final product.........

Truth is we were both too hungry to take the time to take a picture, but trust me it was awesome! And the fact that it was ready in 15 min made it even better! It is a perfect weeknight meal and it will definitely be served again at my house!

I followed the recipe exactly, except I used chicken breast instead of tenders since that is what I had. I used the Muir Glen Organic sauce (purchase at Publix) that is recommended since that is the spaghetti sauce that Ben & I use anyways. I topped with mozzarella cheese instead of provolone. We served it over angel hair pasta. Enjoy!

Herbed Chicken Parmesan 

In summary...

It is hard to summarize everything that has happened over the past year in just 1 post but I will try to hit the high points. After our honeymoon in St. Thomas, we moved (really I was the only one moving because Ben was already here) to Chattanooga and lived in a 1 bedroom 900 sq ft condo downtown. Needless to say it was cozy but it was an awesome location. Chattanooga has a beautiful downtown! We lived there for 3 months until we bought our first house! Being a homeowner is still surreal to me...I have never signed my name so many times in one sitting. After 4 months of job searching, I was finally able to find a job in my field. In our spare time, we have been busy celebrating with our friends who are getting married or having babies or we are traveling to see family and friends. Sorry for the lack of pictures, see previous post :)

The Ritz-Carlton in St. Thomas

Our First House {pictures taken before we moved in}

The wood railings are not there any more {just needed for inspections}

Dining room/Foyer

Formal Living Room

Back Porch with fireplace :)

Master Bedroom

Kitchen