This was our get ready Thomas County...here we come picture, dressed in our blue and gold.
We were married in June and immediately following our honeymoon...I moved right into our little white house with black shutters in the middle of town (I really miss our backyard and hardwood floors that we had in that house). I didn't know a soul in our new town except for a friend of a friend. Matt only knew the people he worked with since he traveled with his job and spent lots of weekends at showers and other events out of town with me as I was finishing college.
I remember not knowing what to do with my first few weeks as a newlywed. Matt was at work and I didn't start student teaching until the end of July. I got my nails done, drove to Target a few times in Tally to use some gift cards, and painted some ugly old bedroom furniture (we still have it today and I actually love it). We went to the Y most nights and played raquetball. We also tried out some new recipes. I would call all my friends and talk about how fun marriage was. Oh, the simple life! :)
We started visiting churches right away. I remember loving the pastor of FBC, Dan Spencer (who later baptized me), but thinking that it wasn't the church for us. He called me "hollywood" and always remembered me each time we visited. We visited several churches in Thomasville...Baptist and Methodist ones. It was a really fun time!
We used some wedding money to buy our first and only real furniture for awhile...our couch and chair.
We had a pantry party in our new town that first summer. The people that Matt worked with threw it for us. I also started student teaching in kindergarten at HNH. We would work all day, cook supper, go to the Y, then I would work on my teacher work sample and resume. I loved my mentor teacher and had a great experience. I remember clinging to the song Purest Place by Watermark all during student teaching.
I remember a few things about those early days of marriage. We didn't have tv. We didn't want it because our pre-marital counselor advised against it. I wore polos and pearls all the time. Haha! My feet hurt from teaching all day, so I had to say goodbye to my cute heels and shoes, and buy some crocs! (we couldn't wear sandals at our school back then and everyone wore crocs) :) I loved our VSU seminars that we had once every month, because I got to wear flip flops and eat lunch out. I was ready to be a teacher, but just not a teacher and a student at the same time, which is what it felt like. Oh....if only I knew then what I know now...haha!
Lots of our college friends came to visit that first year. Hardly any of our friends were married yet. We were all truly young and free. We would go and tailgate at VSU football games and FSU ones too.
I loved being a wife from the very beginning! Even then I loved decorating for the holidays, carving pumpkins, and changing things around. Poor Matt! I hope I can find some pictures of our first house and first Halloween soon. They are on a much older, slower computer that we have.
We spent our first Thanksgiving in Atlanta.
I graduated from college with my ECE degree! Lots of friends and family came to celebrate!! I got hired at HNH as a support teacher. I was thankful to start making a tiny bit of money and about getting my foot in the door in our school system. My sweet Nanny Jane gave me money for graduation and what did I buy? My first designer purse. I just had to have this coach bag. My priorities have changed now for sure.
Our first Christmas started lots of fun traditions that we still have. We spent our first Christmas in Dublin.
Blakely was my surprise Christmas gift this year! I couldn't have asked for a better gift. She is my special bunny girl.
I survived Matt's first business trip to Texas. This was big. I hardly got any sleep the week he was gone.
The next GA peach got married in January. Then another did too. We went back and visited our college town quite a bit.
We became very involved in First Baptist Church. We helped with youth on Wednesday nights and I joined a womens bible study. We also helped with our first DNOW. They created a Sunday School class for newlyweds. It bascially started with us and two other couples!
We joined our church and I was baptized since I was changing denominations. It was wonderful and I just wish I had pictures of it! I do have it on DVD though. Matt actually sang his first solo at FBC the day that I was baptized. He played the guitar and sang "Praise you in the Storm" by Casting Crowns.
I fell in love with my students and started going to every soccer game and baseball game that I could.
A job came open at my school. I was asked to interview. It was a long week waiting...I was so nervous, but I got the job for the next school year teaching kindergaten! I seriously have never been good at waiting. I cried, prayed, read verse after verse, and tried to stay calm. :)
I went on a Spring Break trip with my BFF (Poor Matty was always working hard.)
I taught my first Vacation Bible School at our new church.
I went on a beach vacation to Mexico Beach with my friend Lynn!
We celebrated our 1 year anniversary in Jacksonville. We also spent the weekend before at SGI and took Blakely to the beach for the first time. Matt actually bought me the MAT study guide as my paper gift because I had just decided that I was going to go back and get my Masters degree.
Even though we started our lives in a brand new place and experienced so much "new", our first year of marriage was a breeze. It was just like I was always meant to share a house with my best friend. We enjoyed our new community, and felt blessed by the new friendships, my school family, our church family, and all of of our older friendships. The only large payment we had to make was our rent and we were renting our house for a steal. We got to visit family all the time. Our lives were just slower then. We had some fun weddings to attend around the corner and babies weren't even on the horizon for many of us. Crazy how time changes so quickly.
