People (Dec. 14th 2011)

We're Thankful For... Each Other

He’s scored two No. 1 hits this year (“Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” and “Honeybee”), a gig on the prime-time singing competition The Voice and a No. 1 country album with Red River Blue. She picked up a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, racked up her second No. 1 hit with “Heart Like Mine” and scored a No. 1 album with her new girl group Pistol Annies.

But what Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert are really grateful for this year is each other. “I’m most thankful for my husband,” says Lambert, who married Shelton in front of 560 guests at their lavish wedding in Texas hill country last May. “I’m so thankful to, at this stage of my life, have a spouse and have someone that has my back forever.” Shelton agrees: “If I wasn’t married to Miranda, I don’t think I’d ever get married. It’s not a life that’s easy to understand,” says the singer of the hectic schedules that often pull them in different directions. That’s not to say that the time apart doesn’t get to them. “It’ll hit you like, ‘Damn, I’m married and I need to see my wife, what the hell?’ ” says Shelton. “Or she’ll say, ‘It’s been too long! I need somebody to pick me up at the airport wherever you’re going to be tomorrow.’ ” In other words, they make it work.

As to how they’re adjusting to newlywed life after six years of dating? “We laugh about it all the time: Nothing’s changed-we still fight just as much,” jokes Shelton. Adds Lambert: “Nothing’s changed, except it feels good to know that no matter where we are, in different parts of the country, I still got him no matter what.”