Christina Haack is celebrating a major milestone with her boyfriend Chris Larocca.

The HGTV star and Hidden Key founder42, penned a heartfelt tribute to Larocca in honor of their one-year anniversary. Along with the sweet caption, she also included the first photo they ever took together in the Oct. 6 Instagram post.

“Our first photo together, over a year ago. Thank you Chris for always dating me and spoiling me and showing me true respect,” she begins. In the selfie snap, both Haack and Larocca can be seen beaming as they pose next to each other.

Haack admits that while they do get into arguments like any couple does, they’re always able to work it out and keep their relationship strong.

“It’s been a year of learning and growing and communicating and defending and sometimes fighting but always making up,” she continues. “Thank you, thank you, thank you for walking into my life in that random Mexican restaurant in Newport.”

During an interview for PEOPLE’s cover story published last week, Haack opened up about how she and Larocca actually met long before their relationship news went public in January 2025.

“We met the old-fashioned way. We met at a restaurant in Newport Beach,” she told PEOPLE. “I was there with a girlfriend. He was there with some guy friends. One of his friends started talking to us and he was super funny. They were all funny.”

She recalled how it was “just a really easy, fun day” and how she remembered “laughing the entire time” with Larocca. She also noted how he didn’t seem like any of the “Newport Beach-type people” she’s met before, and she later learned it’s because he’s originally from Long Island, N.Y.

However, it was when Larocca invited her on a trip to Italy later that fall that their relationship really started to grow, Haack says.

“We were dating, and he invited me on this trip to Italy,” Haack recalls. “How could you say no? It was an incredible trip. We were gone for a week, we went to Paris, and that’s when we really got to know each other and really bonded. Since then, our relationship has just grown.”

PEOPLE confirmed the pair were in a relationship on Jan. 11, months after Haack and Larocca first started dating in secret.

The Flip Off star told PEOPLE that she was “grateful” to have had a few months together to spend with Larocca privately before the news went public. They later made their relationship Instagram official in February 2025 when Haack shared a snap of them cozying up together on a private jet.

Before Larocca, Haack was first married to her Flip or Flop costar Tarek El Moussa — with whom she shares daughter Taylor, 15, and son Brayden, 10 — from 2009 to 2016. She was then married to her second husband Ant Anstead from 2018 to 2020, during which the now-exes welcomed their son Hudson, 6, together.

Her third marriage to ex Josh Hall ended with a tumultuous split in July 2024 after less than three years. In August 2025, a California judge officially granted the dissolution of their marriage.

On whether wedding bells are on the horizon for her and Larocca, Haack told PEOPLE she’s in no rush to take that next step any time soon.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“We’re not even discussing getting married. We’re not discussing getting engaged,” she said. “We’re taking things slow. I promise. We’re not having children together. We’re not in a rush. We don’t have a timeline. He’s a super busy man. He has his own life, his own friends, his own career, and he’s pragmatic.”