Citizenship for wife who is overseas with me,I am ctzin

[Bobsmyth]

I did not see a rule anywhere about total trips being more than a year is a problem. They only have two rules: max 6 months at a time absences and at least 30 months of presence in 5 years. which means 30 months = 2.5 of total allowed absence. Not 1 year of allowed absence. So if you meet these two things you should be fine. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Your confusing continuous residency (required during statutory period) and physical presence (30 months).
Taking a trip between 6 months and less than 1 year presumes break in continuous residency unless you can prove otherwise, whereas a trip over 1 year automatically breaks continuous residency. Also, back to back trips of under 6 months can be seen as a break in continuous residency depending on the nature of those trips.