2018: Our Year in Review + An Exciting Update!

Hi friends! Happy New Year! I know it’s been a long while since my last blog post and the truth is, I totally needed the time away! It really made me realize how much I miss blogging and what I plan to change going forward that made me want to step away in the first place. More on that later. 🙂

I thought I’d kick off the new year and my first post in months by sharing what we’ve been up to the past year! This post is going to be a long one, so I’ll get right to it…

• We freshened up our living room for a specific reason I’ll share more on later in this post! 😉 I also painted our rock fireplace that was always such an eyesore to me and it totally made me wish I’d done it years ago. It was such an inexpensive and relatively easy (but time-consuming) fix! You can see the full reveal including the fireplace and all of the items linked here.

• February was a hard month to top! For starters, I turned the dreaded big 3-0. Kidding! It wasn’t bad at all! I spent my actual birthday with family and then had a fun night out with our friends a few days later.
• Colton’s parents took us to Hamilton for my birthday and it was INCREDIBLE! I pretty much listened to the soundtrack non-stop for a solid two months straight after that. I loved it before but seeing the musical made listening to it so much better!
• The weekend after my birthday, Colton surprised me with the best gift ever! A trip to Mission Beach and he invited our families to come along. Even Huck (our dog) got to join in on the fun! I grew up going to Mission Beach every year and told Colton I wanted to continue that tradition with our own children. It made it even more special that we kicked off the annual tradition with our families! Also, quick funny story about Huck. He hates swimming pools and won’t go near them. We tried to get him to swim a few times when he was a puppy and since then he has wanted nothing to do with it. Weird for a golden retriever, I know. Well apparently that doesn’t mean he hates water because he LOVED the ocean! Colton took him for a walk on the beach one morning and walked along the water just to see how he’d react and he was totally in his element, just jumping and splashing all over the place! I told Colton we’ve got a beach dog which means I guess we’ll just have to move to the beach keep him happy. Lol, I wish!

• We took Scottie to her first Spring Training game…and probably her last until she’s at least 5, lol.
• Scottie took her first steps on March 23rd! We were outside walking up and down our street with her walker which we’d been doing for weeks. I moved the walker a foot or two when we were stopped and she took a few steps toward it! It was non-stop from then on!

• We had a fun start to April celebrating Scottie’s first Easter. She looked so cute in the adorable smocked dress my aunt got her.
• I co-hosted my sister’s baby shower with my aunt and we had such a fun day celebrating my future niece!
• Colton and I went to a Diamondbacks game for his 31st birthday and then celebrated with family that weekend at one of our new favorite restaurants, The Sicilian Butcher. It is SO GOOD!

• May was hands down our busiest month of the year! We kicked off the month by going to the Taylor Swift concert which was amazing and so much fun!
• I stayed busy planning and prepping for Scottie’s first birthday party for the first half of the month. I share all of the details from the party in this blog post.
• I celebrated my first Mother’s Day which was so special. I felt like I’d waited forever because I’d missed it by four days the year prior.
• We celebrated our baby turning one! And how is it that her second year is already flying by faster than the first?!
• I got a text message from one of my best friends the morning of Scottie’s birthday party saying she wouldn’t be able to make it…because her water broke!!! She ended up having her sweet baby girl, Amelia, that same day!
• Ready for the exciting update?! Remember how I mentioned freshening up our living room back in January? Well it’s because we were getting ready to sell our house! We sold our house and bought a new one during the month of May which was such a total whirlwind. I still can’t believe I haven’t shared that but it’s a story for another day! I can’t wait to share some more photos of our new house. First up will be a living room reveal coming soon!

• My sister had her baby at the beginning of June! It was so amazing to watch her become a mama and I am so excited to finally be a first-time aunt to sweet Lennon! Also, I’m pretty sure she’s Scottie’s favorite person in the universe. My sister and I always FaceTime and the first thing Scottie says when she sees her is “Yennon!!!” (she can’t say her “L”s yet) and gets so excited.
• Scottie started swim lessons which was rough the first week or so because girlfriend did not like it! Thankfully, she started to get more comfortable the second week and we’re so glad we stuck it out because she loves swimming now. I can’t wait to go back next year and see how much more she learns and improves.
• We went to another one of our favorite restaurants, El Chorro, for Father’s Day. We made the mistake of letting Scottie try a sticky bun (they’re so delicious) shortly after our food came out which resulted in her wanting nothing else including her fruit which is usually her favorite food. She definitely has a sweet tooth like her mama!

• We hosted our first party at our new house on the 4th of July and had such a fun day with family and friends.
• The rest of July was kind of a downer month for me. I love to stay busy and it just felt like a really slow month. We’d finished up most of our unpacking already and were stuck inside because Phoenix summers aren’t exactly pleasant. I quickly learned that entertaining a toddler while inside 24/7 wasn’t going to be easy. We had lots of splash pad dates with friends and indoor playdates!

• We kicked the month of August off with a trip to South Dakota to visit Colton’s family and attend his family reunion. We were so excited to be able to just sit outside and enjoy the cooler weather for a full week! The first few days were pretty rough because we discovered Scottie had an ear infection on our second day there. She was pretty miserable until her antibiotics started to kick in so we had a few sleepless nights and lots of cuddles. Thankfully, she started feeling better before the reunion and we ended up having such a fun time on the river in Chamberlain, SD with Colton’s extended family!
• I knocked off an item on my bucket list by attending a Rod Stewart concert! Hearing him sing “Forever Young” live was such a special moment for me because it’s a song that I grew up listening to with my dad and grandparents who have since passed away. I actually had the lyrics to the song made into a sign for Scottie’s nursery which you can see here.
• I started my wellness Instagram account which has been so much fun with very little stress because I’ve just really enjoyed it and haven’t put any pressure on myself with it. Also, you can get a peek at my new home office in the last photo!

• I joined a MOPS group to meet new moms in my area and am so glad I did! My MOPS group meets twice a month to have breakfast, hear a speaker talk about a different topic regarding motherhood, and have small group discussions at each meeting. I’ve made several new friends since joining and my sister joined with me so it’s been really fun getting to do it with her. They offer childcare during the meetings and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get Scottie used to a new environment and somewhat prepared for preschool. Prior to MOPS, the only babysitters she’d ever had were family members and she’s been totally fine with that but this was a whole different ballgame. The first several meetings she had such a hard time but thankfully she really enjoys it now that she’s gotten to know everyone!
• We headed up north to Prescott for my cousin Cody’s wedding. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we had such a fun night celebrating Cody and Kathryn (his wife) with our family. Oh, and they happened to hire the best photographer ever who flew out all the way from Canada and also happens to be one of my best friends! It was so nice to be able to catch up with Stesha after her photography duties were over for the night!

• I hosted my first essential oils make & take alongside my friend Jamie. I was SO nervous beforehand but it ended up being such a fun night filled with lots of girl talk and making the most delicious smelling pumpkin spice room sprays!
• We did all the fall things this year! We went to a Halloween hot air balloon festival which Scottie absolutely loved. We definitely plan on going again next year!
• We went to Schnepf Farms for the first time and also plan on making it an annual tradition. Scottie was a little young still for most of the activities but she loved the train ride, petting zoo, and dancing to live music! I think we’ll enjoy it even more next year.
• We dressed up as a family for Halloween totally last minute! We knew Scottie was going to be Poppy from Trolls and had tentatively planned to dress up too but I never got around to getting anything for our costumes besides the wig I’m wearing. The day before Halloween, I decided I really wanted to try and make it happen so I headed to Goodwill and ended up scoring my pink jumpsuit and Colton’s shirt for like $8 total! We completed the rest of our costumes with items we found around our house. And for the record, Colton did not just happen to have a pair of jorts laying around. Ha! We cut an old pair of jeans for him to wear. 🙂

• Colton and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on November 1st! We were getting ready to head out the door to go to dinner when I spontaneously decided to throw on my wedding dress and surprise Colton. He rushed into our room because he needed help getting Scottie’s things ready to take over to my sister’s house (she watched her while we went on our date) and he didn’t even notice I was wearing it! Things sure do change when you have kids. LOL!
• We kicked off our Thanksgiving morning at the 8th annual Bemis Bowl. You can read more about it here.
• We hosted our first Thanksgiving in our new home later that afternoon. Everything turned out delicious and we had a great day with family.
• Colton and I were so honored to be asked to be Lennon’s Godparents and celebrated her baptism on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
• Colton and his dad spent all of Thanksgiving break and the weekend before putting together a playset in the backyard for Scottie. His parents were so generous to get it for us as a housewarming gift. Scottie already loves going down the slide and I know she’ll continue to grow into it and use it for years and years to come!

• We had such a fun December doing all of the Christmas-y things with Scottie! I love how adorable the photos of her and Lennon (my niece) in their Christmas jammies turned out.
• I take my sugar cookie decorating very seriously (kidding…sort of) and had lots of fun baking up a storm. Colton and his mom actually did all of the baking and I just decorated and ate lots of them, lol.
• Scottie loved looking at Christmas lights! We went to several houses this year and she’d get especially excited when she saw a character she knew like Mickey Mouse or Olaf.
• We took Scottie to go see Santa and let’s just say she was NOT a fan — see photo here.
• We celebrated Christmas with both of our families at our house this year and we loved getting to see everyone all in one place! Santa brought Scottie a baby nursery dollhouse which she is OBSESSED with.
• We played so many games with family which is one of my favorite things to do during downtime. A few of our favorites we played were Catan, Tripoley, and Smear.
• The past few New Year’s Eves have been pretty low-key and this one was no exception. We did go to the Children’s Museum of Phoenix for their noon year celebration and Scottie had a blast. They had a noon countdown complete with a balloon drop and lots of confetti and even served sparkling cider. It was a great way to ring in the new year with a little one who goes to bed well before midnight and I look forward to going back next year!

And that about wraps up our year in review! I look forward to sharing a lot more in 2019 and not waiting until January of next year to share it with you. 😉 In fact, I’ll be back tomorrow to share my goals for January!