2020 Year in Review

2020 started off pretty normal but as we are all too familiar with it soon took a pretty hard turn to a very different year.  Even with all the changes and craziness this year brought, 2020 was still filled with great memories.

Celebrated turning the big 3-0 in February.  I got the cutest balloons and flowers at work.  Later on I celebrated with Kyle going shopping and getting dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  Check out more on my birthday celebrations here. 

We also made the trip up to Birmingham to check out the Vulcan Statue.  I love exploring random attractions close by and this one had been on my list.  Little did we know it would be the last trip up to Birmingham before things shut down.  See more about the Vulcan Statue here.  

 

 

When things were still normal we made a point to get to some of the Alabama sports offerings.  For Valentine's day Kyle and I went to a gymnastics meet.  Something I had wanted to do for a while and it was neat to see.  We also went to a basketball game with some friends.  Both resulted in an Alabama win so I'd say they were a success.

My little sister had the chance to go to New York for a writing class assignment over her spring break so my mom and I decided to tag along.  This was right before everything went crazy and shutdown.  It ended up a little crazy but we were all thankful to have been able to experience the trip together.

She had to visit places that inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby so we made a stop at one of the mansions outside of the city.

First time taking the Staten Island Ferry.

Also got to visit walk the High Line and see the cool sculpture at Hudson Yards.

Walked through Times Square, so weird to see pictures now with empty sidewalks.  

I'm so glad my mom and sister got to experience Phantom before everything shut down! 

One day I'll get a recap of our trip up...things went crazy after we got home and I never shared.

Last stop on the Fitzgerald tour was the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC.  This is where he spent the later years of his life.  Always such a beautiful place to walk around.

We had such a great trip and then Corona turned everything upside down.  I worked from home for weeks, plans were turned upside down.

This photo-shoot was planned to take place at Disney, Corona had other plans.  Still got some really cute shots!

 

Way out of my comfort zone for the shoot but it was really fun.  Check out the collection here.

June brought even bigger changes as we prepared to move from Alabama to South Carolina.  While excited to move closer to family it was bittersweet to leave all our friends that we had made while living in Alabama for almost 5 years!

My work friend Maddie took some pictures of us on campus.  Sweet memories of a place that was so good to us.

 

Moving during a pandemic was quite an experience.  Adjusting to a new place while still staying healthy and safe.  We spent a lot of time exploring outside and ranking our favorite parks.

Bonus we also moved close to a Bruster's Ice Cream and we definitely made good use of it!  My absolute favorite flavor is the wedding cake!

 

Moving back closer to home allowed us to make a few trips to the lake, something we have missed for years!  Such a nice time to relax, disconnect from the world and spend time with family.

 

August brought with it the biggest change when we found out we were pregnant!  Check out more on that here!

 

 

 2020 also brought my brother back home from his extended deployment!  We were so excited to be able to be there to welcome him home!  

This was also the day we told my family that we were expecting ;)

More time spent outdoors exploring.  With things closed we were really forced to find other things to do.  We have really enjoyed checking out all the parks and nature spots around.

We officially announced we were pregnant in November and since then its been ALL baby!

We are so excited for this adventure and can't wait to meet our little baby!

We found out we were having a baby GIRL and things got even more exciting!  I've been picking up all the bows and pink things!

2020 wasn't the year we expected but it was filled with so many blessings.  We will always be thankful for this year celebrating and experiencing our first pregnancy.  We are so excited to welcome our little baby girl in 2021!

 

In spite of everything I hope you all had a great year and remember the good from 2020!

Happy New Year!

Word of the Year 2020

Happy New Year!  This is my third year of picking a word for the year.  I feel like instead of making resolutions, picking a word that embodies a goal for the year, helping me to live more intentionally.  Last year my word was "SEEK".  With that as my goal I worked to make seeking God's will for my life and focusing on His plan over mine a theme for my life.

This year I used the DaySpring Word of the Year to find my word.  It was really cool you take a quiz choosing things that you want to focus on or that sound like you and it will tell you the word for your year.

 My word of the year is:

Merriam-Webster defines Abide as:  

1 : to remain stable or fixed in a state a love that abided with him all his days. 2 : to continue in a place : sojourn will abide in the house of the Lord. abide by. 1 : to conform to abide by the rules. 2 : to accept without objection : to acquiesce in will abide by your decision.

Applying this to my life I am focusing on honoring God with my life and everything I do, accepting His will and His plan for my life and trusting in Him.  Fully relying and trusting is not something that comes easy but I know that His plan is greater than anything I have planned.

My prayer this year is to live intentionally, focusing on His plan for my life and to abide in His love and His word.

Did you pick a word of the year?  Let me know your words down below, praying for this new year and fresh start.

2019 year in Review

Here we are 2020, still seems crazy to write that!  This past year was filled with concerts, travel and lots of new adventures!

2019 started off with a Jesse McCartney concert that was so much fun!  Check out my post here.

Celebrated my birthday with my first Kendra Scott necklace!

Vegas was such a great experience!  So cool to see all the sights both city and nature.

The Hoover Dam was beautiful!

Wanna see more from Vegas?  Check out my post here.

I made a change and chopped off a chunk of my hair last spring.

Spring brought a trip to Disney and what a trip it was!  ALL the pictures were taken, so much food and Disney magic abounded! 

So many pictures and fun memories from this trip!  See more here.

Another concert, Kyle and I went to see Eli Young Band for his birthday.  We were pretty much front row and had such a great time getting to see our favorite band together.

See more here.

I made my first trip to Texas this year.  We went to the Dallas market and had a great time experiencing some of what Texas had to offer.

We made a trip to NC and had such a great time visiting family.

My brother was deployed this year so we were super thankful to get to spend some time with him.  Continually praying for his safety and the safety of all the troops in service. 

I was super lucky this year to win a few concert tickets this year, first off was Brad Paisley.  Kyle and I really enjoyed this one together, he was so funny!

 

 Check out more on this concert here.

Second concert was Dierks Bently.  He performed with Jon Pardi and Tenielle Towns and we had such a great time!  Check out more on the concert here.

Stepped into character as Lucy for Halloween. 

Kyle and I visited a special church service with a friend and had a great time of worship and fellowship.

Thanksgiving was spent surrounded by family and friends.  My family and Kyle's family all spent Thanksgiving together for the first time and we all had a great time enjoying time together.  

With my brother deployed holidays were a little different, we made the best of it by spending time all together thanks to the wonders of technology ;)  See more on this trip here.

I feel like Christmas flew by in a hurry this year.  We spent it with friends, family and celebrating the birth of Jesus.  

Annual Ugly Christmas Sweat competition with Kyle's family...p.s. I totally won this year ;)

This year was truly a joy and we are so excited to see where 2020 takes us.