Looking Back at 2021

Well it is that time of year again... the time where I act like a blogger and recap my prior year. Honestly, if you had to sit and try to remember your 2021 month by month would you be able to do it without cheating? I can tell you I can't!

So I turned to my 2021 Facebook photo album for help. There are some memories I have and at this point I can't remember the month or if it even was last year. This might be entertaining for me!

I know this was the year of cancellations, unplanned plans, last minute tweaking of plans, new things, saying goodbye to old things... and a whole lot of mystery in the process. So as Hamilton would say, Let's go!

January: Nope. My memory right now isn't giving me one single thing. Wow. Time to cheat. I hit 15 Years of Service at my job. That's pretty big I'd say! I am NOT a job hopper!! Katura discovered our Nintendo Wii and we began bowling and dancing a lot at home. I built what used to be my biggest Lego set yet. I vividly recall I was doing that on January 6th...

February: For the first time in my life I happily tuned in to watch the entire Presidential Inauguration. Such relief. My sweet little girl dared to grow up and turn FIVE!! She was supposed to turn 5 in Key West during a Disney Cruise on the Wonder out of New Orleans. We were going to be at Mardi Gras, too. Obviously that didn't happen. BUT instead of doing nothing we just changed our destination and took my mom with us on a girls trip to Walt Disney World! Like I did for my birthday in 2020, Katura spent her birthday in Epcot doing spin art before having dinner at a restaurant she loves, Enzo's Hideaway Tunnel Bar! Ooh - and then our flights were messed up because of a storm in Oregon, and we ended up in San Diego and driving all the way back home. Sheesh, what a trip!

March: I got my first Covid vaccine shot!! And according to Facebook photos we lived on our trampoline in the sunshine!

April: Clearly I then got my 2nd Covid vaccine. Woohoo!! Shout out to my fellow Moderna peeps! We were outside A LOT. We had a girls trip to the coast to play around with vlogging and a fun day at the beach. Katura spent a lot of time playing with friends. And she discovered the joy of driving around our property in her pink Jeep. She got that for her 1st Christmas, now she can actually use it!

May: Yeah, May. This was a month. We had some high highs. And we had a low low. I don't want to cry, so I'll keep this month short. We had a wonderful family vacation at Aulani in Hawaii for Mother's Day. It was beautiful and we can't wait to go back! And the night before we flew away, the world said goodbye to my step-dad. Ugh.... okay, moving on...

June: Graduation!! It was the month of parties! Multiple birthday parties for preschool friends. And then we had preschool graduation!! I'm sad the little trio of girls had to split up for new schools now, but I am so glad to not have to go near that church the preschool was attached to anymore. Love the school and Director Kathy. Despise that church. Graduation means a party, and we hosted a big party for the entire class. It was so much fun! And not to be ignored, our new life began in June. Katura became a gymnast! Gymnastics has taken over our whole house and we all love it!

July: This month can be summed up easily. Katura has a social life. I just tag along! Play dates all over the place, gymnastics, vacation Bible school, safari camp. She was a busy girl and I was the exhausted mom taking her everywhere. And while doing all of that for her I was busy behind the scenes working on what would happen in August....

August: We had a very special unveiling of a memorial bench at Legion Field in honor of Jim. It was really nice! And right after that our family was off to Florida and somehow ended up being part of the few people that were on the very first Disney Cruise after the long covid shutdown. It was surreal, unexpected, completely awesome! We had the best time and I legit cried walking off the ship. The crew was incredible. I became Facebook friends with one of our servers and am hoping to see our serving team again in a few months!

September: Kindergarten begins!! Katura became a Panther just like her mom and her grandma and all the rest of the family! She had an immediate love of school, and I have had this whole new discovery of mom things to take care of - homework, drop off, pick up times, early release, library day, book fairs, school lunches, racing from school to the gym. So much. I sleep pretty well every night now because I'm always tired! Ooh, something freaking awesome happened in September..... Alanis Morissette concert!!! And I now have her autograph!!! It. Was. The. Best. !!!!

October: October was basically 3 things. School. Gymnastics. Halloween. We lived at the Spirit Halloween store. We went to multiple Halloween costume events. Katura and her bestie were the same character from two different movies and HAD to trick or treat together. And we all had a blast doing it!

November: Hahahaha. I think my whole month was just one long vacation, right?!? We did a last minute tweak to our original vacation plans, and ended up having the best time! Not having a set agenda, and just relaxing on a golf course was so so cool. My mom and I always have Thanksgiving together at home with the parade and dog show. This time we just did it in a new place and let Mickey Mouse cook dinner for us! Could this be a new annual thing?!?

December: TMI - I'm a grown up and had my first mammogram. I passed! I also got my booster shot, and Katura got her first vaccine shot. By the time you read this she is already fully vaccinated! Our December was pretty quiet. After all of the November travel we just needed some downtime. Katura and I got our ears pierced together and went to gymnastics all the time. That and school is pretty much it. And then Christmas happened.... and we were spoiled! Harry Potter toys AND the gigantic Lego Titanic. It sold out instantly when it became available, and Shawn was one of those lucky people to get one! And somehow I was completely clueless. I stared at that wrapped gift for one and a half months dying to know what was inside. I was completely stunned! Construction HAS begun and you'll be seeing that soon, FYI! To finish off the year I had the most wonderful night with my number one person. Katura and I had our own little party at home with Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper, some popcorn, ice cream and tons of games! We even made it up until around 1am!!

So that was my year. Like I said, some great highs and an unexpected very low low.

What does 2022 have in store? Ha! Who really knows, right?!? Things that are supposed to happen look cool though. Races, cruises, HAMILTON!!!! My mind went blank after typing Hamilton. How did I manage to score tickets to Hamilton???? I don't even know. But I refuse to get all excited because we have seen how things go. They get canceled. In 2021 a cruise was canceled, the Alanis concert was one that had been delayed twice, the Hawaii trip was one that had been delayed. You just never know anymore, so now I have tons of exciting things lined up but my excitement level is actually just flat. Hopefully it will rise and things will happen, but I'm just going to go a day at a time and stay optimistic, but just be chill at the same time.

Here's to 2022. Let's all try to make it a good one!