2021 was another year spent playing dodgeball with COVID. I'd love to say that 10 years from now, we will all struggle to remember what life was like with COVID playing peek-a-boo with our lives. 2021 at least brought vaccines, and boosters, the return of sports, dipping our toes back into the travel world, full-time in-person school, and a variety of workplace rules, mandates, schedules, etc. It was another year spent bending and flexing to the constant change.
But, what a year it was.
As usual, we kicked off the year in the snow. The annual sledding adventure was postponed from New Year's Day to later in January due to lack of snow at the usual spot. However, we ventured up to Lowman on January 2nd and found plenty of snow there, as well as some family who were staying nearby at Matt and Lori's cabin.
The 4-wheeler sure made for some great memories around the neighborhood!
Addie continued to excel in all areas of her 4-H adventures. She explored some different horse groups, and continued to rake in a ton of awards at the county fairs. She is going to dive into sheep jackpots in 2022, and we can't wait to see what adventures come our way through that.
Carter continued his adventures in flag football and had two great seasons (spring and fall). He also tried out for the school basketball team and had an excellent season! It was really fun watching him navigate the dynamics of all of those teams. His tryouts for the 8th grade team are a few days away and we are so excited to see what this season brings. He also got to dip his toes into the softball world - obviously the kid knows how to play, but he's been wanting to join the older guys in fastpitch and slowpitch. That's clearly a bigger beast than the baseball he was used to playing when he was younger.....BUT the opportunity presented itself this summer, and the smile on that kid's face is a clear indicator that he was having the time of his life. Mama was a bit apprehensive about it, but we set some clear parameters, and it was truly one of my favorite things to watch this year!
Kendall.....what do I say about this girl and her softball? We did a complete 180 this year - a situation that really forced our hand. It sure turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I had been battling the whole last year, upon entering the club softball arena, about Kendall being "left behind". She obviously loves the game, but the only way for us to make it work with both girls was to have Kendall play up. And as much as I wanted her to just thrive and make these huge leaps, it was become more evident as time went on that she truly deserved to play in her own age group. So when we eventually bowed out of the club scene, it was very much up in the air as to what Kendall was going to do, and what I was going to do for coaching. Ultimately, she decided she wanted to go back to 10u ball in league, so that really solidified the decision for us both. And let me tell you, that girl ROCKED fall ball. It was her moment, and she lit it up. I could not have been more proud of her, her drive, and the leaps she made in the right environment. And it was the right environment for our family as well. She is going to continue with one more season of 10u this spring, as well as jumping back into Y-Ball basketball.
Something that we started during COVID was getting out into the outdoors and exploring. Sometimes that looked like day trips, sometimes it was fishing. We started doing a lot of fishing last year, and we continued that this year. We had some amazing times finding new spots, and these adventures were definitely a lot of fun.
Getting out for day trips or full-blown camping adventures is what gets us through the year. Even though it's a lot of prep work, there's nowhere else we would rather be!
We resumed our family poker nights, which are always a hoot.
We did the Snake River Stampede with the kids, as well as Firebird.
We had a complete re-do of our kitchen cabinets, which was a mixed-bag experience.
We spent many, many spring, summer, and fall evenings doing family walks. We explored many routes on the greenbelt, as well as the regular walks over to Kleiner to enjoy bocce ball and sand volleyball.
Our family lost one amazing dog.
We took a family vacation to Yellowstone. We were nervous about this trip - due to COVID, the Park was getting record-setting visitors. However, our timing was damn near perfect as we avoided a ton of crowds (doing research about the best times to enter/exit the Park sure paid off!)
And piggy-backing on that trip was our Alaska Cruise. This was something that had been in the works for over two years. And again, due to COVID, we weren't sure this was actually going to happen. After three cancellations, we were finally approaching our travel dates. The entire process from flying to rapid COVID tests to board the ship was actually pretty seamless. And the wait was so worth it! What an experience. We encountered some very nasty weather on the way back, which I think solidified Matt's desire to NEVER board a cruise ship again. ;) And honestly, I think it did for me as well. I have done two cruises in my life, and both encountered sketchy weather. I think I'm about maxed out for cruises for the time being. :)
We have a lot of travels planned already for 2022. Addie's sheep jackpot adventures are going to take us to various places, near and far. We also have big and small trips already on the books. Can't wait to get back out into the world!
The kids are continuing to smash school. All three are doing so well. Carter is in his last year of middle school (WHAT), Addie started middle school, and Kendall is in her last year of elementary school (again, WHAT).
Work is going great for Matt and me. I am still fully remote, and thoroughly enjoy it! I find the work/home life balance is incredible this way.
Carter got his braces off!
I continued to read as much as possible this year. I went beyond my reading goal, for sure!
Looking forward (always) to 2022, I have a lot on my mind. I have some moves I want to make, but I am going to keep those close to my chest while I weigh the strategic avenues to get to where I ultimately want to be. The underlying theme, however, seems quite evident.
See you in 2022!
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