2021 Year in Review

I’ve made it an annual post to look back on my year of adventures, with the exception of last year. People get caught up in the excitement of the new year but it helps to look back and reflect too. Reflect on what was amazing, be grateful for the experiences you had, and think about the growth you had as well.

This last year has been another growing year for me. Honestly, I think every year from here on out will be that way, but this time around it was a big one. In January, the fog of depression lifted. I remember that week specifically too. I was having dinner with Ryan and I told him that somehow things were becoming clearer and this fuzzy fog around my brain was lifting, like waking up from a dream.

After that I was able to experience a year as myself again. Well, myself adjusting to being a mom to two very young children. Something everyone says you get used to but I don’t know if I ever will. I think they will just grow into different stages every time I begin to feel like I have a handle on things.

All that said, let’s look at the big things from 2021.

Life

Where the heck is my career going?

I finally had a chance to work in my dream job. Since I was `16 I dreamed of being a PE teacher and using my quirky enthusiasm to help students enjoy physical activity. For part of the year I got to do that in a temporary PE job at a local high school.

It was everything I ever dreamed of! It was a lot of work, especially in a pandemic, but I enjoyed every day that I was there. Which is why I was devastated when I wasn’t offered a permanent full time position with the school. I cried every day for two weeks. I couldn’t believe that I had my dream job within my reach and didn’t get it.

That said, God knows what he’s doing. I started this school year with plans to be an awesome substitute teacher again, but I could not find child care. I live in a very small town 30 minutes from the nearest city with a daycare. And do you know what daycare costs?! It would cost me about $2200/month to put my two toddlers in day care. At that point, what would I have been working for?

After a couple stressful months, I decided I had to find a remote job. And I found an AMAZING one! I’m currently doing communications for the Alberta Camping Association, an organization that does health and safety accreditation for summer camps. HELLO! Could this be any more up my alley?

Currently the position is part time with hopes to turn it into full time as the year goes on. And it’s perfect. Child care is no longer a worry or a cost and I’m working on something I’m truly passionate about- getting kids outside!

So while my career isn’t the clear path I expected, it’s still working out pretty well.

My hubby’s broken back

To cap off the year, my husband had MAJOR back surgery in December. He had a bulging disc fixed, a bone graft, a fusion, and screws put in. He’s a hurting mess. He will need three months of complete recovery, meaning no picking up our kids, and about 6- 8 months total recovery.

This means he is on unemployment and I’m working part time. Financially, it’s going to be a rough 2022. It’s all about growth right?

Health & Fitness

This is a very short one. I didn’t do much. I didn’t run any races, didn’t get to the gym, didn’t do any health challenges.

That is all changing next year, I’m doing the 6 Month Beginner’s Journey with Nutritious & Delicious. Bethany helped me lose the baby weight after Tynan .

I’m hoping the combination of training for a race and working with Bethany will help me get back into shape.

Outdoor Adventures

The best outdoor adventure this year was paddle boarding across Cameron Lake to a spring alpine lake and climbing an iceberg with my girlfriends.

I did a little camping with the boys, both in Waterton and at Castle Falls.

I did a solo camp for the long weekend after a stressful summer.

Creek time. When you have such little guys you have to embrace small, local adventures. We’ve logged hours at the town creek this year and will do so again in 2022.

Hoodoos. We made it out to Writing on Stone on a warm March day.

Hiking

I did manage to fit in some hikes with friends and the boys. I did a terrible job at writing recaps of them all though.

Hikes with the boys

Spring hike on Wishbone Trail, Waterton
Crandell Lake with Ty
Gold Creek Pond, Snoqualmie, WA
Franklin Falls, Snoqualmie, WA
Forum Falls, Waterton

Hikes with friends

I got Keir to do a mini hike in Waterton which was huge! 🙂
A spring hike to Crandell Lake
Solo Bears Hump
Crandell Lake, Waterton
Barclay Lake, WA
Crypt Lake
Haig Lake, Castle Park
Upper Rowe Lake, Waterton

I only did one epic day hike, Crypt Lake. I had done this iconic hike once before when I was in much better shape. To say I struggled this time around is an understatement!

Travel

The only travelling I got in was a month long road-trip around the Western U.S. with the boys. It was HARD! We stayed in Washington for three weeks and hit Utah for a week.

In Washington we had a lot of beach days, hiked, and played by the Columbia River.

There was also a disastrous Mariners game excursion. Ha ha! I remember taking 15 month old Ty and he loved it! He watched the game for awhile and fell asleep. Logan, at 18 months, was very unimpressed. He spent the entire game crying.

The good thing out of all that driving was all the road side stops I was forced to make to let the boys play.

We also took the time to stay in Great Falls and discover a few new family hot spots.

Tynan & Logan

Of course, the greatest adventure every year is keeping these two little boys alive.

TYNAN has been delightful in 2021. When he turned three I thought I was in or it, everyone warned me of the three-nager. And while he is a little more emotional that two year old Ty, he hasn’t been bad at all! He is such a funny boy, obsessed with robots, guns, legos and animals. His vocabulary astounds me when he pulls out these big and complex words and uses them correctly.

LOGAN has improved a lot at the end of 2021. He’s been a demanding baby, and his way of communicating up until recently has been to scream his head off for everything. When he’s happy mad, tired, sad, he would scream. It’s been very difficult to embrace motherhood with such a fussy baby but as he’s improved things are getting easier. He turned two this week so hopefully he’ll be more manageable this next year.