Happy New Year! If you’ve followed me for long here, you know I love doing these year in review posts! This is, I believe, my 6th Year in Review. 2023 was a good year for us. We were fully settled into our house, feeling much more comfortable in Michigan and really started to bond with friends here. I’m always so grateful as I look back on these posts to see just how much God has done in our hearts and how many things we have been blessed with.
January
The Hubs and I had our first trip of the year this month to Dominican Republic. It was amazing to escape the cold for the tropics and we loved our first time at an all inclusive resort. I shared the recipe for my copycat Starbucks Egg Bites, that I still am making on a regular basis. We had a lot of snow and a lot of basketball! I did a 30 day series of What Molly Wore on Instagram, highlighting my daily outfits and it was a lot of work. Haha.
February
We officially finished the work to Anchors Awey and were able to share pictures of the remodel. Callan had his first travel basketball tournament, where they took gold! We stayed in the grossest hotel and made great memories. My mom, sister, niece and nephew came to visit for a long weekend. I shot my second Peloton campaign in the freezing snow and shared my second highest viewed post of the year – recipe for at home McGriddles.
March
I’ll be honest, March was a hard month for me! I’m used to it starting to get warm and it just isn’t in Michigan. We were still going full speed with basketball and baseball had just started. We had a couple big snowstorms and took the whole family out snowboarding! I spent the night in the hospital while they tried to figure out the cause of my severe stomach pain. It turned out to be an angry gall bladder, which I decided to just wait and hope I didn’t have anymore issues with it. I tried to warm up with a Spring Break try on in hopes spring would come faster, but stayed warm watching sports in my new weather pod!
April
We started the month out on Spring Break! We had a blast visiting friends in Charlotte, then on to Ocean Isle Beach to get Anchors Awey ready for summer renters. They boys brought friends and it was a fantastic trip. We ended it with Easter Weekend in Ohio with my family. I released my first collection in the Stilettos and Diapers Sports Mom gear that started with baseball! Cooper turned 15, started drivers ed and got his permit.
May
Baseball was going strong in May for all 3 boys! I wrote about this new phase of motherhood that I find myself in. I was so excited for my partnership with Kenny Chesney’s Blue Chair Bay Rum and got to be a part of his I Go Back Tour here in GR. I shared some of my favorite meals, including my sourdough obsession and my high protein copycat Chickfila sandwich recipe that is so delicious. My sister from Thailand came home for a few weeks and we got to enjoy some time together for Mother’s Day weekend and the Tulip Festival in Holland. I had a very painful gall bladder attack that led to surgery. It was most inconvenient in a busy sports month, but God knew exactly where I needed to be as the surgeon used methods most don’t, that ultimately saved my life.
June
Boys finished school and Summer break began! I can’t believe how much they grew in just one school year. We traveled down to Ohio for a weekend before my sister and her family headed back to Thailand. It was so wonderful to have our entire family together! I made a favorite recipe, Asian Crunch Salad as well as my greek yogurt bagel recipe that currently has 3.6 million views! Cooper was playing summer basketball, Callan went to golf camp and played lots of baseball tournaments, while Lincoln finished baseball of his own. At the end of the month, I took off with the 2 younger boys, my sister and 2 of her kids for a week at the beach!
July
We celebrated a long July 4th weekend with friends and neighbors and spent a weekend on the east side of the state for a baseball tournament all before The Hubs birthday in the middle of the month. Callan played All-Stars baseball, while he and Cooper wrapped up their seasons of travel ball. Callan went to his first concert to see NF! At the end of the month, we flew down to Florida for our annual 30A vacation, where we overlapped with my sis and her family for a few days.
August
We were still in Florida the first week of August, soaking up all the family time. We were home just a few days before we took back off for Ocean Isle Beach. We really tried to squeeze in as much time at Anchors Awey as possible this year! On our way home, we stopped in Virginia Beach at my in-laws new house for a few days with them and the cousins. I made the viral crispy feta egg a lot! I think I had 2 blog posts the whole month, but one recapped a lot + Callan getting his braces on! The boys started back school at the end of the month and we had all the flooring replaced in our house, which shut down the kitchen for a week!
September
We enjoyed Labor Day and celebrated Lincoln turning 8! I got back into my meal planning routine and made a delicious Pumpkin Cream Espresso Martini to kick off cooler temps. The Hubs and I took a trip with his work to Marco Island, Florida that was very relaxing. We jet skied with dolphins through the everglades, slept in and satched incredible sunsets. Callan started football and I added football mom gear to my Sports Mom Shop.
October
Cooper had homecoming and I sure did love seeing him get all dressed up! I posted, by far, my top selling item of 2023 and took off on a girls trip to Charlotte for a friends birthday weekend. We saw Luke Bryan at the outdoor amphitheater there and had a blast together. I shared my Nashville Hot Chicken Dip that I’ve been making for years and our Fall porch makeover. We welcomed Halloween weekend with a snowstorm!
November
Callan turned 12 on the 1st and we celebrated with a World Series party. I LOVE a theme party and this one was particularly fun to throw! And since I couldn’t be stopped, I threw a Boot Scootin Boogie party to give all our Michigan friends a taste of the south. I shared one of my most used recipes, homemade cream soup. We kept with our new tradition and took off for Anchors Awey for Thanksgiving week and Cooper helped me make lots of gift guides for Black Friday shopping.
December
We decorated really early for Christmas and went wild with 5 trees. Basketball got into full swing with Cooper playing JV, Callan playing travel and Lincoln playing rec at our local YMCA. It keeps us busy but is so fun! The Hubs and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary and we did plenty of Christmas-y things around Grand Rapids. I shared lots of festive looks from Amazon and several sweet treats – including my annual oreo ball truffles. We celebrated a cozy family Christmas in Michigan, followed by New Year down in Ocean Isle Beach with my sister and her family.
What a year it was and what a year we are looking forward to in 2024! We know God has us where He wants us and can’t wait to see what this New Year brings. Thank you all for being part of our lives!
