2021: A Year in Review

I’m a few weeks late in writing this post, but I always ends up being so meaningful when I take the time to look back over the year (photos help too!) and remember everything that we’ve done, enjoyed and endured. It is truely amazing what can happen in the span of one year.

When I try to summarize or think of something to categorize 2021, the only word that comes to mind is “gratitude”. I think that this past year was one where I had another layer of understanding of how broken this world is and how little control I actually hold. But another year where God was faithful and good and we were given more than we ever could want or need.

Hugo had a birthday and we celebrated with LOTS of dinosaurs (read more about our Brunch at Jurassic Park here).

Then it was Josh’s 30th birthday in February. It was pretty impossible to have a party at this point so we had a special celebration with just the three of us. I really owe him an all-out bash for his next milestone birthday, but we are so proud of him and everything he has accomplished in life so far.

Josh’s youngest sister got married a few days later. It was a big old fun family celebration with Hugo as one of the ring bearers and my sister Elle as one of the bridesmaids. We got to spend some time in sunny Florida with mine and Josh’s families and it was so special to see another one of ours married off.

We celebrated our fifth anniversary in March with a quick trip to Fort Lauderdale. I’m not sure what went wrong, but in all of our years of travel and expertise, neither of us had ever had a trip this awful. WE HAVE STORIES TO TELL! Our flights were delayed overnight, a man was ARRESTED off of our plane, we had thought that spring break was over but WE THOUGHT WRONG, the beaches were so crowed that the police enforced a 9pm curfew, then our flights were delayed again and we arrived home at 4am in Nashville on Monday morning. Funny enough, you never remember the boring trips and every single meal that we ate on that trip was amazing.

Traveling to Wisconsin to visit my family and celebrate my dad’s birthday.

In May, Josh’s documentary trailer was shown at the K-LOVE Fan Awards and it was one of our favorite nights of the year. The Fan Awards are just so much fun! Every award given has to win by a majority of votes by real people, it’s a very high-energy show and tickets sell out quickly. I’m not sure if it was because we’d all missed out on two years of live events and concerts but it the entire show was electric with everyone up on their feet, singing and celebrating.

We ended up parking in the back of the Grand Ol Opry and a wrong turn put us backstage in holding with the artists (I know…). The backstage person put us on one a golf carts to go to the red carpet, we had to go through this huge tunnel of people being held back by barriers and since we were the first everyone started cheering and and saying “OMG! her dress!” “Who is that?” “I cant see her face”. It was amazing and horrifying and we laughed so hard. It was time to come back down to earth the next morning when I saw the photos (let this be a reminder to never be on the end of a group photo… I still get so flustered on a red carpet. Yikes, that angle is not kind!)

Our little boy grew by leaps and bounds this year. We discovered several new things that we love doing together, going to the botanical gardens, reading Little House on the Prairie, swimming lessons, the library, helping in the kitchen, coffee shop excursions and watching movies with Josh. He is our best buddy in every way and we love bringing him along for the ride.

We spent most of 2020/2021 making The Jesus Music documentary, with over 100 artist interviews, watching new edits almost every day, screenings and music licensing. This summer was time to begin marketing ahead of the October 1 release date. Something we had all been looking forward to was Michael W. Smith re-recording his iconic Worship Forever album. This album is a huge part of The Jesus Music story and it was so special to be a part of this show. This album became part of the soundtrack of our year and we listened to is so many times.

Once the film was completed, we took a family vacation to Sea Island, GA. It was so good to get away and turn off our phones and just focus on swimming, eating and resting. St Simons Island was one of the most peaceful places we’d ever been and having the time to pray and talk about our future was much needed.

The premiere of The Jesus Music was a top 3 life event moment for both Josh and I. From start to finish the whole event was just magical. We hosted it at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville and packed the place out with as many friends as possible. It was amazing to see a dream come to life and to celebrate almost two years of hard work. I am so proud of Josh and his team for this film, it was everything we’d hoped it would be and more.

My sister turned 30 and planned a girls trip to the beach with some of our dearest friends. I was in the middle of moving and packing (another story for another day. There’s no business like show business…) but the girls so graciously allowed me to fly in and out to be with them for a few nights. It’s always a good trip when I get to eat at one of my favorite restaurants in the world, Columbia.

We drove down to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with Josh’s parents and since most of his family lives in the state, we made a road trip out of it and visited as many brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews as we could. At the end of our travels we surprised Hugo and told him we were going to Disney World. Josh’s brother Ryan joined us for the day and we had the best time. We are such Disney nuts, so being back after almost 2 years and seeing everything extra-shiny for the 50th anniversary felt like the best thing ever.

The rest of the year was just an all out sprint to finish up before Christmas break. We were settling into a new place, Josh adjusting to a new role with his work and then spending time with my family for the holiday.

And just like that the year is over and we’re already almost through January!

Tell me, do you take time at the end of the year to review the previous 12 months or do you just move on? Leave me a comment below.