2023: A Year in Review

For the past few years I’ve taken a break from blogging and Instagram for the month of January. But I love to come back and write my year in review post (you can read 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), it’s a bit of a highlight reel as I try to condense each month into a photo and a paragraph. It’s always rewarding to see the year come together in a cohesive post, to look back over it all and see how it weaves together. How different if feels from when you’re actually living it!

2023: A Year in Review

January

We kicked off the year with our boy turning 6 and our dream vacation to Hawaii. You can read my full posts about Oahu and Turtle Bay Resort here.

February

This month was all about Jesus Revolution! We spent a week in Los Angeles for the premiere, meetings and press opportunities. This movie has been one of the highlights of our lives. We never could have imagined what would happen and how many people would watch this movie (p.s. it’s on Netflix, go watch it!)

March

We celebrated our 7th anniversary and reveled in our bathroom remodel!

April

We hosted our family for Easter. It was a glorious morning with a sunrise church service, the cousins hunted for eggs (this action shot cracks me up!) I set up a long table in the backyard for lunch. It was perfect.

May

Hugo graduated from kindergarten (“They keep creating new ways to celebrate mediocrity” says Mr. Incredible and Josh Walsh…) and we took the family to West Palm Beach for a concert and some meetings. Josh started pretty intense physical therapy for his sciatic pain. It was almost a full year of pain and work before he felt like he was back to normal. And now we just sleep on a mattress that is a little harder than a board.

June

Josh & I flew to Las Vegas and the Mojave Desert for what was one of the most fun days we’ve ever had. We were on the set of a music video (you can watch it here!) We rode giant Humvees out into an endless sea of sand. I sprayed people with sunscreen, handed out water and heard some wild stories from our paramedic and pyro-tech. Josh dug holes in the sand, tried to take phone calls (darn desert cell service) and did his producer thing.

July

Some of my family came to visit, my brother, sister-in-law and nieces, and then my sister came for a few days too. It’s always fun to show them around town, but I still feel like such a Nashville newbie (July 2023 we celebrated 5 years of living in Nashville!)

August

Josh took a week long retreat in Wyoming. I was a little nervous to be without contact for that long, but we had wonderful friends and neighbors who make it easy. He came back rested and with a new-found love of fishing. Hugo quickly caught the bug too and they’ve become fishing buddies.

Friends sent Josh and I away for the weekend at a nearby resort. Grandparents came to watch Hugo and we rested, ate well, went to the spa (me) and fished (Josh).

We flew to Dallas, Texas for a week with our team to finish the sound mix of the film. Josh & I hosted an airbnb for our team, I cooked and Hugo swam in the pool nonstop.

September

Hugo learned how to ride his bike. And so well! He was off almost immediately! We started first grade homeschool. I celebrated my birthday and joined Josh on a work trip to Los Angeles to finish color mix of the film. We had such a great time popping around the city, amazing food, beautiful weather and the joy that is getting to work with your friends.

October

We spent several days in Wisconsin with my family, had family photos taken together for the first time in years, worked some and were able to attend a close family friend’s wedding.

Josh won his first Dove Award and it was a special night celebrating Jesus Revolution.

November

We kicked off the holidays with Thanksgiving with my family, the first Drummer Boy Christmas tour of the season in Chicago, then Minnesota. We stayed at our friends amazing Hotel Excelsior. And the sprint to Christmas had begun!

December

Josh spent most of the month on the road. It was a stressful time and it was the longest we’ve been apart since getting married. Many good things came out of this though and we were so grateful to be together again. After 3 nights at the Grand Ole Opry, a Drummer Boy Christmas wrapped and we were all off for the holiday! We spent Christmas with Josh’s family and it was a wonderful time on the beach with so many cousins. My brother’s family was in Nashville for a wedding and spent a few days with us after Christmas. Hugo was in heaven and we loved having even more cousin time.

And there you have it, 2023. While we walked through many good things, it was not without heartbreak. We’ve navigated tough medical diagnoses, loss, personal tragedy and more. Just as, I’m sure, you have.

I think I’ve continued to walk a little further down the road of learning how to sit in the middle of the bad and the good, often at the same time, and how to be okay with both. The Bible promises us “In this world we will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) BUT ALSO, that “Goodness and mercy pursues us” (Psalm 23:6) through it. That’s the tension. If I’m honest, I hate it. I find it very difficult to reconcile the two, but my resilience and faith has grown.

Thank you for reading along and for the encouragement many of you have shared with Josh and I over this year. Much kindness has poured our way and we’re grateful for you all.