Earlier this year, I finished an audiobook of Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans by Michaeleen Doucleff.

Overall, I loved this book. Doucleff details how various ancient cultures parent their children and how we in the western world can implement some of these ideas to raise well-behaved, helpful children. It was fascinating to dive into these cultures and their bents toward the “it takes a village” model of parenting. A lot of it is extremely helpful, especially the concept of including children in the family as productive, important members, even as babies. 

We stayed with my in-laws in Tampa to celebrate Tucker’s cousin’s wedding, and our mornings were a respite from a dull, foggy February - sunny, slow, restful, and needed. 

February is probably my least favorite month of the year.

Where I live, it’s cold and dreary most days. When it’s not raining, the sky is usually hospital-room white and the threat of rain still hangs heavy in the air (often triggering a migraine for me, yay). Sure, there are random warm spells, the sun makes an appearance every once in awhile, and there’s Valentine’s Day to look forward to, but these feel like few and far between moments of joy in an otherwise bummer of a month.

We found out we were pregnant on April 3, 2023. I loved that night, and everything its changed.

Today is our first anniversary as a married couple, so I’m reminiscing about our beautiful brunch wedding this time last year. If we had a theme, it was “brief, brunch, and blueberries.” Read about our special day!

Our Engagement Story: If you don’t know us, or even if you do, and you’re curious about how Tucker and I ended up together, please enjoy our cheesy, brief little love story, aptly titled, “That Summer Camp Love,” followed by our proposal story.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I do know one thing: I’m thankful for a calm and collected husband. This is the 3rd or 4th time I’ve set the house on fire, and he’s just as patient and composed as the first time, if not more so since this seems to be a pattern.

One major thing we all have in common is that all our guys are gamers. They’d probably hate that I would call them “gamers,” since the word conjures images of smelly guys in their mom’s basement, yelling about needing more G-fuel and cursing out little kids in a COD lobby. But, thankfully, those aren’t the boys we married. And those aren’t even most “gamers” anymore.

2022 is over and I was nowhere near my reading goal for the year. I read 11 books last year, which isn’t great considering how many I read in 2020 and 2021, both linked below.

BUT, I also had a busy year, what with getting married, quitting a stressful job, starting a new job (that I love, btw), and traveling quite a bit. So I figured in addition to my 2022 booklist, I’d also include brief updates of what I did this year.

On Saturday, December 3rd, Tucker and I brought a tree home and set it up in our living room - our first Christmas tree as married. On Sunday, December 18th, we finally finished decorating it. We started some traditions last year, with our first and only engaged Christmas, like buying a real tree and putting the lights on together. But this year is our first married Christmas together, and here’s how we built an ornament collection.