Double Dipping: #WQ and #sundaystills : 2023 Year in Review Reflections: January-June

I don't often double dip, but when I do it's usually for #WQ and #Sundaystills, combining my posts because many times their themes intentionally overlap. This week Marsha and Terri are asking us to reflect on the past year. Last year I had every intention of "saving photos" in an album and making a notes page in order to keep track of each months happenings...did I do that? Nope! So I'll have to rely on memory and photos and perhaps my calendar...lol. I'm not always good at reflecting, I don't always have the best memory. I'd like to get better at that...perhaps I need to take advantage of my digital planner spaces and "journal" each day. 

I will say that 2023 was a really good year for the most part...sure there were bumps, but those are to be expected in any year. I noticed Terri is doing the year end review for two Sundays, so this post I'll share January through June, and next week I'll share July through December. I LOVE photos and I know I can possibly go overboard, so I'm going to try something this week. I'll do a collage of several photos, and then choose my favorite one, or two, or three from that month. That will be hard, but I'm going to try having some self control...haha! 

January:  Many of the months passed without anything special occurring, though as I typed that, it made me pause, because what deems something special or not? There were probably many special moments each day..maybe I missed them, maybe I didn't see them as "special". I hung out with the grandkids once a week, worked, and tried a few new recipes. Looking back in photos, I see that I made a few loaves of Sourdough bread. I chuckled because I took a lot of screen shots (I do this alot with memes, quotes, etc). I read 6 books. We also started our challenge of walking 70,000 steps a week...which I will say I continued for over 30 weeks straight before hitting a slump. We also had company over at least once. As I'm typing these updates, I'm going back through my calendar. 

I chose these two as my faves of the month because spending time with my grandkiddos is something I never want to take for granted. Sadly they had to give their dog back to the breeder a few months after this as she was starting to show some aggressive behavior. 

This kid is passionate about his dirt bikes. This is his battery operated Stacyc bike that he rides on the local bmx track. He has a bigger gas powered dirt bike he rides at the farm. He wants to race. 

February: We had some nice days in February so while my grandson was at preschool, my granddaughter and I took some walks through their town and found public art to photograph. I enjoyed the special time, just the two of us girls shopping. We had a routine of the stores we'd go to. We also celebrated our granddaughters 2nd birthday. We had snow for a few days and the grandkids spent a few nights with us during that time which was fun. It was a great time of building snowmen, doing crafts and just hanging out. We made a chocolate cake and called it Indy's fake birthday cake. He thought that was hilarious. Our daughter also launched her mobile coffee cart! We are so proud of her. I only read two books in February.

At times I don't think I make much sourdough, but when I look at photos I realize that at least once a month I make something. I think a goal this year is to try and do more baking with sourdough. 

One thing the grandkids love is homemade hot chocolate. They can't do dairy so I either make my own using almond or oat milk, or buy them chocolate almond milk. Then I use nut pods creamer to make some yummy foam...or buy a non dairy whipped cream. Don't forget the sprinkles.

It wasn't much snow, but I'll take what I can get. 

March: In March, we celebrated our youngest daughters 24th birthday. We went to a Portland Timbers soccer game, and I made sourdough bread several times (even hamburger buns which were a hit). I also made chocolate chip sourdough scones. Hubby and I took a drive up the Columbia River Gorge for a day after hitting a farmers market...we had planned to hike but it was SO busy. That usually happens when you finally get a nice, sunny, dry day in the PNW. We stopped at The Vista House on the way back which is gorgeous and always worth the stop. We watched our grandson ride his dirt bike. March also found the smelt running in our local river which brings sea lions, bald eagles and this year Pacific white pelicans. I read 4 books in March.

I love watching the spring flowers begin to emerge from their hibernation. I love daily going out and watching their progress...cheering them on. 

April: Babysitting (though my hubby always says I'm not babysitting, I'm hanging out with the grandkids), and spring crafts (I love that as the grandkids get older they love to do crafts). We had friends over a few times, our only car was in the shop several times. Hubby hosted buddy's at our house for UFC fights. Easter was at my in-laws house. I made a quick trip to the Tulip fields near our house one morning before work. The kids stayed the night one night. We had a cookie baking contest. I worked on a puzzle (I try to always have a puzzle going). I read 5 books in April. 

Helping my daughters with their businesses has been a fun adventure. 

I have seen this barn for YEARS when we head to the city. Vancouver is so interesting (Vancouver, Washington that is) because you can have a bustling urban area, and then a stretch where there's land, and a barn such as this...as if someone refused to sell to the big companies). Anyways, I have always wanted to stop and take a photo and one day I did. I had to use my phone because I'm bad about just bringing my camera everywhere with me. Isn't it cool. 

May: May was a chill month with not much going on. We had one couple over for dinner. Time was mostly spent working or hanging with the grandkids, watching Indy ride his dirt bike. We did have a nice few days where kids played outside in the pool. We began pouring the extension to our porch and we had a garage sale. I read 6 books in May.

I had my first iced coffee drink of the year! 

I LOVE White Mountain Puzzles, and this was my second one. I was just thinking, I set a goal of how many books I want to do in a year, maybe I should set a goal of how many puzzles I want to do. Hmmm? 

I've enjoyed finding and taking photos of local murals wherever I am. Thanks to Natalie from Natalie the Explorer.

June: In June, our grandson graduated preschool. My hubby and I took a 4 day weekend to Anderson Island, a few hours north of where we live. That was a great trip. I saw my very first owl (in the wild) which was so exciting. It was our towns annual celebration with a parade, carnival and fireworks. We also celebrated both of my in laws birthday together with some great friends. I also started working on some food photography. I read 6 books in June. 

So special to celebrate and honor my in laws.

I spied this owl flying and my hubby turned around and it happened to be sitting in a tree. He let me get a few shots before flying away. 

Trying my hand at some food photography for the blogger I work for. 

Well, that ends the first half of my year in review. Next week I'll finish it off. Can't wait to see everyone elses.

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin