Uncorked with Bree

2022 has been a heck of a year! A year filled with love, excitement, disappointment, mistakes, happiness, sadness. All of the things.

As I was making my 2023 Resolutions the other day I got to thinking back on 2022 month-by-month.

January – Brooks turned 1! We had hit this first birthday milestone and felt good about it, too. His party was fun and filled of so much love. We missed a lot of our friends and family due to a COVID surge.

February – This month brought a lot of sadness as I lost a student to a horrific car crash. I’ve never seen a student body pull together so much as they did to love on each other and honor her memory. But also, this month had some great core memories made as well. We spent Valentine’s Day in the mountains and we were also awarded the Passion Fundraising Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for our work with Bassin’ for Brooks in 2021. I also got to judge at one of the largest competitive cheerleading events in the world. It was literally a dream come true!

March – We were hit with a surprising day of snow this month! I LOVE when we get surprise snow since we never get snow!! Once things thawed, we broke ground on the house finally! It was monumental! Looking back, it seems like it’s been so much longer. We took Brooks to the Tennessee Aquarium for the first time, and he also had his first hair cut.

April – We finally made it to Spring Break and went to visit my sister in Florida and had some big adventures while there. We celebrated Easter and got things ready for our Great Strides walk in May.

May – We had our local Great Strides walk to kick off the month. Great Strides is a fundraising opportunity for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It’s a chance for everyone to get together in the area, walk, spend time together, and raise money for a good cause. It was our first year and it was emotionally moving. After a slow moving process on building, we finally had block being laid for the foundation of our home this month! Also, my first round of high school babies graduated. It was such a bittersweet day. I did a lot of growing with those kids.

June – The summer rolled in strong with lots of heat and pool days! Framing began on the house. It started to take shape. At the end of the month, my best friend and I got to experience the concert of a lifetime… The Backstreet Boys! I have a post about that here. It rekindled a part of me that I didn’t know had gone out, but I’m so glad it did! We had THE BEST time! This was a trip 2 years in the making because of COVID and it did not disappoint!

July – We kicked off the month with Bassin’ for Brooks. We raised an insane amount of money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and we can’t wait to keep up with our efforts this year. Mark your calendars for June 3rd, 2023! After BFB was over, we loaded up and headed to the beach for the first time as a family of three and took my mom with us. We had a great time! I can’t wait to go back this year. When we got back from the beach and dead period for cheerleading, we headed to cheer camp. I got to spend my 29th birthday with two of my best friends and 14 of my favorite teenage girls for 3 days. We had a blast, learned a lot, had some tears and fights, but came out stronger! Framing continued on the house…

August – The school year started. I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t sure I’d be back in Room 113 come August of 2022. I was thinking a career change was needed. That’s not to say I won’t ever change careers, but it felt right to stay put in teaching for a little while longer. Football season started and I felt back in my element. The house was wrapped and we began buying pieces we were worried would take forever to get here, like appliances. Low and behold, those appliances have been sitting in the garage since August…a week after we bought them.

September – BSB ROUND 2!! This time we took another best friend with us and we made a Girls’ Trip of our Backstreet Boys concert. A week before going we ended up deciding to go a night early to go to a special event AJ McLean was holding. We had THE. BEST. TIME. the whole trip. I might even make a whole post just dedicated to this trip…I can’t recommend enough going on Girls’ Trips with your besties. It’s good for the soul. This month also brought Homecoming Week, wedding anniversary #3, house siding, and going to UT football games. Can I get a GO VOLS?!

October – The fall brought on the beginning of competition season for the Golden Girls of Soddy Daisy High School. Fall Break followed closely behind where we took a spontaneous trip to the mountains and took Brooks to Dollywood for the first time. When we got home, I went to Nashville for a Girls’ Night and my first Predators game with one of my best friends! I’ll add details about this to the BSB ROUND #2 post. There are some MUST HIT Nashville spots I’ve got to tell you about. I spent Halloween with the cutest Mickey Mouse ever and it was a good way to end the month!

November – The start of the holiday season…also the start of busy season for me as a cheer coach. The Golden Girls competed at the State Cheer Championship and kicked butt! Basketball season started and we made a big change to our Nationals plan! (More on that in 2023!) We had some big home moves made this month!!! Cabinets were finished, stairs were added for the bonus room above the garage, our front door came in, insulation was installed and the last minute fireplace was added! We spent Thanksgiving loving on one another, and my mom and I kept up our tradition of Black Friday shopping.

December – Basketball season continued, along with our Journey to Nationals. We held a Winter Formal for the school and had a blast. We had an amazing team Christmas party. We survived the last days of school until Christmas Break. The house FINALLY has sheetrock! The flooring has been delivered, the painters are starting next week, and everyone is on stand-by for their turn. We’re HOPING to be in by February 2023 *fingers crossed*. We had the best Christmas celebrations and it really is amazing to see the joy and magic of Christmas through your child’s eyes.

2022 taught me a lot. I grew, made life changes, and started to find ME again. There are parts of post-partum timing and getting older that no one warns you about, and I think this year has been the year of getting back to my roots. 2023, you will be the year of GROWTH. The year I take on more for me and my family, more things that make me happy, and more things that I want for growing.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y’ALL!
XO,
B