This is by far my most requested post every year. I’m running behind with blogging, so this is both my year review and my behind the scenes post for the year.
JANUARY
The year began with a quick trip to northern Minnesota for a funeral. We got to see my entire family while there, which was a bright spot, since we see them so rarely. I spent almost all of my free time in January helping with the Shoot and Share Photo Contest as an approver – making sure that photos got entered into the correct category. It was a fun, lengthy process.
FEBRUARY & MARCH
I remember February as being very cold. I volunteered at a camp for several weekends, which kept me quite busy. March held the first wedding of the year as well as a huge flood in the area. Thankfully, in our area, the water dried up relatively quickly. Some parts of the country weren’t so lucky though.
APRIL & MAY
April brought spring and thankfully, our land dried out and we were able to plant the crops. Spring farm life is always special. We had calves and kittens being born and even got some goats!
In May, Matthew and I went to Omaha to explore all the sights. We tried coffee shops, went to the Zoo, and enjoyed some local ice cream and donut shops.
JUNE
June was a packed month. The month started with a trip to Washington to introduce Matthew to my Washington home. We did a lot of hiking and I got to introduce him to the best coffeeshop on the planet – Jean Beans Coffee. Matthew and I never got engagement photos taken, so while in Washington, we did a session with our wedding photographer, Hannah Acheson. We explored Spokane for a day and went to Mary Lou’s Milk Bottle – which is one of my favorite restaurants in Spokane. Try their Huckleberry milkshakes – you won’t regret it.
Two days after landing back in Iowa, I flew back to Washington to shoot a wedding. My close friend Hannah (who took our wedding + anniversary photos) came along with me to drive and keep me company. It was easily my favorite road trip ever. The week after that, I was a bridesmaid in dear friends wedding and then it was off to camp with Matthew’s family for a few days.
JULY & AUGUST
We need to replace a lot of our fences on the farm, so we started working on those this summer. We got quite a bit done, but still have some left to work on. I was busy with photography and between those two things, summer flew by!
SEPTEMBER
I made a weekend trip to Northern Minnesota to practice with a music team I would be going with to Sweden. My brother got married in Wisconsin – such a joy-filled day!! My whole family was together again, which is always a fun time! We found the cutest air-bnb cabin in the woods. It was such a great time!
OCTOBER
Fall is always busy on the farm. Add photography to the picture and it’s downright crazy. We got two windows installed in our house and are LOVING how much light it lets in! I got to drive the combine for the first time and I can officially say that it’s a lot harder then it looks.
NOVEMBER
We finished harvest and hosted our families annual Harvest Party. I made one more trip to northern Minnesota and then flew out for Sweden just after Thanksgiving.
DECEMBER
Obviously, we needed to start our trip with lots of coffee. It was so good to be back in Europe. We did many concerts over the two weeks we were there, but we still made time for touring. We visited a castle, some sand dunes and drank our fair share of coffee.
I got home two weeks before Christmas and hit the ground running. We had multiple family Christmases, where I got to meet my newest nephew! Then I photographed a dear friend’s wedding just after Christmas! Andrea was my first friend since getting married and moving to Iowa and I’m so thankful for her and my other “coffee babes” as I like to call my group of girlfriends here.
It was such a full year, with so much to be thankful for. It can be hard to see sometimes through all the craziness of life, which is why I like this blog post. It makes me take the time to look back at the last year.
“And all my life You have been faithful
All my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God”
xoxo, Anna
