And here we are again…staring down the end of a year and if you’re like me…dreaming and planning of ways to make the next one even better. If I’m honest, 2024 didn’t seem like anything special…I guess that would happen when the two years prior were wilder than I had ever dared to dream.

2024 wasn’t bad by any means, sometimes a quieter, calm year is what the soul needs in order to discover what it truly yearns for. I loved spending lots of time at home with my wild pack of hooligans and going on local adventures with them. I spent a bunch of time going thru the whole household worth of boxes and items I had moved into storage and purged and reorganized which was particularly time consuming but also extremely cathartic. And while it may not compare to some of our crazy years past of travels I was blessed to enjoy a few special trips including a trip to Disney, an epic RV adventure thru Alaska, and a quick trip to Oklahoma City, OK for a concert and to connect with a friend! But as the year winds down I am feeling the itch for bigger, better and just more fulfilling years ahead. But more on that later…

January

We started the year here in Virginia with my mom and brother here to ring in the New Year and we even got to do a First Day hike with the Virginia State Parks. The month (that always feels endless, right?!) found us winding down from the holiday fanfare and just enjoying the sunny, cool days with local little hikes and using the fat tire bike I received for Christmas to rediscover the joy of “mushing” with Jip as we bikejored up and down the beach whenever the weather allowed! Pure joy for us both (and just wish Sydney and Cadel were younger and could also experience this)!

February

Valentines Day with my little loves (and their Grammy/Abuela was here to celebrate also) and lots of adventures 1:1 with the dogs to explore places in the off season with less crowds and mild temps! Mom and I also spent a full day/weekend going to open houses to take a look at what was out there locally…I wasn’t ready to purchase yet but it was nice to see areas I liked and didn’t and get an idea of what to expect when I was ready—it’s crazy now to reflect on that because not but a few months later I was beginning to have second thoughts as to if Virginia would be our long term plan.

March

The month began with a quiet birthday; my mom had been here the weekend before so we celebrated then and then later in the month we celebrated Cadel’s 11th Birthday! That absolutely blows my mind—thankfully he doesn’t act even half that age most of the time!

Merida and Fergus the cats spent most of the month with us in Virginia while my mom and brother took a bucket list type trip to Japan to celebrate my mom’s official retirement. And since March is basically early summer here, mild temps and more sun meant lots of beach walks and adventures for us all and some early yard work and gardening chores!

We ended the month with Sunrise Service on the beach and lots of Easter fun back at home!

April

Yard work, gardening and plenty of time in the yard, in the sprinkler and at the beach for this pack!

Mom and I went to Disney in the middle of the month for the Springtime Surprise 10k (we dressed as Russell and the house from Up!) and had a great time despite during our whirlwind weekend. It was Jip’s first time boarding (at Cosmo’s Corner where she goes to daycare daily) and after a tough first night she settled in and had a fine time. Sydney and Cadel got to stay home and our dog walker, Kaylee stayed with them which was a huge blessing (and they of course had a good time)!

May

This month my mom and I did the CHKD run/walk event and celebrated Mother’s Day by doing yard work and projects around the beach house. I flew Alex down later in the month for a whirlwind weekend to help me with laying flooring in my bedroom (about 9 months after Jip wrecked the carpet in her wild rampage) which was a huge blessing and I also went to a “learn to row” weekend and joined a local rowing club.

At the end of the month the dogs and I headed up to NY for Memorial Day weekend with the intention of getting the rest of my furniture and stuff out of my old office but mostly we just enjoyed being “home” and did some hiking and visiting with friends!

June

Sydney turned 13 this month so of course we partied and celebrated her!

Sydney was scheduled to have a pretty big surgery to remove some of the cysts that had been bothering her but first…she had to have an echocardiogram due to her history of heart murmur. She got cleared for surgery but we also decided to start daily medication just to ward off the progression of heart disease as long and best we can! We soaked up every minute of sun, sand and water at the start of the month anticipating she would be unable to partake for a few weeks later in the month but…her surgery was postponed so we just kept on soaking up the sun and outdoors!

July

My mom took Cadel up to NY ahead of Sydney’s rescheduled surgery for Summer Camp at Abuela’s. Figured he would enjoy the opportunity to be an only doggo for a few weeks and it would be easier to keep Sydney calm and her incisions safe from licking if her wrestling partner was on vacation. Sydney had her surgery on 7/3 and did amazing. When I picked her up I was SHOCKED she looked so gnarly with dozens of staples across 5 or so major incisions…but in true Sydney style she didn’t miss a beat and was back to her normal crazy self by the next day.

While Cadel was in NY Jip and Sydney really bonded in a way they hadn’t prior which was about as sweet as I could have possibly imagined.

Sydney went to Cosmo’s Corner (private care) for a day and did great and the girls and I headed up to NY for a long weekend (and were reunited with Cadel). Mom and I went to a Jason Mraz concert at Bethel Woods, joined friends in NYC to see Water for Elephants, visited with Catherine and Dakota and did an epic hike in Pennsylvania at Ricketts Glen State Park…it was a whirlwind trip but full of the best things!

August

By far the biggest month of 2024. Cadel was having such a good time in NY (away from weekly fireworks and a different dog neighbor every week stressors) but he came back and forth with my Mom for short visits.

Everyone was here to celebrate Jip’s 8th birthday and she even got to celebrate her big day at Cosmo’s! Sydney got to go to Cosmo’s for a day and made it into group (which was a bit of a happy surprise because at 13 years of age I wasn’t sure she’d enjoy the craziness of group play) and had a blast with the sprinklers and pools (which Jip refuses to use at school despite LOVING at home).

Then Sydney and I headed up to NY because…Jip, my mom, our friend Mary and I were heading to Alaska for a week and a half of adventuring and visiting old friends (canine and human). For the majority of the trip we all traveled from Fairbanks to Anchorage and back via an RV we rented and it was AMAZING. My mom and Mary had a trip jam packed with tours and their own adventures so Jip and I took on daily hikes and adventures of our own and traveled nearly 90 miles during the 10 days by foot and made a million memories while exploring new places together. Seeing friends like Ida, Danielle, Jason, Jenda, Thom and Angie, Jeff and KattiJo, Mandy and Riley and so many of the dogs from Wild and Free was certainly the highlight of the adventure.

September

Our trip home from Alaska did not go as smooth as planned and the stressfulness of the ordeal at the time put a dark blemish on an otherwise amazing adventure. when we went to board our plane in Seattle they stopped me and said there was a pet embargo into Newark due to “extreme weather” and Jip couldn’t fly. So we got stuck in Seattle unexpectedly for the day and thankfully my mom stayed with me. We weren’t dressed for an 80 degree day, had a dog, didn’t have a car and were put up a a hotel where the staff had just gone on strike that morning. We made the best of it regardless and Jip was truly a rockstar and handled all the craziness with ease…even when we went back for our rescheduled flight to be told by an extremely rude agent that we STILL couldn’t fly, which ultimately was NOT true but we couldn’t talk logic to this woman and headed back to the hotel with our tails between our legs to wait another 12 hours for the next flight.

Sydney, Jip and I got back to VA with just hours to spare before I jumped back into work. Cadel met us a few days later when he came down with my mom and our friend Ingrid who came to visit for a week. While she was in town we did a fun scavenger hunt in downtown Norfolk which was a fun way to see a few new places and learn a bit about the city! Cadel and I spent an afternoon watching the Blue Angels (and getting a sweet snack) and a coworker and I went to the actual airshow which was phenomenal! Busy, fun month despite work being at times trying and difficult.

October

We celebrated Halloween a bit early this year as Sydney and Cadel had to both leave with their Abuela ahead of a few weekends I was going to be traveling so that Alex could watch them for me as our dog walker was booked. I hated to have them have to spend a month away from me and “home” and we missed them terribly, but thankful for the option as I couldn’t fathom having to board them for the first time in their lives.

One of my favorite music artists, Crowder was in concert here in Norfolk along with Cochran and Co and MercyMe and I was lucky enough to grab front row tickets to that show which was certainly a nice little pick me up in the middle of a quite stressful month of work.

At the end of the month I traveled to Louisville, KY to attend the ARBA convention for the first time in a few years. It was nice to see folks I hadn’t seen in several years and was fun to “show” rabbits. Of course while in Louisville we had to do some exploring so we went and found some trolls (my mom and friends have been traveling all over to see these trolls made by a sculptor out of all recycled materials) and took in the amazing pumpkins at the Louisville Jack-o’-lantern Spectacular which never fails to impress!

November

The month started out with a trip to vet for Jip right before she was to board for a double ear infection—guess all the letting the hose spray hit her right in the face (and ears) finally caught up to her. Let me tell you, Jip is a very tolerant girl but she DOES NOT appreciate ear drops hah! 

My mom and I took off in early November to check off a new state…Oklahoma! It was a whirlwind long weekend trip to meet in person someone I’ve been friends with from afar for nearly a decade and introduce her to the For King and Country concert experience! Sandy showed us around Oklahoma City and we fit in a ton of fun during our short weekend including a trip to The Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile and Drummond Ranch where they film her cooking show, The Pioneer Women Museum (not related), the OKC zoo (and the nighttime Christmas Zoo Lights), Pops Diner and the Route 66 experience, the OKC Bombing Memorial site and museum , Eskimo Joe’s restaurant and more! While I didn’t know what to expect from Oklahoma we were more than pleasantly surprised and easily could have spent another few days as we didn’t see even half of the things that the area had to offer! 

Sydney and Cadel finally made it back to Virginia with my mom the week before Thanksgiving. Sydney had a second surgery the day before Thanksgiving to remove another bunch of cysts that they couldn’t get to during the initial surgery. It was a slightly longer surgery so she was a bit slower to bounce back the night of her surgery but by the next day she was once again back to her wild wiggly self. So thankful to our vet and vet tech who love my dogs and I trust fully to keep them safe thru experiences like this. 

Alex flew down to join us for Thanksgiving and we celebrated the day with an early turkey trot and just a quiet day at the house cooking, watching the parade and getting the house ready for the holiday season. 

December

As always…this month was a blur. We celebrated my mom’s birthday over the first weekend of the month with dinner out, gifts and the Virginia Beach boardwalk lights display. It’s been nice getting back into a routine and having all the doggos back together and while I don’t want to jinx anything..Cadel has been extremely neutral towards Jip and I’ve been giving them a bit more freedom to be (slightly) less supervised while sharing spaces in the house. In any event, we’ve spent the month just hustling and bustling to get things done for the holidays while also trying to enjoy the season as well—I will say if nothing else we’ve watched at least 30 hallmark Christmas movies this year and spent many an evening just relaxing as a pack and enjoying the house dressed in her holiday finest. The dogs and I will head to NY to celebrate Christmas and we’re keeping our fingers and paws crossed that we might get to see a few snowflakes fly while we’re there. 

And there you have it… as always when I reflect back on the year and write out each month I’m reminded that the year was much fuller and busier than I recalled. I suppose some of my “nothing special” attitude from the first paragraph really comes from the things in my life that aren’t fulfilling me at the moment. Work has been extremely trying and difficult and considering that equates to 40+ hours a week of my life…I appreciate the power it has, just by virtue of the amount of time it steals from me, to weigh down on my overall outlook. I continue to love what I do and the kids and families I get to work with and that makes it even more discouraging that there are other factors at play that make going to work every morning a struggle. But…struggle is the place from where things change and that’s been the theme of the past several months. 

When I applied to be a handler in Alaska on complete whim it was with no expectations that it would come to fruition. So when the opportunity actually seemed possible I asked God for a sign…I needed some help to know this was the right thing for me…and then I asked over and over and over again for more and more and more signs until I felt God must be shaking his head and screaming “WHAT BIGGER SIGN MUST I WAVE?!?” The more time presses on and I consider what’s next and how do I get to a place where I feel like “home” and where we as a pack can dream bigger dreams and futures… I have started to feel like the struggles at work, which seem so ridiculous I could just scream, are just this over the top sign from God to take the next leap of faith and see where we end up.

So…2025 could be an interesting year if I’m to listen…more on that on 1/1/2025…stay tuned.