2015 in a Flash
Who doesn’t love a little yearly recap? With a photo collage, I might add.
I grabbed a few pictures from my Instagram account to walk {or jump} you through my year. Actually, I had to make the collage first so I could remember what all even happened this year – it was certainly a busy one!
Kaleb started the year off by getting bumped up to a new preschool class where he was the youngest but quoted from the teacher, “the best behaved.” He was super unsure of it in the beginning because he was getting separated from all his friends but he did very well and I was super proud of my guy!
I started the year off by picking out some new paint and furniture for the house! It was past time for a new fresh face around our place so I jumped right in.
February was a pretty big month!! My niece Libby turned ONE! She has been such an added dose of spunk to our little family. She absolutely adores Kaleb and wants so desperately to do everything he’s doing and to be as big as he is. A very prominent thing they share are their eyebrows. They can both be seen with their brows furrowed at any given moment. We love our LouLou!
I’d also say that February was the month my photography really kicked off. It all started with those super cute Valentine/Donut photos I took of Kaleb. Once I posted those, there was no turning back. I even specifically remember saying in a blog post, “I by no means intend on being an actual photographer….” My, how a few months can change things.
Somewhere in there, before early spring, Kaleb was diagnosed with allergy induced asthma. It was nice to finally get a diagnoses and since, have started getting a better handle on things
Kaleb got his first ever trophy from his little TOT program that he does at school. He’s still so proud of that trophy so I figured it was worth a mention.
I decided to take the plunge and move my blog site from blogger.com to a wordpress site which turned me over to just SamanthaAmidon.com. I got a fresh new look and some additional tabs for big things in the future.
Kaleb turned FOUR in May with a choo-choo party. I’m not sure he loves anything more than a party at his house with a bouncy house/water slid. Everyone had a great time and not once have I regretted putting so much time into his parties. His joy is always priceless.
Not only did he turn 4, he also had a little graduation from preschool to Pre-K, where he’s done very well. His graduation was next in line to the trophy as the most proud moment in his year. He still talks about how he got to hold up that Bible for everyone to see.
2015 was the also the year I openly talked about Charles committing suicide and my true feelings regarding that. I took a stand on mental health and suicide awareness with a promise to never be shamed by it. It’s also something I’ll never regret talking about.
The summer was absolutely the BEST! But we all know I’m a summer girl. I love anything and everything summer and flip flop related. We kicked it off by taking a kick ass beach trip with friends and family. The beach house we rented couldn’t have been better or more beautiful! The kids had such a fun time!!
This summer also included my annual BlogHer trip to New York! I can’t even put into words how much fun that trip was. It was a time in my life I’ll never forget. I connected with friends like I’ve never done before and it absolutely left an {great} impression on my heart. My trip to the Big Apple also included getting my first tattoo. I got a semi-colon on my wrist as dedication for my stand against suicide. You may also remember that my NYC trip was when I lost Puppy. That too left an impression on my heart big enough to know he isn’t ever traveling again. That was a close call, y’all. I’ll admit, there were very many tears shed over that whole ordeal. I’m glad he’s home safe. He hasn’t left my bed since.
My last summer hoo-rah was a last minute trip to Cancun Mexico with my BFF. He had texted me one day and said, hey I can get a cheap ticket to Cancun, do you want to go? Clearly you can’t say no to that so we jumped on a plane and headed out. It was nothing but laughter and relaxation. Because that’s what BFF trips are for. We are looking into making it an annual thing.
Somewhere in all that summer madness, I had a birthday, too. I can still say I’m in my early thirties. ;)
Other than my photography really taking off in-between all of this, I had another surprise turn of events. I was asked to speak out of town at a MOPS group. It was the first time I had ever been asked such a thing and the two ladies who approached me with it just had such confidence in me and sounded so convinced they wanted to hear me speak, so I agreed. I agreed months in advance but waited until the night before to write what I was going to say. I was given the mic for thirty minutes or so and nearly peed in my pants from being so nervous! It ended up going really well and I actually really liked doing it. I’ve already been asked to do another this February.
November brought me Jamaica! A friend of the family was getting married there and asked if I would be their wedding photographer….I mean, you can’t say no to THAT. So I went, I drank, I rested, I snapped pictures and I had a grand ole time! I’m totally up for another destination wedding for whoever is next on the list. It’s the way to go!
November and December brought me photo sessions and lots of them! I set up my first holiday mini session and that went off without a hitch. Everyone and their kids rocked it! It was so much fun and honestly I can’t wait to do more for other holidays.
In addition to all of that, I still kept my full time job at the hospital, I probably drank way too much coffee, I know I ate too much cookie dough, I spent too much time on social media and I don’t regret any of it! Well except the job part...I could have liked less of that. Our year was overall very good! Kaleb is still sleeping with me at night, however started taking naps by himself in his room {and very bluntly telling me to shut the door on my way out, “I’ll be fine mom.”} He has digressed a little with his clinginess and fear of me not being there one day. I think the older he gets, the more he understands the fact he only has one parent and it scares the hell out of him to think about the “what ifs”, which I can’t blame him at all for. He’s wise beyond his years and understands more than he should at his age. I have to remember and respect that…so yet another year of baby steps and worrying if what I’m doing is right or wrong or hurtful or helpful. Welcome to parenthood, right? Sheesh.
I’m not even going to pretend to tell you what 2016 is going to look like. 2015 didn’t look like what I thought it would, in good ways and bad, so I won’t sit here and pretend to know what God has in store. I have some ideas of what I hope He has in store and I have some pretty big goals that I’ve only shared with my handy dandy notebook; but to know what is set in stone, I haven’t got a clue.
As long as God has planned to keep me another 365 more days though, I can tell you these things, yes, I’ll keep writing and taking pictures; yes, one of my projects is still writing a book; yes, I will continue to post crazy shit that Kaleb says and for sure, yes, I’ll continue to believe in the power of prayer.
Happy New Year My Friends! You all have been a terrific support system, yet again! Love to you all….Let’s have a heart-warming 2016!
