2017 was quite a year! While I had a lot to love in 2017, I’m extremely excited for 2018 to come crashing through the door. Here are my favorite five of 2017 (mom moments, movies, races and travel experiences!)

Favorite Five Mom Moments of 2017

As always, I’m so lucky to call these 4 my own. Every day they are my favorite and I love them bunches.

Favorite moments of 2017 with them include:

1. 1. The move- oh boy I was in knots over this for my kids. It was a big scary thing and it was particularly hard on my oldest. But he rocked through it and is excelling in a challenging new high school. Oh, and he’s trying a new sport- and seems to love it! Crew. How cool is that!? While I’m sure I’ll complain about being cold out by the water, I’m super excited to see where this takes him.
   2. My sweet awkward oldest daughter is turning into quite the young lady. She moved during one of the hardest times of a girls life: the dreaded middle school years. And I worried! But she’s found her tribe and they are everything I could want in close friends for my girl. Yes- I totally prayed for friends for my kids and I am thankful to see those prayers answered!
   3. My rockstar younger son is the easy-going kid of the group. He takes pretty much everything in stride and manages to make us laugh way more than we should with his sarcastic wit and humor. His teacher-parent conference was one of the biggest moments I’ve had as a mom. We expected to hear the normal stuff about him being a good kid and a leader, but we were so impressed with Seth when she told us a specific story. There’s a transgendered child in his class who came to school this year as a boy after being a girl for 9 years. Seth went out of his way to make him feel welcomed and included with the guys in his class- and she credited him with the other kids’ acceptance of their classmate.
   4. Lucy’s growing art talent is blowing me away. You can follow her on Instagram at @hashtagohlucy. She is happiest sitting down with crayons and a stack of paper and coloring away! She gives most of her drawings to me, and I have a nice stack that someday I’ll have turned into a book. This age is so precious and she is just the best!
   5. Watching my husband spend time with the kids. This move allowed his commute to be cut drastically, which means he leaves for work after the kids are off to school and is home before dinner. Whaaattt?! We’ve never had this as a family; it’s kinda a big deal! This means he’s here to help with school work & activities— or just goofing off.

Favorite Five Travel Moments of 2017

Honestly, I don’t know what to leave off! There was so much cool travel this year.

An airport with my big suitcase is definitely my happy place.

1. Jamaica. I got to spend some time out of the country for the first time in my life. Passport and everything- and it was quite cool! The people, the culture, the food and the drinks- omg, I loved it all. I will be back.
2. Disneyland & Disney World. I said goodbye to the west coast in January but thankfully had a few trips to the Happiest Place on Earth to keep my pixie dust meter filled! I think it’s a tie between the D23 Expo trip and the Cars Land Haul-O-Ween trip on my favorites. And on the east coast, my favorite trip to Disney World was with the family in August. Yeah, August. But it worked out and we all got a trip on a Banshee.
3. Washington, DC for the Fourth of July. I’ve got a post on this coming- but man, it was SO COOL. I am thrilled to be living close enough to this city to head in for a few hours here and there. But the 4th of July was special.
4. Hershey Park! Guys… I love chocolate so this was a given that I’d love this town & theme park. But I was surprised at how deeply the Hershey story impacted me. If you haven’t heard about the Hershey story, please check it out. Milton Hershey was an amazingly generous human being.
5. Hilton Head. The beach is like pizza for me: I’ve never met a “bad” one. But Hilton Head is one of my favorite beaches for families. Now that we are in driving distance, I hope we can make this an annual trip. It was great to spend a few days with toes in the sand watching the kids surf and play.

Favorite Five Running Moments

Running… bah. I didn’t love it this year. But I liked it enough to know that I still want and need it in my life.

Maybe that love will come back; I am putting some positive juju out there in the hopes that it does by joining the 2018 miles in 2018 with Run the Edge Run the Year 2018 Virtual Race. Come run with us: I have a Run the Year 2018 promo code for you, too!

1. Running the Princess 10K with my pal Julie as plaid cast members. We had a blast and loved the smiles we brought to the cast members we saw on the course!
2. Running through my new city for the Cherry Blossom 5K. The race itself had some logistical issues, but I got my history nerd ON while doing the 5K listening to the Hamilton soundtrack and running past the Lincoln Memorial.
3. New trails with shade and trees. Yall. This is huge! Arizona was great for no humidity but was shite when it came to shady places to run in the summer. Heck, any time of the year- that sun is no joke in AZ! So I loved finding lakes and shaded trails here.
4. The Spider-Man 5K. I wasn’t planning on running-running this one, but that’s what actually happened. I thought my speedier friends would catch up to me, but it didn’t happen, so I waited them out on Main Street. AND got a ton of pictures on the course. I guess if I only have 3 miles to cover, I can be motivated to keep moving!
5. Cheering the final race at Disneyland. I cried a lot. I will miss these people and this special place so very much. But it was an honor to see the first and last racers finish that morning. I’ll be back when the races come back!

Favorite Five Movie Moments

You know where they are all from, right? Thor, Thor and more Thor. Well, one isn’t ALL Thor. Ha!

When I went to Hollywood for the Thor: Ragnarok red carpet event, I lived a dream.

Hey man, when dreams come true, there is just no question where those five favorites are coming from!

1. Getting selfies with the cast. This was an unexpected circumstance and I know it’s a once in a lifetime type thing! Swoon!
2. Walking the red carpet for Thor: Ragnarok. It was a little surreal to find myself in the middle of Hollywood (I’d never been!) and walking down the famed red carpet to see the world premiere of Thor: Ragnarok. Thanks to my blogging buddy Heidi for making sure I didn’t pass out when I saw Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth mere feet away from me!
3. Visiting the Disney Studios. Again, y’all, DREAMS come true. What a special place full of incredibly talented people.
4. Watching the Infinity War Trailer at D23 Expo with the cast on stage. I. Lost. My. Mind. The hype is real and this movie is going to be everything a Marvel fangirl can hope for!
5. Getting the email invite to the #ThorRagnarokEvent from my fairy godfather. I’m not sure how many times I opened and read that sucker but I know that was pure magic in my inbox. I will always be thankful for this opportunity and experience. Thanks, Marshall.

2018 is going to be here sooner than we think- and I can’t wait to see what this year will bring!

Thanks, as always for supporting my blogging efforts. Just by being here, reading a few posts, and letting me know what you think means more than you’ll know to me.

What started out as a fun hobby to share my thoughts turned into an obsession and now a full-blown business.

Find what you love to do and do THAT to make a living. <—- THIS is where I am.

See you in 2018!