2020 Year in Review

What. A. Year.  It's still hard to believe that this time last year, COVID (and everything else that 2020 brought us) was not even on our radar.

From canceled trips to Japan and Hawaii, to remote learning for six weeks (which of course has been extended indefinitely), working from home for the last nine months, called off sports, sleep issues, and a completely unexpected Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis for me, 2020 is definitely not the year we were expecting.

But the silver linings outweigh all the challenges - we enjoyed a slower pace of life with lots of quality family time at home and on our bikes, celebrated birthdays in unique and fun ways, spent tons of time outdoors with friends, set up backyard movie nights, met and became good friends with several neighbor families, made more dinners together, and were even able to take a few more local trips.  

We started the year off with our annual trip to Whistler with the Barth family, and the boys continued to improve their skiing skills.  We look forward to this trip every winter, and unfortunately we likely won't be able to take the trip this year since the border has been closed.  But in the meantime, we've picked up Snoqualmie season passes and were even able to convince Corey to take up snowboarding!  We've already been up a few times and look forward to lots more trips together in the coming months.

Corey and I had a trip planned to Tokyo and Kyoto with friends to celebrate a 40th birthday in early March, but due to COVID it became a last minute trip to Miami instead.  While very different than the trip we'd planned, it was a blast relaxing poolside and on the beach, and eating so many delicious dinners out on the town.  It was a a great way to spend our last week before the shutdown.  

In June, we enjoyed a Chelan trip with Reeders, where we spent lots of time in the sun at the pool and on the lake (we even rented a boat one afternoon!).  And in July, we headed to Sunriver with my parents for a few days, and even had the chance to see one of my besties while we were there (their trip just happened to overlap ours!)

Cole enjoyed a Tae Kwon Do birthday party with friends this year, just weeks before everything shut down.  He continues to enjoy superheroes, Barbies, art/drawing, writing chapter books, and has been blessed with the world's BEST first grade teacher, who he absolutely adores.  He's reading really well and seems to do well with math.  Cole lost two teeth early this year and then another three right before Christmas.

Jackson is becoming a much more avid reader and loves to listen to audio books while working on puzzles, diamond paintings, or knitting a scarf.  He still loves LEGOs and all things space, with the rocket launch back in June a big highlight for him this year.  Jackson also enjoys cooking and has learned how to make scrambled eggs and just this week (thanks to a cookbook he received for Christmas), he made a one pot pasta dish for dinner and homemade pancakes. He's gotten to be quite the biker and enjoys rides with Corey.

Distance learning has gone surprisingly well for both boys, though they both miss their friends.  Cole also has been known to get distracted occasionally by browsing on Amazon and drawing on his face/hands (though I guess in first grade, after hours on the computer, you're allowed some slack...).  It is nice to have them home and be able to interact with them throughout the day and at lunch. With that said, we're all looking forward to their return to school so they can see their friends and teachers.

Corey's taken up biking and snowboarding this year, and we've enjoyed having more time with him while he's working from home.  This has also allowed him to get out on lots of quick rides throughout the week, when his meeting schedule and the weather allows.

This summer, I was diagnosed with T1D, after a few weeks of rapid weight loss and excessive thirst.  While it was a shock to us all, I have a great Endocrinologist at UW and have been able to use a continuous glucose monitor which is has been a huge help in managing things.  Luckily I haven't had to change my diet much and things seem to be under control.  In addition, I've been able to continue (and even increase) my home workouts, thanks to the home gym Corey set up for me in our garage for my birthday!

In other exciting news, the T-Mobile/Sprint merger officially completed on April 1, and as part of that, I had an opportunity to join a new team (still within the same org), which I love.  (I'll also be able to continue working from home indefinitely in this role!)  It's still crazy to think that the merger completed in the midst of a pandemic, while nearly all employees were working from home.

We're all looking forward to hopefully a little less unexpected in 2021!

And in case you're interested in previous recaps, you can check them out here: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.