This Friday, February 14th, I turn 28 years old. Now, while I let the fact that I am in the end years of my twenties sink in, I wanted to reflect a little on my 27th year of life.
We kicked off my 27th year by getting Kennedy baptized at the church Chase and I got married at a year and a half earlier. Kennedy was actually supposed to be baptized in November, but, due to Chase’s head injury which you can read all about here, we had to postpone it indefinitely, and it ended up being reschedule for a couple days after my birthday!
Chase and I took Kennedy to Disneyland for the first time! Chase was at a work conference in Anaheim for the morning, so Kennedy and I rode the train up from San Diego to the Anaheim station, hopped the bus to Disney, and Chase met us there. We had a great first Disneyland visit, and actually ended up buying passes. We have been back frequently since then.
In March, we took Kennedy swimming in the pool for the first time. We live in Southern California, so the End of March starts to warm us up from our “freezing cold” winter days. The pool at our complex is also heated, making the pool the perfect temperature for little baby Kennedy to having her first swimming experience in!
We got Chase a new Car to go along with his NEW JOB. Chase actually told me on my birthday last year that he was promoted! It made my birthday that much more special. I couldn’t blieve he held onto that secret for a week.
Kennedy celebrated her first Easter! She had so much fun on her Easter egg hunt with her daddy.
Chase and I went to Nashville, both of us for the first time, for our Friend’s 30th Birthday. Exploring this city was so amazing, especially for me, since I’m a HUGE country music fan. I absolutely loved our time here, even though it was our first time leaving sweet Kennedy. It was definitely really hard to be away from her for 4 days, but it made coming home to her so much sweeter!
In the End of April we took Kennedy to her first Padre game. Chase, being a retired professional baseball player, couldn’t wait to take Kennedy to her first game. She had a great time dancing to all the music, and even taking a quick nap in between innings!
Chase and I celebrated my brother Austin’s birthday in June and took Kennedy to the San Diego County Fair for the first time. She pet a horse, and we ate some good food. Chase, being the daredevil that he is, rode a couple rides as well. Carnival rides aren’t my thing, but I’m glad Chase can enjoy them!
We went to visit my grandma Balke in her small town in Missouri named Cole Camp. We celebrated the fourth of July, shot off a lot of fireworks, and had an overall great time in the Midwest. It’s always restful to escape the busy city life of San Diego and retreat to the slow, small town life of Cole Camp. It’s truly one of my favorite places to visit!
We took Kennedy camping at Campland on the bay for the first time! Growing up, we went to Campland every year to go “camping”. Granted, this is more like “glamping” than actual camping, but it’s fun to take a tent down to the bay and spend a week on the water with family. I highly recommend visiting Campland if you’ve never had the chance! I spent many summers there and have many memories riding bikes, playing at the park, swimming in the pool and playing Dance Dance Revolution in the arcade!
I started my new job as a Middle school Counselor and decorated my office!
In August, Chase and I attended Ferragosto, our, Church’s Biannual Fundraiser. We got to gamble with fake money, drink, and dance the night away!
We also attended a lot of Harry’s Varsity football games! Kennedy had so much fun cheering on Cathedral in the stands, and she was still little enough to be held during the games. Now, I have to chase her around the stadium when we go to watch him play soccer!
In the end of September, we celebrated Kennedy’s first birthday!
We went to Disney a couple times!
We visited Bates Nut Farm to go to the pumpkin patch and got a MONSTER PUMPKIN to carve for Halloween.
We celebrated Halloween for the entire month of October!
We ran the Father Joe’s 5k and celebrated Thanksgiving with family!
We took some family photos that were MAYBE the cutest thing EVER!
And we celebrated Christmas with Family!
We celebrated New Years Eve and Day in Pacific Beach at Chase’s Sister’s Sorority’s Beach House! You can watch our New Year’s Vlog HERE! I also started a youtube channel in an effort to capture more of our family memories!
and the Chiefs won the SUPERBOWL! I have no pictures of our reactions to this, but we were SO HAPPY. When that Chargers left San Diego, our family, being DIE HARD Chargers fans felt so betrayed. I quickly packed up all of my chargers Jerseys, shorts and hats, put them in a big box in my parent’s garage, and moved my Chiefs apparel to the front of my drawer. The Chiefs have ALWAYS been one of times, as my dad grew up in Missouri and we lived in Kansas City for 8 years, and this transition from the Bolts to the Sea of Red was difficult, but also so rewarding! CHIEFS NATION BABY!
REFLECTION QUESTIONS!
- What do I like about my life?
There are many things that I like about my life, but first and foremost is my family. I am so happy to be married to my husband, Chase! He makes me happier than I have ever been, and he shows me everyday what it feels like to be truly loved by someone. I am so lucky to have him by my side to do this life! I am also so blessed by our sweet baby girl, Kennedy! Though her terrible twos are hitting her a little early, I love to watch her grow, learn and become a little person. She has changed my life in so many ways, and brought me a happiness that I didn’t even know existed.
I also like the job that I currently have. Working with middle-schoolers, and helping them develop, and grow into responsible young adults is SO CHALLENGING but also, SO REWARDING. Middle school is such a tough time for kiddos, so helping them navigate their little middle school lives gives me fulfillment in my job.
- What are some things I want to be different by next year?
Next year, I want to make sure that I am prioritizing the things in my life that mean a lot to me. I want to prioritize Kennedy, first and foremost, because she is the most important person to prioritize at this time. She needs me to give her love, play with her and be there for her most of my free time. That does make it challenging to prioritize anything else, but I want to try and prioritize this blog, my YouTube channel and my online presence. Writing in this blog, and capturing our family memories on YouTube, is SO important to me. I want to be able to look back and remember everything about these transformative years of our lives, in our marriage and in Kennedy’s life.
- Who are the people who most add to my life?
The people who add the most to my life are my family, Chase, Kennedy, my Mom, Dad, sister, brothers and in-laws, our friends from our Church, my indoor soccer team, and our friends from Chase’s college baseball team.
- What is the most important habit or activity to add or subtract from day-to-day living?
The most important habit that I have recently created is working out in the mornings, before Kennedy is awake, and before I have to get ready for work. Because I have such a long commute to work. it is imperative for me to get up before everyone else to create that “me” time that I need, and still be able to be there for Kennedy. Getting up at 4:30 every morning really is NOT easy, but it’s totally worth it when I get my workout in, and I can just relax when I get home from work.
I would love to subtract bad eating from my everyday life. I try really hard to eat healthy, but, often, I find myself falling off of that bandwagon and when I crash IT’s HARD.
I would love to add being smarter with our finances as a new good habit that we have together. We have worked on a budget together this year, but REALLY implementing it is the hard part. I would LOVE to really live out or budget, which will hopefully come in year 28!
- How would I rate my life in the realms of career?
I currently love what I do! 10 out of 10!
- How would I rate my life in the realms of finances?
I believe we can do SO MUCH better in what we are spending our money on. 3 our of 10 for this one.
- How would I rate my life in the realms of health?
Again, I have been better with going to the gym everyday, but I want to be better at eating too. 5 out of 10!
- How would I rate my life in the realms of growth?
I haven’t done a ton of “growing” this year. I REALLY want to learn Italian, and take a couple classes on counseling to advance my career, so I plan to do that in year 28! 1 out of 10!
- How would I rate my life in the realms of fun?
This sounds terrible, but I really struggle with this category! Having “fun” isn’t always the first thing on my mind. I tend to want to do chores more than want to go out and do something. Not because I don’t enjoy having fun, but just more because as an adult, I’ve always had a “work first, play later” kind of mentality. I hope to work on this more in year 28, because life is short, and I need to have fun with it. 2 out of 10!
- How would I rate my life in the realms of lifestyle?
Right now, our lifestyle is good, but it can be great. By, hopefully, implementing the things I mentioned previously, I can increase not only my, but my family’s way of living. 7 out of 10!
- If there’s a gap between where I am now and where I want to be, what’s one step I can take now to close that gap?
I need to ACT NOW, not later. I sometime catch myself saying, “but there’s always tomorrow”. This needs to be erased from my vocabulary, and I need to ACT NOW!
That’s all for this year’s reflection! I hope next year is just as great as 27 has been for me!
Kayla
