Here’s some of our highlights from the year and some things we are working on in 2019!
Our year was filled with the highest-highs and lowest lows, moments of victory and failure, laughter and a lot of tears. The entire end of our year felt like one big question mark, but we are starting to get some direction with how to go about in the new year. Here’s our year in review!
January
In January, I rang in the New Year by cutting 8 inches off my hair and I loved the change!
Taz and I had the chance to go to the Ice Castles in Midway, Utah. Ever since I moved to Utah, I wanted to go and we loved it! It’s such a cool experience so if you ever get the chance to go, I highly recommend it! Also, we celebrated my birthday with some of our dear friends and a TON of snow. I’m excited to have my birthday next year without the cold haha.
February
February FLEW by! We celebrated Valentine’s Day together and went on a little vacation down to Southern Utah. Taz was actually born down in St. George so he has a lot of family down there. We saw his grandpa, stayed with some of his cousins and went to Zions National Park. Neither one of us had gone in years and it was breathtaking! I wish we took advantage of all the places that were in our own backyard in Utah but that just gives us an excuse to go back.
March
March started out with a bang! I spent a lot of time with my girlfriends. My friend invited me to a Girl’s Night at the local rec center and I held a SNAKE! I was only freaking out a little haha. Then, my best friend, Kim had her baby shower. It feels like a lifetime ago!
Taz and I celebrated Easter together and had the opportunity to attend the worldwide conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was amazing! We are sad we can’t be there in person now, but they also stream it online.
April
In April, Kim had her baby! She’s absolutely precious and I love seeing videos of her on Marco Polo.
We celebrated Taz’s birthday with some of our amazing friends and family. Taz’s grandma was in town so we spent the day at the temple and had an amazing time!
May
In May, we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! I don’t know how I got someone as wonderful as Taz, but I’m certainly glad I did.
My previous roommate, Bree also got married later in May. She looked gorgeous and we loved getting to see some of our old friends again.
Also, we ran our first 5K together, I became addicted to Pacqui chips (which are no where to be found in Florida!), and the pool opened so May was one of the best months of the year!
June
Our friend, Jake had a birthday party at the beginning of June. We wanted to give him a gift he would never forget so naturally we rented a baby fox from a local pet rental company. The fox (Wally) was SO cute and I wish we could’ve kept him forever.
My sister came into town to go to a church camp called Especially For Youth (EFY). We had a lot of fun eating yummy food and going to a lot of fun events around. Plus, we had to squeeze in a pool day and trip to East High where Disney Channel filmed High School Musical.
An interactive museum called The Hall of Breakfast opened in Salt Lake City and they invited Taz and I to visit. It was a BLAST! We had the best time exploring, but that wasn’t even the best part. We met Colin and Sara! The next day, Sara and I saw each other at another event. We became soul sisters and talked the entire day! The next weekend, we went on a double date, became best friends within a few hours and we spent every single weekend together the rest of the summer.
At the end of the month, we went on a double date to try axe throwing. I was SO scared! I definitely thought I would drop an axe on my foot and the date would go south really fast. Thankfully, no one was hurt and by the end, Taz could throw both at the same time.
July
This was probably the best 4th of July I ever had! We began the morning with Matt and Maddie going to a hot air balloon festival and ate breakfast at my favorite place in all of Provo: Cafe 300! BUT, now it closed down and I’m so sad about it. Later that day, we met up with Colin and Sara for the 4th of July carnival and fireworks. Sara and I got the cutest pineapple cotton candy too which I had never seen before.
During the next week, Sara and I went to an incredible pool party hosted by another local influencer and Taz and I went to my cousin, Ali’s wedding!
We wanted to go to the Young Living Lavender Fields again before the summer ended. We called Sara and Colin to all drive down together. The pictures turned out beautifully and that still stands out to me as one of the best days this year!
August
Taz and I decided to move back to Florida so I could pursue my blog full-time and he could revamp his photography business. I put in my two weeks notice and we literally sold EVERYTHING! (You can read all about our crazy moving adventure here.)
Before we left, we went with our friend, Trey to hike Donut Falls, had a going away party and shipped most of our things to Florida.
Since my sister is most likely moving to Utah in 2019, Taz and I drove our car to Arizona to leave with my grandparents for her to use when she comes back. We began our drive and stopped in St. George in Las Vegas to see family and friends. We enjoyed a few days in Arizona spending time with my grandparents and flew the rest of the way to Florida.
September
We loved being back in Florida! We spent a lot of time at the beach and with our families. Taz and I ate a lot of good food, jumped right into our photography business, Taz Smith Photography and we launched the Early Retirement Podcast.
At the end of the month, we celebrated my father-in-law’s 50th birthday and my brother’s 12th birthday. It’s so nice living close so we can be around for fun things like this!
October
We went with my sister to a local pumpkin patch and took some cute pictures. We dressed up with my siblings as the Scooby Doo gang for Halloween and it may be one of my favorite costumes yet.
My mom used to live in Belgium for her study abroad. The family she lived with came into town so we enjoyed all the yummy chocolate they brought!
November
Taz and I brought my siblings to the county fair. We had so much fun and filmed a little video about it here.
We drove over to Tampa and stayed there the rest of the month. During the month, we had fun exploring Hyde Park Village, Ybor, and other areas for our family photoshoots. We even got to go to Indian Rocks Beach for the first time since we spent our honeymoon there.
On Thanksgiving, we spent the day with Taz’s family and then went Black Friday shopping with his sisters, You can watch our adventures here!
December
December’s been a crazy one with the holidays. My sister and I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. It was a women’s build so we are hoping she gets into her house at the beginning of next year.
My previous coworker came into town with her family. We loved getting a chance to catch up with her and spend the day at the beach.
My entire family is now headed to Italy! I’m sure I’ll be posting a ton of pictures so stay tuned for that. Taz and I are a little nervous but super excited! (UPDATE: it’s crazy fun and we are loving every second in Italy!)
Our Plans for 2019
Taz and I are really starting to take off with Taz Smith Photography. We love the people we meet and interact with from that. We are currently booking for the beginning of the year and have some spots open throughout January and February.
I’m hoping to continue with my blog and work smarter not harder. I’m also currently taking on some new clients to help with their social media and various other projects they need. From 2018, I learned being your own boss is HARD. It takes a lot of sweat, tears, long nights, stress and headache. BUT, it can be very rewarding, fulfilling and one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself.
Some days, I feel bad because I don’t feel like I accomplished much this year, but when I go back and read about all the things that happened, I’m blown away! Even though I didn’t cross off all of my achievements I wanted or do everything I wanted to do, I’m still fulfilled in what I could accomplish. 2019 will be a year harder than any of them to date but I’m excited for the things we will get to do this year! If there’s anything you’re working on in the next 365 days, let me know what it is! I would love to hear it.
XOXO Kayla
