looking back at 2019

ah, 2019.  you flew by in a flash, and were very very good to us in the process.  shall we recap?  i think so!

of course, we kicked it off with mimosas.  because why not?

we went to lots of fun restaurants.

 there were, of course, lots of trips to disneyland.

did you know that 2019 was also the 25th anniversary of "friends"?  we did a lot of celebrating.

 the bean finally found something to fangirl over - k-pop superstars BTS.  and when i say fangirl, i mean FAN. GIRL.

speaking of the bean - she also turned 12, started junior high and leveled up in girl scouts into the tan cadette vest.

 she participated in all sorts of fun theme days throughout the year between school and cheer.

speaking of cheer, she finished up comp season in the spring and then started season 3 in the summer.

 we said a sad, sad goodbye to our sweet molly this year.

 but we also welcomed an adorable new family member - baby wyatt, brother wan's firstborn.

 the hub celebrated a milestone birthday this year - the big 4-0.

and there was a lot of fun travel this year!  we went to san francisco with the bean's girl scout troop for their bridging ceremony at the golden gate:

and then while she headed off to her annual grandma camp in texas:

...the hub and i took off for a fantastic trip to london, paris and amsterdam.

when we got home, we were touched to see this from the old lady and her special friend, who'd also made sure to open windows and air out the house so it wasn't all stuffy when we got home.

we also squeezed in a quick trip to vegas to see justin timberlake at the t-mobile arena.

our last big trip of the year took the whole family to hawaii, using airline vouchers we'd received for voluntarily bumping ourselves off of another flight the year before.

 the old lady and i got to see a taping of snoop & martha, courtesy of an old friend:

which led to a pretty huge celebrity encounter...all three jonas brothers, freshly reunited and literally a couple of days out from the release of what turned out to be a monster top 40 single.

speaking of the jonas brothers, their stop at the hollywood bowl on their "happiness begins" tour also marked the bean's first concert.

we also got to cross off a bucket list item courtesy of her oldest and dearest BFF - a taping of "the ellen show."

 i got to hang out with lots of friends throughout the year, too.

 and even went to two dodgers games!

we waited till all of our travel was done for the year and then began the hunt for a new furry friend to join the family.  we all missed molly so much, and the house just wasn't the same without a canine presence.  stevie's a frequent visitor, but he belongs to the old lady and her special friend.  and we had fun meeting all sorts of different dogs while we searched.

 when we met cocoa, it was love.

and about a month later, we welcomed teddy into the fold.

here's some cute pictures of stevie too:

 were there cookies?  of course there were!

these were what i submitted for this year's fair competition...which led to my first fail.  for the first time since i started entering the competition, i didn't place in the top three.  boohoo.

 no worries.  we still had fun at the fair this year.

you guys...2019 was the year of meeting general hospital cast members and touring the show sets.  at the official GH convention.  AND at the GH fan club convention.  it was amazing.

there were pop-ups galore, from pop-up mickey to 90210's peach pit to the lego movie 2.  so much fun.

there was plenty of pool time this summer:

 and there was just lots of good ol' fashioned fun with friends and family.

the dogs survived halloween and their first christmas.

we celebrated wan-niversary 14.0:

had our annual family photo shoot:

and then rocked the matching pajamas for christmas (which i still need to recap).

see?  it was quite a year.  i can't wait to see what 2020 has in store for us.  whatever it is, we're ready.  bring it on.