Our Personal Top 12 Moments of 2021
January 11, 2022
Over the years, Sarah and I have developed a January tradition of using this slow season to write a few more reflective blogs, aimed at recapping the previous year. Although we have an annual Behind-the-Scenes Blog that we’re SO excited to work on later this month, this blog is a bit more… personal ????
Today, we’re reflecting on the year that was, and some of our top moments from this past calendar year! 2021 was definitely a strange year: we all thought we would be emerging from COVID in 2021, only to find it back with a vengeance (at least twice). But we still managed to live our lives, have a ton of fun, and share some wonderful memories. So here’s a quick recap of the year that was!
1. Spending all of February out West
In early February, we packed our bags and headed out to Scottsdale, AZ to avoid the winter cold and spend time with my brother Tanner and his fiancée Jess. We wrote an entire travel blog about this trip (here), but a few highlights were 1) 70-degree days in the desert while it was snowing in VA, 2) long walks with their dog Milo, 3) desert photoshoots, 4) a weekend trip to Flagstaff, 5) lots of quality time with T&J, and 6) our week-long stop in Austin, TX on the way home! Caleb, my best friend from college was getting married in early March, so we made the stop home to celebrate him and his new bride Linsey!
2. Visiting Virginia Beach for my Birthday in May (And Again in September)
Anytime a photoshoot brings us near Hampton Roads from May-September, we try to squeeze in a little time at the beach. This year, we happened to be in the area right before my Birthday weekend in May, then again in mid-September! Both times, we made a weekend out of it. We relaxed on the beach, did a lot of reading, and ate some incredible food — from our favorite local dinner to the fanciest rooftop luxury dining experience!
3. New York Trip #1 for Jess and Tanner’s Elopement in mid-June
Like so many couples since the pandemic began, Jess and Tanner both eloped in a private, intimate, quasi-secret ceremony, AND later celebrated with all their friends and family in a large, more traditional wedding. For us, this meant an excuse to get up to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York (where my mom’s family is from) in June, and get a little extra family time in the midst of our busiest summer ever. It was so much fun celebrating Jess and Tanner, although strange not being the ones taking the photos for once ????
I also got to do something I had never done before… and actually officiated their wedding ???? So fun fact: if you need to get married in the state of New York, I got you covered!!
4. We Started and Finished a Kitchen Renovation
This was our third and final major renovation on our first home here in Charlottesville, and we have been SO thrilled with the results! The full reno blog is here, but suffice to say that this was a LOooOooOOng project, spanning almost 4 months. But we’ve enjoyed using the kitchen SO much more since August! It’s honestly my favorite room in our house now. Here’s a quick before/after, but see more on the blog!
5. Anniversary Weekend in Wilmington and Beach Week 2021 in the OBX
An oceanfront wedding in Holden Beach, NC later in June gave us the perfect excuse to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary in Wilmington, NC! It’s a wonderful beach town that we’ve been to a few times before, but not since we weren’t broke college students ???? We ended up driving straight from there to the Outer Banks (with a quick stop in Hampton Roads to shoot another wedding) for Sheldon Family Beach Week 2021! This annual tradition was as fun as ever, and all of this time in the sun with dear friends was so good for our souls ♥
6. Our Boston/Portland, Maine Trip in October
At this point, you might be noticing a theme. In October, photography continued to have us traveling all over! A beautiful fall wedding in southern Maine gave us the excuse we were looking for to spend some time in Boston with Caleb and Linsey, then explore Portland, ME on our own for a long weekend! We got the best of both worlds: a few warm fall days in Boston and the typical, chilly, overcast New England experience during our time in Maine. Getting almost stranded in the Boston Airport on the way home was slightly less fun, but we figured it all out in the end.
7. Jess and Tanner’s (Second) Wedding Week in October
Jess and Tanner’s wedding weekend in October gave our family yet another excuse to get together in 2021. But this time, Sarah and I got to host the whole family in Charlottesville for the first time! We blocked off our AirBnB for the weekend and got to host the entire family, plus a couple of friends! Then, we got to celebrate (and photograph) Jess and Tanner again, this time with all their friends and family too!
Even though we were shooting AND serving them as Best Man and Matron of Honor, Sarah and I hadn’t had that much fun since our own wedding day!
8. Our Church Community Group “Retreat” this Fall
After the pandemic had nixed the 2020 “retreat” with our Portico Church Community Group, we were determined to make it happen at some point in 2021, even if we didn’t actually leave C’ville. When we just happened to have only one Saturday open in all of September, October, and November… sure, why not host the retreat at our house on that one off weekend?! ???? But it was SO nice to spend the day diving deeper into life with these dear friends, sharing goals, sharing our stories, and sharing lots of snacks!
9. A Quick Trip to Mexico to Celebrate the End of the Fall Season
About half-way through October, Sarah and I were both feeling especially exhausted after all of the travel and shooting, and decided that we needed a trip to look forward to that was 100% purely relaxation-focused, and not a “working vacation”. So on a whim (one month-out is on a whim for us), we spent about 3 years worth of racked-up credit card points and booked a long weekend in Playa Mujeres, on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico’s eastern coast!
We did absolutely nothing while we were there. We slept, read on the beach, hung out in our private pool, and ate 40 tacos in just a few days. That was it. No excursions, no adventures; we didn’t even borrow the resort’s snorkels. We just… blobbed out. It was wonderful ???? After shooting 36 weddings and 28 portrait sessions in the 7 months prior, it was exactly what we needed!
10. Thanksgiving with Sarah’s Family in Raleigh
After we got back from Mexico, we headed down to Raleigh to enjoy a long Thanksgiving Weekend with part of Sarah’s side of the family. It had been a long time since we had seen most of her family, and it was so good to reunite over lots of board games and good meals! COVID had abruptly canceled our Thanksgiving plans for 2020, so we were just grateful to be able to see everyone this year!
11. Christmas in New York with My Family
In December, we were back in the Hudson Valley for one final trip with the Sheldon side of the fam. We had snow, ate a lot of delicious meals (another theme you’re probably noticing), looked at a LOT of old photos, and generally just enjoyed some quiet, slow time with family. It was a really sweet Christmas, focused more on time spent together than exchanging a ton of presents!
12. New Year’s Eve with the Benji Men
Last but not least, we closed out 2021 in the same way we had done in 2018 and 2019, with my college roomates. Although COVID and other considerations kept all 8 of us (and our partners) from getting together, those of us who could get together really enjoyed being reunited again, and hitting some of our old haunts here in C’ville. One special treat was actually returning to the Benji — the house that we had all lived in from 2014-2017. We just texted one of the guys that lives there now, and he told us to swing by whenever because, of course, the door was unlocked because #college ????
Thanks so much for reading along, friends ???? We hope that 2022 is an even better year than 2021! If you can’t get enough of Hunter and Sarah, click here to read more about life with Hunter and Sarah!
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In the mood for more “Best of” Blogs? Check out ones from other years!