On this last day of the year, I thought I’d look back over the last twelve months and reminisce a bit over the highlights of what was no doubt a difficult year for most of us.

I’d rather not think about the bad, though, and focus on the good instead and I hope you do, too.

Thankfully there were plenty of good times here at our little empty nest homestead!

Beginning all the way back in January when we had a blast at the annual sled dog races in Jackson, Wyoming.

Oh, wait, actually that was in 2020 because they canceled the opening ceremony and didn’t allow any spectators for the rest of the race this year… 🤨

We did get to do quite a bit of dog sledding with our own pack in January and February though, so that was fun.

By the time March rolled around we were already looking forward to spring and planning our summer garden…

…but that was still a ways away so we spent most of March doing more dog sledding and taking pictures of the local flora and fauna.

When April came around, the snow had melted and the first signs of things to come were popping up. Not just the weeds, either!

The snow melted and that meant it was time to get the garden beds ready and the vacuum too, because with the spring flowers came twelve huskies blowing their winter coats out!

May brought us a nice surprise in the window flower box just above the front door…

A robin made her nest there and laid a few eggs for us to peek at through the blinds.

Unfortunately, they didn’t hatch there because the collared doves kept dive bombing her and stealing them and we couldn’t do much about that so she moved on and built a new nest in the big maple tree instead.

It did allow me to get some great photos of the doves, though…

June brought with it a lot of beautiful flowers, some new babies and the beginnings of a beautiful garden…

Just about everything we planted sprouted and just about every egg we incubated hatched, which was thoroughly satisfying!

By mid July we had a nice crop going and everything was blooming…

There were potatoes and corn and cucumbers and pumpkins and tomatoes and onions and lettuce and carrots and peas and beans and lots and lots of sunflowers for my flower vases.

The chickens and ducks and pheasant and quail all helped to keep the bugs down (except the wasps which wanted to murder me) which helped the garden grow, unless you count the things they could reach from their pens to nibble on. 😆

We did have a couple escapees from the poultry pens, but we caught them before they got too far…

Somewhere in there we made time to take a few road trips, do a bit of camping and hiking and throw our fishing poles in the lake a few times…

By August we were starting to harvest our garden and boy, what a harvest it was!

The pumpkins held out until the end of September but they were well worth the wait…

The fall colors in the Tetons were well worth the wait, too!

Every season is my favorite but I especially love fall here.

October was time to slow down and look forward to less fur to vacuum and more fun with the pups since the weather was cooler and soon they would keep their coats and we could get out with them again to run, run, run!

Even when there isn’t enough snow for the sled, our trusty mushing buggy lets us get out and play with them as long as it’s not too hot.

We had a lot of fun with them and we also had fun decorating for Halloween this year…

That brought us into November where we enjoyed the cold, frosty mornings and looked forward to the holiday season with our friends and family…

Not to mention more delicious pumpkin pies, cakes, cookies and muffins…

We also began having the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets towards the end of November…

Which made me start to notice the sky more and enjoy getting up at the break of dawn!

By the time December came I began to notice the swans…

All month long they’ve been flying over twice a day, by the hundreds, and I have become quite addicted to watching for them and taking a million pictures.

Not just of them, but of all my feathered friends, which, by now if you’ve been following my blog long, have seen plenty of because I do love to share them here with all my blogging friends.

I love to share my little corner of the world with everyone as much as possible and I hope that I can continue to do so into the new year and beyond.

I feel truly blessed to live in a part of the world that feels more like a dream sometimes than reality and I feel extra blessed to have you here to share it with.

Happy New Year and see you in 2022! 🥰