That’s a wrap on another year! This will be my last blog post of 2023, which just seems crazy. This is always one of my favorite blogs to write because it gives me the opportunity to look back on the year and reminisce on the highlights. I highly encourage you to do the same!

I like to look back at each month and pick out the most memorable pieces of those months. However, January didn’t seem to be all that memorable for 2023 haha. I found a lot of icy running pics, so my guess would be I pretty much hunkered down in January and didn’t do a whole lot. That’s okay though. January is a rough month. It follows the holidays, and it’s usually colder than snot out. Especially in South Dakota, hunkering down and focusing on staying warm is probably one of the best things TO do. 🙂

February was a little bit more exciting! Not only was it Dan’s birthday, but we also celebrated 3 years together – and he’s not sick of me yet! Kind of crazy to think next year we’ll have a new anniversary to celebrate. 🙂

Also in February, I spent nine days in Orlando, Florida for my first NATE UNITE show. It was an exhausting trip, but it was so fun at the same time. We’re gearing up for our 2024 show in Memphis, Tennessee, and I’m excited to see how this next show compares to this year!

March was pretty quiet, but the most memorable part was that I worked from home almost the entire month. Our office was undergoing some construction and some of us had to work from home for a short period since there was no room at the office at the time. It was something different, but I have to say, I like coming in to the office much better.

In April, I crossed something off my bucket list and saw the Northern Lights for the first time ever. I’ve lived in South Dakota for 75% of my life, and never thought I’d barely have to leave my backyard to see them. We even went to Alaska twice in hopes of seeing them! But it was really cool to go out with my dad and see them. I even found a way to track them, so I’m hoping to see them again in the very near future.

Looking back at May, it was actually kind of hard to pick out a few highlights – it was a very busy month! The big ones were that I FINALLY broke two hours on my half marathon time, something I’ve been trying to do for a few years now.

And, I also got to go back to Washington DC for work! It was great to see some of my college friends, and walk around the mall and reminisce. I truly felt like I was back at my home away from home.

In June, Dan and I took our annual vacation together. This year we went to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. It was a short trip, we had five days total and two of them were spent driving – it was a 14 hour drive after all! But we packed a lot into those days, and it was so much fun. I love exploring new places with Dan, and anything outdoors is right up both of our allies. In 2024, we have a trip to Zion National Park planned for a whole week! I’m pretty pumped for that one.

July was pretty uneventful. I pretty much just ran a lot haha. We did spend the 4th running the Freedom Day 5k and then went to the lake to hang out with Dan’s brother and his girlfriend and some of their friends. Overall, it was a pretty chill month – although the temps were quite the opposite of “chill.” 🙂

In August, my sister gave birth to her second child: Tessa Ann. This little girl didn’t take long to steal my heart – just like her brother! She’s such a sweetie and I love, love all the baby snuggles.

September was literally the highlight of the entire year – Dan asked me to marry him!! We went down to the lake at the farm and brought a picnic supper. It was sunset, it was beautiful, and he got down on one knee on the dock and proposed. Looking back, there were a lot of little hints he was going to pop the question that weekend, but I was oblivious. Regardless, it was the best day ever, and I’m so, so excited to marry him next year!

October was pretty busy too. I ran my first trail run – 12 miles in REALLY steep hills – but I’d do it again in a heart beat! I went to Denver for a few days for our Regional Conference. We worked really hard on this for several months, so it was really great to see it come to fruition and go so well. And of course, a big highlight was that I found my wedding dress!

In November, I spent a lot of time with family for Thanksgiving, and deer hunting season also consumed about 50% of the month – but we already talked about how THAT went. 😉 I’m not mad about it though. Like I said in that post, I was just happy to make memories with my fella.

December has been a really great month. I had a lot of PTO to burn, so I took a lot of long weekends. Got some writing done, caught up on sleep, visited family and spent lots of time with friends.

Overall, it was a very solid year. It had a lot more ups than downs and I made so many memories. It’s going to be hard to top, but I have a strong feeling 2024 is up for the challenge. 😉

Hope you all had a fantastic 2023 as well, and I hope you take some time to pull out a few of your favorite memories over the past year too.

Until next YEAR! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger