2023 A Year in Review

Apr 18, 20244 min read

2023; what a whirlwind of a year! Nate & I got married on April 22nd, soon after we honeymooned in Cancun, and in September we moved to Minnesota.

I wish I would have been able to share more about my 2023 travels, as minimal as they were, but I was overwhelmed with final wedding details and finding a new job & place to live in Minnesota. But don’t worry; I’M BACK! I have plenty of fun stuff in store for the summer including some day trips in Minneapolis/St. Paul, lake days, AND we’re going to Hinterland Music Festival in August!

With a year of fun planned for 2024, first I want to highlight some of my favorite moments from 2023 🤍

Long Blog Alert! It's okay if you skip all of the text and just look at the photos (that's probably what I would do too).

Wedding Day

Nate & I tied the knot on April 22, 2023, at The Barn at Aspen Acres in Spearfish, SD. We were surrounded by our closest friends & family as we celebrated our love for each other. It was so special to get married to my best friend at The Barn; which had become a second home to me over the previous 3 years where I had worked as the Operations Manager.

Our day was simply perfect thanks to our amazing vendors! Everything went to plan with no hiccups aside from the weather being a little more chilly than we originally had wished. Some of our favorite aspects from our day include our beautiful florals from the AMAZING Kayly Shae Floral + Design, our cookie wall, and playing our first game of ping pong as a married couple.

Take a peak into our wedding here; all photos by Mariah Paige Photo.

Honeymoon in Cancun

I had originally started to write a blog post about our honeymoon soon after we got home. I never got around to posting it as the trip didn't necessarily live up to what we thought it would. Nothing too major aside from a case of food poisoning and a missed flight that took us on a complete side quest to get home.

We booked our flights & all-inclusive, Live Aqua, resort through Costco Travel which made it super easy & stress-free when it came to planning. The weather was great the entire time we were there, a nice escape coming off of a cold Midwest winter.

The staff at our resort were super friendly and made our stay one to remember. A few highlights from our honeymoon include the ocean views from our balcony, a day trip to the aquarium next to our resort where we saw dolphins, and swimming in the ocean. We also had fun attending different activities put on by the resort including singing karaoke, a flamenco dancing show, and getting a caricature drawn.

Summertime Day Trips | Deadwood, Devil's Tower, Golf Outings

We knew we would be moving in late summer/early fall so we wanted to get the most out of our last summer in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Nate & I filled our summer with day trips to Deadwood, ice cream dates at Leones, golf outings, and visits from our friends & family.

Some of our favorite highlights from our trips to Deadwood include walking through the historic Mt. Moriah Cemetary, going to movies in Outlaw Square, eating at Jacob's Brewhouse, & FLYT Steakhouse (the bacon blackberry grilled cheese is to die for!!), and I suppose gambling.

My parents and sister wanted to come and visit us one last time before we moved so we decided to take a day trip to Devil's Tower. This ended up being one of the last trips we had gone on before moving which was special to me because Devil's Tower was also the first trip Nate & I had gone on when we first moved out West.

Minnesota; Our New Home

The second week of September Nate & I packed up a 20' U-Haul and headed East to our new townhouse in Eden Prairie, MN. Nate works as the Facilities Coordinator at Braemar Arena in Edina while I am working as a Product Development Specialist at Bay Island LLC in Minnetonka.

Fall Festivities | Stillwater, Concerts, Weddings

We filled our fall with different activities including a day trip to Stillwater where we walked the bridge, browsed the different shops, and grabbed a bite at Melt Pizza. I highly recommend the 'Drunken Love' which has Pepporoni, Vodka Sauce, Hot Honey, Spicy Ranch, and Pecorino; It was SO good and I've been dreaming about it since we left!

We are so happy to be in a larger city where we have access to more things to do like concerts & sporting events. We took advantage of this in October by seeing The Band Camino & Bad Suns at The Armory and Christian French at Amsterdam Bar & Hall.

We also celebrated with some of my friends as we attended two weddings; one of my college friends got married in Sioux Falls and I was a bridesmaid at my best friend's wedding in Hankinson North Dakota.

Winter Fun | Sporting Events, Date Nights, Evenings with Friends

We stayed busy in the winter with hockey and basketball games, date days, and trivia nights with friends. I've become a full-blown Minnesotan with the amount of hockey games I've attended over the past few months. We went to a U of M hockey game with our friend Ryan when he visited in November, several Edina hockey games throughout their season, and a Wild game on New Year's Eve. We also snagged some cheap tickets to a Timberwolves game; which was super fun.

Other highlights from our Winter include our day date in Minneapolis where we attended a Holiday maker's market where we purchased some Christmas gifts and decor for our new place. Afterward, we caught the end of a Vikings game at Tom's Watch Bar. They won the game and everyone in the bar got free shots of Pink Whitney to celebrate while Lil' Jon's 'Shots' played over the loudspeaker.