Wow! It’s wild to believe that I made this list on my 26th birthday and here I am at 30! I did not complete everything on this list, but I’m so grateful I made the list as a way to reflect, look back, celebrate and dream some more for the next decade!!

My 30th birthday was filled with so much joy! It was also our 7th wedding anniversary 🙂 My birthday was on a Monday, but starting the Saturday before, I got a pedicure with Lindsey and then went to Garden Cafe for dinner with friends. On Sunday, my mom and I got facials and massages after church and on Monday, I had a relaxed day at home where I spent a lot of the day in my bed journaling and reading my Bible and just being still, which was exactly what I needed. We ended the day with a dinner at Flipside with my parents and cookie cake and ice cream at our house with my parents + the Bolands. My friend Amanda surprised me with a mason jar filled with notes that she had coordinated for so many of my friends, throughout different seasons of my life, to write, to encourage me (words of affirmation are my #1 love language). I was so surprised and it was truly one of the most precious gifts I’ve ever received. Luke had Anna Stephens make me a birthday card and she was so excited for me and told me Happy Birthday for days on end!

Turning 30 definitely has me reflecting on the past decade! My 20s were SO FULL of big life changing moments and transitions! I got engaged, graduated college, got married, started grad school, quit grad school, grew in my career through several promotions, Luke started and finished pharmacy school and has had several different jobs. We’ve been thrown many twist and turns, like our rental house getting sold before we knew what city we would land in and we lived with my parents for a season before buying our first house (that we love SO much) in 2019. We got our sweet pup, Willow. We got pregnant, had our precious daughter, Anna Stephens. We were part of a church planting team and launched our church. I’ve lost 4 grandparents. We bought 2 cars. I started my own wedding coordinating business and then launched my Beautycounter business a few years later. I’ve coordinated many weddings and been in many weddings. I’ve gained some incredible friendships. We’ve been on many road trips and vacations. I watched my brother get married and we welcomed Riley into our family. I started leading worship, found a love for decorating/styling a space, learned how to arrange flowers, have grown in my ability to manage a household, established rhythms that work for our family, and have grown tremendously in my faith. This barely scratches the surface of the day by day happenings, challenges, victories and growth.

I’m sure my 30s will be full and life changing in their own way, but I hope they are marked by a deepening of roots where we have been planted…purposeful growth in our faith, marriage, family and relationships … finding joy in the ups and downs of parenting and raising a young family … and more than anything, a deepening dependence and obedience to the Father.

30 BEFORE 30

1. Schedule a make-up lesson! I didn’t do this, BUT I have grown so much in my knowledge of makeup, colors, and application since becoming a Beautycounter consultant. I also got my colors done with Created Colorful, which has helped with make-up, but also just with overall knowing what colors suit me best, which is what this goal was really rooted in – improving in an everyday task that boosts my confidence! 
2. Take a few voice lessons to increase my breath support and overall range. I did not take formal voice lessons, but I have gained confidence in my vocal range and singing abilities. I made an appointment for voice lessons a few weeks before the pandemic and then they never happened 🙁 This is definitely still something I hope to do! 
3. Learn how to curl my hair without having to look at a tutorial every single time / get a new curling iron! I got a new curling iron for Christmas that actually curls my hair for me, HA…so I guess that takes care of this one for now (2019)  
4. Go to a women’s conference with girlfriends. I went to Dallas, Texas for the IF Gathering with 7 amazing ladies in February 2020. 
5. Welcome a puppy into our family ...we got Willow in April 2019
6. Buy a house – February 2019!! 
7. Go on a week-long big trip with Luke. We’ve done lots of small trips, but we never really got a honeymoon, so we need to prioritize our time and money to make this happen! We finally made this happen in July 2022! We went to Excellence El Carmen in the DR for a week and our parents were amazing to help us by keeping Anna Stephens while we were away. I’m also thankful that for the past 3 years, we’ve gotten away in January just the two of us for short weekend trips to rest and plan! 
8. Knock out at least 60% of Luke’s pharmacy school debt Job loss and the pandemic put a damper on this goal, but we’re still prioritizing this and well on our way! But, our debt attack plan has had to soften as our family grows but we are okay with that! 
9. Host a big Christmas party This did not happen. We hosted a Christmas bonfire a year before I made this list, which had inspired me to want to keep up with it and do a bigger party at some point. I think this would still be really fun to do, it just hasn’t made sense yet… 
10. Have a baby 🙂 The most amazing surprise of our lives happened on January 19th, 2021 when our baby girl was born!  
11. Have my wedding dress cleaned / decide how I want to store it (embarrassed that this hasn’t happened yet). Why can’t I just get this done!? It’s still hanging in a closet at my parents house. My mom had her dress preserved right after her wedding and when we opened it for the first time 25 years later for me to see it, it had a huge stain on it…so I’m wondering if preserving it is even worth it!? And would a cleaning even work at this point? Bless… 
12. Pay off our Honda Pilot  
13. Kick my diet coke addition – this does NOT mean I will give it up completely (I looooove it)…but I don’t want to be so dependent on it! I have already significantly decreased my intake this year! LOL at this one…I guess you could say I kicked it for 9 months when I was pregnant because it repulsed me. But soon after having AS, my love for it returned.  
14. Read through the whole Bible in a year with Luke! We did this in 2019 and it was amazing! Luke still does the Bible Recap every year and I definitely want to commit to doing it again soon. 
15. Make our will (boring! But has to be done!)  This is on the list FOR SURE for this year. We’ve done a good bit of planning around this with our finances and beneficiaries and insurance, but the formal will still needs to be drafted!
16. Send a friend flowers out of the blue This is a sweet one! I have done this and am thankful for the ways my friends have loved on me in tangible ways with flowers, meal drop offs, letters of encouragement, etc. throughout the years.
17. Go to Texas to see Jamie Ivey and go to her Happy Hour Live Event This did not happen and I’m not sure if I have the same desire for it as I once did. I did go to Texas with a group of ladies for the IF Gathering and it was amazing. 
18. Get my ears pierced (have twice before and both grew back, but I really hope 3rd time’s a charm!)  Got it done in February 2019 and holding strong!
19. Go a whole weekend without my phone / unplug completely I’ve grown a lot in phone boundaries and have definitely unplugged for long stints, but I don’t think I’ve done a whole weekend. Would still love to do this! 
20. Take a family trip with Luke, my parents, my brother and anyone else who is in our immediate family at the time We’ve done a few short trips to beach and mountains before Anna Stephens was born, but we haven’t taken a trip including Riley and Anna Stephens, so I am very excited for all of us to go to the beach this summer! 
21. Learn how to use my DSLR camera! I want to take Courtney Malone’s photography course before I have a baby! Didn’t happen! I’m thankful for my friend Meghan who takes beautiful professional photos of our family and a pretty good iphone camera. Although, I have been toying with the idea of buying a nice point and shoot camera so I can take better quality photos than the iphone easily. 
22. See a new Broadway show Luke and I saw Lion King in CLT and it was INCREDIBLE.  
23. Host Friendsgiving 
24. Be intentional to spend time with friends who are in a season ahead of me and learn from them! This isn’t a cross of the list and be done with it kind of item, but wow has the Lord provided for me abundantly on this one! 
25. Swim with dolphins with Luke (one of my favorite things I’ve ever done and I so want to do it again and for Luke to experience it!) Still have hope for this one down the road! We didn’t end up doing this on our trip to the Dominican. 
26. Master baking a dessert or dish. For example, Luke has mastered his own brownie recipe and people LOVE them. I want to have a special dish that I can make and always go to! I dislike baking and cooking and am trying to change that a little bit!  I don’t think I mastered anything, so I’m sort of cheating, but I have grown a good bit in cooking/baking. I still don’t love it by any stretch but I learned to make home made chocolate chip cookies (I still think toll house is better) …I’ve made my own sourdough bread … I’ve learned how to make an awesome pot of potato soup … so progress over perfection, am I right ?? 😉 
27. Record a song with Luke in a recording studio. This one is really fun and a little crazy! Luke can sing as well, but doesn’t like to in front of people. I would love for us to record a few of our favorite songs just for us to have and our kids to probably make fun of later. This will always be on the list. It’s just a crazy, but not completely out of the realm of possibility dream of mine! I still have a lot more convincing to to do for Luke to be on board! 
28. Go to New York City at Christmas Time! This *might* happen this year. The pandemic and becoming parents rerouted a lot of our plans, but that’s ok. This is definitely still at the top of the list! 
29. Read more books for fun – especially fictionDefinitely did this! Also enjoying audiobooks! 
30. Celebrate my 30th birthday with family and friends 🙂