What A Decade!

Last day of 2019 and tomorrow we start 2020, a whole new decade. I saw an Instagram story template and reposted it on my stories the other day. We had to list highlights from 2010 to 2019. As soon as I was finished, I looked at it and said “WOW! What a decade!” Can I just sum it up for y’all? I think this will be fun! Thankfully, my photo albums on Facebook are pretty organized by year. So here we go….

2010
I started the year off by applying for jobs. Tristan was almost 15 months old and I decided it was time for me to finally get a full time job. I was still a full time student when Tristan was born and I was currently living with my mom when he was born. I was not ready to work and I wanted to stay home with him. But after he turned a year old, I felt like I needed to do something different. So this Mama got herself a job!

2011
My love for Photography started and decided to learn more about it. A local photographer taught me the “basics” but it was still gibberish to me. I didn’t quite understand the settings when shooting in Manual, so I continued to shoot in Auto. I wasn’t that bad! I learned how to edit in Photoshop, booked sessions with family and friends for practice, and then started a small photography business. For an amateur, I did pretty good! LOL. I also turned 25 years old this year. Not going to lie, but 25 hit me hard. I always thought I was going to be married by that age. Instead, I was still a single mother and had no idea what was going to happen with my life. Tristan and I was still living with my mom and had no idea if we were ever going to move out. Honestly, even if I wanted to, I probably couldn’t have afforded it. I was paying almost $900 a month for Tristan’s daycare tuition and I didn’t think I’d be able to afford rent on my own. I prayed. I wanted to provide a better life for myself and Tristan. A life that I could provide on my own.

2012
For 3 years, Trent and I have co-parented well. At the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012, our relationship has gotten a lot better and not just as co-parents. We started to realize that we had “something” there. We both made separate decisions that changed our lives forever. I remember talking to him on the phone before I walked into the office for work. He just got done speaking on a stage at his friend’s church and he didn’t know if he wanted to continue playing football. He was no longer playing in the NFL, he was playing arena football at the time. When he told me how much he was making per game, I told him that it wasn’t worth it! I told him that if he stopped playing football, that I would move myself and Tristan down to Texas. Also, he wanted to grow RehabTime and start his journey as a Motivational Speaker. We moved to Texas in April 2012. I was lucky enough to have a job already lined up and got an apartment two weeks after we moved.

2013
Trent started traveling to speak. I remember his first out of the country speaking engagement was in Sweden. He had quite a few speaking engagements that year. I also started to help with his bookings. I traveled to NYC with him for one of them and it was such a memorable trip. It was my first time in NYC and it was already decorated for the Holidays. Towards the end of the year, we had no idea what else God had in store for us.

2014
Trent went on his first RehabTime tour. Boy! That was an adjustment. He was pretty much out of town at least 2-3 times a month and I was not used to that. He toured all over the country and even had a couple in Europe. In between city tours, we decided to go on vacation to Playa Mujeres (Cancun). I thought it was going to be the time he was going to propose. He even told me that he wasn’t going to but I was still hoping. Lol. Our trip was so romantic and we even ended our last night there with a romantic dinner on the beach. AND he still didn’t propose! Anyway, fast forward to Trent’s last show of the tour in Fort Worth, he had a huge celebration at his high school’s basketball gym. He said the sweetest words and once again, I thought it was the “time.” But it wasn’t… still no proposal. The next day was his 30th birthday, so I planned a birthday party for him and also had Tristan’s birthday party earlier that day at a Trampoline Park. When Tristan blew out the candles on his cake, he asked for a “box” as his wish. I didn’t know what was going on, turned around and saw Trent down on one knee. HE PROPOSED YA’LL!

2015
Whew this was a busy year. As soon as Trent proposed, the wedding planning began. In the midst of wedding planning, we decided to buy our very first home. We viewed about 5 houses and knew that the last house we saw was the perfect house for our family! A brand new home that had everything we loved. Closed on the home in March and was fully moved in after 3 weeks. Trent was on his second RehabTime tour too. His last show (DFW show) was the weekend before our wedding day. It wasn’t supposed to be that way but he pushed it back because he wanted to do something different. In the middle of wedding planning, he planned a completely different production for his last show. The weekend after that, we got married! Then a month later, found out that I was pregnant.

2016
Maya was born! I finally got the daughter I’ve asked God for. I was on maternity leave when Trent and I discussed the possibility of me becoming a stay at home mom. While it was a hard decision to make, I knew what was best for my family and I don’t regret my decision one bit. I quit my job and started my journey as a stay at home mom. Whoa! What an adjustment that was. I decided to pick up my camera and started to take pictures of Maya. I learned how to shoot in Auto mode and got used to the settings. I needed a hobby and found that Brand Repping for small shops combined two things that I absolutely love: fashion and photography. With Brand Repping came socializing with fellow Brand Rep moms. I met wonderful moms who were local to me and a few that I became GREAT friends with. I also opened a small shop, 7 Little Threads. I loved being a small shop owner but realized that I couldn’t keep up. It was just too much for me to handle.

2017
Brand Repping took over my life. Play dates turned into photo shoots but we had so much fun doing it! I don’t really know what else happened this year except for that. Oh! I also went on a plant based diet for about a month which helped me lose weight from my pregnancy. I also started working out at Orange Theory. With my diet and fitness classes, I ended up losing 20 lbs in a month. Trent also went on his third RehabTime tour and we got to go with him to a few cities. This was also the first year that we decided to travel instead of spending money on a lot of Christmas gifts.

2018
I managed to fly across the world by myself with two kids. Trent was already on that side of the world, so we met each other in Indonesia. Whoa! God made it all possible. Our flight from DFW to Tokyo was about 15 hours and our flight was at 10am in the morning! The kids both had a good night’s sleep and I had no idea how they were going to be on a plane ride for that long. Tristan was the least of my worries. It was Maya who I was afraid of. Luckily, she stayed in her car seat, played, colored, watched movies, and ate her snacks. We had a 4 hour layover in Tokyo and it went by so quick. The second leg of our trip was from Tokyo to Jakarta which was an 8 hour ride. They were asleep before the plane even took off and stayed asleep until we landed. I seriously think I need to write a blog on how to travel with babies, toddlers, and kids. I’m such a pro. Lol. All of my kids started traveling as early as 6-8 weeks old. 2018 was also the year when I reached a point in my life where I had no idea what I wanted to do. I’ve been a SAHM for almost 2 years and I felt like I needed to do more. Maya was still brand repping and I was getting burnt out. I wanted to slow down because it was starting to get overwhelming. An opportunity made its way into my DMs. A PR company DM’d me on my personal Instagram asking if I would be interested participating in a campaign for well known brand and retailer. They also asked me for my rates. I was so surprised… “Wait what?!?! I could be getting paid?” At the time, my personal Instagram had around 4,000 followers and I wasn’t very active when it came to posting content. That my friends, is how I started my journey as a blogger, influencer, and content creator.

2019
This was a big year for the Shelton Family. There’s so much to list of what happened this year! As much as I would love to elaborate on all of them, it would take me forever. So I’m just listing a couple. LOL. Trent’s published his first book that made it to stores! His book “The Greatest You” made it to Target, Walmart, Barnes and Nobles, Costco, and AMAZON! I couldn’t go to Target without stopping by the books section to see his book on the shelf. We also found out that we were pregnant in January and gave birth to our third baby, Marlee, in September. She made our family complete! After my c-section with Marlee, I decided to get a tubal ligation. I already have my three beautiful babies and our family is complete. As much as I wanted more babies, I don’t think my body would’ve been able to handle anymore.

Whooooooo! This is by far my longest blog post. If you made it this far, you are the real MVP!

What’s next in 2020? We have quite a few things in our plans but what’s even bigger is what God has planned for us! Wishing you all lots of wins and success in 2020 and the decade ahead. Stay true to yourself and everything else will follow. 🥰