The Forsyths in 2023

Helloooo,

Well, I figured I'd do one of these again for anyone who might like a little bit of an update on what's been going on at Casa de Forsyth!

It's been a bit of a rollercoaster year actually... some big milestones, travelling more than ever before, aaand... well, we've ticked something off our bucket list that we thought wasn't going to happen for at least another 10-20 years! More on that later (ooh... look at me being all *build the tension*)

First up, and without wanting to sound braggy (honestly, we always manage to find really great deals on these getaways - I do a lot of shopping around/alerts for flight releases/filters etc), here's a list of all the parts of our wonderful world that we visited this year:

April - Turkey (Bodrum) - Family holiday during the Easter holidays

May - Athens - Adam went with a friend

May to June: New Jersey/York - family trip to visit the wonderful Daniels family

June: Majorca - I went with my lovely sister Hannah for a surprise birthday trip arranged by Adam

August: Calgary - Family trip to see Adam's amazing sisters - Jennie and Emma (plus families)

October: South Spain (near Murcia) - Adam and I went on a very last minute (literally planned a few days before) trip to view some apartments... *oooh... she gives a few more breadcrumbs to the bucket list*

October: Majorca - Adam and I went on our "just the two of us" trip that my wonderful mother facilitates by having the kids. This had already been planned and booked several months before, so the one we'd done earlier in the month was just a happy coincidence! 

So yes, travel has been a ridiculously big thing this year... we've both said how crazy fortunate we've been to be able to do these things. Honestly, if anyone wants any of the tips and tricks I've discovered along the way, I'm very happy to share 😉

Individual updates

Adam:

Adam has had a bit of a bonkers year at work... I think I mentioned in last year's update that he'd just embarked on a new business venture - becoming a partner in a start up private healthcare company.

Well, it's certainly been a year of learning, adventure and rollercoasters! He's had to really put in extra hours and has become a bit of an AI whizz! Chat GPT has pretty much become a 5th member of our family! No longer do we 'google that' - we Chat GPT it. But seriously, it has brought a crazy amount of new functionality to his role and the stuff he's figured out how to do is WAY beyond my comprehension.

On a personal note, he's still very much into his fitness. He works out for close to an hour a day, 6 mornings a week. I'm always amazed at his motivation - especially as it's not like he wants to get up - he just does it! And then he enjoys the exercise once he's done that! Talking of motivation... he's also taken up reading inspirational books again too. He's read a fair few - including telling me I need to count down from 5 when I want to do something - not count up... it does work (sometimes).

Josh

Our Josh started high school this year!! It was a bit of a nerve wracking moment for all of us if I'm honest... He's a real empath - really feeling the feelings of others, but also his own emotions are super intense... there have been a few interesting moments at school so far, but we're getting there and learning as we go. 

At school he's loving history, WWI literature and PE. He also started rugby this year and has absolutely loved every second! He's playing at a local team and he's doing really well. We recently took him to a final for the older team and the juniors got to walk out with them - he was in his element! 

Other than that, he's still our big geek at heart - into all the Star Wars (Clone Wars specifically), Lord of the Rings, gaming, lego etc. - as well as the usual mindless scrolling on his phone (of course). We're having to teach him the difference between legitimate videos and conspiracy theories (not everything on the internet is true as it turns out 😜). He loves spending time with his brother - either messing around or with him... mostly the latter (fuuuun), but I hope they'll be firm friends one of these days (I remember my brothers!!)

He's kind and loving and we're lucky to have him as part of our family. 

Joey

Well our little firecracker had some big moments this year too... he always has a way of making us laugh - whether on purpose or just from his very literal sense of humour. We were watching The Revenge of the Sith the other day, and he pipes up: "hmm... I guess Anikin will just have to go to the second hand shop!"

I think I mentioned in our update last year that he'd acknowledged and accepted his autism and ADHD. Well, that's continued and he's begun to accept and cope with certain aspects - for example, he's started to wear noise cancelling headphones if he's somewhere overwhelming (especially noisy). He'll laugh about his apt name - being a baby kangaroo with endless energy... and he fully owns it! 

Like his brother, he's discovered a new sport which he has a passion for - basketball! We originally tried him at an athletics thing... but it was mostly long distance running, and he just gets so distracted by what's around him and he's so unbothered about playing to anyone else's tune that he'll literally just stop and meander along the rest of the running track if he was done! Basketball on the other hand - always new things to react to, bouncing and moving are encouraged, and he's loving all the team sports (he's not 100% a team player yet, but we're working on it!)

He's an absolute sweetheart and brings us a lot of joy. 

Me

Well, I always feel odd doing this about myself, but I'll try... There were a couple of big moments this year that I was proud of. The biggest one was that in July I managed to raise £750 for Cancer Research UK for doing a 10k. This was utterly overwhelming and unexpected (I'd originally set the goal at £100!!) In case any of you aren't aware, my wonderful, amazing sister Bethany was diagnosed with two types of cancer last year (hodgkins lymphoma and thyroid cancer), so I wanted to feel like I was doing a little something where I could. The 10k itself nigh on killed me, but I managed to do it with only about 2 mins of walking (shhhh). I was very very slow, but I kept up a jog pretty much the whole way up and down Blackpool promonade. 

Something that really enhanced my life was back in April was that I asked my very lovely manager if there would be any scope for me to work a 4 day week instead of 5. She said we could trial it and see if I managed to get everything done. Well... after stupidly forgetting that April AND May had several bank holiday Mondays and actually working a fair few 3 day weeks, 4 days was a breeze! 8 months later and I haven't looked back! It gives me a chance to go on a walk and cafe visit with friends in the morning, then have time for life admin in the afternoon (or just chill) before it's school pick up time - the DREAM!

Another big work moment for me this year was walking with the ITV contingent at the Leeds Pride Parade. It was such a wonderful thing to be a part of - so full of energy, love and light! Amazing amazing! 

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Right! Well, if you've got this far down - well done! I'll finally tell you the "bucket list" item... 

Adam and I have bought an apartment in SPAIN!! It's very very exciting!! We always wanted to get somewhere abroad "one day" - we'd been putting money away for a while with the vague idea that we'd maybe manage it in our 50s or something. Buuuut... In late September, Adam's randomly asked his close friend, Chat GPT, where the cheapest places to buy in Europe were... and one of the options it gave was in the Murcia region in South Spain... long story short, we ended up flying over in early October to view a few places and found and fell in love with a 2 bed place at United Golf Resorts near La Tercia. It was only $54,000 (yes, we got a mortgage for it - we're not freaking THAT good at saving!!) and the ground fees are about 1/4 the price of a UK caravan site!! Amaaaaazing!! The reason it's so reasonable is because the golf course closed down a few years ago - but it still has 9 swimming pools, tennis court, football pitch, basketball, a bar run by locals and lots of nearby walks. It's about 20 mins drive from the beach and about 25 mins to Murcia. We're a little bit over the moon with it. 

We're not going to let it out as an investment, but if anyone would like "friends and family mates rates", please do get in touch! It's a win win as far as we're concerned! You get a cheap holiday and we get some money towards the mortgage! Drop me a line 😉

Anyway! That's all folks! We love you and we're grateful for all our wonderful friends and family.

Onto 2024! What adventures will this next year bring us all...? 

The Forsyths in 2022

 For any of our family and friends in far (and not so far) flung places, if you’d like a little glimpse into what our lives looked like in 2022… then here you go!

Overall:

We managed a year without moving - woohoo! We genuinely love our house, our cul de sac, and our village - it’s gorgeous! Fingers crossed we’re here for many more years (we’re serial movers though, so who the hell knows! I’m hopeful though! 2 years so far…)

We’ve been lucky to go on some fab holidays this year:

April saw us fly to Canada to visit Adam’s sisters (Emma & Jenni + family) and then from there fly to New York/New Jersey to see my sister (Esther + family). We absolutely LOVED that trip - spent some wonderful time with family and also saw some amazing things. 

In May half term we visited the Greek island, Rhodes for a fantastic all inclusive week away. It was filled with swimming, sunbathing, relaxing, food, a boat trip, snorkelling, beach trips… and more food! 

At the end of August, we got our 2020 postponed holiday to the caravan site in Berny Riviere (North East France). We’ve been there a few times before and it’s a definite favourite! We were particularly chuffed because, due to it being postponed twice, we got a fancy upgraded thing - even had a dishwasher!! Amazing!! 

And finally, Adam and I went to Krakow, Poland in October for 2 nights away together whilst my wonderful mum had the boys. It was very special - such a gorgeous old city, and we also had a trip to the Salt Mines that are TRULY spectacular!! Well worth a visit. 

Now, on to individual updates… 

Adam:

Funnily enough, the very end of 2022 was also the very end of Adam’s job at Transform Medical Group. He’s joining/helping start a company called the Healthcare Collective doing a fairly similar thing, but as a business partner in a new start up. It’s very exciting (and slightly nerve wracking - as is any start up) so we’re looking forward to what the next year will bring.

Other than work, he’s still very much into his health and fitness, and completed a number of regimes this year like P90X, Insanity, and others that I’m not sure of the name, but involves lots of pulls up and press ups - he can even do one of those fancy ones where you jump and clap in between reps… very impressive! 

He’s an amazing dad, as ever, and the boys have very much bonded over their shared love of Xbox gaming. Any time I mention I might be going out in the evening, there’s an immediate chant of, “Boys night! Boys night! Boys night!” which usually involves loaded nachos and gaming! 

Josh:

2023 will mean the next school chapter for Josh! He’ll be entering secondary school!! But not yet, he’s currently in year 6 and ranges between loving school and being with his friends, to being utterly fed up of the idea of education for the next 7+ years of his life! 

In September, he had a pretty bad break in his ankle during football, and had an operation to shift a growth plate back in place and pull out some cartilage (or something) that had managed to slot inside the gap created. He was on crutches and ‘no weight’ for 6 weeks, a moon boot for 4 or 5 weeks, and now has a bit of a limp when he runs, but the physio is pleased with his progress. He’s been gutted to miss out on sports though as he absolutely loves footie, rugby, cricket and anything else that requires some sort of sports ability (definitely didn’t get that one from me!!)

Other than that, he’s still very much into all the geeky things his parents have bred into him - Star Wars, Harry Potter, lego etc. but also (as said above) is very much into gaming whenever he’s allowed (we do try to limit it, of course!)

Joey:

Bless our little baby kangaroo! He’s an absolute ball of energy and excitement 99% of the time! We’d already discussed his ADHD with him earlier in the year, but hadn’t quite known how to approach telling him he was also autistic. 

A month or so ago in the car, he randomly pipes up, “mum, dad, I think I’m autistic.” I’m not sure whether someone at school had mentioned it, or if he’d realised after watching a video in a class, but either way, what was lovely after we explained that he was right, was that he followed it up with “it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong, just that my brain sees things differently to some people”  - what a sweetheart. 

He’s a good’un. Challenging as hell at times, but always there with a ready smile and a hug that never ends (especially at bed time when he’s trying to distract you from the fact that he should be going to sleep!)

He loves anything active, as well as Pokemon, Beast Quest, jigsaw puzzles, lego, and listening to audible whilst asking Alexa every 3 minutes how much time he’s got left on the sleep timer. 

Me: 

2022 brought a new job for me! I left HSL in August (just shy of 5 years to the day that I started in 2017!) and started at ITV as a Senior Communications Exec in their Content Supply & Distribution department. It’s a bit complex to go into what they do (I still don’t fully understand all of it!!) but basically they’re the guys who get the programmes and content that’s been created onto the TV or streaming service - sort of like the engine room! 

It’s a big department of 350 people, and I’m in charge of all of the internal communications for everyone as well as raising their profile outside of the department (sometimes the ‘engine room’ gets forgotten when it works, so it’s important to get it out there what we actually do!) I also help out with the communications for the ITV Able Network (the disability network) and the Leeds Social committee.

I’ll be honest, for the first 4-6 weeks I felt really lost and overwhelmed, there were even times where I was worried I’d made a mistake because I felt like I suddenly didn’t know anything at all! Buuuut, once that initial bedding in process had passed, my confidence came back and now (3 ½ months on), I’m a lot more settled and can honestly say I love working there. The people are genuinely wonderful, and I’m really into a rhythm and feel like I’ve got a vague idea what I’m doing now - always a plus! What’s lovely is that in a recent 1-2-1 with my manager, she said that she was really happy with how things had been going and that since I’d been there they’d seen a huge difference (a good one… thankfully haha). 

Other than work (sorry, I get a bit carried away), this year I’ve rediscovered a love of reading. I’d begun 2022 determined to start reading again, and had been making my way through books fairly quickly, so Adam kindly got me a Kindle for my birthday in June and we signed up for Kindle Unlimited. Ooooh my gosh! It’s amazing!! I have read so many books!! I’ll be honest, none of them are particularly challenging, and 95% of them have had a very definite love story nonsense theme running through them, but it’s been wonderful to enter a world of books again! Honestly, I will regularly be up until midnight (and later) reading… I need to set a resolution to turn off at 10.30!!...... Maybe 11 hahahaa! 

I’ve babbled on about myself for far too long, but ah well! If you’ve managed to make it this far - well done, I’m going to close off by saying that I love you all (probably… I presume if you’ve clicked the link that we had a good connection at some point in our lives hahaha). Thank you for whatever relationship we have or have had. I know the people around me have hugely impacted my life for good (mostly), and I’m grateful for that. 

Wishing you all happiness, health and prosperity in this coming year… lots of love to you all xxx