What a busy year 2016 has been for us!
Rather than get all sentimental, I have compiled some memories of our year certainly worth remembering. In no particular order, (because...come on, who organizes their thoughts? ;) ), here they are.
1. We bought a house! (May)
AKA: we went into 30 years of debt!
2. We welcomed our first niece, Camryn. (March)
She's pretty cool, I think we'll keep her.
3. We got Eleanore (May)
Most of my photos of her look like this --->
Buy a house, get a puppy. Seems like the logical train of events... She is a ball of energy that loves every single person she sees and wants nothing more than to be friends with Atticus...who doesn't seem like he is going to let that happen... EVER.
4. We played with Tigers! (July)
This was a neat experience. There is a place called Wildlife in Need, INC in Indiana that I found because I read an article online one day while browsing Facebook. Buy a ticket, and they let you play with their exotic animal babies!
5. We got to share the 'best day ever' with both, friends AND family members (June, October)
I love weddings! This year we got to attend Jared and Lindsey's wedding in June & at the end of October we made the three hour roadtrip to attend Jarrod and Ashley's wedding
6. Travel-wise- We added 4 states to our US map:
Florida (August) - check out my nice sunburn :)
Indiana (July)
Georgia (November)
South Carolina (November)
Plus, multiple repeat visits to Missouri, Tennessee, and all over Illinois.
7. I got to spend Thanksgiving with my parents in South Carolina this year! (November)
We had such a busy week running around Savannah, (GA) Tybee Island, (GA) Charleston, (SC) and their home in Columbia (SC). We visited the Georgia State Train Museum, Tybee Island lighthouse, Patriot's Point, Boone Hall Plantation, and ate delicious southern comfort food.
8. I got published in Homelife Magazine! (January/April)
This was such a surprise. I had forgotten that I had submitted a story to them back in July of last year.. so when I got an email/letter from Homelife this January, I was shocked! Someone actually liked something I had written! Over the next few weeks I worked with the publishing team getting set up as one of their freelance authors- and in April, I saw my name in magazine print. A VERY cool experience.
9. I finished my second half-marathon! (November)
...not only did I finish, but I beat my time last year by over 4 minutes. I WOULD have shattered my old record completely had I not had to wait in line for the port-o-john at mile 9... that took me nearly another 4 minutes, so had it not been bordering on emergency, I potentially could have beaten that time by 8 minutes. Still, I'm pretty proud of myself for not injuring myself in training this time, and I ran the race much better than I did last year.
10. We started doing 'Dates Around the World'. (September-November)
This has turned out to be really fun! I saw the idea for this online (I believe it was on Pinterest). I had been wanting to try some new recipes because I felt like I had gotten in a rut of making the same 10 dishes over and over again for dinner.
The basic idea of Dates Around the World is simple, you pick a country and then cater dinner to the traditional recipes of that country. For someone like me, who ENJOYS cooking, this was a really intriguing idea. I took it a step farther on some of them and even found a traditional game or activity for that country and decorated the kitchen somehow to make dinner feel special. We have done Egypt, Germany, Russia, England, France, and I've also made recipes from Morocco and Italy, but haven't done full on dinners with the last two.
11. We attended some random festivals we had never been to before!
The first two that come to mind are:
The Route 66 Festival we adventured into by accident in June. There were 13 little towns along old Route 66 that were participating and we basically drove around to the surrounding towns and got the city stamp. Each town had something going on, and naturally, we made Luke pose in front of all the cheesy photo-ops in all the towns.
Then in October we attended one of the weekends of the Renaissance Festival in Wentzville, MO. This was very cool. I'd like to go back next year!
12. My family had its first reunion that I ever remember there being. (September)
I'm sure they have had some in the past, but in my 26 years of life, I don't remember ever attending a family reunion like this before. I hope they do it again.. It was really nice to see the ones that were able to come, and of course, the food was delicious.
13. New Experiences:
- We took dance lessons (April)
- We did the "Goodwill Date" (September)
This is where you go to your local Goodwill store and pick out your partner's outfit for them. They HAVE to wear whatever you pick out, and then you go to a public place. (We went to dinner)
- I had my connecting flight cancelled (February)
This was a surprising first for me. I've had flights delayed, but never cancelled. Nothing like being stuck in Dallas on Valentine's Day :(
14. We made our second annual trip to Memphis to spend the weekend with Drew (March)
So much good food, Rec Room, Pink Palace, Making jokes at Luke's expense... this might have to become an annual tradition.
Then the next weekend, we turned around and went back to Tennessee to meet my parents for my birthday weekend! We played glow in the dark mini-golf, failed to escape an escape room, and toured a winery!
15. We ALMOST followed through with our 2016 New Years Resolution: To spend time with family (Luke) once a month. We made it 11 out of the 12 months.
Some months it was hard. Busy-ness crept in more than once, but you know what, in the end we both MADE time for it, and it's grown us all closer together. It has made me see just how important it is to include (and yes, sometimes make the physical effort to keep) people in your life. It's my hope that in 2017 we will spend even more time with MORE of our family.
16. I finished my "big 4" country music concert series
Growing up in the 90's, there were 4 artists that shaped country music for me: Alabama, George Strait, Alan Jackson, and Garth Brooks. Up until this point, I had seen Alabama twice, George Strait twice, Alan Jackson twice and Garth Brooks...once. So, in February I flew out to South Carolina to go to a Garth Brooks concert with my parents, aunt, and step-brother.
I started to mention at the beginning of this (rather long) post: the media has seemed to decide that 2016 has been the worst year ever. I've read things like it was "cursed" and that things are so much more awful than they have been in the past, etc. etc.
But here's the thing: your life is what you MAKE it. If you want to focus on the negatives, your failures, and everything that's wrong (like the media does) then, sure, that's how you're going to feel. And in many ways we have seen the true "ugliness" of people (in general) this year. Even with all of that- I don't know about you all- but for me, when I look back at all the GOOD memories I have of this year, it's kind of hard to be mad about 2016.
2017 is going to present its own set of changes, struggles, challenges, and adventures. It's called LIFE. And...I'm ready for another year of it.
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