Monday, December 26, 2016

2016: A Year in Review

If I could sum up 2016 in two words I'd choose these: travel and baby. When reflecting on the year and all that came along with it, I was amazed to see how much adventuring we did. Between knowing we'd try for a baby and having a Southwest Companion pass, we had to capitalize on the ease of pre-kiddo traveling, right? It's fun to look back at my "16 Things I'm Excited for in 2016" post and see how we accomplished all I'd hoped to.  I know some of you stop by this corner of the web more than others, so whether you're new here or read on a weekly basis, here's a recap of our year: complete with travel highlights (click the links for guides!), popular blog posts, and fun photos and videos. Cheers to you, 2016- you'll be hard to beat!


January

In January, this blog marked its first birthday! I celebrated by sharing 5 Things I Learned in My First Year of Blogging. I also completed my first major home update of the year with our Rustic Dining Room, which I absolutely love!


February 

In February, we celebrated Valentine's Day in Las Vegas with some dear friends. I had an amazing time playing in the Faculty/Student Courtwarming Game and performing with the LHS Staffires again: see the video below for a laugh! (I'm on the front right side of the video once we leave the circle and actually start dancing.) I also was pretty brutally honest about the 9 Reasons I'm Afraid to Have a Baby, which seems pretty ironic now!


March

March brought on the travel bug as we successfully got our Southwest Companion Pass. We kicked things off with our Northeast Spring Break trip to New York City, Washington D.C., Boston, Baltimore, and more. I also shared more of my heart in my post: What We've Got to Stop Telling Young Married Couples.


April

 In April, we hosted several birthday bashes for dear friends. It's always such a joy having people fill our home with laughter, fellowship, and good food! I continued to wrestle with motherhood, and sought out several moms to share What 25 Mothers Would Tell Their Pre-Mom Selves. I also found myself pretty close to 30 years old, and shared What No One Tells You About Your Mid-Twenties.


May

May brought on the end of school and the end of my 5th Year of Teaching.Yay for teacher tenure! We visited San Francisco and Napa Valley and had an amazing time in both places. Aaron's sister Angie graduated High School at the top of her class, and we are so proud of her.


June

In June, we celebrated our Third Wedding Anniversary. Being in love is oh so sweet! To celebrate, we spent 13 days on an "Anniventury" trip to Orlando, Jamaica, Niagara Falls, and D.C,and it's no accident that at the end of the month I found out that I was PREGNANT with Baby K (Due March 5th, 2017)!


July

July was all about travel, and we were gone nearly the entire month. We spent a week at Crooked Creek YoungLife Camp in Fraser, Colorado with our high school friends, and I had to be sneaky about the fact that I was pregnant and couldn't go horseback riding or on the swing. A few days letter, we jetted off for a 13 day adventure in Greece on an EF Tour through the Greek Islands and mainland ruins. It was just as dreamy and wonderful as you'd imagine (even with the sudden onset of morning sickness).


August

In August, I jumped back into coaching softball and teacing, and managed to redecorate and share our Farmhouse Living Room Update. We were also SO excited to finally announce my pregnancy to the world at the end of the month! (Check out our Announcement and fun videos of my parents finding out!)


September

September came and we made some big baby decisions like Why We're Not Finding Out Our Baby's Gender. I also shared How I Knew I Was Ready for a Baby and we hosted Airbnb guests while I coached my life away.


October

In October, we hopped on a plane and visited Aaron's aunt and uncle in Houston. I dreamed of all things baby, especially my Gender Neutral Nursery Inspiration. I also had a lot of fun starting to document my pregnancy, and shared my first "Bumpdate" at 18 weeks. Cue the awkward baby bump photos!


November

Between leading a weekend fall trip at Clearwater Cove YoungLife Camp and celebrating Aaron's 26th Birthday, November went by quickly. I still competed in the Thanksgiving family football game, but was all time hiker. I also shared 8 Blogging Mistakes I'm Guilty of Making.


December

We kicked off December with a snowy babymoon trip to Chicago that ended up being unexpectedly extended because of a cancelled flight. We had our first snow day, and I prepared our Cozy Holiday Home Tour. I've also thought a lot differently about advent this year, like I shared in my post Pregnant and Waiting: An Expectant Reflection. We'll round out the year with Christmas and one final babymoon getaway to Nashville.



From our growing family to yours, cheers to a very happy and blessed 2017! Thanks for sticking around this year. We are excited for all the big changes to come for us in the year ahead. I hope you'll join us for the new adventures!

Currently,
Kelsie

8 comments:

  1. What a full and wonderful year! I've loved watching you enjoy this season of your life and really celebrate and savor the time before Baby K's arrival. I can't wait to see what 2017 holds -- namely, your sweet little one!

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    1. Thanks so much, Brittany! We have definitely tried to make the most of our time together! We are so excited for this next year :)

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  2. Awe your year is so beautiful! and I get this eerie feeling it's a crystal ball showing me my year ahead... Q1 next year is my blog's one year anniversary - my feelings on having a kid are totally in line with your post from february (in fact I even have a similar one scheduled in february too!) but on a deep level I suspect I will be ending next year pregnant.

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    1. Oh how fun is that!! I can't wait to read your post in Feb! I'll be praying for you guys, and feel free to reach out with questions or just to chat!

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  3. I can't believe how much fun y'all packed into 2016! I definitely think travel and baby are the perfect words to summarize your year. One of next year's words will be the baby's name!

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    1. Ah, that will be so fun!! It's been a great year for sure :)

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  4. This sounds like it was such an awesome year!

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