2016: My Year in Review

I can't say that 2016 has been a terrible year, but I'm definitely not sad to see it go. I have so many goals for 2017 and it's making me really excited.

I decided to pick my favorite moments from each month from 2016 and post some pictures. I also picked a 'selfie' from each month to post. I think it's so fun to see how people (and yes, especially me) change over the months.

January:

We got to go through the Provo City Center Temple open house for the first time last January. My cousin, Austin, also left for a mission. I can't believe he's already been gone almost a year.

February:

In February our old man, Kato, got his leg taken off. It was causing more pain for him then it was worth. It has been amazing to watch him thrive and become even stronger, even though he's now an 11 year old three-legged dog. Hopefully we'll get to keep him around for at least another year.

March:

March is a big birthday month for us. My mom's birthday is on the 4th and Christine's is on the 27th. For my mom's birthday, Christine and I took her to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and then did a little shopping at the Fashion Place Mall. It was fun to have some girl time with just the three of us. For Christine's birthday, we went to Keys on Main with Christine & Sondra and some of their other friends. Keys on Main is a piano bar in Downtown SLC. If you haven't been, I highly suggest it. You don't have to be a drinker to go. Mike and I will just sip on sodas or water. The piano players are so talented--it blows my mind.

April:

I honestly forget everything that happens throughout the years. I was so sure that this year was pretty boring and then I started looking through April's pictures. This was a big month for us this year. My sweet cousin Jessica got married this month. It made me so happy to be able to be in the temple with her for this. It was such a beautiful experience. Sondra's birthday is April 4th and I made her take some lovely pictures with me for that occasion. One day she'll get used to my picture taking... or not. Lastly, my ADORABLE nephew Landon was born on April 11th. I am definitely not a baby person, but I am obsessed with him. I could just hold him non-stop. Almost nine months later and I still feel that same way about him. I'm so glad that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law decided to have one more. Our family wouldn't be complete without Landon.

May:

May was also a super special month. Landon was blessed. We got to be there with Seth, Crystal, & Chloe (Seth is Mike's brother) when they got sealed together as a family. I can't even explain the emotions I felt for this occasion. Besides Mike & I, they are now the only other siblings of Mike's to have gone through the temple. I cried. And I don't do that very often. Seth said that he had been able to hold it together till he saw me crying. When they brought Chloe into the sealing room... I don't think I've ever felt anything like that. I really did marry into a great family.

The end of May, we got to go visit my grandparents in St. George and we took Caleb and Josh with us. They've been asking us to come visit for so long, but life is crazy and we never had time. We finally just set aside the time and I was so grateful we did. My grandma and grandpa Hubbard are such amazing people. I am truly privileged to have them as my grandparents. I'm hoping we'll be able to make time to go see them again sometime soon.

June:

I got my extensions in June. I'm definitely starting to miss them, but I'm making myself wait till next Fall so my hair has some time to heal.

June was when we got to go on our trip to San Diego that my work paid for. It was our reward for hitting our sales goal (yes I know my work is amazing). We started the trip off some shopping in Temecula and a trip to the San Diego Temple. It was my first time seeing it in person and... it's just as beautiful in person as the pictures make it seem. 

We got the San Diego Go Passes for the trip, which include Sea World, The San Diego Zoo, and The Safari Park. We spent Monday at Sea World. Tuesday and Thursday we went to The San Diego Zoo. That place is freaking huge so it needed two days. Wednesday we went to Oceanside Pier. We spent the last day, Friday, at the Safari Park. We definitely saved the best for last. We got to watch a Cheetah run at her top speed. They kept reminding us that you can't domesticate jungle cats, buuuut... they had the Cheetah on a leash. It's best friend was a dog that it lived with. It ate out of a dog bowl with a bunch of humans just sitting around it. They definitely didn't convince me. I want one (semi-kidding).

July:

July wasn't really a big month for us. Still super loving on my extensions though.

August:

Suicide Squad came out in theaters in August. I may not have talked about this on here but... I'm obsessed with Suicide Squad. We saw it four times in theaters, I bought it the day it came out on DVD, and I've watched it about six times since (It wasn't even three weeks ago). This August will definitely be memorable for that reason alone.

And... If you know anything about me... You know why I love August so much. It's my birthday month! It's also about 80% time of the Leo and those are my favorite kind of people (I actually really struggle with other Leo's because who wants to be around a bunch of clones of themselves... Scorpio's are more my type to hang with... Mike lol).

September:

September also wasn't a very exciting month, except for me getting my blue hair. I definitely learned from that experience. I'm glad I can check that off my bucket list, but I'll probably never do it again.

October:

After I got married, October became my favorite month for many reasons. #1: Fall. It's the first month that actually feels like Fall. My favorite Fall tradition is going to Gardner Village.

#2: It's Mike's birthday month and the month of our anniversary. This year was four years for us and 25 years for Mike. We splurged and spent a night at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Park City. It was definitely worth the splurge. We had the whole pool to ourselves and our room was phenomenal. I'm eternally grateful for this guy.

This October was a little extra special for two reason. #1: I got to see my uncle Brett, who I hadn't seen in over five years. He's my dad's brother. Brett, Jamie, and their family live in Texas so it's hard to get together. 

#2: We found out that Sam & Kaela (our cousins) are going to have a baby girl! I'm literally so excited. I can't wait to spoil that little girl rotten. April can't come soon enough.

November:

November is when I took my extensions out.

We spent this Thanksgiving with Mike's family, which we haven't done since our first year married. I wish our families lived closer, but I'm sure as heck not moving down there and I know most of them feel that same way about moving up here.

December:

My sisters added another fur baby to their family this month. She is the cutest 6 month old Blue Nose Pitbull you ever did see. She'll never take Niyah's place in my heart, but she's a close runner-up. I think my sisters have slightly lost their minds though... Three pitbulls. I can barely take care of myself. 

Mike & I also hosted an Ugly Christmas Sweater party this month. My sweater definitely won the ugliest. My sister wore it for her work Christmas party, and she got an award for 'Most Likely to Get Arrested While Wearing This Sweater'. Pretty freaking great. 

Christmas was good this year. I really struggled feeling the 'Christmas spirit' because Mike was gone for the whole week before Christmas. It's hard to want to celebrate anything when you're better half is missing. It still ended up being wonderful though.

As I wrote this post, I realized how good this year really was. I definitely had some pretty hard trials and some really dark moments, but the good always outweighs the bad. I am very blessed to live the life I do. I have a loving Heavenly Father who constantly watches out for me, the best husband in the world, an incredible family, a job that I love... I could keep going. 

I hope that you can all try your hardest to see the silver linings. 

Here's hoping that 2017 will be the best year yet!