2016 - A Year Full of New Beginnings

As I sit here and reflect on 2016 I can’t help but smile. This year was good to us! We traveled, we laughed, we cried, we loved, we hurt, we grew, we moved…the changes were endless but man what would life be without change? Yes sometimes life can be hard, changes throw you for a loop & you forget what life was like before those changes! I truly believe change happens for a reason. God puts (and takes away) things, people, and decisions in our path that change us. All of these things make us grow and mold us into the people we are to become. 2016 was just another year of that and I am thankful to have learned through my changes. I am just going to recap some of the new beginnings for our family and reflect on some of my favorite memories!

One of the biggest changes was moving to a new town. A town that is an hour drive for my husband to and from work every day. That has been a huge adjustment for us but we made a decision that we wanted to be closer to fun things for our kids, give them more opportunity as well as ourselves and we have accomplished just that. It’s hard leaving a town that you have established yourself in to go do something new but we truly felt it was best for our family! We have totally loved it! Thanks to the professional movers who helped us move smoothly to our new place. However if you’re about to move to other country and in need of professional movers, a reliable moving company similar to the beat international movers in Singapore is always ready to serve!

We explored a lot of fun places this year! We closed out 2015 with a huge family trip to Disney World. Traveled with friends to Mexico. Braved Six Flags with 3 small kiddos. Relaxed in Vegas…It was a year full of adventures!

Matt & I have started dating again since our move…wait what? We’ve been married for almost 6 years and this year we have been on more dates than I can count and y’all thats a great thing. 2016 was the year of multiple weekly dates and I loved it. I challenge every one of you to make that a priority!

I took on a new role of social media/marketing coordinator for a custom home company called Caliber Homes, along side being a wife, mama & blogger! I am SO excited for this. It mixes my passion for real estate, people and social media all into one and I truly believe it was a God thing that it was placed in my life! Also, so many of you have been asking me my recommendation for a great real estate property to buy, I highly recommend Royal Palms La Cala de Mijas apartments.

Greleigh started school. My mama heart was so worried she wouldn’t love it. Boy, oh boy how I was wrong! Thank you Jesus, that girl loves school, adores her teachers, has made some precious friends that may or may not include a “boyfriend” Bless her daddy’s heart!

Kaige and Huxx have formed a brother bond that just melts my heart. Greleigh doesn’t participate in their growling matches or even care about their super cool sword fights. The boys are perfect together and that is something I have wanted to see since I gave birth to Huxx. I never knew what “brothers” looked like growing up but I’m quickly learning it’s something super special.

I grew my blog this year and I have all of you to thank for that! Seriously, I get overwhelmed when I think of all the love and support I’ve received over the year and though my blog. Even though in the “blogging world” I am a mere spec I have had so many people reach out to me and say things that truly make all of this worth it! When I started this blog it was only to share my pregnancy journey but with more time reading blogs and seeing what opportunity was out there I knew I wanted to make something more of it! When I started I had no clue what you could accomplish blogging, how it could help my family be more comfortable financially staying home with my kids, how I would help moms through my experiences, how many hearts I would touch through personal stories of love & loss, or how many moms would write me to say “Thank you for showing the real, the not so pretty, and the ugly side of motherhood!” I love doing this and will continue sharing my heart, our story, great deals, our favorite products and our everyday life with you! It’s by no means anything pretty or perfect but I hope it gives all of you a refreshing dose of reality! I hope you come here to get a quick uplift, laugh or just to see what a hot mess I really am! I have enjoyed creating posts for y’all and I pray I continue to touch lives. The top 5 posts from the blog this year are below! Did your favorite make the cut?

5 Tips for a Stay at Home Mama

Why I Stopped Saying Just

Huxx’s Birth Story + Life Now

8 Tips for Loving Your Family Pictures

A Letter to My Mom | In the Darkness YOU were my light

Thank you for hanging out with my family in 2016, for the love, the support and most importantly letting me share my heart with you! I pray 2017 is full of more love, more laughter, more friends, more opportunity to touch lives, and more sleep! HA! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting me in this journey and I truly hope you have been touched by me in a positive way!

Photos by Monica Bartels Photography & Kingdom Come Photography!

Make sure you are following along with me in 2017! I hope to have a great year full of exciting opportunities! Some of my goals for the year are to be a better wife, a more present mom, to worry less about what other people think, dive deep into my new job, blog more thoughtfully, to grow friendships, do what makes ME happy, give more and have a happy heart full of grace & love!