2016 - Year in Review

January
*I got to celebrate my friend Tina with my first visit to Fahrenheit and a fun girls' night to Charlotte.
*We had a big snow (at least for NC) and had lots of fun sledding with neighbors.
*I battled sickness for most of the month.


February
*We enjoyed a STEM night at Brenna's school building Legos.
*Brenna went skating for the first time.
*The kids both wrapped up their basketball seasons.
*Brenna dressed as a 100 year old and it was the funniest, cutest thing ever.
*Jonathan and I celebrated Valentine's Day and my birthday with a date night to Red Rocks.
*My friends took me back to Red Rocks to celebrate my birthday again.  
*We sold the Montero and got a new (to us) Honda Pilot.

March
*We celebrated Brenna's sixth birthday with a Life Group birthday cake and treats for her classmates.
*Brenna's 6th birthday party was at the Ninja Warrior course at Defy Gravity in Charlotte.  She got to celebrate with lots of friends and family.
*The kids got to spend a weekend with Neena and Pa Bill.
*Davin and I delivered hundreds of Krispy Dreme Doughnuts to area schools on behalf of The Cove Church.
*My outreach team cooked and served food at The Corner Table.
*We delivered doughnuts to families we met the past 2 summers at Go Bananas.
*We celebrated Easter at The Cove.
*We took a trip to the zoo over Spring Break with the Stricklands and the Hallmans and had a blast.
*We took a life group field trip to Defy Gravity over Spring Break.

April
*Maggie turned TEN years old. 
*We had birds hatch in our garage.
*I took a 4 day trip to Disney with my mom and sister and had a great time.
*The kids and I went strawberry picking for the first time.
*Brenna had her first Startown field day and I got to join in the fun.
*Brenna and Jonathan ran the Kids Marathon - 25 miles at home and the final mile together with other students in Hickory.
*Heather and Mike came to town and I got to see them for a few hours - made me miss her that much more!

May
*Davin started tee-ball and Brenna started coach pitch baseball - with her Daddy as her coach.
*We celebrated Mother's Day at church and with a special lunch.
*We all went along for Brenna's field trip to Tweetsie.
*The kids and I went to Bristol to celebrate Jayla's birthday.
*Mom and I took the kids to see Charlotte's Web at the Barter.
*Brenna qualified as one of the fastest runners in Kindergarten/1st grade and competed in the Elite Feet run at Startown.


June
*Davin finished up his first year of preschool.
*I drove to Virginia to watch my first class of 3rd graders graduate.  It was awesome to hang with Sheri and Lisa for the day and to see those kids who will always hold a special place in my heart.
*Brenna finished up kindergarten and we sadly said goodbye to the best teacher/assistant combo EVER.
*Jonathan and I spent a few days in New York, our first time there together.  I spent a few hours working at a soup kitchen one day.  We ate great food, shopped a little, and saw School of Rock on Broadway.
*We celebrated Davin's 4th birthday with a golf themed party at our house, complete with an outdoor putt-putt course on one of the hottest days of the year.
*We celebrated Father's Day at church and out-and-about.
*We spent a weekend with the Melandos in Beech Mountain.  Rachel and I both got horrible sunburns even though it wasn't even that hot or sunny.
*We survived another crazy week at Cove Kids Camp.  
*I learned what it's like to have 4 kids as we spent the day with our friends' kiddos and took them to a movie, lunch, ice cream, and Target.  We still plan on only having 2 kids, haha.  But it was fun for a day.
*I spent some time with a new chiropractor who really helped my back issues and I'm forever grateful.

July
*We celebrated Independence Day in Independence, Virginia.
*The kids got to splash and play in the New River for the first time.
*The kids and I braved the chaos for Chic-Fil-A dress like a cow day.
*We had a blast at Superhero night at the Crawdads game.
*We went back to Defy Gravity.  It's obviously a favorite of ours.  I think this was the day we also saw a Junie B Jones play in Charlotte with the Hallmans.
*The kids loved Touch a Truck in Claremont.
*Jonathan and I had a night out to celebrate our friend Jen's birthday in Hickory.
*We finally went to the library and got library cards.
*Jonathan and I celebrated 8 years of marriage with a date night to Charlotte.
*Brenna finished her first long chapter book and finally started liking to read.
*The kids and I went to Virginia and went to Hands On Museum with Brady and Mal.
*We spent a day painting pottery with cousins in Virginia.
*I threw my sister a baby shower for Lainey in Virginia.
*I had a girls' night out with my besties.  We ate so much sugar that I decided to give up sugar the next day.

August*I started a diet on August 1.
*Davin got a pretty dramatic short haircut.
*Brenna lost her first tooth on the way to the beach at a McAllister's Deli in Columbia, SC.
*We spent 5 days in Hilton Head, SC complete with a pirate boat ride, lots of time at the pool, dinners and shopping, a helicopter "visit" from Jonathan's friend Wes, and a day at the beach with the Jones before we left.
*We helped pull off the back-to-school bash for Newton-Conover Schools.  
*The kids spent hours in the yard playing baseball.
*We celebrated Ashley's upcoming wedding with a bachelorette weekend in Charlotte.
*The kids spent a few days at Neena and Pa Bill's having lots of fun outside.
*The kids and I soaked up a lot of summer fun - pool, miniature golf, bowling, parks, Discovery Place Kids, and lots of playing and reading.
*We celebrated Brady's 5th birthday in Bristol.
*Brenna started 1st grade.
*Lainey Paige Smith was born and we headed to Bristol, which caused B to miss the third day of school.

September
*We took the kids on their first real hike to South Mountain State Park.
*Davin started Pre-K.
*We had family pictures made at the Hickory Fair.*Jonathan and I went to the Battle at Bristol.  We got to see lots of friends even though the game didn't turn out like we'd hoped it would.
*We stopped to meet new baby Isaac Campbell on our way home from Virginia.
*We spent another full morning cooking at The Corner Table instead of usual serving only.
*I spent a few hours with Kelley in Gaffney and it was SOO needed.  Friends like her are so rare.
*I spent the last night of September celebrating Ashley and Cliff's wedding rehearsal.

October
*Cliff and Ashley got married and Ashley and we got to party all day/night with friends who are more like family to me.
*Dav and I spent some mornings at the park while B was at school.
*I survived the chaos of the Hurricane that almost ruined so many of my clients' Disney trips.
*We celebrated at the Startown Spectacular with friends and teachers.
*We got a fire pit and J got really into setting it up to watch TV outside.
*We started our new life group at the Hollar's home.
*Jonathan and I celebrated his birthday in Uptown Charlotte for a night.
*Jonathan and I dressed as Russell and Mr Frederickson from Up to help give out candy and paint faces at the Newton Spooktacular.
*We trick-or-treated with the Raineys and the Stricklands (and some of B's school friends) in our neighborhood.  Brenna was a cowgirl (superman the day before) and Davin was Michael Jordan from Space Jam.

November
*We (reluctantly) voted.
*We all 4 survived the stomach bug.
*Jonathan's dad/stepmom and brother/sister came for an early Thanksgiving meal at our house.  
*Jonathan had to work after Thanksgiving so I took the kids to Bristol for a few days.
*We purchased a tree and decorated it.
*We kicked off Christmas at the Cove, which is a crazy/hectic/awesome time for me in outreach.

December
*We met Santa.
*The kids and I saw Moana at the theater.
*We held our annual Christmas party with caroling and fun with some of our best friends.
*My outreach team made 100 tins of Christmas candy for the local soup kitchen fundraiser.  It took 4 straight days and lots of hard work and dedication.
*We collected toys for Christmas at the Cove.
*Jonathan and I went to WV on a mission trip with some friends.  It was life-changing and so eye opening for us.
*The four of us saw Beauty and the Beast at the local theater and loved it.
*We pulled off our annual Christmas at the Cove toy store where we served kids in our community who may have gone without this Christmas.
*Brenna and I enjoyed our annual trip to the Nutcracker Ballet.
*Maggie got sick and lost a lot of weight - possibly from a UTI.
*My mom had a surgery in Charlotte and spent 8 days in the hospital.  She came home to our house for a few days where we celebrated Christmas with my family before she went home.
*Santa came to visit our house and we celebrated Christmas together on 12/23.  The kids main gifts were a pod swing, razor ride-on toy, new basketball goal, remote control cars, and Nintendo classic set, zipline, and a 2017 trip to Disney World!
*We finally got to go to a Christmas Eve service at The Cove and we had SO MUCH FUN!
*We spent 4 days at Jonathan's mom and stepdad's house.
*We spent Christmas Eve with Jonathan's extended family as usual.
*We stopped to see my family for a day since I hadn't seen my Grandma for Christmas.
*We headed home from VA just in time for me to get super sick.  Jonathan and Davin also have colds.
*Jonathan's dad spent a few days with us to close out the year.
*My car got sick and we're still working on getting it fixed.
*I'm finishing the year out almost 30 pounds lighter than I was in July.
*I celebrated the end of the year with approximately 145 Disney trips booked since January.  

2016 was a great year for our family.  We spent time together and got to see lots of our friends and family.  2017 has big shoes to fill!