We’re in the final days of 2016, and honestly, I’m glad it’s almost over. This has not been one of my favorite years, mostly because of my job situation and struggling with finding a purpose and some semblance of a career. That struggle is definitely not over, but I’m hoping it gets better in 2017! It’s been kind of a rough year for our country too, with terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and of course our recent contentious election. But there have been some really good things about this year too, and that’s what I want to focus on today! So here’s what went down in 2016.

January: I don’t remember too much about January, honestly! But I do remember one fun day I had with my grandmother, when we went to New Hampshire to see Ted Cruz speak. We left early in the morning, stopped for coffee on the way, and got to go out to lunch after. It turned out to be a really fun day!

February: In February, I got to spend a few days house- and dog-sitting for my grandparents while they were traveling. It was fun to get a little taste of living on my own! Then, my parents and I were able to spend a weekend visiting my sister at college.

March: March was a busy month! We had our presidential caucus, which I volunteered at, right at the beginning of my sister’s spring break. Then I had my wisdom teeth out a few days later. That wasn’t exactly fun, but I’m glad my sister was home! I’m pretty sure March was also the month I bought my blog domain and hosting, but I didn’t start writing for a while.

April: A lot of fun things happened in April! Near the beginning of the month, I made my first solo road trip down to visit my sister for her birthday (and a Newsboys concert!). Then at the end of the month, I was elected to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention in July.

May: In May, I started my job as part-time secretary at the Christian school I graduated from. My sister came home from college for the summer, and a week or so later, we had family come in from all over the country for my grandfather’s 80th birthday party.

June: Nothing really big or exciting happened in June; it was more of fun memories of spending time with my sister. We went to the beach, went to Panera a few times for lattes and scones, went to Bible study, went shopping, did errands…plus, school got out, so I was able to switch to working half days!

July: This was the month when I did the biggest, craziest thing I’ve probably ever done! My mom, sister, and I drove to Cleveland with one of my mom’s friend for the RNC. I was a delegate, my mom and her friend were alternates, and my sister was along for the ride ? It was quite an experience, and definitely an honor to represent my state. I’m so glad we could go, and even though my dad had to stay home and work, it was a fun family road trip with the added bonus of our friend! Another fun event was the wedding I got to take pictures of with my sister. That was my first time as her second shooter!

August: The Rio Olympics were this month! It’s always fun to watch our athletes (and see the USA blow every other country out of the water!), and I especially loved watching the women’s gymnastics. I wish I could be friends with those girls! We also spent this month trying to do fun things before my sister had to go back to college, like getting up super early to drive to the beach and see the sunrise. Then my mom and I drove my sister back to school and got her settled in at the end of the month.

September: I tried my hand selling something at our small town fair! We’ve talked about it for years, and this year we finally decided to sell iced coffee. My family helped a lot; we just wished my sister could have been there! She did come home a couple of weeks later for my birthday, and we had a great weekend going to a for KING & COUNTRY concert and going to a high school football game for the first time! This was also the month I really started blogging, at least semi-regularly ?

October: In October, I got to drive down and visit my sister for her fall break! It was just a 3-day weekend, but we got to do a lot of fun things because she didn’t have classes, work, or much homework. Plus, almost everyone had gone home for the break, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves!

November: The first fun thing about November was that a Chick-fil-A finally opened in my home state! It’s an hour and a half away, but we did get to make the trip the first weekend it was open, and it seemed like everyone in the state had the same idea. I also started my second job as a grocery store cashier, to add to my school secretary income. Then, of course, we celebrated Thanksgiving and started getting ready for Christmas.

December: December was a busy but fun month, getting ready for Christmas! At the beginning of the month, my mom and I spent a couple of weekends helping with the Christmas Spectacular at our church. My sister came home around the middle of the month, and I had a couple of weeks off from my job at the school. We had a great Christmas, going to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, then celebrating with my dad’s family that afternoon.

And now here we are! It’s been a year of highs and lows for sure. I love taking this time between Christmas and New Year’s to reflect on the good memories, try to learn from my mistakes, and figure out where I want to be this time next year and how I can get there. I’m excited for 2017 and my dreams and goals for this blog, and I would be honored if you want to follow along!

How was your 2016?