Is it 2016 already?

Something in me can just not keep up with this blog as much as I think/want to.  And somehow it is 2016.  Like how? 2016 means that I have been out of high school for 10 years now.  That I've been out of BYU for 4 years now.  That I was living in Jerusalem 4 YEARS AGO.  That my baby is going to be 1 soon! That I will have been married for 3 years.  That I've officially been out of the career field for a year now.  That Ben is graduating from medical school.  That we are going to (hopefully!) match in a couple of months.  Like how?! Time really does fly, as cliche as it sounds.  2015 was one heck of a year- mainly with the whole becoming a mom thing.  I think 2016 will be a good one though, even though it will bring a LOT of changes.  Mainly the whole Ben graduating and us moving to who knows where thing. (Not stressful at all......) It'll be good though.  I'm trying to embrace change as it comes.  I've never been good at that, and this is going to be my year! Or so I tell myself.  I tell myself every time that a big change is coming that somehow this time it is going to be different.  I'm going to be able to just jump into my new situation and not even let it phase me.  (More often than not, this change is in reference to a move to a new place.) I'm going to get in there and make a bunch of friends right away and just absolutely love every minute of it.  That has yet to happen.  So this time around I'm going to give myself some time and not set too high of expectations.  Just embrace my need to warm up to new things, people, and places, and hopefully at least shorten my warming up time.  I can at least do that, right?  For those of you who don't know, I chose the word "embrace" for my 2016 buzzword.  And I'm really concentrating hard on it.  I feel like I'm onto something great here.  Embracing things/places/situations/people is really key to a lot of happiness to be had out there.  Mastering this will take longer than 2016 has time to give, but hey I'm trying.  Maybe it will be my 2017 word again, who knows.  

So a little about what we've been up to.  As always, I like to sum it all up with some pics.  We went to Journey to Bethlehem this year- which is this amazing thing that the great Harvester church does every year.  I've been going every year I was in town since I was in high school.  It is SO fun! And free! Highly recommended.  

We also went to Our Lady of the Snows to see the Christmas lights.  Again- another free thing that is awesome and Christmas-y.  Plus they have a petting zoo where you can ride camels.  Pretty sweet.  

 

And they have a life size nativity made out of legos.  (PS they charge for this now but just know that it is a trick! Aside from the nativity being cool, the rest of the lego exhibit looked like my baby brother's bedroom.  Literally just all of the lego sets put together on a table.  That's $7 I'll never get back.  And don't trust the old lady sitting outside that tells you it is totally worth the money.  I'm here to tell you it isn't.  BUT the lego nativity is cool!) 

Oh hey I also turned 28! My day included breakfast in bed, as you can see, a tour of a chocolate factory, a falafel bar for dinner (when else can I get Ben to eat falafel?! He didn't by the way...), and fun presents. Overall a great day.  And it's true... 28 is great!

I also took my bow tie shop to the next level and did a couple of shows in December.  My friend Kristy also has a shop and inspired me to join her.  The first one was up by Crown Candy in old north. It was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed myself.  

Plus we got free pics with Santa.

And a full pound of bacon between pieces of bread from Crown Candy.  (Oh I mean BLT's)

The babe turned 8 months old.  

Here's my second show:

I was proud of my bow tie Christmas tree.

Christmas was great with my brother and his wife coming in town.  Here we are for Christmas Eve dinner.  

                     

We did our annual gingerbread contest on Christmas Day this year.  The latest we have ever done it.  For all of you wondering- ours was this one.  We didn't win.  Better luck to us next year!

We did get to enjoy some Pappy's after seeing Wicked, which was great.  And the babe couldn't eat those ribs fast enough.  haha! He really eats anything.  We have yet to find a food he won't eat.  It's amazing.  

Then we made a quick last minute trip to Utah, due to Grandpa Wilson passing.  He was a great man and will be missed.  Here's Flint hanging out at the Chicago air port.  

And Flint got to see snow for the first time! I don't think he was to impressed...

Also- Flint got his two front teeth in on Christmas Eve.  I was so nervous his teeth would change his look so much that he wouldn't be as cute.  (I know that's weird).  But it turns out, he is still as cute as ever, if not more so.  Dang I did good on this one :)

Texting his peeps.  So old school with his flip phone.

And BAM he is 9 months old.  Say what?! The growth between months 8 and 9 was cray cray.  He learned to army crawl and then regular crawl, pull himself up on his own, and grew teeth in.  Oh and he has started eating us out of house and home.  Like seriously.  He eats more than I do.  And who knows where it all goes.  He's still a skinny little dude.  haha!

Here he is, ready to eat more even though he just finished his lunch.  *heart melt*

This babe is just the best most angelic and sweet thing you'll ever encounter.  How I got him is beyond me, but I thank God every day for it.  Being a mama is the BEST.  I can't state it enough.  Literally.  

Anyway- I'm currently getting into reading blogs.  It's been fun so far.  I'm feeling inspired to start something.  Not sure what yet (although it will be food insprired...cooking, reviewing, kitchen tips, all of the above, etc), but something.  It's all coming together in my head.  I'm starting a cooking club and our first meeting is on Thursday.  I'm excited and I will let you know how it goes.  

Peace.