Wait what? Is 2016 really over?

Yeah yeah, I know everyone says that every year. But seriously! I guess we say it because it’s true. It’s hard to believe that though the days sometimes feel endless, the years race by so fast that you barely have time to welcome in one year before the next is banging at the door. Just when you’ve recovered from that New Year’s party, it’s somehow Christmas again. Of course I’m exaggerating, but doesn’t it feel that way sometimes?

Anyway, philosophical-ish discussions won’t change the facts – and besides, the facts are good! 2016 was a wonderful, really big year for me, both in real life as well as blog life. That’s why I made this post: to review some highlights of my year and also to give you something fun to read while you’re waiting for the clock to strike midnight. 😉

Shall we begin? I’ve divided the post into “Life” and “Blog” for easier reading, and I decided to put “Life” first. Heh heh, no pun intended – but actually maybe it was intended. XD

~{ Life }~

I started my Etsy shop, Wee Little Crafts, in January, and got 18 online sales over the year (plus a few more in person), 3,469 views, and 145 listing favorites, and 38 shop admirers! Woohoo! 😀
I turned 16 in May. O.o
And thus I got my driver’s license in October. And also a car. O.o again.
Oh, and I got a phone too! Yippee!
A less fun but still momentous milestone (wait, does that even make sense?) was getting my wisdom teeth pulled.
I’m not sure if this counts as “Life” or “Blog,” but I got to meet one of my blogger friends in real life! We had so much fun. *Happy sigh*
And I bought a new dSLR camera! It’s a Nikon d3400, and even though I’m not quite a pro at using it yet, I’m really enjoying it!
We redecorated our room, and I still love it! Ahh, it’s SO much prettier than it was.
I went to the theater and a concert for the first time. I know, I’m very weird. XD (Update: whoops, my sister reminded me that actually I went to that concert in 2015, not 2016.)
Our vacation this year took us to Niagara Falls, Macinac Island, the Great Lakes, and a bunch of other exciting places!
My fluffball of a bunny, Willow, had baby bunnies! SQUEEE! They were so adorable. *Sniff* We sold them all, but their legacy lives on in my jillions of pictures and blog posts. XD
Of the course of this year I became pen pals with three bloggers and email pals with another. 🙂 Thank you for your lovely letters and emails, guys! I’ve had such fun getting to know you better. ♥
We added two more pets to our collection: the adorable Holland Lop rabbit Snickers and the also adorable kitten Casey. Well actually she’s pretty much a cat now, but still adorable. 😉
We had an EPIC shaving cream fight that I posted about here. So. Much. Fun.

~{ Blog }~

Definitely the most major thing in my blog year was being featured on Discover. Oh my goodness guys: a year ago I had almost 60 followers. Now I have… 1,507. WHAT?! WHOA! EEK! And it’s all (well, mostly) because of Discover. I’m so, so thankful God gave me this incredible opportunity, and I hope I can use it for His glory. ♥
In other news: blog stats. This year I’ve published 198 posts, and received 7,980 comments, 6,543 likes, and 41,267 views. Just wow. *Faints* Oh my goodness, if I thought last year was a big year, look at this! Ha ha, my first year is just a teensy line. XD OH MY GOODNESS IT’S AMAZING!
I met or got to know so many amazing people this year, like Grace, Clara, Hayley, K. A., Rebekah, Christian Homeschooler, Aria, and soooo many more. I love you guys so much! ♥♥
I changed my blog around a LOT, several times, but I have hopefully settled down to a theme and a header I like. I can tell you that the current design is a million times better than it was at first, at least in my opinion. XD
Hayley and I started The Art Lab blog, along with Megan and Anika. (And in case you’re wondering, we’re taking a little break over the holidays, but we’ll get back to it in a jif!)
Aaand I started WordCrafters this year! You guys have done an amazing job with the stories, although it is taking a bit longer than I thought to complete WordCrafters 2. 😉 But don’t worry, hopefully we’ll finish it soon and we can start on WordCrafters 3! 😀 If you haven’t read the stories yet, click here to read WordCrafters 1 and here to read WordCrafters 2 so far.

Alrighty. Now that we’re done with the highlight reel or whatever, let’s get down to the good ol’ post reviews. 🙂 These are some of my favorite posts from 2016:

Favorite Posts from A Farm Girl’s Life: (click on the picture to visit the post)

These are some of my favorite snow pictures I’ve ever taken! Especially the last one. I’m still shocked I was able to get that!

Dewdrops are one of my favorite things to photograph ever. Ahh, so pretty!

Ohhhh my goodness Casey was ADORABLE!

AWWC Challenge 2: Waiting

I think “Waiting” might be one of the best things I’ve ever written. 😀 There was no picture in the post, so you’ll just have to click here to read it. 😉

This was the post featured on Discover before my whole blog was. And thus, heh heh, it is by FAR my most popular post, if you decide that by the likes and comments. O.o

Aaaaaahh! I love our room so much! ♥ It’s changed a little bit from this post, but for the most part it’s still the same. 🙂

This post is basically a collection of some of my best photos from January-August 2016. 😀 (By the way, I’m hoping you guys didn’t have the same problem as I did: the photos weren’t showing up on this post. PANIC! I hate it when that happens, so I’m just going to hope it was just a fluke that happened to me once… right?)

Pictures from our vacation to Niagara Falls. ♥

This is one of my favorite photoshoots because it’s so unique – and we were also on top of a barn roof. 😀 Hee hee!

All I can say is AHHHHHH THEY’RE ADORABLEEEEEE!

This might come close to my “Favorite. Photoshoot. Ever.” Seriously though, it might be my favorite photography post of the year, I don’t know. I can hardly believe I didn’t edit those pictures, even though I’m the one that took the pictures! Wow, Lord, you are the “Best. Artist. Ever.” Eeeee! ♥

I love how this little black and white photography experiment turned out! October was a really good photography month for me, it appears. XD

I’m pretty pleased with how this post turned out. And I’m so, so happy you guys found it helpful! That really makes my… um… day? Well more than a day but less than a year… Hmm… XD

Ohhhh my goodness how can fall be so beautiful? Eeek!

I’m honestly kind of proud of these moon pictures, especially the last one. 😛

This sisters’ photoshoot was a lot of fun, Megan! ♥ We should really do it again sometime.

And last but not least… THE CUTEST WITTLE FLUFFBALLS!

A Few Favorite 2016 Posts from the Blogisphere:

How to Be a Ninja by Loren – this is pretty hilarious. XD

Evening Photography Whatever #2 by Loren – and this is gorgeous!

Recent Photography: Moss Forests, Maude, and Little Brothers by Clara – so pretty!

Aaaand pretty much any photography posts by Clara. XD

A Trip to the Apple Orchard by Grace – I love this lovely life/photography post.

A Barn Full of Fluff by Hayley – SO FLUFFY PLEASE HELP ME!

And guys, that’s only a teensy bit of the goodness I read this year. But unfortunately I don’t have time to list all of the wondermous posts I read, so I guess you’ll have to check out the blogs I follow and find out yourself. 😉

Okay guys, bear with me – we’re almost done! I just need to show you some of my…

New Year’s Resolutions:

Meet at least one more of my blogger friends.
Grow my Etsy shop.
Start a Bible journal and keep it going throughout the year.

Well, after all that, all I can say is THANK YOU GUYS, for the bestest blog year so far. I have loved laughing and learning with you guys so incredibly much. Blogging is such a wonderful part of my life, a part I hope to hold onto for a very, very long time. ♥

I hope you enjoyed this rather lengthy end-of-the-year post, and have a lovely New Year, okay? I can’t wait to see what exciting things God has in store for me and for you guys this upcoming year. ♥♥♥

With all my love,

***Allison***

Hej! 😀 (That’s hello in Swedish. Just wanted to make sure you’re alive and watching for typos.)

Ahem.

On my survey, one of the post suggestions was flashbacks, and I thought that would be a good idea. I’ve gotten so many new followers lately who have missed out on all of the wonderful, long-ago posts I did. Heh heh. XD

Anyway, since I can’t hardly bring myself to post just a page full of links, I sprinkled in some Christmas photos for good measure. Warning: do not judge my photography by these photos. XD Hee hee, some of them aren’t the best quality, but I think they’re neat anyway. 😉 Maybe next year I will have some stunning Christmas tree photography to show you, because by then I’m sure I’ll be an expert at my camera. 😛

*****

dsc_0230-1280x853 — We got our Christmas tree last Saturday! It took us forever, and the one we decided on was rather smaller than usual, but it was fun nonetheless. 🙂 Plus it looks pretty cute in our living room.

I really like this photoshoot I did last year. Click here to see some warm and summery pictures from a May walk.

dsc_0238-1280x853 — I absolutely LOVE the bokeh in this picture, even though the picture itself isn’t that great of quality.

Ah yes, good ol’ Chopped. We still play this game sometimes. Click here to read “Chopped!”, a fun cooking game for kids. Let me tell you, sometimes the cooks’ entries are rather… how shall we say it… interesting. XD But fun. Always fun.

I’m still proud of this post. I just love how the pictures turned out! Click here to see “The Beauty of a Dandelion.”

dsc_0263-1280x853 — Our friends gave us this adorable acorn ornament.

I love this place! Click here to read about one of my favorite places on our farm.

dsc_0265-1280x853 — We made these fun button ornaments one year. For some reason I really like buttons. XD

I remember when we found this! It was pretty amazing to find a real bee tree. Click here to see a few pictures of a bee tree we found last year.

dsc_0268-1280x853-2 — Christmas trees just wouldn’t be Christmas trees without lights, right?

SQUEEE! Lily was so TINY! Click here to read about my bunny Lily when she was just a wee fluff.

dsc_0266-1280x853 — Another handmade ornament…

It was amazing to get to see this little guy turn into a chrysalis before our eyes. Click here to watch a swallowtail caterpillar transform.

dsc_0273-1280x853 — Now this one is NOT handmade. XD

This was fun! Click here to read about “The Great Hot Air Balloon Chase.”

Ooh, I should make one of these again. Click here to see how to make a creative, personalized card.

We find so many weird eggs in our chicken houses. Click here to read about some of them. (By the way, that reminds me of a thing I saw a thing on Pinterest about a farmer finding a whole egg inside of an egg. Pshaw, we’ve found a bunch of those. XD )

SO SQUISHY! Click here to see a little photoshoot of a bear I made for a friend.

dsc_0299-1280x853 — Maybe it’s playing “Joy to the World…”

And last but not least, a review of 2015 with LOTS of photos included. I’m planning on making a post like this for 2016 too. If I thought last year was a big year, what about this year?! This year was huge! Anyway, click here to see read a review of 2015. (Guys, it’s almost 2017 already. WUT?!)

*****

I hope you enjoyed this post, and had fun browsing through the links. 🙂 Do you get a Christmas tree? Do you cut your own, buy one from a store, or set up an artificial tree? We always cut ours down from a tree farm. *Happy sigh* So fun! 😀

***Allison***

P. S. I just discovered that a.) the little twisty thing on my camera is a focus ring, and b.) IT WORKS! My old camera didn’t have a focus ring, and at first I was kind of disappointed that my new one didn’t seem to be focusing very well. Oops. Heh heh. Nowwwww, I get it. XD