sayonara 2016

2016 was a year of adventures:

Our adventures began at the end of Winter semester, when Jonny and I headed out for a fun little getaway. We started by conquering Angel's Landing at Zion's National Park. We both felt great about it, but I was especially impressed with myself because I made it up there despite my fear of heights. 

Then we made our way over to California for the real purpose of our trip: Disneyland!! I have always dreamt of going with my love to my favorite place on earth. Jonny went right along with my Disney craze and was my perfect partner in crime at the park. It was a dream come true!

Our next adventure was one we never anticipated! But Matthew and Katie, took the Kirkham family up to see the earth art, The Spiral Jetty, on the shore of the Great Salt Lake! It turned out to be a fun and interesting trip that we probably never would have done without them!

We topped off the Summer by getting in one last getaway with the Stuart's to San Francisco! We were there for a family friend's wedding so we went to the Oakland temple for the first time, but we were also able to see the Mets play the Giants and visit both Alcatraz and Angel Islands! 

After school started, we took a road trip with Matthew and Katie down to Arizona to see BYU play Arizona! It was a close game, but we were glad that BYU ended up winning to make our trip worthwhile. 

On our way back to Utah, we took a stop at The Grand Canyon. It was beautiful to see the sunset there. 

And to top off our trip, we hiked Kanarraville Falls! The hike is literally just walking through a river. It was beautiful, but our feet were freezing! 

2016 was a year of performances:

During 2016, we were fortunate to attend a lot of performances! The year of performances started with seeing Jonny Byrne perform in Beauty and the Beast at Center Pointe.

Next, we saw Cole Davis perform as Judah in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at Hale Center Theater Orem! 

Then we had the opportunity to see Cavalia. It was an incredible horse and acrobatic show! It was also fun to have Cami and her boyfriend join us. 

Then Zach & beautiful Sarah Watts performed in West Side Story at Center Pointe! Sarah was a perfect Maria. We can't wait to see her as Mary Poppins this coming year!! 

Then we had the opportunity to see the traveling broadway cast perform Newsies at Capitol Theater! It was the last show they would have at Capitol Theater because the new Eccles Theater is opening up. Jonny and I listened to Newsies everyday for weeks straight following that performance! 

Then we saw Hunchback of Notre Dame at Tuachan! Jonny and I were supposed to see it on our anniversary, but it rained out. So we redeemed our tickets the next time we were in St. George and had a lot of fun having Liz and Steph join us! 

And to top the year off of performances, we went to see Cole Davis again at Hale Center Theater Orem, but this time in Catch Me If You Can! 

2016 was a year of firsts:

Jonny and I visited the beautiful Ice Castles in Midway for the first time this year! It's amazing that it has been so close to us all along and we just finally made it this last year. 

We started a new tradition by celebrating our first Leap Year together at IHOP! We figured that hopping was pretty close to leaping, and any excuse to eat pancakes is good. 

We made our very first batch of Funfetti cookies this last year! This may not seem like a landmark, but they have become a favorite and I highly anticipate them being a big part of our lives in the coming years! ;) 

We had the opportunity to volunteer as ushers for the first time! We helped direct people at the Provo City Center Temple Open House. 

We celebrated our first engage-iversary by wearing the same clothes and taking the same hike where Jonny proposed! I will never regret saying yes on that day!

I went to my first Angel's game at the Angel's stadium! We snuck the game in between Zion's and Disneyland. They played the Royals so Jonny was very happy to see the Angel's win! It was also fun to see Jonny's good friend Michelle Burg and her boyfriend, Nathan. 

We went sailing for the very first time! Matthew and Katie took us out to Utah Lake and helped us learn how to sail! It was fun, but a little stressful because one wrong move = capsizing. Eeek!

We celebrated our very first wedding anniversary! Jonny planned out an amazing day for us! We slid the city, went to St. George to see Hunchback (but got rained out) and topped the night off by going to the book opening of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! We also ate a piece of our wedding cake to keep tradition! 

I experienced my very first Highland Fling this year! It was a lot of fun to be able to spend time with Grandpa & Grandma Hudson and Jonny's extended family. We had breakfast at the park, went to the parade (where the boys competed for candy), and topped the day off with a tractor ride out to see the fireworks! It was a blast and I can't wait for next year! 

I rode in a private jet for the first time! I have to say it was an experience I never thought I would have, but it was amazing! It will be hard to go back to regular flying, if you know what I mean. ;) 

We went inside the Oakland Temple for the first time! It was beautiful! 

We visited Alcatraz Island for the first time! It was super interesting and I loved it, but it was also a bit eerie to see the holding cells and learn about all of the horror stories that occurred there! We learned about people that escaped and were never found and about as well as other crazy stories. One of the stories I remember was how all of the kitchen knives had an outlined spot so they knew if one was missing, and there were usually a few missing. Just a very eerie feel there, but it was soo interesting, I would recommend it to anyone! 

I crashed a four-wheeler for the first time! haha. The four-wheeler actually landed on top of me and I was stuck under it. Luckily, Jeffrey was behind me and was able to come lift it off of me. Poor Jonny looked back and saw me under it and had no idea what had happened, other than the fact that his wife was stuck under a four-wheeler. But somehow, this scratch on my elbow is all that I ended up with! It definitely shook me up though. It might take me a few trips before I can get back on one of those. 

The Cubbies won the World Series for the first time in 108 years! The final game was so intense. I have never gotten into baseball that much in my life - so that was a first also! I'm really starting to enjoy and get into baseball. Only a year and a half into our marriage and Jonny is already doing work on me. ;) 

We had our first Thanksgiving as a married couple with the Kirkham's! Dinner was delicious (of course) and it was so fun to be able to be a part of our regular traditions of baking rolls and homemade apple pie. This was also our first Thanksgiving with Matthew! 

And to follow that up, we had our first Christmas with the Stuart family! I loved being a part of the traditions that Jonny has always told me about! It was fun to have all of the kids sleeping in Jonny's room on Christmas Eve and getting matching Christmas pajamas. It was also a lot of fun to have a Christmas with Staci's little kiddies around. It makes Christmas so much more exciting! 

2016 was a year of goodbyes:

At the beginning of the year, we said goodbye to beautiful Teresa Watts. She was a beautiful woman just full of joy. Moments like these just make me feel so grateful that I know that we will get to live with our loved ones again in the afterlife. 

I also said goodbye to my job at OneStop Student Services at BYU. I worked there from Freshman year up until this point (three years). I made a lot of wonderful friends and learned great skills. I'm grateful for the environment and opportunities I experienced there! However, I do have to say that I was not sad to see the call-center lifestyle go. 

I said goodbye to my BYU vocal teacher, Brooklyn Gabbitas, at the end of Winter semester. I took from her for two years. She helped me refine my classical and mixed voices and also helped me learn how to belt! Not only that, but we became great friends. I miss taking voice lessons and I'm not ready to say that this was goodbye to voice lessons. I am positive that I will get back into them when I can! 

We said goodbye to Jonny Byrne as he moved off to Chicago to chase his dream of becoming an actor! We are 100% supporting him and admire his courage to follow his dreams! We can't wait to see where this adventure takes him!!

You'd think I'd be done sending missionaries off by now... but I'm not. Well, hopefully I am now! We sent off Elder Benjamin Butters to go serve in the Oakland, California mission! We, of course, had to get our Ariel/Sebastian picture in per tradition! 

2016 was a year of hellos:

We started off the year by saying hello to a beautiful new temple: The Provo City Center Temple. We were able to go through the open house and volunteer as ushers!

We said hello to beautiful Sarah Watts as she joined the guy's group by marrying Zach! It was such a beautiful experience being able to attend their sealing. I love having Sarah around! 

I said hello again to my bestest friend in the entire world!!!! Cami finally got home from her mission and her much awaited reunion was in my top happiest moments of the year! 

Jonny and I were able to attend Jonny's mission reunion in April! Jonny said hello again to good mission friends and I was able to meet them. It was a lot of fun to be able to hear stories about his mission that I hadn't ever heard before.

As I said goodbye to OneStop, I said hello to a new internship that eventually turned into my current job! I love working as a project manager at Palm Marketing. The people there create such a fun environment and also provide great learning opportunities. I was connected with the job because Callie Klotz interned for one of the companies my boss works with in New York. He mentioned that he had a marketing company in Provo if anyone knew anyone! Amazing that I got connected all the way from New York. I feel like it was meant to be and very blessed to be there. (Also if you look hard, I am wearing a Mets shirt in the picture... proof I'm converting to be a baseball fan :D)

It was a beautiful day when we were able to say hello to Abby Watts as the newest member of the church!!! It was amazing to see Zach get sealed in the temple and then Abby get baptized all in the same year. We are so happy for them! :)

And we were so excited to say hello to our newest little niece, Madi Mae Smith! She is so precious and such a fun addition to the family!

Then, as much of the rest of the world did, we said hello to Pokemon Go. haha. I can't believe I'm even posting about it. Jonny, being a Pokemon lover for as long as he can remember, was of course excited. I figured that I better check it out if he was going to be spending so much time with it. I turned out to actually like it! Honestly, never thought I would have ever played Pokemon again..! haha! 

Then Suzie got home from her mission and we happily said hello again!!! Like it was for Cami, it was a long year and a half without her, but I'm so happy to have them both back now!!

Then we said hello to another member of the guys' group: Riley Cappellucci!! We were sad that we were not able to make it out to North Carolina for their actual wedding, but we loved celebrating with them at their Utah reception! Riley is darling and I love spending time with her and Chase! 

Then probably the biggest hello we had this year, was to Hamilton. Abby Campbell got us on board in the middle of September and today, on January 2, I can honestly say that we have not gone one single day without listening to Hamilton since then. We are addicted and love it! If you haven't listened to it, you need to. It is life changing and an absolute work of genius! We love it so much that we carved a Hamilton pumpkin, dressed up as Alexander and Eliza for Halloween and made our candy house Mount Vernon. 

But an even bigger hello than that, is saying hello to Matthew Maddix! We had a blast getting to know him this past year and are so happy to say hello to him as Katie's fiancé!! They are such a cute couple and although he is practically already family, we can't wait for him to officially join the family this next year!!

And finally, we say hello to 2017 and welcome it in the best way we know: a New Years kiss. I always think of when Abby Campbell and I were kids. On New Years we would look at each other and say, "You were the last person I saw in [2006] and you were the first person that I saw in [2007]!!" I know that every year from now on, I can say that Jonny is my first and my last! I can't think of better book ends to a wonderful year. 

Unlike most of the Internet, I did not completely hate 2016. We had a lot of adventures and tried out new things. And although the goodbyes were hard, the hellos made up the difference and made 2016 a great year. I can't wait for the year ahead. I'm so excited to add Matthew to our family (and to wedding plan with Katie for that matter) and welcome Ryan back from his mission, as well as graduate and take whatever life throws at us! I know that whatever comes, 2017 will be wonderful because I have Jonny by my side. 

Sayonara 2016. 

Let's do this 2017!!! 

xoxo,

Angela Stuart