I wanted to say Thank you so much to every one who support Davong Marie. Especially my husband who supports all my big dreams and helps me with everything here!! It's been a wonderful 2016!!! I cannot express how grateful I am for each and every person! it's truly amazing and a humbling experience to be able to be a part of your lives!
We started the New Year with some sadness of our friend passing, but we know he is in a good place. During January Souwan celebrated his BIG 30 with a mini vacation! It was so much fun playing in the pool and eating lots of seafood! This year his birthday will be at home, but we have some great things planned!
Meanwhile, Haylee had a lot of firsts! She crawled, walked, ran, went from breastmilk to whole milk, using a cup (with a straw), using a sippy cup, talking, singing, some sign language, climbing, hugging, kissing, playing with blocks, self feeding, learning to cook. She is growing so fast! I am excited to hear more talking, and we will try to take on potty training in the new year and hopefully lots of more first experiences with her! It has been fun times watching her grow. She has taught us so much. Her first birthday was little mermaid theme, some of her family from Alabama visited and even though it was hot, it was fun celebrating with our close family and friends.
We had our first family vacation to the beach with Haylee. She had so much fun splashing in the water and eating sand. We got to visit Magnolia plantation for the first time and it is so beautiful there. I plan on taking some landscape ideas from there to our garden/home for 2017. I almost forgot we purchased a mini van! We love it and it's spacious & great for road trips with Haylee!
I turned the BIG 30 in the fall. Souwan surprised me with a new Kate Spade bag, which I leave in a case only to use for special occasions haha! He also took me to a nail salon and out to dinner. It was low key but I loved every bit of this birthday!! We took a trip to the mountains to pick apples. That was a first experience for the whole family. We picked so many different apples and had apple cider donuts. Yum! It was so much fun!! I hope to go back in 2017! Our family visited the pumpkin patch again to pick pumpkins. Haylee won 1st place in the photo contest! It was really cool! She loved picking a pumpkin and the hay ride. For Halloween we dressed up as Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. Haylee attended her first trunk or treat and she loved it! We gave out candy from our front porch on Halloween and Haylee dressed up as a strawberry. A special day for the family was Haylee's baptism. It was a beautiful day with our family and friends. And lots of food!! Haylee got a lot of sweet gifts from everyone and I felt so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives to share this season with. For Thanksgiving we hosted a small family get together. It was first for us, but so much wonderful food that lasted for days!
Winter came so fast. It was our busy season! I enjoyed all the photo sessions and had a blast with every family. We were also busy with fun holiday traditions old and new. Haylee attended the Festival of trees for the first time. She loved the Dory themed tree. It's her favorite new movie. (Her auntie Melissa got her a sticker book with Dory and she is very excited) The newest fun tradition was going to the train station. to be a part of The Polar Express. I want to do this again in 2017!! Haylee thought it was awesome, she even said awesome! Our family celebrated Christmas at our home. I thought it went really great! Haylee got a play kitchen from Santa, which she spends hours with. And my brother got her this awesome red wagon! She had everyone pulling her around the house and yard. We played dirty Santa and What's on your cell phone. Two games that really had us laughing. This year we had a better setup through our home. I love pinterest for helping us be creative with a small space and large party for Christmas. We had 30 people! The winter lasts til March and I am hoping to see snow. We got Haylee a sled and I want to use it!!
Goals for 2017
And with the New Year brings new projects, tradition and experiences. In 2017 we have some cool ideas! I am keeping Souwan's birthday celebration small but have some great ideas to try.
This year for all the holidays we are trying new gift traditions. Souwan and I will be doing projects instead of a gift. I think those are wonderful gifts!! Acts of love is my second love language! First is spending time together. I can't wait to see the projects we will complete. Talking on projects, In the Spring we have a project for the yard. We always have a garden and do the landscape, but this year we are going to add some garden projects I really want to expand! I really hope to create a wonderful backyard almost as great as Magnolia plantation *wink*. that's very ambitious, so we will do it on a smaller scale. I want to add blueberries and muscadine to our garden! Haylee loves blueberries so I think she will love this idea. I plan on having Haylee in the garden more with me this year! Last year she mostly played with dirt. This year I am hoping she loves helping and learn along the way. I want to add more flowers that will attract butterflies. Haylee loves watching the butterflies in the yard and gets excited to see them 9or pretty much any insect or animal in the yard). I want to scale back our garden to herbs and plant more azaleas and new camellias. I hope our hydrangeas and roses get fuller this year. They are my babies too! It is a work in progress and I am very excited to work in the garden again this year.
One of the projects that I have been waiting to do for a couple of years is adding a pergola! Souwan has a great DIY for a pergola and will be working on that project! I can't wait to have parties under the new pergola, especially Haylee's 2nd birthday. ( I was hoping to have it for Haylee's 1st but I didn't think we could on our budget)
Soon we are welcoming our niece Lyna to NC! She's going to be staying here with us before she starts her first year in culinary school. I can't wait to have her here with us! We hope she loves NC as much as we do!Then Haylee's 2nd birthday will be here. she's growing way too fast! I plan on having another princess celebration for her and hopefully under the new pergola! We plan to take a few trips next year. Our annual family beach trip and visiting Alabama! I hope to make a trip to the mountains for the apples too. I am working on a few sewing projects. One is a dress for Haylee's Halloween costume. I know it's early, but practice makes perfect. It we get a chance, i'd love to take Haylee to Disney. That is always on my goals list! I would like to experience the Thanksgiving parade and go to the Polar Express ride again for the winter.
Then there are my other goals.. I hope to continue learning and taking beautiful photos. I'd love to add to my photography skills. I plan on working on my writing and adding more content on the blog! But I say that every year. Haha! Writing and adding content is my hardest goal.
Whew!! that was long! If you read it all, thanks so much! There is so much going on in 2017! Thanks for being a part of Davong Marie! I hope to keep posting pretty pictures along the way in 2017! Also check facebook for posts. I posted a lot of pretty pictures there because that was the fastest way.
We sincerely hope and pray that this New Year brings you new hopes, new dreams, and new beginnings. May this truly be your best year yet.
Love The Kiengkhams!
Comments
Post a Comment