Celebrating 2 Years!!!

Happy Friday friends!!! Today is a super special day for me, because 730 days ago I published my very first blog post. And today I am sharing my 474th post!
Happy 2 Years to me!!!!

It is still kind of surreal to me that I have stuck with this the last 2 years, and how much it has grown!

So as always I am linking up with some of my favorite bloggers, Erika, Narci & Andrea to share some of my favorite things of the last 2 years in my little blogging world.

Last year I celebrated my One Year Blogaversary with this post.

One Year Blogaversary

When I first started blogging I was  not really sure if I would stick with it or what direction I wanted it to go. I have shared this story before, but when I hit publish on my very fist post on September 21, 2016 I had no idea what would happen. When after a few days I looked and saw that 12 people read it! Now I am still pretty sure it was my mom reading it 12 times or her and 11 friends, but regardless it was a fun feeling to put something out there and have someone take the time to read it.
You can check out my very first post.....Welcome to the Family Table with Genevieve

I love to look back over the year and share some of the most popular posts with readers and I'll share some of my personal favorites too!
So the three most read posts of this year are.....

number three

The third most read post was my Summer is Here post from this past May. Honestly I am not sure why this post was so popular? Maybe everyone was ready for Summer or maybe because I shared some favorites from Target... I don't know, but it was the third most read post!

number two

My Hello Summer post from June of this year was the second most read post. Again, not what I would call a super exciting post, but again I shared some favorite Target finds. I am sensing a theme... my readers must have the same love as I do for Target!

one

The most read post this past year was Ella's Fixer Upper Birthday Party! Now this one totally makes sense. It was the most fun party with the sweetest details! The perfect way to celebrate turning 10!

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Now if you are a follower here, it's no secret that I enjoy being in the kitchen. I try to share at least one recipe a week and thought I would highlight the most read recipes of this last year!

First up are my Key Lime Cupcakes. These are not your average cupcakes... they have a graham cracker crust under the cake and are pretty much amazing. I know we are full swing into all things pumpkin, but you should put these on your "to make" list😉

Key Lime Cupcakes
Next up is this Green Goddess Quinoa Salad. I mean it looks amazing, and is filled with all the good stuff for you! So glad you all liked checking out this recipe so much! It is one of my favorites!

Green Goddess Quinoa Salad
And last is this Chickpea Chicken Salad.  I mean I think the name is what draws everyone into this one! All the great taste of chicken salad, but with chickpeas. I love making a batch of this and having it for lunch a few days a week!

Chickpea Chicken Salad

And while this post is not specifically a recipe, it is in the food world and was a pretty popular post! My Hot Cocoa  Bar is one of my favorite holiday traditions. I mean how fun is it to have this in your house all December????

Hot Cocoa  Bar
Speaking of the holidays. My most favorite tradition is our annual Gingerbread Party.

Sharing all the sweet details of that party was a favorite this year!
So why do I blog?? Well when I started it was kind of like an outlet to share a little bit about my life. I enjoyed sharing it, people seemed to respond to it, and I hope one day my kids will look back and get to see a peek at their childhood too. I have found connections with some amazing people through this blog... some that have come up to me and said "hey, your Genevieve from The Family Table. I love reading your blog!". I thought Ella was going to fall over when that happened to us at Panera one day. She was like "Mama. you are famous!". Well, not quite famous, but happy that I am sharing something that makes people want to follow along😊
Now onto a few more of my favorite posts from the last year!
I shared a post titled New Beginnings in May.

This was a therapeutic post to write, as I had unexpectedly lost my job and took on a view of the glass being half full and shared my thoughts.
I also loved sharing my story of Living My Best Life

. I have made my health and that of my family a priority and shared how I have done that. The best part of that post was having some amazing women read it, and join me to live their best lives too!
I have loved sharing recipes, vacation stories, shopping finds, and funny kid stories along the way. One of the funniest parts about blogging is I take all my own pics with a really high-tech setup....

Yep, that is my father-in-laws old ladder and I prop my phone up against the water bottle. I take approximately 700 pictures and I am sure my neighbors think I am nuts!

Thank you to all of you who have read, shared or commented on a post over the last two years. I have loved sharing our little piece of the world with you and I hope it has inspired you to smile, make something delicious or take an adventure somewhere. I cannot wait to see where this third year of blogging will take us!

Now for the fun part! I want to say thank you to my readers, so I am giving away a gift card to Target & Starbucks to one lucky reader! All you have to do is comment below on this post and follow us over on Instagram! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have the best weekend friends! See you on Monday, there is always room for one more at our family table.

xoxo

Genevieve