A very merry, bright and happy holiday season to all of you! It has been super quiet on here lately because, to be honest, the final few months of this year have been the busiest of our lives. Selling a house, buying a house, having two small children and jobs has basically consumed all of our time. We are very happy to be spending some down time at the end of this year with Chris’s brother and his wife (visiting from Australia!), as well as with my sister and her husband and their baby. It’s a quieter holiday than we’re used to, and we are very happy about it! Before the clock strikes New Year, I wanted to take a second to round up a year that included our daughters’ first-ever international trips, my first-ever girlfriend getaway since having kids, Chris & my first-ever overnight trip away from the girls, my first-ever Mom-daughter trip with G, a lot of fun press trips, the happiest amount of trips back to New York, and a bunch of other fun mountain getaways sprinkled in, as well.
Hope you are all having fabulous, relaxing holidays with your loved ones – and cheers to a fabulous 2020!
January
The beginning of this year — which feels like decades ago — started out with our little family having the time of our lives visiting friends and family in Australia (here, here and here). We had about a week back in the states before Grace and I turned around and took our first-ever solo Mom-daughter trip out to New York for my sister’s baby shower. It truly was amazing to be able to start our year off in such a spectacular fashion …
February
In February we welcomed Auntie Kate into our home for a three-month visit, which included a trip out to Granby Ranch for some snowboarding, hikes in Golden and day dates in Evergreen.
March
March was a special month, when the whole family flew out to New York to meet baby Ro for the first time. We also said a sad farewell to Auntie Kate at the end of the month, but at least we sent her home in style.
April
We celebrated my birthday in April by driving up to the top of Pike’s Peak, which was my first-ever 14er experience. I closed out the month of April by meeting up with a girlfriend in Nashville for my first-ever girlfriends getaway since having babies.
May
My lovely husband surprised me for my birthday by getting me another solo trip in May — this time over Memorial Day weekend, and out to New York to visit my sister and new niece, all by myself <3
June
June was a very fun month when I flew out to Massanutten, Virginia for a press trip with my best friend from college. We even stopped by JMU for a quick tour before heading into the mountains.
July
July was an epic month for us, as well. A new gig as the Denver Ambassador for Happy Active Family kept me busy exploring our area with the girls (a taste of some of our outings can be found here, here, here, here, and here), and we all flew out to New York for the end of July/early August to celebrate Lotte’s birthday, take some family photos, visit New York City with the girls and attend my cousin’s wedding.
August
In August, The Source Hotel + Market Hall invited me out to stay at the hotel and attend the New Orleans-style Bacchanal celebration.
September
In September we took a Labor Day trip to Frisco that was glorious and gorgeous and wonderful, and exactly what our little family needed to prepare for the hectic and crazy fall season.
October
October became a super fun month when we hosted Nan and Poppa on their surprise trip from Australia, and then headed over to Colorado Springs for a long weekend while we sold our house back home.
November/December
November and December have been filled with prepping a house to move and moving into our new place. We celebrated a low-key Thanksgiving with friends in town, prepped the house to host Christmas, I flew to New York for a super-quick holiday visit with some family, we hosted MomMom & Papa and Grandpa Robert and celebrated G’s 2nd birthday, and we are now relaxing and enjoying the final few days of the year with Ben & Lauren, Steph & Brian & Rosalie.
Going back through our adventures from this past year I am reminded of how truly, truly lucky and blessed we are. There have been times throughout this year when I’ve felt stressed and overwhelmed. There have been times I’ve felt like I wasn’t doing enough — whether that was with the girls, in my marriage, traveling, in my career or on this blog. The truth is, though, it truly was a wonderful year, and it really is a wonderful life. Life is what you make of it, friends, and if you’re lucky enough to make a great one, enjoy every moment.
Bis bald, friends – and cheers to all the adventures that 2020 will bring!