Happy New Year! 2023 has been another one of my absolute favorite years so far. It’s been filled with so many memories, so much joy, time together as a family, a bit of travel, lots of firsts and so many adventures.
2023 started out in the middle of ski season! We skied A LOT last winter – Ben had about 60 ski days and I achieved my goal of skiing 100 days.
Ben participated on the local Nordic ski team for the second year and absolutely loved it. He competed in a few races, too.
Hannah started ballet last January and has fallen absolutely in love with it! She performed in a spring recital and just recently was a gingerbread in The Nutcracker.
Ben was overjoyed to finally lose his first tooth last winter!
At some point in the early spring work *finally* wrapped up on building our garage and guesthouse. It was well worth the wait! The space is gorgeous, so filled with light and it’s so calming being there. We are so delighted with how it turned out.
Spring arrived, and with it, mountain biking season and running season. We were eager to embrace both sports.
Ben got back into soccer last spring, as well.
It felt like an extra special spring for wildflowers – we had some epic flower-finding adventures.
We celebrated Ben’s seventh birthday with a party at the local pump track.
Ben graduated from Kindergarten this spring!
Our big family trip of the summer was a road trip down the Oregon coast to Redwoods National Park in California.
Most of our summer was spent at the pool. The kids flourished in the water. Their swimming skills took off with leaps and bounds.
Our family garden was a tremendous source of joy this summer and fall. The strawberries and tomatoes were in abundance and we all took pride in cultivating and harvesting from our very own garden.
We celebrated Hannah’s fifth birthday with a party at the local pool.
Alex and I spent the whole summer training to run The Enchantments, which is 20-miles + 5500 feet of elevation gain. Alex joined the “old man running group” – a group of mostly old men who like to run up mountains together on Sunday mornings. I, on the other hand, took a very different approach to training. Nevertheless, we achieved our goal of running The Enchantments and did so on the hottest day of the summer! It was incredible and absolutely grueling.
At the very end of the summer, Hannah broke her leg. She started school at her outdoor school in a cast, hardly able to walk. By the time her cast came off, she was trail running in it.
Fall in the mountains was incredible this year – the colors were absolutely spectacular and seemed to last for weeks.
Ben bumped up in to the traveling soccer age bracket this fall. He got very into it and really enjoyed the sport.
I read a lot of books this year. A few of my favorites include: “Lessons in Chemistry,” “The House of Eve,” “Lykke” {a Danish book about the secrets of the world’s happiest people} and the life-changing book “Slow: Simple Living in a Frantic World.”
Our transition to winter was slower than we had hoped, but we were grateful for two big snowstorms to get us on our way to ski season.
The holidays were filled with joy, cookies, waking up early to find Elfie, delight, crafts, lots of hot cocoa, family time, stories by the fire, skiing and relaxing.
From our family to yours, we wish you a Happy New Year – one filled with joy, adventure and good health. And snow!
