This is a very different year for us than last year when we spent most every week/month traveling to new places.

We totally, totally loved hopping around from city to city last year, but it was hard to maintain consistency with athletics, activities, and music lessons, so we switched things up this year.

This winter, we decided to spend 6 months in Keystone, Colorado. We bought the Epic Pass so we could snowboard to our heart’s content at Breckenridge, Keystone, Vail, Beaver Creek, A Basin, among several others for the entire winter! All 3 kids joined a local snowboard team, Team Summit to learn park and jumps. And in the spring, they’ll get to play a spring sport – Isaac will play lacrosse, Gabe will play tennis and run track with the local middle school, and Jadyn will do gymnastics, soccer, and a little tennis.

All of that is awesome, but one of the coolest things has been having friends come visit us since they know where we are! It seems like every week there has been a new friend! Makayla and Jeremie, Jadyn’s soccer coach and teammate, my high-school chemistry teacher, the Haleys, the Deweys, the Christianos, Doug Laity, and next week the Dews, then the Brooks, the Crows, my parents, then who knows – you might be next!! 🙂

It has been so rich and sweet to have special friends here and share these mountain experiences together.  The kids learn how to be great hosts. They have to juggle more sometimes like schoolwork and chores, and have to give up a bed or a pillow every so often. They get to teach friends how to snowboard and even learn to cook for others. It’s been awesome!

I can’t tell you how many cool late-night conversations have taken place around our table. Don and I love to play, chill and laugh, but we also always like to get real and go deep. It’s great to have friends that like “going there” too.