Here’s to hoping that 2021 is a lot brighter than 2020. I still have hope for you 2021!
We had a hot party with just the four of us, complete with “midnight” countdown at 7pm.
There WAS champagne, yummy food and lots of love.
I hope your new year was safe, happy and hopeful!
More on 2021 goals, what content will be here and BIG 2021 planning.
Here is my big running goal for 2021:
Kidding…..kind of.
I ran across this article about writing goals for runners:
I love the ambitious part of the title. I am the firm believer that goals should stretch you and that you might not always meet all of them if you are dreaming big enough. I have been thinking a lot about my own 2021 goals and will put more effort into nailing them down in the next couple days.
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Are you making any big goals for 2021 or waiting to see how it shakes out?
Our 2020 top nine
Wow…….2020 was quite a year, nothing I expected as we rang it in, excited about a new decade and leaving behind magical 2019.
The year seemed to start out normal, we hosted a Noon Years Eve party for all of our friends who don’t stay up until midnight. It was amazing. I can’t imagine having thirty people in my house now.
We enjoyed the normal things like playing in the snow, going to birthday parties and going to gymnastics class.
While we had not yet been impacted by Covid-19 in mid January we got very sick and could not get well for many weeks.
It is unlikely that what we had was Covid-19 in January because there wasn’t many cases here then but it is possible, and I do wonder given how badly our lungs were impacted and how long we were sick.
We celebrated Valentines day and now it seems odd to be in someone else’s house.
We traveled to Dillion to see the ice castles, they were magical. It was very fun to share this trip with parents.
We decided to remodel our kitchen and spent time picking counters, back splash and cabinet color.
We signed Cannon up for his first season of soccer in the spring, we were very excited until quickly the world pandemic hit America. I mid March we were told that Cannon would have an extended spring break for two weeks. Those two weeks turned into the rest of the school year spent at home.
Cory also started working from home in March, he could do everything virtually so the only thing that changed was him now working from our home office. We really enjoyed having him home for lunches and seeing him more. My job was already online so noting changed other than having to share my office.
We spent a lot of time walking outside since there was literally nowhere to go and the playgrounds were closed. It was not an easy time. With two little kids who didn’t understand why they couldn’t see their friends or stop and play at the playgrounds like they were used to. We had fun most days but also missed our normal life.
We spent Easter without our family but still had so much fun hunting for eggs.
Emmy turned two and we celebrated her the best we could. She didn’t get a party but she did get to see her grandparents over the fence.
We stayed home some more and enjoyed some spring snow.
When May came so did the sunny weather. We spent most of our time in the backyard. We missed our people but things were looking up.
Then we struggled when our precious little Humphry got very sick and we came very close to losing him. We were lucky that he was able to come home to us.
We got to celebrate Cannon’s last day of pre-school. It wasn’t the way we wanted him to get to end his first year of school but we were safe and healthy.
Things started to open up when June rolled around so we spent as much time as possible enjoying the mountains.
Cannon turned four and we were very excited to have a little party for him. We had Cory’s cousins over with their kids and I have never seen Cannon happier. He was in his element playing with his people.
Things continued to improve for us when playgrounds opened back up. I will definitely miss these days of always looking for playgrounds when these kids grow out of them!
As summer arrived things got even better for us, our neighborhood pool opened up with very small capacity. We had to make reservations and could only go once a week at the most, but we took what we could get!
We also started to see my parents again, we all missed each other so much and got to celebrate Father’s Day together.
We played in the backyard almost everyday and really learned to be thankful for what we had.
We also camped a lot! Cory and I have always loved camping and have been wanting to go more but Emmy didn’t like sleeping in a tent when she was little. We invested in a pop-up camper and that really solved the sleeping problem for her.
We continued to visit as many playgrounds as possible.
As August approached we found out that Cannon would be able to attend school half-time (two days a week). We sent him back to school very unsure about our decision to send him but he took it like a champ and didn’t mind wearing a mask at all. Emmy didn’t like at all that she didn’t get to play with the other kids at drop-off and pick-up.
We did virtual school on the days that Cannon wasn’t at school.
Cannon also got to play his first season of soccer. We decided that an outdoor activity would be safe enough.
We spent a day enjoying Vail in the early fall. This is one of my favorite places!
We were meant to take a big camping trip to California but the west was dealing with devastating wild fires. Our reservations at Lake Tahoe were cancelled so we changed directions and went up to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.
It was so incredibly beautiful in the Tetons, I really want to go back next year to camp and explore more! My parents and brother rented an RV and came with us. It was SO nice to just get out away from the house as well.
Yellowstone was breathtaking, it was so incredible to see. The kids loved it and dealt with all the time in the car like champs.
When we got home from Yellowstone we did all the fall things including a socially distant Halloween.
In November Cannon’s school was shut down due to rapidly increasing cases of Covid. We spent some of the month in quarantine because Cannon was exposed to someone that tested positive at school. It was stressful waiting for our Covid test results but they came back negative. We did school online, played, wore masks, cuddled and made the most of it. We also spent Thanksgiving just the four of us. We missed our family wanted to keep everyone safe.
December was much quieter then we are used to, there weren’t any Christmas parties or concerts to attend. We were lucky with the weather so we hiked and played a lot. We enjoyed a back yard Christmas celebration with my family.
My running was nothing to talk about this year, sporadic at best. I was hopeful to at least do something self supported but a knee injury in July that is still bothering me ruined any chance of that. No races and no real virtual events. Just lots of time on the treadmill and sometime running on my own near my house.
2020 was nothing that we expected, lots to be disappointed about but also lots to be thankful for. If anything this year has brought us closer as a family, helped teach us to lean on just each-other and count our blessings often. We are lucky to still have our jobs and our health.
We miss life the way it was but are looking forward to 2021 with anticipation and hope.
It’s that part of the year where it’s hard to tell what day it is and what we should all be doing. Cory’s company shuts down this week so he isn’t working and we have nowhere to go so it’s a little stay-cation for us. We plan to try to get some projects done and sprinkle some adventures in as well.
This weekend we played with our new Christmas toys.
The kids enjoyed their “skateboards” from Santa. Please don’t tell them they are actually scooters.
naps were had (not by mom, obviously #momlife)
We made our way up to Estes Park for some mountain time. It is good for our souls.
Both Emmy and Cannon are becoming awesome little trail runners.
It was chilly and a snow storm was rolling in but we had the best time!
On our way back down we saw a herd of Elk was hanging out in a golf course. Emmy had already fallen asleep in the car but Cannon got to get out and take a closer (but still safe) look.
It reminded me of all the amazing animals we got to see in Yellowstone this fall.
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What is life like for you during these last few days of the year?
For what it could be we had a lovely little Christmas. We wanted to be mindful of Covid-19 especially with my parents who are higher risk.
Even without all of our traditional activities the kids kept us smiling and seeing the magic of the season.
They really seemed to “get” Santa this year and loved following our two “elf on the shelfs” around the house.
We wrapped way too many presents. We have been trying to buy the kids less at Christmas time because they can get overwhelmed but with Covid it was easy to just keep buying them things, online shopping in sweatpants instead of going to Christmas parties.
We went on our traditional Christmas Eve hike. Cannon has been asking a lot to go into the mountains so we made sure to find a place that felt like the mountains, without being too far from home.
Eldorado Canyon did not disappoint! We spent the rest of the day eating yummy foods and the kids got to open one gift.
We woke up to excited little kids on Christmas morning. They were ready to see if Santa had come. Cannon and Emmy were excited to see that the cookies and milk they left out were gone and presents were left.
We start by allowing them to open the gifts in their stockings then we eat breakfast.
We had our traditional Monkey Bread and scrambled eggs.
Then it was time to open gifts. At ages two and four the kids are more into playing with the toys as they open them rather than opening all the gifts so after a couple of hours we only had half the gifts open.
For lunch we went to my parents house. We were so lucky to have a nice warm sunny day. We had Christmas on their deck with more delicious food. In my immediate family we have four dogs so they were loving seeing each other and playing outside. My parents made it special by decorating and even made a cardboard sleigh for the kids to play in.
We really wanted to see my parents and my brother and felt that an outdoor gathering was the safest decision. Cory’s immediate family lives in the Northwest so we don’t normally see them anyway. We are long overdue for a visit but our summer plans to travel were cancelled this year (fingers crossed for summer 2021).
The rest of the day was spent playing with new toys and watching Soul on Disney+ (highly recommend).
While it was not the Christmas I thought we would have, it was still good. Full of joy and love.
I hope your day, whatever it looked like included love and joy.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! May you have a day full of joy.
We spent our day baking, wrapping, cleaning and playing!
Now we just wait for Santa to come, just two more sleeps!
Cory is now off until the new year and I am excited for some quality family time.
I hope you are enjoying these days before the holidays and getting some sleep! I remember my mom telling me about how she and my dad would stay up all night on Christmas Eve getting everything done for us.
Hello! I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday week no matter what you celebrate.
We are gearing up for Christmas so things are busy! I promised myself back in August that I would post everyday for the rest of the year to really document this time in our lives, and so far other than a few technical issues when a post went up a little late I have met that goal.
This week some posts, like this one, might be short as I focus on my family and celebrating the season. But the plan is to be here every day.
So Merry 2020 to you and yours from these cuties.
It’s officially baking week! I have handful of favorite holiday treats that I make every year to share with family and friends.
I thought I would share a few incase you are looking for some fun easy recipes to try:
Grinch Cookies:
https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/cran-pistachio-cookies/e36c24c7-851f-4785-8a9e-13672ef9d97c
These are so easy, delicious and unique. We call them grinch cookies because of their green color.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Fudge
https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/recipe/057411/creamy-marshmallow-peanut-butter-fudge
This fudge is so good and again easy to make! We also make our chocolate fudge using this recipe by subbing chocolate chips in and adding chopped walnuts.
Cranberry Orange Cake
I am not a hug fan of pie and right after thanksgiving I like something different. This cake is SO good! It’s unique and a very good replacement for pie.
Monkey Bread
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7110/quick-and-easy-monkey-bread/
These are our Christmas morning tradition. They have to sit overnight but are again easy and so good. Maybe not as pretty as cinnamon rolls but I think they taste better.
Peppermint Bark
I always make this peppermint bark for my family for their stockings.
Truffles
These are Cory’s favorites but I don’t always have time to make them so they are great valentines treats as well.
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What are some of your favorite treats?