The day after celebrating Christmas we packed up and drove south.

It took us all morning to pack everything up into our travel trailer.

We added a couple Christmas decorations and were good to go. We made sure to bring clothes for lots of different weather, lots of books and yummy food. It’s so nice to travel with our bathroom with us so we don’t have to worry about finding rest areas or exposure.

We stopped in Pueblo, Colorado for a while to play. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed the break.

We had reservations at Storrie Lake State Park in New Mexico. We rolled into the entry parking lot around 7 pm to ding the gates locked and closed. We read the sign on the gate that the gates are closed in the winter at 5 pm! First big fail of our trip, we couldn’t find any information online saying that they closed early. Luckily the entry parking area was tucked back and flat so we just camped there for the night. It would have been nicer to camp in a spot by the lake but all we needed was a place to sleep. All things considered it worked out fine.

Christmas Cactus Trip Links:

Christmas Cactus – Day One

Christmas Cactus – Day Two – Santa Fe

Christmas Cactus – Day Three – Petrified Forest National Park

Christmas Cactus – Day Four – Sedona

Christmas Cactus – Day Five – Quartzsite -> Anaheim

Christmas Cactus – Day Six – Christmas Eve in Disneyland

Christmas Cactus – Day Seven – Christmas Day in Disney’s California Adventure

Christmas Cactus – Day Eight – Anaheim -> Joshua Tree

Christmas Cactus – Day Nine – Joshua Tree National Park

Christmas Cactus – Day Ten – Sonoran Desert National Monument

Christmas Cactus – Day Eleven – Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Christmas Cactus – Day Twelve – Saguaro National Park

Christmas Cactus – Day Thirteen – Tucson -> Albuquerque + New Years Eve

Christmas Cactus – Day Fourteen – Albuquerque

Christmas Cactus – Day Fifteen – Home!

We are in full on Christmas prep (we are celebrating on the 18th) and trip prep. I am so excited for all of it but we have a lot of work ahead of us in the next couple days.

We have been planning this trip since July!

We have 14 days, a tiny trailer and plans to visit:

Anyone have must visit places in Arizona? We know that the Grand Canyon is missing from our list but we want to make that it’s own trip and spend more time there.

This week we have really started planning our trip for Winter Break, Christmas in July may seem crazy but things will fill up and we need to make plans and reservations now!

This trip was inspired by a friend who took a trip they called “Operation Christmas Cactus” last year when they couldn’t see their family for Christmas because of Corona Virus . Their trip looked so amazing I knew we wanted to do something similar. Cory’s company shuts down the week between Christmas and New Year. We always feel like we “waste” that time off so this year we want to take advantage and go on a big adventure by adding 4 more vacation days.

*Source for all photos plus great resources for an Arizona road trip.

Our trip will also take a little diversion into California for Joshua Tree and Disneyland. I have always wanted to see Disneyland decorated for the holidays and we are going to be just a couple hours away, so a couple days at the happiest place on earth, including Christmas day!!!

I am SO SO excited to plan all the details and visit these amazing places!

Destinations we are planning on visiting:

Has anyone been on a southwest road trip? What are we missing?

I have been dealing with a pretty significant knee injury since July 2020. I would rest my knee, it would get somewhat better, I would jump back into running, it would hurt, I would have to step back then start again. It got REALLY bad when we went on our Christmas Cactus trip where I could barely walk and daily tasks were hard. It is time to really take this seriously and go see the professionals.

I saw an orthopedic Surgeon to see what kind of damage we were dealing with at CUs Sports Medicine facility. Being back on campus made me miss the days I was there everyday for work. It is really beautiful there.

I got X-Rays and met with the doctor. There was nothing concerning to see on the x-ray so we decided to follow up with an MRI to really see what we are dealing with in there. I had to leave, wait for them to check in with my insurance.

I went home to play with the kiddos, it was cold but we still love a park visit.

Always outside as much as we can!

We have a lot of snow coming for us so we will play outside while we can, snow is fun but not at -6 degrees.

In the afternoon I was back at CU to get my MRI done, this was my first time so it was definitely an experience. I have a little claustrophobia so I was concerned, luckily I went in feet first and my head was outside the machine.

I am not sure I could handle a head in MRI, hopefully I won’t need one!

I was happy to get home and cuddle the babes. I am really hoping that I can heal up enough to walk around Mexico without pain and hike lots of miles over the summer.

What a year 2021 was…. So many good things and so much worry and disappointment. Just like in 2020 the best times were when we are together and I love that the most.

January was quiet and cold but we still had some fun. Cannon spent most of the month doing online school but got to return in person at the end of the month. A highlight of the month was visiting the ice castles, I am so bummed they aren’t open this year.

February was looking up we got to go camping and enjoy Colorado Springs. We visited some new to us places in Colorado. We also started our adventure Wednesdays. Cannon had Wednesdays off of school so we made it our mission to go do something exciting like going to a new playground further from home or a hike.

March was one of my favorite months! We started adding some favorites back into our life like swimming at our local pool. We also got to go camping in Canyon City and it was so pretty. We celebrated St. Patricks Day and one year since we started this pandemic. We had the most fun on our spring break trip to Southern Utah, such a beautiful part of the world and lots of nights in the camper. We all loved it.

April was amazing because the weather started to warm up and we got to celebrate Easter with family.

We also got to celebrate Emerald turning three by taking a trip to Dinosaur Colorado and Rifle falls. We also made a special trip to the aquarium and had a small family party.

Cannon played another season of soccer.

We got to camp a lot in May including camping with friends and a trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Cannon finished his second year of preschool and we celebrated with an amazing trip to Ouray, Silverton and Telluride. This trip really was a dream and an amazing way to kick off summer!

In June we went to Steamboat Springs, visited the pool a lot and celebrated Cannon turning 5!

We celebrated the 4th of July in Aspen, this was another amazing trip! The Maroon Bells are truly stunning.

We also got to camp amongst some Mountain Goats near Breckenridge.

In August we made a quick camping trip up to Leadville and went hiking in Frisco.

Much too quickly it was time to get ready to go back to school. I will readily admit that I don’t love my kids being away at school but I do see how much they love it and grow. Summer for these years I have them will forever be my favorite.

Over Labor Day we took a long weekend to explore Gunnison, Crested Butte and The Black Canyon on the Gunnison National Park. This was another surprisingly awesome trip. I think this campsite was one of Cannon’s favorites!

We squeezed in another camping trip to Twin Lakes and Aspen in mid September so we could enjoy the fall colors.

A big highlight of the year was our big trip to Disneyland to kick off Halloween time and celebrate my birthday.

Cannon played his third season of soccer and Emmy got to play in her first season. Emmy was a little timid at first and wanted Cory out on the field with her but by the end she had made some friends and was excited to play.

We had so much fun celebrating and dressing up for Halloween.

We got to enjoy a very dry fall, lots of time outside and a trip to a ghost town in the mountains.

Christmas was so amazing we got to do so much more than we were able to in 2020. This year we celebrated early on December 18th so we could go out of town on our last big adventure of the year.

Our Christmas Cactus trip exploring New Mexico, Arizona and California was the best way to finish off an amazing year.

Looking back I can’t believe we were so lucky to have such amazing adventures together. While there have been stressful times and lots of things missed out on because of COVID, we were together and we made the best of it.

I am just so grateful. I am not sure we can top it in 2022 but we are going to try, and probably get back on a plane for the first time since 2019 🙂

2019 babies, the last time we were on a plane flying home from Germany.

The last month of the year is here and I am so excited for all the magic!

Things I am most looking forward to this month:

• Everything Christmas obviously
• Our big Christmas Cactus trip
• All the fun baking
• Having Cannon off of school, he gets lots of time off and we love more time with him!
• Disneyland at Christmas time

My goals for December are to:

• Enjoy time with family
• Get my long run up to 6 miles
• Make our Elves of the Shelf as much fun as possible
• Take time, slow down and enjoy this time.

November was…..fine. It felt a little like the in between of a magical October and a hopefully even more magical December. Cannon was out of school for 18 days so we did a lot of homeschool. The Covid exposure was stressful but we did get to spend a lot of time outside given our very dry warm fall. In happy news Cannon got his first dose of the vaccine and we got to celebrate Thanksgiving together with my parents and brother.

We met our goals of 1000 hours outside for the year and 52 hikes in November but we will still spend as much time as possible outside this month.