It has been 3yrs since I last posted.

Life got busy and something needed to be dropped.

Then life got very very hard and I was just fighting to keep above the waves.

But today I was looking for a place we had gone on my blog and realized how many things I had written down about our lives that I had totally forgotten.

So I want to document what good things happened in ours lives in the last three years.

I need the reminder.

So to start here is the moments I want to hold tight to in 2023.

We went to a local BBQ festival and it ended up being so fun and Nick and the big kids got to eat until they couldn’t possibly eat any more! HA

We went on the most beautiful trip to Minnesota and Indiana. So much bike riding.

The girls and I did a long bike ride through Itasca State Park and it will be a core memory for my life. They did amazing.

We got to do the Steam Threshers Reunion in MN and it is such an epic event!

We went up to Voyagers.

Am I crying looking at these?

Yes.

I had no clue this would be our last big trip for a long time.

We would go on a small camping trip in November but this was it.

I thought this was the beginning of our future of travel.

But life changes plans.

Jay Cooke State Park was beautiful.

Split Lighthouse on Lake Superior.

Maquoketa Caves State Park in Iowa was like stepping back in time.

Caden and I went to explore just the two of us later in the day and he explored the caves to his hearts content.

Man alive, I wish I had known then that it might be his last big adventure with me.

He is 18 now and talking about college and moving and just, life.

We stayed at state parks in Indiana during the week then stayed with my parents over the weekend.

First up was Turkey Run State Park and so much bike riding.

We paddled part of the park and it is so much more work when you do it yourself vs. paying someone.

But it was an experiance!

Our youngest was obsessed the whole trip with finding edible berries.

Mill Creek State Park

We went up to visit my sister and do the giant historic event held in her town. It was so big we could have done multiple days there.

I think this was the last time I saw her. It’s been so long.

On the way back to Oklahoma we stopped at the George Washington Carver National Monument.

I went zipling for my 40th birthday with friends and it was so amazing!

In November we camped in Arkansas near Mt Magazine and I did a hike I had been wanting to do that goes from Mt Magazine to the campsite.

The twins even did some with me!

I believe they did 8.2 miles with me and I had 4 left to cove lake.

This was our last trip we took.

We haven’t gone anywhere outside of Oklahoma since.

We have tried to have small adventures still though and I will be working on a post of those for the next year.

Because I really need to concentrate on the good.