Outdoors

Life lately, early September 2023

Today, the air felt different. Cooler and more crisp. Filled with anitcipation. The last several weeks since my last "life lately" post, have been filled with a lot of summery fun and they've felt full. I might be getting ahead of myself, since it was in the upper eighties this past weekend, but decidedly, I love the shift that comes with slightly cooler weather. Nevertheless, here are some things we've been up to in recent weeks:

•4 min read

Life lately, late July 2023

Looking back at my recent posts, I realized it has been a long time since I wrote a little post about "life lately." I've written about things in our life, yes, like Cooper turning four, a visit to our friends in Bloomington, a visit from my family, a trip to the beach and the one year anniversary of my mother-in-law's passing, recent knitting and other creative projects, and some updates about our garden this year. But I haven't written a post with the little mish-mash bits of life since early June. So here I am now, playing a little bit of catch up.

•7 min read

Life lately, early May 2023

It's been awhile since a "life lately" post where I write about all the little bits and pieces of our life. This spring has been a rather cold one, but just this past weekend, we are seeing much warmer temperatures and the weather seems to be catching up with the date on the calendar. As someone who enjoys the colder months, I will say that spring and summer feel a bit magical with kids, and logistically, lots of things just feel easier as the temperatures are more mild.

•3 min read

Spring joys

The transition of winter to spring feels more exciting to me with each passing year. Maybe it's the longer daylight hours, maybe it signifies entering a season of getting outside with more ease, maybe because all that's been tucked away for the winter is emerging, and growth is evident all around.

•3 min read

Winter adventuring

Starting sometime in the fall, I made a point to be a bit more creative and find new to us trails to hike on and explore. Since then, we have found several new favorites for when we are in the mood for a hike, regardless of the season.

•5 min read

2022: A year in review

Welcome to my annual post of our life in the last year – a review of all the big and little events, travels, habits, heartbreaks, and joys. These posts require a lot of time and energy, in part due to sifting through all the posts I wrote in the last year, but also because these posts spur me to reflect and sit with the previous year for a moment, before stepping into the next one.

•12 min read

More green than the sky: A July beach day

A few weeks ago, our little family of four made plans with my father- and sister-in-law for an early Saturday morning at the Lake. When we arrived in the eight o'clock hour, it was breezy, in the low seventies. At this particular beach and time of day, we had our pick of spots; only a few families were there before us. I chose a spot pretty close to the water and Coop dumped out his new beach toys out of his mesh bag and got busy building and digging. Soon enough, Nicholas, who had been parking the truck, and my SIL and FIL joined us.

•2 min read

In the garden, late June 2022

Here we are, on the very cusp of July, and I've neglected to share about our garden. Nicholas and I had a plot at a community garden when we were engaged back in 2013, but we haven't had a vegetable garden since—until this year, that is. I wanted to share a bit about our garden this year: what we're growing, how we're growing it, and how it's going so far.

•4 min read

Up north to the Tulip festival

If you missed my last post, I shared about the passing of my beautiful mother-in-law. I don't want to continue on in a "business as usual" style, nor do I want to neglect to share about joyful things in our life. Again and again, I'm learning that grief and joy coexist in this life. And what a grace that is! Grief can highlight the joy, make it more precious in my eyes. And so, I wanted to share about a little day trip I took with my SIL, Katelyn, Cooper, and Finn back in mid-May, since it was a good thing, a sweet day spent with some of my very favorite people.

•4 min read

An early May beach day

Several days ago, a friend texted a few of us, asking if we'd be up for a (Lake Michigan) beach day. The weather forecast showed warm—actually hot—temperatures and sun, and it was Nicholas' first day back in his office, so we said yes!

•2 min read

2021: A year in review

Every January, I assemble a blog post of sorts that catalogs our year. Largely organized in list-form, I touch on the big and little things, events and thoughts and experiences that shaped our life over the last year. I do find this incredibly helpful as a sort of reflection, a glance back on the Lord's faithfulness, to show me, time and time again, that He is a good God. And with that mindset, I feel less encumbered as we continue on into the new year, more ready to face a full year of new, fresh days, with the heart attitude that regardless of what the days will hold, mundane or exciting, difficult or good, I can walk into the future with hope and trust in Him. Plus, I do enjoy looking back on a lot of the little details of our life, the ones that make me smile or think, Oh, yes! We loved that! What a little joy in our life.

•16 min read

The worth of each day: Life lately, November 2021

Fall feels like a number of transitions, one right after the other. We are now bridging into late fall, with lots of frost in the mornings, first sightings of bare trees, and darker, cozier evenings at home. Of course, there is talk of Thanksgiving and Christmas on the horizon too, along with early preparations for those. I do tend to be swept by the momentum of this season, if I'm not careful. I'll admit that Christmas music accompanies us throughout the day sometimes, and I've already done most of our shopping, but I do want to be intentional to savor the almost-but-not-yet. To not wish away November and it's baring of trees in favor of the glow of Thanksgiving and Christmastime. There is great beauty and contentment in this month, as well. I don't want to miss it.

•5 min read
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