Blog

6 min read

Life lately & the advent season

I have a post mostly typed up about all our preparations for the new baby's arrival, and I should publish that soon. But apart from specific labor- and birth- preparations, life has been rather full lately! Here are some things we've been up to...

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4 min read

Minnesota in the fall

In late October, we headed up north to visit my family in Minnesota. We hadn't been up to my original home state since Finn was a baby(!) and since we are going to have a newborn around here in a few weeks' time, we wanted to squeeze in a visit...

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5 min read

Our first family camping trip

In mid-September, we went on our very first overnight camping trip at a campground! I wrote this post back in July about our little backyard campout, which was a soft introduction to camping with our little boys. Come September and slightly cooler...

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3 min read

A family visit and grieving together

A few weeks ago, my family drove down from Minnesota. We were overdue for a visit together, but they also traveled down with the aim of us attending a family friend's funeral in Ohio together.

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3 min read

A whirlwind day trip and a concert

I mentioned it briefly in my last post, but several days ago, I took a (long) day trip down to the Indianapolis area for a concert with my sister-in-law, Katelyn.

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4 min read

A weekend at Wilderlove Farm

Last month, we finally made the trip down to the Bloomington area in Southern Indiana to visit our friends Maeve and Kyle, on their farm! Maeve has visited us a few times, but this was our first time to Bloomington to see their home and their farm,...

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7 min read

A spring visit to Texas

Seeing as we moved back to the midwest when I was entering my third trimester of pregnancy with Cooper – and we haven't visited since – a trip to Texas was overdue! We booked flights and arranged days to meet up with friends and got ready to show...

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2 min read

Gathering and remembering in Ohio

As I mentioned in this recent post, sorrow and joy often intermingle. While my family was visiting recently, we got the news that Nicholas' grandpa passed away.

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12 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...

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3 min read

A summer weekend in Ohio & a visit with friends

A few weeks ago, we drove out to visit some of Nicholas' family in Ohio. It was our first "long" car ride with both boys, and the drive out was admittedly very long, especially with an infant who loathes the carseat. Nonetheless, it was very...

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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...

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16 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...

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6 min read

An early Christmas weekend up north

The weekend before Christmas, we packed up our truck with warm clothes and Christmas gifts, plenty of snacks for the drive, and a loaf of sourdough bread, and drove north to see my family in the Twin Cities. It had been over a year since we spent...

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3 min read

A first hike

Several weeks ago, Nicholas took some time off of work, and our little family planned a few semi-local adventures. One was our day trip up to Michigan, and another was a first "real" hiking experience for Cooper at Starved Rock State Park. My SIL,...

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3 min read

An outing to the Michigan coast

Last week, Nicholas took some time off of work and our little family of three planned a few outings as a means of a (nearly) staycation. On one day, we planned a trip to a lakeside town, just shy of 1.5 hours north of us.

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4 min read

A long weekend in Michigan

A couple weekends ago, Nicholas, Cooper and I, along with my in-laws, drove north a few hours to a small town on the coast of Lake Michigan. It was a restful little getaway.

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13 min read

2020: A year in review

Now that we're well into January, I'm sitting down to write and glance back at the last year. I'm not much of a resolution-maker (not fundamentally opposed, just not for me), but I do find it's healthiest for my heart and mind to reflect and then...

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6 min read

Mini mid-week getaway to Michigan

We're back from a little vacation to Michigan, just a few hours north of us. We enjoy travel, but in recent years, haven't done much (with a baby, a cross-country move, other personal things, and then recent events, of course). But we decided...

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15 min read

2019: A year in review

Every year, I find it a bit therapeutic to look back on the last year. I know my heart is bent toward nostalgia, and at times, I wonder if that is one of the reasons I find looking back easier than looking forward. That's something for me to mull...

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6 min read

A fall visit to Minnesota

Last weekend, we drove north to Minnesota to visit my family for a long weekend. It was our first long car ride with Cooper, which had its ups and downs, so to speak, but I'm so glad we were able to visit.

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6 min read

Celebrating baby DeVries in Minnesota

This past weekend, Nicholas and I took a whirlwind trip to my hometown in Minnesota to see family and have my third and final baby shower. Friday, I drove to pick up Nicholas from his workplace downtown Chicago, and then we hopped on the road...

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7 min read

A trip to the mountains

On Friday, we got home (to our new home) from a trip to the Asheville area of North Carolina. We planned this trip back in January or February, before we had even a thought of a new job for Nicholas, and a cross-country move, and other big life...

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6 min read

Goodbye, Austin (life lately, pre-move and the move itself)

Well, hello there!

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11 min read

2018: A year in review

Every January, when many are looking forward to the next year, I like to take a few moments to look back. I dig into what the previous year meant for me personally and what it meant for me and Nicholas in the context our our family and community....

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7 min read

An early Christmas in Indiana

Merry Christmas Eve, friends!

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