day of love

Truthfully, it's not as though Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday or anything like that. In fact truthfully, it's rather stupid. I know that initially this sentimental holiday was established by lovers celebrating their love with flowers and greeting cards and all of those sappy cliches, but it's not the 14th century anymore you guys. Now days for Valentine's Day we celebrate love in all of its forms and not just the romantic kind, you know? We celebrate our love for our families and our furry friends and our real live human friends and our mountains and our passions in life and our red velvet cakes and our frosted sugar cookies and our chocolates. I mean, who needs an excuse to celebrate those things but also, why not?

Anyway. On Valentine's Day, me and my valentines, we packed our snow gear and headed for the hills to celebrate our love. We started in snowshoes and ended without, because it turns out that we didn't really need them. B started in his kelty kids and ended outside of it, because it turns out that he thinks he is much too big to sit in a kelty now that he is almost two. We made snow angels and dug for treasure beneath an X in the snow and we even found a solid igloo that we played in for a long while.

We ended watching Aladdin in the car while B napped, taking a long scenic drive, eating arby's beef and cheddar sandwiches and butterfinger bites for dessert. It was very low key and the perfect way to celebrate my favorite kind of love, which is: the ordinary kind of love.

My boys, my pup, and the mountains. I love my loves.

on the trails with the kelty + TGIF

Beck is at that age where in even a month's time he is changing and growing significantly. Because of it the boys are just starting to settle into this mutual age gap phenomenon where they will play with and entertain each other more and more. It's pretty much the one thing that will turn me into a sap the quickest, watching them together as brothers. Little things like when they sit at the table and put legos together, which is silly because Beck is only one so how did that happen? We are most definitely finding truth in the differences of a child when they have a big sibling to watch. Or then there is bath time, their favorite time of day, which is when they really party hard. I'm watching them turn into friends before my very eyes and it's drilling a nice little hole into my heart, a perfect tunnel that they fill with their metaphoric patching plaster in all of these moments of brotherhood.

(I'm ridiculous and someone should really ban me from making stupid metaphors anymore!)

Anyway. Beck. This age is a contradiction to me. It is sweet, sweet sugar jars of cuteness. It is chubby chipmunk cheeks that I gobble up for breakfast every morning. He is this delightful, adorable nutterbutter that we can't get enough of. While also, this age is insanely exhausting! Simple tasks like going to the store and grabbing a bite to eat turn into so much work that it's likely not even worth the task in the first place.

The other day I woke up with an itch for the trails while the hubs woke up with an itch for harvesting the garden, so we split ways and split kids. I packed up Beck and our favorite pup and we headed out for a good trail with some pretty views. If there is one task that I can handle, one place that I am okay with taking my active toddler, it's the mountains. Because of all the space, sure, and because he is happiest when he is outside, sure, but also because the kelty is heaven sent. Beck is really making a home in that kelty that he has already been in a hundred times since he was born. This go-around he found it a perfect perch for his morning nap, so he snored softly on my back while Rockie chased squirrels and birds, and I found intense peace and clarity and new resolve in my solidarity beneath the trees while pressing along on this beautiful trail.

^^ Can you even believe these views?  Fuhgeddaboudit!

But listen, since the B-ster was napping, I decided to hike much farther than I had originally anticipated and by the end my poor back gave me quite the lecture. Who do you think you are, Cheryl Strayed?!

So now, TGIF mah'friends! What are your plans this weekend? We are heading out of town and so looking forward to a weekend getaway.

Happy Friday! Get out there and get you some!


xoxo

finding new trails

monday morning we woke to the smell of wet earth after rain, the ground damp beneath our feet. massive clouds in all shades of whites and grays filled the sky, dipping down to the valley below the mountains like a soft slice of cream cheese spread thinly on a piece of toast. we decided that we had to chase those low clouds right that moment! so we packed up the car and the kids and took off to find a new trail.

with young kids, we know our fair share of trails. somedays hiking is our only option of an adventure because of our limitations with the boys, and so we tend to do a lot of hiking. we have our go-to trails and our occasionally-trails, but we are always looking for new places to set our feet.

on this particular morning as we chased the clouds, we drove for a good hour trying to find a trail head. we stopped by the camp of some hunters who were nice enough but who didn't know of any good trails. they knew where the good deer were and the good four wheeling spots! but hiking? sorry dudes. in the end it was a woman out trail running with her dogs who led us to the most gorgeous trail we could have asked for! (those trails runners, they know what is UP.)

this trail reminded me of the fire swamp in the princess bride. only, of course, without the rodents of unusual size THANK THE HEAVENS. i did wear some nice bright pink because hiking during hunting season always gives me a bit of a worry.

the weather was so perfect i really could have just died a happy woman. it was just the right amount of cold, where you bundle a bit and have a cup of hot something or other in your hand and you are GOLDEN, you know? the leaves were fallen on the ground all around us in buckets and buckets, just lying there to show off their brilliant colors and constantly crunching beneath our feet.

at one point dan started recording a video without our knowing it, and going back to watch the video later was a little ridiculous. it was so very typical of all of us: me talking about the new boots at h&m that i want to buy not one but TWO pairs of (one for hiking, the other for going around town!), jace singing inappropriate flo rida rap songs (double en-ten-dre! double up-on-ya!), beck happily bobbing up and down in his kelty like he hasn't a care in the world, and dan just laughing away to himself because he was sneakily catching us all on camera and he thought he was sooooo funny.

so then, let's get right to it shall we? here are a few pictures we snapped from our adventure at deep canyon on the wellsville mountains! (the perfect trail run! the next time i go there it will be with my running shoes and my strava, thankyouverymuch.)

such a lovely morning. touche, autumn! tou-freaking-che.

and now TGIF! what are your plans this weekend? we are carving our pumpkins tonight and it is ALL jace can talk about. ("i want mine to have eyes like this, and an upside down triangle nose, and a veryyyy scary mouth!") we are also getting ready for a good road trip next week and some one on one time with our first born! i'm so excited to get out and get some really good fall adventures in before winter hits.

happy happy weekend friends! get out there and get you some!


xoxo