Picking cranberries and learning to fish

Morning by the fire and picking blueberries at Kusawa Lake, YT

Are we poor?

That’s something the girls asked us a few times when they were younger. In the eyes of little girls, poor meant something scary, the people we saw living on the streets, the possibility of not being able to have 3 meals a day or to fix the bus if it broke down somewhere - and be stuck.

Knitting in the Westy and harvesting grapes

We had our children young and we chose to do things differently because we wanted to be together, even if it meant that we both worked at a real job for only a year before becoming parents. Choosing for me to stay home with the girls also meant we accepted a big income drop.

Now, we’re 45 and empty-nesters.

A very cold night and a soak in the hot springs in Yellowstone.

We travelled with a full-sized piano, a guitar and a violon for a few years. And lots of bikes. Forever.

Sunset at camp - Gooseneck State Park, Utah

Today, as I am even more aware of how fleeting time with our children is, I have no regret about the choices we made, even if at times it meant a lot of financial stress.

Learning to mountain bike in Moab. No wonder they fell in love with the sport!

I am proud of our stubbornness to create a life we feel is worth living for.