Celebrating Lucky 13

Jason and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on Tuesday. The weather was supposed to be nice so Jason got approved to take a vacation day. We spent the day together as a family, enjoying the wonderful warmth at the lake with our canoe, followed by a backyard bbq and black forest cake. A perfect way to celebrate!

A delicious end to a great day! And Jason even found some "Lucky 13" ale to go with our meal. 

Living in the SAME home for over two years!

This is a big first for us. As of March 30th we officially passed our two year mark of living in our current home. This is the longest either of us have lived in any one home since we met in Peace Corps, nearly 14 years ago. Woohoo -- this also means we haven't had to pack & move in over two years which feels pretty fabulous!

The thrill of a new place with new adventures still has a very strong pull on both of us, but we feel incredibly grateful to be here right now. We know that we are just so fortunate to have a home at all and are super thankful.

In the meantime, we had fun looking back at the many homes we've gotten to live in --

Our first home together!

Carrie's Tongan residences ... 

Where it all started -- Nuku'alofa, Tonga!

Putting an end winter {I hope!}

With it being MAY I'm hoping that we have reached the end of our winter season. With the first measureable snow of the season hitting us in early October and our most recent in mid-April, I am very, very much ready for this SIX month season to just move along.

To be fair, we've had some had some truly wonderful, warm days lately which has been a-mazing! Annoyingly enough though, I feel like with each warm day my tolerance for the cold ones gets weaker and weaker...

Last week, we got to enjoy our first fire in our backyard fire ring complete with hot dogs and s'mores and this past Sunday, we went for a hike in the hills on a trail completely clear of snow! Quite exciting!

Winter fun on ice at Sheridan Lake

Hiking to the Stratobowl -- a warmer day, but still with plenty of snow on the ground

Spending Leap Day at the "Outhouse Races" in Nemo, SD

Celebrating World Wildlife Day at Custer State Park

Pactola Reservoir ... another "warm" spring day with plenty of ice still on the water

Waiting for our very FIRST flower of the season to open up -- on March 31st :)

Luke turns 7 on April 2nd and he gets 8 inches of snow as a present

Celebrating new life on Easter Sunday, and enjoying another 6 inches of snow. 

Catching what we hope are the last snow flakes for the season

Thrilled to get to have our first fire of the season in our backyard firepit.
Complete with hot dogs and s'mores!

First rainbow of this year, with many more to come; and finally getting some flowers in the garden!

Hiking at Deefield Trail #40 ... a beautiful day!