Justin’s grandma, Barbara La Vigne, passed away this past week and I’d love to pay my respects to her by writing a little bit about our time on Earth with her! As soon as I met Grandma La Vigne and learned that she loved chocolate as much as I did, I knew that I would…
Guest post by Justin! Most of you know by now that I came off of Denali, what was supposed to be a 25-day expedition. I’ve spent months prepping my gear, my mind and my body. I thought I was ready. But it turns out I was not. I want to be super human, I want…
Well folks, you can stop worrying, because Justin is off the mountain. He is not hurt or ill. He just did not feel it at all this time and decided to end his climb. My dad had this saying and it has always been a favorite takeaway for Justin and I. Justin really dug deep…
My dad passed away on Feb. 24. It was expected. He had been ill with a laundry list of medical conditions for years and in and out of the hospital often. But on November 15, 2018, he went into the hospital and never came home. He had been moved into a subacute facility, but was…
Happy New Year everyone! We are definitely ready for 2019. 2018 was such a mixed bag for us, although, in the end, we wouldn’t trade the year and experiences for anything!! Here’s our “best of” list for 2018. Biggest Risk Leaving our role as property caretakers and environmental educators at Fenton Ranch in New Mexico…
In 2016, Justin wrote extensively about Crohn’s disease, a disease he had since his teens (see links below for full stories). It’s truly a hidden disease. Justin lives with a broken body. However, he doesn’t like to let the disease rule his life. Few people would ever know he has it and that’s why I…
***I just came out of the Alaska backcountry, celebrating my birthday with Justin and some grizzly bears in Katmai National Park. I cannot wait to tell you about that trip and show you pictures, because it truly was the trip of a lifetime. But right now, I wanted to share some thoughts as I turned…
2 years. It’s the longest we’ve spent in one place since we embarked on our life less ordinary in 2011. So basically an eternity. New Mexico–the 15th state we’ve collectively lived in–unexpectedly stole our hearts. To get even more poetic and cheesy, we were mesmerized by the spell cast by the land of enchantment. Justin…
Obviously, I’ve been procrastinating on blogging about any progress with my Te Araroa book. I sat down to write this post a dozen times, but I just didn’t feel like I had much to share. Actually, if you’d like to fast forward through my babbling, here’s the punchline: I’m not much further along in the…
Today is our 11th anniversary!! Man, 11 years sure flew by. When I was sifting through our storage unit this summer, I came across our “Wishing You …” bowl. It was set up at our reception and asked guests to share their best marriage advice. We recently sold that bowl, but kept the cards with…
I turned 39 today at 3:37am EST. And while I truly stand by the fact that age is just a number, I have a hard time believing this will be my last year in my 30s! Birthdays are one of those days I’d rather just ignore and treat as another day, but that does not…
This is the third in a 3-part series chronicling Justin’s journey with Crohn’s disease so far. The story gets personal, and may be TMI for some people. Be warned. The first post was focused on J’s history of Crohn’s from his perspective and the second post was about his Oct. 18 surgery and the 10 days in…
This is the second in a 3-part series chronicling Justin’s journey with Crohn’s disease so far. The story gets personal, and may be TMI for some people. Be warned. The first post was focused on J’s history of Crohn’s from his perspective. This second post is about J’s Oct. 18 surgery and the 10 days…
This post will finally bring our blog reader up to date on Justin’s health and recent events. Justin actually tries to stay very private, despite the fact we have a public blog! With a little prodding, I told him he had to share his story. It gets personal and may be TMI for some people.…
I’ve been reading a few blog posts about people reflecting about their former selves and how we change (or don’t change). While there is no monumental birthday to prompt this, I thought I would reflect on myself! Let’s go back to age 24 (I am now 38). I always say age 24 was pretty awesome.…
For someone who is a writer, I can’t seem to find the words to describe our love, a love that officially turns 10 years old today. To put it simply, this I can say. We are the definition of soulmates, and we bring out the best version of each other. Happy 10th wedding anniversary to…
My month-long writer residency at Elsewhere Studios wrapped up what seems to be ages ago (May 30) and once again I thought I’d give you a long overdue post with some quick and dirty stats. While my book is currently collecting dust, I made major progress during my “artist in residence” program at at Elsewhere…
This is a guest post written by Justin (okay, it was edited by Patrice)! It’s been about two weeks since my 23-day adventure on North America’s highest peak concluded. I think Patrice did a wonderful job piecing together bits of information to keep you all informed on my team’s progress on the mountain, but I…
Well, being I won’t have much of an update about Justin while they hunker down waiting out weather at Camp 3 (14,200 feet) this week, I thought it was time to let you know what I’ve been up to! Since May 5, I have been “hunkered down” in Paonia, CO, where I have been living…
We have wrapped up our spring season at Fenton Ranch! Though we’ve only been here 6 weeks, it feels like much longer. Some of the days were unending–like the day we had a group of overnight 3rd graders leave at 11:30am, but the next group of 1st graders arrived early at 11am. Go, go, go.…