Virtual Christmas Card 2020

We are back with our annual, virtual Christmas Card! Maybe some day we will actually send regular Christmas cards, but for now this is a way for us to share our year in a lot of detail. 

First, I will fill in the second half of our year and then I will do a 2020 wrap-up. We finished the summer out with five more 14ers/camping trips, including Mt Bierstadt, Mt Elbert, Mt Oxford/Mt Belford, and Mt Sherman! Of those, my favorite was definitely Mt Oxford/Mt Belford. It was a double summit, meaning both peaks are above 14,000 ft and we did them in one day. We were both dragging our feet by the end of this hike, but the views and feelings of accomplishment were definitely worth it! We also made a trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in July! We camped right inside the park and did a couple of different hikes. Even though the hiking on the dunes was a lot shorter distance than we normally do, hiking in sand is no joke! 

Starting out on Bierstadt

Partway up Bierstadt

And we made it!

The Great Sand Dunes

The Great Sand Dunes from a distance!

Do I look so Colorado yet??

A little intimidated by how far away the peak looked!

In August my parents drove up to Frisco, CO where we were able to meet them to do a little bit of biking, shopping, and just spending time together. A quick trip, but it was great! 

Also in August we made a very quick trip to AZ to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary! We had a nice adults-only dinner which was a highlight of the trip. No pictures, whoops! I'm realizing we are pretty bad at taking photos of a lot of these fun memories. 

In September we went to our friends Emily and Chris' wedding and it was beautiful and so fun! She and Chris are amazing friends to us!

Mason, Mel, Emily, Chris, and us! 

We took a little hike to see Fall colors somewhere in there. Jeremiah loves fall colors! I mean I do too, but he like them with just a little bit extra awe. 

I ran a half marathon!! It has been a goal of mine for SO long. I have had injury stop me before, but I had no problems this time. I was just consistent all summer and it paid off! 

We were also able to host the Dwights in early October so of course we had to do a hike and still managed to get some fall colors even though it was nearing the end of the season. It was a quick visit, but always nice to have them in town.

Jeremiah is a big fan of pumpkin-carving around Halloween so we always make the time to pick out pumpkins and carve them up! I, on the other hand, did not grow up carving pumpkins and quite frankly it is hard work! So Jeremiah's designs always are much more thought out and detailed than mine, but hey it's a fun tradition either way. We also watched a semi-scary movie (more of a thriller, "Get Out" it was called and it was really good. Highly recommend it!) and ordered food in. Also on the actual night of Halloween we went to our friends' Mel and Mason's house and had a delicious fall-themed meal complete with soup served in acorn squashes and pumpkin cheesecake. Too bad I don't have a picture of the meal because it was beautiful too! 

In November we made the drive to Gunnison, CO (about 4 hrs away) to where my friend Stacey lives! She got a job there after we graduated so she made the move and we had been trying to make a trip out to see her for awhile. Luckily we made it before the Winter got too underway. We hiked, ate lots of good food, explored Crested Butte, and played games! Once again, it was a really quick trip, but it was so great to see her! I'm trying to get her back out here to Denver for the Super Bowl next, so we will see if the weather holds up for that! 

One of the most anticipated trips of the year going in to 2020 was our trip to Disney World with Jeremiah's family! It was our one trip that did not get cancelled when Covid hit, but we were still holding our breath until we were practically on the plane, knowing it could get cancelled at any time. But thankfully it did not and we travelled to Orlando and had an absolute blast!! This trip was in part a celebration of my graduation and it was fun, at every dinner we would cheers and Jeremiah's dad would say, "congratulations on graduating!" So it was a fun little reminder for 5 days straight of the celebration of my graduation! We arrived there before his family because coincidentally one of Jeremiah's friends from college was getting married in Orlando that week! And what do you know my sister Emily was also there that week to visit a friend! All perfect timing for us, so we met my sister for brunch, we went to our friend Ryan and Emily's wedding, and spent a couple of days in the park before his family arrived. The wedding was gorgeous and had really fun, Disney-theming to it. For example, our table was the "Toy Story" table and the background music during the ceremony was instrumental Disney music. We also were lucky enough to catch back up with the newlyweds in the Magic Kingdom park the following day to spend a little bit of time extra together! (And yes, I have mentioned three people named Emily just this post. We have sooo many people names Emily in our life). 

With Jeremiah's family we went to each park, one per day, ate soo much good food, rode everything we wanted to, explored Disney Springs a bit, and had great conversation! We were so glad this trip came together and actually happened! And we all stayed safe and healthy before, during and after so that is even better! 

Thanksgiving was very low-key for us this year. Having just gotten back from Disneyworld we were particularly cautious of being around others so we just had dinner the two of us. I worked a half day Thanksgiving morning while Jeremiah was busy baking bread for us. We decided that since it was just us two it would be a great opportunity to eat whatever we wanted, traditional or not! We went completely untraditional and did mac and cheese filled Sourdough bread bowls! Can you say carbs on carbs?? It was delicious and just really fun! We also FaceTimed both of our families, and watched a movie that night. 

I mean, does this not look better than turkey??

Then it was suddenly December! And the beginning of December is probably my favorite week of the year. It is my birthday and Beaver Creek trip! This was another trip we were holding our breath over waiting to see if it actually happened and were so thankful when it did! My family came in to town for the annual trip and we skied three days in a row, we played games, we talked, and all around just loved the family time together! Once again we were also grateful to have all remained healthy before and after! 

This was the easiest goodbye I have had in awhile too because just a couple of weeks later we flew home for Christmas. Last year we didn't get to go home for Christmas so we were both very excited to have a more traditional Christmas this year. Our trips to AZ always fly by because they are packed full of the best memories! Christmas Eve with Jeremiah's family, Christmas Day with mine, roller hockey, games, lunch with Tommy and Emily and seeing their new house in Scottsdale, and celebrating our nephew Preston's 4th birthday! We were very thankful it looked more or less normal for us. 

Mae enjoying some whipped cream!

New Years Eve was another quieter holiday than normal for us. You know, since we're usually such big partiers... We made steaks on a new grill I got Jeremiah for Christmas, we watched the new Disney movie "Soul," and talked all about the past year and the coming year. I love to ask those classic questions of favorite memory, biggest thing you learned, thing you're most looking forward to in the new year, etc. 

In between all of the fun we have managed to have in 2020 we have both been continuing on at our same jobs, Jeremiah at Stryker and me at the Center at Northridge. I have been learning a lot each day and getting better slowly but surely. I get to interact with a lot of really great people and help them get better, so that is pretty special! It is a challenging environment to start out in because of all of the Covid precautions. No family members allowed, no patients allowed outside of their rooms, etc. I have had dozens of Covid tests at this point and have been learning to get creative in the challenging environment. Jeremiah has continued the part time in the office and part time at home set-up which he enjoys the flexibility of but of course still misses some of the camaraderie of the normal office environment. Stryker does a good job of trying to do Zoom social hours, holiday parties, etc. so that is nice of them to make that effort! And really big news for Jeremiah's work. Drum roll please... He got rookie of the year!! And let me tell you, he earned that! He is an incredibly dedicated, hard worker. But I may be a little bit biased. He got 12 separate nominations and there were 46 eligible rookies for the award! Go Jeremiah!!

Other little things we have been able to do include a few dinners with our friends Scott and Liz, celebrating their daughter Claire's first birthday, and weekly Wednesday morning runs with Liz. We did a staycation for our 10th dating anniversary at The Crawford Hotel in Union Station. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, we had a tapas-style dinner, got breakfast in bed delivered to our room. It was extravagant for us so it was a fun way to celebrate! We were also able to see Jeremiah's cousin Carly and her boyfriend, Josh for dinner. They were in town for a trip up to Breckenridge but made a little time to see us! It had been since our wedding since we had seen Carly so we were so glad to finally see her again even if it was just a short time. We have made pizzas and had ramen with our friends Lexy and Jared, and Lexy and I have gone on hikes, walks, and bike rides. And besides that, we've done puzzles, read books, played games, watched football, watched the bachelorette, had more FaceTime dates with Tommy and Emily, Jeremiah has gone to a couple football watch parties at his boss’ house, we’ve gone on a winter hike, switched back to Zoom small group,  watched virtual church, tried cooking new meals, baked more bread, and much more! 

Little Man Ice Cream. What else??

Wandering around our beautiful city! 

My sweet friend Lexy brought Acai bowls after I had a very hard day at work.

Look at that beautiful sourdough! Jeremiah is mastering his techniques!

Jeremiah was in San Diego for Ryan's Bachelor party in September

A spontaneous Oktoberfest date in Boulder. I drank maybe 1/4 of that!

Inside Union Station for our staycation

We kicked off the year with a ski day in Copper Mtn. The first of 6 ski days we have planned this Winter. It was a beautiful, blue sky day and not too crowded! 

2020 was a much-anticipated year for us, with graduation, lots of trips, start of my career... Many of our plans were changed and cancelled, as everyone's were. But we both feel like we did a good job adapting.  We were able to still do many of the things we wanted to, we tried new things, we got creative. Obviously we can't deny it was a really hard year too. It was pretty hard entering into the workforce period, but in healthcare during a pandemic it added another layer of overwhelming! Especially when I have been used to the normalcy of school for my whole life! Then of course all of the chaos of the world that our eyes were opened to this year. We learned a lot. And are definitely still learning every day and wrestling with our own biases and opinions and questions! 

Entering into 2021 we have a lot fewer concrete plans then we did in 2020. Not many plans at this point at all really. We are just open and ready for whatever comes our way with work, family, friends, vacations... Sure we have hopes/tentative plans for what's to come, but if we learned anything in 2020 it's that you can never plan too much! 

We hope you all have a wonderful 2021 - whatever comes your way!