2023: Our Year in Review (Part 2)

2023... what an amazing year! We experienced so many wonderful events and activities this year. This is Part 2 of our 2023 recap. If you missed Part 1, I think you should start there first.

Spending the summer back in Indiana with our families 🛫 🌽

This summer, we traveled back home to Indiana to spend some much needed time with our families. We were greeted with a wonderful get together at Keith's parents' pond. This was soon followed by an exciting day of horse racing at Belterra Park with Lindsey's dad. 🐴

We then headed out on what is planned to be our final Norris Lake boating trip with Lindsey's family. We truly enjoy this vacation every time we are able to attend. It's always great catching up with everyone and unwinding at the lake house. This year, Keith even decided to try to stay in shape by going on a few long, multi-mile walks and even running up and down the steps to the lake! 🥵 Who knows, maybe someday we will be able to go on this trip again. 🤞

Amazing fall colors 🍁 🥾

The fall colors in Utah were absolutely spectacular this year!!! 😍 Thanks to the record-breaking snowpack and an usually wet summer, the trees throughout the mountains had ample water to let their fall colors shine. We spent many fall days hiking and driving throughout the mountains to enjoy the natural beauty.

Total solar eclipse ☀️ 😎

We were finally able to experience a total annular solar eclipse this year! We tried to view an eclipse a few years ago but failed miserably due to Keith trying to make some homemade viewing glasses that didn't work very well. This year, we were technically just outside of the totality region but the show was still spectacular. We even had some fun casting "eclipse shadows" using various household objects.

Keith's midlife crisis: Training for the 2024 Tour Divide 🚵‍♂️ 🥵

As you are probably aware, Keith decided to take on one of the most challenging bikepacking races in the world next year; The 2024 Tour Divide. Keith spent a good chunk of this year preparing for the race. This included researching and purchasing lots of bikepacking equipment, converting his mountain bike to a bikepacking rig, going on countless long-distance training rides, and of course, creating lots of spreadsheets! 🤓

Keith traveled to New Orleans, LA for a work trip 👨‍💻 🥳

Keith's company hosted their annual engineering offsite for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the offsite was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. This offsite gave Keith the opportunity to actually meet his manager and most of his coworkers, in person, for the first time. The major highlight of the trip was the marching band parade leading over 200 members of his company to an exquisite dinner at Brennan's Restaurant.

Slow start to the 2023-2024 ski season 🙏 ❄️

Unfortunately, winter 2023 didn't start off very strong. I guess we really got spoiled by the record breaking 900+ inches (2,286 centimeters) of snow that we received last season. Even so, we still had some fun attending a Snowbird passholder event, enjoying our free nights at the Cliff Lodge including the Thanksgiving Buffet, and skiing what limited terrain was open.

Celebrating the Christmas season 🎄 🎅

This was definitely the year of Christmas activities! 🎅 We made it a point to try to find at least one unique Christmas activity/event to attend each week during the holiday season. We viewed many beautiful holiday displays, watched some classic Christmas movies, attended Lindsey's company's holiday party, and baked delicious Christmas cookies! One highlight of the season was seeing Elf: The Musical at the Hale Center Theater.

Spending the holidays in Vegas 🎄 🎰

We decided to end 2023 with a bang by taking a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada between Christmas and New Year's Eve. We aren't big gamblers but there is still so many other amazing things to do in Las Vegas. We were fortunate to be able to meet up with our friends Jason and Kristen as they were also vacationing in Las Vegas at the same time. Some highlights of this trip include experiencing The Sphere, seeing the Bodies exhibit, the view from the top of The Strat, finally seeing the Fremont Street Experience, and of course, the amazing food! 🤤

On the way home, we made a quick stop at Valley of Fire State Park to enjoy the beautiful scenic drive and take in a quick hike. We have driven past this state park several times so we were both very excited to finally get a chance to experience it. The park was breathtaking and the hike gave us a nice chance to stretch our legs before the long drive back home.

That's a wrap! 🎬 🥳

2023 was such a big year for us. It's hard to believe that we were able to cram so many incredible events into a single year. Thanks for taking the time to follow along with our journey. We can't wait to share our 2024 plans with you.

We hope that you are enjoying our look back on 2023. What were you favorite parts of 2023? Did you do anything exciting? Do you have any big plans for 2024? Let us know in the comments section below.👇 💬