January 2026 – A Monthly Roundup

What a month January has been. Personally, it’s been up and down, but gratefully way more ups than downs. The weather here in Missouri has gone from 60 degrees and sunny to -6 and snowy. The U.S. is a rollercoaster, seemingly plummeting that has affected my mental health and is hard to navigate between feeling so deeply about that to trying to stay light and loving with my kids. The world is a little crazy, but I am trying very hard to recognize the good and the beautiful, even on days that seem harder than others. But, without further ado, here’s how January looked in our personal little world!

Travel Planning this Month

Random dirt road in New Mexico off of Route 66

This month, I did quite a bit of work on my upcoming Patagonia Trip. It’s a bit of been last minute stuff, like checking flight changes, making sure everything is booked and ready for both me and my dad. Also, the fun kind of travel planning… doing lots and lots of hiking. Plus, my dad and I officially booked a day trip to Torres del Paine in Chile too, so I’ll hit my 40th country next month with my Papa Bear! I wanted to visit 40 countries before I turned 40 and it feels good to hit that number at 35 and I love that I’m hitting this milestone with my dad.

Matt and I also fairly spontaneously decided two weeks in Sedona sounded fun. So, we booked a trip out there. Initially, we were going to pull the camper, but our camper was too long for what was remaining as far as campsites go. So, we found an AirBNB for not much more, and it is big enough that we got to invite my parents to come with us and they’re going to come for part of it! Woohoo!

I also have plans to take my kids on mama-kiddo camping trips. One-on-one time with each of them. CJ will be up first and then Liam. I’m hoping April for both of them.

Travel this Month

There was no travel for us this month. Which was expected. We had nothing on the books at all and we’re trying to keep our budget on track for the adventures that we do have set for 2026. I had a tattoo appointment that I ended up rescheduling for April, which will be a better time for me to do that.

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Local Adventures this Month

I have been working hard to get outside as much as possible. I’m also trying to stay in the best shape I can (hopefully getting in even better shape) before our trip to Patagonia in February. I’ve hiked solo, with Shea, with our new friend Ashley, with my family, and with my dad. So I’ve hiked at seven different local greenway spaces this month!

One of which, was one that I’d never been to before: Two Rivers Mountain Bike Park – where they’re shared trails for hiking as well. My Women’s Hiking Group met there for our first hike of the year and 40 women came outside when it was 35 degrees and enjoyed the great outdoors together. I don’t know if it was just the beginning of the year energy, or if this is just how 2026 is going to go (God, I hope so), but it was just filled with friend-making, connecting, bonding and just simply pure joy of being outside together.

We had some family-friendly adventures this month too! We went to the zoo with friends, gave the kids unstructured and independent play at the park for a playdate and we finally took our kids to the Springfield Discovery Center!

Blog Posts from January

Goals, Hopes, and Manifestations for 2026 – This is a post about all the things I’m hoping for in 2026: travel, blogging and personal – and a little of how I’m planning to accomplish them.

December 2025: A Monthly Rounup – This is a monthly roundup of all the things I did in December of last year. It’s very similar to this one!

How to Raise a Wild Child by Scott D. Sampson (A Book Review) & How It Changed the Way I Spend Time Outside with My Kids – This book was a game-changer for me. I feel like I became a more present adventure mama while also giving my kids the reins more after reading this book. I cannot recommend it to enough to any parent who loves the outdoors.

Unlocking a New Travel Obsession – This summer, I got obsessed with off-roading. In the last 10 years I’ve gone from a girl who drove a glorified go-cart and was terrified of driving Matt’s old 4Runner because it was “too big” to a girl who can drive intense dirt roads in a Chevy Silverado 2500. And it makes me feel like a badass! It also has me pining for a 4Runner of my own.

Camper Diaries – Year Three As a Camper Family – We’ve spent three years as a camper family now, which feels crazy! And each year, we find ourselves spending more and more time in it, which makes me so happy. This is a bit of a recap of where we went, what we learned and so much more.

Quote of the Month

Do more things that make you forget to check your phone.

To be honest. I think this may become a mantra for the entire year. My screen time is so much lower this year so far and my days feel so much fuller and my moments with my family and my friends feel so much more intentional.

Best Thing I Ate in January

I’d never had Korean Hot Pot soups before, and on a girls day with Kate and Shea, we went to a restaurant called KPot and holy cow! I loved this delicious experience. I love that we got to have complete control over how our soups tasted, the ingredients we had and more. It was so hearty, filling and tasty! I can’t wait to do this again!

What I Read in January

The audiobooks I read and loved are some pretty corny romance novels. I listened to more than these, but the ones I would recommend are The Best Wild Idea, People We Meet on Vacation, Nesting for Beginners and The Best Wrong Move. Plus, if you have an audible account, all but The People We Meet on Vacation are free.

I have a daily minimum goal of reading 10 pages per day. It’s been a good bar to set that feels attainable, but also still feels like I’m reading. While, I haven’t hit it every day, I’ve far exceeded it some days. But even when I haven’t, I just don’t beat myself up about it. This month, I finished There’s No Such Thing As Bad Weather. It’s a beautiful personal account of a Swedish woman who started raising her kids in the U.S. and went back to Sweden for a bit and rediscovered her roots in children playing wildly that her Scandinavian culture provided her. Up next, I’m reading Thirst: 2,600 Miles to Home. I have a dream to someday tackle one of the big trails across the US. So, I love diving hard into first-hand accounts. Especially from women.

Most Popular Blog Post in January

Things to Know Before Driving Shafer Trail in Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Shafer Trail was our first intro into taking scenic dirt road paths. It sparked our love for rough and wild roads, so I love seeing that this is so popular!

Wild Motherhood Journey

I feel like I’ve been killing it with my wild motherhood journey this month. I’ve been getting so much time with our kids outside – thanks in large part to a major heatwave for January in Missouri. But, even so, I do think that reading There’s No Such Thing As Bad Weather has made me feel both really inspired and really informed about this topic.

But many days after school, we’re heading straight to parks and trails, and on days that we come home, they’re going straight outside to play. Sometimes we join them, sometimes we open windows and listen for them down in the yard. They get along best outside, they enjoy each other’s company most outside and play on their own the best outside. We also have had playdates at the park and it fills my heart to watch the kids all play in trees, run down trails and discover the way water lily seedpods work!

We even got outside in the snow, pulling out the snow bibs, waterproof mittens and snow boots. I have to say I do believe in what was written in There’s No Such Thing As Bad Weather, but my body had no acclimated to the negative temps, so I didn’t make it out as long as they would’ve haha. Once the temps got to freezing, though, we went sledding and that was the most fun!

Something I did notice, even in the indoor play on our snow days, that our lifestyle of exploration does make an impact. Because Charleigh and Liam’s pretend play was playing National Parks. She was a park ranger who made me a Junior Ranger, made Liam a trail guide – he changed his name to calypso at that point – trail name, maybe?! ha! – and taught us about boxwork in caves (which she learned about on our trip to South Dakota last May), how we don’t touch the cave walls, and then they cleaned up litter. After coming to the Ranger Station – my bed – to learn about national parks – read this amazing national park book – then, we went to Mammoth Cave to clean it. It was a fun indoor play based on love for the outdoors.

Taking Care of Myself in 2026

I have to admit, taking care of myself can be hard for me. I’m a 2w3 for all my fellow enneagram-lovers out there, so I value caring for others and I see my own value in caring for others and accomplishing thing, typically at the expense of caring for myself. Then, I get my feelings hurt when that isn’t seen. I’ve been working really hard to take care of myself more over the last couple of years. So, this is a fun new section of monthly roundups for me to reflect on how I’m doing this and maybe help others out there who aren’t taking care of themselves as well as they should.

This month has been a bit of a rollercoaster for me. Day-to-day ups and downs. I don’t really know if I can explain why, but I’m trying to figure it out. I’ve been doing a few things that help me, though:

Getting outside – I know everyone is going to be shocked by this, but this is a way I deeply take care of myself. I’ve danced on trails, and I’ve even cried on trails a bit this month and it still just feels so much better outside. The movement, the fresh air and the time alone have all been very therapeutic.

Journaling – I’ve been more intentionally journaling. I think that in the past couple of years I’ve held back more trying to stay within one journal in a year because of the Bullet Journal Club I teach, but I’m letting that go and enjoying taking up the space where I see fit. I have done things that I think are meditative, more personal and it feels really good.

Spending My Limited Spare Time How it Needs to Be Spent For Me – For example, I had a work event for the staff and we had a babysitter for 6 hours. It was just a fun game night and potluck, after about 90 minutes I hit this weird wall where I no longer wanted to be social. My cup felt empty and all I wanted to do was take a walk and clean my house. So, thanks to the encouragement of my friend Kate and compliance and support of Matt, that’s exactly what we did and it was so good for me.

Nesting – I have to admit, we have a cluttery, messy house a lot of the time. We are very busy, we travel a lot and we have a 3-year-old and 4-year-old. It gets messy messy! But, this year, I’ve been picking up after myself more, and teaching the kids to do the same. Plus, the upgrades we made to our house last month have me feeling inspired to keep doing this. Plus, I have more little things I want to do to make our house even homier.

Started Therapy – I have gone to therapy a few times in the past, but have really committed to going and keeping with it. I also am going in person again which I think helps with my comfort level, my connection with my therapist, and feeling safe to be open with my thoughts and feelings. I’m really proud of this and I can’t wait to continue this journey. If you’ve thought about if this is right for you, then I hope this encourages you to know that you’re not alone.

Home and Life in January

Admittedly, for about four years now, our house has been a bit of a stressor for both Matt and me, as I mentioned above. We want to see and do and experience so much that it also comes at the cost of our house being consistently clean. But on the 3rd of January, Matt and I both voiced that this was causing us stress and we got it all cleaned, we’re decluttering, decorating, boxing up things that we don’t use for a garage sale and now it’s just in maintenance mode and that feels incredible! It’s not perfect, but it’s so much better and so much more manageable.

What’s Coming in February

In February, my oldest child turns five. That’s such a big-girl sounding number. It hurts my heart that so much time has already passed, but also makes me so excited for the big, beautiful things to come in the next year. So, I had to share some of my favorite photos adventuring with her over the last 5 years. How lucky are we?!

My dad and I take off on our long-awaited trip to Patagonia! We’ll be spending two weeks away (how will I be away from my babies for this long?!) in Argentina we’re also going to cross into Chile for a day so I will hit my 40th country with my dad! It’s his first time out of North America, btw, and I’m really excited about that.

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