Happy New Year, friends and followers. I have always been a lover of new beginnings. It’s why I love New Years, the 1st of every month and even, yes, Mondays. I love that there is always a time and way to begin again and again, so set intentions and to be inspired to make the most of things. I’ve already said it, and maybe I shouldn’t, maybe I’m jinxing myself, but 2025 is going to be my year… my family’s year. The year we make dreams come true, we live life feeling on fire, and we genuinely enjoy the big and small moments.

Travel Goals for 2025

100 Days of Travel

In 2023 and 2024, we’ve clocked over 100 days of travel. I would love to do it again in 2025. This is a year that we’re trying to focus on savings, so I don’t know that we’ll hit it this year, but the dreamer in me is still setting this as a goal because I do already have 50 days of travel booked. So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed, staying inspired, and picking up shifts.

488 Hiking Miles

I crushed my hiking goal last year for the first time in a really long time, like 8 years. So, I upped it this year and I cannot wait to crush it again. I do have a bigger secret goal (well, semi-secret now that ya’ll know there is a goal) but I’m not quite ready to make that one public yet… Stay tuned. Haha

Visit A New National Park

I’ve been to a good amount of national parks now, but there are still a lot to explore. I have my eye on Mesa Verde or Capitol Reef this year – who knows, maybe I’ll get super lucky and get to do both! I just love our national parks!

Take 24 New Hiking Trails

I sat this goal last year and I met it in September. We have a lot of repeat destinations on the books for the year, so I feel like 24 is a nice number to shoot for again!

Take a Solo Trip

This feels a tiny bit like cheating because I have my trip to Moab booked, but that doesn’t mean that something could happen. This will be my first solo trip since 2014 and I’m beyond excited for this! I already have a pretty massive Moab wanderlist of fun, exciting hikes, drives and other things I want to get into.

Visit a New State Park in Missouri

Missouri has 58 state parks! How lucky are we?! Yet somehow I’ve only been to 16 of them. So, I’d love to visit a new state park this year. Now that my dad is retired, I might try to convince him to hit one of these this spring!

Personal Goals for 2025

Get a Family Photo in A National Park for the Fourth Year in a Row

We started by taking our maternity pics on our babymoon in Canyonlands National Park in 2020. Then it changed to taking family photos in a national park in 2022, 2023, and again in 2024. They’re my absolute favorite family photos. We get a little bit dressed up, but it’s just us in some of our favorite spaces on the planet. They’re just so… us. I know we’ll be in Rocky Mountain, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks for sure, so I can’t wait to get some family photos – Matt, this is an official request for RMNP.

Have Monthly Dates with My Kids, Individually

As my kids are getting older, I’m loving exploring the things that make them unique. I love their little personalities that are vastly different. So, next year, I want to take a date with each of my kids individually. I started having little dates with Bub through the week while CJ was at school, but I wasn’t getting that time with her, and Liam will be in school very soon, so I am prioritizing that time to really forge these individual bonds with my kids.

Have at Least One Monthly Date Night with Matt

We did a pretty good job of this in 2024. We took more dates than we have any other year since having babies and even managed two weekends away – shoutout to my parents. We definitely want to continue to try to prioritize our relationship in 2025.

Continue My Solo Nights

In 2024, I started to take solo nights. When there’s still plenty of daylight, they consist of hiking most of the evening and then typically going to a brewery to read or a coffeeshop to write. It’s just an evening to do the things that fill my soul, on my own timeline and just feeling inspired and fulfilled. This started with a simple solo hike and it changed my life – that sounds super dramatic, but it did.

Read 5 Non-Fiction Books That Feel Life-Changing or Life Inspiring

Last year, I started reading non-fiction a lot more. Especially things that were semi-spiritual and all about the interconnectedness of nature and seeing our place as just part of nature. Then, in addition to that, I’ve been really into wild parenting. I’ve been really inspired by it and I have a lot of posts I want to write on this topic as well.

Continue My Health Journey with Yoga, Hiking and General Exercise

I let myself go… like really let myself go in 2023. I know now part of it was a depressive state, but in 2024, my mental and physical health became more of a priority. I lost 22 pounds and even more than that, I just feel better. I saw something this year that changed my mindset that we exercise not because that’s necessarily something we love doing, but we do it so we can do the things we love to do. That was such a mental shift for me.

1,000 Hours Outside with My Kids

This was a goal this year, but I bit off more than I could chew with Liam still being one and not walking for a chunk of the year. But I am very optimistic for 2025. I love to be outside with the kids and I want to foster a nature connection in them and I’ve leaned a lot about that in 2024 and I’m excited to crush this 1000 hours outside goal in 2025.

Blogging Goals for 2025

Publish 52 Blog Posts

I really want to write a weekly blog post. Eventually, I would love to be writing 100 posts a year, but at this stage in life, this feels attainable. While the kids are in school (I plan to homeschool eventually, I haven’t decided if that will start at kindergarten or 3rd grade since their school only goes to 3rd grade) this feels like I’ll have enough travel, camper and hiking content to be able to post weekly.

Continue to Grow in Writing Fearlessly

Sometimes it can be really hard for me to open up and write more personal posts, but I have to say, they’re some of the things I end up being most proud of. I’ve learned a lot about protecting privacy and not giving trust so easily. I’ve always been a really open book, but I’m slowly learning that there’s a balance and I’m applying that wisdom into the insight I give into my personal life.

Continue to Do a Monthly Roundup, but Change it Up Again

I love the rhythm and flow of having a monthly roundup. It feels like such a nice way to tie up a month, reflect on it and it makes me more mindful of the little adventures I experience in my everyday life. I’ve loved sharing more of my simple moments from home and travel and out little life updates too. I look forward to sharing a roundup of each month in 2025 again.

Write More About Camper Life and Camper Details

I’ve written some about camper life, but not in the type of detail I would like to. I want to do more in-depth campground reviews, write more about how we pack, things we’ve changed in our campers and why, and more about general camper-life with with two very small kids. It’s such a joy to travel this way, but it definitely has a learning curve, so I feel like I have a lot to share after two years of this.

I would love to hear more about your goals for travel, your personal life or even for your professional or blogging life! I have a feeling about 2025 and I’m just excited to see where the next 365 days take me and all the people in my life. As they say, anything could happen.