When I wrote my “resolution/goals” post for 2023, I felt this burning. This need for a change, for inner-discovery and adventure. I started off from a low place in my life, but managed to do a lot of work throughout the year to better myself, my situation and rediscover who I am, the roles I love (being a mama, a wife, a writer and a wanderer), learning to set boundaries and finding this realization of the preciousness of time. So, as I look ahead to 2024, my word for the year is “intentional”. Specifically, being intentional with how I spend my time, who I give my time to, and being intentional with my words + actions. With that in mind, here are the goals that I’ve set for myself. And this year, Matt even is joining in on the fun and setting goals for himself too, but I can’t get him on board with the “word of the year”, so you get what you get.

Travel Goals for 2024

Sticking with intention as a theme, I’m trying to be intentional about how we spend our travel days. I want to push us to see and do new things as well as enjoying things we already know and love.

Do 24 Hikes I’ve Never Done Before

I often set a goal of hiking miles, but instead, this year, I am shooting for experiences and destinations, knowing that I’m naturally going to get as many hiking miles as we can in this year just because of who we are and what we like to do. Although, we’re visiting several places we’ve been before, I am hoping to push us to find new and exciting trails on these adventures.

See 24 Sunrises While Traveling

Sunrises in themselves take intention to see. At least, they do for me. I’m naturally more of a night owl so sunsets are always way easier, but I’ve always felt like sunrises are more sacred and special. I think that’s because of the intention it takes to see them. It takes planning, will to wake up and willingness be a bit uncomfortable. However, I don’t think I’ve ever truly regretted seeing the sun rise and I love the tone it sets for the day.

Get Out and About, but Biking

At the very end of 2024, we bought some beginner mountain bikes at REI. It’s something Matt and I have casually mentioned several times when traveling in beautiful places where we see fairly simple-looking bike paths in Moab, Yosemite and even around the Ozarks. So, for Christmas, I asked for a mountain bike and a trailer to pull the kiddos in and we’re looking forward to a new kind of adventure this coming year.

Matt’s Travel Goals

As promised, I have the travel goals that Matt set for himself/our family this year.

See New Waterfalls: This is perfect for Matt. He’s our number one waterfall-lover in our family and I hope we get to see plenty of new falls to check this off his list!
Bike the Trails at Fellows Lake: As I mentioned, we’re very conservatively jumping into mountain biking this year. There is a local greenway north of where we live (it’s actually where we got engaged) that has really cool mountain bike trails that we’ve hiked part of. I love this goal!

Blogging Goals in 2023

Finally Do the Rebrand I’ve Been Very Slowly Working on for a Year Now

I did a rebrand in 2017, just before Matt and I took off on our ’round the world trip. It was still mostly focused on me. My adventures and my stories, which makes sense as most of the writing is from, well, my point of view. However, we’re now a traveling family of 4! We travel much more domestically and spend a lot of time in our campers. So, it makes sense that I write about this stage in life and I want our site to reflect that. (Here’s a teensy sneak peek at our new logo… whatcha think?)

Grow in My Goal to Write Fearlessly

I definitely feel that I’ve grown in this. I have been writing more deeply, more personally and from a place of joy in a lot of ways. I still try to use some SEO practices and yes, I’d love to be able to use my blog as my full time income at some point, but I don’t want to do that at the sacrifice of me, my personality and my passions.

Continue My Monthly Roundup Series, But Change It Up A Bit!

I loved this series. While it isn’t my most-read series by any means, I love that it’s an easy place for my friends and family who aren’t here in town can keep up with our adventures – which was the first intent of my blog when I created it in early college. I also love the closure it brings me on each month. It’s like a practice of gratitude, a reset and a chance to set goals for the next month. Plus, we share some things in these posts that don’t make it into more specific posts.

My Personal Goals for 2024

I don’t often share my personal goals on my blog because I think, is this something anyone cares about? But I realized I care about them. And I love having conversations with others about ways they’re improving themselves, big and small, so why not try to have those types of conversations here as well?

Spend 1,000 Hours Outside with My Kids

I’ve been following the Instagram account 1,000 Hours Outside for a while now and as avid lovers of the outdoors and now that both my kids are toddlers, it seems like the perfect time to start implementing this concept. Plus, you know ya girl loves some stats. So, it’s one of my personal bullet journal prompts for this year and I’m really excited to tackle this with my beautiful kiddos and watch their sense of adventure and wonder grow.

Continue My Dedication to My Yoga Practice

In late November, I finally got back into yoga after taking a big step back for over a year. I’ve started attending a different yoga studio this go around as well and I’m really settling into it about.After a little over a month of consistent practice, I love the challenge, the growth I’m experiencing there and the focus on the actual practice of yoga. I can’t wait to continue this all year and hopefully for the foreseeable future!

Journal More Simply for Me

I used to be a daily journaler from elementary school through very early college. I think when I lived with a boy for the first time is when I finally stopped. But I’ve dipped my toe in a bit more each year since meeting Matt and I really enjoy the catharsis of processing while journal, the practice of gratitude and even the joy of reliving moments. So I want to be sure to try to do that more often.

Read Even More Than Last Year

I used to obsessively read, especially growing up. Into adulthood, though, things managed to get in the way… college, working, blogging, traveling, crocheting and now the biggest thing that takes up my time, kiddos! But I’ve started getting more and more in to audio books, which allow me to “read” while getting other things done around the house. So I’m very proud of the 35 books I read last year, but I hope to get through at least 40 books this year!

I hope that you guys have a fantastic New Year. I hope whether you set goals or resolutions or not that you find the space to work toward your dreams. That you find the strength to push through the bad times and you find the time to soak up the good. Life is so precious, and I hope that your 2024 is filled with all the best that life has to offer you!