2017: a recap on the year of adventure

 This year was just absolute bonkers for us. We did more and saw more and traveled more than we ever have, and we had so much fun doing it. Last January, I decided to skip the resolutions and pick a word for my year instead. I chose adventure.

I am not a naturally adventurous person. I'm a homebody who loves to plan things well in advance and struggles with spontaneity of any kind. But since we were in a brand new city with no friends, no church, and no idea what kinds of things there even were to see in New Mexico, I knew that I needed motivation to push myself and step waaaaaaay outside of my comfort zone. New Mexico was a temporary assignment, and I felt like those 8, 9, or 12 months could easily pass us by and we'd get to the end of it realizing we had wasted the entire time. I didn't want to leave New Mexico and not care because we had made no friends and done nothing fun. What a tragedy that would have been. So I chose "adventure," and I made it my mission to find the adventure in everything. Even when it was hard for me.

Finding a MOPS group and joining it without knowing anyone was an adventure for me.
Driving a half hour into the desert at night to a LuLaRoe party where I knew no one was an adventure for me.
Reaching out to new faces and asking them to get together for a play date or coffee was an adventure for me.
Figuring out how to hike with two dogs at once and a toddler in a backpack carrier while I'm by myself was an adventure for me.

There were so many adventures. Really tiny ones and really big ones. It seemed like the more I looked for adventures, the more they showed up. We did our very best to not waste a weekend. We drove everywhere. We hiked all over. We tried so many amazing local restaurants (we really miss those restaurants now). We played and explored and made friends and filed away countless memories.

Some of the adventures we had weren't really our choice. JT's new temporary job was a nightmare. We had to work through a Human Resources department to sell our house that was 3,000 miles away and coordinate 9 different days with moving companies. We moved three times. When we finally made it to Phoenix, it was August...in Phoenix.

But all the adventures, the good and the bad, the big and the small, the incredibly fun and the painfully annoying, all pushed our family towards growth and change. The Moores grew this year, guys. We were stretched and challenged and we grew. And I'm so thankful. I'm thankful for how I was stretched as an individual, and I'm thankful for how JT and I were stretched as a couple.

2017 was a fun year, a crazy year, a truly adventurous year. 

For fun, here's some more details notes on the things we did and the places we saw this year.


States visited:

1. New Mexico
2. Colorado
3. Nevada
4. California
5. Virginia
6. Texas
7. Arizona
8. Maine

National Monuments visited:

1.  Petroglyph National Monument (New Mexico)
2. Bandelier National Monument (New Mexico)
3. Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument (New Mexico)
4. White Sands National Monument (New Mexico)
5. El Mapais National Monument (New Mexico)

National Forests visited:

1.  Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest (California)
2. Tahoe National Forest (California)
3. Eldorado National Forest (California)
4. Carson National Forest (New Mexico)
5. Lincoln National Forest (New Mexico)
6. Cibola National Forest (New Mexico)
7. Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest (Arizona)
8. Tonto National Forest (Arizona)
9. George Washington National Forest (Virginia)
10. Coconino National Forest (Arizona)
11. Prescott National Forest (Arizona)

National Parks visited:

1.  Golden Gate National Parks: Alcatraz Island (California)
2. Guadeloupe Mountains National Park (Texas)
3. Carlsbad Caverns National Park (New Mexico)
4. Acadia National Park (Maine)

Special Interest Places visited:

1.  Valles Caldera National Preserve (New Mexico)
2. Elephant Butte Dam/Lake (New Mexico)
3. Salt River Canyon (New Mexico)
4. El Malpais Conservation Area (New Mexico)
5. Fort Edgecomb State Historic Site (Maine)
6. Penobscot Narrows Bridge (Maine)
7. San Tan Mountains Regional Park (Arizona)

 Airports visited:

1. Albuquerque 
2. Phoenix
3. Houston
4. Denver
5. Reno
6. Salt Lake City
7. Dulles
8. Roanoke
9. Philadelphia
10. Portland, Maine
11. Newark
12. Charlotte
13. Charlottesville 

 Cities/houses lived in:

1. Albuquerque, NM
2. Chandler, AZ 
3. San Tan Valley, AZ 
4. Queen Creek, AZ 

We can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for us.