2025
Happy New Year from not-so-snowy Colorado! We bid 2025 farewell and honestly, good riddance. We spent a fair bit of the year getting our house in order: literally (wildfire mitigation, home improvements, the interminable decluttering) and figuratively (it is never too late to start your estate planning, folks). And there’s the balancing act of supporting our aging parents as they navigate major medical challenges and care-taking logistics, while also respecting their independence and dignity. So if you haven’t heard from us in a while, it’s because adulting has demanded most of our bandwidth. We think of you often, even if those thoughts don’t progress to the communication stage. Big love to everyone who reached out — especially the kind souls checking to see if we are still alive!
Here’s our Proof of Life recap:
After 20 years on our radar, we finally ventured down to view Denver Botanic Gardens’ Blossoms of Light. (January 2025 – Denver, Colorado)
A magical integration of nature, technology, and so many pretty colorful lights. Our Lite Brite dreams realized. (January 2025 – Denver Botanic Gardens)
Uphill skiing keeps growing in popularity, but you can occasionally find solitude plus an inch or two of fresh powder. Getting outside is good for you. Jen ascends Upper Park. (March 2025 – Crested Butte, Colorado)
Getting outside with your dog in the backcountry is better (the resorts prohibit canine companions on uphill travel). And there are Yuki snacks. (Spring 2025 – Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado)
The wildflowers were weird this year. They started with an impressive showing and petered out around the time the southwest monsoons died (see how that works?), struggling through a prolonged warm and late summer. Early season pasque flowers are the first to open in our mountains. (June 2025 – Crested Butte)
As the flowers go, so too go the mushrooms. Well, that’s not entirely true, but it was this year. Some of our black morel patches were happily popping for several weeks. Our hopes were raised and then dashed to little bits as the rest of the mushroom season literally shriveled up and disappeared. Morel buddies. (June 2025 – undisclosed location)
No mushrooms meant stumble-free hikes and trail runs because we weren’t on the lookout for fungi. Um, Jen still looked. Jeremy and Yuki pause for the views. (June 2025 – Crested Butte)
The Colorado Front Range delivers interesting cloud formations all year. It’s better than Netflix. Mammatus clouds in June (left). Sunset wave cloud in November (right). (Nederland)
Hey look, a funnel cloud behind our house! Jen verified with the meteorologist who built our go-to weather app (OpenSnow — thanks, Joel!) that this was indeed a rare funnel cloud in the mountains. (July 2025 – Nederland, Colorado)
Migratory birds with their showy feathers and fancy songs bring us immeasurable joy when they pass through our forests. Kinglets, warblers, vireos, pewees, flycatchers, thrushes, tanagers, and more have us simultaneously tapping RECORD on our Merlin app and reaching for our binoculars throughout mountain summer. But at the end of the day (or season) it just might be our tiny unassuming local pygmy nuthatches that have hopped and peeped their way into our hearts. Little. Bold. Adorable. (September 2025 – Nederland)
Autumn colors came through where the wildflowers and mushrooms couldn’t! Despite a dreadfully dry summer, the aspens lit up the mountains. A wall of flame-colored aspens behind the spruce trees. (September 2025 – Crested Butte)
Sunrise peeking under stormy clouds. (October 2025 – Crested Butte)
Our wonderful neighbor completed phase 2 of our deck-porch-stoop makeover project this summer. We added solar lights for safety (new step pattern), and it’s giving a bit of mountain spa vibe. Phase 3: hot tub or sauna? (October 2025 – Nederland)
Making due on near record-low snowpack. Jeremy and Yuki get out for a classic ski on a(nother) sunny day. (December 2025 – Crested Butte)
May 2026 fill your heart in the best way,
Jen, Jeremy, and Yuki
There’s more on the 2025 Cutting Room Floor!
January 1st, 2026 at 12:01 am
So great to see your beautiful faces enjoying the amazing nature (and family, according to the cutting room floor). Wish you a great new year, Jen and Jeremy and Yuki!