With Thanksgiving just behind us and Christmas coming closer, we felt it was an appropriate time to talk about the things we are thankful for.

We are, first and foremost, thankful for our family and friends — everyone who has been with us throughout this adventure and the wonderful people we have met along the way.

We are thankful that we made the decision to make this life change and that it has brought us such incredible happiness.

We are thankful for the things we have learned along the way, not just about traveling but about ourselves and each other.

We are thankful to be finding our way in this crazy world we live in.

We are thankful to be sharing this wonderful experience with each other and with our pets — Theo, Piper, Lila, Ellie, Pica, and Phil.

This is in no way a complete list; it is just the beginning. But it highlights some of the big points.

Last year, we spent Thanksgiving in the mountains of Colorado with my family. We had a wonderful time.

This year, we did something a little different.

I opened the park in the morning and there were 13 wild turkeys wandering around. What a treat to see so many at once.

After volunteering for a short shift at the wildlife rehab center, I met up with Andy and Tanner for a Thanksgiving hike.

I’m not going to lie, even though it was only 2 miles roundtrip, the hike totally kicked my butt.

Rocky terrain and a lot of inclines were just what I needed to get a good workout.

We even did a bit of rock climbing.

I got a little banged up from a couple of falls, but it was totally worth it!

After a bit of a rest, we headed back down the trail to get ready for our Thanksgiving dinner.

After we freshened up a bit, we made some green bean casserole and headed down to Oceanside to have dinner with the fam.

Andy’s aunt Kris and grandpa hosted the meal. We were joined by cousins from the Sacramento area and his uncle from Idaho. It was fun to see everyone and catch up! And boy, was it nice to not host the meal! We chatted about everything from books to read to where we should go next on our adventure. They gave us a lot of awesome recommendations of things we still need to see.

We had a great time and are very happy that we got to spend this Thanksgiving with family. We feel incredibly fortunate to have so many wonderful people in our lives and we are thrilled that this trip has made it possible to get to know other family members even better.

Now it’s time to bring on the busy Christmas season!