Our Love of Travel

We love spending time at home, but we also love to travel! Recently, Ellie and I backpacked through Europe. We met lots of wonderful people along the way, and made memories we will cherish for a lifetime. We even travel-blogged the whole trip so we could share our experience with our friends and family back home! We love experiencing new cultures, and can't wait to show our kids the world!

LONDON

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Our Favorite Family Excursions

While we always have a blast traveling on our own, nothing beats traveling with kids. Fortunately, Matthew's brother Dan and his wife Tessa have three little ones that we absolutely adore (River, Island, and Stone). Each year we plan a little vacation with them and have a wonderful time. The four of us are the best of friends, and we love spending time with the kiddos.

Our Vicarious Life (with kids we love)

It's true; we do live vicariously through Dan and Tessa. Their kids bring a lot of joy to our lives, and we love spending time with them. River and Island get along very well, love being outside, (especially when they're bug hunting) and are already proficient on their little computers. Stone is the wild child; he's energetic to say the least and climbs whatever he can get a hold of. River and Island pray every night that God will give us a baby so they can have a new cousin. (Super sweet and very precious.)

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Matthew's Family

Matthew comes from a big family with LOTS of siblings. His parents, Graydon and Gail, (that's them to the left. Aren't they adorable?) had four children together and then adopted six more. Most people think they're crazy for having such a big family - which is probably a little bit true - but it's also because they have big hearts. Most of the kids are grown and married with children, which means plenty of cousins to play with.

We have family get together's with Matthew's family regularly. Matthew's mom is a terrific cook and loves to host the whole gang. Now that Mom and Dad are empty-nesters, they love filling the house with all the kids and grand kids. It's great for all of us, too, because we love spending time together.

Ellie's Family

Simply irresistible. That is the essence of Ellie's family. Ellie's little sister Katelin, her husband Joe, and their son, (super cute) Jackson are our adventure buddies. We love traveling together and hanging out as a family. Her parents, Ken and Linda, are two of the most genuine and loving people on the planet. They absolutely love their new role as grandparents, and can't wait to be grandparents to our future children.

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Our Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving is always spent with Matthew's family, and is always a feast! Mom cooks a turkey, a ham and about six pies, and the rest of us all bring our specialty. For Ellie, it's her world famous orange rolls and rhubarb pie. We spend the whole day snacking and hanging out, then the whole family (usually there are about 30 of us there) dish up the big meal. It's wonderfully chaotic.

Our Christmas Traditions

Christmas is always spent with Ellie's family. Her sister, husband and their baby boy join us in the morning for breakfast, where Ellie's mom makes cinnamon rolls that put Cinnabon to shame. Then we sit around the tree together taking turns opening presents. Ellie and I try to keep it simple; however, Ellie's folks are world class spoilers! They get so much joy from watching "the kids" open their gifts.

Ellie's FAVORITE time of year!

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