What made this summer vacation THE BEST?

Why was the Sego family summer vacation of 2018 the BEST YET?

It wasn’t because of the family camping trip to Chaco canyon….

Keyhole doorway Chaco Canyon, NM

It wasn’t because I got to be head chef at Girls Camp…..

Yours truly in the back on the left (blue shirt). I got to spend three days in the wilderness with these amazing ladies and about 40 young ladies ages 12-17.

It wasn’t because we spent a week in the rocky mountains of Colorado for a family reunion…

Horseback riding with family down the south fork of the Conejos River Colorado.

 

Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado with my husband, sister-in-law Julie and her mom and sister Kathy and Kim. From left: Julie’s mom Kathy, Camron, Julie’s sister Kim, Julie my sister-in-Law and I’m in the front. We hiked to the tallest one!

 

My kids went fishing every day of the seven days we spent up there. They’re going to be awesome fishermen some day!

 

The tent we stayed in for one whole week in Conejos Canyon. This pic was taken just before dawn. (BTW Kodiak Canvas tents are THE BEST.)

It wasn’t because of the family outings at baseball games, trampoline arenas or mini-golf…

Enjoying an Isotopes Game (minor league baseball).

 

Typical road trip behavior in the back seat- Aidan and Miriam getting on each other’s nerves and Shiloh trying to stay out of it :0)

It wasn’t because we watched my dad fulfill his lifetime dream to visit to Norway…

Dad walked the famous hike to Pulpit Rock that overlooks a beautiful fjord below.

So what made summer vacation 2018 so great?

First thing- Because we achieved a HUGE goal and paid off all debts in full in April. We are 100% DEBT FREE (thank you Dave Ramsey!) and plan to stay that way until we are ready to purchase our dream home. We worked really hard and sacrificed a lot to make this happen and yes, we had a party to celebrate! (We bought an ice cream cake from Cold Stone and ate it at home; that was the party.) We no longer have the burden of debt weighing us down making summer adventures all that much sweeter :0)

This old house was our starter home. We had been renting it out but decided to sell it to help pay off Camron’s student loan.

Saving up for things you want teaches you (and your kids) patience and the life skill of budgeting your money (we use this free and easy online budgeting tool almost every day). It feels so wonderful to have that burden lifted from your shoulders. We didn’t have any financial stress this summer which allowed us to focus on making happy memories with our children.

Second thing- I decided to take my own summer vacation- sans blogging. Bad for business, I know; I really missed you guys! I love engaging with my readers (my friends!) and learning from you. However, the last several summer vacays have almost put me in a stressed induced coma- trying to write, work on technical computer stuff and photograph with a bunch of kids pulling my shirt saying, “mommy mommy” every 5 seconds….. it is just insanity. “Why didn’t Emily work at night when her kids were asleep?”- you may be asking yourself. Because I like sleeping too… So I took the summer off to focus all my time and energy on my family and loved every part of it.

Now the kids are back to school again (even my little “Goldilocks” Miriam is in pre-school now, YAAAAAAY!) and I have tons of awesome recipes to share with you; I’m so excited!

I’d also love to hear about crazy adventures YOU had this summer- tell me in the comments below!

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4 Comments

  1. It is so good to see you back on the blog…….you had WAY too much fun this summer….most families don’t get such fun experiences all in a row. I am so happy you had such a great summer….and that YOU ARE DEBT FREE….that is awesome

    1. Thanks Wendy! We did have a great time- Camron started graduate school in August so we made sure to party hard before he went back to school. Now we can just cash flow his degree, no more student loans! Yay!

  2. Thanks Wendy! We did have a great time- Camron started graduate school in August so we made sure to party hard before he went back to school. Now we can just cash flow his degree, no more student loans! Yay!

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