Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Hi lovely people!
It’s been a while since I popped up in your inbox!
I’m truly sorry for not being as consistent as I was before. I’m giving myself grace—but I intend on posting here again because I miss it, and I missed you.
It’s been a long winter. Long, not bad (although summer has never felt more exciting lol). Here are a few updates since I last posted!
1. We Moved Into Our Van Dec. 7th
We actually did it—we moved into our van!
We shared our finished build and entire process here – but I’m excited to share a van tour here soon:)
October and November were some of the busiest months of our lives. We spent every spare evening and weekend building the van, it practically became a full-time job. It wasn’t easy showing up in the cold every day to build, but once we were finished it was the coolest feeling. We built our home—not many people can say that!
Anyway, we’re also terrible planners. So on move day, with 5 minutes left until we were officially kicked out of our apartment, we realized we hadn’t cleared out our fridge 😵💫
We started stuffing produce and sauces and frozen fruit into trash bags and running it down the stairs like evicted mad men.
Then we sat outside our van, which was thoroughly over-packed, and tried to find places for all our garbage.
The next day, Nathan went to work—so I had to survive the first two days in the van alone. It was one of the toughest sets for both of us. It was such a shock transitioning to that lifestyle, and doing it alone was so hard.
Looking back, all the things I feared then have become our daily lives now—and it’s not as hard anymore!
2. We Almost Froze to Death in January
Mid-January, Colorado decided to have a week-long seizure and drop to -35° with windchill here in the Springs. Our van is the most insulated van I’ve ever seen, and even still, we had to keep our heater running all day just to keep our sink from freezing and breaking.
We went through our 1.5 gallon diesel tank every day (which usually lasts us at least 4 days) just to stay warm.
Don’t worry—we didn’t freeze. Our heater stayed strong and kept us toasty—but just walking to our gym or to a coffee shop in that weather was rough. It made 15° weather feel balmy.
3. We Got Into Skiing/Snowboarding!
Van life has had its challenges, but there have been a lot of perks! Snowboarding and skiing is one of them.
Nathan had never snowboarded or skied, and I haven’t skied since I was little—but we were both determined to pick it back up at some point. So we hit the slopes again and started practicing.
Nathan snowboards and I ski—and now we can take on the blues!
We’re excited to get passes next winter so we can go up a lot more. Taking the van up was super convenient, too. We didn’t have to pay for hotels, and we had access to our entire kitchen in the parking lot at lunch time.
4. I Spilled Diesel Everywhere
Time for an embarrassing story:)
About a month ago, Nathan was on shift and I needed to fill up our diesel. We have a diesel tank to fuel our heater, which needs attention pretty often through the winter. We have it located under our bed, so you can open the back doors to access the tank really easy.
Anyway, I filled up the tank and at the very end, my hand slipped. Before I could let go of the lever, diesel shot everywhere… on our bed frame, through our storage space, even on our storage containers…
I panicked and ran to grab a towel. By the time I started mopping it up, it had already soaked into the wood. The damage was done.
If you know anything about diesel, you know how awful it smells. Diesel is almost 100% oil, so it’s nearly impossible to clean out of things and it off-gases slowly (in other words, it will smell for ages).
Long story short, we couldn’t stay in the van for 3 full nights. It smelled so strong and wasn’t safe to breathe in. We tried everything to clean it: coffee grounds to absorb the smell, acetone, rubbing alcohol. Finally, degreaser worked.
Lesson learned: be extremely careful with diesel.
5. We Have Some Big Plans…
I’m so excited to write here again—it feels like reconnecting with a dear old friend. And I can’t wait to start sharing my life again!
We have a bit of travel planned for this summer, and I can’t wait to document it as we go. We’ve been tied to Colorado all winter, so we are itching to adventure. We’re hoping to at least get to Oregon and Florida, with a few extra places on our list too!
I’m also really excited to start sharing my relationship with Jesus again. It’s changed since I got married—I feel like I stepped into a season of life where I’ve never learned lessons so quickly. I’ve been going to therapy for over a year now, and I can’t wait to share what God’s been teaching me.
Thank you for being a part of our lives and supporting my lil writing side gig 🫶 I love you all so much!
Wanted to end with a verse God pointed me to yesterday—maybe it will touch your heart like it touched mine:
“God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.”
Psalm 46:1-3