We had big plans.
A romantic, kid-free getaway 😍
Just the two of us.
In sunny California.
My sweet cousin was getting married, and she invited Jordan and me to be *guests!!* at the wedding.
(All our photog friends know what a huge deal this is 💃)
Jordan’s amazing mom offered to watch all three of our kids so we could jet off alone and make it a full couple’s weekend away.
(All our parent friends know what a huge deal this is! 👏)
As you can imagine, we were counting down the days for that rare kid-free time together.
Long walks on the beach.
Watching the sunset over the waves.
In our minds, it looked something like this.
But then… plot twist.
A few months before the big trip, my cousin asked us if Beckett could come and be the ring bearer 💍
Goodbye, romance 🫠
I mean, how could we say no to that, right?!
So just like that, our couple’s getaway suddenly included a veryenthusiastic seven-year-old third wheel.
Our first reaction? “Welp, this is going to be… different” 😂
But then we caught ourselves.
What if, instead of wishing for what could’ve been…
…we turned what we have into something we’ll all never forget? ✨
We secretly started planning something new to make this trip magical (and forget all about that romantic dinner for two.)
As soon as we landed in California, we dropped our bags and surprised Becks… with a trip… to Disneyland.
Just the three of us.
A whole day of one-on-one memory-making with our first baby.
And it was pure magic ✨
The way he wanted to hold our hands everywhere we went.
The way he wrapped his legs around me like a little koala in the lines.
The way he hollered, “Can we do that AGAIN?!” on his first upside-down rollercoaster before his feet even hit the ground.
We’ll never forget it.
It wasn’t the trip we planned…
But it was the trip we all needed 🥹
Here’s the thing…
We recently read a book called Die with Zero (a recommendation from a good friend) that gave us such an interesting perspective on how we spend our life energy (our time, our work, our money, and the memories we create).
One of the biggest takeaways?
Think of memories like “investments.”
Once you make them, they pay an emotional “return” for the rest of your life.
So many of us (especially work-oriented small business owners 🙋♀️) work so hard, give generously, save diligently for the future, thinking responsible things like, “I’m saving for retirement.”
But sometimes we forget to also embrace the life that’s right in front of us… one that won’t always look like this.
We’ll never stop being thoughtful about the future…
But this book reminded us: the right experiences have a right time.
And some of them? You can’t postpone.
Like, if you want to try skiing, maybe don’t wait until you’re 90 🙃
If you want to ride a roller coaster with your kid while they still want to hold your hand in line?
Don’t miss your window.
It’s not always about big trips; sometimes it’s just slowing down long enough to think through your memory investments and to be intentional about them.
Reading that book renewed something in us and sparked so many great conversations.
We’re realizing we’re entering a new season of parenthood.
The end of the baby years? Can we actually say… they’re behind us?!
After seven+ years of pregnancy, nursing, diapers, and sleepless nights… suddenly, we have a 7, 5, and 3 year old.
It’s a wild realization and a whole new world.
We’re calling it: our memory-making era 🥹
We even started writing down a list of experiences we want to have with our kids, while they’re still… kids.
Getting specific about their ages and the when (a recommendation from one of our all-time favorite books, Habits of the Household)
Not “someday.” But soon.
Because we all have a list of “somedays.”
Someday I’ll take that trip… start that business… make that photo album.
But “someday” has a sneaky way of staying just out of reach.
What’s one small “someday” you could move into today?
