I ran slow. The snow fell fast. Light and heavy at the same time. I ran for quiet. I ran for thinking. I ran for peace and resolve and purpose. I ran for answers, I ran for wonder. I ran. Step after step. Beat after beat. Beat. Step. Beat. Beat me up. These times… the…

But we think it should be. Don’t we? I wrote a few weeks ago, “It is infuriating to go through each day and feel as though you are not winning in any area. In motherhood, in fitness, in finances, in healthy eating, in laundry, in cleaning, in schooling… I often wonder if I can ever…

There is one side effect to becoming more active. To getting outdoors more. It is this: you will only want to be MORE active, to get out MORE. In fact, you might find yourself doing strange things like this: packing your kiddo into a kid carrier when they have the flu…cause they are just going…

I case you are wondering if kid scissors are sharp enough to slice into that favorite light-weight down jacket of yours…wonder no longer. They are. This event, which I will now refer to as the “attempted slaughter of the down hoodie,” (a.k.a ASDH) was just the topping on what has been a weak week. This is…

I have to be purposeful at most things in life. Now, if you know us, you also know that we are quite spontaneous. I am not diminishing the beauty found in sudden acts of whim. But most of life, rather most of what I want out of life, only happens if I am purposeful. Like…

For two reasons I decided to get creative last week. 1. We recently read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone with the kids (and watched the movie at the end), meaning they are truly obsessed. 2. Every store we walked into they wanted a toy wand, most costing somewhere between $20-$30…for a piece of polished…

Well, we are wrapping up Expect[ing] to Thrive with one last post! And it is a good one! First, don’t miss the Beco Baby Carrier giveaway! It runs through the weekend! The winner of our Monkey Mat Giveaway is Jessica Cardwell! Congrats!! Today we are welcoming my good friend, fellow mom, climber and outdoor lover…

The Strider Balance Bike Giveaway came to an end last night and our winner is Susan Eubank! Thanks everyone! Don’t miss our other giveaways still going on: Monkey Mat’s lightweight play/park mat and Beco Baby Carriers! Today we are interviewing Amanda Tress from Fit Pregnancy and Parenting. She has been a personal trainer for eight…

Hi friends! How is it going today? Have you ever come across a smiling face, in the midst of a rather hectic day, and felt like you could smile again too? Not only could smile, but wanted to smile? Teresa Delfin is one of those people for me. We met and chatted last year at…

Maybe you are enjoying this Saturday morning, watching the leaves change out your window. Today, our friend Tanya is taking the reins and sharing her fit pregnancy story. Let her inspire you to get out an enjoy the changing seasons! She loves hiking, camping, skiing, paddling, biking and all things mountain-related. Tanya is the author of…

Today I am excited to interview Shelly Rudd, fitness instructor, mom, runner, and an all around kick-in-the-butt for all of us who need one!  She has been a fitness instructor for ten years. In addition to running, she enjoys doing pilates on the reformer, kickboxing, and weightlifting. Shelly, what drives you to remain active and…

Welcome to Expect[ing] to Thrive! If you’ve just joined us you don’t want to miss our very first post: An Invitation to Action, not Comparison and our very first GIVEAWAY from Mountain Mama! Today we have guest contributor Erica Lineberry sharing her story of pregnancy, climbing and the adventure of having a “cragbaby.” You won’t…

I wrote this post on my bike this morning. No, I am not super-woman. I did not have my laptop propped on the handle bars, typing away while simultaneously sweating away last weekend’s s’more. But I was spinning away at the gym, focusing too much on my legs that were screaming, “can we be done…

We have a new bad word flying around our house. “I can’t!” “I can’t,” officially became a punishable bad word a few weeks ago. I guess I never saw that coming when the pregnancy test first showed positive! It goes like this: The boy is running around the soccer field warming up for the game….

We laid there, face down on the bed. Tears streaming out of our eyes. A few minutes before, Chris and I didn’t know whether to laugh or whether to cry. So we laughed so hard, we cried. When I signed my son up for pee-wee soccer, I never knew it would be such an emotional…

Supposed to. I hate supposed tos. I am up early this morning, my last minute grab at a bag of coffee for my husband, Dead Point Blend, sitting warmly in my cup. I like it, a lot. Not too bad for a bag of coffee from a small coffee shop called Bongo Billy’s. I bought…

A little something about me: as a kid I hated hiking. I hated skiing. All I wanted was to stay home and [for once] watch Saturday morning cartoons. Somehow that all changed. It has some to do with finding friends that would do these outdoor things with me. But a large part of it was…

I love the Olympics. Every two years, I toss that “not-to-much-television” thing out the window and camp out in front of our small screen watching athletes of all types go for gold. When I first got married we didn’t have a TV [yikes] so I frequented my fitness center, spending hours on the elliptical just…

And all I have to say is… This last week was sort of gut wrenching. It wasn’t just one call, one email, one Facebook post. It was many. Cancer and depression and heart problems…hard pregnancies, hard marriages, hot fires. Where are you wife? Chris questioned the vacant expression that accompanied me most of Saturday. I…

Us Ericksons, do a lot outdoors. But we don’t even come close to doing everything. We cover climbing, hiking, camping and skiing pretty extensively. But when we get the chance, we love to interview people doing things that are way beyond us. Today [and later this week] I get to share my interview with Sara…