Shortly after our return to Ireland, we got a call from our friends Rosa and Pablo with an invitation to Pablo’s mom’s (Amama Marti’s) hometown. They were all spending some time there and thought we’d enjoy it as well. As luck would have it, there were awesome flights from Cork to Salamanca, so we grabbed some and headed out that weekend.

It was Everett’s first visit to Salamanca, and our first in several years. Before heading for Saldeana (Amama Marti’s hometown), we took a couple of days to refamiliarize ourselves with this beautiful city. Salamanca has such a nice charm and it’s so easy to fall in love with it.

As much as we enjoyed those days in Salamanca, our time in Saldeana was beyond compare. We were so happy to introduce Everett to Amama Marti and Aitita Pablo, as well as spend several unencumbered days enjoying the company of Rosa, Pablo, and Willi.

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Before we knew it, we were halfway done with our time in Ireland and headed for the US for our annual campout and to catch up with family in Colorado. We had such a beautiful time. Not only did we get to meet our new niece Zoey for the first time, but our dear friends Vincent, Gina, and Lucca flew up to Denver and then continued on to the campout with us. We had such a great time!

We’d like to extend a massive thank you to Vincent for sharing some of his photos with us for this post.

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After our stay in New Zealand, we headed for Ireland. We wanted to spend the northern summer some place where Everett could play in the dirt and discover nature, without the interruptions of city life. We landed on a tiny little place just east of Cork, called Ballyshane, which was more perfect that we could have ever imagined.

We were beyond blessed to have a steady flow of visitors to share this magical place and give us reasons to explore, explore, explore. This set of photos is not in chronological order, instead we’ve grouped the sights together in a more geological method. Meaning, that with some of our favorite stops you’ll see photos from several different visits.

Speaking of photos, we’d like to send a big thank you to all of you who shared your photos with us to share here!

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After celebrating Everett’s first birthday, we spent the next few months properly catching up with the dear friends we’d been missing while we had been away. It had been nine months since we’d gone, so we had a lot to catch up on. We were so blessed to jump right back into the swing of things and had such a blast getting those bubbas back together again!

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We arrived back into Queenstown, NZ just days before Everett’s first birthday, after nine months away – we were so excited! We were very happy to be back to be able to share in this happy occasion with so many great friends and all the bubs Everett’s age. We had a great time planning and organizing his first party. We went with an UNO theme – what fun! And after spending a few late nights in Melbourne making decorations and getting things ready, all we had to do when we arrived was setup and have fun. And, have fun we did!

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For the new year, we decided we wanted to put a new stamp in our passports from a place none of us had ever visited. And, can you believe, we’d never been to Australia! We had heard incredible things about Melbourne and decided that would be our spot. Ross needed a great place for the rest of his marathon training and we wanted to be pretty close to the city center. We were lucky and landed on a great little apartment just a block from the Botanic Gardens. The location could not have been better. We met some amazing friends, spent loads of time outdoors, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute – even when it was 45+ C (115+ F) outside. What a beautiful way to jump start the summer!

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For Everett’s first Christmas, we were lucky to be able to get all of Lindsay’s family together up at Jes and Andrew’s. They always have a white Christmas and don’t mind lots of visitors – so it was the perfect place! Thankfully, it also wasn’t too cold this year – just one day of -40C! After a beautiful visit, Ross headed to Denver for a dear friend’s wedding, while Lindsay and Everett headed down to visit Great Grammy and Great Papa before joining Daddy in Denver. All in all, we couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas season!

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After a beautiful stay in Barcelona, we made our way back to Mexico once more, to spend the fall months. Jenn, Jerry, and kiddos had made their home in Playa del Carmen while we’d been away, and they were expecting baby #4. We couldn’t miss the opportunity to be there with them during that special time and spend a bit more time with all our lovely friends there. It couldn’t have been a better time.

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Barcelona – the city, the food, and especially our friends, will always hold a special place in our hearts. We were so excited to return and introduce them all to Everett and to share with him our favorite part of Europe, and one of our most favorite places in the world.

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After a beautiful couple of months in Mexico, we were so very excited to head back to the US to catch up with family and friends and introduce Everett to the rest of his family. We spent a beautiful week in northern Idaho, and a gorgeous week in Denver. All the while, reminiscing about old memories and creating new ones. It’s our hope that this trip helped to introduce Everett to some of our favorite traditions. If the smiles he shared with us along the way were any indication, he sure seemed to enjoy it just as much as we did.

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