Happy Holidays! 🎄

I started rock climbing with my husband in June of 2024. To be honest, I was pretty scared for the first few months, but by September, I had passed my belay test and entered my first climbing contest at our gym. Like running, climbing is a fun sole sport that I enjoy pushing my limits on.

One year later, I decided I was ready to start my outdoor climbing adventure. In Colorado there are so many beautiful spots and Staunton State Park became our favorite to do together this past summer. So when our anniversary approached, I thought what better way to celebrate our first year married than to do a photo shoot to capture who are are now!

I had the idea one day driving. Of my on a rock with a big flowing dress. I immediately drove to my favorite thrift store and found this green dress ($6!!!) and looked on The Real Real for some nice climbing pants for my husband. He loves Arcteryx (but has nothing from them since it is so expensive!) I found him this red pair new with tags! Then he worn his wedding shirt and I a matching set from Lululemon that I had gotten the year before. Red and Green FTW! :)

When the day of our shoot came, one of my good friends from work who is a certified climbing instructor and photographer, met us at Staunton State Park, at 4AM! We hiked up to our chosen rock and he and my husband set the route we'd be climbing for our shots. This took about an hour. Then we had to ascend the wall by pulling ourselves up.

I climbed up first, it was tough but with the help of our photographer, I got locked in place. Then my husband climbed up to meet me and the magic began!

It was the perfect way to spend our first wedding anniversary, capturing who we are now. I love planning our holiday cards each year and so far this is the best! I'm not sure how I am going to top it! But we plan on traveling abroad next year and fingers crossed get into the Chicago Marathon, so there will lots of options to choose from!

From us to you, have a wonderful holiday season and 2026! xx Meg