Emily Christensen

Emily is a full-time working mama and wife raised in the Ouachita Mountains and currently navigating life in northern Missouri as she finishes up her PhD in chemistry. Over the years, adventure has become a part of her lifestyle, leading her and her husband Rocky into outdoor activities like hiking, scuba diving, camping, kayaking, fly fishing, and now parenting—their biggest adventure yet! Now Emily is applying her adventurous spirit into getting her family outside no matter the season to instill that same love of nature and exploration in their two-year-old son, and connecting with other families to inspire them to do the same. Find them on Instagram @hiking.home

Family Hiking: Best Tips for On the Trail

family hikes made easy

Family Hiking is the third installment of our new series: Mamas in the Wild: How We Survive When We Opt Outside, sponsored by REI. This four-part series focuses on real life mom-to-mom tips and tricks for getting outdoors with your family. Need to catch up? Check out the first and second posts in this series. … Read more

Muck Boot Family Review

muck boots family review

It’s that time of year! Winter is starting to give way to Spring and we are transitioning from cold ice and snow to wet mud and muck. (Don’t forget to check out all the tips in our recent post on surviving this sloshy season!) One of the biggest struggles with getting outdoors this time of … Read more

Preserving Wildhood: Engaging the Senses

Engaging the Senses

“Nature must be absorbed through our eyes, ears, nose, and pores as well as our minds. Few of us need to be convinced that holding a slug or beholding a sky full of stars on a warm summer night differ mightily from virtual alternatives. It’s this direct experience that is so powerful in fostering emotional … Read more

Kelty Journey PerfectFIT Elite Gear Review

Let me start this review by saying that if you asked either me or my two-year-old what is our favorite way to hike, we would both undoubtedly choose to hike with this Kelty Journey PerfectFit Elite carrier. My son because it is a major upgrade in visibility and comfort, and me because it means my … Read more

5 Best Tips to Building an Outdoor Family Lifestyle

5 Tips to Building an Outdoor Family Lifestyle as Working Parents

If you’re a family juggling busy work and kid schedules you’ve likely felt the tension between focusing on your career and spending time with your kids. We dream of having an adventurous outdoor family lifestyle, but find that we let our busy daily schedules get in the way of that. Insert here the worry and … Read more

Cooking Around the Campfire with Cast Iron

Cooking Around the Campfire with Cast Iron

Until just last year, I was completely unaware of how great cast iron could possibly be.  I was “one of those people” that was sick of sticking food in my pans (which I now know is due to poor seasoning) and the weight of cast iron.   Confession – when my husband and I got … Read more