While in Idaho...

Having shared some snap shots of our life before the move you might find yourself wondering why we ever moved. We were, after all, choosing to take our children from the home and church they had known for almost a decade and take off to the unknown. Prior to arriving in Idaho this last June, neither the Mountain Man or I had ever set foot there.

Here we are on our first week in ID. Just playing around.

The Mountain Man’s family had left farming only a generation before his birth. His father vividly remembers growing up on a farm. Mountain Man spent his teenage years working on another family’s farm. As much as Mountain Man might call me a hippie, my family had been on ranch land in Wyoming until my grandfather and grandmother moved away with their children. Land is part of our heritage, living close to it and getting our food from it, not at a store but at the end of a day’s hard work. Even living in town my fondest childhood memories are of summer days with dinner straight out of my mother’s garden. Ultimately, we both wanted our family to be more self sufficient. We wanted our children to grow up with the obvious proof of the rewards of hard work that working land will provide. You plant, you nurture, and eventually, God willing, you eat the fruits of your labor. 

Obviously we could have bought land on the East Coast near our parents. His are both living on the Delmarva Peninsula and mine live in Florida. Why didn’t we just move outside of town with a bit of land? In our previous location visiting with grandparents was easy. Why would we set out across the country? We had both been drawn to the wide open spaces. Our visit to Crook County, Wyoming two years before had shown us both a place where there were more animals than people. The worst traffic jamb we experienced there had been four horses in the road. The scenery was breathtaking and awe inspiring.

We enjoy a sense of community and friends and family around but as the years have gone by we are seeing people who are increasingly busy. Busy and the years passing us by was a real fear as these kids grow… We moved looking for more connection, for life to follow the natural patterns set by season and weather, hoping for a closeness that comes with fewer people to know and more time in which to know them more deeply. In other words, we would like to be more intentional with our time. We would like to live more deeply.

My mom had this hanging when I was a child.

What did we do with our time once we arrived in Idaho? 

We had some family time.

Mountain Man's brother helped get the generator running.

Aunt's are fun to have around with Playdoh...

And the family enjoyed a meal.

Cat enjoyed time to work on her art, music, and writing.

One of her many drawings.

One of five instruments that lived with us in the trailer.

Looks like a serious writer to me!

I did  a little more of a few things I enjoy.

We went to farmer's markets, days in the park, and one awesome Fourth of July celebration at the 7N Ranch. http://www.7nranch.com/7N%20Ranch.html

Timber Wolf we met at the ID Falls Market.

Some of the many musicians we met at different parks in the area.

The Newby's amazing fireworks display!

 Adventurer said this was our best fourth of July ever!!!

 We went fishing, played in creeks, climbed trees, and took hikes.

 

So nice to have all this time together!

Come back for our next post so you can hear about scheduling a school year in a 26 foot trailer and what we did with our free time as it started to get cold. :-)

Dress up!