We may be living in the country, but the men in the house made sure the Direct TV was hooked up the first day--it was Super Bowl weekend after all!

The Logan Hickens (we are the Mendon Hickens) were so much help that first few days: picking up food for the moving crew, getting us supplies like snow shovels and pantry organizers, feeding us Sunday dinner, and organizing my kitchen. That reminds me--Shirlene, I owe you money!

The girls arrived late at night and couldn't see anything when they got to the new house. First thing the next morning they went out with Matt to meet our closest "neighbors".

Little things I'm appreciating in our new small-town, country, mountain living:
A little snow doesn't stop the locals. The first day of mulch delivery was perfectly clear, day 2 however was a different story and they still showed up! Also, did you know mulch can smell really good? We had 5 dump truck loads of mulch brought in and the type Matt bought from the landfill has pine tree shavings and it smells like we are up in the middle of the forest when we step outside--who knew?!


Small-town post offices are very quaint and the postmaster knows everyone by name. We do not even have a mailbox--we go to the Post Office and get our mail from our PO Box.

Even things like trash pick-up take on a whole new meaning. When we roll out our cans to the curb here it involves loading the cans into the truck and driving them down to the paved road. The girls would never have considered offering to roll up the trash cans after pick-up before. Here it's an adventure.

If you look closely in the picture below you will see 2 trash cans in the distance being rolled back to the house:



The dogs LOVE not being on leashes when they go for walks. Zoro literally leaps and bounces through the fields while the girls walk or ride bikes or drive the mini-car. And who knew he would love the snow so much--he cannot keep from rolling around in the snow with delight. I wouldn't say the 2 small dogs are as thrilled with the snow although they do seem to be adapting and have learned the tire tracks aren't nearly as deep and much easier to do their business on :)


This area has had an extremely mild winter which was great for moving but the girls have really been anxious for some snow. The first day it snowed (when the mulch was being delivered) it didn't last long but they took advantage of it. Matt had to run into WalMart and purchase a few winter toys including a couple sleds.




Then Saturday night, we got a bunch of snow that has stayed around. Of course Matt is in Texas so I had to figure out how to operate the shovel Greg and Shirlene got us so I could make a path for the dogs to get out and do their business. Our circle drive all of the sudden looked very big from behind a snow shovel (I believe a snow blower of some sort will be on our "things to buy" list). Gratefully, the builder of our home has a tractor and because he is building another home out here, he takes care of the gravel road that leads to our house. Who knew I'd be so happy to see this out my window Sunday morning--we would be able to make it to church thanks to Dan:

The people have been very kind and welcoming. I know there are pluses and minuses to a small town but so far we are happy with the area. We are considered out on the very edge of town, so we really have a lot of privacy. In fact, nobody even knew that the previous owners had sold their house and when we introduced our family at church and said we had moved into their home, people were quite surprised! Word does get around quickly however--example: Matt pulled over to help at an accident on the way home the other day and got to talking with another man at the scene and when Matt introduced himself as having just moved here, the man remarked "I heard there were some new people from Texas"!
My favorite thing so far--the views from my windows. This is what I fell in love with the first time we walked through the home. All of these pictures were taken from inside the house except for the one of the horses in the snow--I took that with my phone one early morning when I was letting the dogs out to do their business. As we rounded the corner of the house, that is what I saw and it took my breath away. The dogs have selected my office window seat as their favorite place to look out at the views :) And look at the views the girls have from their "class room"! I hope I never grow tired of or take for granted the beauty of this valley. There is just something about the mountains that bring me peace.







There are definitely adjustments and things to learn in this new life but I am trying to recognize all the good things and be grateful for the blessings associated with living here. Not every moment or every day are perfect by any means, but I am enjoying the challenges as well as the benefits of our new home.