Panic is beginning to set in, so obviously I'm blogging. Because I like to avoid the task at hand when I am feeling anxious. And I also realize that if I don't slap the photos from this winter onto the ol' blog, it might be another several months before we are out of boxes and I'm ready to post again. Gotta get this done.
Yes, we are moving again. AGAIN. Last summer, we moved from one rental to another, just within Twin Falls--but this summer (eh hem, in one week), we are making a big, permanent move. We bought our first home and everything!
We are moving to Hailey, Idaho, which is about 20 minutes outside of Sun Valley in the mountains. Ryan is going to continue working for the same dental office, but he is buying in as a partner, and he is going to run their small satellite office in Hailey. I think it will be a great fit for him, with a slower pace in a mountain town that he loves. He grew up going to his grandpa's cabin in Sun Valley, and he is excited to teach our kids to ski, mountain bike, fish, etc.
I am up for it too, though it will be an adjustment. Hailey only has 10,000 people and no stores like Walmart, Costco, or really any chain. I don't think I would be able to do it if it weren't for Amazon Prime!
But honestly the thing that scares me the most is the longer winters. Because man do I struggle emotionally in the winter. (More on that in a second.) And in Hailey, winter will be longer and colder and snowier. My only saving grace is that in spite of the snow and cold, it is actually sunny there year-round (hence the nickname "Sun Valley") and that could make all the difference for my mental health and state of mind. I think I can deal with winter as long as it's not six months of gray and dreary.
Which leads to the real topic of this post...photos from the past winter. I just have to admit upfront that this winter was a doozy for me. I was still adjusting to my medications for Intracranial Hypertension, so on top of my regular seasonal depression, I had intense depression from the meds. I think it was probably the lowest I have ever been, mostly manifesting in total apathy towards everything in my life. I could barely muster the motivation to get out of bed, which is not like me at all. I finally convinced my doctor to switch me from that particular medication, and I am happy to report that I am feeling so much better. This new medicine isn't without uncomfortable side effects, but it is 50x better than trying to function with that level of mental fog and depression.
So that was no fun. And when you add to that that Idaho had the snowiest winter it has had in decades, it was one heck of a few months. In January and February, we literally had feet and feet of snow envelope our city. The local schools had something like eight snow days, and there were just huge snow drifts everywhere, which is really unusual for Twin Falls. I heard that we had more snow this winter than in the past twenty years combined. I'm not sure if that's true, but these photos of this year's spring run-off at Shoshone Falls seem to back that up! Crazy!
Noah and Ryan spent a lot of time shoveling. Sally and I helped a little, but the boys enjoyed doing it so much that we decided to just let them do most of the heavy lifting. ;) And hey, when they came inside with their red cheeks, we had hot cocoa ready!
Noah truly loves shoveling snow, and he could play outside in it for hours. One day he came in and proudly told me that he and his dad had built a "tremendous snowhill!" Ha! I love that kid's vocabulary. And I think he will enjoy life in snowy Hailey just fine.
Noah and Ryan also got away on a little adventure with friends one Saturday morning: ice fishing! It was a first time for both of them, and they loved it. Noah caught a big one!
Bapa
came to see us one weekend and spent lots of time playing with the
kids, going for pancakes at McDonalds per tradition (classy!), and skiing
with Noah! All the fun wore everyone out. ;)
And speaking of skiing, Ryan said it was a truly epic ski season. Sun Valley reported having some of their best snow ever, and Ryan was itching to get on those slopes every chance he could get!
We
even got Sally out on the slopes for a day. Dad took her on the big chairlift and everything! She enjoyed whizzing
between her dad's legs, though she mostly wanted to talk about having a
hot dog at the lodge when she was done. I was standing at the bottom of
the hill taking a video, and I could hear her jabbering about her hot
dog all the way down. Ha!
When
we got into the lodge and got her a snack, a nice man walked by and
asked her if she had gone skiing that day. I said, "Yes, it was her very
first time!" He made a big fuss over her, and she said, "Do you want to
see me skiing??" and grabbed my phone to show him a video. ;) He was such a good sport to
watch a two minute long video of her slowly winding down the hill
between her dad's legs, and she was grinning from ear to ear the whole
time he watched.
In between the various winter sports and outings, there was lots of
downtime at home, with Mom not feeling good. The weather kept us
trapped inside a lot and when school got cancelled for days and days in a
row, the days felt so long and hard.
But
I have to admit that as I flipped through these photos of the everyday, crazy moments with my little ones, I started
to hear that corny old country song playing in my head: "You're gonna
miss this, you're gonna want this back. You're gonna wish these days,
hadn't gone by so fast. These are some good years, so take a good look
around. You may not know it now, but you're gonna miss this."
From
colorful baths and smoothie mustaches, to terrible mornings when the
kids crawl all over me and fight with each each other, to chaotic dinners when Ryan tries to read us
the scriptures and not a soul listens...to Noah's endless creations and
Sally's endless mischief...from boat building to jumping off the mantel because it's too snowy to go to the
playground...it's a good good life.
And when they are grown, I know I'm going to miss it.
