Just for the heck of it

There is a blog that I follow because I love the way the blogger presents her messages and I admire the fact that she is trying to find if she can "truly have [her] cake and eat it too" as her blog says. I find her message can be inspiring at times.  She writes real life on her blog not just a happy-sun-shines-and-daisies, but struggles and things that she wishes she were better at.  A person who not only can identify their flaws, but can announce them to the blogging world is a person who can be comfortable in their own skin and can give advice as well as take it. I don't have kids, but some day I will, and so I love to hear her stories about her daughter.  I understand her inner battle of wanting to work and fulfill herself so that she can have a time and place for herself while still being a mom.  I identify with her in the whole wanting/planning/preparing for children, but when the time is right.

Anyways, just for the heck of it I entered a contest on her blog to win a really pretty dress from Shabby Apple.  If you haven't been to their website, well go there!!  They have some of the cutest clothes!!  Someday, I want to have some of their dresses in my closest!  It is a dream of mine... may sound shallow, but seriously if you go check out their website then you will want some of their clothes in your closet too!

Here is the website to the blog that I was talking about (along with a picture of the dress I loved!): http://babymakingmachine.blogspot.com/2012/03/st-patricks-day-mini-mod-17-and-shabby.html

Here is Shabby Apple's website: http://www.shabbyapple.com

I hope you have fun looking around!

Beauty

In my last post I had mentioned that living up here has made me realize that living in the snow has its perks.  One of those perks is being able to watch mother nature act in a way I never knew before.  I love the sights and sounds of snow.  I don't have to look far to admire the beauty that is all around me here when snow does make its way down.

I took the following photo because it is one of the first times I had seen an icicle in real life, right before my eyes

Ok, so there are a lot of little ones on it, but still I say it counts. :)  I also like the way the picture flows and for some reason it captures my eyes and makes me reflect on lines and how they can create a picture.


This next photo was cool for me because it took me back to my jr. high science class when we grew rock candy crystals in the lab.  I remember them tasting horrible, but they looked so cool.  The fact that I had grown them and that the experiment actually turned out was what made me so proud that day.

I took this next photo because I have always loved the look of trees all nicely aligned.  Maybe it is because I am naturally a person who likes to be organized.  Maybe it is because I find it fascinating that it is so abnormal for trees to be growing all aligned like soldiers.  I just know that this was a moment in time that I wanted to remember and wanted to capture so that I could hold on to the memories of it.

In this next picture wanted to capture the drift of the snow.  As you may well know I am new to the abilities of snow and I was fascinated this particular day to see how the snow lands on different parts of the branches.  When snow falls, it goes everywhere... duh, but my point being is that there are millions and billions of snow flakes falling, how is it that some land on branches and decorate the leaf-ridden tree to dress it for winter.

Here is another example of how the snow decorated my tree out in the front yard.

Growing up on the Central Coast of California and being able to watch the sunset on the beach I thought I was spoiled to see the most wonderful sunsets ever.  I thought that there would never be anything more beautiful then to see the sun going down past the ocean, as if it is sinking in to the water to light the world under the ocean.  I am delighted to say that some of the sunsets here have proven me wrong.  The sun may not be setting on the ocean, but it definitely gives a good show for setting behind the mountains.  I couldn't help but be so very grateful for the ability to watch the sunset and to see the gorgeous colors that it brings on.

This picture was taken on one of the most windy/snowy days we have seen.  The heavy snow had fallen and it was still coming down a little bit, but the winds were spreading it everywhere.  The picture looks like it is fuzzy and maybe looks like it is out of focus, but that is the winds and the snow blustering around outside.  It was so cool to see the looser snow gliding across the packed snow.  It was cool to step in an actual foot of snow.  This was the first time it had snowed hard enough to bring a bunch of it to our back yard.  I was so excited that I went outside to go play.  My dogs came out with me too and we all went crazy playing in the snow that went to just under my knees.

This last photo is one that I absolutely love.  It captures the winter wonderland that came and went so soon.  I  can honestly say that this is one of the prettiest things I have seen that snow can do.

I am blessed to be able to see winter this year and to experience the new life style that it brings.  I can say that I am so ready for Spring, ready to see all the trees around my house with leaves on them and ready for the birds and the flowers.  I am ready for the warmth that comes with the new season.  I hope everybody's winter was as fun as mine and that Spring time brings new life and happiness to you!

Snow...

The definition for snow is: frozen precipitation that falls in small white flakes.

To the natives here in Idaho, this year was a very very light winter, but to me, as a first time dweller in the snow, I thought it was enough to get the idea that snow is kinda fun and can be very pretty at times.  It can also be overrated, slippery, annoying and just plain cold.

We have loved the snow for the most part and made some new memories being able to play in it.  My sister, Carolyn, knew of a great hill on campus where we could go sledding.

Before we started we saw a well built snowman and just couldn't resist the picture opportunity.

After our photo-op with the snowman we turned our eyes toward the hill.  The hill looked amazingly fun from the bottom of it.  The climb up it in the snow was hard because there were no formal steps or a path to go up, so we just chose a spot and started climbing and climb we did.  It was almost straight up at some points.  Never fear though, we made it to the top (as you can tell from the picture below).  I was so nervous because I was scared that the bumps we had used on the way up to help grasp would in turn make for a bumpy ride down.  We found the smoothest part to go down and shouted "One, two, three..!"  and down the hill we went!  I don't think I have felt that much of a rush since going on the roller coasters at California Adventure for the first time.  It was amazing!  What I didn't realize (or plan on) was that on the way down I would get snow in my pants, up my nose, in my boots, down my jacket, in my hood, and everywhere else.  Note to self for next time: wear Under Armour so as to stay just a little but warmer.

This was my first time being able to go down a hill sledding!  It was amazing!!

Results= very happy and so ready to do it again!

Carolyn was with us on our first time down too!  She was the bravest because she sat in the front for the first time down.  We did hit one bump that caught her bum and made her soar for some days to come, but I know she had so much fun with us.

Carolyn and all the snow that got in our sled the first time we went down the big hill.

So we decided that once was not enough, and we went back up for another round of fun.  And another.  After that we decided it was a bit to dark where we were to go again (and frankly that hill was killer to climb up) so we decided to go to a littler hill across town by the hospital.  That was fun too, just in it's own way.

It was little enough for me to brave going down face first.  I would absolutely do it again (it was also a much smoother ride down since under us was grass and not a bunch of little plants under packed snow).

Here are some more pictures from the smaller hill.  We all took turns going down together.

It was a good time over all and we will probably be doing it again next year!