Hot springing

Our trip up to the mountains two hours out of town was pretty amazing. Getting out into nature and away from the problems and worries of your everyday life--it was pretty blissful. Just what we needed. We really like to escape to where there's no phone service, where we enter a different world from the one we live in on the daily, and just experience something different. This trip was just that. We were all happy, all ready for an adventure, and for those of you with kids, you know that elusive state where no one is bickering, the conversation is good, everyone's content and peaceful? It's pretty rare, especially with a big family, but that's what it felt like most of the weekend.

 driving up to where there's snow on the ground

 gorgeous views I had to snap on the road up to the hot springs

 this private property is amazing. I couldn't stop oohing and aahing over everything.

 not the usual roads we drive

 finding opalescent minerals in the puddles on the ground

 we arrived!

 snowballs?! I thought that was over and done with for the year. :)

 my loves

 relaxing in the warm water with my four

 girlies having too much fun

 silly grins

 love this leader of our family

 my one and only boy, who's never content to just sit there. always up to something.

 so glad a man volunteered to snap this family shot. i swear we glow every time we're here.

 the tiniest member of the clan. she loooved the water.

 that moment when she turns to me, puts her arms tight around my neck, and melts into me--I live for it.

 these man-made pools don't look very man-made in spots. you just feel a part of nature.

 my awkward pose and the yurt for changing. the best part is not having to change outside with little kids.

mountain ranch surrounded by so much beauty, snapped on the way back home. those fences are my fave.

Before we left the house Saturday morning, we booked a hotel room last-minute so we could go to bed after soaking instead of having to drive back home, wet and tired. You are so relaxed after sitting in the warm water for hours, and the last thing you want to do is stay alert and awake for two more hours on the drive home, so this was the best decision. We arrived in McCall after dark on Saturday, because of course we slept in first, took forever packing, and make a ton of stops along the drive (if only we all had catheters for the drive. kidding!). We headed straight for the hot springs, then after some effort trying to get Naomi to fall asleep that night, we all got some amazing, deep sleep and headed out for breakfast the next morning. There's a popular breakfast place there that holds so many memories for me, of my dating years and coming in with huge groups of friends. Now we come there with our rowdy kids. :) They sell Christmas ornaments there year-round as well, so we browsed and admired everything, and off we went for more hot springs. It was a pretty short trip, but it was exactly what we needed. I love this tradition of ours.

xoxo, 

Tanya

Thoughts on blogging

It's been two months since my last post..and frankly, I hoped this wouldn't happen again. I've taken breaks from blogging like this in the past, but I told myself I'd be consistent with posting things on time going forward. Obviously I've failed miserably again. I get really busy and overwhelmed with things in my life, and blogging is usually the first thing to go as I try to restore balance to my life once again. I just can't find my groove on here, or even with pulling the camera out to snap pictures of whatever we're doing.

It hasn't turned out how I imagined, and I've definitely contemplated just quitting before, because 1) it's really, REALLY time-consuming and 2) I want to focus on being with the kids while they're little and not wanting to take time away from that. I'm one of those people that likes to bite off more than they can chew, so sometimes it feels like the right thing to do is to scale back and give up blogging if I want to be realistic about it. But then the flip side is I love the memories I get to preserve on here, and I've dreamed of my own little blog for so long and I know it's a dream that isn't ready to die yet. I don't get a lot of comments on my posts (though I do know from Blogger statistics that people are reading), and I would have loved more interaction and more of a community on this blog. I know my popping in here and there hasn't exactly contributed to making that happen, so I understand some of the cause for that, but I wish people would stop trying to be so anonymous online. It's interesting that of all the people I know, I'm sure at least some of them have read my blog, yet not once has anyone mentioned reading it to me. Okay, maybe like once. It's as if it doesn't exist. And I find it interesting that some of my closest friends don't read my blog, because I think I would read my friends' blogs if they wrote one. Even my husband doesn't read it! So I guess I feel a lot of times that it's pointless anyway, so why spend the time. I've thought about making a book out of these posts for the kids to have as a kind of journal, but who knows if that will ever happen anyway..I don't know.

There are all these marks against it, but I don't think I'm ready to call it quits either. I think I just need to manage my time even better than I am and try my best to be productive and balanced in every area of my life so I will have energy left over at the end of the day for this blog. And consistency is something to work on as well, because I like to give it my all for a bit and then not be able to maintain it long-term. I've gained so much wisdom and so many tips and pointers from reading blogs over the years, and I've been able to relate and feel a sense of comradery with other bloggers, so I definitely see the value in it. Parenting can be so isolating sometimes, and just seeing someone else struggling with the things you struggle with can be really uplifting. I love being a part of that. Just bear with me as I come up for air every once in a while. :)

So I finish these thoughts with some pictures of a day we spent up in the mountains of McCall during the annual winter carnival back in the beginning of February. These were taken right before I stopped blogging.

On our way up the mountain. 

Frozen Payette Lake. 

When in town, we have to eat at My Father's House--they serve some of the best burgers and shakes I've had.

This is the only picture I got of Naomi all day. She napped while we were sledding, then while walking around town to look at ice sculptures, the last thing I wanted to do while pushing the stroller through slush and snow was taking my camera out and taking the baby out of the stroller. She basically sat bundled up in her stroller the whole time.

xoxo,
Tanya