We've been living in a land of snowy white ever since we arrived in Idaho. The weather is well below freezing, rarely climbing out of the negative temperatures. I've experienced the "frozen nose hairs" feeling, and realized it's just that my nose is trying to run, but it gets frozen and crackly before it can actually run out of my nose. Such a strange feeling!
We've been so spoiled with the temperate climate of the Oregon coast. We have yet to find a climate we enjoy more.
Here, the air is crispy dry, so I live in a world of chapped lips and static (if you're not aware, I HATE static about as much as most people hate being vomited on by dogs). I HAVE to apply lotion AND chapstick on the kids before they go to bed or else their eczema flares up and their lips are bloody in the morning. It really is a shock to our systems to be in this climate. The strangest thing is getting used to our chips and cookies going stale rather than soggy when the bags are left open.
You may be wondering what makes all the lotion, humidifier, chapstick and snowclothes nightmare worth while. Easy. Watching the kids catch snowflakes on their tongues!
Brace yourself. We did something we've never done in the history of our (almost) 9 years as the Hyrum Johnson family.
Are you ready for it?
You sure?
We joined our Smith family for a major national holiday for the first time, EVER!
I know. Shocking. But true. I think the Smiths are probably still wondering if it actually happened.
We went straight from Myrtle Point, with our caravan of moving vehicles, to Rexburg, where we dropped the Uhaul and trailers so we could drive out to Driggs for the holiday.
We gathered in a "cabin", if you can call a mansion made of logs a cabin, for the festivities and caught up on lost time. It was right next to the Tetons and was filled with animal skins and heads, and even a few lifelike animals, namely a badger, that I thought even my brother-in-law, Edward, would appreciate.
Kiersa has 2 cousins in the Smith family (Ellie and Lincoln) within weeks of her age whom she's never met.
This was her chance to meet them and play with them, but she ended up acting shy for most of the time.
At least she wasn't afraid of cuddling her Grandma Sheri!
She did end up doing some playing with her cousins before we left.
Talea thought she'd died and gone to heaven when she saw all the snow. We didn't have any snow clothes or boots for her, but she couldn't resist going outside to play, so she went through several pairs of pants, shoes and socks while we were there. I barely saw the girl the entire time we were there!
Paisli got to reunite with Omar. I was hoping he'd teach Paisli how to crawl on her hands and knees, but she refused to do it. She's completely satisfied with army crawling for now.
We chatted, watched movies, played games,
played in the snow, ate and ate and ate, admired the view of the Tetons, and slept. Dallas even had some nightly visitors in his bed. Each morning he woke up to fresh mouse turds all around next to him. They even climbed the bunk ladder to visit Weston. I figure the Driggs mice got word from their Ashland cousins that the twins were coming and would appreciate a mousey visit to make them feel more at home.
Even so, it was beautiful, comfortable, the weather was great, the company was perfect, and the time to relax and unwind from the stress of moving was priceless.
One last look at our 400 sq ft apartment we've been living in since the day I came home from the hospital after giving birth to Kiersa (so 21 months). We had 4 kids in it with us for 9 months (plus an additional 1 to 4 more people for several months at a time depending on the time of year).
One last family picture in front of the house we almost finished remodeling. Our personal "Money Pit" (rent the movie if you want to see a glimpse into what we went through).
Here are the vehicles it required to move our family (keep in mind, we had already taken a small cargo trailer and a car out to Idaho in October.)
The largest U Haul truck pulling the largest U Haul trailer (driven by Hyrum),
our 15 passenger van pulling a large cargo trailer (driven by me),
and our minivan pulling our utility trailer (driven by Dallas and Weston, who played hookie from school for the move).
All the vehicles were crammed full! How did we accumulate so much stuff? Good thing we're done having kids or we'd never be able to move again!
On our way out to Idaho, we fueled up at this station.
I'd say it was very appropriate, considering our family mascot.
Paisli and Kiersa Paisli Tilly Hyrum (Tilly took this one.)
Paisli loves to fall asleep by putting her hand in her Daddy's mouth so he can suck on her fingers. She only does this for Daddy.
Paisli (Ready to get up!)
Cute little teeth...
attached to a filthy body. I can't wait until Paisli's walking instead of dragging herself around!
Kiersa and Tilly collecting autumn leaves for a school project. I think Kiersa will end up being Tilly's tree-climbing partner.
Ah, documenting the damage from our stupid wall heaters. Let's see, what has accidentally been shoved against a heater and been melted? The long list of damaged items includes (among other things): Nial's backpack Tilly's fairy wings The sub woofer for our stereo system My laundry basket that I can't find a duplicate of Paisli's carseat that I love (of course right before I was going to sell it)
On the 14th, we finally did something we've been wanting to do since we moved to the coast. We went crabbing! I had a short list of things I wanted to do before moving away from the ocean and crabbing was at the top of that list. We never did get to go clamming or visit Tillamook and the northern Oregon coast cities, but we did go crabbing and eat a peanut butter milkshake from Sue's Kitchen.
The milkshake was heavenly!
We missed the ideal crabbing time by an hour or so, but it was still SUPER fun and was so simple! We should have done it ages ago.
We went to the docks in Bandon and rented two pots. Hyrum skewered chicken on the hooks
and tossed the pots out.
The sea lions were swimming close by,
but they never stole our bait. I hear they prefer the fish over the chicken.
While we waited for the baskets to fill,
the kids played on the animal carvings by the dock that Nana took them to play on once before.
Kiersa's new obsession is trying to skip like the big kids. It's so funny to watch!
We pulled in a lot of crabs,
but they were mostly female and all too small.
This is where the females keep their eggs. None in this one though.
Tossing them back in the ocean was trickier than I imagined. They clung to the pots...
and they would stare you down as you approached them to pick them up, waving a warning pincher claw at you all the while.
We mostly just had the kids chase them to the water.
So now the test...could we get the kids to touch a crab?
Paisli wasn't afraid!
But Hyatt was less than enthusiastic to put his fingers in any peril. He thought it was fun to look at them,
but his countenance changed completely when he was faced with the challenge of actually touching one. The most he'd do was touch a back leg.
Hyatt's hilarious because whenever he senses any danger (scary stories or voices, crabs, etc), he pulls his hood over his head to hide. If he doesn't have a hood, he just pulls his shirt up over his head.
Talea, being the creature lover she is, knew she could do better. Not only did she touch a leg,
she let it crawl up her arm!
And, she learned how to pick them up from the back so she wouldn't get pinched.
But what fun is toying with the danger of crabs if you're not going to see if the pinch actually hurts? Talea tested it of course...and enjoyed it!
According to Talea, a praying mantis pinch is more painful than a crab pinch.
When I tried to get Kiersa to touch a crab, she looked at me as though to say, "Do you think I'm THAT stupid?"
She mostly just liked watching the seagulls...
I, on the other hand, was less than thrilled to have the feathered rodents pestering us since they kept hanging around trying to steal our bait and our catch. Plus, one even pooped on me in an aerial fly-by!
Kids make each adventure so much more fun, don't they?
Paisli is such a smiler! And it models her new tooth she just cut. She has 4 teeth now.
