Falling in Love

We are falling in love with Northwest Arkansas!

It has been a wonderful three weeks living here!  Actually, it feels like we have already lived here a lot longer than that.  We feel lucky to have loved every place we have lived so far - Logan, Bountiful, and now Arkansas.

Now that we have a yard, we needed a lawnmower to maintain it.  So, like most of the things we have bought for our home here, we looked on craigslist.  We saw one for sale, advertised that it was running, and he was willing to take only $40 for it.  So, we drove the hour through the Ozarks to get to his house.  Beautiful drive.  But then we pulled up to the double wide trailer, with a car and its parts strewn across the lawn in front, with lots of other stuff strewn across the lawn as well.  The guy was sitting under a tree smoking.  Yep. This was the Arkansas we had pictured, just hadn't seen any of it yet! Calder and I stayed in the truck while Craig chatted with him.  Turns out the lawnmower did work - only when you tightened the wire he had hooked onto the bottom to engage the mower blades...awesome. But we had come so far, and it actually does run well and does the job great!

Since we were an hour away from home already, we decided to stop by a town called Eureka Springs. It is an older town - and actually reminded me a lot of the older part/main street in Park City.  Skinny roads, small  two or three story buildings that line the streets that now have little boutiques in them,  It was fun to see, and had a lot of character.  Apparently, the springs are (or used to be) rumored to have healing powers/properties.  So during the civil war, (and other times throughout history) injured soldiers would go up to the springs to stay.  Calder was thrilled with the ice cream cones we bought.

Devouring his ice cream

Northwest Arkansas (where we live) is a little hidden gem.  From what we hear from the other residents, it is completely different from the rest of the state.  (as far as the landscape, culture, etc.)  It is beautiful here!  There are so many trees - I love being able to look in the distance, and see just trees on the horizon.  It is gorgeous!  We live in a more rolling-hills type landscape, which makes it so that you can't see the Ozarks, even though they are only 15 or 20 minutes away.  And while they don't compare to the Rocky Mountains, they are still big enough that I would consider them mountains.  The views while driving through them are breathtaking!

We live literally 3 minutes away from Craig's work.  It is awesome!  He is able to come home for lunch some days.  Calder gets so excited when he sees him at the door. :)

Our ward has been amazing!  They have been so welcoming.  We have been over to several people's houses for dinner, and the other stay at home moms are so good to invite Calder and I to play groups and trips to the park.  It has made the transition really easy, and lessens my stress level about where/who Calder is going to stay with when the time comes for this little girl to make her debut.

At a recent playdate - we went for a little hike/walk. Calder had a blast playing in the little creek.

We are loving the extra room we have here, and occasionally we see a little bunny in our backyard.  I think he lives under our shed.  Calder always wants to go outside and tell him goodnight. :)

Our little visitor

We have been loving the little adventures we get to take as a family: trips to the swimming pool, Crystal Bridges (a museum surrounded by gorgeous landscape), the ward 4th of July breakfast and bike parade, etc.  And we look forward to the many other family-friendly activities we have heard about.

Crystal Bridges museum

The 4th of July bike parade!