love where you live.

we have lived in our house for almost 4 years now. a lot of growth has happened since we came out here. we have a frys grocery store minutes away. we have a target, ross, kohls, olive garden, and many more stores (not that i care much about most of the stores i listed)  in a new shopping center that is about 5 minutes away.  i always hated that i would have to go "in town" to do most of my shopping. "in town" is about 25 minutes away. i HATED the drive (kinda still do). i would tell mark all the time that i hate living so far out from everything.  i dont feel that way so much anymore. i take a weekly trip into town to run a few of my errands, such as the farmers market, goodwill or savers & costco if needed.  it doesnt bother me.  in fact, i am actually finding beauty all around me in this hot hell of a desert. (excuse my french).  and ive found that ive had to seek out that beauty. ive had to look for it with new, open eyes. ive had to face the fact that we may live out here for awhile, so i better start liking it or its going to be a long, miserable ride.

i am a small town girl at heart. i grew up in a house that had a huge field behind it with only a barb wire fence dividing the two. horses would graze in the tall grass. they would come up to our fence and we would feed them carrots and stroke their faces. i love open green spaces. my heart craves to be surrounded by farmland and trees as far as the eye can see. maybe someday, we will be able to experience that sort of view.
and you know what? i didnt quite realize i lived somewhere with all of the things i described, until i opened my eyes and looked at my surroundings.  i love that even though we live in the city, we can experience "not so city" surroundings. we see people riding horses down the street. there are cattle and horses everywhere on peoples property. we see goats, and my new favorite, the sheep.  there are tons of sheep! i love it.

so, im loving where i live.
and that is that.
here are some of my views down roads that we drive quite often. (from my phone, through my car window).