Happily Ever After... One Day At a Time: DAY 1707... In the Country

My favorite thing about living in Rexburg,

there really aren't many,

but one of my favorite things is that my parents live exactly 9 minutes away.

I love this for several reasons:

1. Because my children get to grow up right now knowing their Nana and Papa and Uncle Ryan so well. I try to take a ton of pictures, so when the ~~fantastic~~ sad day comes that we move, and they don't get to see my family as often as they do now, they will remember how much fun they had and all the memories that include Nana and Papa. I love when we drive up to my parents house. Benson always starts clapping and yelling, "Papa, Papa!"

2. My parents live in the country. They are surrounded by an Elk Farm (aka Sven), cows, horses and they have chickens! The chickens are the highlight of going to Nana and Papa's house. Whenever they have baby chicks, like right now because the neighbors devil dog killed all 6 of their growing hens, and last year killed a hen and their rooster, but don't worry the dog is dead now, my children literally walk into my parents house and right to the back door to go see "the babies". They talk about "the babies" all of them time. If we are ever at Nana's house and we ask Benson if he wants to see the babies, he runs to the back door and tries to open it. When we drive to my parents house, Benson basically sits in the back seat mooing the entire way there because he is obsessed with the cows.

3. My children learn more about hard work. Aniston has spent many a day gardening with my mom, or helping them mow the lawn, or helping papa manage his burn pile. Aniston knows that if she is spending more than 2 hours at their house, there will be chores involved. But to her, it's so worth it. She's obsessed with my parents and their house. Speaking of Papa's burn pile, we have also had some wicked bon fires out there and what kids doesn't love smores? What adult doesn't love smores?

4. I feel as though they get to be free. We manage an apartment complex and although they run around quite frequently outside our apartment, they can actually explore and run and get dirty at my parents house. My parents really are great and we have bought a plastic pool for the summer and are keeping it at their house. Pretty sure my Mom knows that this way she is guaranteed to have her grand babies at her house at least 3 times a week. We keep our target for our bow (more about this in an upcoming post) out there and honestly it's just nice to have a place where my children can scream and play and be kids without disturbing anyone else.

5. We eat a little more healthy this way. My parents are always giving us fresh eggs, and seriously, my kids would eat eggs all bloody day if I'd let them. Eggs and banana's. These fresh eggs, which Aniston loves to check for in the chicken house every time we go, taste so much better than the super expensive store bought ones. Plus, the brown eggs are beautiful! In the summer, we always have a ton of fresh vegetables from their garden, and their pumpkin patch is pretty bomb.