And Then Life Takes a Turn...

I've been teasing you with a promised post on Christmas ornaments for a few weeks, and I promise I did start writing it today.  But then I got an email about a job opening that would be so PERFECT for my husband and I got completely carried away and Christmas ornaments just don't sound that interesting anymore.

What's the job, you're asking?  Well, I'm not going to tell you everything because he hasn't even filled out the application, but recently he told me what he really wanted to be doing was working in the great outdoors.  He's always loved biking, hiking, skiing, and is crazy adventurous.  This job would allow him to do all of those things plus a whole lot more...for a living.

What would the job mean for me?  He'd be gone A LOT.  It'd mean a summer of me and 4 kids figuring things out on our own.  It could mean giving up our house and bumming couches from friends and family all summer instead of continuing our search for a bigger place we can all fit in.  It could mean a lot of traveling to where he is, including a trip up the ALCAN Highway with my minivan, a 5-year-old, 2-year-old and 9 month old twins.  It could mean saving a lot of money or turn into having absolutely no money.  And most importantly, it would mean being so incredibly proud of my husband for giving up the security of a decent paycheck at a ho-hum job to do something that he really loves to do!  It'd give me hope for my own dreams coming true in the future, too!

I'll let you know how it all turns out, but for now know that I have a HUGE grin on my face.  And forgive me for not getting around to that very "settled down and domesticated" post I'd been promising...maybe in a few days when I come down off this high..

Uniquely December: Winter Solstice

Officially, the winter solstice does not strike until late late tonight and so a lot of time zones in the world will recognize this year's winter solstice on the 22nd.  Where I live, however, the official start of winter will be at 10:30pm and so I'm celebrating today.

Having lived so long in Alaska's Midnight Sun, the Summer Solstice is my big celebration holiday.  I have a big get together in June every year.  I did spend one winter up there, though, and can tell you the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere takes on a whole new meaning in the extreme north.  In Fairbanks, where I lived, a good share of the winter months barely see the shades of dusk in the middle of the day.  Literally, the sun will barely break the horizon, move across the sky, and then retreat.  The whole sunrise, daylight, sunset process happened between 11 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.  (Makes for a really dark day when you go to work in the dark and go home from work in the dark)

In complete contrast, I've spent more than one winter solstice on the opposite half of the world.  In the Southern Hemisphere, the December solstice marks the longest day of the year.  Ah, summer!  I need to figure out a way to swap hemispheres halfway through the year and get double the summer solstice partying and festivities!

Now I'm curious-

What does the solstice look like where you are today?

Uniquely December: International Mountain Day

Out my front door right now I can see the snow-topped mountains of Utah's Wasatch Mountain Range and it has me pondering the journey I've taken to get me here from where I grew up on the grassy Midwest plains.

My first trip to the mountains was on a church youth group retreat before I graduated high school.  We took a 14-hour charter bus ride to Estes Park, Colorado and toured through the Rocky Mountain National Park.  Hanging over the edge as the bus crawled around the curves nearly had me jumping out of my skin.  And to this day I think back to our day of cliff rappelling as my first real-life faith lesson (which I failed miserably, but continue to learn from).  

My next foray into the mountains came in a big way the day I left home in my car driving to Alaska.  No person, driving solo for days in early spring over the ALCAN Highway, can say they've stayed sane.  But Alaska grew on me and living within view of Mt. McKinley off and on for eight years gave me a great appreciation for the wonder and magnificence of the Earth and it's Creator.

Several years ago I got to travel with my family to Switzerland where we spent the day shadowed by the Matterhorn.  It was beautiful and impossible not to marvel at it's grandeur as it slipped in and out of it's cover of clouds.

Now here I am living in Utah.  My husband grew up in the mountains and feels out of place in wide open spaces.  My 4-year-old is learning how to ski and I realize I'm now raising mountain boys.  When I first moved here I thought for sure I'd never take the mountains for granted, but the day did come when I was driving down the freeway and was struck by the thought that I hadn't given the mountains any thought for longer than I could remember.  And then the day came when I'd flown back to visit the land of my childhood, but only felt like I was "home" as I flew back over the Wasatch Range to land in Salt Lake City.  

The mountains have come to mean a great deal to me?  What impact have they had on you?

Reminder: Come Camping With Me!

I have an invitation for you!  I'm going camping and I want you to come along...WAIT...I know you don't live near me, but keep reading...it's going to be exciting!

Camping has always been a fun activity for me, my friends,and my family.  Growing up I was a proud member of Campfire Boys and Girls and have innumerable memories of the camping trips that made it possible for me to participate in (most of the trips involved being soaked in the rain and eating food we thought was disgusting, but they still make me laugh and smile).

In high school my parents rented a group campsite at our local lake and allowed each of my sisters and I to invite friends for a weekend of outdoor adventure.  It was a first camping experience for several of the kids who came along and we felt like the luckiest family on the planet!

And now that I'm grown?  I still love camping!  In my early (and poor) married days my husband and I made it a priority to buy quality camping equipment.  It served us well while we working and playing in Alaska and has lasted long enough to introduce our two little boys to the joys of sleeping outside.  Living in Utah we have the ability to camp in the most amazing places and try to take the opportunity as often as possible.

That brings me to the invitation I teased you with at the beginning...

The National Wildlife Federation, REI, and KOA are hosting the 2011 Great American Backyard Campout on Saturday, June 25th.  The Great American Backyard Campout provides an opportunity to support NWF’s work to return nature to childhood for the health benefits and for the fun of it!  My personal memories of camping, as well as the joy of watching my little boys outside, inspired me to join the fun and I want you to share it with me.

So what do you do?  Join the team at http://online.nwf.org/goto/campwithme.  Then start planning your adventure and share the excitement with your friends and family.  How fun to have a team spanning the entire country!  Participate on the team website or leave a comment here to let me know what you are planning.  

Then, the week following the campout, share your experiences on the Wandering Still Facebook page for a chance to win a gift to inspire you to spend more time this summer in the great outdoors (more information on the giveaway posted on FB June 24th).

I look forward to seeing you out there!

Wandering Still? What It Means To Me

My Past
Small town Iowa girls don't often take far trips from home.  From birth to age 17 the longest trip I had taken was a three-hour road trip to my uncle's house in Weeping Water, Nebraska.  Then my mom blew everything out of the water.  Attempting to get me away from an abusive high-school boyfriend, she loaded me on a plane and sent me 8 flight hours away to the European continent.

Now, don't go thinking this was normal for my family.  We grew up on hand-me-down clothes and Hamburger Helper with twice the noodles and half the meat.  Fate just happened to intervene that year and I became the first student  hosted by our local Lions Club in a Youth Camp and Exchange Program. Traveling to Brussels with 25 Iowa teenagers and then embarking on a 6-week solo adventure with host families in the Netherlands was the most frightening enterprise imaginable.

I came home at the end of that summer an altogether different girl (yes, I did get rid of the loser of a boyfriend soon after).  Wanderlust has been a part of me ever since.  It prompted me to study Hospitality Management and released me from the Midwest to see the world.  Working seasonal hotel jobs, I lived on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and all over the state of Alaska.  Because they were seasonal jobs, and in the tourism industry, I was also afforded months of open-ended travel.  My mid-twenties found me gallivanting around the globe and culminated in a 4-month backpacking/cruising trip that hopped from the Caribbean to western Mexico, from southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand.  Those are the days that spoiled me!

My Present
I'm married to a native Utahn and that has been my dwelling for the past 7 years.  Within 9 months of moving here I had experienced more of what this diverse state has to offer than a friend who'd been going to school here more than 3 years.  As a married couple, and now as a family with two young boys, we've made it a priority to continue getting out to see what there is to see.

People often give us long sideways glances after hearing of the next trip we're planning or reading about our latest exploits on our family blog, It's What We Do.  What they usually fail to understand is that while they're spending their free money on clothes, eating out, and movies, we're bundling ours together and escaping the humdrum of our every day lives.  The ultimate example of these glances, and our own sacrifices, was a 6-week trip to Europe in celebration of my husband's college graduation and our son's 1st birthday.  More than anything, it proved to me that I was still me and the doors of the world hadn't closed when I said, "I do."

My Future
A day does not go by without me gazing out my window wondering where else there is to be.  Traveling is now inherently in me.  I used to passionately proclaim that, "You don't have to settle down until your kids are in school!"  I want my family to share the world with me.  Some argue that toddlers and infants are too little to even know, that world travel is wasted until they're old enough to read the places they are going.  I don't agree.  My 3-year-old son Beck is a map-lover!  He will stop every 10 steps, lay down his map, and recalculate which way we should be heading.  I want him and his baby brother Peyton to start out right from the beginning with a love and appreciation for exploring.

Peyton will turn 1 in March and I want more than anything to be somewhere exotic on his birthday.  Not to be snobby, but for him to look back in 20 years and know that that is who we were.  Beck starts school in less than 2 years.  I want more than anything not to put him on the bus for his first day of kindergarten with the regret that we never got him out of here.

Ben and I are working on a goal.  By January 1, 2012, we are going to be out of here.  Maybe we won't be continent-hopping like I'd once dreamed, but we will be packed and jet-setting to somewhere more exotic than Lindon, Utah.  And, then, who knows...kids can do complete K-12 programs online now...the world doesn't have to settle in on me!

Women In Deed

Two thoughts on my mind today.  First, of course Beck isn't eschewing the true meaning of Christmas...I haven't given him any kind of example to follow.  Second, I have done a terrible job of keeping my own identity as a woman and not just a wife and mother.  I don't feel like writing about the first one, seeing as how it would entail delving into the ugly parts of me and I already do that all too frequently.  Instead, a more positive path to lead me  back to me.

Sometime in the seven years I've been married, I've completely lost me.  I can't say anymore that I have any hobbies.  I don't hang out with gal pals.  I don't have the patience to be pampered.  It's almost guaranteed that if I tell you something I like to do, it's something I do with my whole family.  This has been really weighing on me.  It's the main reason I'm trying so hard to get back in the habit of writing.  That is something I love to do...just for me.

This isn't going to lead right now to me listing projects I want to start or pastimes I used to have.  I suppose maybe those will come later.  No, today I want to recognize and thank some of the wonderful women around me who have held on to who they are or who have found new parts of themselves during their journey.

Kathy, Brooke, & Kimberly
Three of my beautiful sisters (of course, the other two are fabulous as well!).  We were raised to be crafty and our Mom was always looking for creative ways to make a little extra money.  Now they have followed in her wake.  Kathy was always quite artistic and now is decorating beautiful cakes.  Brooke was a single-mom for years and began designing silverware jewelry to take care of her kids.  And Kimberly is a new mom now, trying to do the same for her family.  A fashion designer at heart, she has created a niche for herself everywhere from Renaissance fairs to baby showers.  I'm lucky to have so much creativity in the family.


Annie
I find my inspiration from Annie in a completely different way.  Life threw us together as sisters-in-law, and I'm grateful.  We probably would have never been found hanging out in the same circles.  What Annie brings to her life is a zeal and appreciation for having close friends to share celebrations and hardship.  The people she chooses to be around know how much she loves them.  And she takes the time to get away and be just with them every now and then.  Away from her kids and her husband.  Girl time just to be free.

Amanda
An old friend from my Alaska days whom I haven't seen in years, but Amanda is still inspiring me.  She's a little off the wall, maybe a little off her rocker.  She's kookie and I love her kookie-ness.  Amanda loves life!  That's how she inspires me.  She keeps dreaming and reaching and makes my dreams seem a little less out there.  


Darla
I don't know a lot about Darla, I'll admit.  She takes my rent each month and I try hard to not give her a reason to evict me.  What I do know about Darla, though, is that she uplifts her family.  In the trenches right now with serious illness, financial difficulties, and all kinds of unknowns, her faith is strong.  No person is immune from doubt or frustration, but her testimony is bright.  She hasn't shied away from service, her family obviously loves her, and they're making it through okay.  It's completely selfish, but watching her walk through the life she has today uplifts me.

Ladies, thank you.  For being you and having flaws and sharing them with me.  But also for not being scared or hesitant or resigned to defining yourself as less than you want to be.  You're helping me to be a better me.

This Season is Not For Me

My husband and I have an agreement.  When the outdoor thermometer reaches 50, I'll bundle myself up and come out to play (curse Mother Nature for interrupting my hibernation with a balmy Utah December). Winter is not my season. Let me share with you a representation of the wintertime experiences that have chiseled me.

Iowa
Anyone who has grown up in the Midwest will emphatically tell you that cold is cold.  Ice and wet, heavy snow combine with wind to cut through to the bone.  Blizzards trap you inside with the thrill of surviving without electricity.  The moonlight sparkling on deep ice-crusted snow brings peace and creates moments to peacefully ponder an unbroken world.  Until you have to go out in it.

As a teenager I found myself in with an afternoon paper route that I hated.  In summer it was a 2-hour bother.  In winter it was absolute sensory torture.  Trudging through unshoveled sidewalks and drives, I came home soaking wet to painfully thaw out my limbs and digits.  Only one time did I attempt to speed the process along on wheels.  At first the quickness and the dryness seemed a luxury.  What I'd never experienced on foot, though, were the unplowed icy roads.  Barely half an hour into my daily routine I watched my front bicycle tire slip to the left as the back tire slid to the right.  I, with my 25 newspapers, landed flat in the middle of the two. Now wet from head to toe, I picked up my soggy papers, wiped away the tears burning themselves onto my frozen face, and finished the last 90 minutes of my route.

Fast forward 10 years to a better paying job and a better mode of transportation.  We lived on an unmaintained gravel road.  Driving home from my minimum wage job at nearly midnight, I crept along the icy highway to the gravel  home stretch.  Confident I'd made it home, I tried to drive through one last drift.  A mile from home, stuck in the middle of the road, there was no hope of breaking free.  My options were to sit there crying and cursing, or get out and run home...I ran home... in high heel boots with no coat, gloves, or hat.  I ran in the back door, through the kitchen, past my family playing cards, and straight to the blazing fireplace.  I almost jumped into that fire.  My chest and cheeks were burning.  Dad went to dig out my car and an hour later I could finally feel my nose.

Alaska
With a knowledge of how much I hate winter, I should have moved south when I flew my parent's nest.  Instead, I headed north to Fairbanks, Alaska.   The northern lights are magical crackling across the dark night (and dark day) sky, but there's a penalty for that reward.  Every car has snow studs, an oilpan heater, and battery plug-in, and every driver has a second set of keys.  Locked up cars run in the parking lot for hours while their drivers finish their shopping or enjoy a date night movie.

Fairbanks is the place I came to know what -56 degrees feels like.  An innocent evening of dancing turned into something entirely different when our ride decided to leave without telling me.  He did tell my roommate, but well into her New Year's Eve drinking, she decided not to remember that until the bar doors were locking behind us.  Dressed only in a short black skirt and sheer tanktop, I cursed every single life event that had brought me to that place at that time.  Literally freezing to death, we waited huddled together (me gagging with every whiff of my roommate's alcohol breath) for her mom to arrive, chastise us, and deliver us back home.

Utah
Still I didn't feel the kick in the pants telling me to fly for warmer climates.  Rather, I landed here in Utah; home of "the greatest snow on Earth."  Now, Utah winters are mild and endurable compared to what else I've lived through.  The problem is that people who choose to live here do so because there are activities to be doing outdoors all year long.  While my husband and I were dating, he tried to initiate me to his favorite winter activity: skiing.

Worst experience ever.  Both the skiing and allowing my boyfriend be my teacher.  Only making it up the first lift at Sundance, it took me 4 hours to get back down.  I did not have a clue what I was doing.  Every time I was supposed to turn I landed flat on my back (or my front, or my side, or his back, or his side).  I don't know what was more wounded at the end of the day, my body or my pride.  After miraculously getting down the slope one time unbroken, I sent Ben back to the top to get in what he could the rest of the day.  It turned out to only be one more run. We both still feel the pain of that day.

It's been some more years and Utah is still where we stay.  Beck is now 3 and begging us to get on his own pair of skis.  It turns out I woke up one day and found out I was raising mountain babies.  So what do I do?  I watch the snowmen taking shape from the warmth of my living room.  I bundle up and run from the car to the indoor play yards.  I fantasize a day when snowshoeing or cross-country skiing can happen in the heat of July, and I harbor a deep little secret.  I want to tackle the challenge of skiing.  It's cold and the ground is hard, but I want to say I can do it.  Especially if my entire family is soon going to be out there breezing down the hillside.