Livin' the Country Life

Ya know, I had a hard time imagining myself living in and liking Gridley.  I was worried about having friends, living in such a small town, what we would do for fun, where we would go out to eat, etc. etc.  We instantly fell in love with our new city and friends and are loving the country life.

Don't get me wrong, we don't live in the country. 

We live in a newer housing development with safe cul-de-sacs where the girls can ride bikes and play with friends while the moms chat and watch from the sidewalks. 

We live in a ward where a few wear cowboy boots to church, but not the majority as I previously had worried.  Most are in high-heels that I envy and I've even learned to embrace wearing chiffon flowers in my hair as I've seen others do here.

We live in a town where our friends sell kiwis at a roadside stand and it sits there unmanned all day.  People drive by, pick up a bag of 10 kiwis, and leave a dollar in its place.

We live in a town that is so safe that just driving the girls to school in the morning I might see 6 different cops driving around looking for ANYthing that might give them something to do!

We live in a town where our friends invite us over for a hot dog roast and some s'more making in a bonfire in their backyard.

We live in a town where I can go to a neighbor's house and buy 20 lbs. of peaches for under $4. 

One day, I danced around barefoot in the kitchen, peeling all my peaches with my little paring knife to make a homemade peach cobbler, singing aloud to Luke Bryan's "Country Girl Shake It For Me" on the radio, listening to my children's laughter in the backyard as they picked fresh mint from our yard to put into their lemonade--and it hit me.  This really couldn't get any better...