Wednesday, June 5, 2013

beauty in the desert

I know most of you don't know me well.
And I apologize to those of you who live in the desert.
But I have always declared pretty adamantly that I do not like the desert.

I prefer the ocean or mountains.
I am not a desert girl.
And my husband knows that.

So when he sat me down a few weeks ago and said,
"I want to propose something" coupled with, "I just
wish you liked the desert more."

I instantly thought uh.."Where are you going with this?"

You see my husband is a business man
and he is always looking at things from a business,
practical perspective. 
He also grew up on a farm.
He likes the open range.

And he spends his free time looking things up.
Things about the economy, properties,
investments, things for the future.
He's a forward thinking kind of guy.

And whenever he travels for work he typically
comes home saying he'd love to live there, or buy there.

I used to think we were moving, all the time.
I'd get all emotionally worked up about this place that
it looked like we'd be soon calling home.
But then I realized most of the time he's just kind of thinking out loud.

Only this time, his thoughts turned into reality rather quickly.
But don't worry my local friends, we're not moving.

It's just a getaway kind of thing.
And this possibility led us on an adventure
 to Arizona and the Grand Canyon this past
Memorial Day Weekend.

Again I must say I went into this sort of apprehensively.
Still saying I'm not a desert girl.
But I said I'd keep an open mind.
And I told him, I'd be taking pictures along the way.
A way of helping myself find beauty in the desert.

He asked me to trust him, to trust that this idea he had,
this location was so peaceful and such a good opportunity
that he felt led to move forward on it.

And so to we set off on our very impromptu
Arizona road trip...
My six year old eternal optimist gets out
for our pit stop and says, "I love how hot and
windy it is at the same time."
We traveled along the old route 66.
I've never, ever done this.
And though I told my husband I had
radiator springs visions dancing in my head.
It was kind of fun.
Kind of an adventure.
And super fun stopping in the old historic towns.
The thrift stores.  Let's just say I can't
wait to go back.  Because they don't
charge an arm and a leg like they do here in LA.
And slowly but surely, I was seeing the beauty.
This was our last stop before the grand canyon.  There's many a story here that I will
save for another day. But my kids posed like this and asked for a picture.  I just
had to give it that old saloon look.
In the restaurant she was horrified this cowboy wouldn't stop singing to her.
He truly wasn't getting a clue.  And then she got mad at me
for documenting it, but I just had to. 

And then when we hit the dirt roads, on the way
to the property there were free roaming cows everywhere.
And I was like a giddy city girl getting out to take pictures.
I know the locals must have thought I was crazy.
And finally, we arrived
to the little house on the desert prairie.
I'm standing on the porch taking this picture of
my family.  That's how remote it is.
Nestled on forty acres and surrounded by federally
protected land that will never be developed.
I could understand the peaceful feeling my
husband was talking about.
And how this was something too good to pass up.
And so, I am going to learn to savor the peace
and open space, the golden light, the rustic,
and the wild of the desert.
Because this little 600 square foot prairie house 
is our new little project.
It will snow in the winter and it's about an hour drive
from all kinds of different places like lakes
and the mountains.  
It all happened really so fast.
But it had been a long standing dream
of my husband's to do something like this.
The house officially closed escrow yesterday.
And I'm officially deeming it the desert prairie house.
If you follow me on pinterest, you'll understand
why that folder tentatively called 'future?' 
has been very active lately.
Because there are lots of DIY ideas floating
around and projects I can't wait to
get up there and dig into to transform
this place into a peaceful retreat.
My husband has plans for guy trips with ATV's
and me, well girl trips with scrapbooking or
pinterest parties.  A girl can dream right.
Only one hang up, the closest Trader Joe's
is 90 minutes away.  OH the shame.
I will be bringing up a cooler of my
own food.
But other than that, I'm getting
excited, and learning to embrace
the beauty of the desert.

4 comments:

Mommy Girl said...

OH. MY. GOODNESS!
First of all - I'm passionately in love with your yellow dress on the road trip! You're so cute!
And I get the lack of love for the desert - we're off to Palm Springs this weekend and that is too much for me!
But this magical spot - a super fun home to dream up creative décor - a peaceful get away - it sounds dreamy!
So excited for you all!!!

Kim said...

I am not a desert person either, even though, I lived in the desert for about 25 years! God's beauty is everywhere! We just need His eyes to see it! This looks like a lot of fun in the future for your family.

Are you going to Chea? Did I ask before??

Anonymous said...

That is so cool! What a dream! Good luck with it all!

Sarah said...

It seems you ventured into my desert. To see the beauty in all that surrounds ...

Sweet momma friend. Your are an encouragement to me and countless others. Thanks for splashing us all by joining our momma notes. We would love to have you link up again, with this or another post.

Mondays ... join the melody
www.justsarahdawn.blogspot.com

And I know the filled to the brim momma schedules ... so join us any day of the week and link up, add your voice.

Sarah

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