frost covered wonderland, and a little self reflection

We can all agree that I am WAY behind on this little blog of mine, right?! Well just to prove to you how behind I am, here are a bunch of pictures from an outing we had in November!! You guys, that was last year. ​

Anyway...

While my mom was here in November we decided to take her to one of our favorite trails here in Eagle River. There are many reasons it is a favorite but on the top of the list are the short flat trail (your welcome kids) and the fact that it ends at a beautiful river. At this point in winter there wasn't too much snow on the ground but everything was covered in a really beautiful, thick frost.

Towards the beginning of the trail is this bridge, on our way out to the river it is normally our gauge for how slow we are walking and on the way back it is the "yay! we are almost back to the car!" marker. Just below by a smaller finger of the river is a nice little beach that we have spent countless hours by throwing rocks into the water.

​Thinking back to this hike I kind of remember how cold it was. Well mainly I remember how cold my mom was. It was in either the single digits or negative temps but for some reason I wasn't freezing. Maybe I have forgotten how to bundle properly. I swear just about every time I go to Texas in the winter I come back with amnesia. I forget how to bundle enough, how to be outside in the cold, and what to do when it is in the negative temps. I turn into a hermit. This time was much worse, because as all of you know now, I came back very sick due to my pregnancy.

I am pretty sure we spent more time inside than I ever have before. For a long time that really got me down. I felt like such a failure. Thankfully I opened up to each of you on instagram about these feelings and the response was exactly what I needed. It is okay to have slow periods. I don't need to be pushing myself out the door 5 times a week every week. It is okay to be sick, to let others take care of my children (and me). It is okay to let life naturally happen. If that nature flow is getting out a lot, wonderful, but if it is staying at home, on the couch because I can't stand up with out throwing, that is okay too. One friend of mine told me to be my own best friend. What a simple thought yet so many of us don't do it. My goal this week (because I have to set short term goals or I will forget) is to be my own best friend. I will see the good in myself. I will lift myself up. I will give myself the benefit of the doubt and do all that I can to not put myself down!

I hope to learn to see myself as the girls' see themselves. Have you noticed that little kids LOVE themselves. They think their bodies are amazing and get so proud of even the little things they accomplish. This picture is such a great example of that. She climbed these roots, to us that isn't much, but to her it is amazing  and you can totally see that all over her face. Little kids don't feel embarrassed to love themselves. Why is it that we forget that as we grow. I noticed the other day when someone complimented something about myself my first thought was to put something else about myself down. why?!  I hope I am alone in this fault!

I thank each of you, so much, for helping me see the good in myself and the beauty in all that is around me. I think the things that I have been most surprised about in this instagram/blog community is the love and appreciation that I have developed for my daily life. I so needed that pick me up, and I hope, even in a little way you have felt some of that love from me as well!