Things we like about Minnesota

Needless to say, we are missing our life in California, especially since it snowed today for the first time! We miss the beach, the constant 72 degree weather, and the endless restaurants, theatres, and sports games to go to. BUT we are trying to stay positive and dwell on the actually long list of things we like about living in a town in the middle of cornfields.

Things we like about Austin, Minnesota
  • No one is in a rush. People take time to chat and say hello.
  • In the summer, everything is green, green, green! 
  • We feel like we're part of the agrarian society, like we're in the heart of America.
  • Fireflies!
  • We have a beautiful house with lots of neat rooms, including the library, workout room, playroom, garage and yard! (This is Dallin in our Library/office)
  • Did I mention we have a garage? It has changed our lives!
  • Humidity. I love it!
  • Short drive to Jeremy's work- 5 minutes and no traffic.
  • Free food from our garden! We got lucky this year. Remember when DadR helped me plant the garden the first week we lived here? Well, that was pretty much all I did with it. I didn't water or weed. And the deer grazed in it several times a week. But we still managed to get about 50+ carrots, about two dozen zucchini, several bushels of basil, 3 batches of green beans, some cherry tomatoes, a few handfuls of strawberries, and one pumpkin gourd. I can't wait to see what happens when I actually take care of it next year!
  • Okay, so the garden wasn't all a success. We got lots of weird things like this. That's where weeding would have made a difference! But anyway, back to the list of things we like about MN...
  • There are tons of parks here with gorgeous trees and fields and they all have cool playgrounds with swings, jungle gyms, seesaws and merrygorounds. This little town has about 4x's the amount of parks I ever saw in HB.
  • NO TRAFFIC!!
  • Clean air.
  • It's not weird to want more than two kids here.
  • The Nature Centers.
  • Beautiful autumn time!
  • Lots of cute old people.
  • No pressure to wear expensive clothing or look the prettiest.
  • Lots of opportunities to strengthen our ward at church and share the gospel.
  • Lots of Mom&Pop stores that are actually successful.
  • Pumpkin patches that are within a 15 min drive.
  • Funny accents.
  • We are just a drive away from two Czech towns that make Czech food.
  • Chicago and other cool cities like Madison and Minneapolis and Wisconsin Dells are just a drive away.
  • We are close to Amish country and caves.
  • There is a large group of African refugees here, and we get to learn about their culture!
  • Really good public schools with library, computers, and art once a week and music twice a week for 45 minutes each time! 
  • Cheaper groceries and gas.

Comments

Chelsea said…
Congrats on the garden! We need to visit you. It sounds beautiful.
November 13, 2013 at 5:39 PM

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