to blog or not to blog...

that is the question.


I have been having issues with adding photos to the blog lately on the rare occasions when I actually feel like adding to it, which only frustrates me, wastes time and turns me off to trying again. Which is where I am right now. At this moment. Photos won't upload for some reason so here I am rambling about how much technology can tick me off. Then I start to wonder why I bother to keep this blog anymore. With facebook, photobucket, instagram and the rest nobody even looks at this blog as far as I can tell. It was a good record for our time in Alaska and I love looking back at the boys growing on it. I did it for them I guess.
I will have to think about it a bit more. I follow a few blogs by awesome women spread over the country but they have more to say than I do and articulate it so much better as well, maybe I will leave the blogging to the real writers out there. They get lots of comments so I know people read their blogs. I should be focusing my internet attention to building a new website under my new business name  OWL HOUSE BATIK. But I have been torn on that too, because the website builder I use won't always work for me either but I already know how it works. Any ideas out there for a good webhosting company that is easy to use? Oh yeah I'm talking to myself here, nevermind...

Winter Sun

Hawken in the winter sun...

Flying toys for xmas!

Playing at the park.

Can't do this in Alaska the day after Christmas. Find green grass to play in that is... We are loving this mild winter stuff... Thank You Oregon. I know I give Alaska a hard time but in reality we love it there and our kids learned so much cool stuff that isn't mainstream growing up there. They saw animals, salmon fished in famous streams and rivers for just that. They saw Denali "the great one" so much it was common and dare I say boring to them. We wouldn't trade our 8+ years in Alaska for anything, even though I'm done with full time residency up there I still love the beauty and isolation of that great state. I am however an Oregonian and always have been, it was time to come home. You can still check out our Alaskan Adventures at my old blog address www.alaskanbrothers.blogspot.com  but I will be adding to this new page www.mthoodmom.blogspot.com   as we explore our new home in the Mt. Hood Natl. Forest and areas around it. The kids are old enough to keep up on hikes and camping trips now so we plan to do a lot of that. Check back to go on this adventure with us... Happy Holidays & New Year to you all.

a few more from this family hike...

Loving Hood

Of course you can also still see my original blog at  www.alaskanbrothers.blogspot.com  but now that we are in Oregon this will be my new blogging space  www.mthoodmom.blogspot.com  Welcome!
These photos are from a hike up in the Lolo Pass area. We took the Top Spur Trail to the Timberline Trail. It takes you up, up, up through the forest and then around a bend you come out on this ledge across a little valley from the top of Mt. Hood. Beautiful... And in the other direction the little valley we now call home at the base of Mt. Hood. Jaxon loved this trail and wanted to go further but Hawken isn't as crazy about heights and got pretty scared at this spot. So he and I went back into the trees and had a snack from the backpack. Andy and Jax went a little further and came back to meet us in the trees. The next day it snowed up there. We won't get to go back to this trail until next summer... but we will.

Jaxon with Mt. Hood

Awesome!

Jaxon loved this perch, that's the lush little valley we now call home...

Love this photo of Jaxon with Mt. Hood

Back To Blogging

OK. I have many, many excuses for my absence in the blogging world... 1st would of course be the move but that was a couple months ago now so I don't think I can keep using it. 2nd would be technical difficulties, I tried a week or two ago and could not load photos so I gave up and had not given it another shot. 3rd would have to be social media. I got my first smartphone and gave into both instagram (I am  owlhousebatik) and fb. I never knew how easy it was and it is really nice to keep communication open with my Alaska friends now that we are gone. 4th would have to be, we just spend so much more time outside here. The amount of trails to explore here is crazy and we find new ones as well as visit the ones we like many times a week. Compared to AK. it's almost never cold, to us anyway. I have to beg Jax to wear a coat, he claims it's just too warm to need it, even on chilly mornings with frost. He had been in Alaska since he was 1 and spent his first year in Colorado so he is just so acclimated to cold weather it's tropical to him here. My 5th excuse may be my favorite, we have lots of friends and family in this state (and the surrounding ones) so we have gone on some visits as well as had  some come over and see us. That is a big part of why we are down here now so that is more important than blogging for obvious reasons. I have also had a few craft shows with a couple more upcoming, that keeps me busy and so does the "making stock" part, that is excuse #6 I guess. I have an Owl House Batik Facebook page too now. Feel free to check it out and even "like" me if you like me, well what I make, or me whatever... OK enough about fb for now... Jaxon has tea kwon do tonight. He's taking it very serious and is a good student. He only goes once a week and just about has down the test for his yellow belt. Happy Thanxgiving to you all!