About me

I love your blog intro. Do you like living in Wyoming? Wgo girl on rasing a big family, it takes a lot of work. I only have one and can't imagine the thought of having twins.

Hi Junecleaver (love your username), Thanks for the comment on my intro blog. To answer your question...

Wyoming has its perks and downside. Just as anywhere you live I suppose. I am originaly from Southern Californa, then we lived in VA for 3 years, then here in Wyoming.

Some of the pluses of living here from my perspective...

- Safer environment for raising a family. Yes we still have drugs, crime, pedophiles, etc in Wyoming, just as you would anywhere else. But I feel a little bit safer here than I did in other places I have lived.

- Good schools. Where I live we have excess school funds (it drives me batty at times when I really think about the politics of it all), so that means that our schools have computers, small class sizes, teachers that are paid a living wage, etc.

- I live in the nations coal capital, so what that means is that those coal mines are paying LOTS of taxes, and that means we have awesome free programs (library, city pool, etc)

-4 seasons. Yes we have cold winters, it does get to 20- on some days, but when all is said and done, the cold and snow come and go througout the winter with a day or 2, then nothing for weeks. Spring and fall are beautifull, and summer is not too bad when compared with So.Cal! We start to think its hot when it gets above 85! And 40 is considered warm in the winter. LOL (I swear to you, that the min it turns 40 in the winter you WILL find some guy out walking his dog in short, no shirt, and flip flops. LOL)

- Friendly folks. I have found Wyomingites to be very nice. The men are gentlemen and open doors for you, and people wave to you. We have found this a very easy place to make friends and we can not go anywhere without running into someone we know and saying howdy.

Recreation - If you are outdoorsy (we are not hard core outdoorsy) there is a lot of stuff for you. Skiing, canoeing, hiking, snowboarding (my oldest snowboard and ski), camping, fishing (this is my DH and I's pass time), rock climbing, etc) There is also a lot of historical stuff here or close by, so that makes nice day trips.

Downsides:

- Not much shopping. The nearest mall/big city is 2 hours away in either direction. But we do have more than one store here (we have 3 grocery stores, a walmart, kmart, and walgreens)

- No doubles...that bites.

-Little culture. Besides craft fairs, the occasional art show or community theater preformance there is little culture in my town. But if you like craft fairs, quilt shows, dog agility trials, or going to the rodeo..you are all set.

- wind...we have a bumpersticker with Calvin peeing and it is blowing back in his face and it reads "Damn Wyoming wind" that about sums it up. LOL

-Isolation...yeah when its a 2 hour drive to go to the mall or target or a concert, you feel a little isolated. We live in a city of 20,000-25,000 folks so its not tiny, but I would like to live near a bigger city.

And one that I am not sure if its a plus or a minus...when you don't have a mall, you also don't have a mall culture. That means that while the teens like nice stuff, there is just not this snobbery stuff as much as to where you shop etc. You will find the well to do families shopping at Walmart just like the rest of us cause they dont want to drive 2 hours to the mall either. (We also do a lot of online shopping)

Oh and my family...yeah its big, yeah I love them, and yeah they drive me nuts at times too. Parenting one child or 15 is still a lot of work!

That must have been a big adjustment to you from previously living in so. cal. I would probably freak if it took that long to drive to the big city. Even though I don't really care about the mall, I am spoiled by variety and convience of location. I thought the guy wearing flip flops in the winter was too funny(so very true)! It is beautiful out by you, isolation is the price you pay otherwise beauty would be ruined by some man made destruction. My uncle lives in montana, he said he can see stars at night. I can't really see stars here anymore with the air pollution, one day I need to venture out west and see for myself. The only thing is I would go crazy in Montana. I here each town is like 4 hrs. away from each other. Well thanks for telling me about wyoming, I never really been out west besides colorado when I was a child.

I have 4 kids whose ages range from 16 to 2 also! Ain't it a trip?!

I lived in Pierre, South Dakota for a couple years and remember the harsh weather and the isolation well. I was only a kid when we lived there, but I remember that it was a fun place to live too!

Home, home on the range....

I've always wanted to live in Wyoming or Montana, especially since DOC.

What is DOC?

Thank you so much for all the hard work you do -to help all of us to save money by using coupons.i read somwhere you have twins, i have had 2 sets of twins.all together my husband and i have 8 kids and 8 grandbabys. none at home anymore .it can be alot of work and at times it is actually fun to isnt it?thank you againm for such a great website.the best one ive ever found