Our Little Piece of Heaven (aka the Cabin)

We bought a cabin, yeah. It's the cutest little log cabin in Northern Idaho. Just picture the Ingles family in "Little House on the Prairie", and that's about it.

I've really wanted a cabin in the mountains since we first moved to the Northwest and Chad took me 3-wheeling up there. I was hooked from the start!! I love to be outdoors, and the mountains are so beautiful. There are unlimited things to do. About 4 or 5 years ago I set up a "cabin fund" at a local bank and started saving money for the day we found the perfect place. We camp in the area several times a year and have kept our eyes peeled for places for sale. We've also looked into land and considered building.

Anyway, this year we went up to camp the end of October and saw several places for sale in the exact location we really wanted. (At the end of the road, 1/4 mile at most, is tons of national forest land with hiking, biking, atv and snowmobiling trails. They groom the trails all year round, winter too and the road we live on is maintained all winter by the county. It's also really close to Sweitzer.) We saw one little cabin in particular that we liked, called a realtor the next day and went up to see it a few days later, along with about 4 other places. It was definitely the "the one". I was so excited I could hardlly stand to wait the weekend to make an offer. Needless to say, we bought the place and it's perfect for us. It's on 9 acres, is tiny, two bedrooms, and familyroom/kitchen/eating area, and little bitty bathroom on the main floor with a nice big loft over half to sleep tons of kids. There's also a big garage and a nice big shed on the property for tons of storage, and it backs up to the Pack River.

I love it up there because we have everyone's undevided attention (specifically Chad's). There's no work, chores, or distractions. It's major family bonding. We spend all our time playing games with the kids, running around in the snow, sitting by the fire, and listening to Chad tell stories at bedtime. We've also recently discovered the joys of snowshoeing, and snow skiing. So Much Fun!!! I've stocked the cupboard with soup, chilli and cornbread, and all sorts of yummy comfort foods. It's the best!!

We spent a month updating and cleaning the place and now it's just right. Here are a bunch of before and after pictures.

Here's the fireplace. We took out the freestanding stove and replaced the masonry. We added a woodburning insert.

Here's the kitchen and eating area before and after. We took out the carpet and vynel and replaced it with hardwood.

We have several fruit trees on the property too. Alec picked himself an apple. Yum.

I discovered I love to snowshoe. Here's Alec trying it out for the first time.

Chad pulls the kids around in a sled with his three wheeler. They love it!!!

Here are Abbie and Reese learning to ski for the first time. They loved it.

We also like to sled on the snow pile made from plowing the driveway. We have this really great neighbor we've only met once who plows it for us every time it snow. We just come up and it's been done. What a great guy.