home.

"Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, 

and grow old wanting to get back to"

How true those words really are.

I am so blessed to have grown up in such an amazing and beautiful place. A place that every teenager resents for its lack of entertainment and cold winters, and counts down the days to get out of. A place that we all come back to later on and brag about how wonderful it was to grow up in, embracing the pride that develops once a long enough separation inflicts that longing to go back.

I'm sure everyone feels the same way about their own hometowns, but mine really is the greatest. A home in the mountains with a lake and ski resort basically in my back yard. A home with summers so beautiful they warm your soul and cause all bitter memories of the cold winters to dissipate (just in time for another winter to roll in, but that's beside the point.) My hometown doesn't have big skyscrapers or fancy clubs. It doesn't have chain restaurants and Redboxes on every corner. It doesn't have a movie theater, bowling alley, or shopping mall. No, my hometown has a deer, fox, or bear on every corner. My hometown has cliff jumping and water skiing. My hometown has Winter Carnival, beautiful sunsets and family owned businesses. My hometown is a small family of long-time friends who have made me who I am today. 

My hometown is McCall, Idaho.

It's so good to be HOME this summer. 

I am so excited to be living at home in the mountains this summer, spending time with lifelong friends and creating more great memories. So far I've been job searching and catching up with old friends and classmates, and what I've learned is that no matter where we all go or what we all do with our lives, we have one common thing that ties us to each other: this is home.