Chaos in Kansas and Memories

What a move, from 1700 sq ft to about 500 seemingly over night. I wish I could say that we have mastered tiny living but y’all we were crowded in the tiny house 2 toddlers and 2 dogs and Aaron and I aren’t little either. I way over packed but honestly it made the transition a little easier. There wasn’t as much shock of loss of stuff. You don’t really realize how much you value your stuff until you have to make only essentials fit in such a small space. But we did it and for a few months it was home which was so nice.

This small Amish town was our home for about 2 and a half months and to say we didn’t love every minute of it a full blown lie. Yoder Kansas and Hutchinson Kansas are two small towns that are usually combined in conversation. Never did I think that I would love a town in Kansas of all places. Anyone who knows me knows I am a mountain lovin girl. But I left a small piece of my heart in Yoder. It’s simplistic and cozy. Literally takes about 2 minutes to drive through but it has a Amish grocery store , post office , hardware store, Amish handmade furniture store and a few restaurants. One of which is called The Carriage Crossing and it’s delicious. If you are ever driving through stop for some Amish food and their huge as your face cinnamon rolls with their honey cinnamon butter. Oh my gosh I am pretty sure I have dreamed of these since we have left.

I am not sure I could have picked a better place to start our journey though. Simple and a great refresh from the chaos of the city that we were so used too. It made the crazy drive so much more worth it. Traveling with toddlers and dogs in a small suv that is pulling a over weight uhaul causing the whole car to shake when you drive over 55 mph is exhausting. This car situation made what should have been a 10 hour trip almost 14 hours. It was long and tiring but the kids and the dogs did awesome. They held it together better than I did some times. My poor mom got to listen to me ramble for 14 hours she is a saint. Oh I should also add that we had to stop like 5 times because my 3 year old decided he would potty train himself this day. Some times I wish we had a camera crew following us around for this move. But it felt good to have my family together again so it was way worth it.

We settled into our new routine be quickly for such a small town there is actually a lot to do. In Hutchinson there is a zoo that is free yes I said free. They do ask for donations which I happily donated whatever I could every time we went and trust me they knew us by name before we moved. The zoo is small but they have lots of plans to expand. We did find something new to look at every time we went and watching the kids learn about animals and environments made my heart happy. Honestly my kids still ask to go to the zoo in Kansas so it obviously made an impact.

Small town shopping

Now as a mom I don’t get much time to shop for myself or time a lone for that matter. But the shopping in Yoder and Hutchinson is actually decent. Yoder has the cutest boutique called “ Grace and Garment” ran by the sweetest woman named Miriam. She didn’t mind my under dressed self coming in wearing by sub zero boots ( I don’t like cold feet ) and my husbands jacket with my hair looking wind blown ( pretty sure everyone’s hair looks like that here the wind in Kansas is NUTS). She is super sweet so if you get the shopping itch while staying near Yoder stop in and look around. They have lots of cute stuff.

Something I liked getting to do was exploring the shops in downtown Yoder. There is a Amish grocery store smack dab in the middle of town it’s small. But the produce is fresh and mostly local. Which is something we eat a lot of so if I can buy it local and help a small community I am all for it. This store is run by Amish men and women dressed in their traditional clothing which is so cool to see. Like a different modern world and everyone is so welcoming.

Hanging around Yoder it’s easy to feel like you traveled into a book. Simplistic lifestyle nesstled right next to a more modern town. Y’all there is even horse drawn carriages. Which I wish I would have gotten my reaction on camera because I am sure it was ridiculous. I squealed and covered my mouth ( I didn’t want to look to ridiculous and I didn’t want to be disrespectful). I could literally gush on about this town but for now I’ll end with as crazy as it sounds coming from a mountain loving woman like me. If we got a call to go work back in Yoder or Hutchinson Kansas I would be packed up in an hour and ready to go. We loved our time there and with our hesitation would go back.