Does anyone even blog anymore? I kind of forgot about it for a while and was actually surprised my last post was as recent as it was. I'm way too lazy to go back and write posts to account for the last seven months so I'm going to summarize here. Honestly, I'm still even writing so I have some form of journal to account for things we've done as a family. I'm happy if people read it but I recently decided to turn the privacy on the blog back on, as I just think I put too much personal information in here for everyone and anyone to read.
Since we last met (or even a little before):
Luke turned 2! We had a small family birthday and were traveling back to Boise to start moving on the actual day. I owe him big time this year.
We moved! So stressful.
We flew out to Maryland for Christmas and were able to see my parents' beautiful new home. The Rudds and Handleys came as well. We got to see Star Wars: the Force Awakens and took a girl's trip to Pittsburgh to see where Lindsay (my sister) lives.
We flew back to Utah and Bryan started his new job working on Temple Square. We lived in his mom's basement for 3 months and celebrated a small Valentine's Day there.
We sold our home in Boise :(
We bought a new home in West Jordan, UT :)
We moved in, unpacked (mostly) and now I feel very much back to my normal self instead of the ball of stress I was for the time we were unsettled.
We celebrated St. Patrick's Day and Easter (We rode on the Easter Train in Heber and then spent the weekend in Morgan)
We had a small BBQ with Bryan's sister for the 4th of July and enjoyed some fireworks that were going off all over our neighborhood.
My family came out for a little reunion and stayed with us. Some of them are still here and I have another sister and her daughters coming to stay this week!
This list makes it seem like we haven't been very busy but a lot has been going on, especially this month. Now that we're settled I hope I can get back to posting at least about our holidays and other major events.
Can I get sentimental for a minute here? I'm a very very sentimental person as you might be able to tell. Today I walked into my house after being gone for a week and I felt like crying. In a few short days we will say goodbye to this house forever. My parents recently moved out of my childhood home and thank goodness I wasn't there for it. I've just had to put it out of my mind to deal with out. That house held so many memories for me and just felt so good to be in. Every time I came home from college I felt like it was hugging me, welcoming me back. What is it about homes? They are just framing and dry wall. Carpet and countertops. We can take our memories with us wherever we go so why is it so hard to leave? While I have only lived in this house for two and a half years, it has really become part of my heart. Of course, OF COURSE I'm going to miss my neighborhood and ward and friends SO MUCH. But right now I'm talking about this house... like it's a person. More than a person-- a family member. It has been so good to us these past couple of years. We brought our brand new little baby here. It was a comforting place to be while I navigated the murky waters of new motherhood. I'm so conflicted because I do want it to sell so we can move forward. But when it does I just can't look back because thinking about someone else making memories in this house kind of breaks my heart. I'm not sure why.
Anyway, I have all these crazy emotions bottled up inside right now due to the move and I find writing about it is the most therapeutic way I have of dealing with them.
If anyone in the Boise area is looking for a home to love, here is a link:
When we graduated college and moved out of Utah three and a half years ago I was confident that we would never come back to live there again. Boise, Idaho welcomed us with open arms and we fell in love with this place we'd never given much thought to before. I would be so happy to stay here many more years and yet...
We are moving to Utah.
Yep.
That's happening.
Back in August we went down to Utah for a family vacation, spending time with both of our families. Bryan started to say that he was feeling like we should move back to be closer to our family. While I love both sides very dearly, I vehemently put my foot down. I didn't want to live in Utah and I never had. My life was in Boise, the cost of living was so much better here, we live close enough for an easy road trip, Bryan has such a good job... I enumerated the reasons until I was blue in the face. We finally decided we wouldn't move anywhere until we were sure we could be financially stable there.
At the beginning of October someone reached out to Bryan on LinkedIn from LDS.org. He has dreamed of working for the church since his mission when he was assigned as an Office Elder and helped them with their computers. It was there that he decided that he would study Computer Science and was excited at the thought of using that interest he already had to further the work of the Church. Coincidentally, it is through a fellow mission buddy that he was recommended to work at Clearwater, his current company. Most of the blessings in our life together stem from Bryan's mission. So, when the recruiter for the Church contacted him Bryan told them that he was very happy at his current job but that he would go ahead with the interview.
At first I thought it would probably just be a passing thing-- that I didn't have anything to worry about. In the past I have heard that the Church doesn't pay very well and we didn't want to take a step down financially so we would stay put. We figured if he did get the offer it might be just slightly higher than what we were making now to compensate for cost of living. Bryan went through a few phone interviews, an online test and a Skype interview. Each successive interview mounted my stress and my fear but I kept coming back to the salary and my love for Boise and felt mostly confident we would stay.
I really fought the idea of living in Utah tooth and nail since it has never been a place I imagined raising my family. Growing up on the East Coast, I had a totally different experience in my religious and cultural life from what my Utah born friends described. I liked what I'd had-- valued it. I did seek out the BYU college experience and wanted that but never expected to stay beyond it. I hate to really point out on this blog the reasons I was so sick about Utah itself because I have a lot of lovely friends who are wonderful people who were born and/or raised there. Lets just say that there were several cultural and religious reasons I didn't want to live there. So Bryan knew all of my concerns and had even told his recruiter about them. He was very back and forth, saying we loved where we lived and that especially his wife didn't want to leave but then he kept doing well in interviews. The recruiter had one of their employees and his wife call us so we could ask them questions. They were both specifically not from Utah and had even moved from Idaho for the job. I went into the conversation not thinking it would change my mind in the slightest but talking to them was comforting. They'd felt a lot of the same things we felt and told us how their experience had been so much better than expected. After that I felt slightly more at peace about going to Utah but I still was having a hard time leaving.
Before his final interview, Bryan's recruiter called and let him know the salary that they had decided on, should the offer be extended to us. To put it lightly, we were taken aback. It was quite a bit more than we expected from them. At that point, it seemed inevitable to me that if he did get the offer we would go. Still, after his final interview he was told there were two other people that needed to be interviewed still and that we'd know the following week. We both felt like if he got it then that would be exciting but we'd still have to make a final decision but if he didn't we would be relieved and happy to stay here. Those few days were torture.
Then, he got it. Still reeling from this. We still hadn't decided but we had until Friday to do so. We felt like it was a good opportunity to work for the church and to be near family and the salary was very tempting. We were like 99% there with the decision but... my heart wouldn't let go. I needed a spiritual confirmation that this could be right for us. Of course we had been praying and fasting about it but I still felt unsettled and our temple happened to be closed for cleaning at the time. We decided to ask to have blessings for each of us. We had our friend and member of the bishopric come over to do so and before he did he sat with us and talked through the whole situation. He himself is a seminary teacher so he does work for the church and talked a lot of his experience there and what Bryan's experience might be. How it would bless our home to have him directly serving the Lord and furthering the work. That is a spirit I cannot wait to have in my home more. During both blessings, he mentioned several things we hadn't even discussed with him that were weighing on our minds and so many things from mine touched me. One in particular that he mentioned that really touched me is that, if you'll notice with certain groups in the scriptures that God asks them to move before He performs a miracle for them. The seedlings of my true testimony as a teenager began when I felt the love of God for me personally and specifically and in this blessing that is one thing I felt strongly. God knows my heart and my trials and He will be by my side. He wants this for us and He wants to bless us. This is the direction our lives are going. We could stay in Boise, in a place we both love, but we both felt wrong about it. Like if we did it would be stagnant because our lives were meant to progress in Utah. And so... we accepted.
We are selling our home. Our beautiful, practically brand new, custom designed home that is part of my heart. I'm having a hard time because I've been looking at houses for sale in the area and price range we want and they are just not what I want. They feel like a step down from where we are now. We are looking forward to having a basement, though!!! I seriously wake up feeling antsy and anxious about packing, cleaning, listing the house, showings, etc. Bryan will start January 4th but because we are spending Christmas in Maryland with my family this year we will move temporarily into his mom's basement about mid December. There is so much to be done before then.
I'm still having a hard time coming to terms with leaving. Boise is where we first lived together as a brand new married couple. It's where Bryan got his first job, where we bought our first home, where we had our first beautiful, wonderful baby. It holds so many wonderful memories for me. I love my friends. I have a truly wonderful support system of other moms like me that I have relied so much on and they have been a balm to my soul.I love my ward and my neighborhood and my house. I even love my Ob/Gyn and the grocery store I shop at. Even the fire station I pass on the way home from Costco and the stretch of road it stands on. I. love. my. life. It is so hard to leave. But it is where we are being led and we will go.
I am excited to live there now, in a lot of ways. We will be so much closer to family! That is a big thing! I can't wait to laugh and play games and have Sunday dinner together more often. Bryan's mom loves to babysit her grandkids, which works for me. I could use a few more outings to movies or plays or, most importantly, the temple with my husband. I can't wait to take Luke to the Aquarium and the Treehouse Museum and the Museum of Natural Curiosity. I can't wait to live near IKEA!!! I will be near old friends I'd like to see more. My parents and other friends and family will be able to visit much more easily! Life will go on. I will make new, wonderful friends. I will come to love a new home and place.
I am very grateful for the love and guidance of the Lord in my life. Truly, He knows what I need better than I do. I've seen the same thing again and again in my life. I think I know what is best for myself and take steps to make it so but He tenderly leads me the way I'm meant to go. And it is always better than the path I might've taken. I'm sad to go but grateful for the opportunity to progress.
We love you all and look forward to seeing a lot of you more often.
The other day I came to the realization that my house will probably never be done being decorated. As such, putting off posting pictures of the house until it is means never posting pictures of the house! I also realized that my house is as decorated as it's going to be for a while, at least until after the baby comes and we can even afford to buy more for the house. Right now our money is mostly focused on baby purchases-- amazing how something so little can be so expensive! I also decided it will be fun to take a room at a time on as a project when the baby is little older and that I shouldn't rush myself to have it all done now, anyway. With all that being said, let the tour begin!
Ta da! Here is our beautiful house from the outside with a freshly mowed lawn (Thank you, Bryan!). Unfortunately, due to a drought and water shortages, our lawn has died a little in parts and the grass seed we planted in the back didn't really take. You'll notice that I don't show any pictures of the backyard in this tour. We're thinking we might plant grass seed in the upcoming fall or next spring when the earth isn't scorching-- killing friendly grass and bearing ugly weeds.
This is our in-between-holidays wreath. I made it in our old townhouse to match our red door here. We love this door and when we they first installed it they put the wrong door in! We brought it up and they realized their mistake so they replaced it but again the door was wrong (it was very similar to this one but without the vertical lines and more of a wood grain). Finally, on our walk through with the builder, we told them the door was wrong and a few weeks later we finally had the door we'd actually ordered. I'm not sure how to mix up happened but we're glad they finally got it right.
When you first walk into the house you enter our living room. We like to call it the home teacher room because that's probably going to be it's main use. We especially love our beautiful bay window, which we specifically had built into the floor plan. The model home just had a blank wall. I just imagine this will be the perfect place for my Christmas tree!
Eventually we'd like to get some upholstered chairs for either side of the window and a coffee table as well. I'm also planning on getting curtains for at least the big window but I'm not sure how to go about the bay window yet.
Through the hall from the living room and past the stairs is our kitchen (probably my favorite room of the house!). I've always wanted a very light and bright kitchen and I think this qualifies with the light streaming in from the sliding door and window. Orginially I wanted white cabinetry but Bryan didn't like that and I'm sure it would get messy easier so I decided to do the darkest cabinets I could with light countertops. I think it's a nice contrast. We now have much more room for our table and keep the leaf out at all times. At first I wasn't sure about this pantry because I wanted something I could walk into but this one is actually quite spacious and I definitely haven't even filled it up (though I'm sure I could find a better way to organize it!).
I love having a window over the sink to look out as I do dishes. I also love this humongous island and have spent more than a few times rolling out tortillas or pie crusts or what-have-you on it.
I just wanted to focus in on one of my favorite things about the kitchen. This is our gas oven and stove, which was our splurge in the design studio. Isn't it pretty? I'm probably a little bit of a dork for finding an appliance pretty but I do! It came with a griddle for the stove top and can be used as a convection oven as well! It has some pretty nifty changing racks inside as well but I didn't want to show off residue of past meals that is sitting stubbornly on the bottom of the oven.
This is the fridge we purchased from Sears. It's nothing fancy other than being a french door fridge but I really love it. I love having my food on eye level! I use the fridge so much more than the freezer so I always hated having to bend down to get into it.
Our family room backs up to the kitchen. We bought this couch a few months ago from RC Willey and we love it. Three of the chairs recline and two of them are electric, meaning they have to be plugged in and you push a button to recline. Honestly, I'd have preferred them all to be manual because I hate having to plug them in but we didn't think about it when we bought it. Other than that, we really love it. We also got this simple TV console. I'm not really sure how I'm going to decorate the wall space around the TV but I guess I have some time to think on that. Last from this picture I wanted to point out Callie's throne cat tree. She sits atop it very regally. Once we bought it (the day we bought the leather couch) she stopped clawing our furniture altogether and started clawing on that so it was well worth the purchase!
This is probably the most decorated aspect of our home right now. Bryan has been hard at work hanging curtain rods, mirrors and picture frames for me. I saw this mirror at CostPlus World Market and couldn't stop thinking about it for months so we decided to buy it. I didn't take a picture any closer to it but maybe if you click on the picture you can see the neat detailing on the frame (and the top of my picture-taking head).
Past the family room and to the left is our den. We bought these two desks from IKEA (shipping was atrocious but the overall cost was much better than what we were considering in building something custom, plus it was a pretty advanced project for these novice DIYers). We love that we can both be in the office together! We used to just have a little desk for the desktop and Bryan would take the laptop to the kitchen table or the couch. We both like this much better. My kitchen table is now justa kitchen table, which I love. Past the den we have our downstairs bathroom and across from the den is the door to our garage, both seen in the video tour at the end of these pictures.
Walk back past the family room, kitchen and almost to the living room again and walk up the stairs... (We love the big window on the landing, I'm just not tall enough to open it so I have to get Bryan to if I ever want it open).
Here is the upstairs landing and the loft. When our little boy and his siblings are bigger I'm going to make this loft area into a playroom.
Here is the guest bedroom, which shares with nothing! What a novel idea! We have a two other bedrooms that are not pictured. One is very empty except for a table, sewing machine, serger and a closet full of craft supplies and storage. When we have a second baby this will be his or her room or we'll move our little boy in there and use his old nursery for his/her nursery. When that happens, I think I might make the guest room closet become my craft room (just put a table in there and close the doors when not in use). That'll be a while off though, so I have some time to figure it all out.
Here is the guest/kids bathroom. I'm considering making it a whale themed bathroom when the kids are old enough to appreciate it. This is the bathroom decor we started our marriage with!
Our laundry room is upstairs, which I love. I don't have to haul loads of laundry up and down stairs! It is just right outside our bedroom, where I fold clothes, so it's very easy. We also got this nice washer and dryer set from Sears. They are very good quality, which I am happy for since I'm pretty sure I'm going to be doing a lot of laundry in a few months...
Here's our bedroom! I know, it looks massive. I'm not even sure what we're going to put in here. We'll probably get a different TV for the downstairs at some point and so we'll move that one up here. We might get reading chairs for the corners-- maybe a bookshelf. We'll see. For now this is all we need. Eventually I would like to put up curtains and make or buy a headboard and put a picture above that.
We love our bathroom. If you'll notice to the right of this picture there is a separate little room for the toilet, which we like. We also have a double vanity and I have a little stool in the center for doing my hair and make up.
We also have a walk in shower and a nice tub with arm rests and everything. You can't really see them, but I made curtains for the little windows above the tub from our old shower curtain.
Through the bathroom is our closet. It is huge! We could almost make another room out of it.
Callie loves to jump up onto the banister in the loft area. She can usually be found here, in her bed, under our bed, or on her cat tree. When we first moved in we tried to get her to stop jumping up here but it was a lost cause. I used to be worried she might fall all the way to the bottom floor but I've realized cats are very balanced and she can take care of herself. We continue to adore this cat but I try not to post about it as much anymore, lest anyone realize that I actually am a crazy cat lady. She is going to have to get used to sharing the spotlight in a few months.
If you're still reading, I now have a video tour that might make sense of where things are a little more. There are other rooms the I didn't zero in on for pictures that you'll see in the video (closets, bathrooms, bedrooms). Also, sorry for the jumpiness. I tried to walk smoothly but I tend to waddle a little more these days.
You may notice I skipped a bedroom (next door to our bedroom) in the video and in pictures. This is the baby's nursery and it's still in progress (read: things everywhere and totally unorganized) with a definite end in sight. I'll give it a blog post all it's own when it is finished.
Oh, did you think the post was going to finally be over? Sorry! I wanted to share a few more pictures of our new car. Well, it's a used car but it is new to us. Bryan and I have been living with one car between us for our whole marriage. This means that every morning I drive Bryan to work and every afternoon I pick him up. It takes about a half an hour to get downtown so that's an hour of unnecessary driving and a waste of gas. There isn't a lot of parking downtown and you have to pay to park so even taking the car on days I don't need it hasn't been much of an option. However... in three-ish months I just can't take Bryan to work whenever. If the baby is sleeping or in need of eating or something like that, it's just impossible. We looked into biking (way too far) or using public transportation (even if he had a bike he rode to the bus stop it would still be too far) but we kept coming back to needing a second car. Bryan applied for a monthly parking pass through his work, which he'll probably get in October. We went to a labor day sale for used cars the other day and came home with this very nice 2012 Nissan Versa! It only has about 31,000 miles on it and gets great gas mileage (a must for us when we were deciding what kind of car to buy). Mostly this will be Bryan's car but I still have to drive him to/from work until he can get his parking pass in October so we'll use this much more gas friendly car in the mean time. It's going to be so weird not to drive with him every morning and every afternoon and just have him come and go. It'll be nice for sake of convenience but I will miss our little chats in the car. I'm sure I'll look fondly back on these days. Anyway, without further ado, here are the pictures.
Now it has to be over, right? Well... Even though I tried to leave baby out of this as much as a I could (it's pretty much all I talk about) I couldn't leave off without a couple of bump pictures and a small update.
Here I am at 22 and 24 weeks, looking more and more pregnant each time. On Labor Day (Monday) I'll be 26 weeks with another picture but it might not get onto the blog for a while. I'm sure this isn't that funny but I keep thinking how amusing it would be if someone had their baby on Labor Day (insert cheesy laughter here). Our baby is due December 9th but last Tuesday (August 27th) Bryan got a fortune with his company lunch from a Chinese restaurant that read, "Remember three months from this date. Good things are in store for you." We had a good laugh about that. According to the fortune, we'll have the baby November 27th, a week and a half early. Honestly, I'd be happier if he came two days later so I can enjoy Thanksgiving on the 28th! So things are going well with that and, really, he can come when it's right for him. We just want him to be healthy! Anyway, I think I earned myself a long, long hiatus from the blog with this post but I'd better keep up with things. Until next time!
Well, we're officially in our new house and have been for a little over a week! It's been pretty great and we can hardly believe this place is really ours to do with what we wish! I could paint all the walls bright magenta if I really so desired! Luckily, I do not so desire. Pictures will be forthcoming but may take a while. We are still not unpacked all the way and we have some furniture purchases to make once our checking account stops looking so sad. Our TV is currently residing on a box full of board games... I'll probably post about each room at a time rather than a full house walk through, anyway.
The one irritating responsibility that has been thrust upon us is the constant yard work we need to do. The builders planted sod in our front and side yard and we had them put in grass seed in the back. Well, this would normally be fine but apparently we are in a drought so the water connected to our sprinklers (irrigation water) is being severely rationed. For a few days we were told we were only allowed to use them once a week! Now it has gone back to three times a week. As the experienced gardener may know (I didn't really know anything about this until we moved in...), new sod and grass seed require quite a bit more water than just three times a week! We are allowed to use as much water from the hose bibs in our front and back yard (this is city water) as needed but that requires hooking a sprinkler up to a hose and moving it around the yard every ten minutes, multiple times a day. It's easing down now because we're suppose to water less as time goes on and the roots need to fend for themselves. Still, it's less than ideal and our yard is only barely starting to come alive.
Well, enough complaining about that! We do really love our new house. My parents are coming out this week for a visit and we're very excited. They haven't been to Boise since they helped us move into our townhouse. Now that we are less cramped maybe it will feel more inviting. Anyway, life is good! Bryan has a good stable job, we love our cat and we have this new, beautiful house! We are very blessed.
