Live from Layton!

Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging program to show you our very first house!  

So are finally all moved in with the exception of a few stray boxes here an there. 

The day we decided to move we got our Uhaul and it was raining a little bit in Midvale but wasn't that bad. Then we loaded up the stuff from our place and then the boys went off to unload the storage unit. By the time we had loaded up and started on our way up to Layton the weather got worse and worse... When we got to Layton there was snow covering the ground and it was still coming down. 

This next part I'm sure we'll laugh about later but not quite yet... When we got to the house it was 50 degrees inside not super cold but not ideal. Then we tried to turn the furnace on and realized our gas had been turned off and there was a lock on our meter (fabulous start to home-ownership, since we had no idea what to do) Since it was Saturday no one from the gas company would help us, and we would have to wait till Monday... No hot showers and a cold house till Monday. So we bought another space heater, and had one in each room to keep us warm at night and bundled up in the rest of the house. On Sunday the weather warmed up and helped the house get warmer too. On Monday we finally got our gas on and had hot showers! We almost had our water turned off right as I was leaving the house to put it in our name, luckily they took pity on us and left it on. 

Now that the house is warm it is wonderful! Here is a little tour of our house. Keep in mind we are still getting settled and haven't painted anything the way we want it yet (I've got big plans!) This is what you see as you walk in the door, stairs up, stairs down, and our living room to the right. 

Our living room is great sized and fits all of our furniture. 

I've got some pictures hung which always helps make it feel like your own place. 

Our dining room sort of overlooks the living room. It is quite a big room and our dining table looks pretty small there. The red isn't my favorite but it's ok for now. 

Our garage door opens to our dining room, which is nice since there are wood floors. 

This is our kitchen, I like that's its open to the dining room. I really like the wood cabinets too, although I think they'd pair better with a blue-r wall color. 

From the other side of the kitchen, you can see the hall bathroom. The hall bath is the biggest in the house, tons of storage and space. 

JJ will take his baths here and I'm sure we will use this more than the other bathrooms. 

A little further down the hall is Jj's room. 

I am loving the big closet and all the organizing space! 

Right across from his room is the master bedroom, it is so nice to have our own space. Can I just paint already? 

We have an awesome walk in closet which is bigger than we've ever had before. 

We even have our own bathroom! 

Downstairs is pretty much a catch all right now until we get organized. 

We have an awesome built in bookcase and finally a place big enough for a lovesac. At the bottom of the bookcase there are two hobbit doors...

Right next to the main living room downstairs there is a cubicle, or my craft room :) yay! 

We have a washer and dryer attached to our bathroom down here. 

One of the bedrooms downstairs will be an office for Justin and I. 

The other bedroom will be a guest room for a while. 

This little space is under the stairs is a play area for right now but might be storage later.

This is what is through the hobbit doors in the living room. 

And how could I forget our sweet backyard! 

We have tons of room for baseball and soccer! 

We had lots of leaves to rake up and play in! 

We don't have Internet quite yet (another awesome adventure...) but when we do I hope to bombard you with more pictures than you can handle! 

Happy Thanksgiving, hope you spend time with those you love! 

A September Summer

September around here can either feel like summer or feel like the beginning of fall. This year it was definitely hot enough to consider it summer. At the beginning of the month our friends the Hollands came to visit again! We are so glad they have family that live here in Utah, in fact Justin works with Janae's brother Jay. Taylor read a book to the kids while we gathered everything for dinner.

 

 

We went down to the Dalton's place and had a barbecue. Everyone brought their own meat and something to share, and we went to the picnic and park area to enjoy the sunshine. Molly had lots of fun playing on the slide, and playground.

 

Once we discovered the splash pad we had very happy kids!

 

JJ tried a splash pad in August and wasn't really a fan, but this time we left his shoes on, and the water didn't squirt as much as the other one, he didn't ever want to leave.

 

We had lots of fun watching the kids play and are realizing that more and more of our gatherings will be around a bunch of kids.

 

I am trying to teach JJ to help with "chores" I would love to have a helpful older brother someday. (I'm not hinting at anything by the way... seriously though...he is an only child...)

 

JJ also learned to grocery shop at the Urban farm and Feed store in our area, our favorites there are the eggs, produce and of course the awesome tortilla chips from Salsitas Mendoza.

 

Since farmers markets are booming with delicious fruits and veggies we picked up half a bushel of delicious peaches for canning.

 

Justin surprised me with tickets to James Taylor, well it wasn't just James Taylor but that's who I was there for. Justin had never really heard James Taylor before and didn't know his songs quite as well as I do, thanks to my dad of course!

 

The concert was held in the conference center, with the Utah symphony and Mormon Tabernacle choir there to back him up.

 

He sang some of his most popular songs, fire and rain, shower the people, sweet baby James, you've got a friend, the water is wide, and lonesome road.

 

I saw James play a while ago at the Minnesota state fair, and am still proudly rocking the concert T shirt that is older than I am.

 

After the concert we stopped by the Cheesecake Factory for a cheesecake to go. It was a wonderful night and I'm grateful for a thoughtful husband putting the date together.

 

I adore the way JJ crosses his legs while he colors on the floor.

 

Our little one has quite the gourmet tastes, I made a balsamic reduction to go with dinner one day and JJ decided he wanted it on his food too. He ended up loving it and even dipping his fingers in it when his food was gone. I am very grateful that he eats so well.

 

Another fun mommy activity JJ and I did was chalk paint, part cornstarch and part water, with a touch of food coloring.

 

He had so much fun making a "mess" and being able to paint wherever he wanted to.

 

One day JJ and I went to meet Justin for lunch at Jimmy Johns and JJ was doing just fine when I took this picture but had a major meltdown the moment after.

 

it was raining that day and normally after a meltdown I would put him straight down for a nap, but this time I took him outside and we played in the rain for a little while until he got cold.

 

He loved getting to play in the rain and our day ended up better than if I would have put him straight down for a nap.

 

I recently got back into painting, this time watercolors. Its nice since it requires very little space and I can go back to my work whenever I find some spare time. This first one has found it's home at my parents house.

 

 

The next went to my lovely "sis" Joycelyn for her birthday.

 

This one went to one of my relatives Nicole Looney for her birthday, since she has a cupcake collection in her kitchen.

 

In order to make the amazing flavor of fresh peaches last till next summer, I was determined to learn to can. Luckily Sue and Leonard have done quite a bit over the years and were willing to tutor me in the process. The Alberta peaches we found at the market were the biggest peaches I had ever seen in my life.

 

JJ really liked our giant peaches too!

 

Look how wonderful the peaches turned out! we used apple juice instead of sugar water and they'll be so much healthier and even taste delicious!

 

Since I love Ikea so much I figured I'd share the love with our friends the Hopes.

 

The kids had fun playing with their vegetables.

 

My Ikea tradition is an ice cream cone at the end, and now that JJ is big enough he gets one too! This time he let little Melanie sneak some ice cream.

 

and then he decided she liked it and needed more.

 

she wasn't satisfied with a little taste and I'm sure cant wait till she can have her own cone.

 

On our first slightly cold day we broke out the sweaters and decided to get out of the house. We went to drop something off at the storage unit and I decided a garden center was the perfect place to run off some energy and be outdoors at the same time. We talked about the colors and names of the flowers. When I was little I used to walk around my grandmas yard and ask what the name of every flower was, and I cant wait to do that with JJ.

 

Sometimes this little cheese ball realizes I'm taking his picture and he lets his true colors show. I wonder where he got that from? Daddy I'm sure!

 

another one of this kid's many goofy faces.

 

There is something dangerous going around among our kids, it is only welcome if they are sleeping. it posses them to do crazy things like unroll all the toilet paper, color on couches, and get out all the Tupperware. This affliction is called "Silence" you have been warned.

 

This little boy and I had quite the crazy hair that day, and I love it!

 

When we went up to Morgan to visit Justin's grandma Hugie we picked some apples to add to our applesauce later on that week.

 

One morning with breakfast I caved and gave JJ syrup with his pancakes...

 

a bath immediately followed to remove all sticky-ness. I absolutely love the way his eyelashes look when he's in the tub.

 

Some days you look at you kids and realize they are getting so big, this day was one of those days.

 

One day I needed to shower while JJ chilled. So I put Wreck-it Ralph on (his favorite movie so far) and bundled him up in a blanket thinking he would escape quickly. Once I got out of the shower I found him still bundled and ridiculously warm!

 

to finish off September we went for a picnic at the Peace Gardens in West Valley.

 

It is a great place for kids to run around and even get a lesson on different countries.

 

there are places like Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Italy, and China.

 

JJ loved running around and looking at all the statues, buildings and even the lions.

 

Over the course of the summer we made homemade pasta sauce, raspberry freezer jam, and fresh peaches.

 

The summer seems to have flown by around here and the winds have changed bringing colder days and more colorful leaves.