House

I think I finally have some time to make a post to the blog! Hooray! So much has happened in the last couple of months that I intend to blog about, I don't even know where to start. How about the house?

We closed on April 30th, spent the following week moving a few loads over each day, and completed the move on May 8th. Since then we (especially Brian) have been doing lots of home improvement projects. We really like our house and are thrilled to be here. Now that it's all said and done, we are pretty sure we made a good decision. :)

I'm not the best photographer, but these should give a pretty good idea of what the house is like.

View from the street:


Looking down the street in our neighborhood:


The backyard, before Brian refinished the deck:


After:



Next on the to-do list is getting rid of the fallen tree, which probably came down during the crazy snowstorms last winter!

We feel very blessed to have acquired the play structure pictured below for FREE! A family in our ward had it, but their kids had outgrown it and they were giving it away. You can imagine why we snatched it right up. Not only do our boys love it, but it has attracted other kids in the neighborhood, making our backyard a happenin' place. We love it!


There's a lot of vegetation in the backyard, and all kinds of different flowers are bursting into bloom as the season progresses. This morning we noticed the newest - bright orange lilies. It's kind of fun being constantly surprised by what's growing back there! Some really cool discoveries:

Our neighbors informed us these are mulberries. There's a whole bush of them in the backyard.


I don't remember what kind of pears these are, but they're tiny. But edible! Not ripe yet, but we're looking forward to it.

Now to the inside. The kitchen, before:

Notice the charming fruity wallpaper:


The kitchen, after (not the best photo, but oh well):


View of the eat-in part of the kitchen, before:


After:


Another view:


Dining room before:

After (pay particular attention to the light fixture, which we replaced after the other one created some "fireworks" in the house):


The living room, as viewed from the dining room (no "before" pic, because all that changed was adding furniture):


This room (below) will someday be the family room, but Cole says it should be called the play room, and he's right because for now that's what it is. It's just off the kitchen, which is the perfect location:


Another view of the same room:


The laundry/utility room:

Not the prettiest room in the house, but we love the storage space, and the fact that we can close the door on it. This is after 4 years of living in a house where you could see our washer and dryer area from the kitchen table.

Now for the bedrooms. Julia's room, before (it looks yellow, but it was fluorescent green):

After (the paint looks kind of gray, but it's actually a light lilac purple):


Cole & Weston's room (I guess I have no shame, but I was too lazy to make their beds before taking the picture):



Kids' bathroom:

The yellow bathtub is one of the remnants of the original house, which was built in the late 60s. Someday we'll probably redo it, but it's actually in great shape so it's nowhere near the top of our list. It has character. :)

Master bedroom. Not much has been done with it. Someday we'll buy a king size bed and get a nice bedroom set. Someday. In the meantime, we're still sleeping on an old hand-me-down bed and living out of a dresser we found on the side of the road. It works!


Master bathroom. It's awesome. This has been redone and the jetted tub and walk-in closet are an addition made to the house a few years ago. We were loving the jetted tub about a week ago after a long day of sanding the deck which led to very sore muscles!


This picture (above) makes me laugh because I took it, then decided I should take down the towel draped over the shower so it looked better, and then I guess I forgot to take the picture. So here it is, towel and all.



Not pictured: The guest bedroom/computer room. It's a mess. I'll post a photo of it when we've cleaned it up (maybe).

Stay tuned for more posts, assuming I get time...I plan to post pictures of Julia and a write up of her birth, as well as a review of the must-have baby item I didn't discover until Baby #3, but wish I'd known about before Baby #1! I know, how wicked of me to leave you in such suspense.