New House for the Nelson's...Again

So, I thought it would be good to give a quick run-down of the house, the things we love about it, and how we found this place. 

We'd been looking for places for longer than I would have liked and we'd posted on facebook a couple of times looking for leads, and found nothing that worked. One night, Jonathan said, "You should post it on facebook." I told him, "I already did a week or so ago, and nothing." He said, "Maybe just do it again." So, I relented and posted it. About 30 seconds after I posted requesting any info anyone had on a 2-bedroom place in the area, I got a message from a friend of ours we had met in China (she's American). She had just moved back to America. She told us that her parents were leaving on a mission the next week and that they would have a basement for rent. We went to see the place the next day, and saw that it was good. 

It wasn't the perfect place, but she was fine with doing a month-to-month contract which was one of the biggest things we needed. We are paying more a month than I'd like to, and it's up in the hills and further from shopping (1.3 miles one way to the nearest grocery store), so no more walking to the grocery store (it's a 500 ft elevation gain going home from the grocery store, straight up hills- which is death when you add in a stroller full of groceries and a 25-ish pound toddler). But it's a good space, we live with good people, and it's a nice area. Here's a quick tour of our house.

The kitchen: pre-paint and love

The kitchen is amazing compared to where we came from. There are drawers! Our last house didn't have any drawers, which initially doesn't seem like a problem, then you start unpacking and realize how much you utilize them. Also, this kitchen has more working counter space (the only counters are the ones you see in the above photo, so it's not a lot, but it's about twice what we had in the last home). As long as you can ignore the floors and dark cabinets, it's a decent space- and we painted (and by we I mean Jonathan's parents, I didn't paint a single part of the kitchen), and it's great now.

Living Room- still in the process of being unpacked

 The living room is a good space, and it came partially furnished- so the couch, giant tv, and coffee table (pushed against the wall), were there along with 2 chairs. It was nice to not have to worry about getting a couch. We still have lots of boxes in this room, but it's slowly coming together. One thing that is tricky about this basement is that there isn't a door on either end of the stairs leading to the main floor. So, Peter sometimes creeps up there when I'm in the middle of something, and there is no sound barrier between the two floors. We live with 2 sisters, and so it's like living with roommates, only we are married and have a kid. Sometimes if feels awkward to me, but most of the time it's fine.

Robin and Jonathan's bedroom- and our front door.

 Our bedroom is ginormous! Initially it was Peter's room, but we switched rooms for the size as well as this bedroom has doors that lead outside. It's a little weird having people come visit and walk through your room first thing, but so far, we haven't had too many visitors, so it's been not too bad. The bed frame also came from with the house, and it's so fancy. Someday we will have our own bed frame, but for now we are enjoying this borrowed one. Also, this room has no windows, so when the lights are off- no matter what time of day- it's pitch black in there. They were going to install doors with windows, but they got quoted about 3 times the price they were expecting, so that change is on hold. It's the perfect room for naps though!

View looking in from outside- and closet!

 We also love these bedrooms because they both have closets! Again, our last house had only one small closet for both bedrooms, and we quickly learned that one closet for 3 people isn't enough. At our old house I used Peter's room closet and a cheap cloth wardrobe, and Jonathan used the front living room coat closet, and we were grateful we lived there when it was warm and didn't ever have to use the coat closet for coats. But we have closets again! And closets are a wonderful thing.

Peter's Room and catch-all space.

 Peter's room was Rebecca's (our friend who lives there) old room, hence the purple wall. Peter's room is a great space for him. Once he goes to bed, we have to be pretty quiet because the living room is on the other side of his room. But so far he is sleeping great through the night. There are a couple of furniture pieces in his room as well that belong to Rebecca, but she is using her parent's furniture upstairs, so she doesn't need it. We have more storage space than we can use!

Biggest closet we've ever had!

 Again, coming from one tiny closet to this beast of a closet has been amazing. Everything fits in one place! And we have room for all the book boxes that we most likely won't be unpacking during our time in this house. We unpacked some of Peter's books, but all other books are staying in their boxes. Also, our little tv is being stored in here since we have the big one that the Reidler's put on the wall.

Fenced-in Backyard with play set

This house also comes with a great backyard! We miss our creek and all the trees- and the shade from the trees, but it's lovely to have a space for Peter to run and that it is fenced in. Also, it has a sweet playground set with swings, a slide and a climbing wall. Right now it's too hot most days for Peter to want to play on, but soon it will cool down. Also, there are a couple of fruit trees! So far Peter's favorite thing to do in the yard is play with the cat- who is not as fond of him as he is of it. The Reidler's have a cat and a dog. The dog's name is Sadie, and the cat's name is Cat...at least as far as we know. Peter thinks Cat's tail is amazing, and likes to put grass on Cat when she is laying outside. Then Cat bites at Peter and he cries, but so far he hasn't learned his lesson.

The pool room

 Another cool thing about this house is that it has an indoor infinity pool! It's Michael Phelps size pool, so Jonathan fits just fine. Peter loves the pool. We need to use it more than we have, but the times we have used it, we've had a blast!

Peter and Jonathan testing out the pool

Pool Pirates!

We are still getting settled in- there are no pictures on the walls, and there are still unpacked boxes in every room. I have a million projects for Jonathan everyday. But, we're getting there, and eventually we'll be able to call it home.

We moved....Again.

As many of you know, we moved...again. The folks who bought the last house we were living in wanted to live in the basement and only rent out the top, so we got the boot. We had 30 days to find a place and move. We started looking and it seemed like everything that initially looked great fell through. Either the place looked great in pictures, but when we visited it the area didn't feel as good, or the pictures did a great job at making the place seem bigger than it was, or the landlord was going on vacation and said we could come by in 2 weeks, or the landlord took over 2 weeks to respond to us...gah. But, we finally did find a place and it's working out so far. 

Overall, moving was the pits. It was bad because I didn't want to move- we weren't moving because we'd found a better place, or because it was closer to work, or because it was cheaper. We were moving because we had to and I was pretty bitter about that. Also, we'd just moved 4 months before...gah. We still had boxes we hadn't unpacked from our first move- which I guess was fine because then it was less things to pack, but still, we hadn't even totally settled in from the first move. Also, moving is just not pleasant. You pack things and don't know where they are. Your kid gets sad because it seems like everyone is taking his stuff away. Once you move in, it seems like you are constantly searching for things- or you and your spouse keep putting kitchen things in different places and you think you are losing your mind. And soooo many boxes- we didn't get rid of any of them this time...we know we'll be moving again sometime, so we are hoarding cardboard boxes. Also, in the past 4 years, I've moved 6 times and 5 of those moves were me, Jonathan and Peter- turns out moving when single is a piece of delicious cake compared to moving with a kid...and I'm sure it will only get crazier with more kids.  

As the living room starts getting filled with boxes and bins.

But, here are some good things I wanted to remember about the move and things I've learned:

1st: the amount of help we got from other people was an amazing blessing. Jonathan told the Elder's Quorum President (guy in our church congregation who is in charge of making sure the guys are all doing good), that we would love any help on Tuesday or Friday moving boxes into vehicles and then from the vehicles into the new house. Both days we had 4-6 guys show up, some of whom we'd never met. One guy had just moved into the ward the weekend prior and then here he was helping us move. It was so much faster having a couple extra hands to move boxes, and we got done way faster than I thought we would. One guy had a truck that he brought and that was a huge help in getting a couple of big furniture items to the house. 

We also had Daniel and Jen Evans come and help on Friday. We had helped them move the week before, and they helped us in such a huge way. They showed up with pizza and cherries, and paper plates and napkins so we wouldn't have to worry about dishes. They helped move everything. Then, Jen stayed at the old house with me and helped me clean for almost an hour longer. She did an amazing job getting the kitchen in great shape so the next day we didn't have as much to clean.

Jonathan's parents drove up from California and helped in so many ways. They stayed at the new house and painted the kitchen walls and cabinets- which made a world of difference for my desire to use that kitchen. They also helped unpack and organize the new house once everything was here. They also did a great job at entertaining Peter throughout the whole move, which is always fantastic.

2nd- if you ever need boxes for moving, go to Barnes and Noble- behind their store they have a dumpster of empty boxes that they used for their books, so they are a great size and are sturdy. We got a bunch of boxes from there, but I wish we had thought ahead and started collecting them earlier in the move instead of going back to back days.

3rd: I've learned from this move that being angry/upset/worrying doesn't help anything. I know that sounds obvious, but I forget it a lot. I was stressed for about a month about the move, were we going to find a home, how would we get everything moved, what if we didn't like the house, if this was a good place for us to live, and so on. But guess what, worrying didn't change anything. It didn't help us find a place faster, and it didn't help the move go any smoother. Also, I was mad the whole time about how everything was going down. I was mad that the place got sold to people who were making me move. I was mad that we'd moved there in the first place and were now stuck in this situation. But again, being mad didn't help with anything- if anything it made everything harder. I'll probably stress over stuff in the future, and I'll probably get angry about things, but I hope I can remember this past week and just let it go and keep moving forward. Life is too busy to be stressed.

Going through papers and more papers

4th: I've learned that one good thing about moving is it helps declutter your life and get rid of things you don't need. This was even more apparent with the two moves so close together. I'd see things and think, I don't want to pack that again just to move it again later- so on it went. Some of those things were clothes, toys Peter doesn't really play with, notes I took in school and never looked at again, and kitchen things I never used. It's been nice to get rid of some things. Some of them we sold, some were recycled and some given to second hand stores. But however they left us, we haven't missed them, and ideally our next move will be a little lighter. Also, I refuse to buy any lotion or bath products until we use up what we have. Turns out once you pack up your bathroom and put the 5th lotion bottle in the box you realize you have too many. Haha- at least we'll all have great smooth skin for the next couple months!

5th: Cute Peter story. Once we were at the new house, we spent many day unpacking boxes and finding places for things. He saw me put a pair of shoes on the new shoe rack and then I went to do something else and he stayed in the room and was really quiet for too long. Quiet toddler almost always mean trouble. But I was trying to get something done, so I went fast and got my thing done before going to check on him. When I found him, he was in the closet putting all of the shoes on the shoe rack in his own way. It was adorable. He was so proud of himself, and I was thrilled I didn't have a mess to clean up. Win win.

Peter helping put shoes in their new home.

Play Day with Aunt Melanie

In late June, my mom's sister, Melanie, was in town (she lives in Colorado, and I haven't seen her for years) and wanted to get together. We decided The Living Planet Aquarium would be the best place to go to avoid the triple digit temperatures, and it was a perfect halfway point for us to meet up. Melanie drove up from Provo with my sister, Allison, and her little baby, Olivia. 

We started out in the fish area. There are a couple of touch pools, and we all got to touch starfish and rays. Peter loved them. The rays especially were happy for company and would swim up close to the edge and let Peter touch them. He thought they were the best. We saw jellyfish, shrimp, and tons of colorful fish. They also had a shark tunnel in this area. We walked though a huge tunnel aquarium and saw tons of sharks, turtles, fish, sting rays and brightly colored coral. 

Robin and Peter in front of the big fish tank

This shark was just hanging out on top of the tunnel

Coral, fish and a shark

The tank was about 4x this size!

After we saw the main fish aquarium area, we went and saw some otters and animals of Utah. There were lots of freshwater fish and some ducks. The otters were pretty fun. They were swimming around like crazy, back and forth and back and forth. After the Utah section we went to find the penguins.

Peter just saw this as I was writing the blog
and he said, "Look, Peter on Orca!!"

When he saw this one, he exclaimed, "Look, Orca and Baby 'livia"
Peter, and Olivia (cousins) riding the orca with Aunt Melanie

Peter liked the penguins, but they weren't terribly active, so they didn't keep his attention for too long. Some of the penguins were walking along and collecting rocks and taking them back to their nest. The rest of them were just taking it easy.

Peter and the Penguin

After the penguins, we went to the South American part of the aquarium. There we saw toucans, colorful frogs, an electric eel, an anaconda, cool fish and a caiman. Peter was beginning to be done with the museum. He still loved the animals, but he was more interested in running free and playing with anything. But, we had seen all of the big things we wanted to see, so it was pretty good timing.

These ropes were more fun than any of the animals he saw.

"Near, far wherever you are..."

We stopped by the gift shop on the way out and Aunt Melanie got Peter the coolest octopus t-shirt and a pink octopus that he loves. Initially, he found a stuffed octopus animal that was his size, and it was cool, but big, and we knew we were moving soon. Then, he spotted the little pink one, and said, "Oooo baby tiny op-a-tus!" So, we decided the small one would be a better fit for us now. He found it today and said, "Oh! My op-a-tus! And I touch starfish and ray!" So, he totally remembers this trip to see the animals. Aunt Melanie also bought us a cool cutting board with a turtle wood-burned into it! It's neat and the perfect size for cutting apples/oranges/any other fruit Peter feels like eating.

After the aquarium, we went out for lunch at Texas Roadhouse. The littles did pretty good and we ate some great food. After lunch, Melanie wanted to take us out shopping, but we had a small problem of what to do with our food left over from lunch. After a bit of discussion, it was decided to run to a gas station and buy a cheap Styrofoam cooler, and a couple bags of ice so the food wouldn't go bad. I ran to the store while Melanie and Allison watched the little ones. The people working the gas station were super great and just used ice from the ice machine instead of having me buy a bag of ice. And, the cooler came in super handy when we moved a couple weeks ago. After sorting out the food, and getting it all packed in ice, we headed to the mall.

Melanie was the best at the mall, pretty much she said, go pick some things and I'm paying. It was beautiful. We're trying to save up right now for a house (someday we won't be renting!) and a second car, so we don't really spend money on clothes unless it's a second hand place where I can get something for really cheap. And even then, it's only if it's something we've been looking for, or if it's a really good deal- we found Jonathan a great button-up shirt and it was exactly what he's been wanting for months, but way cheaper, and we also found him a grey sports coat which fit him perfect! (This never happens for him at second hand places- at least not with jackets, so it was a fantastic find.) Anyway, it was fun to buy things at a mall that had multiple sizes of things and you weren't searching through racks of stuff to hope to find something in the color and size and shape, etc that you want. It was fun to just ignore price tags, which is something I never do. And it was just really fun to hang out with my Aunt and sister and have some girl time. I didn't have any worries and Peter was being excellent. It was lots of fun. We had a great day all day!

Finally though, it was time to head home. Peter fell asleep for most of the ride home and Jonathan was home from work by the time we got home. It was fun to have a play day with my Aunt and sister. The aquarium was wonderful, and lunch and shopping were an extra treat! It was great to get out of the house and do so many fun things in one day. Peter loved meeting his Aunt Melanie and he loved seeing his Aunt Allison and the baby. He still talks about the aquarium and the things we did there, so I'd say the day was a huge success for him too!

Peter and his octopus aquarium shirt a few day after.

This Is The Place and the Baby Animals!

Back in May, Jonathan had off work for Memorial Day, and we decided to plan something and have a family trip day. Jonathan's Aunt Glinnea had told us back in April about Baby Animal Days, at This Is The Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. This Is The Place is a pioneer village where there are old cabins, schools, blacksmith, carpenter, a tepee, candy shop, panning for gold, a train, and tons of other things. Peter loves animals, and even though we couldn't make it when the babies were actually little, we still thought he would love seeing the farm animals. 

We went with Aunt Glinnea, and it was a great day! When we arrived, we first walked over to the barn and animals area. We saw some goats and chickens in one of the smaller pens. Peter was in love with them. We talked about how you need to touch them carefully and be soft, and he did great!

Peter and Aunt Glinnea meet the goat.

 We also saw a bull, who was very content to just lay and watch everyone. Then Jonathan stood in line for the pony rides while I kept Peter entertained near the pony ride area until it was his turn. Glinnea and I found an area of a little older than baby, but still cute, chickens. Glinnea caught one and held it while Peter petted it. Peter was a little tentative, but also thought it was fantastic.

Peter and the little chicken

 After not too long of a wait, it was Peter's turn to ride the pony. Jonathan walked around with him, and Peter loved it. He's ready to be a cowboy.

Peter and Jonathan with their horse

 After we'd seen all of the farm animals, we walked around and saw a couple of the shops, but then decided to catch the "train" that drove around the entire place so we could better decide where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. The train conductor was quite hilarious and good at keeping everyone interested in her tour. She talked about all the different buildings and we made mental notes of the places we didn't want to miss seeing.

Peter riding the train

 After the train, we went to a couple of shops and did the activities they had. Many of the shops had little things the kids could make, and with the entrance ticket, we each had a bracelet with 3 boxes on them. We could choose any 3 things we wanted to do. We first stopped by the tepee and Peter made an arrowhead necklace (he chose 6 colored beads and strung them on a necklace with the arrowhead already tied onto it, simple, but he loved that it was his). Then, we stopped and got some fresh made donuts- not a box on the bracelet, and you had to buy them, but they were pretty tasty. After getting a little treat we headed up the road to the leather man. At that shop, Peter got a little piece of leather, and borrowed a mallet and the metal punches and got to make whatever design he wanted. He had a little dangerous aim with the mallet, but was successful in not injuring anyone.

After those stops, we headed up the road towards the area when we could pan for gold. We stopped at shops along the way and learned about early medicine, woodwork and some of the early settlers in that area. We also saw a mill with a water wheel. There were some pretty neat things. Then, we made it to the section where they had the gold and rocks. But, we first got sidetracked by this tiny little train that rode around the pond. You had to check off one of the boxes to ride the train, but we had boxes to spare, since we didn't make an arrowhead necklace or leather patch. So, Peter had about 3 rounds of the pond before we went to the mines.

Peter and Jonathan on the teeny train.

Coming down the track and checking out the views.

 After the train, we went to learn about rocks and pan for gold. It took Peter a little bit to get a hang of it, but he got into it eventually.

Jonathan teaching Peter how to find gold.

We're gonna be rich!! (please note Peter's arrowhead necklace)

We panned for gold, and found gems in a "cave" and watched them break open a geode to see the beautiful crystals inside. We learned about a ship called the Brooklyn that took LDS pioneers to the west via a long boat ride instead of a long trek- they had a boat there that you could climb on and explore.

We headed home soon after this. We had a worn out little boy, and we'd had a good day. It was a fun place to go and it was a great way to spend the day.