Most Recent House Projects

The first thing we did was paint our bedroom dresser and nightstands!  They were a really dark brown color to begin with.  Half way through, I was loving the project and was super pumped to start on re-doing our kitchen table and chairs.  But then I was all sanded and painted out and haven't touched it.  I did attempt to begin it months before we moved in.  As I took a sander to it I quickly realized... it's not real wood.  A huge bummer.  We were given this table by Eric's grandfather and have had it for almost two years!  But we never realized it wasn't real wood?  We are super observant.  So now I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it.  I did a lot of googling and watching videos and there's definitely a way to do it but it's going to take a lot of steps and technique.  It is it worth it?  It's a sturdy table with six chairs and two leafs.  What I envisioned was a table with white legs and a grey/brown top.  The chairs would be white and I was going to recover the cushions with a pretty fabric.  Hmmmm.

I count getting blinds and shutters as a project because it's literally taken weeks.  We knew we had to get window coverings since we were moving into a brand new house.  Why I waited to start looking into it AFTER we moved in?  I do not know... We lived in the house for almost 3 months with no window coverings. #flashingalltheneighbors We first decided going with Home Depot would be quickest and least painful way to get it done.  Wrong.  It took them a week to come and measure all the windows.  Then another week for them to give us that estimate.  Eric and I knew that shutters cost more, but we were hoping to have them in the downstairs windows. When Home Depot gave me the estimate for the shutters at $1,700 I wanted to throw up into the phone on them.  I quickly thought I need a second estimate and ended up googling local companies and choosing the two with the best ratings.  I called them up and surprise, surprise... they could come out the NEXT day.  So the next day the consultant measuring the windows ask what we're thinking of getting.  I told her, honestly, I must be naive to think we could afford shutters, but if it wasn't too much trouble to give me the estimate for blinds and then shutters, just to see.  She said "I knew we were less than Home Depot, but I didn't know by that much!" I couldn't believe the difference of almost HALF the price.  I ended up getting a third estimate.  That third estimate quoted me even less for shutters!  We for sure wanted to go with the second company for blinds and a sun blocking shade.  I was so impressed.. the second company said they would price match what the third company estimated the shutters for and knocked $150 off the price of shutters!  Shutters ended up costing over half of what Home Depot estimated.  Once the order was placed, blinds and shutters took a total of 6 weeks to be custom made and installed.  But the price is well worth it!  

Here is a picture of our current living room with shutters!  I need to get to work with decorating. 

Next is our backyard.  The HOA covers landscaping in our neighborhood.  But the backyard is up to us. Which I don't mind!  We were stuck between deciding on spending some serious money and putting in turf (really nice turf is all over St. George) or real grass and we put in a small sprinkler system.  We have an idea, 5ish years down the road,  to rent this home out when we move somewhere else.  Because of that, turf would be ideal for renters.  But for right now, we ended up putting in real grass and a sprinkler system.  All for about $350.. much better than 3k.  And it looks beautiful!!  A neighbor recently asked "Do you just love your grass? Do you go lay in it every day? I would". Maybe I'm taking my yard for granted and should lay in the luscious green grass every day. 😂

House Update: From the Beginning

Ohhhh HAPPY DAY!

We closed on our FIRST home!  We moved to St. George April 1st and closed August 1st.  That was about 3 months too long ;) but so worth it because we love it!  We have been in it for almost a month!  Right now it feels like a nice, new house but not yet our home because I have yet to hang any pictures or really decorate :/  I know it will take time but we have been so busy with work!

Now, from the beginning.  We started looking for a house in January after deciding October-ish that we were ready to consider buying a home.  I say we were considering it because it felt like an extreme adult thing to do which was a little scary.  I was sure that we would be told to rent the rest of our lives.  The opposite happened and the next decision was to stay put in Rexburg for the next 3-4 years as Eric needed to finish school or move on?  With me done with school, we considered the different options for Eric to finish school which led to the decision for him to finish in St. George!

Picking the place that you are essentially going to go into a large amount of debt for and have to live in for how ever many years is scary!  What's the area like?  What is the neighborhood?  Is it safe?  What's the commute like to get to work, friends and family?  We looked all over the St. George area at different pros and cons.  When we made the final decision it felt so right and peaceful.  I had to remind myself of that feeling for the next 3 months because we picked new construction 😁 We were not the "builders", but we did put a deposit on the lot just as the townhome was being started and were a part of the entire process.  Which was nice because we got to pick out carpet, flooring, paint etc. But there was so much dealing with the realtor, the builder, the contractor and all the subcontractors.  Not ideal.  I don't think we will ever actually build a house because of the stress and miscommunications.  Ex: when the contractor takes a 3 week vacation and NOTHING gets done.  In my books, he would of been fired.  But again, we were not the builder.

SO many nightly trips were taken to look at the process over 4 months.  Some nights it was very exciting and happy and others frustrating that there was no progress.  That all will seem like an eternity ago soon enough.  For now we are happy to be in our new home that we love.  It is so perfect for us.  We love the city, the feeling of it being spread out and not congested with people.  We love our mountain views and how close we are to outdoor actives.   I love that the commute to my work is 4 minutes!  We love the neighborhood, our next door neighbors and our LDS ward.

Now for some pictures!  

4.18.16

4.23.16

5.2.16

5.7.16

5.22.16

7.6.16

Kitchen

Living Room Area 

Master Bedroom 

Master Bath

We have mirrors now :)  

Bedrooms 1&2 

basically opposites of the other, bedroom 1 is a little bigger

Stay tuned for the update in a year when all of our things are cute and organized  😂

A Little Piece of Jamaica

We heard about Little Jamaica, a desert oasis about 30 minutes away from us in Arizona. It was kind of sketchy trying to find it and after deciding to just go for it and start walking (simple hike) we could hear the water from the falls and then found this pool of clear water. When we got arrived there was no one else there! It was nice to explore and relax!! It's right off the highway, not too load though because all you hear is the waterfall. But seriously how many people have driven by and had no idea this existed!

Hiking in Kanarraville!

Kanarraville Falls hike. It's so great I have to share about this lesser known hike. Especially if what you are looking for is to do a slot canyon and have some fun in the water along the way!  

After breakfast at our campsite in Kolob, we packed up and headed to the town of Kanarraville. We arrived and LOADED our back back with water. On our way back to the car there were families starting the hike who stopped to ask us how it was and we couldn't believe we didn't see any water in their hands or no back packs. It's not that easy of a hike. It started off on a tough dirt path. Horrible first impression. But not too long and we were in the water and then the slot canyon!

We went pretty far, but not all the way to the end. I've read and heard that it can be a crowded hike. We started sometime after noon and were back at the car at 4pm. We hiked far enough in that for the last bit and when we stopped to eat some food we did not see a single person pass. Because we had to hike back out, we decided that would be our turn around after eating. One spot that we didn't take pictures at is an area with a slick rock to slide off of and into a small pool of water. There were about 10 kids swimming in it and going down the slide. Next time we do the hike I'm going down the slide!  

Now for some pictures! Again, there are some pretty funny videos we tried taking during the hike, I'll work on putting those together too :) 

Camping in Kolob Canyon!

Southern Utah is beautiful and there are SO many things close by to explore! Within an hour of driving, the scenery and weather will drastically change and you'll be amazed it's only an hour from your home. We made a goal to be more outdoorsy and active along with our move to St. George. It feels so good that we have kept up that goal.  

We planned the first camping trip in our marriage (embarrassed it's finally happening after two years). A co-worker suggested we go to Kolob Canyon because it is more elevated and it was going to be 113 degrees! She said that the drive is beautiful and explained how to find the road. I couldn't find any other solid information about it online. So I told Eric we were going camping for one night and then doing a hike the next day. I could tell Eric was way skeptical. 

So we have a go pro and I have never really tried anything with it but I wanted to video a majority of this trip and make a montage video of our memories. I failed. Watching all the video now and I think that it's incredibly awkward! Maybe I'll still try to piece some moments together because it was so much fun! But we also took a ton of pictures!

 

We found the road and immediately lost cell service. We drove for an hour until we found the campsites and nothing disappointed. We lucked out choosing this beautiful spot. It was also nice that it was not very busy on a Monday night. We set our tent up, collected fire wood to get our fire going, started dinner and enjoyed the evening together roasting starburst! 

Overlooking Zion's National Park!

We can't wait for many more trips! There were also trailheads I didn't realize existed along the road to the camp ground. We will be returning back and exploring more of Kolob!