The Moving Pieces

We arrived in to Salt Lake City late at night and utterly exhausted.  I was so relieved to be home.  And by home I mean my childhood home.  Almost--my parents are remodeling and so out of their home but in a neighbor's home while they serve a mission.  Lots of moving bits to keep track of.  Anyway, home is where the people are and I was so happy to be where my people are.  We spent a couple days relaxing and being with family--the Dollahites and also the Lambournes who were in the area.  We played with aunts and uncles and cousins, helped my mom with stuff for her house, took walks and talks in the morning, went for lunches and frozen yogurt.  We stayed extremely busy and yet it was relaxing in its way.

Night games at the park.  Those mountains!!  Sunset over those mountains!!!

Cousins and too much sun.  Ha!

Grandma sent Eliza her birthday card to Utah with instructions to find something that would make Eliza smile.  Liza chose sparkly, heel shoes that indeed made her smile.  We helped with yard work (I mean, a bit).

BYU and more frozen yogurt.  It feels strange to go back to a place that once seemed so huge and all-life-encompassing.  Things seem smaller after you've grown and changed.

Then Collin and I left the children with my family and went to try and sort things out in California.  We stayed with my sister and our friend and I'm so glad we had so much help this move!  It made things go ever so much more smoothly than they could have/have in previous moves.  For example, did you know that California requires you to get a CA state driver's license within 10 days of residence?  Which involves taking the written test again?!?!?  I didn't, until Camilla and Becky told us as we were sitting on their living room floor.  I mean, what?  I was super stressed out about it, taking practice tests so I could ace it the first time.  Anything to not deal with the DMV more than one must.  So we added the DMV to our list of must dos before we returned to UT to collect the children, the things my mom was giving us from her house purge, the things from my grandparents' estate, etc.  That list of to dos was crazy.  Getting a car, finding and signing a house, the drivers test, as many times at In-N-Out as we could stomach.  The list went on.  Couch, dining table, chairs, linens, stuff stuff stuff.

We had decided which towns we wanted to focus our search and we began setting up appointments.  We had tried to do as much as we could before, but really people just wanted us in person and so we made ourselves in person.  We went to a few open houses, a few realtor places, a few landlord appointments.  We found a car (a white van, so adventurous) and we found a couple places we were interested in.  It was really down to two or three, with one being the favorite if we could swing it.  What a relief when the landlord did choose us after all, so we signed and then we could do the next step and the next after that.  We chose a house close to a park and elementary school, a nice common area, a huge master bedroom (that wasn't on our must have list, but I'll tell you--getting off our own sides of the bed for almost the first time in our marriage has been huge.), and most importantly MORE THAN ONE TOILET.  This is the biggest deal ever.  I can never go back to one facility!

Besides the pull-your-hair-out frustrating moments, I enjoyed peeking inside lots of different houses and neighborhoods.  California is different than London and it was fun to see it with fresh eyes.

We got our new licenses early one morning (we both passed first try, phew) and drove to Utah the rest of that day with no stops besides gas.  We collected our children and the things in Utah (including bed frames, bookshelves, etc. etc.) and drove back toward Northern California.  We returned in two days, Collin driving a moving truck and me and the kids in the car.  With the kids and the truck we did take few more stops, including the salt flats.  Such a cool place.  So bright, even overcast!  It's good to stretch every few hours.  I like going kid speed as much as I appreciate going adult speed.  Both have their benefits!

And then we arrived to our new home.  An empty home is full of fun and possibilities.  I still remember when my family moved from North Carolina to Utah when I was eight and the feeling of that empty house.

(I think this was the last time Collin enjoyed the minimalism of bare walls and floors.  I filled them up in no time.)

As quick as we could we filled it.  We put big things in their places, found a couch and a piano while we still had the truck.  I'm tired just remembering all that we did those few first days in California.

We had some fun, too.  Collin's dad and brother and sister came up to help us move in!  That was so nice, so helpful.  We enjoyed the pool at the hotel and eating out.  I can very quickly get used the idea--and reality!--of family close enough to be able to help.

I saddled myself with several projects--some quite large, actually.  I was proud of myself for seeing them through.  Mostly because Collin was there all day every day to keep me honest.  And do a lot of the work himself besides.  Ha!  We painted a shelf for the kids' play room, stripped and refinished a Mid-century dresser my mom loaned us, reupholstered a couple chairs and bench, etc.  I have pictures of some of the before and after/in the middle that maybe someday I'll post to stroke our DIY egos.

We got a Costco membership and were there every other day stocking up.  The kids got bikes from hand-me-downs and Craigslist and we got them riding asap.  Another post someday on that, maybe???

A half dozen trips to the home improvement store later and we were mostly set up with all the random things.  Luckily the store is right next to an In-n-Out so they were happy errands!

What an adventure moving house is!  Even moving across the street is a big deal.  We moved ourselves from across the country and world.  It was huge.  I'm writing this five months later and I still feel like I'm coming down from the adrenaline rush of moving.  The kids were troopers.  Collin and I made a good team, doing the parts of the job that we like/are best at.  I'm so grateful we are doing life together.  And have so many people helping in so many ways.

Shoes, Spiders, Sheep and Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty
retold by Eddy

Once upon a time there was a witch.  She turned into a dragon because she wanted to kill Sleeping Beauty.  Sleeping Beauty ran away and the witch chased after her and then she hides.  Then she falls asleep then the witch fell asleep in the bed.  The prince came by and the prince woke the princess up by his sword going "ka-ching!" then it woke her up.  The witch woke up.  The witch ran away.  The prince killed the witch.

London Flat Tour

I feel a little shy putting this up.  I've been feeling like we're camping here, with all of our (my) favorite stuff in a storage unit in Massachusetts.  We've rented a mostly furnished flat here, for our convenience and budget.  I would not have necessarily picked any of the furniture out for myself, even from IKEA.  The curtains (which I've covered with fabric for my sensitive and snobby eyes) made me ill every time I looked at them.  The carpet was described as "oatmeal" and is a long, long cry from the amazing hardwood floors we enjoyed in both apartments in Boston.  It is as tiny as tiny can be.  Maybe 500 square feet?  We could not add any holes in the walls.  We didn't want to spend much money at all on decorating. 

But in the past couple months this camping flat has slowly become a home.  We have accustomed ourselves to living in tight quarters (though when winter hits we'll have another adjustment).  It feels more like our family lives here, instead of some impersonal furnished rental flat. 

Knowing myself, that I needed to quickly feel at home and in control of the space where we lived, I brought a small selection of easily packable items from home.  I brought one pillow sham (the flowered embroidery one), several things for the wall including the cross stitch, the fabric world map (that I made and had hung in the boys' room before), and a few papers artworks.  Oh, and the license plates.

The pictures of the living space were taken as far back in the kitchen as the phone could reach.  Then I turned on a dime and walked five steps to the other side of the room so I could get the kitchen space.  This was all early one morning when only Eliza was awake, before the house looked as messy with toys as it usually does.   Usually the five strides across the room are more like twenty little careful steps over strewn Legos.  I keep trying to get a good system for Lego control going, but just it's just the nature of the toys I'm thinking.  And to be fair, the boys are showing more signs of respecting the closeness of the space by getting very good at quickly cleaning them up at a single reminder.

Overkill on the living room pictures, I know.  Just trying to get the details.  :)

Next up is the entry way.  We have our shoes and jackets there, naturally.  There is a big desk in the way of most of the usable space.  It'd be nice to have that for the buggy, but for now we just store the stroller in the kids' room and use the space for the keyboard and all the other random stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere.

The scooters fit awkwardly anywhere, but they are a necessity so we just cram them in and try not to trip over them at every turn!  Our hall also includes a small indent where we keep our drying laundry.  At. All. Times.  Oh, that drives me insane!  But anyway, I'm grateful there is a space that is mostly out of the way to keep up on that housekeeping chore.  The boys run eagerly for the intercom phone every time it buzzes, hoping to talk with the people down below at the entrance of the building and buzz them in.


Kind of silly, but just a shot of how I've used the little lip on the door frames for some extra decoration of small cactus plants and American license plates.  Despite Collin's teasing, they haven't fallen down on anyone yet. 

Finally, the (hahahahahhhaaaa!!  haha. ha.) master bedroom.  We took the smaller of the two bedrooms for ourselves, Collin and I did.  The room holds the double bed and a built in closet (for Collin's clothes.  Mine are in the children's larger closet.) and not much else.  So I like Collin, I think that's obvious.  I like sleeping in the same bed as him, sure.  But going from a king size to a small double was a little hiccup in my life, I'll be honest. 

Part of it is that I don't have the room to myself even during the day.  The children are constantly in there.  And it seems like actually making the bed is a big neon invitation for a jumping and hiding under the covers party.  :)  The children's growing gallery wall of art on one side and the lovely Scottish tartan on the other cheer things up a bit, when the room fells a bit cramped. 

The little birdy Davy made me last year in preschool traveled with us, too.  I love him so much, he makes me smile often.  I've discovered my undying passion for washi tape and rekindled my adoration for those picture hanging/hook hanging wall tape things that come right off with no residue.  Yes, things are feeling comfortable and familiar over all.  So, welcome to our home!  I'd love to show it off to you in person anytime!  You can have the grand tour in less time than it took to scroll through this.  ;)