Today, Friday, October 3, 2014, marks the fifth anniversary of our arrival in Salt Lake City. We left Maine on September 30, 2009, and never looked back; our transplantation from east to west has been such a good thing for us (despite our families wishing we were just a little closer). We have loved the skiing (obviously), the access to the outdoors, the weather, the dearth of mosquitoes and blackflies, watching the Tour of Utah grow, having folks come visit us so we can share our Utah with them. In celebration of our fifth move-iversary, here are some specific highlights from the past five years.
Year 1: October 2009-September 2010. In our first year, everything was new! We learned that Alta was our favorite ski mountain; A was zookeeper for a day; our friends P and C visited, plus T, plus H's folks, plus A's folks, plus we got the first installment of annual ski guests just a month after moving into our new house; we climbed Timpanogos and Timpanogos Cave; we saw the races on the bizarrely beautiful Bonneville Salt Flats; we got up close to mountain goats at Ben Lomond.
Year 2: October 2010-September 2011. We had lots of visitors in our second year: H's folks; my best girls; P; R; and the ski guests. We got an incredible 723.5 inches of snow to ski on! And after skiing ended, we got MTBs. We watched some impressive speed skating. We went to St. George, the Ashley National Forest and began our Moab tradition.
Year 3: October 2011-September 2012. By our third year, we were beginning to settle in. The ski guests came back; H's parents came back; and H's brother and his family came out to see what all the fuss was about. We had a great hike up Timpanogos with all those mountain goats, plus some other good hikes, including along the Mormon Pioneer Trail. We went camping in the Uintas in June and then again in September with B, and went back to Moab.
Year 4: October 2012-September 2013. The return of the ski guests. The return of P. A went to MTB camp (Trek Dirt Series). H's folks went to Moab with us. We went to Lake Powell with A's family. We camped at Capitol Reef National Park (well, just outside), went to Jackson, Wyoming, for our anniversary, and went back to Moab. We had a great hike up Honeycomb Canyon (at Solitude) and down Silver Fork Canyon.
Year 5: October 2013-September 2014. This last year, well, it was another good one. H got first chair of Alta's season. We had two rounds of ski guests: my brother and C. We finally got into East Castle! Once the skiing ended, we did some fantastic hiking: some particular favorites were Bowman Fork, Storm Mountain/Ferguson Canyon and the Brighton Ridge Loop. We went to Sun Valley, Idaho. And our Moab trip was, as usual, fantastic.
And now we start our sixth year in Utah (where does the time go?) and there's still so much we want to do. Thank you for following along with us thus far and stay tuned right here for the continuing adventures.
Showing posts with label house-hunting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house-hunting. Show all posts
Friday, October 3, 2014
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
movin' on in
So we looked at a bunch of houses, and we found this one we liked that's about 20 minutes from Alta and Snowbird, and 25 minutes from Solitude and Brighton, and it pretty much had nothing in common with our last house, so we bought it.
We got the keys a week ago and immediately started sleeping here, despite the For Sale sign still being in the front lawn (actually, H pulled it out of the yard on Wednesday, not able to stand it any longer) and the lockboxes on the doors (actually, H had a locksmith come and change the locks so the lockboxes were soon moot; as of yesterday, the front door lockbox had mysteriously disappeared but they forgot the one on the back door). As we did in our first night at the apartment, we had our sleeping bags, the aerobed and a cheap bottle of champagne which we swigged straight from the bottle. Because all our stuff was either at the apartment or still in storage.
We had initially planned to do some painting in a couple of rooms before we moved stuff in, but then we got so excited about moving in that all painting plans seem to have fallen by the wayside. That's okay: this house is the antithesis of so many others we saw in that it is NOT straight out of the 70s and was in move-in condition. Sure, we still need to buy a refrigerator and a washer and dryer, but cosmetically, it needed nothing.
We started moving stuff in earnest last Friday, with a trip to the storage units, and then trips on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, as well as transporting stuff out of the apartment. At this point we've got all the boxes out of storage, and most of them unpacked (if not actually put away); 95% of the apartment stuff is here; and most of the furniture from storage, with only the biggest pieces - like sofas, armoire, pie safe, etc. - still languishing, waiting for us. The moving has been surprisingly easy, no doubt mostly because the memory of packing is so distant, but also because H is Wicked Strong and can lift heavy things. Our hands are a little raw from opening/breaking down boxes, and feet and backs and elbows are sore, but it seems to be going quickly and if the weather cooperates, we could bring the rest of our stuff here this weekend.
The house is bigger than our last one: both vehicles fit in the garage, with room to spare; there is more than one full bathroom which will be lovely for when we have houseguests; there is more than one guest room so our home office gets to have its own space; the kitchen is huge, and sort of a great room concept, which is fantastic since that's where everyone hangs out, isn't it, the kitchen. It's really starting to feel like its OURS now, as we bring in our things and figure out where they go. It's fun.
B is handling this move pretty well. We made a point of bringing her crate, her bed, her toys and (of course) her food over right away, so she'd feel more comfortable; and as we bring our furniture in, I think she's realizing that this is home. The yard is not completely fenced in (a project), but it should be easy to do which will mean that we can sit out on the deck and she won't have to be tied - which will be more fun for everyone.
Oh! And we met our across-the-street neighbors, who stopped by after church on Sunday to introduce themselves. They were super-friendly, and nice, and asked if we needed any help. The wife did say, "I'm just going to go ahead and get this out: [we're] LDS" but that was the end of it. And as we were clearly not LDS (working on a Sunday morning, and H wearing a Sunday River Brewpub t-shirt), it's entirely possible that she'll report back to the other neighbors about us ... and we'll never see any of them ever again. I'll keep you posted.
Sorry this is so long and rambling and disjointed. As you might imagine, I'm fairly distracted at present. I promise more concise cohesiveness in the near future. And more photos, as the house pulls itself together.
Bedroom, day 1
We had initially planned to do some painting in a couple of rooms before we moved stuff in, but then we got so excited about moving in that all painting plans seem to have fallen by the wayside. That's okay: this house is the antithesis of so many others we saw in that it is NOT straight out of the 70s and was in move-in condition. Sure, we still need to buy a refrigerator and a washer and dryer, but cosmetically, it needed nothing.
We started moving stuff in earnest last Friday, with a trip to the storage units, and then trips on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, as well as transporting stuff out of the apartment. At this point we've got all the boxes out of storage, and most of them unpacked (if not actually put away); 95% of the apartment stuff is here; and most of the furniture from storage, with only the biggest pieces - like sofas, armoire, pie safe, etc. - still languishing, waiting for us. The moving has been surprisingly easy, no doubt mostly because the memory of packing is so distant, but also because H is Wicked Strong and can lift heavy things. Our hands are a little raw from opening/breaking down boxes, and feet and backs and elbows are sore, but it seems to be going quickly and if the weather cooperates, we could bring the rest of our stuff here this weekend.
We have lots of wineglasses - and note the fabulous light fixtures!
The house is bigger than our last one: both vehicles fit in the garage, with room to spare; there is more than one full bathroom which will be lovely for when we have houseguests; there is more than one guest room so our home office gets to have its own space; the kitchen is huge, and sort of a great room concept, which is fantastic since that's where everyone hangs out, isn't it, the kitchen. It's really starting to feel like its OURS now, as we bring in our things and figure out where they go. It's fun.
The basement rumpus room or rug merchant's hall
B is handling this move pretty well. We made a point of bringing her crate, her bed, her toys and (of course) her food over right away, so she'd feel more comfortable; and as we bring our furniture in, I think she's realizing that this is home. The yard is not completely fenced in (a project), but it should be easy to do which will mean that we can sit out on the deck and she won't have to be tied - which will be more fun for everyone.
The mudroom: great for gear (and H's favorite room)!
Oh! And we met our across-the-street neighbors, who stopped by after church on Sunday to introduce themselves. They were super-friendly, and nice, and asked if we needed any help. The wife did say, "I'm just going to go ahead and get this out: [we're] LDS" but that was the end of it. And as we were clearly not LDS (working on a Sunday morning, and H wearing a Sunday River Brewpub t-shirt), it's entirely possible that she'll report back to the other neighbors about us ... and we'll never see any of them ever again. I'll keep you posted.
Sorry this is so long and rambling and disjointed. As you might imagine, I'm fairly distracted at present. I promise more concise cohesiveness in the near future. And more photos, as the house pulls itself together.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
homebodies
So, part of the reason that the posting has been so, um, nonexistent lately is that we bought a house on Monday, got the keys on Tuesday - had our now-traditional cheap champagne and slept on the aerobed in our sleeping bags - and have been moving in in earnest this weekend.
We were torn about skiing this morning, because there was a little more snow overnight, and then the day turned out to be gorgeous and warm (50s!) but we've been in a groove, accomplishing a LOT - it's actually easy to move when everything's already stacked up in boxes. And having a full-size pickup truck is a plus, and old furniture that hardly weighs anything.
As you might imagine, there hasn't been much time for posting, but we're taking pictures for you and getting the cable (hopefully) hooked up tomorrow, so I'll get an update here as soon as possible. Yay for a new home - and with some furniture finally in it, it feels like it's ours!
Our new home!
We were torn about skiing this morning, because there was a little more snow overnight, and then the day turned out to be gorgeous and warm (50s!) but we've been in a groove, accomplishing a LOT - it's actually easy to move when everything's already stacked up in boxes. And having a full-size pickup truck is a plus, and old furniture that hardly weighs anything.
No, this is our new home! (hahahahah - can you imagine?)
As you might imagine, there hasn't been much time for posting, but we're taking pictures for you and getting the cable (hopefully) hooked up tomorrow, so I'll get an update here as soon as possible. Yay for a new home - and with some furniture finally in it, it feels like it's ours!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
note to selves
When driving around in a snowstorm, checking out potential houses to buy, be very cautious driving through intersections in housing developments because sometimes there are HUGE speed-dips (the opposite of speedbumps) that are completely filled in with snow and if you hit them too fast, you can slide out of control into the curb. And if you're lucky, you won't crunch the hell out of the front end of your truck.
We were lucky. Whew.
We were lucky. Whew.
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