Oh by gosh by golly. We're homeowners! We closed last week and it feels like a weight is beginning to lift. I'm so grateful we have a few-weeks runway to get our things moved over, and that our rental home is only about two blocks from our new house. It has been fun and easy to grab a carload full of boxes or smaller furniture pieces at a time and run it over. The first item Jared took to our new home was our 15-foot-tall Christmas tree. It is ridiculous and we love it. Brings Christmas cheer to the whole home, which is nice since we likely won't get our "full" Christmas set up this year. We may add stockings to our fireplace mantel (we have a fireplace mantel!) and call it a day. The real movers are coming this Friday to help us with the larger furniture.
We are also enjoying having the space and time to do a bit of room painting during this transition. We will have wallpaper installed in our office and bathroom soon, so we are painting the ceiling and trim in those rooms first. Luckily this is a relatively simple paint project because we don't have to tape much--the wallpaper will go all the way from baseboards to ceiling and cover a multitude of overpainting issues. It feels good to start putting our own touches on what is kind of a soulless builder-grade home. A lovely builder-grade home in a pristine location, but our starting point is a bit bland. By the end of the year we'll have a tree mural and lemony yellow ceiling in our office (more of an art/music room really), and emerald-tone marbled wallpaper enveloping the powder bathroom, so. We're coming on strong with the initial design choices, that's for sure. I'm very excited. It feels like us. It feels like home.
On Saturday we were able to visit my grandma and see Santa! We're glad the BYU game was on in the background and the hot cocoa was free-flowing. Santa had a little wardrobe/sleigh trouble and arrived an hour late. If there's anyone who can get away with showing up an hour late to their own party, it's probably Santa. In a big step up from last year, Jack and Alice BOTH sat on Santa's lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas, even though Alice was "a wittle nervous." Proud of how far these kids have come over the course of this year. And as always, it was wonderful to see my sweet grandmother. And now for some pictures from our week:
Closing week is here! We are *supposed* to close on Thursday. I've learned to expect the unexpected with these things, but Jared is taking that whole day off so we really hope all goes according to plan. After we get our keys we will begin what we are referring to as "the slow move." We don't have to be out of our rental home until the end of the month, so we are going to try and just take our things over a little bit at a time and try to feel really good and unpacked and settled by the end of the year.
This week was Jared's birthday! All he wanted to do on his birthday was "not drive anywhere"--his commute can wear on him so on days when he has work he prefers to stay close to home afterward. When he got home he opened presents from the kids and then we went to walk around our new house, just for fun. In the evening a lot of my family came over for a true game night. I made pumpkin bars (Jared's preferred "cake" situation) and rallied the kids while the other adults were able to sink into a game of Cascadia. Then we sang and had pumpkin bars. My gifts to Jared this year were a big Christmas Tree Train to go around Jared's beloved 15-foot-tall Christmas tree. He's excited to get it set up right after we move in. Then I got him a pretty print of an artwork we saw at the St. George Parade of Homes earlier this year, and I put it in a gorgeous antique pewter frame I thrifted a couple years back. I also found him a creosote candle to remind him of his favorite smell--monsoon season in Arizona.
On Thanksgiving, Jared and the kids went for a bike/scooter ride on the canal trail with my family while I stayed back to take some deep breaths (we now have to keep our house showing-ready at all times for our landlord, which spiked the anxiety during an already very busy week), and to make a pie and some green bean casseroles. I did the pie up right with a pumpkin-cream-cheese filling and homemade butter crust. It was a lot of work, but placed in the pie contest and has been great for pie breakfasts the last few days. Thanksgiving dinner was at my parents' house with lots of loved ones. I wish I had been able to talk to more of my aunts and uncles and cousins. I love coming from a big family with so many loved ones living nearby. It can sometimes feel overwhelming when I'd love to have a conversation with each person and there just isn't the time. This is a good problem to have though. After family gatherings Jared always says, "Laura, you have the coolest family." And I say, "You too." And then our children scream at each other the whole ride home🫠
And now for some pictures from our week! I've been slacking on pictures lately, but I'm a liiiiittle preoccupied at the moment so we're going to let it slide:
