(keep in mind this is the before pic)
Penny said if I posted a pic of the house, she'd post a pic of the belly! DONE!!
Here is our 1st home. It is a small old bungalow in
Sugarhouse and we love it!! We have lots of work to do and little projects here, there and everywhere but we are having fun fixing it up our way little by little each day. Seriously...each day. That is why I haven't blogged for a long time. We decided since we'd be so busy getting the house in shape we'd wait on getting
internet and TV for a while. It has been nice not having those distractions so we can spend all our free time working on house stuff.
We have done a lot with it already...especially the yard. We have a quarter of an acre which is a big yard for being in
SLC and it is such a jungle!! You can kind of see the massive trees in the picture. The house is nearly 100 years old and I think the trees back there are too! The back yard has a big deck, a fire pit and a garden (if you can find them amongst the jungle) so we've spent a ton of time out there this summer already. The inside of the house has 2 bedrooms and a laundry/storage room in the basement, the master bedroom, front room/dining room, kitchen and bathroom on the main floor, and the upstairs is a loft/office area. We are excited to decorate it and make it our own.
Things I have learned with being a homeowner in
SLC.
If you do yard work you can't just burn your weeds and tree branches in the fire pit in your back yard unless you want to meet the SLC fire men!! Oh boy...yup, that happened.
Q: So what do you do with your weeds and branches you might ask?
A: Put them in the garbage can. "Trash Day" is Wednesday.
Weird...I know.
The firemen brought their big red truck and everything to my house!! Then I told them I was from Salina and they understood why I would light my back yard on fire and they didn't fine me. Thank Heavens!
If you use a weed eater, wear some sort of protective eye wear...unless you are feeling like a pirate and want to wear an eye patch for the rest of the day. Yup, that happened too. My eye is still blood shot!!
SLC recycles! It is awesome!! Recycling = more room in regular trash can for weeds!!
Walking on wood floor takes about 2 weeks till your feet get used to it and aren't sore anymore. Drama isn't sure what to think either, she constantly peels out and slide around. She is loving the yard though.
The ice cream truck driver waits till I am hot, thirsty and tired of doing yard work till he drives down my street with his sweet little jingle. I am so tempted to pretend like I am 5 again and stop him for a cold and delicious treat!
Never judge your neighbors by appearance. In PG we had a clean cut little old mormon couple who served 3 missions who lived in the condo below us that were the meanest people ever and never even said "hello" to us in the whole year plus that we lived there. Now our next door neighbor Rick is a single old ex-construction worker who is so rough around the edges. He smokes and has a mullet but he would do anything for us already (including edging our lawn and cutting down some unwanted trees) and he barely knows us. Plus, not only do you get a "hello" when you see him, you get a nice 1/2 hour convo. I am so grateful to have good neighbors. We've met a few others and they all seem really nice. There are a couple of young couples with dogs around us too so that should be fun to get to know them.
15 minute commute to work=more sleep for me!! What a dream come true!
My in-laws ROCK!!! They came up one three day weekend and helped clean our house and move us in and then they came up the following three day weekend and did yard work with us all weekend long. They are in their 60's yet they can run circles around Matt and I!! They painted our shed and laundry room, they pulled all the weeds on the side of the house, helped us fertilize the lawn and cut some dead trees down. They even gave us their old lawn mower and other yard tools so we can keep our jungle managed. Now we are in Maui with them (hence the internet connection) and we are having so much fun with them. I am so glad we live close to our families so we can spend so much time with them.
I am sure I will learn a lot more life lessons, but I am having a good time as I go. We are glad we made the leap and bought our first home. Hopefully we can turn our visions with it into realities. One more lesson I have learned though is that home projects aren't cheap!!
...Little by Little
Now, we have 2 massive piles. One of tree stumps (firewood) and one of branches and twigs that will soon be turned into wood chips by Matt and myself. Once we get that done we are hoping our grass will come in nicely this year. This yard has definitely been a work in progress...not too mention the thousands of dollars that have been required for this project! 
