Strong-Willed: 2016

It's been a wild few months of putting in offers, multiple home inspections, repair requests, back-outs and finally closing on our home, a little over a month ago! We've been very busy with moving in and getting settled into our new home/life in Riverton, but for those wanting to see what our new place looks like, here you go, below :) It's hard for me to be this vulnerable, but I also feel like I need to honor our old home and that time in our life. I really don't want to take it for granted.

We sold our home in Provo in February and lived with my parents for a few months while we looked for this home. I really miss that home actually. So much happened there. Marlee was born. Asher, with a tough battle, learned to talk. We bought a car or two. (Not new.... I am not sure if we will be the can-afford-a-new-car people for a while) We had two amazing dogs, and gave them up to wonderful homes. We rented our home for 6 months, because things got so tight we couldn't financially make it during that time (also hence no longer having the dogs and moving in with in-laws). Ike graduated college and became an RN! We grew and changed and made adult decisions and childish decisions, and... looking back now, I really do miss it. I'm so glad we had that house. I'm grateful for the memories.

We got married with $200. Yes, like two Benjamin's. I laugh now, because I just can't believe that was even possible. Thankfully, when you get married, people are outrageously generous and that allowed us to get into our first apartment, buy groceries, a few more essentials, finish our Vegas honeymoon, and save the rest for an emergency. (My in-laws also loaned us our apartment deposit, which was so thoughtful). We picked up the grossest, most awful, free couches on the side of the road, not having money for furniture. I have to laugh again, thinking that was ever a good idea or that having a bed bug infestation, would be better than possibly just going without, or picking up another job. I don't know...just the things when you are very young, very immature, and have literally no money. We waited and saved for a couple of years and put ourselves into that little home. That little home took every single penny at the time and we put a lot of sweat into making the yard and lot into everything we could. Fencing, sod, seeding, gardening, cement removal, painting, etc. (with a LOT of helping hands...we haven't forgotten who came and helped us). I was so proud of it all. In the end, it gave us so much. It got us to the place and home and area that we are in now.

Without further ado, this is our new place! Riverton, just about 1200 W, off of the 123rd exit, if you are familiar with the Draper/Riverton area. 5 bd/3 bth, and a yard for the kiddos.

**Disclaimer**- before anyone thinks I am bitter or trying to toot my own horn. I realize that everyone has their own journey and their own path. This is just OUR story, and OUR journey. I get that people have different jobs, life, inheritance, family help, (make smarter decisions than "college-financial-me"), etc. It's just all about everyone's own journey. This is ours and it is still just barely beginning. Everyone has their own trials, struggles and hardships along the way, and I in no way, want or mean to discredit or overlook those. XOXO

Closeup of Front

Front of house

Asher's bedroom

The current downstairs situation. It's huge and awkward for now, but we are excited for all of the space :) Set up for a kitchenette down here and two bedrooms/bath off of this large room.

Downstairs Bath 3

Bed 5/Office. Not Pictured: Bed 4: Toy Room!!! Currently looks like a bomb went off.

Family room. Currently, so sorry for the poor lighting!

Family Room under normal conditions

Living Room

Garden plots

Hallway-Most of main is maple hardwood

Kitchen

Laundry

From back corner of lot

Main bathroom-1

Marlee's room (kid does what she wants)

Master shower

Master bath-2

Master bedroom

Patio

Lawn

These guys

This post is probably pretty boring and lengthy. Actually, no, it is for SURE lengthy. I just need to log everything we did, before my weak mind forgets it all! Pictures at the bottom, so just scrooooooll.

This is a travelogue of our trip a couple of weeks ago; a road-trip spanning Utah to Vancouver and back, with stops and stays along the way :) We went with my sister and brother-in-law and they were great travel companions. Of course, it is hard to live with anyone in a 200 sq. foot or less area for a few hours, let alone a week, so I thought all in all, it went well.

Day .5: Drove from SLC through the night to San Francisco. We passed through Tahoe on the way, and it was SNOWING and the roads were icy! It was so strange, when Utah had been so hot, and is really not that far away. We reached SF at 8 AM, EXHAUSTED. We all had trouble sleeping, contrary to our switch-off plan.

Day 1: We tried to get into Alcatraz bright and early for stand-by tickets. They only take the first 50 people and the guys took a super long time parking, so we were too late, by the time we were all together. We started the day at Fisherman's Wharf, spent some time at the old arcade at the farthest end, saw Lombard Street, Painted Ladies, and a lot of cool downtown architecture. We have been to SF before and seen some of the bigger things, so this was a nice little "mop-up" day for us. Golden Gate Park was a huge highlight for me. i didn't even know this was here, and how..it is massive. Around 8 PM, we started driving a little way toward Redwoods Nat'l Park, looking for a stop to camp for the night.

Eats of the Day: Eagle Cafe (Fisherman's Wharf), Chantal Guillon-BEST MACARONS, Suzu Noodle House(Gross).

Day 2: Camped the night along a rest stop and weren't bothered by anyone! We got up and drove through the Humboldt Redwoods Preserve and Avenue of the Giants. It was GORGEOUS. It was the one part of the trip that still holds a reverence and a pause with me. I'm very glad we had this day. A day to just reflect and take it all in. I've never seen so many ferns in my life. And I am a nerd and had so much fun learning about the antibacterial, antimicrobial, anti-fire properties of Redwood/Sequoia trees. We had so many stops this day; it was a whirlwind. We also saw the Eternal Tree House, World's Largest Totem Pole, Trinidad Lighthouse, hiked Lady Bird Johnson Grove (learned so much about how the Redwoods were basically saved at this dedication), and did another hike at Fern Canyon (some of Jurassic Park was filmed here). Our Fitbit's loved our 24K steps and I haven't been that sore in a while. We camped at the end of this day as well, on Oregon Trail road. Quite fitting, for our first trip to Oregon.

Eats of the Day: Eel River Cafe, Perlita's Mexican restaurant and a LOT of junk food and snacks

Day 3: Portland certainly is weird. A lot of panhandlers, but everyone was very welcoming and friendly. I tried my first cannabis (weed) cream on my always sore shoulder/neck at a dispensary and it worked. Too well. I need some, I think. Let me know the next time one of you folks, is passing through ;) We went to the International Rose Test Garden, where all of your mom/pop's front yard roses probably came from, back in the day. They test all of the roses here for hardiness, viability, scent, color, disease/drought resistance, etc. Next stop was Powell's Books. They have a few locations, but this famous one is an actual block wide. I wished we had half a day to just spend walking that bookstore. I've never seen so many books in my life; I probably never will. Some people come to Portland and spend an entire day there; I get it. Last stop of the day was Multnomah Falls, which was breathtaking and semi-vertigo-inducing, standing from the first falls. We finally spent a night at a hotel (poor hygiene, anyone?) just outside of Seattle and swam/showered and just relaxed.

Eats of the Day: Screen Door Cafe (one of my favorite eats of the trip), Voodoo Donuts, I can't quite remember

Day 4: Seattle was my kind of a city, and I really loved the atmosphere. Probably because there are endless food options, water, and no heat/cold. Seattle was touristy for us, but it was our first time, so....yes. Pike Place, waterfront Puget Sound cruise, Gum Wall, Space Needle, Chihuly Glass Museum, and the EMP Museum. I would have loved to do the zoo, eat at more places, fish, whale watch...but we just simply didn't have enough time.

Eats of the Day: Etta’s (delicious fish), The Confectional, Beecher's Cheese, Ellenos Greek Custard, Fogon Cocina (great Mexican/horrible Mexican 'server')

Day 5/6: Vancouver was the destination I was most excited for, and a place that we could finally just relax and not have to rush off to the next location from. We stayed downtown. Like, downtown. Beach street, one block from the beach and about 5 minutes walking to the ferry to Granville Island, or 5 minutes driving to Stanley Park, if you've been to Van City, as the locals call it. It was such a nice Air BnB, and I highly recommend the brothers if you ever head that way.

The first day, we drove over Lion's Gate Bridge to Lighthouse Park and did a little hike. The homes in this area (North Van; a different city then Vancouver), are just SO awesome. They remind me of Eastern US, colonial/Tudor style with really fresh paints/trim. We just bought a house, so I was super into the color schemes and styles. Next we went to Capilano suspension bridge, but didn't end up doing it as it was packed with people and was timewise/$$ it didn't make sense for the day. We went to Grouse Mountain next and rode their Gondola to the top of the mountain. It's the tallest point in Vancouver. We saw a bird show, and orphaned bears that are now native residents to the mountain. We checked out the Lonsdale Quay Market, which tries to be like Pike Place but is like 1/10th as awesome and then drove back into town, hit up the beach and called it a night.

The second day we hit the bus system early. We went out to Van Dusen Gardens first. This was probably my favorite attraction in Vancouver. Keep in mind though, I am nerdy, sometimes enjoy quite/solitude and some of my favorite things to do include plants/animals. I think Ike was ready to leave the moment we got there. Our next stop was the Aquarium, which was great and Ike's favorite part. It was hard to move through, since I swear it was Elementary School Appreciation Day, but we survived the crowds and only were rained on a few times, sporadically. Next stop was Science World. We only had an hour here until close, and we both thought that would be plenty of time to play $30 a person and plunge through the museum in record time. WRONG. I could have definitely used a few hours here. On the mind puzzles in the lobby. It was really unique and they did a really unique and creative job at this science museum though. Then we went to Kitsilano beach, the most famous beach in Vancouver and called it a night.

Eats in Vancouver: Pizza Garden (twice), it was easy and cheap and just too convenient when you are exhausted from walking/driving around all day. Twisted Fork (need the recipe of those asiago cheese biscuits), Tim Horton's (Dunkin Donuts, anyone?), Flying Pig, Taqueria Pinche (craving currently and highly recommend), Halima Garden(meh).

On the way home, we had vouchers to the Seattle Aquarium that we weren't able to use a few days earlier, so we stopped there on the way home. We hit horrible, awful traffic in Tacoma, Washington and were stuck in literally the same half mile of road for 2.5 hours. Definition of insanity. We drove through the night again, (the quicker, less scenic way) and made it home first thing Saturday morning to our kids and families :) Wonderful, whirlwind trip, and now we know exactly which areas to deep-dive into more next time. Thanks to my awesome in-laws for watching my kiddos!