New House Pictures . . . Finally

We sold our old house and bought a new one way back in July and we have finally gotten the house together enough that I can post some pictures- yay!

The front.

Before I show you the pictures of everything put together and looking amazing I have to show you what Aven's room looked like before because Ian spent a lot of time turning the awful built-in drawers and cabinets you see below into something beautiful and functional. When we first bought the house we thought the drawers would make great storage, but they were heavy, didn't slide out easily and I hated that there was such a huge part of Aven's room that wasn't usable for her and her mountain of books and toys.

We thought this might be a project for next year, but we came up with a plan and got all worked up about it and decided to dive right in. Here is the space after demolition:

And here is Aven's room now:

We actually found a shelving unit at Ikea that fit almost perfectly in the space. Ian had to do some major pain-in-the-butt finishing work around the top and side of the shelving unit to make it look nice, but now it's a perfect place for books and toys. The other super weird thing about this room is that it contains the only rear portal to the out-of-doors, but that's something we've gotten used to.

Now, without further ado, here are more pictures of our house looking clean and put together:

The master bedroom. Having a true master with a bathroom was Ian's number one desire when we were looking for houses. It wasn't a big deal for me, but now that we have it I totally love it.

The kitchen. Granite counter tops are pretty but they are a pain in the butt to take care of (have you ever prepared a stain removing poultice before?). I wouldn't have picked them, but they came with the house so I'll try to enjoy them while doing my best to keep acids, oils, and fats off of them.

The living room. Look ma, no TV! Oh, the laptop we watch Hulu on counts? Oh well.

The dining room with a big picture window. We don't watch TV while we eat, but we do watch our neighbors and make snarky comments about some of them.

I hope you enjoyed the tour. Maybe I'll take you on a tour of our basement and office sometime, but right now they are still pretty chaotic.

Smile

Got to love that smile.

Utah State Fair

Aven got to go to the Utah State Fair with Payton. They ate pizza, saw animals, and most importantly, went on lots of rides. Aven had never been on a ride before and now I think she's hooked.
They flew in an airplane. The best part was watching them have a conversation while they were riding. We had no idea what they were talking about, but I'm sure it was deep.


Aven got to go on the Ferris wheel with dad. After a couple rotations she laughed uncontrollably for the rest of the ride.


Aven wasn't technically tall enough to ride most rides without a parent but because Payton was tall enough the ride operators let Aven ride with him. He's not exactly a responsible adult, but it all worked out okay.


The favorite of the day was the big slide. They wanted to go again and again but us old people thought it was a bit rough on the backside.

Aven was so tired by the time we left I was barely able to keep her awake on the 10 minute ride home.

Cowboys and Mountain Men

For Labor Day weekend we decided to get out of town for awhile. We were gone all of 28 hours but it felt like a lot more because we packed so much in.

We drove to Evanston, Wyoming, checked into a cheap motel and then went out in search of adventure:

We started out at the old train depot, than is currently being remodeled.

After that we decided to check out the rodeo. I hadn't been to one since I was a kid. Aven had fun seeing the horses and cows.

My favorite part was the Mutton Busting. Watching 3-6 year old kids cling to the backs of frantic sheep was hilarious (even though I realize it is cruel to the sheep AND the kids).

The next day we headed to Fort Bridger for the annual Mountain Man Rendezvous. We saw lots of people in 1830's period costumes engaging in 19th century activities.

Some costumes were more authentic than others. I am 99% sure that there weren't any buckskin wearing chihuahuas in the 1830's.

Aven scored an adorable prairie bonnet.

And we met up Amber, Dustin, and Payton for some more Rendezvous fun before heading back to Salt Lake.

Aven Einstein