Our first tomato...

...has made an appearance!

P.S. Does anyone want any lettuce?

The House, Before and After

We have been in our house for a little over two months now. In some ways it seems like we have just always lived here, and in other ways it's still very surreal that we actually live here. All in all, it has been so nice having a little more space and no people living below, above or next to us. The first weekend we were here there were a few "adventures" with some water heater issues, air conditioning issues, etc. Luckily they all turned out to be minor (however, isn't that what a home inspection is for....) and it was a good learning experience for us as new home owners.

The former owners of our house had gone through and basically renovated the entire house. Which, let's be honest, was a nice selling point for us. There were a few little things that we wanted to change to make the house more our style. So over the last few months we (let's be honest again, mostly Don) have been working on. I think for now we are done making improvements (other than new windows being installed in a few weeks on the main floor. The window man laughed at our current windows...apparently that's not a good sign).

The former owners painted all of the rooms a nice neutral beige-ish color, but we learn more towards the grey family. So, before we moved in we painted the kitchen and master bedroom.

Before. Notice the fluorescent light. That is just a crime. 

In the midst of painting-fun! 

After. As you can see, depending on the light, the paint is a light-mid greenish greyish.

Our master bedroom received a little closet makeover (thanks to Don) and a coat of grey paint. "Aloof grey" to be exact. 

Before. (Sorry for the terrible picture quality). A fun side note about those closet doors, we saved them for our neighborhood clean up (a few weeks ago) and one morning shortly after putting them out on the curb, someone came and pulled the metal off, leaving the now broken glass doors. Thanks, dude. 

The installation!

After. Look at all of the nice storage space! (ahem...my clothes may or may not be the majority of the closet. Sorry, honey!) Also note the nice grey. Mmmm..

 Another project we tackled was the awkward bar situation we had going on downstairs. In theory the bar was a great idea, in execution, not so much. We decided to close the bar off, add a door and some shelves and turn it into a storage room. This was our most recent project that we just finished this weekend! We also painted the family room the same color as the kitchen.

Before. Don't be deceived by the bar, it was a little awkward (and ugly).

After. Still looking for a longer cable for the TV so it can be hidden. 

Before. Inside of bar. 

After. Look at those nice shelves just waiting to be filled with junk perfectly organized items!

Before. Family room. 

After. Family room. Still waiting for pictures to be hung. We are going to make a gallery wall of travel pictures.

 

 The last project we tackled was our backyard. There still are some things we want to do, but for now, we are pleased with how it has turned out.

Before. From this picture, you cannot see all of the little, teeny, tiny pieces of gravel that cover the ground. Nor can you see the icky mulch. Just saying.  

After.  You will notice that after 10+ hours the gravel has all been removed (no joke) and replaced with nice, new mulch! Ah, delightful. Bushes were removed (I chopped down three of them by myself while Don was at work...that is a proud moment for me). Some flowery perennials have been planted too. Now we just need to figure out how to remove the well, aka bird bath, aka ugliness.  

Before. This is the little garden area behind the garage. Before there was a stubborn, old, giant stump from a pine tree. Don bonded with our neighbor, Ben, who was so kind to come and help him remove it. 

Cleaning up the remains of the stump. 

Bandith supervising the removal of the stump. 

After. Cute little garden, sans pine tree stump. 

Nice, fresh mulch. Twenty-one bags of it to be exact. 

We are loving our new house and working together to make it our own. 

Commissioner of Higher Education

We have had to keep pretty hush, hush about this, but for the last three or so months, my dad has been going through the interview process to become Utah's Commissioner of Higher Education. In essence, the Commissioner of Higher Education acts as the liaison between all of the state universities and colleges in Utah and the legislature. He also works as a liaison between the Board of Regents and University/College Presidents. The interview process was fairly grueling (and long), so we were thrilled when it was announced that he had been nominated by the Board of Regents to be appointed to the spot.

In my totally unbiased opinion, I think they made the right choice.

Read the article in the Trib to learn more...

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54342274-78/utah-buhler-education-higher.html.csp

Park City Getaway

Don with strict instructions that I must leave the city for a few days for the safety of my students surprised me with a weekend getaway to Park City for my birthday. It was soooooooo wonderful! We did a little shopping, a little hiking (until I almost stepped on a snake, thus abruptly ending the hike... I seriously hate snakes. They are terrifying!), a little swimming..it was so nice to be away for a few days and gear up for the last week of school! I even managed to take a few pictures!