Our House--Before Photos

We bought a house! We got keys Monday October 3rd, and we immediately started moving in. We also immediately started renovating; I couldn't even wait for the before pictures to start pulling down the hideous wallpaper in our room. :)

Here's the outside--admittedly, this is a week after we moved in. We had already pulled some weeds and added some pumpkins. But I couldn't find my other picture of the house.

Front Room:

It's a really big room, actually. Two large windows, one with a lot of the original glass, so it's nice and wavy. The bedroom doors both go off of the living, which I wasn't sure about at first, but after just a week I've already gotten used to it and I even like it. on the south wall, is a big built in bookcase right next to an awesome mantle over a not quite so awesome wood burning stove. To be honest, when I first saw the mantle, I didn't like it. It's big, awkward, and it looked so bleh with the old paint. Old dirty paint, as the previous owner burned coal every winter. Our entire house, basically, was covered in a layer of coal dust when we moved in.

The walls in the living room are covered with a grass cloth, which was another thing I wasn't sure about at first. But I've grown to really like the interesting texture. Especially after some paint.

As you can see in the photos, the heat in our house is produced by a big boiler through radiators. I love radiant heat, but these radiators are pretty big. We have plans to build window seats with grates on the front to allow the heat out, but that is a few weeks away.

view looking towards the front door. The door on the left is in to the master bedroom.

looking back. That door is in to the kitchen. 

the mantle and stove, as well as the big bookcase. 

Kitchen: 

The kitchen was like 1974 incarnate. Seriously. It was rather awful. The wallpaper was a hideous pattern of olive green, mustardy yellow things. Not a fan. We've already pulled down almost all of it, and we found avocado paint underneath! It must have been so dark when that was the color.

One of the first things we removed was a big yellow storm window on the kitchen window. It made the room so dark, and taking it off helped so much.

The cabinets are really nice, and there are a lot of them, but they are dark. White paint my friends! We also immediately removed the weird plastic sliding things above the cabinets. I didn't take a close up of those (too bad) but they really darkened the kitchen. We were lucky to get all of the appliances from the previous owner, which was a great help.

There's a weird opening to the left of the stove that we're going to turn in to a pantry, with some doors. Before, it was used as a pantry but with open shelves. It looked quite messy.

The window over the sink is awesome. I can see the whole backyard! But we've found that it gets REALLY hot right there in the afternoon. :) 

Don't you love the wallpaper?

Dark, I know, but this shows the weird yellow window where the table will be. Also, the cabinet against the wall and one right behind Derek will be taken out. 

this is the door into the Living room, with the set of drawers that will be removed. 

Back Room, aka playroom:

This room has the laundry in it, but it will be our play room. Oh man, this room needs some work. Some HORRIBLE carpet and tada--popcorn ceiling! That will be a spring project for sure.

It was just used as storage for the previous owner, so it was just packed with stuff when we first saw the house. The window and the big sliding glass door were covered in reflecting foam core to help keep the heat in. You better believe we tore that out asap. It made that room SO bright. Rowena already loves to curl up in the sun back there. The door is south facing, and that is perfect for her kitty naps. Right now, it's still a bit of mess. It's been the "I don't know where to put this so put it back here" room while we're renovating. I am looking forward to getting the toys put away back there.

The house smelled really awful when we first moved in. A combination of old people and coal, and this room was the worst. We've kept the window open and the glass door open to the screen basically all day every day since we moved in, and it has made a HUGE difference. That and a cinnamon candle.

Lovely popcorn ceiling. Spring Project for sure. 

Fancy light, right? And you can see all the stuff over the glass doors. 

laundry area

that door on the left goes to the backyard. So far, it has remained locked. We prefer to use the sliding glass door

Bathroom:

Henry's favorite part of the house is the green toilet. He was SO excited about that. And the green sink and the green tub. He wanted to take a bath in the green tub as soon as possible. Obviously it's something we want to change as soon as we have enough money to do a good renovation in there. But for now, it's functional.

There is a huge linen closet in there, one I really dislike. It takes up half the bathroom. I am looking forward to knocking that down and putting in a more manageable cupboard--something small from IKEA. It will really open up that room and make it not so dark, too.

Henry's favorite thing about the house

green everywhere!

the sink. 

door into the large linen closet

Master Bedroom:

The master is at the front of the house, and it really is a big room. And an interesting one. It has a huge closet, which is in basically another room that is attacked. It's hard to explain. But it's a great room with another big window. I love laying in bed and looking out at the sun hitting the tree in the morning.

There are several layers of pretty tacky wallpaper on the walls in there. We started tearing the outer layer out right away, and it came down easily. The others might take some work, but that room will probably be our last room.

the lovely wallpaper

nice big window in our room!

door into the living Room

the "sitting room" as I like to cal it. 

Boys' Room:

The boys room was actually the first room we redid (pictures on that later). It had big shelves along one wall, which were beautifully made, but they took up the whole wall. It's a smaller room, but it's perfect for the boys. The walls are paneling, which meant we could paint right away.

The coolest thing about their room, is the closet. It's a small door, but the closet is really big! About 3 feet wide and maybe 10 feet deep. At the end, is a big built in. Drawers and a big cupboard with nice shelves. Perfect for the boys closet. Henry's favorite part, though, is the secret door! There is a little door that leads right into the bathroom. He loves that secret passage, and so does Johnny. It's nice when the boys are in the tub, because I can just open the little door and grab their clean clothes without leaving them alone for a second. It needs to be painted and cleaned up, though. There's some really crumbly old wall paper on the walls. But I pulled up the hideous carpet that was there (and smelly carpet!) and we found some cool old tiles underneath.

walls--so dirty from the coal. 

pretty light! And the shelves that we took down. 

door into the secret passage/closet

closet. The built in at the end has been great for the boys clothes

Anyway, that's the house! I need to get pictures of the yard. We already started doing some work, I just haven't taken the time to do before pictures. Hopefully tomorrow.

But we love our little place. It has already started to feel like home and we love it. We feel so blessed and grateful that Heavenly Father led us here and we can't wait to continue to make it ours.

First Night

I finally sat down in our house today. Not just sitting to wolf down breakfast or dinner, but actually sit down and pretend to relax for a minute. It's been a whirlwind 48 hours, as got our keys, loaded up trucks a few times, began painting right away, had furniture delivered, tried to find time to eat (thank you visiting teachers for cutting out the cooking part), and then help two little boys deal with such a big change.

But last night, as we all crawled into our beds in our new house, I couldn't help but think about how grateful I am to be here. Despite our entire house being a disaster, furniture all out of place, boxes everywhere, dirty dishes and bags of chips on the kitchen counter, clothes in baskets around the living room, and the boys sleeping in our room, it felt good to be home.

Derek and I have talked a lot about how places come to mean so much to us. When BYU tore down Heritage Halls I cried a little. It was where I met Derek, where I learned so much about myself as a freshman on my own, and where I became an "adult." Our first little basement apartment--I thought for sure I would be thrilled to leave that heater-less AC-less place with low ceilings and mold, but when it came down to it, I was sad. Number 4 Panton Street--don't get me started. The point is, we're looking forward to finding out how much this little blue house is going to mean to us.

I hope we'll be here a while. Long enough for Henry to go to elementary school, even beyond. Long enough for Johnny to learn to ride a bike in the driveway. Hopefully we'll bring a new baby or two home here. I want this house to be where Derek and I learn a whole lot about renovation, taking care of our own yard, and perhaps where Derek and Jared can develop new inventions in the garage.

There's so much potential in this house, with it's quirky walls, avocado toilet and tub, 1970s kitchen, and radiators for heat. Not just physically, but for our family.

So last night, our first night here, was the beginning of a thousand and one adventures. We Brutons, we like to go adventuring. And now that we've begun this one, I can't wait to spent as many nights tucked in my bed in my own house, my little blue house, for years to come.

The Boys Lately

John
* Walking! He has been for about a month, but the last week or so he's started walking more than crawling during the day.

* Still my big eater. his favorite foods are: grapes, chicken nuggets, Marshmallow Matey's, animal crackers, Oreos, nectarines, blueberries, and strawberries. But really, he likes just about everything.

* LOVES to read. Anytime it gets quiet and I can't see him, I find him back in the boys bedroom with books all around him, reading. He's very good and gentle with the books. His favorites are:
Thomas books
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Wild Animals Touch and Feel
Mickey Finding Book
Dinosaur Roar
First 100 Words

* Newish Words:
This
That
Please
Ki-ee
Miii! (for meow)
"what is this?"
choo choo
kuck (truck)
brrmm brrm (car)
me me me! (whenever he wants anything)
"yeah" and nods his head

* Favorite toys:
cars and trucks. definitely his favorites
little rocks
dirt
sand
Little People (especially the little Pluto)
trains (Trevor and Terrance are his favorite)

* Loves his blanket that Mommy made him. :)

* still using a binky. usually just at sleeping times

* Loves the cat and tries to play with her all the time. He can sometimes be quite rough in his love, though.



Henry
* Still loves to help with everything. He especially loves to help me bake and use my mixer.

* Learning new words all the time. One lately is "obsessed".

* tries to talk his way out of anything and everything.

* He tells me: "If you don't do ____ then I'm going to____" usually what he's going to do is put me in my room or timeout.

* Anytime anyone talks about doing something, he says "me and blankie" or "blankie does----". Blankie is a full on imaginary friend and does everything with Henry. Lately, he tells me often that he and Blankie bought a house in Lindon and one in Provo.

* Still a picky eater. Getting worse, it seems. His favorite foods right now are pieces of bread, pancakes, IKEA cookies, Oreos, Cheese, and sometimes chicken. He still really likes BBQ sauce.

* Started going to a little co-op preschool once a week. Every Thursday morning he tells me he wants to stay home and that he doesn't want to go, but he always has a lot of fun.

* Best friend: Marshall Miller

* Favorite Toys:
his cords
little rocks
tools
trains
marble maze
cars (especially Lightening McQueen and Mack)
markers and scissors--he loves to do any kind of drawing and cutting up paper

* loves to sleep with lots of blankets and pillows and "friends." He always has 3-4 flashlights, his keys, and a few other bits and bobs in bed with him.

Family Photos

We had some family pictures taken for us this weekend. Unfortunately, the only time we could do it, was while it was cold and rainy. The boys were a little less than thrilled, and between that and their shyness--well, I was really surprised to see so many pictures that I loved. :) Maryn did such a great job and was cheerful and awesome despite the weather and my uncooperative boys. :) Here are my favorites:

A New Favorite National Park: Bryce Canyon

Yes, I have a new favorite National Park. And I'm not sure if it's because of the beautiful and awe inspiring rock formations, the perfect weather, the lovely contrast between vegetation and desert, or if it was the giggles of my boys while we did the "Hoodoo Dance," having races down the paths, or our little family prayer on the trail to thank Heavenly Father for the beauty of this earth. But I'm getting ahead of myself...here we go.

I've been wanting to visit Bryce National Park for some time now. I've always wanted to see the hoodoos up close and hike around that beautiful place. So, I told Derek we were going this year. We let his family know, and they wanted to join us. Grandma found us a place in Panguitch and we were able to meet her and Grandpa and the Potter family there for a few nights. We were bummed that the other half of the Bruton kids couldn't make it, but it was still a great time with family.

The boys were CHAMPS on the drive down. It's only about 3 hours to Panguitch from Provo, but still. They were so great. It really makes the trip go much faster. Henry was just excited to see Grandpa and Grandma, I think, and John just had fun playing with the toys in the car and mooching off Derek's Fresh Strawberry Shake. I drove the whole way, which is rather unusual when we're all together, but it was such a nice drive!

We arrived at "the house" as Henry called it around 8:30. The boys giggled and ran around with their cousins, Ian and Luke, for about ten minutes while we unloaded. Then, we did the bedtime routine and got everyone in bed. Henry was pretty excited, because the bed he chose to sleep in had a green headboard. "A green bed, Mama! Just for me! I have to sleep in it." Because Kimberly, Wyatt, and Allyson decided last minute not to come (illness), Henry and John actually had their own room. Which was great! Johnny took a little bit to go to sleep, but once he and Henry were out--they were out all night!

The next morning, the boys woke up around 8, which was just right to get ready, have French Toast for breakfast, and get out the door to the park! We decided to hike the Navajo Loop with Lori Ann, Stephen, and their boys first, which was a lot of fun. We took the shuttle up to Sunset Point, which was of course a highlight for Henry. He loves taking the bus. He was our little navigator, too, using the map to tell us where we were going.

Oh man, that first look down at the Amphitheater was totally worth the whole trip. AMAZING. The hoodoos and other rock formations were beautiful and everything I hoped they would be. It was a fantastic view from the top, looking down at all the incredible beauty that our Heavenly Father created for us. Henry was pretty excited looking out at all the rocks, and Johnny kept pointing at everything, jabbering away. We didn't stay up top for long, however. We got right down into the hoodoos!

We started hiking towards a formation called "Wall Street" first. The switchbacks were fun; Henry liked looking up and Johnny and I as we were above them, and Johnny loved it when I ran to catch up. John was determined to touch as many rocks as rock walls as he possibly could and got very mad at me whenever I moved on. He was completely captivated, especially when we got right in to "Wall Street" where the rocks and quite close together, a little slot canyon.

The boys both love the backpacks we have for them, but they were eager to get down and scamper around in the canyon with their cousins, too. John loved peeking around everything and did his best to keep up with Henry, Ian, and Luke. Henry was just happy to jump around. The four boys played around for a while, climbing up and down the rocks and hunkering down in the little caves, but then it was time to move on.

Navajo Loop has a bit of a flat part going through the bristle cone pines, which is a nice break in between the descent and the climb. We had a little snack and some water in the shade down there, then headed up.

In hindsight, I wish we would have checked Henry's blood down there. He kept telling us he was done and wanted to go home, and when we finally checked him at the end of the hike his blood sugar was quite high. It's one of those things we are still learning, even though it's 5 months since his diagnosis. I look at the the pictures of the second half of the hike and I can see in his eyes he doesn't feel good. Just one of those realities now, one of those things we need to do better at.

Anyway, the hike up was a bit tough for me. We figure Johnny is about 20% of my body weight, and that is quite a bit to be lugging up and down a canyon. But we persevered. I was particularly excited to see "Thor's Hammer," one of the most famous hoodoos in Bryce Canyon, and it was towards the end of this hike. Johnny was getting a little tired, so I let him have his binky, something I usually only let him do when it's time for sleep. Unfortunately, as I was snapping a picture of Henry and Derek, John took his binky out of his mouth and dropped it. We watched helplessly as it bounced off rock after rock all the way down the canyon, right next to "Thor's Hammer." And then Johnny let us have it. He was so mad that Daddy wouldn't go get it. He kept yelling "baba!" (what he calls a binky) and tried to fling himself out of the backpack. This made the hike up even more interesting: having 25 pounds of angry boy flinging himself back and forth on your back while you try and hike up a canyon is not easy.

By the time we reached the top, we were sure grateful to be there.

We met up with Grandpa and Grandma at the visitor's center after that, where we had a quick lunch. Henry was really excited about a 3D map of the park, where he pointed out the exact spot where Johnny threw his binky down the canyon. Everyone was really tired and a thunderstorm was on its way, so we made our way back to the house to relax for the afternoon before dinner.

No one in our family really took a nap, though. John fell asleep in the car and didn't sleep much in his crib, Henry had just had insulin and was definitely not tired. Ian and Luke crashed for quite a while, as did their parents, which was good for them.

Despite that, after dinner, it was our little quartet that headed back into the park for another hike. As we were driving in, I kept thinking maybe we should turn back, everyone is tired, especially when Henry fell asleep. I'm glad I didn't listen to my nagging, though, as this was the best part of the entire trip.

We hiked the Queen's Garden trail, which starts at Sunrise Point. We got there just as the sun set, (ironic, right?) and it was beautiful; the clouds were gorgeous, the colors brilliant in the setting sun. This hike was amazing. The way down was nowhere near as steep, and it had incredible views the whole way down and fantastic hoodoos, too. I made up a silly hoodoo song and dance, which Henry and Johnny both LOVED. We laughed, had races, talked about how beautiful everything was, and were just US. It's so nice to have those moments, when we can truly be ourselves: silly and goofy, but also talk about the serious bits. We stopped and said a little prayer together as a family to thank Heavenly Father for the beautiful creations we were seeing, which was awesome. I always want my kids to remember where the beauty in this world comes from, who made the cool rocks and the mountains, and why they're there: because Heavenly Father loves us.

We hiked down the canyon until just a little after 8pm, when it was starting to get dark. Then we turned around and headed back. At this point, Henry really wanted to be with me and John was reaching for his Daddy, so we switched. So silly. Now I was lugging the heavy boy UP the canyon. Good thing it wasn't as steep, or I would have been in big trouble. Henry was awesome, though, and kept saying "you can do it, Mama!" and "Go, Mama, Go!" It was nice to have someone to encourage me up the hills.

When we reached the car, it was completely dark. But oh, it was the best hike we've ever done as a family. The boys crashed that night, completely exhausted after a full day of fun. But Derek and I ventured out again to take a look at the stars and try and take a few star pictures--our first attempt at that.

Oh wow, the starts were BRILLIANT. I've never EVER seen so many, and the Milky Way is so bright down there. We had decided earlier to just go to Red Canyon, which is jut outside the park. We thought we'd hike in a bit, but when we arrived at the pull out and saw how DARK DARK DARK it was, we decided to stay by the car. But wow, the views of the heavens were still amazing and definitely worth the effort to go out so late.

The next morning, we had breakfast and packed up. The Potters headed home, but Grandpa and Grandma and the four of us headed in for one last hike: Mossy Cave. That was a fun one!

It was quite short, and Henry really could have walked the whole way, but he loves riding in the backpack, so that's what we did. There were bridges over a little stream, where we threw rocks, and then the cave which had "awesome green moss, Mommy!". But the best part was the end. There's a small waterfall, but a pretty good sized stream at the top flowing over the beautiful red rock. First thing I did when we got there was plop John in the water where he kicked and splashed. I took my shoes off and was right in there with him, and Henry and Derek followed right after. It was so refreshing! And it was awesome, because despite the smooth rocks, it wasn't slippery! Not a bit. We walked up and down the stream and played for about 25 minutes, throwing pine cones around and splashing. But when Henry's pine cone went down the waterfall and he started bawling, we knew it was time to go. A bit of insulin and a snack later, we were packed up and heading back. Which turned out to be a REALLY good thing, because less than 10 minutes after we got in the car it was POURING rain.

We grabbed lunch out the back of the vehicles at Ruby's Inn, where we had huge rain drops pouring down on us. The boys sat in the front seats with us while we ate, and then Derek and I braved the downpour to get them buckled up. We were laughing at laughing as we leaned into the car, rushing to strap them in safely as the rain soaked our backs.

We had one final stop on our adventure, and that was at the official Bryce Canyon National Park sign. Heavenly Father granted us about 3 minutes of no rain so we could snap the traditional picture, and then we were off, waving goodbye to the hoodoos and the trees as we started on our way back to Provo.


It was a fantastic couple of days for our family. We loved hiking together. Henry kept saying "I love hiking. We need to do this more often." And we agreed. Let's do Bryce Canyon more often, too.

 

Movie In LaVell Edwards Stadium

We went to the annual movie screening in the stadium again this year and Papa came with us. We were mostly excited because they opened up the locker room for everyone to see. Ok, mostly I was excited about that. the boys were excited about running around on the field.

So we plopped our blankets out on the field and then hustled to the locker room to explore. It's smaller than I imagined, to be honest. But it was cool to see all the lockers and the boys liked exploring. They had some equipment for people to try on and, true to their usual selves, my boys would have nothing to do with it. Papa got a helmet on John's head for about .3 seconds, and then he was DONE. Oh well...

We went back out to the blanket and had the popcorn I brought and played with the footballs. The popcorn was devoured very quickly by Henry and John, but I was still a little hungry. So Derek bought me a Cougar Tail. Oh man, the boys eyes were HUGE when they saw that donut! They helped me finish it off in just a few minutes, especially John. I think he might have eaten half of it.

The movie, Remember the Titans, didn't start until 9:00, so I wasn't sure we'd even make it through the first ten minutes. But the boys actually lasted until 10, when Johnny started to get a little grumpy. So, we packed up and headed back home.

It was a lot of fun, more crowded that last year, but still a great summer tradition.