House (and Sanity) for Sale

April 28, 2016 By

Our house is officially on the market!

We spent last weekend fixing up some final projects, most of which fell on Jamie because my DIY skills are nil. I did attempt to paint the front gate of our fence, a 20-minute job that took me two hours because cutting around the hinges is pretty much my worst nightmare. Hadley has recently taken up acrylic painting and loves spending hours on the minute details; maybe I should have passed it off to her!

My busyness will come Friday when it comes to deep cleaning the house to prep for the showings this weekend.

Last week when I was picking the kids up from the bus stop, I noticed a For Sale sign on the next street over. I walked up to investigate and our exact same model of house with our exact colors was up for sale. What are the odds?!

I freaked out, raced back to Jamie and reported my findings. We certainly did not want to compete with our exact same house that is comparable in every way except they added an extra (fifth) bedroom upstairs and an extra bathroom in the basement. The good news is they were asking $10,000 more than our very top dollar price and we heard they accepted an offer for $5,000 above that.

This prompted Jamie to up our price a bit higher, causing me to have major panic attacks. You see, with this crazy Denver market, if a house sits too long (more than a couple of weeks), you’ve missed your window and people start wondering what is wrong with the place. I’d rather have a bunch of people bidding it up than over-pricing and hearing nothing.

He keeps telling me to be patient, which is like telling Gandi to start World War III.

Here are a few of my other joys.

  • I haven’t slept more than a few hours all week (see above stresses).
  • The $#&* MLS published a disconnected number to our listing. Thankfully, Jamie caught it fairly early on but it took them 16 hours to correct it.
  • The cleaning crew that was supposed to arrive today canceled. The only reason we found out is when Jamie called them to confirm they casually mentioned their cleaning gal had called in sick. Welcome to the world of purchasing a Groupon. He raised a fuss about it and they rescheduled for Friday afternoon when we were planning to start showings. And wouldn’t you know it, the one call we received wanted to come at that exact time and they haven’t called back. I’ve since been cleaning like a madwoman bracing myself for the likelihood they won’t show tomorrow.
  • The weather is insanely bad and is supposed to snow for four days. Good thing we bought a bunch of flowers that are waiting to be planted.

Takeaway? I guess that means our house is officially on the market.

Filed Under: Colorado

Welcome to the Real World

April 27, 2016 By

Dear people who can eat anything they want and never gain a pound: what a world you must live in!

I’ve inherited many wonderful attributes from my family but a stellar metabolism is not one of them. It’s funny to look at our wedding pictures because Jamie’s side of the family is all long and lean while my side is short and stout. Sure, I love great food but I work out constantly, eat healthy most of the time and yet…yet…I’ve been gaining and losing the same 25 pounds my entire life.

I recently rejoined boot camp and love getting my butt whipped into shape but the weight is so much tougher to lose, particularly as I age. I have zero aspirations to be in a size 6 but maintaining a weight that I’m comfortable with is a tough cookie.

Darn the food reference.

At the beginning of the month, Jamie and I both started on a healthier regimen and this week, he expressed his frustrations.

“I don’t get it. I’ve been eating kind of healthy and exercising and usually I’m able to easily lose weight but it’s just not falling off like it usually does.”

Welcome to the world the rest of us have always lived in, James.

Filed Under: Jamie

We have movement!

April 25, 2016 By

It’s a big week Chez Johnson. Not only is our beloved house going on the market (awk!) but we have movement on our Midway property. We wired a sizable down payment to our home builder last week (awk!) and Big Bertha showed up on our lot today to start digging.

I know this isn’t exciting to anyone but my family but one of my regrets when we built our current home is we didn’t document its progress. And thanks to my snitch (a.k.a. neighbor Ellen), I’ll have regular updates.

For the first time ever, I totally get the excitement of the critically acclaimed book and movie, Holes. 

Filed Under: Utah

A Walk (and Trip) to Remember in Midway

April 21, 2016 By

Do you know those parents who take their high school seniors on a campus tour to extol the virtues of attending their Alma Mater? That’s exactly what our trip to Midway was during Spring Break. We figured if we were asking the kids to uproot their lives they love for a place completely unknown to them, we’d better make it look good. Really good. The funny thing is that when I first received my impression to look for real estate in Soldier Hollow, I had only ever visited Midway once or twice while Jamie had never been. That, my friends, is called faith. Or lunacy.

During my initial investigations, I talked to a few moms from Midway. One, in in particular, was a stand-out when I asked her about the demographic of this tiny mountain hamlet.

“There are people who’ve lived here for generations dating back to the Mormon pioneers from Switzerland. Some people have second homes here, others come to retire. We have General Authorities and young families who want an active lifestyle for their kids. In recent years, there has been an influx of people moving in who have no idea why they’re doing it but just feel compelled to be here.”

 Cue the goosebumps. That was one of many answers to prayers and perfectly described why we’re uprooting our lives for the unknown. We may be moving for one big reason or a million little ones. Who’s to say?

The timing of our visit over Spring Break could have been better. Late- March in the mountains is “shoulder season,” which is just a really way of saying it’s a transitional period between snow and green to the tune of mud. Midway’s famed Ice Castles were at the top of our bucket list but they were already melted. That didn’t stop us from exploring!

Tubing

We were fortunate to tube at Soldier Hollow in Wasatch Mountain State Park on closing day. This venue was made famous during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games as host to the cross country and biathlon events and has since added the longest tubing hills in Utah. We arrived wearing our winter layers of clothing and quickly started unlayering when we felt a blast of warm air. Spring skiing is one of the most fun times to ski because of cooperative temperatures and soft snow; spring tubing is equally as desirable!

The hill has lengthy 1,200-foot sliding lanes with lift service for towing people up the hill. Over and over again, we did laps up and down the mountain. The snow was soft but first; when the sun went down, it became slick and the tubers started crashing through barriers at the bottom, warning us to start braking with our feet half-way down. We ignored them, choosing to slow down at the bottom to up the element of excitement.

The Homestead

We stayed for a couple of nights at The Homestead Resort, a throwback to Victorian times with 19 separate buildings of cottages, rooms and condos connected by scenic walkways through lush gardens and lawns overlooking an 18-hold golf course. We slept in the spacious bunkroom, a building with a long history of hospitality but in need of some updating, as was much of the resort. Regardless, as the kids fed the kids sampled fudge in the gift shop and fed ducks before breakfast at Fanny’s, it’s impossible not to feel charmed by this historic property.

In the summer, the Activity Center offers a full slate of fun and a year-round option is The Homestead’s famous 65-foot crater, a geothermally heated pool. The crater is housed inside a limestone dome and we climbed the steep steps to catch a view from above before accessing it via a murky tunnel below. As we entered the crater, the sunlight filtering from the top cast the whole cave in an intense cobalt hue that made it look like an LED disco room–talk about mood lighting! Small stalactites clung from the ceiling above us, creating an otherworldly feel.

Life jackets are mandatory for swimmers, a fact I belittled until I leisurely floated in the 92-degree water that was warmer than your average pool but not too toasty that we were uncomfortable after our hour-long swim. The crater unbelievably offers scuba certification courses. We brought our snorkeling gear but our life jackets prevented us from producing them because we were unable to go deeper. The only evidences of the divers in the clear, deep waters were their bubbles at the surface and their lights illuminating the water’s deep below.  We’ll go deep another time but for that day, it felt luxurious just to soak.

The Walk to Remember

As we’d driven into town I’d noticed a walking trail and vowed to explore it the next morning. I slipped out before dawn as my family still slept and hung out in the lobby by the fireplace until the sun made its appearance. And then I was off! I walked down Homestead Drive past gorgeous Swiss-themed mansions, turning off onto the trail that slithered past Snake Creek. Five minutes later, it ran out. Disappointed at ending my walk prematurely, I turned onto Pine Canyon Road and decided to do a large loop before returning.

Deer curiously watched me, ruminating on the grass from a large plot of land for sale. I kept heading north and then west toward Wasatch Mountain State Park, eventually connecting with a road that would lead me back. Off to my left was a small forested area and steam was rising. I stopped. Midway is a hot pocket of hot springs but could there be something in a hidden grove?  There was a small wooden fence but I didn’t see a “no trespassing sign” so went for it.  I carefully traversed two rickety logs over a creek, pausing briefly to reflect if Jamie would be able to find my dead lifeless body there (such are the thoughts of someone who’s doing something that may not be such a swell idea).

What greeted me was a thousand times worth it. I didn’t find geothermal springs but rather, the sunrise was blazing on a collection of ponds that appeared to be shooting out cotton candy pink and blue puffs of steam. Sun-bleached reeds blew  shaggily in this forest that was so serene and untouched I felt like I was the first to discover it. I wanted to live forever in that moment.

I reluctantly crossed another questionable bridge back to a dirt path that I followed through Shire-like wooded groves and just when I thought my adventure was over, I stumbled upon a Swiss-themed castle playhouse. “What is this place?” I breathed, utterly bewitched.

I raced back to The Homestead to find the kids still sleeping. Jamie and I walked around the property as I downloaded my morning’s adventures.

“You know, Amber. You were probably on private property.”
“I didn’t see any signs.”
“Yes, but there was a fence.”
“But it was a small, unfortified fence. Anyway, how do you explain the castle I found?”
“That was probably someone’s backyard playhouse.”

The man needs more magic in his life. Fortunately, Midway has plenty of it to spare.

Filed Under: Family travel, Utah

Girl’s Night Out (+ boy)

April 15, 2016 By

We’ve been working around-the-clock with all the (not so) fun things involved with selling our house. The kids have been real rock stars through all the drudgery; little do they know the worst is yet to come with packing and the actual move. I convinced Jamie to push our intended sell date back seven days to give us a bit more time. I’ll be in Florida for a conference next week and his intention was to put it on the market three days later. After my kids had the run of the house for four days without their whip-cracking mom. Like that was going to happen.

A few things going down around here besides house stress:

Butt kicking. My favorite trainer in the entire universe, Lori, started her own gym, Power Peak Fitness, with boot camp-style and spin classes. I quit my previous gym around this time last year due to injuries and burnout. Though I hike and bike regularly, I struggled with strength training and tried two cheap gyms (seriously, how do people do uninspired/boring treadmill and weight machine workouts day after day?) I really need to get my butt back into shape and that’s exactly what she’s doing. I was so sore I could barely walk last week but it’s amazing what a difference a few days can make! I’m still out of shape but at least I’m no-longer-sore-and-out-of-shape.

Outdoor Lab. I’m doing the happy dance! Hadley had the time of her life with her sixth grade class at Outdoor Lab a few months ago and will be going to week-long Outdoor Lab’s High Potential Week in the mountains this summer. Basically, top students in various subjects get nominated from schools all around Jefferson County (the largest in Colorado) and her teachers nominated her for art. I honestly wasn’t going to follow through on the nomination because money is tight but when Jamie’s mom heard about the opportunity, she offered to pay her tuition because she didn’t want to see Hadley pass it up.  Even better is two of Hadley’s besties, Maeve and Alex, will be there as well. What a tremendous send-off before our move!

General Conference. Two weekends ago was the LDS Church’s semi-annual General Conference where we listen to our leaders via satellite from the comfort of  our home. In our PJs. With a lot of food. We have a longstanding tradition to invite our friends the Carroll over for gingerbread pancakes with fresh apple marmalade, cinnamon rolls, fruit and sausage. There’s not a lot of reverence but it’s certainly fun and not without its funny moments like when we busted Isaac for smuggling light sabers and a sundry of weapons in his panda PJs to the basement. All fun aside, we always leave conference weekend inspired and my favorite talk this year that brought me to tears was Bonnie Oscarson’s “Do I Believe?” Power.

Outdoor Adventures. In between juggling work and getting the house ready, I’ve been spending every spare moment with friends in the great outdoors. We’ve hiked Aldfer/Three Sisters and dined at Blue Cow Eatery, had a girl’s night hiking Red Rocks and overeating at Olive Garden while the boys were at the Priesthood Session for General Conference, I attempted to mountain bike North Table Mountain in its entirety (not pretty) and this week, Jenn, Lisa and I hiked the Apex Trail. Our home is in an incredible location above an extensive soccer complex with playgrounds, Van Bibber Creek, a pond and parks where our city’s 4th of July fireworks are staged every year. Another favorite event is the annual Kite Festival, which we enjoyed with our friends the Phillips (despite our long-documented ineptitude at flying kites).

Apex Trail

Sports. Our busy spring sports season is underway…or is it? We’ve had an incredibly wet, snowy spring and 90 percent of Bode’s games and practices have been canceled, with a colossal snow storm happening this weekend. Hadley started volleyball with Maeve and Alex at the YMCA. With her transitioning back to our public school this year, I was fine with limiting her activities but wanted to have one last go-around with friends. Plus, she’s really really good at volleyball and loves it when she’s on the court…but claims otherwise when she’s off (looks like we have a tween). The kid is mastering her overhand serve and is leaps and bounds ahead of where I was at her age.

Bears R Us. I’m wrapping my two-year stint as the Cub Scout Bear leader in our ward. I’d like to say I’ve loved this calling but I’d be exaggerating. I enjoy most of our weekly den meetings with the boys and we had a fun adventure walking Ralston Creek Trail yesterday but I despise mounds of paperwork and committee meetings. The best thing is being able to teach Bode and I’m happy he’ll be receiving his rank advancement next month. And equally as happy I’ll be moving on from this calling!

Girl’s Night Out. I skipped out a bit early from Hadley’s volleyball game last night to go to Girl’s Night Out with some friends. Usually our get togethers revolve around our kids and it was a breath of fresh air to enjoy each other’s company. Jamie is the least controlling husband ever (a good thing, too because this shrew is rather untameable) but I started to tell him why I needed to go to Girl’s Night Out.

And then I remembered I’m leaving him for Florida tomorrow where he’ll be stuck for four days with kids. In a snow storm. Finishing taxes.

Me thinks Jamie needs a girl’s night out waaaaay more than I.

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

Clean House, Rinse, Lather, Repeat

April 12, 2016 By

Life is heating up chez nous as we get our house ready to sell (translation: posting will be sporadic). Our Utah home is stalled in the permit stage (pray, pray, pray the house will be ready in time for school).

Yesterday, our realtor friend came by to take measurements and walk us through the process. If you know of anyone moving, Stan Dalton is one of the top realtors in Colorado Springs, which is really saying something because there are a gazillion of them. Honest. Hard-working. Funny. And so much integrity. He was the best man at our wedding and he and Jamie have childhood history, which means there are a lot of stories I’m not allowed to share because they’d probably be arrested.

Our family has been cleaning and fixing up the house around-the-clock so the photographer could take pictures of our house yesterday (another shout-out to Rob Larsen Photography who was a real pro).  We’re hoping to have our house on the market in the next 2-3 weeks and then the real fun of keeping it clean begins. We are waiting upon our ginormously gorgeous maple tree in the backyard to blossom. Because wouldn’t you know that it is the only tree in our yard without leaves and the most important one. Have you ever prayed for a tree? I guess this means I’m an official tree hugger.

Jamie commented that it’s a pity we’re selling our house because we’ve finally fixed it up to look really nice, which makes the process that much more bittersweet.

But then our soon-to-be neighbor Ellen in Midway sent me this picture last week from our backyard.

And I just keep reminding myself it will all be worth it.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The months leading up to our Midway move

April 7, 2016 By

From that unexpected moment in December when we first felt that strong impression that we were supposed to uproot our beloved Colorado life for the unknown in Midway, Utah, our past several months have been a blur.

January

  •  I spent most of January crying. Don’t ask about my ugly sobfest when I watched “Out of Africa” and Meryl Streep introduced her love affair of Kenya with “I had a farm in Africa.”  TIP: DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE IF YOU ARE MOVING FROM A LAND YOU LOVE.
  • I also spent January purging the house. I literally cleaned out every single room and we will have one heck of a garage sale next month. On April 15, we will celebrate our 12-year anniversary in this wonderful house. This was the home of my kids’ cherished childhood. It feels strange as they enter their tween/teen years they will have completely different memories in a new place.
  • Jamie and I flew in and out to Utah on the same day to meet with the builder to discuss initial plans. Funny story: when we first walked onto the property in December, it was foggy and we couldn’t see any views of Mount Timpanogos. On our return visit, we were literally blown away. It is the perfect view (minus annoying power lines). This picture is zoomed in of our yard.

February

  • We told the kids about the move. They cried, I cried. Jamie (The Man Who Never Cries) sympathetically consoled us while Fat Kitty looked at us like were lunatics. He has no idea of the trauma that awaits him this summer (Fat Dude hates any change and becomes unglued simply riding around the neighborhood in the car).
  • Told our closest friends. More crying.

March

  • Things are becoming real. Started fixing up the house for sale.
  • Spend a fortune on new carpet we’ll never enjoy.
  • Word of our move spreads like wildfire in our ward that has become our second family. Crying etc.
  • We visit Midway for Spring Break and introduce the kids to their new life.
About 95 percent of the homes are completed in our new neighborhood and only a few remain including our lot and our immediate neighbor’s but I was thrilled to see their cars and told Jamie, “we need to go meet them!” We hadn’t taken even two steps out of our car when Ellen FLEW out of her house, exclaiming, “are you our new neighbors?” And just like that, she and her husband Dave welcomed us with open arms to the hood.

The good: She is my twin in twenty years and her husband is just like Jamie. Plus, they fed us coconut cookies.
The bad (for Hadley): She offered to become our kids’ piano teacher.

During our visit to Utah, we had planned to go to our new ward hoping to meet a few new people but church was canceled due to the Provo City Center Dedication. But the timing of our Spring Break visit was otherwise perfect. Hadley was able to attend an overnight retreat with the young women from our new ward and made a few friends. She will go to YW Girl’s Camp in our Colorado ward and then a week later with her Utah one. It was a relief that she was able to bond with the new girls before showing up for camp!

So, that left Bode. I’m concerned about both of them with this move for different reasons. Hadley has a lot of friends but sometimes takes a while to warm up to people and then she’s the life of the party. However, if she doesn’t click or fit in, she’s fine with going it alone. Case in point: She’ll often hang out with friends on the bus but if they’re not around, she’d rather just sit by herself than be with someone she doesn’t like.  It’s good that she’s comfortable enough with herself to just be by herself but sometimes not so good when she would rather not put forth the effort. Starting at a new middle school without knowing anyone is no stroll in the park.

Bode is the complete opposite. His friends are his world and he collects them like trash on his bedroom floor (translation: he has a lot). Everywhere he goes, he makes a new BFF. This is a great quality but the worry is what happens if he doesn’t click with the kids there? He’s a thoughtful, sensitive kid and it would be waaaay more devastating to him than Hadley.

Hadley’s retreat was at the Young Women’s President’s house in our neighborhood who has a daughter Hadley’s age and a 9-year-0ld son like Bode. I mentioned I’d like them to meet so Bode would at least know one person before the move but her son Tommy was at his grandma’s a block away. Just as we started to leave, another  boy, Titus, showed up asking if Tommy was around to play.

And this is where my Mama Bear My Children Must Make Friends instinct kicked in. “Tommy isn’t here but would you like to go with Bode up the street to his grandma’s house?” Titus was game so he and Bode walked together while I followed them in the car.

Yes, it was as creepy as it sounds.

It got worse. We arrived at the house but Grandma wasn’t home. Tommy and his siblings (I think there are 8 of them?) were in the care of their teenage brother. I hesitated. Surely I shouldn’t leave Bode there with no grandparental supervision, right? I followed Bode and Titus to the basement where Tommy was hanging out with his brother.

I went for it. “Hey, we’re moving into the neighborhood and are wondering if Bode can hang out for a few minutes?”

Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds.

They hesitatingly agreed and for the first time, poor Bode looked uncomfortable. I cheerfully assured him, “I’ll be back soon” and drove back to our lot to meet Jamie. Because our home is one of the last in the neighborhood to be built, we were not able to see our actual model before committing. Scary, right? Our neighbor across the street, Jan, generously opened up her home for us to tour and for the first time, we were able to see the layout.

The good: Jan is awesomely friendly and talked a lot.
The bad: Jan is awesomely friendly and talked a lot.

Normally I’d be thrilled with such a warm reception but remember that I dumped poor Bode at a grandma’s house without a grandma with kids he didn’t know? That few minutes turned into an hour and I agonized as time ticked on. I finally had to politely excuse ourselves and raced back over to the house. As I walked up to the door, I noticed something in the distance–a child riding a scooter that looked suspiciously like Bode.  I walked down to the street. Yep, it was Bode. He raced around the corner with Tommy and Titus in hot pursuit.

“Bode, did you have fun?”
“Definitely!”
“Have you been exploring?”
“Yes! We went back over to Tommy’s house and he loaned me this scooter. Do you know what we just discovered?!!! A SINKHOLE in an open field behind our new neighborhood.”

Something tells me that boy is going to be just fine. Let’s just hope the rest of us will follow.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor, Utah

The House

April 6, 2016 By
Welcome to what has become my ongoing series documenting our move to Utah. Don’t worry, this won’t last forever. Pretty soon I’ll be commiserating about leaving my beloved Colorado as I cram in every last adventure I can!
I’ve been asked for more information on the timing of our move and our new house so I’ll give you a window into my stress. As I mentioned before, the Denver housing market is on fire with a huge shortage of houses on the market, thousands of people moving here and being forced to pay top dollar because of the lack of inventory. Jamie’s sister has encountered this problem. She sold her home last year, made a huge profit on it, and traveled to Europe. Now that she’s back and looking for a job, she can’t afford to buy another house and is currently renting a one-bedroom for $1,300. I know New Yorkers would scoff but that price is high for Denver.  People are realizing what an awesome place this is to live and are coming in droves so I don’t see the prices dropping back to where they once were, though I’m sure the market will stabilize eventually.
Our plan is to put our house on the market late-April and hopefully move out by late-June.  Hadley has YW Girls’ Camp in our Colorado ward the last week of June and camp in our new ward the first week of July, hence the timing. Thus begins our homeless stage and the source of much stress. Since we’re building, there is a laborious process to endure. We spent several weeks in review with the house plans and making any necessary adjustments and upgrades and now we’re stalled as the building permits are approved. What was supposed to be 3-4 weeks it taking much longer. The original projected completion date was early-August (perfect) but now we’ll be lucky if we’re in our new home by early-September (imperfect x 100).
We’ll be living with Jamie’s parents in the interim and the kids and I always spend a good chunk of July with my family in Canada. That’s all fine. But school starts in mid-August and there is no way I’m driving 45 minutes from my in-laws’ house in each direction, two times a day to drop-off and pick-up  the kids. That’s 3+ hours a day in the car. So, let’s not think about that and  I’m praying like crazy the permits are approved so they can start construction, PRONTO.
Due to the premium price tag of our lot, in order to fit this move into our budget, we had to select the smallest model. That’s fine. Our new home is actually comparable in overall size to our current house but it is ranch-style and the layout is completely different. There are only three bedrooms upstairs (that are a lot smaller) so almost immediately we need to scrounge together some money to finish two rooms in the basement so we’ll move Hadley to the basement and Jamie can setup his office down there. Hadley’s temporary bedroom upstairs will become my office. We’ll slowly piece together the rest of the basement over the next several years.
Hadley is a wonderfully gifted artist and loves to create. The problem with that is she has decided this is HER house and her design choices. She begged to go to the design center with us a couple of weeks ago but we made it very clear that, though we value her opinion, she did not have the final say and could not use words like “barf” and “disgusting” when she did not agree with our choices.  She was very well behaved during the process and bit her tongue a few (hundred) times, I’m sure. We consoled her that she can decorate her new room in the basement however she wants. Tip: do not give a full license to a burgeoning artist. She is currently designing her dream bedroom that looks just her Grandma J’s guest room, complete with a chandelier. Good luck with that, kid.
We dragged Jamie’s sister Tammy (a former interior designer at Gensler in New York) to the design center with us. Her family just renovated a beautiful new home in Salt Lake City that looks like a showhome from the magazines. I mean, the woman still carries around paint samples in her purse. That’s how hardcore she is!
I deferred to her on almost everything except for two items: the interior wall and exterior house color. I really wanted our home to be gray with white trim and a blue door but when we pulled up to the neighborhood, we noticed that there were three other very similar looking homes with the same colors and one even had a blue door. Cursed! We took a stroll around the block debating the virtues of various home colors. Jamie and Hadley really liked a dark grey house with red trim but our current home has plenty of red accents and I’m over it. I opted for a beautiful slate blue house with white trim but they wouldn’t have that, either.
We finally compromised on the gray house with blue door. So what if it looks like we’re copycats? It was what I originally wanted and it’s ours.
I’m really great at pinning looks that I like on Pinterest  (is that a talent?) but have zero ability to translate that into making selections that work together (lack of talent). Tammy was a godsend and I’m really excited to see the final product. We’ll be significantly downsizing on the main level, getting rid of both of our dining room sets and two sets of couches, and buying only one dining table and couch. I’m really hoping we won’t feel cramped until we’re able to finish the basement.
Our property backs to farmland that is owned by Jon Huntsman who leases it to be farmed with alfalfa and a 90-year-0ld couple owns several acres on our south side. We posed for a few token pictures in our new yard. The next time we see it, there will hopefully be some movement on it!

 

As we scrimp and save and try to figure out how to make this house work, I think about that $55,000 premium price tag on the lot and how that would have more than covered putting in our yard, deck and basement. But then I look at those views and know that waking up to this as our backyard will make it all worth it.

Filed Under: Utah

To shutter or not to shutter, that is the question?

April 5, 2016 By

As we fix up our house to put on the market, our past several weeks have also been dedicated unto life-altering decisions such as “Do we put shutters on the new house?” I’ve had sleepless nights over such minute details. Only the strongest of marriages survive a renovation or a move. Fortunately, we’ve naturally gravitated to our areas of strength. Jamie has handled all the refinancing, loans and permit details while I’ve focused more on purging and cleaning our house.  You know, the things that don’t require any brain power, that’s me!

The whole process has been seamless but we sometimes clash in our design decisions. I want a completely different look and feel from our Denver home. We currently have a lot of browns and reds, which was swell when we built 13 years ago but I want to brighten up our plot a lot more. To Jamie’s credit, he has acquiesced on much of it, thinking I will give him full reign over the basement and yard and for the most part, I will. Except for the location of his greenhouse. Out of all the places on our .5-acre-plot, he wants to build it smack dab in the middle of my view of Mount Timpanogos. HEAR ME ROAR!

We’ve finalized most of our decisions from the design center but we’re still pending on one minor detail: to shutter or not to shutter? Our design consultant a.k.a. Jamie’s Generous Sister Who is Trying Not to Kill us With our Indecision sent over a few photoshopped pictures of her neighbor’s home that is undergoing renovations. Obviously, our house will have a different design but the colors are similar and this gives us a general idea.

No shutters.

The home with photoshopped black and then white shutters.

 

Jamie and I sat down to discuss our options.

Jamie: “I like no shutters.”

Me: “I think the black shutters make the house look too dark. Let’s nix those.”

Jamie: “Agreed.”

Me: “I’m kind of leaning toward the white shutters. I like the clean lines”

Jamie: “Huh. I’ll tell you what. Let’s compromise and do no shutters.”

Amber: “How is that a compromise? That is the choice you originally wanted!”

Jamie: “Exactly.”

Filed Under: Humor, Jamie, Marriage, Utah

Family reunion-ing in Estes Park

April 4, 2016 By

For Valentine’s Day weekend, the entire Johnson clan got together for a grand vacation.   YMCA of the Rockies Estes Park generously offered us one of their 8-bedroom reunion cabins for the three day weekend and we had a blast hanging out together while exploring the area.  Estes Park is bordered by three sides of Rocky Mountain National Park, which makes YMCA of the Rockies the perfect family vacation with  affordable cabins, lodge rooms, meals and family activities.

Read my official trip report at Mile High Mamas with details on our amazing cabin that was larger than many hotels! (Ignore my shaky camerawork).

My family has been to this location several times in the summer but never in winter so I was excited to try out snowshoeing and fat tire biking. It didn’t happen. There was very little snow and the bane to my existence: wind. I went for daily treks around the property but that was it. The weather even kept me from doing one of the most gorgeous hikes in Colorado that is located on property: a  quick (but steep) trek up Bible Point, a 1.5-mile round-trip hike with stunning views.

Fortunately, the weather can rage and you can still find plenty of fun; the great thing about YMCA of the Rockies Estes Park is there is something for everyone. We spent Friday afternoon touring Estes Parks’ multiple candy shops (I’ve declared this town the Taffy Capital of Colorado), playing brain-bender games at Frames, Games & Things Unnamed and watching a fascinating demonstration on how to blow glass at Mountain Blown Glass.

Once back at YMCA of the Rockies, we spent hours in the craft center. We headed over to the Longhouse Building where we roller-skated and played pickleball.

We tried our hand at volleyball. Basketball. Shuffleboard.

We became animal detectives and learned about their tracks. We did a craft to create our spirit animals.

Animal Detectives

On Sunday, we planned to drive to nearby Rocky Mountain National Park but it started snowing and blowing so we watched movies in our cabin, played games and completed a 1,000-piece puzzle. The other grown-ups did, that is. Though I made several attempts, I did not contribute even one puzzle piece.

Puzzle from hell

We had meaningful family time as well. Jamie’s dad did a presentation on our family tree and genealogy.

We celebrated Valentine’s Day with a fondue dinner and decorated cookies.

And the twins and I (who were born on my birthday) were thrown a cute little surprise party. 

Please excuse my birthday hat; the only way to fit it on my gargantuan cranium is to wear it like a unicorn horn.

We had the perfect, low-key and fun family reunion. The funny thing is my very first family reunion with the Johnsons was at YMCA of the Rockies Estes Park Center about 10 years ago. It has taken us this long to do it again. Here’s for hoping we’ll do it again. Much sooner.

Filed Under: Family travel
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