Overnight at the Oregon Garden

 March 25, 2013 

Josh and I took advantage of Spring Break by going off on an overnight date to the Oregon Garden Resort.

Mom graciously offered to watch the boys for us.  

Interesting views and beautiful views along the way.
(Yes, that is a van decorated with Barbies.) 

Arriving at the Oregon Garden Resort.

While strolling through the gardens, we witnessed a snake eating a frog.  Slowly eating...

 We toured the Gordon House, which resides on the property at the Oregon Gardens.  

It is the only home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Oregon.  We love his clean designs and use of space.

Interesting tour.

 Josh and I love the detailing and designs within the home.

 Especially these gorgeous sets of full length glass doors along both sides of the living room, allowing for the room to be opened up to the outdoors in the summer.

 He was very clever in his use of space. 

I love the built-in shelves throughout the home and storage behind the built-in couch.

 Frank believed utility areas should be small.

This kitchen is definitely small, but bright and functional.

 You can see this 15 degree angle design throughout.

 Mrs. Gordon liked to weave, so this spot was designed at the top of the stairs specially for her loom.

The upstairs bathroom and hallway.

Love the built-in cupboards along the hall.

If we build or remodel another home, I would love to do this.

 The porch off one of the upstairs rooms.

Love how the doors open up at the corner.

One of the upstairs room, designed for the children.  

Both of the upstairs rooms have built-in desks and shelves. 

 L: The stairway and R: the window in the master bath.

The living room and the view of the master bedroom.

For the purpose of the tour, the chairs are set up in the master for a video presentation.  But I love the built-in dressers on either side of where the bed would go.

The interesting and amazing thing is that this house was dismantled and moved from it's original location and rebuilt at the Oregon Garden Resort.  They moved the entire upstairs in one piece on a huge flat bed truck at 4 miles per hour.  Hard to imagine, as this was not a mobile home.

 The following day, at the suggestion of our tour guide at the Gordon House, we stopped by Mt. Angel Abbey to check out the architecture and see the library.

 Their library is beautiful and reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time together, just the two of us.  And if you ever come across the Oregon Garden resort's advertised $99 special (Which occurs periodically) it's definitely worth it!  I don't usually talk about money spent on our blog, but the $99 includes your room for the night, admission to the Oregon Gardens, dinner for 2 at the Garden View Restaurant and breakfast for 2 the next morning. Plus you get a discount at the Gordon House.  

Considering the costs...

Admission to Gardens is regularly $11/per adult

You get $2 off/per person on the admission to Gordon House

At dinner, Josh and I had steak dinners = Cost $25 each

Plus Josh had a cup of soup for $3 and I had a salad for $6

The food was really good too!

And breakfast the next morning is normally $8 each

...Add that all up and it basically totals the cost of our room.  Great deal!  Fun date! 

Thanks Mom for watching the boys!

First Day Back to School

 March 11, 2013 

The boys on their first day back to school in Oregon.

For Kaden, it was a fun reunion with old friends.

As soon as we stepped out onto the sidewalk, from across the fence, you could hear kids yelling "Kaden!  Hey look it's Kaden!"  And when we went inside the school for their "Welcome Tour", staff and students were constantly giving him high fives and saying "Welcome Back".  He was all smiles.

But for Versii, who is our timid one, he wasn't quite as excited.  I had to stay with him in his classroom for a little while.  It's a bit of an adjustment, because their school here has full day kindergarten, while Utah was just half day.  We found out that they have breakfast in the classroom every morning.  He thought that was fun, but he was so reserved that it took him about 10 minutes to even start eating.  I was able to leave about 20 minutes later.

And he survived the day just fine.

A funny note: I packed lunches for both boys. Then when Versii got home from school he said, "Mom! Did you know that they have this place in school, where if you forgot your lunch or you just want to eat there, they give you food!?" Clearly, the cafeteria is a new experience for Versii.  

Goodbye Utah

February 28, 2013 

After 9 months in Utah, we decided it was time to pack up and move back to Oregon.  We enjoyed our short stay there and were sad to say goodbye to our friends and neighbors.

Above: The boys with their friends (our neighbors) Gavin and Sky.  

(Just a little side note: The boys love Sky. Versii and Paxton both wanted to marry Sky, but Versii said "She said something about me...so Paxton, you have to marry someone else.")

Josh and I with our neighbor, Sharon.  

He helped us out countless times.

We love you Sharon!  Thank you so much!

Our good friends, the Wescotts!

(Who graciously agreed to rent our beautifully remodeled house. Enjoy it!  I will miss it.)  

We will miss you! But Sam, I will miss you most of all!

You are an amazing friend!  I can't even tell you how much you mean to me!  I love you!

Thanks for everything you've done for us!

Top Left: Sam and I with baby Whitney

Top Right: Josh and Kyle

Josh's Mom's Visit

 January 31, 2012 - Josh's Mom, Jeanne, came out to visit and help us with our fireplace and sheet rocking.  

She also brought her granddaughter, Aolonie, AO for short.

AO is a super cute, but she is only a year old, so she added an extra project all on her own...taking care of her. :)

 We completed the top of the fireplace with old wood from the pallets that were used to deliver our doors and windows.  We're really happy with how it turned out!  We layered cement on top of the old brick, but we weren't able to get the smooth finish we were hoping for, so we will most likely cover it with stone, at some point in the near future.

 Our baby sitter, Paxton.  

He spent a lot of his time entertaining AO in the port-a-crib.  

They had so much fun playing together.

 Jeanne also helped us finish sheet rock and texturing projects in the kitchen, bathroom, hallway, and living room.

We now know that sheet rock and texturing come before any other remodeling projects.  As doing it after the fact, is so much more work.

Above: Our kitchen during the project.

 AO's mom, Josh's sister, Amanda, wanted me to take some pictures of her while she was here.  These are my favorites!

 AO did not like snow!

 AO with Josh's Mom, Jeanne.

Our kitchen after painting.

 Our almost completed living room. 

All that's left is finishing up the fireplace.

The before/after shots of our bathroom.

Most of the before pictures are from the previous home owner's realty pictures.

Our completed bathroom.  

A big thank you to Jeanne for coming out and helping us finally complete these projects! 

Working with Grandpa

 January 23, 2012 - Mom and Dad drove down to Utah to help out with the house.  We got to visit with Mom for a day and then she went out to Grandma's while Dad stayed here and helped us complete some projects.

Paxton is our big helper.  And there's nothing he loves more than working with Grandpa!

 Dad installing new windows in the rest of our main floor.  6 in all.  And together, Josh, Dad and our neighbor Kyle installed our big front window. 

Delivered on the worst day possible...during a freezing rain storm that started just a few hours before the truck showed up to drop it off.

Everything was shear ice.  

 They ended up having to break out the glass to take out the old window.

Our new front window, all installed.

 Paxton was a big help when it came to the floor.  :)

Always on hand with his tools.

 The boys working on our new wood floor.

Thanks to our friend Kyle for helping install that too!

 The before/after pictures of our new floor.

I love our smooth new finished wood floor!

 Also, Dad helped us install our new front door.

Of course we waited until winter for this project...it sure was cold waiting for that project to be finished.

 They let Paxton pound in the pin in the last hinge.

The before/afters of our new front door. 

Also, we added the new porch light and a new mailbox. 

I can't believe the difference a new front door can make in the appearance of your home.  I love the transformation!

Paxton helping Grandpa with the "mud."

He just kept saying, "Grandpa I need more mud.  I am a good mudder!"

A big thank you to Dad for all his help in the few days he was here!