Before and After

The "before" picture of the outside of our house when we first bought it won't show up when I try to open it, so this is the after. There used to be a chain link fence lining the front yard with an overgrown vine hanging over it. We also tilled the entire front lawn and planted this lawn which has almost completely filled in!
So this isn't the best shot of the dining room before, but after a lot of cleaning and polishing...

Here it is now.

This was the bedroom (I don't know why this picture won't stay rotated the right way). It was several shades of blue with aging carpet. We stripped the floors down to the fir subfloors and stained them black. We also painted and replaced the broken glass above the doors with bead board.
Ah...this was the first room we finished and it has been my haven. You can't see our floors very well in this picture but they turned out to be exactly what we envisioned.
The bookcase in the corner is my favorite part of this room. A few generations back, the owner was a seamstress and she would have her clients enter the door near this bookcase (which she used to hold her sewing supplies) and they would stand in front of this mirror.
This is the second bedroom. We again stripped the carpet which we replaced with brand new carpet. We also repaired and painted the walls.
This is now Hazel's bedroom.

And the bathroom (again rotated the wrong way)...

This was a small room off of the second bedroom that we re-drywalled, wired, and carpeted. It is now our office.

Here was the front room, which was our bedroom for a few months while we finished the bedrooms.

This was the back yard before. Our lot is approx. 1/3 of an acre.

We tilled and reseeded the back as well.

I will have pictures of the kitchen soon. We are still finishing some work on the cabinets and they are looking great! Those are the before/after pictures I look forward to the most.

Well, if any of you missed our news in my last post (it was rather wordy), we are moving to Ogden! We will be listing our house soon; please tell anyone you know who might be interested in buying a home in Sugar House!

The Phipps

Ode to Sugar House

There is something magical about this community called Sugar House. Established just six short years after Brigham Young led the pioneers into the valley, this area is filled with history that is still evident in the old houses and small shops. Named after a sugar mill that was never completed, Sugar House is considered to be one of Salt Lake's most desirable communities. I love living in Sugar House for several reasons. Being from a small town in Georgia, I am just now getting used to the fact that here in this area, I can walk everywhere! Even my dentist is within walking range (although for my doctor, I have to take the bus--no big deal).

I am surrounded by quaint and bustling little businesses, all of which have a dog that Hazel can visit with while I shop. I love the Sprague library and its musty smell that reveals its age and history (1928). Thanks to the Old Navy nearby, Hazel has expanded her little wardrobe at an affordable price, and who wouldn't miss having the best little quilt shop, Piper's, just around the corner where I can find trendy fabric for my little projects? Sterling Furniture on 21st and 11th is the last of the three main furniture stores--what Sugar House was known for--that is still in business after 100 years (and has a sale for every occasion). There's Sugar House Park with its variety of geese, ducks, and seagulls, so tame they'll surround you and pressure you for food; a beautiful place where you can exercise with the smell of Sizzler's and KFC looming in the background.

The DI! The deals I've found encountered there midst the smell and the crowd of folks lining the aisles waiting for new arrivals. Tree-lined streets, unique and inviting shops, delicious restaurants, and the comfort of having it all within walking distance. Just this morning I had a craving for a pastry, which happens often, and I decided to go for a walk with Hazel and find this little pastry shop I remembered seeing once. I found a narrow alley that led to the spot, somewhere between 9th and 10th East just north of 21st South. Carol's Pastry: you can smell it before you see it. The older man behind the counter told me they've been around for 30 years as he handed Hazel a freshly baked sugar cookie, still warm, for free. Yes, I do love Sugar House.

So why this sudden wave of gratitude and fascination with where I live? Well, we're moving. We haven't had the chance to tell many people face to face, so I figured I might as well post it and tell those of you that check in on us every once in a while. I apologize to our close friends here in town for not telling you in a more personal way since we won't be sharing streets for long. But we're not going far!

We've known for a while now that we want to move to Ogden where David does commercial real estate, but we weren't sure when it would happen. We recently decided to go ahead and list our house and we feel good about our decision, even though it will be very difficult to leave our wonderful neighborhood, ward family, and close friends here in Sugar House. Living in Ogden will have added benefits for our family since it is not only closer to David's work, but closer to his family whom we visit often. And now when David is convincing businesses to move to Ogden he can tell them from first-hand experience that it is the place to be (we hope!). We are excited for this new adventure, and don't worry, it will be a long process so we'll still be around here for a while I'm sure.

I'll be posting some before and after pictures of our home to show some of the renovations we've completed since moving here in March of 2007. We are still in the middle of finishing our kitchen; we just poured and installed new concrete countertops which I must say look absolutely amazing. David found a picture of what he wanted and somehow, with all of the slight disasters that occurred along the way, he did it! We're now finishing the painting and installing of our cabinets. We are also still planning on installing a new roof this summer, which will be included in our listing price. The pics will be in the next post.

We love all of you that have been part of our lives here in this wonderful town!

Janelle

A "professional" haircut

Jaymie, Jay's second daughter, gave haircuts to all of the kids (and some adults) while we were on the houseboat. So Hazel got her first "professional" cut and for some reason she thought it was the coolest thing ever. So now she no longer has a little mullet growing in the back! Thanks to Jaymie.

Lake Powell

The water was cold! Nevertheless, Hazel still let us put her in this floaty for a little while.

Here is the cute swimsuit that we left at home. My wonderful neighbor, Erica, broke into my house for me and passed it on to one of the families that hadn't left Salt Lake yet. So worth it, right??

Hazel and her Grandma Grimshaw

So I do realize that all of these pictures are of Hazel. I really tried to take more pics of other family too, but all the ones with her are so much cuter!

Thanks to Mom and Jay for inviting us on this wonderful trip!

This is Bradley (middle) with Jaymie's son Dallin and Jay's son Nate's daughter, Bailey. What a huge family we have now! All of the younger boys got mohawks for the trip (to Jay's chagrin).


Okay, here is the only picture I took of just David and I and it is probably one of the worst picture of the two of us. Now you can see why I only post pics of Hazel. (I love that by this point we'd been at Powell for a few days and we're still glowing white).

Hazel really just wanted to eat all of the sand on the beach, so we had to find ways to distract her.

Whenever we took her out on the waverunner or the boat, she'd get her game face on and wouldn't crack a smile once. It's the same face she gets whenever we go for a walk outside. It's like she takes these things very seriously.

David and I had never been to Lake Powell before this trip. It's amazing! What beautiful scenery around the lake--I never tired of it. We left on a Tuesday and didn't have to return until Sunday. We stayed the entire time on Jay's houseboat, which was spacious and very comfortable. We even got our own room. With us on the boat were my Mom and Jay, his brother Roger, three of Jay's daughters and their families and two other grandchildren. We were packed in, but it made for a lot of fun. One of the daughters, Lacey, loves to cook which meant that while the other houseboats with us were eating easy meals like spaghetti and pasta salads, we were eating homemade biscuits and gravy, pancakes with homemade maple syrup, scones made from scratch, and for Father's Day, filet mignon with cheesy potatoes. Oh my goodness. It was heaven.

We rode waverunners, went tubing, wake boarding, swimming, exploring--it was awesome. My favorite was wakeboarding and I wish I had someone take pictures! I've only been a few times before and it was long ago. I had never tried it behind a waverunner, but it was easy to get up and I even graduated to steering myself across the wake with one hand (which makes it a lot easier). David was a great driver and cheerleader. He actually told me that he wouldn't take me in until I tried letting go of one hand--and by this time I was freezing and exhausted. So the next time around, I did it and then I didn't want to stop because it was so much fun. We really had a fantastic trip. Thank you to Mom and Jay and the rest of the family for inviting us!

Hazel's "Boy" friend Jack and his sweet ride

This is Hazel's good friend Jack that lives across the street. Jack is one year older and has much better driving skills, so he takes Hazel out for a ride every once in a while.

More shots of Hazel on her birthday

We helped her blow out her candle and then it was off with the hat and down to business.

At first she just poked at it, a little unsure.

Then Mom gave her a taste of the yummy frosting...

And she took things into her own hands. (Thanks to Juliann for these cute shots!)

Here's Hazel opening her presents with the help of her cousins and Uncle Bradley.



Happy Birthday Hazel!

Hazel's First Birthday Party

This hat was made just for Hazel by her Grandma Grimshaw.

Ladybug Cake made by Janelle

Bug Cupcakes! I love them. The little frogs are my favorite even though they're not really bugs.

For Hazel's first birthday party we did a Ladybug Party! We had a blast and she seemed to have a lot of fun with her little (and big) friends and family. Thank you to everyone who came and thank you for all of the wonderful gifts!

I made a ladybug cake for Hazel which she poked at with very little interest until she noticed the dots (Junior Mints) which she started picking off and shoving into her mouth. I also made little bug cupcakes for the kids which were a lot of fun to make. The sun was out, we had great shade, plenty of food, and very good company.

More pics are coming!