Tree trims

Our trees needed a little trim. It's amazing how tall and glorious these trees are. We have large oak, white pine and pine trees covering the woods. It's hard to tell as many of the trees are still budding out. The forest must account for hundreds of years of growth. Our landscape plan calls for few new trees under the canopy of the larger trees to add some variety and spring color.  We had the dead wood and a few of the trees in rough shape removed. Not something you can handle without a cherry picker!

The yard has officially been started! 

Yard déjà vu

You may recall quite a few blog postings about installing a yard a few years back …  I hate to break it to you but this may be the first of many posts about installing a new yard. This time but we need to install a front and back lawn. Our new yard is a blank canvas, which is awesome but it's also proving expensive. 

Here's a glimpse of some of the planning and plant research that I've been doing. While apparently it's the same zone is Utah (5) we have different challenges and I'm not quite sure what will grow here or how the plants will grow here. Now I need to get someone out here to start helping us.

Lot plan and plants

Color, I miss you. 

Forsythia is gorgeous around here! I might need some. 

Welcome May!

Let me first resolve to post more. Somehow the month gets away from me and my desire to post is lackluster. 

Here are a few highlights from the last couple of weeks:

1. Andrew was the only freshman to make the JV baseball team, very exciting! He's had games and practices almost every day. He's tired but working hard and doing really well.

2. Benjamin is on two soccer teams and also is on the track team. He's enjoying working hard after school, running, and building his endurance. He is soon to be 13... crazy that we will have another teenager in the house. 

3. Nicholas is counting down the days to his fifth birthday. This boy is beyond excited to turn five, he is constantly in the mix, learning new things and quite the little dramatic performer. We got all of his paperwork for kindergarten turned in and he is ready to start full-day kindergarten in the fall.

4. I'm still unpacking the house - buried in boxes - but less so day by day. I found my "people" in Manchester New Hampshire at a CK scrapbooking convention. I spent a fun day crafting, taking classes and shopping. I went by myself but still had a great time. I'm unpacking my craft room, which never ends, but I have a desk and a place to create! Life is good.

5. Chris is busy working on work and finishing up his doctorate. He's been at Northeastern University now almost 6 months and the job is going well. He is happy to be in a house again (no more apartment living) and around and able to attend the boys sporting events!

Last month we had some visitors. Yay! We got to see Grammy and Billy Jack, they stayed the night and Nicholas was thrilled to have a cousin to play with. Our friends Jen and Gabe stopped by for a night on their vacation and Nicholas got to play with their sweet kids. He was beyond excited to have people his age around.

Around the house we are trying to get a yard, continuing to unpack, decorate and settle. We had to put a water filter on our well due to higher than normal iron count, that was an unexpected expense. We also decided to put rain gutters on the house. Home owners = broke.

We are planning a Utah trip in July or August and then perhaps again at Christmas time. Before then, or whenever, we would love to see you. Our house is always open if you'd like to stay over or stop by. Welcome!

Oh and I finish our taxes on time, in case you were worried

April randomness - clockwise: Ben and track, Andrew pitching, flowers from Chris, Mischievious Nic and markers, a crafting desk, running into an old friend on the East coast, Nic and cousin Billy, the future craft room, and a stick collection.

Nicholas created an "upside down" countdown calendar to his 5th Birthday. The kid is jazzed.

Rugs

Finding nice inexpensive rugs is tricky business. The flooring in our new home is completely hardwood and area rugs are needed in just about every room. Nic stated after just two days in the new place that he missed carpet. Funny how tactile he is but I can totally relate. I have a couple of rugs from our previous home that will work great in many rooms but most are on the smaller side and basically scatter rugs. I've been on the rug hunt for a couple of weeks now. I find shopping for rugs online really hard because I like to touch the rug and see the fibers. I did find a couple of great resources here and here which helped me narrow down my in store visits. I may still end up purchasing a rug or two online after I become more familiar with what I am looking for.

Home Goods is amazing. I love this store but it's never predictable. After four visits to 3 various HG stores I I found this gorgeous wool rug at the Home Goods in Acton. Seriously 10% of the cost of this similarly cool wool rug from R&H. Bargain! I thought we might put this in our bedroom but I think it fits perfectly in the dining room. Tip for shopping at Home Goods... if you see it and like it BUY it. You can always take it back but usually the cool stuff is snagged up pretty quick, IMO.

Here is the Restoration Hardware version. Super nice and beyond spendy.

I like the look and feel of a shag rug. I was so inspired by Joellyn's living room rug and wanted to find something for our living room with a similar feel. I found this super soft grey shag rug from Home Depot of all places - cheap. I had my doubts about the quality but the instant we laid it on the floor I was sold, and so was Nic. He started making carpet angels and rolled around on it like a puppy. It so soft, especially with a nice carpet pad underneath. We will see how it holds up to vacuuming but for now I'm in love. 

Have good rug tips or resources you'd like to share? Advice welcome.

March Updates (in April)

Days are flying by, filled with school, unpacking, and basic tasks. As we try to catch up and get back to normal we are realizing it'll take some time. Patience. I've been neglecting the blog, not taking photos, showers, basically all letting things slide as we unpack and settle in. I've still got to do our taxes and really need to focus on some work. Here are a few random pics from the last month. Hoping everyone is well. Thanks for reading. We miss you - say hi sometime.

Nature walks - Nicholas loves to walk our land and find treasures. 

The moving truck came (a day late) and the items were delivered (a little chaotic) and we've been unpacking (slowly).  The house is coming together.

Moving truck day.

Still getting snow... in April. Ug.

This morning - April 9.

We have trash pick up! A huge deal as our garbage has been piling up. Nicholas is pulling the right bucket up the drive.

Chris turned 42! Happy Birthday babe!

Easter came, eggs were colored and kids were spoiled. We relaxed, a rare treat.

Nicholas continues to entertain and keep us laughing. This is his 'surprise' face. He'll pull it for you on command.

Welcome to the Depot!

We are here! Officially moved and closed in a new place. Now we just wait for our belongings to arrive. The transport of our stuff has been a bit of a hassle. 3 days late but what can you do? Our stuff is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Maybe. Let's hope.

Anyway... Thought you might want to see where we are living. The outside of the home atleast. We have settled in Boxborough. This section of Massachusetts is a little more rural, lots of trees and forest and nature. It's pretty quiet but very charming. We love it. The schools are amazing, the people are very cool, and now we just need to settle in.

Here are a few pics of the outside of the home. We need to landscape since this is a new home but that should be fun albiet at rather spendy.

I haven't surveyed the bug situation yet I'm assuming it is terrible but we will see how it goes. Living in the woods has its consequences. 

When our furniture arrives and get situated I will take pictures of each room and post so you can I'll see where we are living. Much love, miss everyone... hugs kisses and the like. 

The house from the perimeter. 

More house. 

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The finishes... Tried to play off the landscape with the choices I had.

If you want to reach us, and please reach us … You can mail at 430 Depot Rd. in Boxborough, MA 01719. Mail love letters, packages, junk mail, anything at this address. Much love again miss you all... please stay in touch.

February updates

My poor blog has been sorely neglected. Below are a few project life digital layouts that maybe will give you all an update on what we've been doing here as we've been experiencing an insane amount of snowfall. We have over 90 inches of snow, all falling since we've moved to Massachusetts!!! Many days we are stuck inside of our apartment but on the great days that we do get out we've gone bowling, visited the Boston Museum of science, explored our town, and caught up with East coast family.

A couple weekends ago I flew back to Utah to finish packing up our Ashley Mesa house and oversee the move of our belongings into storage. 

Snow days

We were home bound again yesterday. Another snow day. We received a foot of snow overnight and the local schools and the NEU campus closed. The boys have had only 3 days in school, and 3 snow days. Not such a great record. And hard to build momentum at school. This morning was clear but school started with a 2 hour delay.

Friday was my birthday. It was a busy day. I got the boys off to school, and then Nic to preschool. It started to snow so I carefully drove around town to run errands; opening bank accounts, getting Nic set up with a new doctor (so we can get someone here up to speed with his needs); groceries, etc. Our Nissan handles the snow on well but seems to be one of the bigger vehicles on the road. Not sure why. The boys took me to dinner and found a great cake. It was a busy but super nice day.

The kids are adapting to a new school and environment really well. Andrew has involved himself immediately with baseball practices and work outs. Ben had his first futsal game. School is going well. Andrew's math teacher had him take the math midterms to see how the curriculum matched up with his learnings from his old school at the first half of the year. He felt he bombed it, but in my opinion, he did ok given that much of the items he hasn't been taught yet. We are looking for a math tutor to get him up to speed on the curriculum here. Ben started French midyear (they don't offer Chinese). I can't imagine starting a class midyear let alone a new language. Our kids are tough and I am so proud of them!

Took the kids and dog to Burpee Steele Barn and surrounding land. The kids played in the snow and Lucy ran but it was way TOO COLD to stay for long.

On the house front - we think we have found the one! We put in an offer and it was accepted. The real estate process here is different than we are used to and has been frustrating. But we are under contract! I think... Ha. I do a house post soon.

This week in Acton - School, Blizzard, Home Search

We are slowly acclimating to life in Massachusetts. We miss Utah and all of our family and friends. We feel your love and thank you for your frequent contact.

All of the kids have started their new schools. Nicholas is really enjoying his new preschool and all the the new friends he has immediately made. Andrew and Ben had a great first day and came home is good spirits ready to take on new academic challenges. 

We experienced our first Nor'Easter which resulted in two days of school closure due to weather and road conditions. The NEU campus was also closed as well as a travel ban instated for all motor vehicles. Chris was able to work from home and the boys enjoyed two more days of "vacation".

We have looked at and pretty much eliminated all the active home listings in both Acton and Boxborough. It's not that we are picky but we need a few more to choose from. I think I am almost over the sticker shock but still feel we should LOVE the house we will eventually purchase and not settle. While we are completely comfortable in our apartment, we miss our belongings and personal spaces. Lucy misses her yard. We are motivated to find a home!

The boys resume their second day of school tomorrow! 

Random scenic shots from around Acton and Boxborough.

Apartment living.

The "Blizzard of 2015"

Acton, Massachusetts

Front door to our home for the next couple of months.

We are here and official residents of Massachusetts! Not quite moved but here together as a family once again. I flew with Nicholas and Benjamin, we arrived a few days ago and have been setting up the apartment. Chris, Andrew and Lucy came in our other car packed to the brim with things we will need for the next few months. It was a long trek from them but they are HERE! Chris has made this trek twice on the last 3 months. 

Acton is the little town we have decided to live in. Little relative to Sandy. Acton has approximately 22K residents —Sandy has 90K in residents.  We choose this town for a few reasons; excellent public schools, somewhat affordable housing, decent commute to Boston and the town has a great feel. 

We are renting a nice apartment until we can find a home in either Acton or, the much smaller adjacent town of, Boxborough.

You can reach us as this address for the next few months: 5132 Avalon Drive, Acton, MA 01720. We plan to get a PO Box next week and will get that address out soon. All of our cell phone numbers remain the same. Call or text us! We would love to here from you.

Apartment living takes us back a few years. It's nice to live in a smaller place again. Feels fresh and easy to maintain, a clean slate. We will make it homey with few belongings. 

Our cute Utah house went under contact again! Yeah. The inspection and appraisal happened and supposedly went well. Check, check. The buyers will be out of their due diligent phase on Jan 20 and are set to close February 11th. Just a couple more 'checks' to happen. Nerve racking. We will move our belongs out of the home and into storage on Feb 9 & 10th. I will fly back for that weekend to oversee the moving. Our belongings will sit in storage until we find a home here. Hopefully not too long.

The boys will take placement tests this coming week to determine classes and schedules at their new schools. They will start school again on January 26. I'll also meet with a preschool and get Nicholas enrolled for the second half of the year.  

Lots to do, see and get familiar with. I'll try to post to keep you all updated. Much love!

Moving update

Much has happened around the Mallett house in the last couple weeks, it's been a bit of a roller coaster. Our house is no longer under contract, it fell through just before the end of the year. That finger crossing thing didn't work so well. It is unfortunate but we have still decided to move the middle of January. We will rent a place in Massachusetts and continue to send positive vibes out into the universe that this house will sell, and quickly.

The same reasons applied for moving the kids midyear as they did when the house was "sold". We want to be sure that we are together in Massachusetts and transitioning the kids as quickly as possible.  It has been harder than we anticipated living apart.

I have been actively working on withdrawing and enrolling the kids in their new schools. We have been packing up the house and packing up a small amount of items that we will need to live with. We continue to keep the house clean for showings, it's much easier to do without all of our clutter and junk. Work, school, sports and general Utah life is still on going. We are trying to cram in visits and goodbyes. Time is running out.

The short of it is we are still moving! And soon. Nic, Ben and I will fly, and Chris, Andrew and Lucy will drive with a small U-Haul full of the necessities for the next couple months.

We will move the rest of the furniture and belongings when this house sells. Sell BABY! And we will be back to Utah often. Back when the house sells and back for many, many visits. So if we can't say farewell in person the in the coming weeks we certainly catch you the next visit. 

So... if you know anyone who wants to buy fabulous house send them this way. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we transition the family to a new state. 

And now for something really cute... some sledding pictures from last week.

Merry Christmas!

I'm a few days late on this post... We had a wonderful Christmas. We feel so blessed. We drove up to Ogden to see mom and dad and exchange gifts. We got a chance to visit with Grandma Great and Aunt Julie. It was a great day.  A plus... It snowed quite a bit and was a picturesque white Christmas.

Our Christmas break has been filled with packing the house,watching movies and just enjoy each other's company while Chris is here for until January 4. 

Some house news:

The house is slowly losing its personality as the wall decor and other belongings get packed away.  It's strange. We have packed quite a few boxes, and the garage is now completely packed up.

The buyers for our house have until Tuesday to complete their due diligence. Our fingers are crossed that everything goes as planned, especially now that the house is packed up. 

Gingerbread houses

We made gingerbread houses this week!

Trying to keep things normal around here in the middle of all the chaos. I love this time of year and all the additional activities we get to do, but because of how busy we are we're having a hard time fitting in those activities. 

Gingerbread houses are an annual tradition. It was nice to sit down for an hour or two and take a break. The older boys were great examples and showed Nicholas the best way to enjoy frosting. 

Week in review!

Last week was quite busy and packed with activities. I returned from Boston to normal life activities filled with work, house cleaning and showings, an empty Open House (BOO), the boys school, preschool, after school peak, open gym for baseball, and card club up in Ogden.

Nic had his preschool program where he sang a couple of Christmas songs, complete with dramatic faces and hand movements. It was a super cute program. Afterward Santa stopped by and Nic sat on his lap for almost two minutes telling him all sorts of things and asking for a few NEW items. A hippo game and 4 cars that you can pull back and drive. Last minute list items... (Boo).

On top of all of that we had a couple of additional trips up to Ogden to celebrate some fun happenings. Friday, Beau and Nickole bothe graduated! Yeah! The boys and I made it up in time to see them in their cap and gowns, get a few pictures and enjoy a nice celebration meal at Javier's. We are so excited for them. Congratulations!!!  

Since we were up in Ogden we stopped by to visit Gma & Gpa. It was nice to chat and get caught up. Mom missed graduation to help with my Grandma. My Grandma Great fell again (her balance is not so great lately and she has fallen over a half a dozen times in the last few months). This last episode caused her to break her collar bone. She is in a bunch of pain and really banged and bruised up. Lots of family have come to her aid. We sure love her and hope she recovers quickly. 

We left Ogden to pick up Chris at the airport. He planned a quick trip home for the weekend which involved two long travels days for about 36 hours of family time. Worth it but hard. We sure miss him when he is not here. Long distance relationships are not for us (Boo).

Saturday we lounged around for most of Saturday (a normal family day with Chris) and then headed back up to Ogden for the annual Holiday Christmas party at Geoff and Ky's. It was a blast and the boys LOVED it. Games included things like egg roulette, a gum/whipped cream eating contest, ice bucket marble grab, crazy face match up to name a few. All the kids enjoyed fun prizes and we topped the night with a white elephant exchange and a vista from Santa. Nic got to see Santa twice in one week! Thankfully his list stayed the same.

Grandma Great was there to enjoy the festivities but I could tell she was super uncomfortable.  She needed lots of help walking and basically getting around. She was in great spirits but it's hard to see her get older. The party was LOUD! I'm sure she was happy to turn her hearing aids off.

And, WE GOT AN OFFER ON OUR HOUSE! What? Turn a crazy week upside down. A pretty great offer came in on the house Saturday from folks in a fairly similar situation to us. I am so glad Chris was here when it happened. While this is super exciting and exactly* what we wanted it left me feeling really overwhelmed and introduced a whole new set of things to do. Tick - tock. I think my quote was "holy crap!".  But I didn't cry. I kept it together which is good. Too many tears this last month - I am a wuss and apparently handle stress like a baby. The house selling thing is tough business. We didn't expect an offer yet, only 3 showings in 3 short weeks  (time of year). I wasn't prepared. I guess it's true that it only takes ONE. This is a really great HOUSE. Anyway - they accepted our counter this morning! Fingers crossed the process stays positive and continues through the due diligence phase and onto closing. We are set to close JANUARY 15th which means we are moving mid year after all. To where? Ha. Still deciding. We will probably be renting for a few months while we work out the details. The boys school term ends here on the 16th and would start in MA on the 24th. That seems fairly neat and tied up. A real blessing. 

Chris flew back to Boston Sunday afternoon to start another busy week. His to do list just got a lot longer! Hang in there.

I am hoping for a quiet week here but that's not really likely. More of the regular life stuff, plus work and a day trip to Vegas for work, Christmas shopping, neighbor gifts, and such. I really wanted to do a Christmas card this year but I don't see it happening. Please forgive and expect a New Year 'we've moved' card sometime in February (maybe). I hope to get up to Ogden again to see Grandma and deliver some gifts. We'll see. 

HAPPY DAYS!  

Side note: you know my head is really messed up when it takes me a solid minute to spell 'exactly' because I keep typing out EGGACTLY - stupid puns.  

Weekend in Boston

I met up with Chris this weekend in Boston. I stayed with him at his apartment on North Eastern's campus. Our mission for the weekend was to explore the surrounding areas looking at neighborhoods and touring schools. We spent a couple days west of Boston and toured 13 homes over 6 suburbs. After getting used to the sticker shock it was interesting to check out the different types of homes we could potentially live in. This time of year the housing market is pretty thin so we didn't have many quality options. Hopefully when we are ready to buy there will be more options available to us. 

Sunday we spent the day sightseeing and touring the city. We finished a little Christmas shopping and enjoyed some nice meals. 

I flew back to Utah this morning on an early a.m. flight. I sure did miss the kiddos and can only imagine how much Chris misses the kids while he's away. This break will be rather short, Chris will be home next weekend. 

Thanksgiving in St. George

We are grateful for many things... especially family. 

We spent Thanksgiving this year down in St. George with mom and dad and the majority of my extended family. Ben had a soccer tournament and ended up playing three games over the weekend. 

Chris was able to fly in from Boston and spend the few days with us down in St. George and then a couple days with us back in Sandy. Three weeks apart seemed like forever but we got back into the groove of life immediately. We were worried that Chris wouldn't be able to fly out of Boston due to a storm, but he was able to switch his flight to an earlier flight which gave us almost an extra day together.

Silly me, I neglected to take a lot of pictures or even a family picture but I did bring my big camera down and maybe I'll edit those photos one day... for now you can see some of my phone picks thrown together in project life page layouts. 

Some trip highlights:

We hiked the Santa Clara preserve to look for petroglyphs and didn't find any on day one, on day two found them with no problem and got some cool pics. Day three enjoyed family, turkey and some black Friday shopping. Ben was a great help carrying the bags.

Day 4-5, as I mentioned above, three soccer games, lunch at the pizza factory, the quickest trip ever to Urban Renewal and a relatively short drive to Sandy.

Back home it was life as usual, Chris mowed the lawn and cleaned up the outdoors, we chilled, had dinner at The Blue Lemon and enjoyed quiet family time. I dropped Chris off at the airport Sunday night late, where he took a redeye flight back to Boston. 

Santa Clara preserve Hike with family, Mom, Shawn and his kids.

Seeing the sights of St. George, Black Friday shopping, the quarter mile long line to Target, turkey after it was cut (oops), my peach pie, and Nicholas feeling under the weather.

The Mallett Home is listed

We have listed our home. We sure love this house and it has been great to us. We hope if finds wonderful new owners who love it as much as we do.  Here is the link to the home on Utah real-estate.  I've included way more photos here as I want to remember each and every room.

The official announcement!

North Eastern University has issued an official announcement about Chris' new role. This story has been shared and pass around through Facebook and email but I thought I would also post a link to the article here as well.

The university photographer took a few photos of Chris and I appropriated this one from the article. Looking good!  

He's been away a long eleven days. Thanksgiving can't come soon enough.

Arrived in Boston

Chris has arrived! He started his journey East last Wednesday. He arrived late Friday night. It was a long drive but somehow went quickly.

Chris has had a couple of days to get acclimated to Boston. He has spent his time sightseeing, walking and trying to get his apartment ready for Boston life. He begins work on Monday and is very excited. We are surviving and keeping ourselves busy by packing and playing, although we sure miss our dad.

Halloween recap

We had a super fun night trick or treating with Nicholas. Benjamin went out with friends and Andrew opted to hand out candy. 

Costume run down:  

Nicholas = dragon

Benjamin = made up character from his best friends dream. Some sort of evil mastermind gangster.  I thought he looked a little clockwork orange. He had very specific details on what the costume needed to look like. Leslie made his vest when she was here (thank you!). I made the tie... I took one of Chris's old ties and spray-painted black and then masked it off with tape and hand-painted in the white stripes. 

It it was a warm and gorgeous night for trick or treating.