Welcome to Our New Home!

Welcome to our home in Ogden!
We've been here for one month this weekend. I can't believe it's been a month already.
So far we really love it here in Ogden.
We're starting to be to the point where when we drive down the road it feels like home.
We've made friends with a couple in our ward and they also live in the same building as we do. They have two little kids, a 2-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy, and they're super fun and nice. We'll be having fhe with their family this Monday and taking each other's family pictures. (The first couple we meet in our ward and they're photographers. Go figure!)

Let's go on a tour of our new place!

Welcome! This is the front of our building-that's us on the top left. We were bummed about getting the third floor but it hasn't been bad at all so far. So far! We'll see how I feel about it when it's super cold and snowy. (Do you see Brycen down there in his car?)

This is the view when you come in our front door. The kitchen and dining area is actually pretty open. I was pleasantly surprised when we moved in.

This is the entry to the apartment. That's a coat closet right there that's currently full of board games. Anybody up for a game night at our house??

Here's the full view of the dining room. Our bar stools don't fit up against the bar area so they're sitting back in the corner. Brycen's highchair is in perfect view of the TV so he's happy. We had to get a microwave for the place, and since we didn't want to use up counter space for it we made a little table for it. Right at Brycen's level. And any day now he's going to learn how to push the buttons so we'll have to come up with a Plan B. For now it works right there!

Another view of the kitchen
That door back there is the laundry room / pantry. We've loved having a pantry! This kitchen has been a lot more spacious than we thought it would be. It's still smaller than what we're used to but it's bigger than expected. The appliances...well...these models are older than I am. Either that or we're the same age. All I know is that they're the same ones we had growing up on Michelle St. I guess you could say they bring back some memories ha ha. I've had difficulties with the oven and stove, burning one dinner and over baking a batch of Chubby Hubby Bars (recipe to come tomorrow at Cupcake Diaries!) Not good for someone who loves to cook and bake, and also runs a recipe blog. That will take some getting used to!

There's not a lot of space to decorate in the living room and kitchen area, so this small space is my holiday area! I have the tops of the cupboards to decorate too though. It's been tough trying to figure out what to use and what not to use for fall/Halloween. I'll let you know how Christmas goes! Our annual Christmas Decoration Post won't be as exciting this year!

This is our living room. It feels open and homey so we like it. Brycen loves dumping his toys out all over the floor. He also really likes our balcony.

Time to head down the hallway! The first door on your left is the guest bedroom/office. You could also call this my mom and my sisters' room ha ha.

The next door on the left is Brycen's room. We set it up similar to what it looked like in our house in Idaho, minus the curtains, bead board, and nice paint (tear). I miss Brycen's room in Idaho. And not so much because it looked better there than it does here (even though it does by a landslide). It's the love that went into the room that makes me sad. My dad, brother, mom, and grandpa all helped make that room what it is by building and installing the bead board and painting it, and it was so hard to say goodbye to it. Brycen still enjoys his room here though, which makes me very happy. I'll always have a special place in my heart for his old/first room.

Right across the hall from Brycen's room is the guest bathroom.
(No pictures)

Straight ahead down the hall is the master bedroom. This room is huge, it's weird. We couldn't fit the piano in the living room so it's in our room. It hasn't been used once since we got here, it's sad. This Christmas it will get a lot of use though. I love Christmas music on the piano!

To the right of the piano is the walk-in closet (door right there) and a vanity area. However, I can't really use it to get ready because there aren't any electrical outlets. So it serves as bathroom storage. The bathrooms don't have drawers in them (so weird and frustrating but that's another story) so everything we put in drawers is now in plastic drawers in the vanity area. It's working out just fine though and it hasn't been tough to work with. The door to the master bathroom is on the right of the picture right before that table. It's a nice, big room!

So that's the apartment! Let's head back outside:

This is the back of our building. Our friends live in the middle apartment right there on the left. Back here there are basketball courts, lots of grass, and Brycen's favorite part...

...this lovely playground! He loves to go out here. We'll take his car and I'll push him to the playground. Then we'll walk around the complex on the small sidewalk that goes all around it to go back home. So fun!

Right behind the playground is the main office, swimming pool, hot tub, and gym. Super close to us, just how we like it!

. . .

So that's where we live. It hasn't been as hard of an adjustment going to an apartment from a house as we thought. And one day we'll be homeowners again. But for now, we're happy to be renting this apartment. We've really enjoyed it so far and we're really loving Utah!