Second Design Meeting

We had our second design meeting with Symphony Homes today.  Of course, we started off with our list of questions about price and whether or not they do certain things.  Some of our questions included flooring in the mudroom, extra shelves in the pantry, ceiling fan framing, door placement in the basement, adding a sink to the laundry room, putting in a central vacuum system, and installing water softener system and a generator.  Whew!  Add those things to everything we asked last week, and Brittany has her work cut out for her.

After all our questions, we got down to the nitty-gritty details of the house.  First up, doors.  We chose a two panel door with a curve on the top for all the inside doors and a brush nickle round doorknob.  That was the easiest decision because we actually made it last week.  Next, stair railings.  We looked at wood and wrought iron and chose what we liked, but we need to get prices before the final decision.  Same story for the upstairs fireplace mantel, waiting on prices.

Now came the more involved and harder part.  All of the surfaces.  We chose a granite that we liked, but also chose a couple of quartz patterns.  Again, we're waiting on prices.  Apparently the quartz is more expensive.  The counter-tops are going to have a rounded edge.  We chose cabinet style, color, and wood.  Next, we chose tile for the floors of the bathrooms and laundry room and laminate for the guest and main baths.  We finalized the arrangement of the cabinets in the kitchen.  We put the bank of drawers in the island and converted the cabinet in the island to a tray holder for cookie sheets and such.  We also added one of those flip-out drawers under the kitchen sink for sponges and rags.

We changed our minds about the painting and decided to go with the two-tone paint.  Our trim will be white and the walls will be 'crisp khaki'.  The carpeting is going to be 'granola'.  The hard wood flooring is one of the hardest decisions.  We liked the look of walnut but found out that it was pretty soft.  Then we liked the look of hickory and found out that it is really expensive.  We finally moved back to the oak and chose a stain that we liked, but we also asked for the price of the hickory.

Those are all the decisions we made.  Mostly, it was a lot of narrowing things down to one or two choices and then we'll look at the prices next time and make final decisions.  It took us the whole three hours of the appointment!  Next week, we'll be meeting with the lighting guy and deciding outside colors and finishes.  It looks to be another 3 hour meeting!

First Design Meeting

Yesterday was the first design meeting for the house.  It's purpose was to decided on structural things so that they could get the plans off to the county for the building permit.

But- before that meeting started, Steve and I went to the Little America hotel and had a delicious breakfast.  It was our Valentine's date since we didn't have one on Tuesday.

The Symphony Homes office is in North Salt Lake- just a couple of miles from Sarah's house in Woods Cross.  We started off looking at some pretty detailed plans of each level of the house as well as drawings of the front, back, and each side.

We made a few changes to the plans.  In the basement- we divided the overly large storage room into a bedroom and a smaller storage room.  Making that part a bedroom requires adding a window well and a closet.  On the main floor- we added wood flooring to connect the entry and the kitchen and french doors to the flex room.  The garage door was placed facing the back.  We also discussed the fireplace (wood vs. gas).  The second floor- we added two windows to the master bedroom.

Those were the decisions we made, but we had a whole list of discussion items to talk about.  Soundproofing of certain rooms and/or the floors was one of the main items.  We want certain areas soundproofed like the flex room, Steve's office and the guestroom.  We also asked for prices on skylights, iron railing, separate heating for the basement, etc.  I also want a price for putting in one of those little bay windows in the kitchen.

Next week we go back to focus more on asthetics- especially colors.  There are so many decisions!  I think we have our work cut out for us.

It's Potty Time!

Anna has been very interested in the potty for a couple of months now.  We got a little potty at IKEA and put it in the upstairs bathroom.  She loves to sit on it.  The usual routine is for her to do her business in her diaper and then run to me and say, "Sitta potty? Sitta potty?". So we go upstairs and she gets to sit on the potty long enough for me to sing ABC's twice.

We have had two successes!  One #2 and a #1.  We're not officially potty-training her, she's a little young, but as long as she's interested, we're going to let her sit as often as she wants.  Here are a couple of pictures from the other day.  She decided she needed to read her favorite books while sitting.

The picture below with Anna's funny face is when I asked her to smile.

Valentine's Day

We had a very low-key Valentine's. Steve brought me a dozen roses and Anna a heart balloon.  She loved the balloon to start off with, then she got a little scared of it.  It wouldn't stay down on the ground.  Anna and I gave Steve a picture of Anna that says 'I love Dad' on it and a picture that I can write what I love about him.

 That night, we took Anna bowling for the first time.  We weren't sure how she would react- would she be scared of the noises or would she run around uncontrollably?  She LOVED it!  She got her own light ball and we got a ramp.  Anna went, then Steve, then Anna, then me- over and over again.  She was too impatient to wait more than one turn.  She loved picking up the ball and pushing it.  In fact, she often didn't watch the ball go down the lane, she just wanted to roll the ball again.

The Plunge!

Yesterday, Steve and I decided that we would build a house!  We're building a home in Shadybrook Lane, which is only maybe a half mile from our house now.  We went in last night and put down our earnest money and hopefully will put down the building deposit next week.  After so  many months of thinking and pondering and praying, things seem to be moving fast.  According to the representative, Julie, the house will probably be done around August.

The house we've picked is called the Cantata.  It's a two-story with a basement.  Our lot is across the street from the Nelson's and the Stephenson's and we will be able to stay in our ward.  We're going to have them finish the basement so we will have 5 bedrooms and a craft room.  We're so excited and can't wait to get going.

Here's a view of the lot from across the street.  There's actually 2 lots, one behind ours.

Here's a view from an angle.  It's a corner lot.  We're facing the cul-de-sac.

Here we all are in front of our new lot.

Anna Update

Anna with her friend, Kaylee.

I thought I'd do a little post about Anna and what's going on in her life since nothing major is happening around here right now.

FHE Activity- Photo Booth with Anna's hats

Anna is growing like a weed- at least in height.  There was a time when she was a year and still wearing 6-9 month clothing, but not any more.  She now proudly wears her 18 month clothes and even a couple 24 month.  She loves shoes and socks but could care less about other clothes.  Luckily, I still get to choose what she wears.  Who knows how long that will last!




It has been so fun to see her personality develop.  She loves Pooh Bear, Mimi, and her blankies.  She would take all of them everywhere if I let her.  I'll see her sometimes walking from one room to the other with her arms full of stuffed animals and 7-10 blankets.  I'm surprised she can even see where she's going.  She also loves baths and playing games with Steve.  As soon as he comes home, she grabs a blanket and says, "Roar?" which is the game where Steve chases her and catches her in a blanket.  Another favorite is Go Fetch.  It's just like it sounds, we throw the ball and she fetches it.




Anna has started to really listen to and sing along with music.  She knows some of the words and actions for Itsy-Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and You Know It, Sunbeam (she calls it Sun-beep), ABC song, and Jesus Said Love Everyone.  She'll also dance to the music.  It's kind of a spastic kind of dance, but cute.  She also likes stories.  Sometimes when I come in to get her up in the morning or from a nap, the first word I hear is, "Story?"  And what story does she like? Well, her current absolute favorite is any of the Fancy Nancy books.  But, she does like a variety- especially Eric Carle and little kid non-fiction about apples.

How many hats can she take?

Her favorite foods include bananas & apples, humus, granola ('gra-lo-la') and smoothies.  We're letting her sit at the table with us.  The high-chair is getting too small and she wants to sit with us.  She does ok, but has trouble understanding why she can't get up and down a zillion times.  I've been surprised the last week.  She usually eats well for breakfast & lunch, but picks at dinner.  The last few nights she's eaten everything!  Maybe it's another growth spurt.





As for not so fun stuff, Anna's getting her canine teeth.  We have some definite cranky days along with other not so pleasant side effects.  We've also been battling eczema around her mouth that developed into a staph infection.  She can be very stubborn and is cranky when she wakes up from naps, although in the morning she's very happy.

Pretending to write

Uh-oh! Look who got into the straws!

Snowy Day

Well, that's a little about what's going on with the Anna girl.  Hope it wasn't too boring!