Utah Shopping Trip

Well, we have been in our new home for two months now.  While it is wonderful to have all of the space, it is a little disconcerting that there is practically nothing within that space.  As previous posts have delineated, the kids have their bedrooms done, and we bought ourselves a new mattress so we could stop sleeping on the floor, (Our queen set is down in the guest bedroom ) but that is about the extent of the new furniture we have purchased thus far.  In other words, the second floor is livable, and the basement has the kids entertainment center, toys, and beanbags from our old house--but the main floor is all but barren.  Gratefully, thanks to Nick's insisting, it does have a few things.  Much to my dismay, he made us move our old kitchen table and the love seat and chair from our original study.  I had wanted to get rid of them before the big move, both to avoid having to move them again, and because I couldn't bear the thought of having to move anything old into the new house.  Since Nick did the moving; however, he got the final say, and they made it to their temporary home on the main floor of the house.  Without them we'd be eating and sitting on the floor.  Still, they look rather ridiculous, and I wish they had a huge temporary sign on them so everyone knew they weren't there to stay.

 Finding something to replace them, though, has proven to be as much of a full time-job as building the house was.  For example, we have been to every store in Bismarck to try and find the right kitchen table.  We've even worked with several vendors to have one custom made.  We cannot; however, seem to settle on which one will work best without breaking the bank.

The living room is likewise a problem.  Since the music room got cut out of our plan, the living room got a little extra square footage and must host the grand piano Nick has dreamed of owning.  I'm fine with this purchase, but without the piano in the room, it is a little hard to figure out how to arrange the furniture around it.  And since no place in Bismarck has the piano we want, we are likewise high and dry in the living room furniture department. It is frustrating and tiresome, especially since I can't seem to be blessed with the female quality of enjoying shopping for it all.  On the contrary, it all just seems like a big waste of time, not to mention a waste of babysitting funds, and I'm ready to be done doing it.  Consequently, with winter wearing on us, and the chance to meet up with both parents in Utah, we decided to use another of Nick's vacation weeks (He only gets thirteen, after all!) and see if we couldn't have better shopping luck somewhere else.  

That somewhere else would be Salt Lake City. We packed our bags and were off!

On our way into town, we took our usual stop-over in Garland to visit my Carter Grandparents.  My parents were also there, and our two-hour stop morphed into an overnight and all-the-next-day visit.  It was wonderful, and we decided it was high time to get a few updated pictures with them.

Afterwards, we headed down to Salt Lake where we had double family weddings to attend--cousins on both sides of the family.  Then a day of rest on Sunday, and a week of playing with Hoskins' cousins interspersed with more trips to furniture and decor stores.

 Here are some shots of the kids ice skating with their cousins.

Of Daddy fixing up cousin Harrison when he crashed on the ice.

And the kids at cousin Harrison's birthday party.   

The kids had a great visit, and thankfully, during the week we were there, Nick and I were also able to square away a few things: two classic leather chairs and an ottoman for the library, a ridiculously expensive sitting chair for the kids' music nook--which I'm sure the kids' piano instructor, who happens to be obliging enough to come to our home, will fully appreciate--and some extra material to refinish the kids piano bench with.  Additionally, after stopping in a few piano stores, which were supposed to be just for fun, we ended up taking the financial plunge and just buying the piano Nick wanted.  Well, the refurbished 1920's Steinway he really wanted got the wife veto, since I would like to purchase other furniture in the next ten years, but the brand new, high gloss walnut, Knabe Parlor Grand, complete with it's own wi-fi and player system, got the thumbs up.  Thus, we categorized the trip as a great success, and went home recommitted to finishing off our furniture purchases.  We made it as far as finally deciding upon an informal dining room table and bar stools, as well as ordering all of our bedroom furniture, but stopped short of finding what we wanted for the living room.  That will have to wait for a month or so until the piano actually arrives and we get another out-of-town shopping trip on the calender.