Settling in

 Here are a few pictures from around our "new" old house, as we settle in.

 This is the living room.  It is cozy and comfortable and I love the wood-burning fireplace.

 This is looking into the kitchen from the dining room.

 Another view of the kitchen.

The spacious dining room where there is room for my PC and a large dining room table.

This is the dining room area looking into the kitchen. I love the picture of Jesus over the table - a thrift store find. The door on the left leads to a wonderful, big family room.

This is the family room where I have my exercise equipment set up so I can exercise and watch TV.  This room will eventually have a couch and more bookshelves.  I know we will enjoy the gas fireplace this winter.

The latest addition to the family room is this lovely Seth  Thomas mantle clock that I found at a thrift store the other day. Yes, it really works and has a lovely chime.

I  have been doing a little painting.  We had the storm/security doors removed to be repainted and rekeyed, and I decided to paint around the door jams and freshen them up.  We will paint the actual doors later, once the storm/security doors are reinstalled.

 This is the side door.  You can see I had just finished and hadn't even taken off the blue tape yet.

This is the front door.

I also painted inside a closet.  I wanted to

 hang my clothes somewhere fresh and clean. :-)

I have been hanging some new curtains in various windows throughout the house.  I'm getting pretty good with a drill.  

There is lots of unpacking and organizing to be done. This is our food storage area in the basement.  I am glad to have a cool dry place for our food instead of the hot garage where we have had to keep things in Arizona. 

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It was a happy day when our new washer and dryer were delivered. No more trips to the laundry mat!

This is where we attend church  now. It is about three blocks from our home. Our new church congregation (ward) is smaller than our ward in Arizona, but there is a good warm spirit and we have felt welcomed and loved.

We are trying to make some family memories in this area as well.  A few weeks back, Charly, Josh and I went to "the best hot dog place in Utah."  Yes, this little hole in the wall place, that was super hard to find at the back of an industrial park in Roy, Utah, has been rated to have the best hot dogs in the state. Both Charly and Josh love hot dogs (me not so much), so we traveled up to Roy (which is about 30 minutes north of us on the freeway), and sampled the food.  Charly and Josh both agreed that yes, the hot dogs were outstanding.  I had a hamburger, and I must say that it was about the best burger I had ever eaten!  Every is fresh, including freshly baked buns.  The sausages on the hot dogs are specially made just for this restaurant, and all other meat is fresh and antibiotic and chemical-free. 

Although this little restaurant doesn't look like much, the food was excellent, so if you are ever in or near Roy, Utah and you like hot dogs or hamburgers, give it a try.  It is called simply, "That Hot Dog Place."  

We love to walk around downtown Salt Lake City and especially Temple Square during the evenings. This is Charly and I in front of of the big doors on the Salt Lake Temple. We took in this  very place for our wedding pictures over 38 years ago. 

The temple is always beautiful.  It looks stunning in this dusk shot with the pink clouds of sunset above.

Josh also likes to go to the church office building which is very near the temple.  Josh has always been fascinated by sky scrapers.

The immaculate grounds outside the office building are always filled with colorful flowers.

This mural is inside the lobby.  It reminds us that Jesus Christ heads His church.  In this picture, the risen Christ is telling his apostles to take His gospel to the world, which is still the mission of the church today.

Here is another painting in the church office building lobby.  It depicts Joseph taking Mary and infant Jesus to Egypt to avoid the wrath of Herod.

This statue in the lobby is a small version of a larger version which is at Winter Quarters, Nebraska.  It reminds us of the sacrifices the pioneers made to come to the Salt Lake Valley.   This scene depicts parents burying a child in harsh winter conditions.  If you like history, you can read more about Winter Quarters and the pioneers here. 

We went to the top observation deck of the Church Office Building and enjoyed the view. You can see the entire city. This is the view looking west toward Temple Square.  

Josh has now returned to Arizona to work, since he has a pretty good job there right now.  We hope he will decide to move up to Utah to work and go to school.  I miss him.  This picture was taken the afternoon he flew back to Arizona.

And so we continue with the moving and settling in process.  There are always adjustments to be made, bur overall, everything is going well.  We are grateful to God for His help, and truly believe that the future holds good things for our family as we move here to Utah.