Now Open!

Amenities is finally open for business! It look a lot longer than we thought it would take to get up and running, but hey, better late than never, right? Here are a few shots of the interior.

The Grand Opening is the day after Thanksgiving, and the ads come out in the papers tomorrow.

Rob and Matt really were cute children too....honest!

On Sunday after dinner, Bekah and Nicole wanted to watch old family videos. The problem with our family videos though, is that we didn't even own a video camera until Rob and Matt were firmly entrenched in the awkward, gawky stage...big glasses, pokey hair, missing teeth, etc. Therefore, in all of our videos, Jake, Rachel, and Bekah (when she finally shows up in them) are all cute and adorable, but Rob and Matt are both, well, kind of goofy looking. I believe they are both convinced that they were awkward, ugly children. I keep trying to tell them that they were really adorable when they were that age too, but they don't believe me. So here's the proof.

Here are a few pictures of Matt:









Here are some of Rob:




And a couple of them together:



I rest my case.

Promised Pictures

About a month ago I said I'd take some pictures of the store with the new sign, etc. Well, I finally did! We finally got the sign up on Saturday, and I think it looks super!

Here's the building with the electric green doors: (please take special note of the lovely stone walkway which Dave labored over in 95 degree weather for many days!)


It's hard to see the doors in that shot, I know, so here's a closeup:


Here's an even closer shot so you can see the fun lettering in the door's window:


And here's a picture of the beautiful bay windows from the inside (I know it's a little dark, sorry!)


And finally, here's the sign out front:


Looking good, don't you think?!

Happenings

Gosh, it's been a while since I've posted. I guess I've been keeping too busy painting at the store. I'm going to take pictures tomorrow to show all you all the progress we've made so far. It honestly is looking really great! I think my favorite thing on the building right now are the outside doors - I painted them "spring grass green". Actually, it looks a little more like a radioactive lime green, but whatever. I really like them. At least it doesn't look like a house anymore. We're hoping to get the sign up in the next week or so, and that should make a big difference too. Dave also worked really hard on the front walkway - lifting all the stones, cleaning out all the grass and weeds underneath, and placing the stones again, this time with stone dust in between. You'll see how awesome it looks soon when I get the pictures up!

Dave and I took a trip down to St. George this week to bring a trailer load of stuff to the little house we own there. It's getting a little more bearable there now - only about 90 degrees this time! It's going to feel awesome down there this winter when it's 15 degrees here in Heber though! We ran and rode our bikes in the mornings for exercise. There are tons of trails around the neighbor, and they're gorgeous - and some of them are dangerously steep! But it was lots of fun.

Bek's getting used to the life of an independent college student and seems to be doing well. We miss her, but are happy that she's happy!

We attended our first BYU home game, and that was fun. We're looking forward to Saturday's game against UCLA. Should be an interesting one!

Lots of traveling

We have been quite the travelers since we left New York! Besides the 2,000 some mile trek across country, we have taken numerous jaunts to other areas of the west. Shortly after arriving in Utah, we made a weekend trip up to Billings, Montana for Rachell and Tim's wedding (see my last post). Then a couple of weeks later Dave and I went to Las Vegas for a buyer's market. That was quite an experience - 5.8 MILLION square feet of showroom to attempt to cover in 4 days time. Not possible. But it was a fun and productive trip. We stayed in St. George for the 4 days and drove to Vegas every morning for the market.

Then this past weekend we drove up to Bear Lake for their gigantic Raspberry Days celebration. I am being sarcastic about the gigantic part. It pretty much consisted of a craft fair. But for some reason, it attracts tons of people, so it was really crowded up there. Matt, Amy and Preston, Jake and Nicole, and of course Rebekah, joined us for the weekend. The only disappointment of the weekend was that Rob, Mindy, and Abby were not able to come with us. We missed them! (And OF COURSE we missed you too, Jeff and Rachel!!) But we did have fun and got in some quality riding time. The trails in the mountains above Bear Lake were beautiful!

Never a dull moment

We certainly have been keeping busy since we arrived here in Utah. We spent the first couple of days getting settled into the house: unpacking, getting cable and internet set up, making sure the mail is being forwarded, figuring out when garbage day is, setting up bank accounts, etc. Lots of fun, all of it!

In addition to all that mundane stuff, we've been meeting with contractors, painters, engineers, electricians, and city council members about getting our little commercial property up and going. That has taken a surprising amount of time! In addition, we've been doing what we can ourselves to fix up the little store I'll be running on Main Street in Heber. Here's a picture of what it looks like today:



It's a cute little building in desperate need of a paint job! (Hence the meetings with painters - none of whom must be very excited about doing it either, since we haven't heard back from any of them.) We would think about doing it ourselves, but it has incredibly ornate millwork which we are not too thrilled about scraping, puttying and painting ourselves. But we have been painting some of the rooms inside, working on the yard, etc.



In other news, we made a quick trip up to the Billings Montana temple last weekend for Rachell Robert's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, and it was lots of fun to visit with family.

Westward Ho!

Okay, I know we're not really pioneers, but driving over 2,000 miles in a pickup truck makes you kind of feel like one. You feel every bump and pothole - and after about 100 miles, you start to appreciate the joys of airplane travel, or even passenger car travel! But we persevered, and after only five delightful days of driving, we made it to the beautiful Heber valley. Bekah especially had to grin and bear it, as she was relegated to the miniature back seat of the truck as her home for the five-day trek. But she was a trouper, and we made it all the way across country with nary a complaint from her.


We made a quick stop at Niagra Falls because Bekah had never been there, and it seemed a shame to pass up the opportunity when we were so close.



Our trip was made much more enjoyable by a day and a half stop in Davenport, Iowa to visit Jeff and Rachel, who had arrived there just about a week before we got there. We had brought some of our old furniture to help populate their apartment, so after a short time unloading, and another bit of time setting things up, we were free to enjoy some quality visiting time with them. They showed us around Davenport, including Palmer. Here is a picture of Rachel and Rebekah in a little courtyard on the Palmer campus.


Checking out the flooding of the Mississippi River in Davenport - it had pretty much all receded by the time we got there.


Trying out the ice cream at Whitey's in Davenport.




And this is our new "Home Sweet Home" in Heber.


We've had fun seeing Rob, Mindy and Abby; Matt, Amy and Preston; and Jake and Nicole. We look forward to seeing the rest of you when you come to visit us here in Utah!