The Oregonian Life

On Monday, July 29 we bid farewell to Mark's house in Boise and drove the last leg of the trip to Wilsonville, Oregon (about 20 miles south of Portland). The drive took about eight hours. Surprisingly, eastern Oregon was just like the plains of Wyoming- dry with not much to look at. However once we got to the Columbia River it was beautiful to look down and see Washington state across the water.

My dad ended up driving the whole way and I was so grateful to have him there. Nayeli hates her carseat, is difficult to entertain with movies, and was a little rattled from the move so it was great to get to give her one on one attention.

We pulled into our apartment complex at 3pm, waited for Ben to arrive with the truck, checked into our apartment, then began moving things in.

 Somewhere during the time we were moving in Nayeli face planted off a curb. 

She carried the scabs for a couple days after. It was a rough few days adjusting.

We had already notified the Elder's Quorum of our future ward that we were coming so we crossed our fingers that people would shop up. They did, and even Ben's boss came down to help move boxes. Everything was unpacked within an hour.

I have to mention that I had a huge shock when we first entered the apartment. Everything was nice and in good condition but it was soooooo much smaller than I had anticipated (I'll need to remember that photos online make everything look bigger). The square footage was listed as 881 and for the first time I realized that that actually isn't very big. When I walked into our bedroom I almost cried because I was sure our king sized bed wasn't going to fit.

Luckily, it did fit, and while unpacking I've been purging like crazy. With a kitchen with only 2.5 drawers and a bathroom with none I've had to. I've given a few boxes to Goodwill and it's felt great. I've also invested in about $100 worth of tupperwares, storage containers, and shelves. I've used these as makeshift drawers. In all honesty, I think our house is more organized here than it was in Provo.

And now that everything is unpacked it feels good. It's working. We can't live here forever, but it's a great apartment and we got a great price on it. 

For those who are interested, here's a little tour. Keep in mind that there's still work to be done:

Our front door and entry. On the right is the partition for our porch.

The view from the sliding door. I'm in love with having a porch. We sit out here frequently and Nayeli loves to bring her toys out. It's blocked off on all sides so I don't have to worry about her wandering off.  On the left is a good-sized storage closet that I didn't get a picture of. 

We keep Ben's bike and our camping stuff in there. 

 The dining area. Check out our retro mirrored shelves and gold chandelier. 

If I owned this apartment, the mirrored shelf would be the first thing I would tear out. Then I would spray paint the chandelier silver. Oh well (sigh). There are worse things in life :)

Wood burning fireplace and mantel

The Living Room needs the most work. I'm going to recover a few of my pillows and I still have to figure out what to hang above the couch. I have some ideas but it's a huge wall to deal with.

I'm so glad I sold our entertainment center before we came. There's no way it would have fit (don't mind Ben taking his Sunday nap).

The kitchen is really really small. But it works and I'm grateful to have it. Some things are on display only because there is no room in the cupboards for them (note the platter and pitchers on top of the cabinets).

Another view of the kitchen. It didn't come with a microwave so we had to buy one. Then the problem was that we had no where to put it. So it's home has become the bar. I'm going to make a bulletin board to cover up the back that can be seen in the living room.

Our drawer-less bathroom. On the bright side, we are LOVING having two sinks. Major plus.

Laundry / storage area. We brought the shelf on the left from Provo and it fit perfectly. I keep extra food on the bottom and miscellaneous supplies on top.

Our bedroom with a small walk in closet. We were able to get a dresser to fit along the wall on the left and a bookcase at the end of the bed. It's the tightest room by far but it works.

The nursery / den. I got the desk by the window at my first garage sale here for $10. 

It's in great shape and fit perfectly. A complete tender mercy.

It's a total modge-podge of decor and furniture because anything that doesn't work in other places in the house goes in here. So ignore the color scheme :) It's functional until one day when I can separate the den and nursery.

Well, there you have it. The grand tour. I know I talked a lot about how small the apartment is but there are so many reasons that I'm glad we moved here. But I'll have to cover those in another post. I'll just end by saying it's worth living in a smaller apartment to live in a fantastic neighborhood.