The Mendon House

Why is it that you never really appreciate a thing until after it's gone?  OK, I did actually appreciate this particular thing quite a lot while I was there, but I'm definitely missing it right now.  

Yesterday we got a phone call from someone inquiring about our house in Utah.  Which is really not a big deal.  It's a phone call and a question...not an offer or a contract.  But after having great renters in it for the last 7 months and no potential buyers, I had sort of gotten used to the idea that we were going to be able to keep it.  That's still the plan...at least until we have something more definite than a phone call.  With four kids, one of them is bound to migrate back to Utah at some point, right?  And we still have family there...I'm not sure what that means, other than that it may not be completely out of the question that we would have a need to live in Utah again at some point...many many many years from now...when I've forgotten how much I hate the snow.  (I'm pretty sure snow is like pregnancy and childbirth...eventually you forget.  That's why there's a spring, right?)

um...it might take a lot of springs to make me forget this...

We moved into this house on May Day 2006 after an incredibly LONG 2 1/2 years in my in-laws' basement.  This is what it looked like when we bought it...

Front

 

Back

Backyard

Over the 4+ years that we lived there, we made a few changes to the outside...

Front

Back

Backyard

south side of house

I can take NO CREDIT for any of the outside transformation.  The only thing I ever did outside was pull an occasional weed and mow the lawn.  

Oh, and I planted all the annuals down the sidewalk...and in the pots.

But all the heavy lifting, moving of mountains, and landscaping was done by my incredible husband who had a vision for this house that none of the rest of us ever had.
  
He had a very detailed ten year plan...

Patio (Year One)

Fire Pit (Year Two)

Garden (Year Three)

Chicken Coop (Year 4)
this eventually had a hinged door that the kids could lift up and reach into the nesting boxes to get the eggs...at the high point of our chicken-ing, we were getting 3 eggs a day

the roost and the window so they had something to do during those long winter months...it faced south, just like my favorite window where I would also perch during the long winter months

We made some pretty major changes to the inside, too...I had a little more input there.  But again, the heavy lifting and major work was all my husband's responsibility.  He constructs.  I beautify and organize.
  
Kitchen BEFORE:

Kitchen AFTER:

Living Room BEFORE:

Living Room AFTER:

I have so many fond memories of this house.  Family parties, ward parties, Christmas dinners, game nights, sleep overs on the trampoline, playdates, watching fireworks from the front lawn, amazing neighbors.  Canning and freezing more zucchini, tomatoes, apples and plums than anyone could use in a lifetime. Chickens, turkeys, deer.  Treacherous icicles that we all thought might kill us as we walked down the sidewalk.  Creaky stairs, turquoise carpet, the crumbling sound of lathe and plaster every time we put a nail in a wall.  

I've been attached to all the houses we've lived in, but for some reason, this one is by far, my favorite.  Maybe because it was the one we left most recently.
...or because we put so much personal work into it.
...or because of the legacy that it came with.  The house originally belonged to the Sorensen family and I'm quite sure that a few of them lingered in the house with us.  I always felt the most wonderful presence there.  I hope they were happy with the way we took care of their home.  I definitely felt the weight of that responsibility.  Someday, I'd love to be able to finish what we started. 

The house was built in 1916.  I always wanted to have a big 100th birthday party for it.  Maybe in 5 years, we can go back there and do that...or maybe we'll just have a private Dallas event to commemorate the day.  

Things I loved about this house:


Pumpkins from OUR GARDEN lining the sidewalk in the fall.

The huge pine tree that hung over the sidewalk.

Having dinner on the patio in the summer and fall.

Wild turkeys in the winter.

The view from my fluffy chair in the south facing window.

The tree swing.

The built-in china cabinet.

The sound of the sprinklers in the mornings.

Who knows what will happen with this phone call.  Maybe nothing...but I'm happy to have had the inspiration to reminisce a little about a place that I love.