Shopping for the Lodge

Labor Day Weekend 2020 with all six couples up at the Lodge.

What a crazy week. We drove in late Wednesday and slept at Grandma Johnson’s house. The kids had a blast doing on-line schooling at Grandma’s house, meeting up with Ashlyn and boys, hanging out with Anders and Owen, going to lunch with Ryan, Tyler and Spencer and then playing some board games, playing at Nikole’s house, going to BYU to visit Maggie, and going swimming with the Theurers.

Meanwhile Chris and I did THREE DAYS of 10:00am - 7:00pm shopping and then ended each night at the Lodge. We checked out lots of places, found some good things and were able to collaborate pretty well. There were a few of us who were a little more ‘cautiously intentional’ but I think we came away having met everyone’s needs a little bit. What a process!

Thursday

Chris and I headed up to the Lodge and met Heather, Julie and Marilee for some measuring rooms and spaces - which was so fun. I drove with Marilee and we met up at At Home, grabbed some salads at Zuppa’s and then headed to RC Willey. Definitely some options. Then we quickly checked out Furniture Row but there was nothing. Then on to Costco. Adam and Colton met us there and helped Chris pick out TV’s etc, while the girls went through every isle picking out towels, utensils, kitchen supplies, twin mattresses and more. Adam, Marilee, Julie, Heather, Chris and I ate dinner at Blue Lemon and then at 8:00pm we all drove the hour to the Lodge to unload and start organizing a few things while the boys worked on TV’s. It’s so fun to be here together.

Friday

I met Marilee and the girls at Home Goods and surprisingly we were able to find a lot of great stuff. We had carts full of mattress pads, rugs, pillows and a few possible nightstands. I saw Terri and chatted with her for awhile. Making our purchase and getting everything out to the cars was organized and systematic but boy did we turn a few heads. So many people asked us what we were doing and one man sitting in his car watched our multiple trips to the van with amazement and a few chuckles. It was pretty funny. We then headed to Knight’s Furniture - which we thought would be quick but we ended up liking quite a few things. We picked out a black headboard for the Master bedroom, a headboard for the second Master on the main floor, a King sized mattress, a table with chairs and benches, a sectional for downstairs, and two bar stools. Wow. Heather immediately picked up a trailer and got the couch up to the Lodge. Julie, Marilee and I stopped at Swig for cookies and drinks and headed to Utah Furniture Deals and found a beautiful Buffet table and mirror for the front entry. Love the stuff there. Then the three of us headed up to Target. Our purchases added up to three full carts and $1,700. It was definitely a fun trip. We grabbed salads at Limone Pizza for dinner, which is a new favorite. So yummy. Julie went and picked up Justin from the airport and we all met up at the Lodge for more unloading. With a couch and rug in the main area it’s definitely starting to feel more like a home.

Saturday

Chris golfed with Adam and Colton in the morning and then headed to the bank and to Lowes etc. Marilee and Heather picked me up and we met Julie at the Gardner Village. We found a cute desk at one store, and then a kitchen table at another one. We checked out Downeast and then headed over to RC Willey to look through things again. We decided on brown leather couches and a big grey chair for the main living area, black tables for the second master, a big coffee table that Julie and I LOVE, and dressers for almost all the rooms in the house. I HOPE everything looks good in the Lodge. What a crazy amount of work in such a short time. We headed up to the Lodge early afternoon and the boys had already put the table together. Shelley brought the kids up and Ryan met us as well. It was fun to show them the house and what we had done so far. Justin ordered pizza for everyone who was up at the Lodge and it was fun to meet some of the other family’s kids. Shelley headed back home and the kids hung out with Avery and helped out a little bit.

Sunday

We hung out with Grandma Johnson and did Come Follow Me study with her before she headed to Sacrament meeting and we headed to Scott and Elisha’s house for a fairly spontaneous gathering with Grandma and Grandpa and Mike and Carly. We sat in chairs in the backyard and enjoyed catching up for about an hour. Then we headed up to the Lodge for a Potluck Taco Dinner with all six families. It was so fun to gather together. We did a lot of visiting and a little planning and a few pictures before the Utah families took off. Then we got to work replacing light fixtures! Chris and Ryan worked on all of the sconces and Justin and Adam- with the help of Marilee, Julie and I - tackled the big light over the table. We also replaced several lightbulbs to brighter ones, which made a big difference. It feels so good to be accomplishing big things for the Lodge. I’m so excited to head back here for our week in October!

So fun getting to know these ladies… Heather, Marilee, Julie, Lindsey, Mahalia and Me

This saying… “May all who enter our home as Guests, leave as Friends” was on the wall of the Lodge. We determined that it was DEFINITELY coming down, but just for fun I suggested that we take out some of the letters so that it said something else. Adam got up on a latter and made it say, “… leave as Fred.” The kids thought it was hysterical and are now begging us to leave it up. On Sunday during dinner we tried to think of the next letters to take out. Now it says… “May all who enter our home as Gus, leave as Fred.” Next is “May all who enter our home, leave.” Haha. It’s now such an inside joke.

The six owner families in the lodge… with the old lights… and the downstairs couch upstairs… and nothing finished yet. Fun to see it at the beginning. It’s going to be a good place!!