The Hunt is On...

For our dream home that is! So the one we thought we were going to L.O.V.E. wasn't what we thought it would be, but Sue had arranged for us to see another house just around the corner that same evening. It was a horse property (FYI - I have absolutely NO interest in owning horses), it's just a couple blocks from their elementary and junior high school, has a 3 car garage, looked nice on the outside besides the lack of landscaping but was understandable since it was a newer home, and it was on a street that was a little too busy. The moment we walked in, we knew it wasn't for us. The floor plan was just... stupid. There is no other way to put it. You walk in the front door and the first room you enter is tiny! The laundry room was long and narrow - you couldn't even open the washer and dryer doors without it hitting the wall on the opposite side, the kitchen was nice but there wasn't any distinction between it and the living room, there were only 2 finished bedrooms upstairs and the master bed and bath were awkward... The room itself was smaller than the bathroom and there was a hallway linking the 2 inside the bedroom (if that even makes any sense!). The downstairs was almost completely unfinished, it only had 1 finished room that they turned into a soundproof room complete with stucco and foam on the walls. I don't understand it, it was less than 5 years old and it was bad! Our first night house hunting was a bust, but it was still very exciting!

Sue had been putting together lists of homes that fit our criteria on the MLS website from the time we got in touch with her. I looked at pictures, did drive-bys, took into account the location, surrounding areas, and more importantly researched each and every one of the school's test scores and ratings and kicked off any house that didn't meet my expectations.

By Thursday I had a found another house that could have quite possibly had been "the one". I was so in love with the exterior and pictures of the interior I couldn't wait to see it in person. The only thing I knew could have posed a problem was the location. It was so far west that Kasey's commute to and from work was going to be quite long, it was like 10-15 minutes just to the freeway (without traffic - and that's not going to happen during rush hours) and another 30 minutes to his office. Kasey said that he would do it for me if it meant that much to me - what a SWEETIE!! We had set up an appointment to go to about 6 houses only a few days later, this one included.

All I can say is that house was also disappointing. I was so bummed out after seeing the inside - the exterior was just beautiful and grand. Big windows and an entryway with tall stone pillars reaching the top of the house... Then they ruined it by making the house too skinny from the front door to the back of the house. We saw another one that was a couple blocks away from that one, this one I didn't have too much interest in seeing because of the strict HOA regulations (for example - no backyard fence, we have kids and a dog... 'nuf said!) and the houses were really close together and to the street; I'm not claustrophobic but I got a very closed in feel when just driving down that street. But our realtor insisted we at least take a look at it while we were on that side of town. Man oh man... It was extremely easy to forget about all the negatives because the house was absolutely amazing! Right when you walked in there was a grand staircase leading up to 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and the laundry room. Then to the right was a formal living room and formal dining room. Straight ahead was a wide open hallway leading to the back of the house which had a beautiful kitchen, dining area, and family room with a fireplace. That wasn't it either. there was a finished basement that had like 2 extra bedrooms, and a huge rec room. We ultimately decided against this 4,500 square foot beauty because the fact that our dog Pete wouldn't be welcome, and our kids wouldn't be able to have all their yard toys (like their trampoline, playhouse, etc...) We weren't going to buy a house to live with a bunch of restrictions. We saw another few houses that were nice but we weren't seeing anything that we wanted.

Fast forward to OUR new home! From the second we walked into this one, we knew this was home. Kasey was zipping through the house like crazy saying "this is so homey!", "I love this house!", "it feels like home!" The kids and I were just as smitten.

This is the ONE!

Everything went perfectly and we closed about a week early - on Monday, March 25th. We did the final walk through, then headed over to the title office. We were supposed to get the keys the next day but because of some sort of mix up, or missed time deadline, we had to wait one extra day and Wednesday seemed to take it's sweet time to get here. My mom flew into town on Thursday and stayed through the weekend. It was incredibly helpful having her take care of the girls while we were doing our final move (for a LONG time!) and cleaning up the rental house. I can't wait for all the hard work to begin; from the small tedious projects to our grand plans! More on that later though :)