Moving after 11 years...

What the?! Moving, how did this happen? We are kind of still wondering the same thing. It happened so fast, it was quite an adventure. When Heavenly Father decides you should do something, it just happens, we were only along for the ride. How did it happen.....hmmmm...it all started with some VERY quick sales of homes in our neighborhood, but that wasn't really a big deal, that happens sometimes. Then, one sunday at church, some friends of ours who are renting, said they were getting ready to buy, and they were thinking about our house. WHAT!?!? Our house was actually desirable to someone? Our beat-up, simple, 10 year old house? 

That was interesting too; now the cogs are spinning a bit. Then, Mike got his yearly bonus from work, and mentioned that it would make a nice downpayment on a house...ha ha... Wait, what? Should we try? it might be exciting. Let's just try, maybe we'll sell, and maybe not. Either way, we're fine and we'll get a good spring cleaning in :)

Oh silly us, thinking anything I do is simple!!! Mike forgot that I have a little one-track-mind problem, so when I get the green light, I GO!! I was on a mission now. Food was optional, sleep, for the first time in my life!!!, was optional. I was a box gathering, junk-sorting, packaging machine!!! 

Week 1: Packing and staging

Every day, when Mike got home from work, there was another 20 boxes waiting for him to take to the garage, his parent's garage, or to find room for somewhere! In one week, I had packed about 2/3 of our things. That weekend, Kristine and Jason came over and we rearranged furniture, moved things to Larry and Yoon's house, to the dump or to the thrift store. We planted flowers, and got everything perfect. 

 Week 2: painting and cleaning. 

This was a fun week. This was a week of list-making!! Lists of what to fix, what to paint, what to clean, SO FUN!!! We fixed things that had needed to be repaired for years!! (what 12 inch tear in the carpet hidden by a strategically placed buddah?!?!) We got our windows cleaned, our hardwood refinished. The house was sparkling!!!

What happens when you refinish hardwood in early spring in Idaho? You create a live-in freezer. Luckily the kids coped just fine.  That's Lucy and Archie under the blanket, and Elliott bundled up on the chair :)

The next weekend, Jason Natzke took pictures. That Sunday night, we posted it on Craigslist.  

Week 3: SOLD!!

On Tuesday, after 9 walk-throughs,  my friend listed it on the MLS, and by thursday, it was sold....WHAT THE, WHAT?!?!?! We had 4 weeks until closing. When we started thinking about selling it, we said all the stars would have to align perfectly for this to happen: we would have to get the right bonus, get the right price for our house, sell it in time, sell it as-is. Well, it's like I said, when Heavenly Father wants something done; it gets done. 

 It's funny though, once it happened, we were actually sad to have to leave. After years of thinking it was "just our house", nothing special, we realized we kinda liked it :) Sure, I would have loved a bigger kitchen, some kind of bonus room, and nicer carpet, but it was our house! 

 We started our family in this house, our entire marriage in this house. We love our ward, our neighbors. Apparently change is hard, I had forgotten because I never do it! 

 When I was pregnant with Lucy, we chose bright, primary colors for her room.

 For Elliott, it was brown and blue, classic cowboy themed.

 We never did get around to decorating our master, but we didn't need to; we were always playing downstairs anyway :)

After talking to 4 realtors, we decided on a price for our "for sale by owner". After selling it in 2 days, we were told by other realtors that it was "very competitively priced", oh well, what can you do! I think it was the right price because we sold it, and that's what we wanted to do :) The highlight was that it was a family friendly home RIGHT next to the park...

 ...with one of the biggest backyards in the neighborhood. What a beauty. I will miss the apple tree in bloom, my wild-poppy flowerbed, and the park. Mike will miss the 3 car garage and NOT MISS mowing the big backyard :)

So, that's how March left us. Dangling between homes. It was exciting; not knowing what was coming. We knew we were going to Saguaro Canyon, a subdivision a mile away, because that's where Mike's parents and brother's family live. There was a chance we would still be in the same ward even, because half of the neighborhood is in the Edinburgh ward. What would the house look like? Where would it be? Only April knows for sure!!