Today (Nov 10) I had my first colonoscopy. Things looked great, so no need for another one for 10 more years, woot woot! I was told to come home and rest... have it be a "couch potato" day... so I'm moving forward on catching up on this blog. I was warned not to do anything of "great importance," due to the fact that the medicine they administer can give you amnesia (and perhaps cause you to be a bit loopy), but I feel in my right mind, so figured catching up would be an appropriate activity. If I go back and find this is totally whack, I'll delete it haha.
Our house went on the MLS on Sept 9th, with the first showings happening on the 11th and 12th. I was nervous about the timeframe, since our time was ticking, and we would only have 30 days to sell once the house was listed. If you recall, this was the same day I drove to UT to help Shi and Kody with baby Cal. I was stressed, but hopeful.
These are the pictures that went on the MLS... I screenshot them haha. We thought it was a little hilarious that the photographer had a "blue sky guarantee," and if you notice the driveway... it is wet. This was actually a gray, snowy day ;-) We put so much work into this little home, I want to remember it at it's very finest.
That Friday I remember being on a phone call with my mom, worried that we only had two showings scheduled for Saturday. When I talked to Bill Saturday evening, we had actually had three. As far as he knew there were two more scheduled for Sunday - which also ended up turning into three. By Sunday night (Sept 13) we had three offers. We spent several hours going back and forth with the potential buyers... offers and counter offers. It was stressful. The buyer willing to pay the highest price had the contingency of selling their current home. That took that offer off the table, since we didn't have the luxury of time. We had an all-cash offer, but they had a cap, and the other offer was willing to pay more with no contingency. That's the offer we accepted. (The mom of that family goes by Tina - given name is Katina - I suppose it was meant to be ;-)
Sept 16
While I was in UT helping Shi and Kody with Callum B., I visited our lot. The homes pictured are the model homes in the process of being built. You can see the Destination Homes model (the cream colored one) on the left. The Rainey model is the one on the right that is in the framing stage, the hole has been dug for the Symphony Homes model (in front of the Rainey home on the right), and the Cadence Home model is the black house on the left.
This is our lot (#88):
And this is the view of the temple from our lot.
Seriously. I'm dying. I'm so excited to be so close to a temple.
Once I got back home, we were in go mode. We had the appraisal, the inspection, handled the issues we were willing to (HVAC service + inspection, replacing a few cracked tiles on the roof), and started packing like crazy people. We had pre-packed some items and stored them in our neighbor's basement during the showings, but that stuff all needed to be moved to a storage unit... along with most of the house.
(I had to snap a final pic of my final rose from my favorite rose bush... I'm hoping to have one at our new home.)
Saturday, Oct 3rd
aka Conference Saturday
This was the little move of the boxes from our neighbor's house + a few more we had packed.
We had the Elders from our ward and a few of their closest friends (Elders from neighboring wards) come help us between sessions of Conference (they came at noon, and again at 2).
Taylor came to help after the second session of Conference.
I started removing things from the walls only AFTER I was certain the sale was going through. I had done this photo wall only a couple of months earlier. I loved it while it lasted.
We also didn't have these shelves up for long. When I purchased them, we had no idea we would be moving so soon. Oh well, they are coming with us (which Bill may or may not have been thrilled about disassembly after only a couple months, only to have to reassemble in the somewhat near future).
We lived in the middle of some chaos for a few weeks.
Jack and Ava knew something was happening... but not sure what. I wish I could sleep off the anxiety, too, pups ;-)
I also had to snap a picture of our amazing tree in the front yard. It was so beautiful this year, and we felt so blessed that the early freeze last year didn't kill it like it did so many others in our neighborhood. (You can also see our fun pink For Sale sign. We were referred to a 1% realtor from a friend in our ward, and we LOVED her... even if she has pink For Sale signs haha.)
On Oct 6 we were headed back to UT. The boys had planned a GUY'S TRIP months before. As I've mentioned, none of us had the slightest idea we would be smack dab in the middle of a move at the time, but we were determined to make it all work (plus Little Billy was dying to meet Callum B. in person).
**More on the Guy's Trip and what the ladies and kids did in the next post**
Sunday Oct 11
Another trip to the lot.
**I was holding Bill's flyaway hair down for him**
Because we were put on the builder's "list" only AFTER our house was under contract, those who were able to get through the whole qualifying process (and had no contingencies) before then were placed above us on the list. What that means is... we have a long wait. When we were initially looking, and made the decision to go forward with building, there were a LOT of lots available (only a few that we could build the model we wanted on, though, due to HOA restrictions of how close the same model can be to another. The few lots they had already sold just happened to be building the model we wanted... of course). During that little month (or so) interim, the lots went like hotcakes. Sooooo, we are having our first construction meeting this week, our first design meeting in Dec, and groundbreaking is scheduled for early Feb. We hope to be in the house by mid July (fingers crossed!).
Friday Oct 16
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
We were scheduled to close (and be OUT of the house) by Oct. 21. We were packing and cleaning like crazy people, trying to decide what would be essential the next 9 months, and what could go to the dark recesses of the storage unit haha.
Saturday Oct 17
The big move day.
Again, we recruited some Elders, some members of our ward Elders Quorum, some neighbors, and a co-worker. I don't think we got a picture of them all (boo). This was the initial group that helped us move a few things to our {tiny} basement apartment at a home in our Stake about 5 minutes away. **Finding this sweet deal was a tender mercy, too -- we wanted to stay in our Stake so we could keep our Seminary callings and not desert our classes mid-year. This is actually the home of one of our previous Seminary students, who is now attending BYU-I. So far the situation has been ideal and we are counting our blessings.**
This big move day was BIG. It was grueling for all those participating. We were so so grateful for those who were willing to work their guts out on our behalf. A couple ward members {the Parkers} were there THE WHOLE DAY. We cannot thank all those who helped enough. I also had my dear friend Alisa bring us dinner that night. Alisa's husband had been out of town for his grandfather's funeral all week, she has 4 kids (one of them a baby), and is the Stake Primary President. She brought the most amazing dinner, with plenty to last for breakfast and leftovers.
Such a sweet service.
At the end of the day, we only had two large items left. Thanks to more friends and family (Tay, Rob Goubert, Mark McLaws, and Jeff Grilli), Bill was able to get the last two big items moved out on Monday. My SIL Robyn and my dear friend Laurel also came to help me clean that day. These people have my heart. They are all amazing examples of Christlike service.
Bill and I slept on a blow-up mattress by the fire on the last night in our home (Monday).
On Tuesday we did some final cleaning, and finished up the garage. **We ended up needing an additional storage unit, and were blessed to be able to find one available in the same location as our other one... which is also close to where we are living.**
We went to close on the house late that afternoon, but the buyers were closing the following day (Wednesday), so we went back for final final last-minute stuff (during this entire process I felt like we were "almost done"... only to realize we had a ton left to do...UGH, will it ever end??)
The buyers were doing an early morning walk-through before they closed on Wednesday, so we made an early early morning trip to the house FOR OUR FINAL TIME to leave the keys and a list of good-to-know information for them. And I took a really blurry selfie haha.
Good-bye house,
good-bye tree,
good-bye wonderful neighbors,
good-bye finished basement,
good-bye amazing storage space,
good-bye brick fireplace,
good-bye favorite rose bush,
and good-bye dozens of peonies...
I hope they love you like I do.
