Moving Update

As  most of you know, the last month has been a whirlwind for us. First, I want to thank everybody for the support they have been- the playdates for my kids, the food, the prayers, and the fun Facebook comments! I know our lives aren't the most interesting in the world, so read as much or as little as you'd like :).

THE SHORT VERSION: We received an offer on our house and accepted it last weekend. I flew to Boise this week to look for houses and found a few options. Greg will start his new job tomorrow morning. The kids and dogs are hanging in there. Our tentative move date is March 15th.

THE LONG VERSION

THE JOB: Greg gave his two week notice on Friday, February 8, which also happened to be his birthday. We went out to dinner to celebrate at the same steak house we went to when we first moved here. It was a great way to celebrate both his birthday and the end of his career at Cypress.

He spent 12 years at Cypress and just like everything in life, there was good and bad. It made him the engineer he is now and they gave him a great farewell lunch. He will miss the people there, but career wise, this was probably a good move for him. The week after he gave his notice, the company laid off 2 people in his group. It would have been three but because he resigned the previous Friday, they could count him as a cost reduction. Several other things happened at work that week that assured us that Micron was a good decision. We hope the future will confirm it. He starts his new job tomorrow morning.

I think he will miss being a star the most: Click here to see his big debut

THE HOUSE: After two weeks of decluttering, repainting, organizing, staging, carpet cleaning, and repairing, (and despite the septic alarm going off on Thursday night and a mole infestation on Friday morning) we put the house on the market last Saturday at 10am. We got a call at 2pm that someone wanted to see the house at 4pm and they made us an offer at 6pm. It was amazing.

Given our last house selling experience where our house was on the market for 6 months and we had to sell it THREE times before it went through (one guy was laid off and it fell through, another couple just backed out), we think this sell is miraculous. I'm not saying we SOLD the house yet, but simply that we accepted an offer. All fronts still look good, though. The inspection was done last Wednesday and the couple want to close on March 15. So, March 15 is our vacate date if all things work out.

THE NEW HOUSE: I flew to Boise this past week to look for housing. There are definite pros to looking for a house in an area where you already lived for eight years. You know the schools, and the shopping, and the commute times. But, as I found out the first day, a lot has changed in 3 years. New interstate exchanges have been created, new subdivisions are up, housing styles and prices have changed, not to mention traffic patterns that accompany all the new growth It's the same, but it's not. Thanks to all my friends who gave me great information during my stay and updated me on the latest and greatest facts!

House hunting is hard because it's like comparing apples and oranges. "This is in a great school district" "This was is closer to shopping" "This one is less expensive" "This one has the space we want" "This one is in a great location for the commute" etc....if I thought a pro/con matrix would have helped, I would have made one :)

The last day I was there (literally one hour before I left for the airport), I went through a house one more time. I had already been through this house twice and while I didn't have the "A-HA! This is your house moment", it was a nice home, in an area we have been looking at. Greg walked through it tonight and it will probably our house.

Why didn't you build again? We seriously considered building a third home in Boise/Meridian (we already built - and sold- two homes there); however, old age has changed us. Just kidding - sort of. During the first house we built, all I had was one pug. During the second build, I only had one boy and one pug. Now we have two dogs, two kids and a TON of stuff. If we built, it would mean moving all our stuff twice (or three times), possible moving the kids through schools, not to mention all the decision making that comes with it. There's the construction time, the construction around you when you move in, and the fact that it's hard to picture what your views will be from a second story house that doesn't exist yet.

While it would have been great to build and have EXACTLY what we want, this WA house has shown us that we can live in a house without picking out every finish and it can still be OUR home. Plus, if there is something I don't like, I can complain about it instead of it being my fault - ha ha ha!

THE KIDS: Ethan and Katie have been troopers through it all. A couple weeks ago, Katie was "STAR OF THE WEEK" at school and this past week, we took a short family vacation to Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor water park a few hours south of our house. We went last Monday and Tuesday. Katie had fun on the waterslides and being pampered with her first pedicure while Ethan loved running around completing the MagiQuest game throughout the hotel. They dropped me off at the airport on our way home and had a week to spend with Dad before their four day Presidents' Day weekend. We're trying to soak up time with friends before we leave.

THE DOGS: The dogs don't know what to think. We keep packing suitcases, leaving and coming back. They were boarded for the first time EVER last week while we were at Great Wolf Lodge. However, they got two walks a day, playtime, and had their own TV in a doggie suite. I think Abbie was sure she had been abandoned again (we are her third family) while Baxter was just mad his stay at the Petsmart hotel came complete with a grooming appointment :).

I just wanted to give a shout out  and a big THANKS to Dawna and April who helped me stage my WA home. It will be hard to leave!

The Entry 

The Den

The Living Room

The Dining Room

The Family Room and Flex Room (Piano Room)