We Bought a House!

Those are definitely words I didn't think I would be saying for a few more years. But this whole process has proved that I can be flexible, teachable, and brave. It has definitely been a process though. Justin and I have been hashing out the idea of buying a house verses not for a few months now. When we knew we were going to Pocatello it was the logical choice given the housing market and the lack of good renters market there. We really couldn't find anything for rent. We only had one rental to look out when we went out, and it was not a solid choice.
   I almost didn't go on the trip with Justin, but at the last minute, and without really asking me, he bought me a plane ticket to go with him. In the end I was SO grateful that I got to be there. I can honestly say that I feel all the good and at peace with our choice and I know I wouldn't be able to say that if I hadn't been there in person as everything unfolded. It wouldn't have happened without the loving support of good friends, the Clarks, Seegmillers, and Whitings. THANK YOU!
   Landon was the lucky one who got to come with us. He was an angel child on the plane and during all the travel time. He even kept his diaper clean and dry the whole day!! We got to Pocatello Thursday afternoon and looked at the rental. My mom came down that night as well and it was so fun to hang out with family that we don't normally get to see often. Friday morning we met with the lender and got things squared away there, and then we met with our realtor Gail. She was amazing and did such a good job. We ended up looking at a total of 10 houses...which was pretty much everything available that fit in our price range and needs/wants. There was one house we kept referring back to and comparing everything to. It became apparent pretty quickly that it was our first choice. I wanted to go look back through it one more time Friday night before making a decision, but we weren't able to. So we set up an appointment to go see it the next morning. Justin was getting nervous that we might loose our chance because there had been so many showings for that house and a bunch more lined up. We knew we wouldn't win a bidding war because the house was already right at the top of where we wanted to be. So just like that we decided to put an offer in that night! It was nine o'clock before we finished which was 10 o'clock Texas time and I was tired! Saturday around 10 we heard back, and by 1:00 we had signed the papers and the deal was done.
   Things went well with the inspection and its looking like we should have no problems. The house is perfect. It's in a popular location, in the most desired school boundaries, and in awesome condition-the owners have put a lot of work and updates into it recently. Feeling confident that we would be able to resale this house in a short 3 years was a very important factor and I feel like we should have no problems when the time comes. I also feel pretty confident that we shouldn't have any big surprises with major things breaking in the house while we are living there. (fingers crossed) It has all the major things on our wish list: 3 bedrooms all on the main level, a separate living room space that can be more of a kid area, an extra room for an office/guest room, 2 car garage, and a big beautiful backyard. The kitchen is not bad either. It just so happens that the house also has a hot tub, which the boys are VERY excited about. I'll refrain from posting pictures-I'll wait till we actually move there. But it is so fun to talk about things we want to do to OUR house, and how we want to arrange things, etc. I'm even excited to mow the lawn...minus the part that I will be very pregnant and then have a newborn, but I'm still excited to finally have a yard of my own.
   I feel so blessed in every way. I could go on and on about all the little ways things have worked out and how incredibly blessed and grateful I feel. There is only one sad part to this story: Since things moved so quickly on the house hunting front we decided to drive up to Salt Lake on Sunday night to break up the travel for Landon. We didn't have anything we really needed to be in Pocatello for on Monday morning so we headed out and got to Cory and Tiffany's about 8:00. Not even joking, Mandy called me at 11 telling me she was in labor. AHHH, I could have died. Had I stayed in Pocatello that night I could have gone with Jacque up to Rexburg and been there and seen that sweet baby as soon as he was born. But I missed the whole thing. Now I won't get to see him until June when we move and its kind of killing me. He is adorable. But such is life, it can't be all perfect.