Our New Home

So, I realize that it is not technically ours until we close on the 30th of October, but this is the house that we have under contract here in Arizona. It is about 45 minutes from Matt's work which is a bummer but we are going to be getting a small car or a motorcycle for him to commute with. The kids and I drove out to the house today just to take a look at the outside again. We stopped at the local park and played for quite a while. We also met the neighbor that lives 2 doors down from the house. She was so nice. She has 5 children, two of which are very close in age to Claire and Ivan. She was LDS and so she could tell me a little bit about the ward that we will be attending. All I have to say is that it has 6 nurseries. That explains everything. No, seriously we are so excited to move into our new home. So far everything is going smoothly. The appraisal is tomorrow and our inspection is Thursday and after that it is just paper work. We are counting down the days!



We will be living in the Castlegate community!



Above is the first park that you come to when you drive into the community. It is about 4 blocks from our home.



Above is the park that is literally behind our house. If we were to climb over our fence we would be there.



Above is a picture of the elementary school that you can see from our back yard. It is the school that Claire will be attending next fall.



Above is the front view of the house!



Above is the view down the hall as you walk into the formal living room. The room at the end of the hall is the family room that adjoins the kitchen.



Above is a partial view of the formal living room.



Above is a picture of my kitchen! I am so excited about the fridge that they are leaving me! It also has a flat top range, built in microwave and tile floors!
Just behind the kitchen is a half bath for visitors.



Above is a picture of the family room that ajoins the kitchen. I am so excited to have a family room and a living room so that when people come over they won't walk straight into our mess!



Above is a picture of the upstairs loft which will be primarily the play room for the kids. There is 3 bedrooms off of the loft and a master bedroom with it's own bathroom and walk in closet. There is also a full bath off of the loft for the kids.

On Thursday when I am in the house again, I will get some pics of the bedrooms for those who care to see them!

We Won!

We found out about 30 minutes ago that our offer was accepted for the house that we wanted and we will be in it by the 31st of October! We are so excited and thankful to the Lord for everything that he has blessed us with. Keep checking the blog as there will be an abundance of photos of our new house by the end of the week!

We Are Quickly Going Crazy....

So I thought you might be interested in seeing the room that we are staying in. There is no need to explain them, the pictures speak for themselves. Hopefully at noon today we will get the answer we need and we will be in a house by the end of the month!

Round Two!

So Matt and I put an offer down on a house the other day and within 24 hours someone else made an offer too. This caused our offer to be rejected. We found out today that it was because we asked for closing costs to be paid and the other people did not. The owners rejected our offer and countered the other offer. Well, we got a call tonight from our realtor saying that the counter offer had not been accepted yet and that we can still submit another offer. We are trying not to be excited but we are submitting another offer tonight and it sounds like ours will be the better offer. Today was a good day before this happened too. We went to church and then spent the day inside just resting. The ward that we are attending for now is a very welcoming place. I even bore my testimony which is not something that I do often at all. I am so thankful for the things that the Lord has blessed us with because of our obedience. We gave up so much to come here but we are gaining so much as well. We are becoming closer as a family and our faith is increasing by leaps and bounds. Even if we submit this second offer and it is not accepted, the Lord has given us hope and faith and above all comfort which is what I fasted for today. I have gained a huge testimony of the power of prayer and fasting. It seems as though everytime we have fasted for the last few months, we have had a miracle happen that same day. We should know by tomorrow at noon whether we have a house to move into by the end of the month. Now the trick is not to think about it.

Superstition Farms

Today was free Friday at Superstition Farms here in AZ. The kids and I spent the morning with the animals and Claire and Ivan even fed and rode some of them! It was a great time to be had by all!

Moving Day

So I realized today that I did not share with all of you exactly what moving day looked like at our house before we left. It was insane. I wish I could have had someone document the entire experience from start to finish because it would keep me from ever moving again. The experience started at 9am and finished at 10:30pm when the movers finally pulled out of the driveway headed for California with almost everything that we own. They tried to tell us that the truck would not fit anymore but that they would be back in the area the next week and they could pick it up then. Luckily we had the head honcho's number at Hanjin and he was able to set them strait. They went with Matt and got a UHAUL to gather the rest of our belongings. And then we were off to Arizona!

We Made an Offer!

Just when things were starting to look very bleak, we found a home today that is not lender owned or short-sale and we made and offer! It is currently 10:54pm and our realtor just left our hotel with the signed documents. By Saturday at 10am we will know if it is accepted or not. It is a beautiful home and it is a whopping
2,302 sq.feet which is bigger than any home we have had before. The layout is perfect and it just felt like home. If this is meant to be, it is truly an answer to prayer. Please, if you are reading this, pray pray pray for the next 24 hours that our offer will be accepted and we can close on the requested date of Oct. 30, 2008.