Update on our move

The truck was scheduled for today. We found out this morning that the driver decided to put off the loading until Wednesday. Talk about a huge monkey wrench. I was flying out with the kids tomorrow...we changed our plans. Things are working out for the better; I'm able to take the kids to see Bama and Papa before we head out. The truck will be loaded on Wednesday. John is loading his car now; he will be taking this computer shortly. John will be heading out today. Hopefully the weather cooperates.

The rest of us fly out to CO on Friday around 12:30 p.m. on American Airlines

We put an offer on a house

We put an offer in yesterday for this house. It is a pre-foreclosure. Needs new flooring, paint is in great shape but I don't like the color, change kitchen counters and possibly paint cabinets, reface them or replace them. There are 4 bedrooms upstairs and almost a full finished basement. One area we will turn into another bedroom with a walk in closet (Julia's request). The basement has a full bathroom which will be nice for her.

There was another offer put in on the same house yesterday. It is a bargain...we went a little higher than the first offer. We shall see. We are not going to turn this into a bidding war. We'll just go find something else.

The inside layout is very nice. 20' entryway and formal living room. There is a dining room that we will most likely turn into a music room. The kitchen is a decent size; much bigger than what I have. It is a considered a gourmet kitchen because of the double oven (convection on the top oven!). It has a glass electric cook top. If/when we redo the kitchen I will have that changed to gas. There is also an office on the main floor. I can't remember the bathroom on the main floor. All of the "tile" in the house is vinyl. We will replace that. White tile in the entry...it would have been nice to have the wood floor go all of the way through from the kitchen to the entry. Something to think about. There is a family room with a fire place off of the kitchen/eating area.

The upstairs has generous sized rooms. The kids room are larger than Jenna's, but smaller than Kerst/Kendall's room. Jack and Jill full sized bathroom for 2 of the rooms upstairs. The other room has a very nice sized full size bath. The master bedroom isn't as large as what we have here, but is a nice size. The bathroom is a decent size...not as insanely large as some of the other homes we previously saw (as large as the master bedroom). It also has a fireplace (two sided) in the master bedroom and bathroom. The master bedroom suites in a lot of the houses take up half of the entire upstairs. I think that is insane. Maybe because I am too busy to spend time in the bathroom.

The basement is 80% finished. It looks like they had a room set up for game tables. Funky lights (crystals on the ceiling light). Plumbing for a "soda fountain". We will most likely put a kid in that room until we finish one of the two unfinished areas as a bedroom. Full bathroom in the basement. Large nook off of the stairs in the basement for a computer area. There are also 2 areas in the basement that are kind of odd spaces. Not sure what to do with those areas...one could be for entertainment/media. If we get the contract and close on this home...I sure could use some advice!

Our realtor suggested painting the cabinets. She said that a 3 layered paint roughed up is really neat. Kind of like what Brooke did in their flip house. She said she has seen some cabinets painted black with a red and mustard paint underneath. When you rough up the edges, the other colors show through. That would probably look pretty sharp. We want to paint the trim in the house. It is wood, but seems to be a little rough in some spots (animals/dogs?). I would like white trim anyway to make the colors pop more. The wood on the window sills are rough too...paint...

It is an exciting opportunity. I also like the price compared to the other homes we are considering. It would be a dream to build, but my frugal side kicks in...thanks dad and mom.

There is a hot tub in the back...next reunion at our house, that will be the bathtub for the kids. ;o)

House Hunting

Kendall and I headed to CO on Thursday late afternoon to go on a house hunting trip. The other kids were farmed out to friends. It was actually nice to not have to deal with the wailing on their last day of school.

Jenna came down with the stomach flu on Thursday night. She was unable to go to school her last day to say goodbye. I felt so bad I couldn't be home to take care of her...

We saw a TON of homes. We even went through some custom build homes that are gorgeous. The only problem is that a couple we really like won't be done until next fall. One that will be done in Feb/Mar/April backs right up to a busy street. Another issue is that the homes are SUPER close to each other. I guess that is typical in this area but even close in this development. These homes are tempting...so beautiful. I just don't want to move twice. backcountryco.com is the website for this community.

We saw a bunch of homes today (narrowed down by the "million and one" homes John already previewed, drove by and checked out, etc.). Of those homes we really like 2 of them. John is always looking for a good deal. One of the homes is like that. The current owners are heading into foreclosure. They have dropped the price of the home about 100K if not more. We still need to run comps. It will need new flooring and we would most likely gut the kitchen. The home is only 10 years old. The basement is finished too (although we might make some changes to that as well). It has a decent yard compared to what we have seen. Neighbors are pretty close but we are not peeking into each others windows like some of the other homes we have seen.

The other home is beautiful. Ready to move in. Closer to John's work. 15 minutes. (the other mentioned is about 25-30 minutes...still better than the 50-60 minutes in Chicago). The basement isn't finished. Other than that there really isn't much we would need to do to the home. The backyard has a pretty steep slope...not as functional as the other home.

There is another home that intrigues John. It is in the mountains. Another foreclosure. It is now owned by the bank. The homes in that development are over a million (gated community of about 10 - 15 homes). John sees potential in this property. I don't want to even touch it. 5 acres. Beautiful area. House needs some TLC. The big issue I have is the seclusion. If it snows we are most likely trapped for awhile. 40 minutes from church. What do you do about early morning seminary? Friends? No thanks for me!

Christmas Card 2007

I can't stop laughing ... what are we going to do next year?
(Thank goodness for photo editing programs! I had to replace Jenna's head and put in an entirely different Kendall. Plus Kendall's shirt was blue! We were in the process of selling the house during this time. We were all set for the photo shoot in the sunroom when a realtor called and asked if they could show the house in 15 minutes. We had to take everything down and try again in a couple of hours. Thankfully Kendall cooperated and the sun was still up for natural lighting!)