The Move!

The last week of April arrived and it was go time. I started packing the house back in February as soon as the house was officially under contract. While packing I also was purging because we seemed to have collected a lot of stuff in the 12 years we had been in the house. I took at least six Tahoe loads of stuff up to the Goodwill, but it didn't seem to make a huge difference not to mention the bags and bags of stuff I threw in the trash. There was SO MUCH STUFF!! 

On Wednesday April 26th we started loading box trucks because we are nuts and decided to move everything three miles down the road ourselves. We got a good start on Wednesday, but kicked everything into high gear Thursday since we had to be completely out of the house by 10:00 on Friday morning. I want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone that stopped by to help. We were so lucky to have waves of family and friends stop by throughout the day and evening to help us. We would have NEVER gotten the job done if it wasn't for you guys helping us. 

Friday April 28th we woke up early because we still needed to load our mattresses and a few other odds and ends as well as get the kids off to school on time. The kids walked out the door that morning for the last time, but it was hectic so I don't think they really had time to think about it. We got the kids off to school and Bryan and I got down to business getting the last items out of the house. I have to give a shout out to my girl Lindsay for randomly popping in to help with the final cleaning. She was vacuuming like her life depending on it. Her help that morning was a gift and we would not have gotten out of the house in time if it wasn't for her help. Thank you so much Lindsay! As we were moving the trucks out of the driveway and getting in our car to head to closing, the buyer of our house was pulling up for her walk through. Oh yes...she did a walk through an hour and half before the closing. And this people is where things got a little crazy. 

Bryan and I were heading to grab some breakfast when our realtor called saying that we may have an issue so we turned the car around and headed back to the house. Now I'm not going to go into details, but let's just say, our buyer was the most unpleasant person I have ever come across. At the time I had so many emotions running through me, with the biggest one being anger. I was boiling! So much so when we got back to the house I stayed in the car, which was probably the best decision. I could hear the conversation taking place between the buyer, her "fill-in"realtor (yea...her realtor didn't even show up...I wonder why?!), Bryan and our realtor and based on the buyers tone it was a good thing I was in the car because I wouldn't have been able to keep my composure. The buyer was creating issues when there was no issue. It was one of those type situations. Bryan is the more level headed out of the two of us so of course he handled it with total grace. Thankfully our realtor is awesome and extremely experienced so she was able to diffuse the situation so we could all get to closing. Of course we got to closing 40 minutes late thanks to our buyer, but we made it none-the-less. 

The closing on our old house was interesting if anything and it took forever because "someone" had to ask questions and get explanations on every single little thing the closing attorney said. Again, I'm giving you the watered down version, but oh my goodness people I wanted to punch "someone" in the face. Yes, I just typed that and no I am not joking. Finally the papers were signed and our buyer was out the door so we could then move on to our own closing, which for the record went really fast! The mood in the room completely changed during our closing so it was nice to finally breathe a sigh of relief, smile and enjoy the moment. 

 This is our realtor, Lindsey! She was so wonderful to work with. Need a realtor...she's your girl!

 My Uncle Gordon was our mortgage broker and he has helped us buy all 3 of our houses. He gave us this vintage sign as a house warming gift from him and my Aunt Bonnie. Thank you!!

After closing we headed to our new home for the unpacking to begin. I have to send out another HUGE THANK YOU to all the folks that showed up to help us unpack all the trucks and help us move into our new home. Bryan and I are so very grateful to each and every single one of you for helping us especially since none of our furniture is easy to move! 

I had just walked through the door of our new house...say cheese!!

We've been in the house now almost a month and love it. We love it so much and we love the neighborhood. We've had a few bumps along the way, but most everything has been worked through. The basement hasn't been unpacked, the garage is packed full of boxes still, the yard is a hot mess and Bryan hasn't unpacked all of his clothes, but decent progress has been made considering we haven't really been home much. Now that school is out and soccer will be finished this weekend we are hoping to make some good progress this summer. We did have 14 trees cut down, which was a huge undertaking since at least eight of the trees were of substantial size. 

There was never an official listing of the house since it never went to market. If you Google our address this is what you pull up. The yard was so overgrown you can barely see the house!

Here is a photo of the house that Sydney took during one of our many drive-bys during the month of March before the house was officially ours.

The first Saturday in May my parents came up to work in the yard. I wasn't supposed to be in town, but the soccer tournament we were scheduled to play in was cancelled so I was able help. Yes, you read that correctly...I helped in the yard. This is a big deal because people I do NOT do yard work. There is a good chance I won't help again. Haha! We cut back bushes and shaped up some stuff. We dug up 2 ugly bushes and one dead bush. It doesn't sound like much, but it made a huge difference. Here is what it looked like when we finished.

Then the tree guys came in for 2 days and did their work. Here are a few progress photos. Not pictured are the huge trees that came down from the back yard...one of which was right next to the deck stairs.

And here is what the house looks like currently. There is no grass...it's all weeds. There is a bunch of dirt now on the side of the house where the trees were. There were so many trees and shade the grass couldn't grow and with all the rain we have had it's a nice muddy mess. BUT we have big plans people so that is something to look forward to. 

This house was a foreclosure. It has actually been foreclosed on twice in the past so I don't think the house was ever taken care of. The investors did a good job with the flip, but there is still a lot of work to do. I wish I could have seen what the house looked like before they started. My guess is it was a disaster! It's a beautiful house and has a ton of potential. I wish we could do everything we want to do now, but we have to be patient and do things in stages. It took us 12 years to get our last house the way we wanted it so I keep reminding myself that we have time with this house too. The yard and kitchen cabinets are at the top of the list for fixing up so as we change things I'll post pictures to share. 

Thank you again to everyone who helped us during the entire moving process. We plan on having a little house warming / thank you party at some point for all of you fine folks that helped us out. I can say with certainty that I don't plan on moving again so don't worry, we won't be asking for help anytime soon. Moving was so stressful and So. Much. Work.  I don't care to ever do it again unless I'm moving to the beach! I look around the new house and feel like we were meant to be here and all the effort to get here was definitely worth it.