We Bought A Zoo!

Technically, we bought a house, but as soon as we move in it will become a zoo.

After a really frustrating experience looking for houses in the city where Brandon is working, we decided to open ourselves to the idea of looking 15 minutes down the road where his parents and two siblings live. It's across the Washington/Idaho border, so we will be paying income tax in Idaho, but housing is significantly cheaper than Washington and we found an amazing house.

The first time we were looking for a house in Las Vegas, we both remember walking in the front door and having a feeling about the house...the 5th house we'd looked at. After months of searching here and seeing "meh" houses that we sold before we'd finished walking through them, I began to feel concerned that we wouldn't find that "perfect" house and we'd have to pay out the nose for something that was just okay.

 Enter my sister-in-law, who notified me at 10:00 on a Friday night early in March that a house I'd been coveting since moving here had come up for sale. Why would you covet it before it came on the market, you ask? Well, we walk by it nearly every day as it's on the same street we live on now. You may think me creepy, but I'd stroll a little slower whenever we passed it, in awe of how cool it was and how beautifully it was decorated. So, we looked up photos online and saw the parts of the house that no amount of creepy lingering would allow me to see and were in love. There was another house that looked great too and so Brandon called (a miracle in itself) to schedule appointments. We didn't have a realtor at this point because we'd decided earlier that day to look on this side of the state line, which requires a different license. Brandon left messages and heard back from the other house that it already had 3 offers on it - seriously, it's madness here this year! And the mailbox for THE house was full. Bummer. My sister-in-law then called us to see if we'd gotten in and we said we couldn't get through and sighed a big sigh. Ever so clever, she found another number for the listing agent and got us an appointment in the afternoon. So the three of us (and some friends from the ward who happened to be driving by and have also drooled over the house from afar - seriously, it's cool) went and looked and loved it. We found out that we were the 5th showing that day and there were more lined up for the next day. We had very little hope. We talked about and it prayed about it and decided to put in an offer. We called the agent Shawn & Annie had used to buy there house a few months ago and told her the situation. Must have been a nice surprise as a realtor to hear that you could skip the super annoying part of searching for a house and just get straight to the purchasing. She was wonderful and stayed up late writing an offer and coaching us on how to proceed. The next day she told us that she had clients looking at the house the next day and that they put in an offer as well. An idea had come to me (through the Spirit, I'm sure) to mention that our living arrangements were such that they could take their time and we could close in months instead of weeks. We knew they had children in school and thought they might like to finish out the school year in the house and wanted our offer to be appealing. A happy side effect is that the longer they take, the longer we live rent free ;) They accepted our offer and after just a little back and forth after the inspection, we reached a happy agreement and scheduled to close on May 4th. Star Wars Day of all days. The date ended up being the 1st instead, but it's still one we can remember. 

We signed our life away yesterday and spent almost all our money in one place. We were incredibly blessed to be able to sell our first home and without spending anything on improvements, come away with a profit. We bought at the right time and sold when the market was changing for the better. If we'd sold now instead, it would be have been more lucrative but not having a mortgage payment for the last 6 months has really helped us save. We're very grateful to Heavenly Father for His hand in our lives, guiding us to make these decisions and to have the timing work so much in our favour. And to Brandon's parents who've allowed us to turn their lives upside down for almost 10 months. Mason was a baby when we moved in and now he's an incredibly active toddler who can't keep his chubby hands out of anything. That being said, we haven't quite worn out our welcome here yet and will take a few weeks to clean, paint, fix, etc. Our situation couldn't be more ideal, as we can see the house from where we live now and can just pop over quickly to check on things and chip away at the to-do list a little at a time. (Yes, we are living 4 doors down from my in-laws, but it's a much better situation than Everybody Loves Raymond - trust me.) We are extremely excited to have a home that we can call and make our own and I can't wait to see our stuff again. It's going to be like Christmas! 

We signed at 9:00 in the morning in hopes that the loan would fund that day and we'd be able to get keys. We waited all day for a call - longest day ever - and of course, when I went to the bathroom at 4:00 I missed the call we'd been holding our breath for. We rushed to the office to pick up a key and took the kids right over to see it. Teagan was really excited. She was most excited about the pirate ship. In the neighbours' backyard. Great. And Mason was just beside himself with so much room to run around. The backyard is gigantic and has a sprawling field behind it - one of the main reasons we bought the place - but isn't fenced on either side. We tried to take the kids outside and they both ran in opposite directions. So we will be introducing ourselves to the neighbours and promptly erecting a fence. "Good fences make good neighbours" Annie quoted to me and I'm sure our new ones will agree.

Where Are They Now? (Brandon and Michelle Edition)

You may think I've abandoned the blog. While that isn't entirely true, I will admit to severe neglect. It's nigh impossible for me to use the computer (or do anything, for that matter) while the kids are awake and when they are asleep, I have so many demands on that infinitesimal chunk of time at the end of the day that I am entirely overwhelmed and end up collapsing on the couch instead of accomplishing the squillion things I have littering my To Do list. I've taken to Instagram and Facebook to help me keep up with recording the happenings of our wee family lately. I plan to sit down once a month and catch up on the handful of exciting things that warrant more than a small paragraph or caption. It's a hard truth that the more you have going on to write about, the less time you have to write about it. But I aim to try. Not please. Try.

If you've become lost as to where we are and what we are doing, we are currently in the process of buying a house. We had been looking in Pullman, Washington, where Brandon is working (and enjoying his job immensely, which is such a welcome relief.) The market this year is as competitive as they've ever seen it and we felt really deflated after seeing what was out there and having them snatched out from under us before we'd finished looking at it. It's more expensive than Vegas (like everywhere else) and we'd be getting a lot less for a money, particularly when it came to a backyard. There are hills everywhere and none of the houses we saw had a particularly great outdoor space. Frustrated, we started to look online in Moscow - Brandon's hometown, just 15 minutes down the road but on the other side of the Washington/Idaho border. Before I say too much about it and jinx the transaction, I'll just say that we are hoping to close early next month. Hopefully more details to follow.

I'm keeping busy with the kids and scouring the sales rack for deals on things for a new house. I have overestimated my painting skills and have plans to paint no less than 8 pieces of furniture for the new house. Which means I will paint none of them. There aren't that many hours in a day. I'm also making plans for Brandon to become a master carpenter under the tutelage of his father, who is currently building a bed for one of his grandchildren. I mentioned a small drying rack for the laundry room and I might as well have asked for a ladder to the moon. He will grow to love it, I'm convinced. Actually, no one's convinced, but if I say it often enough...

Our pending home purchase would mean that our callings may be a little more permanent than we anticipated - Brandon as Elder's Quorum Secretary and me as Young Women's 2nd Councilor. I am enjoying my calling immensely - I've always wanted to serve in Young Women's and the Beehives are the perfect group to start with, as they are still excited about everything we do. It's time consuming and stressful at times, but I have a fantastic group of girls and a great support system to help with kids when necessary. 

Like I said, Brandon is really enjoying his work. He has good working relationships with everyone at the clinic and has made a good impression on his employers. They're really good people and I'm happy that he has found a good fit. They were kind enough to give him a merit-based raise and even kinder to increase that raise based on the fact that our insurance rates are rising. So the increase will cover the insurance and give us extra. Add that to the fact that we have been able to save over the last few months living with Brandon's parents and our mortgage payment should be nearly identical to what we were paying in Las Vegas and we are definitely feeling the blessings of tithing. Paying the Lord first is the wisest investment decision we can make and I am so grateful for the blessings that Heavenly Father has poured out upon us and that we are taken care of and always have enough.

Speaking of having enough, we have both reached what we call our Fat Thresholds. Meaning, we've complained until this point but we've reached the point that can't take it anymore and need to lose weight. Brandon is running with his brother Shawn, training for a 10K and I am eating less - see aforementioned collapsing on the couch at the end of every long day. I kept thinking I could exercise after the kids were in bed, but that's the absolute last thing I want to do with that precious time. So I'm being more careful with what I eat and have dropped about 5 pounds. The nice thing about me being short, is that after just a few more pounds, my weight loss should show. That also works in reverse and makes weight gain immediately noticeable on my short frame. I'm going to try to make it work for me. Not like the treadmill.

We are still very much in love and can't believe we'll be celebrating 9 years of marriage later this year. It's still just the four of us and we are talking about adding more. While it took us 18 months and a year to have Teagan and Mason respectively, I've heard way too many stories about couples struggling to conceive and then being surprised the next time with immediate results. So it's best to wait until we are absitively, posolutely ready. And these two keep me hopping - see the Little Richardses blog for more details on why I really should be thinner.