How have I never been here before?

We went to IKEA yesterday.  Wow!  Mark and I, plus our girls and 10 year old niece and my dad and step-mom went to the Portland store.  We had lunch, which wasn't too bad.  Then we followed the arrows.  And followed, and followed.  Talk about over-whelming!  It was fun to see some ideas for things we might want for the house.  We went in knowing we weren't going to buy anything, but wrote down several things of interest.  And c'mon, anyone who can outfit a home functionally in 600 square feet or less, has to be cool.

The highlight of our trip was running into Gina and Tiffany.  Mark and Gina grew up together, and have been best friends since birth.  We don't see them too often, but love getting to talk to them.  And of course, how odd to run into them at IKEA.

We are still in vacation mode, and can't seem to get too excited about the new house until we actually sign the papers.  But, I can always get excited about shopping.

Christmas letter, just in case I didn't have your address....

Paperwork...

Spent the day getting together all the paperwork needed for the mortgage guy.  THAT was fun.  Some of it I understand, but some, not so much.  Really, you need copies of our drivers licenses?  I guess they have to make sure we aren't terrorists or something.  Timing-wise, things are crazy.  Too much going on, too many trips we're taking, to do all this extra stuff.  But, with a closing date of January 17th, we don't have much choice.

I'm hoping this blog gets a bit more interesting soon.  Once we get into the actual remodel, I think I'll have some good material for you, my faithful readers.

For now, let us wish you a very Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. 

Inspection Day!

Mark met with the inspector today.  Mr. Inspector said the house was in even better shape than he would have guessed.  No major problems at all!

Next, we meet with our architect to see plans for the addition.  Can't wait!  This whole process seems to be going extremely smoothly.  Let's just hope the sale of our current house goes as well.

Speaking of additions...
We found out that we're going to be a Great-Aunt and Uncle.  I mean, I knew we were pretty awesome, but it's nice to have an official title.  The whole thing makes me feel, well, OLD!  But, since I'm only 10 years older than our nephew, it shouldn't.  But, it does.  Pretty excited for Brandon and Donna!

I had a minor freak out yesterday.  (The first of many, I'm guessing...)  Thinking about how this is our last Christmas in "our" house.  Made me a little sad.  We moved in two weeks before Peyton's first birthday!  So many memories, it's bound to make me a little nostalgic.  However, I'm sure the first month of double mortgage payments will snap me out of it.

While it doesn't look like much right now, this is going to be our new home! We have big plans!

I've always had my eye out for something a bit bigger than our home, and most importantly, closer to the girls school and Mark's work. Last year, we found the house that we thought could be "the one". It was in the area we wanted, and was actually next door to Mark's brother and sister-in-law. We listed our current house, but, in the end the deal didn't work out. We decided to stay put and quit looking.

HA! Little did Mark know, I still occasionally looked on the web for what we knew we wanted. Fast forward to November. I found this house purely by accident. I can't even remember the parameters I searched!

It was listed as a short-sale which made us think twice about going to look at it. We finally decided that it would haunt us until we could take a peek and we both thought that would be the end.

We ended up seeing a lot of potential. Mark loved that it sits on a acre. Once a farm boy, always a farm boy. I think he knew that an acre is about as good as it gets in the city. I loved the proximity to the girls school. They can walk to and from school each day. As a bonus? It is directly across from our Church. It's still really close to Mark's brother as well.

After looking at it, we decided to make an offer. We of course thought that again, that would be the end of it. The asking price was pretty darn low. Come to find out, the bank had sent a letter stating they would accept an offer at the asking price, should one come in.

So, today, 3 weeks after our offer, we found out it is ours! Inspection is slated for Monday, and barring any unforseen problems, we close on the 17th of January.