Have You Heard?

We are moving.

Yes, it is true.

When?

in about 24 days, but whose counting?

We've known for about 20 days that we would be, but wanted to be more sure our contract for the sale of our home wouldn't fall through, we've had that happen before and we are starting the feel like the kids who cry" we are moving to California"

Where?

Good question. We wish we knew. We will be moving to the Fresno area somewhere. It is where Jake is from, and we have always wanted to try it out for our family. Since Jake can really work from anywhere and we don't have a job holding us in place and now that we have sold our home, we don't have a home holding us in place either and our kids are not in school yet it seems like the perfect time to make the jump. Those 3.8% interest rates don't hurt either.

Why?

Another good question.

For fun?

Doesn't it sound fun to pack up your entire house and three kids including a new baby.

Time of your life right?

Really it started about 4 months ago. We are always on the hunt for homes, and happened to find the perfect house for us in Fresno. And another back up house that we also really liked. But I couldn't fathom moving 8 months pregnant, or with a newborn. When M was about two months old we decided we could start trying to make the move- our dream house was still on the market after all. So we cleaned up the house and yard and listed it on the Utah MLS. Mind you our hopes were set low. This would be the 3rd time in five years we have tried to sell out home. Without being able to. We set our expectations low and decided we would be willing to walk away from the 20% down payment we put down in 2006 and the over $30,000 in improvements and repairs, and would just be happy if we didn't owe anybody after the sale of the home. So we set the price at very reasonable. We didn't expect we would find the perfect buyer for months, maybe the spring. Not with almost 30 brand new homes for sale in our neighborhood listed for a similar price. It was listed for about five days. We showed it three times the 1st weekend it was up for sale. By Saturday night we got a call. The 1st people that had walked through had made an offer. It was decent. And we just accepted it. Even though it gave us 40 days to get a new house, pack and get out. I'll admit our house was spotless, organized, and beautiful that weekend. I don't know why I thought it would take so long to sell.

Then we started stressing out like crazy.

Two days later, as we were preparing an offer, the house we had hoped to buy sold... after being on the market for something like seven months. How is that for luck. Bad luck I mean.

In the mean time we have been out to Fresno searching for a new home and scouring the Fresno MLS listing every morning for new postings. But nothing seems to compare to the 1st house, the house we actually put our house up for sale to try and buy. We do have an offer in on a nice home in Clovis, CA, just outside of Fresno, and have put in a backup offer on the dream house that is under contract. Perhaps we will know more in a few days. We do feel blessed to have been able to sell our home. We are sad to leave but also very excited. We also wish we knew where we were going to go.

We are in the process of packing. It will take a lot to pack up our home. And packing helps us feel less stressed, like we are at least getting something done.

I was so stressed about not knowing where our family would go that I was only sleeping like four hours a night. But now I'm trying to be done with that all. In the end just because we have always been home owners since before we were married even, we don't have to be. We are now starting to consider renting or living with some or both of our parents temporarily until we find the perfect place.

We will soon have 2400 square feet of our furniture and stuff packed into a truck or storage unit with no where to be delivered, and three children living out of duffle bags.... just in time for Christmas.

With all the stress and worry, and saddness to leave family, friends and place we have loved to be- We are excited for something new. New people, new homes, new dreams. We are excited to finally try Fresno out as we have attempted to move the California now five times in the 8 years we have been married, and never had it work out. We are really determined to make it work out this time.

So we are jumping in with both feet, and about 35 rolls of packing tape.