Approved!

So there's not much news here.
So far we've packed about half of the house up. Leaving the high traffic rooms like the kitchen and bedroom for last.
We got the word today that we've been approved officially for the loan. Still no closing date set, but we're getting closer!

Walk Through

We went out to the house tonight to do a basic walk-through and to show Andrei the place. We played catch in the backyard, garage, basement, and living rooms, and he picked out which bedroom upstairs he wants. We figured it was time to break the news to him since we are going to start packing up this weeked. The jig was basically up. 

While I was out there I took a ton of photos. Here they are, along with the original MLS Listing photos on a Picasa Album I created. They are in no particular order, for any of you curious enough to check out the link.

It's starting to feel really real. Some people may not understand why moving to this house is such a momentous experience for me. After all, people move all the time, right? Our current house is perfectly wonderful, and it's kind of weird that I want to get out of here as badly as I do. It's just that this has taken such a long time. Not knowing what direction my life in general is headed in for the past 3 years has been agonizing, and our housing has been such a big part of that puzzle. Most of it, really. The exciting part of this all isn't even really the house- if everything works out right,  in the very near future I'll be able to pay for in vitro, cut back to part time, and finally move on with my life.

I'm glad things worked out the way they did, despite everything. This property was really worth the wait, and we've both grown so much as a couple and as individuals during this process of evaluating what it is that we really want to do with our lives. I think we are both much happier now than we were two years ago. 

Anyway, enough chatter. Enjoy the virtual tour!

This Time it's For Real

So I don't want to take a lot of time reviewing our 2 and a half year-long house hunt. The reasons why we decided to start looking for a new place are pretty clearly outlined in my blog in 2010. In fact, I spent that whole year struggling to blog about anything else. See here, here, here, here, here, and here. Essentially between January 2010 and April 2011 we looked at hundreds (and I mean literally hundreds) of real estate listings, walked through (best estimate) over 50 properties, put offers on like 8 houses, and were under contract 3 times (once it fell through because of inspection, once it fell through because the bank messed up the paperwork on the short sale, and once it fell through because Luis got cold feet and backed out). So basically we've been trying to move unsuccessfully since January of 2010. It's been a nightmare of epic proportions.
Fast forward to last month. After stepping back on the house thing and focusing on our family a little more for a while, hubs and I resumed the project.
I haven't blogged at all in a month because the past month has been full of meetings with financial advisers, real estate agents, tax professionals, loan officers, and builders. There has been a lot of fasting and prayer and many sleepless nights.
This time it looks like it's for real. We have a contract, a loan, signed rental contract for our current house (cute young family with 2 kids), and even boxes and newspaper that I've started stockpiling this week. This weekend we'll take Andrei out to the house and let him pick his room, then we will commence packing and cleaning.
I'm so relieved and happy that I don't really know what to say. This transition has been the longest and most difficult of my life.
So after all this time and effort, where will we finally end up living? Here!

I think it looks like a cute little farm house, which is perfect because it's surrounded by farmland. 
The nitty gritty: 3400 sq. feet (because it has an unfinished basement... only 2300 are currently finished).
4 beds, 3 baths, construction finished last month. It sits on approx. .28 acres.
It is in the Sleepy Ridge neighborhood of Vineyard, UT.
We don't have a closing date set for sure yet, but the tentative date to close is May 3, which means we could be moving in as little as 2 weeks from today!