Ode to Our Home

So, today we officially sold our home.  We've kept it on the down-low for the most part, but we are moving. And like last time we moved, we're pretty much moving within the same neighborhood.  It appears that our little family probably doesn't like to leave our comfort zone very much.

The whole thing has been an adventure.  We've loved this house.  We bought it right at the peak of the housing bubble:  October 2006.  And we've done a lot to the home:  we immediately remodeled the kitchen and installed new flooring and painted.  We eventually updated the exterior, added a deck, replaced carpet, and remodeled the bathroom.  I think it's a beautiful house.  The problem is, once we had our second miracle daughter, the house became a little less practical.  Tay and Hannah are sharing a room because the third bedroom is downstairs.

Last September, we put our house on the market, just to see what we could get.  We weren't in a hurry to leave, because we loved the neighborhood and area and our home.  But we couldn't find anything that we liked on the market.  But in December, we came across a flaglot in a nearby neighborhood that we loved and we decided to build a house, which we'll be moving into next month.

So, here we are.  It's a little bitter-sweet right now.  A bit unhappy with the fact that our house didn't sell for a price that we had thought it was worth, yet very grateful for this home for giving us so many great memories and amazing friendships.  And we're also excited for our next house to have more wonderful memories.

So, I've decided to share some of my favorite memories of the house. And I'm only putting the positive memories, partly because I'm never in the frame of mind to take pictures during the bad moments (like the basement floodings, huge trees falling in our yard, pesky rodents, etc.).

So, here are some pics of our favorite memories of this house:

First three pics are before (right when we bought the house)

The next three pics are the same pictures, but after our work:

And this is the deck that we added, along with my favorite backyard get together:

We weren't the best gardeners, but we did enjoy having a garden . . .

Our sweetest memory of this house is probably the day that we picked up Taylor from the hospital.  Most of you know our story, but we found out about Taylor pretty much the day that she was given to us.

One reason that we have felt such a need to stay in our neighborhood is because of the amazing friends and neighbors here.  When we got home from the hospital, not only was our house and yard decorated with congratulations, but a new crib was set up and our kitchen was filled with groceries.  What amazing friends!  

Then watching Taylor go from the tiniest baby to a fat little toddler and into a little princess: 

 

And of course, the adoption and sealing . . . 

And of course, our next miracle took place while living in this house.  The miracle of Hannah's arrival:

And watching her turn into our little happy 'butt-scooter'.  Since she scoots and doesn't crawl, it's been nice living in a rambler without stairs.  But she better learn how to crawl up and down stairs soon . . .  

 And Utah's Sugar Bowl season.  It kind of fits into my good memories.  But really, it's almost football season and I had to throw that in somehow.

Thanks, Tate 2nd home, for the amazing memories and friendships we've shared while living here.  You've been a great home - just a lousy financial investment.
But I do hope the new young couple that's moving in can have as many wonderful memories in this home as we have . . .

Scary Yellow Jackets!

Last night I took the girls on walk.  (I include Quique (the dog) in that statement).  We were attempting one of our normal routes which will sometimes include Q saying hi to one of her friends toward the end of our street where they have a rod iron fence surrounding their front yard with some ivy on the ground.  Q was waiting there for her friend Angel to come over when this swarm of about 20 or so yellow jackets comes up from the ground.  Tay was sitting on the front of the double stroller and I just started trying to push the stroller across the street and away as fast as possible and drag Q along with me.  As I am doing this, Tay is screaming, the yellow jackets are still swarming us now like chasing us.  It feels like some B list version of Hunger Games suburbia style.  I feel one sting and then another which means I know that Tay is screaming because she's been stung.  I pick up Tay who is in hysterics and we still have yellow jackets encircling us and I am trying to run away from them because I have no idea what to do.  I finally see one down her shirt and get that one away.  Q is acting weird so I know that she must have been stung a few times.  It was horrible!  And yet through all of the crazy hysterical screaming no one came out of their house, which was probably a good thing because I can only imagine how crazy I looked!

Luckily we weren't far from home so I pick up Tay in utter pain so I can only imagine how much she is hurting and grab the leash and the stroller and go home.  And yet this entire time Hannah hasn't made one peep or anything, so she probably just needed a bowl of popcorn to watch the show. We get home and Dustin makes it home 15 or 20 min later, thank goodness, because Hannah is still out in the stroller.  Taylor has at least 5 stings or so.  She's screaming and as a mom, it really is the worst feeling ever.  There is nothing worse than knowing that YOU (meaning me) put your child into harms way and then to watch them agonize and scream in pain and there is nothing you can do except wait it out.  And Tay is one that doesn't necessarily want to be held or cuddled while she is in pain so you just have to sit and watch; it is excruciatingly hard.  I will be totally honest and say there are times that Tay has put me through the ringer, but last night, I felt I had failed a little as a mom (yes I know there are worse things and you can't protect them from everything) and it hurt!  Motherhood stinks sometimes.  But when that door to her room opened this morning and those little footsteps came running into our room and she hopped into bed with us and was laughing about her bee stings, all of the hurt and anguish from the night before just melted away.  Gosh those little ones are resilient!