Texas trip! AKA Time flies when you're having fun!

The last few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind! The lender we're working with in Texas, Brian McReary, hadn't returned my calls because he'd been sick with the flu. He got ahold of me and answered my questions in time for me to get the application completed and loan preapproval before we left for Texas. We spent the night at the Marina Inn in Des Moines on Tuesday the 15th, then flew out the next morning arriving in Dallas around 7 pm. Russ picked us up at the airport and took us to their place. The next morning Russ dropped me off at Alamo Rental Car in North Denton to pick up a car for our trip. I went back to Erin and Russ's picked up Darvin and headed to meet our realtor, Nancy Floyd with Keller Williams to look at houses. We absolutely LOVE, LOVED our realtor!

We started in Little Elm. The first two houses were really nice size 1 acre lots. I really liked the 2nd house we saw, but unfortunately it had foundation problems. The 3rd house was on a smaller lot, but backed up to the lake. Unfortunately the listing pictures were a "LITTLE" bit deceptive. It looked like the property was right at the edge of the lake. It turned out that you had to go down a ramp (like from a UHaul) which was precariously perched! So yes, you had private lake access, but it was pretty scary access! lol The house was in very marginal shape, so that was a definite no for us. We ended looking at 10 or 11 properties that first day. We really liked another one on St Remy Drive that was also on a larger size lot. It would have been great except there was only 1 tiny bedroom on the main floor, no closed study or anything, so it definitely wasn't Grandpa friendly! We looked at a house on .67 acres in McKinney, bordering Melissa and loved it. It had a swimming pool in the back, the neighborhood was tree lined and felt very comfortable. The house wasn't perfect as the kitchen wasn't open to any large family room space, the bathroom we would've used would need to be painted it had pink striped walls and the house was built in 1997, and you could tell in the bathrooms. But, there was plenty of room for the kids, dogs, Darvin's 4 wheeler and it had a huge covered patio by the pool along with sound piped throughout the house and yard. This was the priciest home at $350,000 that ended up on our '3 finalists' list.

Unfortunately Nancy was working with another out of town buyer that weekend, so we had to split time with them. On Friday she was only able to spend the morning with us. We power shopped and were able to see 10 properties with one of those on Axis Drive making it to our '3 finalists' list. It was on 1/3rd of an acre, had 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and was over 4,200 square feet. Darvin initially didn't care for the back yard because it was sloped and had a man made pond water feature. The house was built in 2010 and was very nice. The kitchen was open to the family room which was on my 'must have' list. The house was listed at $340,000.

Friday afternoon we were supposed to go to the zoo with Erin and her kids, Ashley and Vona, and Briana and her boys. Erin and Ashley both begged out so we ended up stopping at Five Guys hamburger joint and then headed over to meet Briana at her place where she picked us up before heading to the zoo. Friday night Erin hosted a family game night. Bethany came as well as the Pascual's, the Rush's, Vicki, Rob, Chloe and Bob, and Kristen Soller (Thomas's sister) and her family. Everyone brought snacks to share and then we played the 'Things' game. It was a fun evening.

On Saturday Nancy couldn't meet with us so she gave us information to drive by one home in Prosper and go look inside a couple of new homes there. We were able to get into the two vacant homes, one on Sandstone Dr was a bit on the small side for our needs. The other at 1631 Greenwood Court was open as they were working on the hand scraped floors in the front hallway. I think I liked this one better than Darvin initially. It's on a .26 acre lot which was a bummer as there wasn't enough room for Darvin to ride his four wheeler on the property, but it's on a corner lot and backs up to the greenbelt, so there's only one neighbor on the side. The master suite is HUGE with a 21x17 bedroom and very large bathroom and walk in closet the size of a room. As we were coming out of the house the neighbor across the street, Jen, was just leaving her house to take her to labs on a walk. We sat there for a good 10 or 15 minutes talking to her about the neighborhood, the builder, the HOA, etc. She even took us in to look at her house and told us that she'd had the builder take out the carpet on the main floor and install hardwood floors, had them put in blinds on the windows, etc. She was a plethora of information and a very nice lady! So we had our 3rd finalist.

We met the Rush's (including Dolly who shares the same birthday as Darvin) who were treating us for Dolly and Dad's birthday at Big Ray's BBQ. Margaret and Doug, Bethany and Huey, the Chatwin's and Pascual's joined us. Poor Briana. While we were traveling to Big Ray's she texted wanting to know the location. Dad used my phone to text the address back to her. Unfortunately he didn't watch as he was texting and it auto-corrected adding an additional 0 to the address. So they were WAY off base and couldn't find us. By the time we figured it out and they found us Briana was quite upset. I felt terrible because we were the ones that had led them astray! After they got their lunch and settled in we all felt better and had a really nice visit with everyone.

Saturday night Erin and Russ took us to a concert at the Granada Theater. Vicki, Rob and Justin's ska band Rude King were the opening act for The English Beat a british band. They did a great job!

I got ahold of Nancy Saturday to tell her that we'd narrowed our choices down to three and wanted to give the girls a chance to see them. Erin indicated that she didn't need to be included in the search as they were happy with whatever choice we made. So we met Nancy, Ashley and the Pascual family in Murphy on Sunday morning. Ashley and Briana both really liked the Murphy house.

Dad indicated that the backyard wasn't as sloped as he originally thought.

But there was still the issue of the useless pond! lol

And the fact that this was more than 45 minutes from Erin's house.

The HOA had a nice park area and a fabulous pool with huge slide, kids play area, etc. Before we left the development, Briana had gotten online and picked out a house for them to buy! lol

Next we headed to the McKinney/Melissa house.

The master (as in most homes in the area) was on the main floor. One of the bedrooms upstairs would've been the one we used.

It had its own bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and had a private deck.

Ashley liked this because she said she'd come soak in our jacuzzi tub upstairs! lol

I think Darvin and I both felt this was the best property including the salt water pool,

the rest of the outdoor space

and the neighborhood, but was overall the furthest away from all of the girls and least conducive to our desires on the interior. Ashley and I loved the kitchen.

The living room was beautiful but wasn't open to the kitchen which was one of my main 'must haves'!

Briana didn't like the home because it was so far away from them. Bless Dad's heart, he said he wouldn't buy the place because he wanted everyone to be happy!

Our last stop was to 1631 Greenwood Ct in Prosper.

The house is not yet complete but is far enough along to be able to see the quality of the workmanship. I think everyone was pretty well sold on it not long after stepping inside. Although the lot is small (.26 acres) since it backs up to the greenbelt it feels larger.

It's a super energy efficient home, has inground sprinklers, covered porches in the front and back yards, a study right off the front door,

open balcony game room area,

media room with built in sound system,

double oven with convection oven on top, gas cooktop,

gas fireplace in the family room which is open to the kitchen,

granite countertops, knotty alder custom cabinetry,

a nice size pantry in the kitchen,

a huge master bedroom,

bathroom

and closet that are nicely secluded for Grandpa,

a nice size laundry room big enough I hope to fit one of my food storage racks, hand scraped hardwood floors, etc. It seemed to be the best compromise, at about 16 minutes from Erin's house, 29 from Ashley and 25 from Briana. So we all came to the consensus that this was IT! lol

Monday morning I was feeling pretty tired and very stressed. I knew that we were doing the right thing, but I think I was getting cold feet or buyers remorse in advance! So I laid down and took a short very much needed nap and then woke up and lay there thinking...

Nancy scheduled an appointment with the builder representative for Monday at 3 p.m. We met with her beforehand at 2:30 and chatted a bit, discussing with her the changes that Darvin and I wanted the builder to make. Pops went to work measuring the upstairs for me and then the builder rep Frank Parli arrived at 3. Some of our changes were pretty expensive ones, so we weren't sure what the end outcome might be on the price, but we figured 'you don't ask, you don't get'. Worse case scenario we could decide not to have them do some of the upgrades.

Our list of upgrades:

Probably the most expensive one, no carpet on the main floor. Adding hand scraped hardwood floors in the study, the formal dining room, living room, family room, master bedroom and master closet. Nancy had told us that was about a $6/square foot upgrade (minus the cost of the carpet of course).

Add ceiling fans in the study, the three bedrooms upstairs and on the back porch.

Extend the concrete patio in the back yard to the end of the house (about 7 ft by 18 feet).

Remove the existing 4 ft wrought iron fence along the back of the property and replace it with a 6 ft fence with a gate.

Add 2" faux wood blinds to all windows and the patio door.

Add a fridge that matched the other kitchen appliances.

Extend the chair rail and picture frame trim from the dining room through the formal living room.

And we chose the carpet that will be used on the stairs and in the upstairs.

The original list price on the home was $334,900 and Nancy had told us that if we didn't make any changes at all we could probably get it for $320,000. When all was said and done Frank said the price would be $339,000. I asked him if he would come down to $337,000 and he said no. So then I said, well how about $338,500 and then we'll feel like we got a deal. Who can resist making the buyer feel good? LOL! You could tell throughout the process that Frank liked us, he has two bulldogs and had shown us their pictures and waited for me to find and show him the pictures of our dogs on my camera, we'd chit chatted through out the process...So he said he'd take $338,500, we shook on it and started completing the paperwork.

Nancy had to leave, but made sure we were on track and that the items he'd agreed to add were included in the contract. We were there until after 5:30 filling out paperwork and chatting. I was getting a little anxious as we wanted to return the rental car instead of having to wait until Tuesday morning before we headed to the airport. Turns out it didn't really matter as they have a night drop off box.

Russ had really wanted to go to MacDadddy's in Denton for his birthday dinner. So we dropped off the rental car on the way. Then headed to MacDaddy's which is a macaroni themed restaurant. We ordered family style, getting a number of dishes to share. The two favorites were pulled pork and lobster mac and cheese! We'd ordered some plain mac and cheese for Jackson and Karlee. Jackson didn't want to eat it and kept gagging. Erin insisted that he take one too many bites and the poor kid puked all over himself. He looked up at Pops who was sitting next to him and in a super sad sweet voice said "Sorry Poppa", it melted Dad's heart! Afterwards Russ wanted to go to Beth Maries Old Fashioned Ice Cream, so we stopped there and had homemade ice cream cones. It was all very tasty.

We headed back to Erin and Russ's and then Tuesday morning Erin and the kids drove us to the airport. Where Jackson indicated that he wanted to fly on the plane with Nana and Pops!

I'm so glad we get to move to Texas to be near most of the kids! The final step, a 'minor detail' Darvin needs to find a job! lol

Seminary and Friday night dinner!

I've had the distinct pleasure of subbing for early morning Seminary the last 3 days. I get to substitute next Monday and Tuesday as well for Carolyn Zauss in the freshmen class. Love these kids. We're studying the period right before the Savior's crucifixion. The kids are wonderful. Today we worked on memorizing a scripture mastery verse and then played a scripture mastery game. We line the chairs up in pairs and the kids scripture chase against the person seated in the chair next to them. Whoever wins that round moves forward one chair and the idea is to get to the head of the class. Whoever's in the first row and wins gets to stay at the head. The kids seemed to enjoy the game.

Tonight we had Wendy, Aaron and the boys over for dinner along with Wendy's sister Jennifer who just moved in to live with Wendy's dad. Jennifer is suffering from MS and has had some major challenges in her life. It was nice to get to meet her. She talked about some of the life changes she's been trying to make, she'd made some pretty bad choices in the past. I invited her to come to church with Wendy and told her that there are some wonderful health professionals in our ward that she could meet and network with who might be able to help her. She's supposed to start drinking more water and then next Tuesday she's going to come over so I can give her a massage with the MagCreator. I hope it will help her feel better.

Speaking of massages, I gave Mason a 'massage' with the MagCreator. It was the cutest thing, he was giggling up a storm. Apparently he's ticklish on his back! lol

Then Aaron and Wendy took turns giving each other massages with the MagCreator while the rest of us played with the boys.

I tried to get the loan application for Texas completed online today, but had some questions and couldn't get the finance guy to call or email me back. Hopefully I'll hear from him tomorrow.

We're still trying to iron out some issues that were brought up in the home inspection. I met with Kimberlee Peterson today and she assured me that there's not anything that they're not willing to work out with us, so it looks like the house sale is a go no matter what!

It's very exciting and nerve wracking at the same time to consider that we'll be moving down to Texas very shortly. The scheduled closing date on our house is March 4th! We're heading to Texas for a pre-planned visit next week and hope to be able to meet with the realtor on Thursday the 17th and then again the following Tuesday. Hopefully we'll be able to find our house if it's out there for sale!

New Primary Class

Today was my first Sunday teaching the Valiant 10B class. I got the 'tough' class. Apparently the Primary Presidency believes in my ability to rule with an iron fist! lol Anyway, they moved me up a couple of age levels to teach this particular class who are known to be particularly rowdy with lots of disrespect to their teacher, etc.

So I approached the day in the way that I would have approached a known unruly Seminary class. We started class with a discussion talking about the importance of rules and how Heavenly Father gives us rules to help us. We talked about the fact that they're 10 years old, old enough to control themselves. Then I had the kids come up with some class rules. Some of the kids called out one of the students, Parker, for throwing his scriptures at people. His parents would be mortified if they realized their son was doing this! I told the kids that that would NOT be tolerated in my class and that throwing scriptures was showing disrespect to Heavenly Father. I told them that I was really glad to be their teacher but that we'd probably be moving pretty soon and that we could have an enjoyable time together or not, it was their choice! They did a really good job coming up with class rules and then we proceeded to have a WONDERFUL lesson about Joseph Smith and the first vision with lots of discussion. Sure the kids have a hard time following the rules to not talk when someone else is talking and raise their hand to be called on to participate, but I am sure these will become good habits that are developed as we continue to practice!

I love a good challenge!! Love these great kids already!

Short Update on the House

I worked all night again! Because we had some folks from our ward who wanted to come look at the house AND we needed to get the doggone house on the market. I'd found out from Wendy (Middleton) that the Peterson's in our ward have been house hunting. From the moment Wendy told me that she'd talk to Kimberlee about our house I had a very peaceful, this feels right, feeling!

So I stayed up working, working, working to finish the little detail work, like caulking between the upper cupboards and ceiling, touch up painting on dings and nicks, touching up where the wall paint had gotten on the ceilings. De-junking the man cave, boxing more things up to store in the back garage, staging the rooms, etc. I was EXHAUSTED by the time I had to put my pajamas on for the Primary Meet Your Teacher Pajama Pancake Breakfast which started at 9 a.m. I dropped Bear off at the Gum's on the way down to the church as he's such a pest that I didn't want him here to barrel over the Peterson's knocking them around with his weapon of a tail! He has a good heart, but doesn't know how dangerous he is!

Had a good time at the Primary activity and was able to leave a few minutes early to run back to the house so I could get the empty boxes out of the house and into the front garage and got the filled boxes and miscellaneous items out of the house and into the back garage, did a little clean up, put the staging towels out in the bathroom, got the bed straightened and pillows arranged, etc! I was just changing out of my pajamas and into my clothes when the Peterson's arrived.

Kimberlee told me that earlier in the year when the apple trees were blooming she'd pick up her kids after school and then take a detour down Zier Road in order to drive by the apple trees in bloom. She said that she wanted to live on Zier, but there were never any homes for sale! After she found out about our house last Sunday they drove by and she liked the outside. She likes the front porch and wants to put a porch swing up!

We started the 'tour' in the living room and Blake started measuring and Kimberlee took pictures. They liked the idea of a fireplace that utilized wood as opposed to gas. They measured each of the rooms! lol When we went in the man cave next Kimberlee oooed and awed over it. They have 4 daughters and a son and she mentioned that her son had received his first guitar for Christmas. Kimberlee said she was going to send the man cave picture to her son and she was sure he'd ask if Darvin's guitars came with the house! lol

Next we went in the upstairs bathroom which they seemed to like. Our bathrooms are nice and roomy and I pointed out the inset tile shelves in the shower. I LOVE that feature! lol Next we headed to what we use as the master bedroom upstairs, it's good size but Peterson's have a king size bed, so Blake was concerned about whether or not there would be room as he was measuring away. I wasn't too concerned as I had the downstairs 'master suite' trump card! lol

We went to the massage room in the basement and then the bathroom downstairs and while Blake was looking at things in there I showed Kimberly the master suite which she loved too. Gave them the rest of the grand tour, everything was a big hit for them. They liked the sliding closet doors, the pocket doors in the living room and pantry. Kimberlee loved the walls colors that matched her color schemes. They liked the variegated carpet, the updates in the kitchen, etc. Apparently it's the perfect house for them!

I still have a really good feeling about this!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all! My New Year's wish it that all my family and friends will be happy and healthy in 2013!

For a quick update on the house progress. In spray painting the furniture downstairs I laid down my painting cloths, but unfortunately there was some back spray that sprayed the carpet! Here we go again, 2 steps forward and 3 steps back...so I vacuumed and then scrubbed the carpet with mineral spirits. Most of the stain is gone. I'm going to wait until tomorrow and then scrub some more, it just seems to take patience. I put the mineral spirits in a spray bottle which makes it much more controllable. After spraying on the carpet then I take a clean portion of my rag and scrub. Hopefully I can get it looking like new again! GRRR, as it is, it currently looks dirty, which is a big step above, there's a black outline on the carpet from spray paint!

And speaking of vacuuming. My vacuum gave out. Dad thinks it might have just overheated, so I'm giving it a break until the morning. We still have Briana and Ivan's vacuum which I had to take apart to clean as it was clogged (I'd done the same to mine earlier today, before it overheated). I hope it works again tomorrow I LOVE my vacuum. It has the clean carpet sensor and I really believe it works!

Got all the furniture painted. It doesn't look good, unfortunately I took the advice of the persuasive Walmart employee and bought Krylon instead of Rustoleum spray paint. The coverage was poor and I have runs all over the place! But, it's done and I don't think anyone will really be scrutinizing my furniture, hopefully just getting the general feel of the room.

I got the basement fireplace insert spray painted as well. Rustoleum has a special spray paint for bbq's and fireplaces, etc. It turned out fabulous! I can't believe the difference. Dad said he liked it better before I painted it.

He's just a 1960s kind of guy I guess! I can assure you that prospective buyers will like it a lot better now that it's been updated with a can of spray paint!

No more old gold!

Barney and Carolyn came over this evening and Barney re-stretched the carpet for us. So now we can move into full blown transformation mode in the master bedroom. The missionaries came over earlier this evening and hauled the extra couch from the living room out to the garage, moved the bed around in the upstairs bedroom and they hauled the re-upholstered chair down to the master bedroom and took my chest of drawers and night stand downstairs too. Dad didn't want them to help take his chest of drawers or night stand down, so hopefully he'll get those moved tomorrow. He also made progress on his 'stuff' from his gun closet, getting things boxed up and moved back in because most of it was in the master bedroom and I need it put away so I can set up the furniture.

Logan came over in the afternoon and hauled about a dozen boxes and tubs of packed items out to the garage for me, cut up the boxes that had been sitting outside since the yard sale and pooper scooped. It is SO worth it to hire him to come haul boxes for me! Then I can keep packing while he's moving them AND I save my back from further agony!

Joanne was supposed to come over tomorrow, but I'm so far from being done still that we decided to reschedule. She said she'll just use one of my outside pictures that I took this fall to put in the Yakima Homebuyers magazine (the deadline for the ad is Thursday morning). We'll probably get together on Saturday. Although I may not need to. I just may have a buyer. A family in our ward has been looking for a home in our ward boundaries and the West Valley school district. They drove by already and liked what they saw on the outside. As soon as I give the go ahead they'll come take a look on the inside and decide if they're interested. If they buy it and we don't involve realtors I'll be able to drop the price about $15,000, a win, win for everyone!

I pulled another all nighter last night (rang in the New Year by working on the house!) so I'd better get myself to bed!