Almost Paradise!

I got this fortune sometime in 2015.  Hmmm....

A big change took place for us this fall.  We started thinking about moving sometime at the beginning of the year.  We had lived in Tremonton for about 5 years and then Garland for another 8, making a total of 13 years at Bear River High School.   All that time, I had wondered how long we would be assigned there.  When we had first moved there, they had made it seem more like about 4 years, but CES has changed a lot since then.  It just so happened that the coming year CES would be losing a teacher at Bear River.  Also, there would be a few openings over in Cache Valley the following year with two new high schools being built.  So, it was good timing for Aaron and I to start thinking about a move.  The more we talked about it, the more excited we got.   Cache Valley is a beautiful place with a lot of fun things to do, and a great place to raise a family!  Soon later, Aaron talked to his boss about the possibility of moving over to Cache Valley if we were to find a home.   He said that if we found a home over here, the job would take care of itself.   We spent nearly every date for the next 6 months taking drives over to Cache Valley and looking around.  

      Looking for a house was quite the roller-coaster ride!!  We started out looking at lots to build on.   Initially, this was the plan.  We'd stay in our house for a few more years until we'd saved a little more, then we'd build.  We found two amazing lots that we loved- one in Mt. Sterling overlooking Hyrum reservoir, and another on Hollow Road.   After meeting with a builder and discussing building costs and looking through tons of house plans, we came to the conclusion that building was going to cost us more than we could afford to get what we wanted.  And, after looking at several houses, we found that you could get a lot more for your money that way.  The only problem was that it was really hard to find exactly what we were looking for.  We wanted a nicer "end" home, around 5,000 SF on a larger lot, at least an acre.  We found several really nice homes but the lots were too small.  We also wanted horse property.  And, there were some great lots with smaller, older houses on them.  What to do...
       Then one day we found a pretty nice 1990's house on Hollow Road.  It had just over an acre with a horse barn and was beautifully landscaped with the river running behind it.  We made an offer and thought we had it when someone else got it for the same price.  (It's a long story and I have the whole thing written in my journal...)  We were pretty upset about it.   It's amazing how attached you can get to a house.  It's like breaking up and it's hard!  Anyway, after that, Hollow Road became our dream.  We wanted to live there so bad.  It was just like you were in the movies driving down that beautiful lane.   We looked at another house on that road and then we found one that was older and would need a lot of work, but it was on the perfect lot.  (3.5 acres with the river and a canal on the property).  We made an offer and ended up under contract.   We were going to completely overhaul the house and make it really nice.  I had plans drawn up and everything.  We had contractors over to give us estimates and were well on our way.  After adding up all the numbers, we were starting to wonder if this house would be worth all we would put into it by the time we were done.
     We were 2 days away from due diligence  (when we would be penalized if we backed out)  when we were looking online for comparables and found an amazing house in Paradise.   I said to Aaron, "There's no way this is right!"  It was an incredible deal.  By that time we had looked at so many homes in Cache valley, we knew the kind of deal this was.   It was the first day listed and we called to see if we could go see it that night.   We put in an offer that night for full asking with no contingencies, As-Is.  I thought there was no way they would take it.  There had been at least 6 others to look at it that day and more scheduled.   By some miracle, the next day we found out they had accepted our offer!!

This was on August 29 and the kids had just started school.  We ended up renting our house back to the seller for two months, which worked out well for us because we hadn't sold our house yet anyway.  That was the stressful part!   We listed our house over Labor day weekend.  It took us about a month and then our house was under contract.  The person who bought our house ended up having some problems with financing and had to delay and then their buyer backed out.  Fortunately, they had a secondary buyer signed on, but this meant another month delay on our closing date.   We moved into our new house on November 7th and didn't end up closing on our old house until Jan 13th!

After all the stress,  here we are in an incredible home and neighborhood and feeling so blessed.   It is truly so much more than we ever could have dreamed of.   Looking back, we are really in awe with how much the Lord has blessed us and the doors he has opened for us.

We will definitely miss our old house and neighborhood.  We built it from the ground up, making it a very special place for us. I just wanted to post a few pictures of our old house to remember it.   I never want to forget the memories we had there...

PICTURES OF OUR OLD HOUSE IN GARLAND, UT

main bathroom

master bathroom

boys' bedroom

front room

master bedroom

front room

master closet

master bedroom

baby room

laundry room cubbies

laundry room

pantry

kitchen

basement food storage room

basement food storage room

basement storage room

basement craft room

basement food storage room

basement bedroom

basement bedroom

basement bedroom

basement family room

basement family room

back garage

backyard

main garage

I wanted to take some of the plants with me so I dug a few of them up to bring...

Erika with her good friend Kaitlyn helping her move.