Well, that last house isnt for us...or anyone for the next 90 days. I guess the owner passed away last week and its going to take them "at least 90 days to sort out all the legal matters" and then who knows if its going to be re-listed! Darn it! Well... next we are going to see some homes in eagle mountain, am I really considering EAGLE MOUNTAIN?!?!? Im so confused................
Ava came and got into bed with me yesterday and was talking about "the baby in mommys tummy" and kept calling it "baby Charlie" it was sooooo adorable. I dont know where she got the name from and Im not about to name my little boy (I really think its a boy) Charlie. I hope she finds a new name soon. On a similar note, yesterday I also felt the baby move for the first time. Its a really comforting feeling, and Im getting more and more excited!
We are putting our fifth offer on a house, here it is: 
Its a Fieldstone house, so not architecturally sophisticated, but it everything we need! No vaulted ceilings, expensive cabinets, or a jetted tub, but it is 2,500 sq. ft. and 4 bed 2.5 baths. It is almost EXACTLY what I want as far as space and layout! We could be very comfortably for this quite a while. The only draw-backs are the yard and some of the less expensive finishing materials. The yard is a good size, just an awkward shape. Anywho, cross your fingers!
http://www.orphomes.com/fine/real/estate/home_view/829520
Well, as of today, we will have put offers on 4 different homes- crazy! But time is on our side and I think I would feel more nervous once one of our offers get accepted and we have to decide, yes, this IS the one we want and we have to let go of all the others ones. The thing with the market out here in Utah is that 80% of your homes for sale are short sales. That means that the banks are swamped trying to figure all of them out and their response time is ridiculous (2 months in most cases)! Today I was told that its usually the patient one that gets the house and that 85% of the time its the second or third best bid that wins. So I guess the trick is just to wait... of course we have more time than money, so it all works out for us in the end!
This is the first home we put an offer on. It has an open floor plan, 5 bedrooms and only 2 baths with 2,200 sq. ft. We love the area and it has a fully fenced large yard. This house has the least amount of work in it- maybe some painting but that's about it. The downstairs family room is large and Billy loves that it is already wired for surround sound while I appreciate the central vac system.
http://www.trulia.com/property/1064995893-798-N-300-W-American-Fork-UT-84003
This one is a fixer-upper. Its the oldest, built in 1959. It has an updated kitchen- but everything else is old old old. It has hardwood floors about 2,600 sq. ft. with 5 beds 2.5 baths. We offered $20,000 less on this one because it needs so much work and doesn't have a garage, but has lots of potential and we really like the area.
For more pics: http://www.orphomes.com/fine/real/estate/home_view/883896
This is the one we put an offer in today. It is the best yard with nothing to do but maintenance! It is 5 bed, 2.5 bath. It has large bedrooms, about 2200 sq. ft. and only a few blocks away from the other two in AF that we put offers on. The biggest downside: NO AC!! Ahhhh! But I guess I can live without it for a year... besides that, there are government incentives on everything right now and they pay for 30% up to 1,500 for the conversion until 2010.
This one is in Saratoga Springs. It is the home that has the most space to grow into with an unfinished daylight basement. Once the basement is finished, we would have nearly 3,000 sq ft! I also think it is the best investment because once it is finished (with 2 more beds and a bath) my realtor had the opinion that in today's market it would sell for about 270,000! It has awesome views and is down the street from the golf course. Still, I think it is the one I am least excited about because its a 15 minute drive into American Fork and a 20-25 minute drive to Billy's work (whereas the other were all less than 10)I have often pondered what I would say if I had the opportunity to speak to all the mothers in the world. While I don't have a complete or satisfactory answer, I do want to share a few of my thoughts on my blog about motherhood since today is Mother's Day:
I think if I got to to share something with the mothers of the world I would do three things; first, give them praise for their work. Second, tell them how important that work is and third, I would give them encouragement to move forward in this eternally important role.
Praise:
After I had Ava (my first child) I remembered standing in the mirror looking at my body (almost in disgust) and I was baffled that there were so many people in the world! How could so many women be okay with having children when every woman gets their own set of stretch marks, scars, and other (somewhat unsightly) manifestations of pregnancy? How is it that so many people gave up their young, perfectly curved and beautiful bodies to these scars of motherhood so easily?
Not too long after this discouraging glance in the mirror I heard someone discussing these same scars of motherhood and he described them as beautiful while he compared them to the scars that Christ bares. Both sets of scars were created as a person unselfishly gave their body to someone they loved. I have never looked at my stretch marks and scars the same since. I will be glad someday when I can have a perfect body without them, but at the same time I can look at them and now I see selflessness, something I was willing bare to follow my Heavenly Father's will and to sacrifice for those I love.
These are not the only physical scars or signs of motherhood. Other scars might be headaches from the loud children running about the house, or a tired body and grey hairs from staying up all night with a sick child or newborn baby, or even heartache as you watch a child struggle to do the right thing and sometimes falter. Some of these scars are seen, some of them are unseen, but how amazing it is that women are ready and willing to take these on as they follow our Heavenly Father's plan!
Everyone knows that a mother's job is not an easy one. It is a constant go, go, go, give, give, give, love, love, love. I heard someone say once that it starts early in the morning and ends early the next morning. It is all about loving and teaching. For the women who become mothers I have no doubt it will be the hardest thing they will ever do. I am amazed at the women in the world, and in the church who open their homes with so much love. Truly there is no greater sacrifice that we can give, nor any greater way for Heavenly Father to teach us the lessons of life and godly virtues. It is a sanctification process and because of that it is the hardest, but most rewarding thing you will ever do. Invest yourself fully, and you will come out a changed person. Those who have undertaken the righteous calling of motherhood are certainly deserving of praise! Satan knows how critical this calling is to the work of the Lord and will give every woman a good excuse to put future children on hold, or push your children you have now aside. His messages and temptations are certainly working as we see more and more people decide to "have a dog instead of a child, because it's easier" or to put children on hold "just until I'm established in my career" or even "until I can pay for a large home". While we want our children to have the best, the best thing for them is really to have a father and mother committed to the Lord and to each other, and for that mother to be there "at the crossroads". We have already covenanted to give all that we have (time, talents, etc) to the building up of the kingdom of God. Can you think of a more perfect way to fulfill this covenant than to raise children unto the Lord? In this role, mothers are directly participating in the work and the Glory of God.
Importance:
I have already mentioned how important it is, but wanted to address it further. Sometimes the importance of motherhood gets lost between making beds, doing dishes, laundry, and preparing meals. It is easy to get so busy with temporal goals that we miss the eternal goals (or maybe better said, we miss the eternal aspects of the temporal goals). We know that to God, all things are spiritual; even doing the dishes and laundry. During those moments we are learning and molding ourselves into eternal material and we are teaching our children the attributes of Christ such as sacrifice, love, and hard work.
I do not believe that there is a single more important job than motherhood. NO job is so universal nor eternal in its consequences. Within the home is the power to ultimately change the world and eternity.
I remember as a student at BYU, it use to really hurt me when I would ask a fellow classmate what they were studying and what they wanted to be and they would reply "oh, just a mom". Just a mom?! Then I would ask another student and they would say with pride "Oh, I'm going to be a physicist!" What is it in our minds that make us think that physics are more important or impressive than children? I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with studying physics, or that knowledge isn't valuable and eternal. However, I do believe the role of a mother is more important and eternal.
Encouragement:
Because there is nothing more important that a woman can do, I KNOW Heavenly Father will not leave us to do this alone. He understands what our day entails, how we are feeling, the trials we are going through, and how our children are doing. He has given us tools: the Holy Ghost, the best parenting manual out there (the Book of Mormon), the proclamation that outlines eternal principles, a church organization that was meant to help, support, and supplement what we do in the home, and also a living prophet that gives us council.
I have not had to deal with the heartbreak of loosing a child to death or spiritual death and I cannot even imagine what it might be like. But I know that as Christ suffered in Gethsemane, he felt our pains and our sorrows. Heavenly Father's presence actually withdrew and Christ was left alone to bare these. We will never have to face that challenge! No matter what, we have a loving Father in Heaven that understands loss and is ready to comfort us with his spirit, and we have Christ who understands perfectly how we feel. Be comforted and know when your dealing with a difficult time in your parenting life that Heavenly Father knew who he was giving his child to, and if we follow his commandments we have the ability to overcome any trial that comes our way.
My heart especially goes out at this time, and I wish to give encouragement to those who have given a child up for adoption (Jen), for those who desire to have children, but haven't been able to (Cristina) and to those who have lost a child (Lindi). I love you guys and hope you can find much joy on Mother's Day despite your difficult situations. I was reminded in sacrament meeting today that "while to some, motherhood is delayed, it will never be denied" if we live worthily!
Lastly, I want to say thank you to my mom, she is amazing and I really look up to her and appreciate all the time she spent loving and teaching me. I hope to someday be half the mother she is! I want all the moms out there to know that the ultimate goal is NOT to be a perfect parent, but a perfectly committed parent. Someone who is willing to learn, and give give give, and love love love, no matter what.
I know that getting those scars of motherhood are not pleasant, sometimes they are quite painful, but they won't last forever and even those fade away. Mothers are in an eternal partnership with Heavenly Father in the task of nurturing children and he won't let you bare it alone. In fact, it is not even a possible task without his help! I love this quote from Elder Holland: "If you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do."
I echo his words, and say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Well, because we are in a spot where we can financially- and because of a great $8,000 government incentive, Billy and I have decided to look for a home. We've only just begun and its already a tedious process and I'm not incredibly motivated because we love where we are; our apartment, neighbors, ward, everything! But we cant live in this basement forever ...although I think we could live here comfortably with 4 kids; but I wouldn't wish that on Marilyn and Bill! So, we are on the lookout. We really want to close by December, but other than that there is no real rush. We are already working with someone but if you know of someone selling there home, let us know!
This is what we really want:
AC- This is a requirement, I refuse to live without air conditioning, especially because well be there for a while and I'm going to have many more pregnant months with future kids.
5 bed/3 bath- This is a little more flexible. We put an offer on a home with only two baths, and we are planning on putting an offer on another home that has only 3 beds, but an unfinished basement with the possibilities of another 3. Neither home has great chances of really happening.
American Fork area- We really really want to be close to Billy's work which means living in American Fork/Lehi. We are okay with looking in pleasant grove, Orem, Lindon, even Saratoga springs or Provo, but the further away it is, the better the house has got to be for us to be motivated to move that far! There are some nice homes in Orem we have looked at, but have ruled the out because they are in Geneva, Sharon, and Suncrest elementary schools. Schools are important!
Minimum 2,000 sq. ft.- There is no way to get around this. Every home that we've walked through with less than that has seemed much too small to grow into. However, it doesn't all have to be finished. The home that we are planning on putting an offer in has more than 1,500 of finished space, and a little more of unfinished basement space (so when its finished in 5 years it Will be 3,000 sq. ft)!
Decent sized lot- Preferably this would be fenced too. We looked at a home that is pretty close to us in apple grove, but the lot size is .05 of an acre! The minimum that we could seriously consider would be .15 but most of the homes we've seriously considered thus far were about .25
Good condition- I'm not saying it has to be move-in ready, but after house payments we wont have any money for a year to do hardly anything but paint- so it has to be in good condition, or priced accordingly.
I cant think of any other real big requirements (oh yeah, we are only comfortable with $180,000 which is making the process a little difficult) and there are other preferences like having a garage and a minimum of three bedrooms together on the same floor that have put a kink in the works.
However, I feel comfortable that we will be able to find something in the nest year that will meet our needs. If not- off to Texas we will go next summer! I know the Lord will guide us through this process and as long as we get an "OK" from Him, I'm comfortable with whatever happens!
