Smith : First Home

There were times when I thought this day would never come but it finally did. I really feel like we are adults now that we have purchased our own home. The process was an emotional roller coaster. The market in Dallas has completely turned upside down and many of our friends were putting in 5+ offers before getting accepted...each one 5-10k over asking price. I had to get online every day and if I saw a house we were remotely interested in then we had to go see it within the next day or 2. Any decent houses in Allen were sold before they even hit the market. I literally drove around looking for "coming soon" signs. We quickly realized that getting more bang for our buck was more important to us and that we'd most likely have to leave Allen. Looking at houses was so fun but it was also so hard for me. Any house that we liked I pictured our family in and got emotionally attached. It took us a while to find one we both liked, which was fine because I don't think either of us would've been ready to put in the offer after having seen the house once without feeling like we had looked around a bit. Our house (which we call the Shelby house) caught Kevin's eye but went off the market before we could see it. We were surprised when it came back on and hurried over to see it. We found out that they had 2 offers that fell through and each were $10,000 over asking price. Our realtor told us that if we were serious that we should at LEAST offer 5K over asking. It was our first offer so we decided to offer the asking price and see if they came back with a counter offer and crossed our fingers that we wouldn't loose it to another offer. We got lucky and landed our first house on a cul-de-sac in a quiet neighborhood. After we signed all the papers Kevin put "Closing Time" by Semisonic on the iPod.

I never would have guessed we would've ended up in Wylie, but we are adjusting really well. It took a while but we are finally starting to warm up to the new ward. We both landed new callings recently. Kevin is teaching CTR 5 and I am helping coordinate the RS activities. Here are the girls on our first Sunday at the new ward.

I have been putting this post off for so long because it seems like the projects are never ending. I keep waiting to post pictures until I finish the next "thing"but I have waited long enough so check out my work in progress. Oh and let me just add that the entire house (and CEILINGS) were all the same beige/yellow color. It took a while to get settled in but it really feels like home now. I am so excited for all the memories we are going to create here.

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen NOW:

Living Room and Downstairs Bath:

Laundry Room/Pantry:

Upstairs Loft:

Girls hall/bathroom before:

After:

Girls Bedrooms:

Our Room/Bathroom/Closet:

The yard still has so much work that needs to be done but we have already accomplished a lot. The whole outside was completely trashed and over grown when we moved in:

The giant bush that over took the trampoline actually had roots grown into it and there was a part of the metal frame we couldn't remove and just had to bury.

There was already a garden in the backyard which was awesome, except it had turned into a wilderness. Oh yeah, and I have never gardened before so I kind of got thrown into it quickly. The best thing is that there are already grapes growing that Weslie loves to go and pick and munch on. There is also a birds nest right at the gate of the garden where a bird laid her eggs.