The house I grew up in...

My mom is getting ready to move out of the house that I grew up in.  I am very happy for her but feeling a little sad about seeing it go.  This house has been such a part of my life for 30 years.  So many memories have been flooding my mind these last few days that it has made it a little difficult to say goodbye.  My mom, she is ready to go.  This was made very clear to me by a statement she made the other day.  I asked her if she was sad to go because of the memories. She said, "Jen, it is only a house... it is a thing.  My memories are with me and I can take them anywhere I go." What more can I say except she is right.  I will always have my memories, but this - this is just a house and it is time for someone else to make their memories there.  My mom met the cute family who will be moving into this house next week.  A young couple with a small girl - I am sure it reminded her of when my dad and she moved in - I was only four. They were so excited, just like this young couple to finally be in their own home.  After she met with them, she said that she was ready  - that she felt the house would be in good hands.  I am not good at saying goodbye, but it is time.  Goodbye to my little house and my old neighborhood.. to the cute park down the street and to the ward I grew up in. It is time for us to go.  We are moving on to experience something new and are so excited to see what life brings us.

Ok - two not so good pictues...

So, the pictures aren't great, but you can definitely see that there is progress - YAY!!  We had our framing walk through last Thursday and we were told we are basically 60 days out - bummer!!  My mom was a bit down when we heard that because we thought for sure it would be the first of November, but we are getting there.  The picture at the bottom the south side of the house and you are looking at our eating nook - love the windows!!  Anyway, the roof has been completed since these pictures as well as all the insulation has been installed...so we are moving along.

Times are a changin...

At first I will apologize for not having any pictures... frankly things have been so crazy this summer that we haven't had time for much of anything fun.  Poor kids, poor hubby!!  We have worked all summer at getting my mom's house ready to sell as well as Andrew's mom's house.  After my dad passed away, we were worried that we wouldn't have time to get everything done and the house sold before the new one was ready.  Boy were we wrong.  We listed my mom's house on a Monday and it was sold by Wednesday.  That offer fell through, so we listed it again on a Monday and had it sold by Tuesday and that one also fell through.  Finally we were able to list the house on a Saturday and it was sold by Monday - and it looks like this one will stick - aghhhh!!!!  Anyway, after hours and hours of time spent at my mom's house it looked beautiful and we had no problem getting it sold.  I think we ended up with a total of 20 offers all above asking price - unheard of in this market.  We were thrilled and our success motivated Andrew's mom to sell her home which she had been talking about for years.  So after her house was on the market, it sold in less than a week and she is set to close here in a few days.  So now we are dreading the big move.  Poor Andrew (I think I said that earlier) but he will have 3 households to move  - two in the next two weeks.  But, you know what??? It's OK!  WE are excited about this new adventure in our lives and we are ready for this!!  I think...  Anyway, we are going to the house for our 4-way walk through on Thursday of next week and than I hear after that it flies!!  I will post pictures from the walk through so you can all be amazed at the progress we are making like I am.