Holiday Surprise

We had two family events planned long ago that we knew would have us traveling to New Jersey two weeks apart...Uncle Joe and J.R.'s commitment celebration and Danielle's Sweet 16.  Thanksgiving weekend was sandwiched between those two events, and for a long time I insisted we wouldn't be traveling.  But something pulled at me, and it was hard to turn down a quieter, intimate family get-together just to stay home for the holiday.  Decisions, decisions...even a few days before, we were not sure what to do. I've said lately that being close is a simultaneous blessing and curse because now we can procrastinate the decision until the very last minute if we want.  Being close also has its advantages though, and we can have the best of both worlds...a Thanksgiving with family, and a normal weekend at home.  So that's what we did, but not without some fun surprises!

I set the stage by telling only Aunt Gail we were coming to their house for the day, and we didn't tell Nana, Papa or Annie.  I'm not usually a good liar, but it was actually pretty easy.  Being in New Jersey the weekend before and after was reason enough for us to want to stay home, and that's the story I used.  We arrived at Aunt Gail's before my parents and Annie, and parked the car down the street a few houses to keep the ruse up until they walked in the house.  Annie arrived first, and Keely ran up to her.  Boy, was she shocked to see the kids and then James and I.  We even got a few happy tears :)  Nana and Papa were last to arrive, and when they got there we were out back talking and enjoying the lovely sunshine.  Quinn got so flustered and started running the opposite way, so I turned him around and told him to run towards them.  They were shocked to see the kids, and then us...just like Annie.  It was great, so much fun and then we were all together to celebrate the holiday.  Amazing food, lots of laughter, fun games, singing and dancing, and so much more. 

So many holidays we weren't there.  So many times I've seen pictures after the fact.  Always wishing I could have been there to experience it firsthand.  Wishing we were close enough to be part of the fun times.  Wishing no more, we are now close enough to be there for most holidays and celebrations.  We're there three weekends in a row, and if we were living across the country we would have had to make a choice.  How hard, knowing we would miss one or more of the family gatherings.  But it was not like that, because we're here and we're there for each and every event.  It may be a bit tiring, as we build up miles on I-95 but I honestly wouldn't trade it for anything.  We're young, and we're blessed to have the ability to do it...and for that, I am thankful.  I am thankful for my family, for my kids to have fun with their cousins, aunts, uncles...for them to know the big family that I know I couldn't live without...to spend time with not only one set, but both sets of grandparents.  It's precious time, and worth every minute.

Thankful

I wanted to write a quick note about our Thanksgiving.  It was monumental in a way, definitely different than most of the past eight years that we've lived out West.  With the exception of last year when Lois, Ryan and Adelia visited, we have spent the holiday either as just our family of four, or with friends and neighbors.  I didn't mind it, but I knew with the move back to the East Coast that would be changing.  So for the first time since 2002, we celebrated the holiday with both sets of parents, along with Annie and Joe.  The day was simple, the food delicious, the company delightful and we are very thankful for the opportunity to get back to these types of celebrations.  We continued the festivities on Friday, Italian style with Uncle Joe and J.R.  Again, a delightful evening with family.

The holidays may be a little more hectic, but days and years pass too quickly, and in the blink of an eye life can take unexpected turns - I never thought we'd move out West, and then I really didn't think we'd be back East, but here we are and we are taking advantage of all the perks that come with it - as evidenced by the first big holiday spent with those we love.

Three Months

It occurred to me last night that we have been living in Virginia now for over 3 months, and that led me to some thinking about how things are going.  With all change comes mixed feelings and emotions.  My emotions about the move are still up and down, ranging from happy to sad sometimes all in one moment.

I miss our house in Utah.  I miss the community that we had around us.  I miss the comforts of a place I had lived for 6 years. I knew it would be hard to start over, and that's been true.  For the first year or so that we lived in Utah, I struggled to get settled and found it hard to integrate in the new area...but that was exacerbated by my working from home, which is not the case this time around.

After three months, we are settled in our house.  By settled, I mean the boxes are all unpacked and most of the pictures are hung on the walls.  But now the list of things that I want to do to the house and yard are growing.  These things all cost money, and with only one salary we have to be cautious of spending money.  Patience is a virtue here, but I always struggle with that.

In contrast to the small town feel of Utah, I feel much like a small fish in a big pond here.  I wonder if it will always feel like that.  I'm sure it won't as we integrate in with the kids' school and activities, and eventually I will get more involved again (i.e. PTA) but for now, I am taking a much needed break. 

The kids seem to be doing fine.  Gone are the days of complaining about leaving Utah as they become immersed in school and new friends, new sports teams and new adventures.  I know that time will help a ton for me with getting to know their friend's parents.  Like it or not, that's how friends in adult life come to fruition. In Utah, it took us a good 4 years or so before we had a nice group of friends to call for help, hang out with and have some fun adult time.  So again, patience is a virtue.

As with any change, there are ups and downs.  I am sure had I been capturing my thoughts after living in Utah for 3 months, it would have definitely been a mixed bag.  I feel all over the place in writing this post, it's really hard to compose my thoughts into a cohesive format. I will revisit the topic in a few months and see how things feel with a little more time.

Weather Woes

I don't normally write about weather, but the past week has been pretty eventful in that respect.

A week ago today, I was sitting in my cubicle in the project office on the 3rd floor when I started to hear a low rumbling that sounded like a cart was being pushed downed the corridor. It kept getting louder, and the furniture shook. I stood up, thinking it was an earthquake but didn't know what to do. By the time I could think of where to go or what to do, it stopped. We were told to get out of the building and most of the people huddled outside by the trees waiting for instructions. Most people were trying to make calls on their cell phones. Only a few were able to get calls through and those that did spread the information around to others. What we learned in the next few minutes was that a 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered about 80 miles outside of Washington (near Mineral, Va) had shook the earth from Georgia all the way up to Toronto and as far west as Chicago. This was the first earthquake of this magnitude on the East Coast since 1897. So in a word, historic. Another word was scary. Not the actual earthquake but the moments after. The cell service quickly became overloaded and not many people were able to get through to their loved ones. That was most definitely the scariest part. For 45 minutes, I was not able to get through to James to find out that he and the kids were okay. Now damage was minimal so I suspected they were fine, but to not know was frustrating and difficult. I finally was able to get a text back from him but calls were impossible for at least an hour. They were in the house, the kids doing their school preparation workbooks - Quinn in the dining room and Keely in her room. James got them and the dog outside in the front and waited it out. We had no damage to our house, just some items fallen off shelves and pictures crooked from the shaking. Unfortunately some other buildings in the area had structural damage including the Washington Monument and National Cathedral - both are closed for repairs indefinitely and that is upsetting. I can't imagine the damage from anything over a 6.0. The effects would be huge and far reaching. Hopefully though we won't see one like this for another 100 years!

After that excitement, the media was immediately focused on Hurricane Irene. Actually, it had been the focus for a few days but the earthquake sidetracked the news for a day or so. Hurricanes are much different than earthquakes, and the predictions were for Irene to have a major impact on the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine. What actually happened was a powerful storm that did have impacts although they seem to have been greater for those up North in NJ and Vermont. As predicted the storm hit us on Saturday all day and on into Sunday morning. Keely was so funny when she got up on Saturday - she went to the window, saying 'Irene is coming today!' as if we were expecting a house guest :)

On the home front, we had a lot of rain and wind but were lucky not to lose our power (except for a few minutes on Saturday night) and only had a few downed branches and leaf debris throughout our yard. Others weren't so lucky, from our neighborhood to other areas in Virginia and Maryland. Since we had power and an inland location, we became a bit of a refuge. I joke that Hotel Donovan was at capacity :) Grandma and Grandpa arrived back in town on Friday afternoon ahead of Irene. They left North Carolina that morning to miss the brunt of the storm in a coastal location. Good thing they were there to help Judith prepare the house though! They intended to leave Saturday but decided instead to ride out the storm with us. They ended up with basement flooding, power outages, and downed trees at home in New Jersey so I guess it was a good decision. We also got another house guest on Sunday...Kyle's friend Marisa who was without power at the University of Maryland. She spent Sunday night with us and headed back to campus Monday when power was restored. It was fun to have her, the kids love her and Keely had fun playing with her 'big sister'.

So now Hotel Donovan is cleared out and we are back to normal. When we lived in Utah, we never had a major earthquake despite living on a major fault. Living out west we heard about hurricanes but they were so far away that we didn't pay much attention. So these are some of the weather related things we've been dealing with in the last week...and I really hope we are quiet on that front for a while now. Enough natural disasters!

A Little R&R

On Saturday, we took a little break from what has been the constant cleaning, organizing and unpacking that our lives have become since we moved into the house. The kids were going a little stir crazy from all the time in the house and all the trips to Home Depot :) So we decided not to do that for a bit, at least for some of the day on Saturday. (You couldn't expect us to take a whole weekend day off, of course!)

We debated a few ideas...there is so much to see and do in such a short distance. And we have plenty of time and opportunity to do it now!We decided to head downtown to see the Jefferson Memorial. That one is the hardest to get to from Metro, but we did initially intend to take the Metro. However, after trying to park and locate the Pentagon Metro stop unsuccessfully, we ended up just driving downtown. We got a nice parking spot in the small lot right on the Tidal Basin and walked the short distance around to see Thomas.

Oh, first though I should mention a quick unintended side trip we took on our way downtown. I took a wrong turn (that's how we learn the roads...seriously!) and we ended up driving right past the parking lot for Roosevelt Island. I've never been before, but our neighbor told us about it and we decided to stop since we were driving right by. There's a footbridge from the parking area to take you across the Potomac onto the island which sits right in the middle between Virginia and the District (oh, I should mention that we decided to start calling DC 'The District' since we are now locals as it seems the thing to do). Anyways, on the island are a few trails and quick hikes but also a monument to Teddy Roosevelt. It's pretty impressive, although certainly off the beaten path. The monument area is under renovation but it's a nice quick walk up there to explore. I'm sure we will be back to try the other trails :)Anyways, back to Jefferson. After visiting the memorial, we walked back around the Tidal Basin and rented a paddle boat for 4. We spent time boating around and enjoyed nice views of Jefferson and Washington monuments. The kids loved it, and Quinn even tried his hand...err, feet at paddle boating. It was tiring but fun!We then headed home, and got there in about 25 minutes. I'm still in awe that we can be to such incredible (mostly) free amenities and be home that quickly! In fact, I should mention that I'm still in awe that we live in Virginia. There's just something about this area that I love, and that feeling has only been renewed in our first 2 weeks here. Yes, there's traffic and yes, houses cost more - but it's all worth it to me and I don't feel like our quality of life has suffered. I'm hoping my answer is still the same in the days and months to come, but for now I am very happy we moved back to the East Coast!

School Visit

On Tuesday afternoon, we had a tour of the kids' new school. It is a public K-5 elementary school that is about 2 miles from our house. The kids can walk or bike to the school in about 10 minutes, or a drive is 10-15 minutes (because of the roundabout way you have to drive there).

We met with the principal and she gave us the tour and answered all of our questions. The school is undergoing a pretty major renovation that began in April 2010 and will mostly be complete when school opens back up in September. Evey room is being redone in some way, and we got to see the brand new (and huge) library, new classrooms & new blacktop and playground area. The school has two levels and made Blessed Sacrament seem tiny.

When we got to the school, all of the kids were in the gym watching a performance by the 5th graders who studied World Civilizations this year. They were all dressed up and singing cultural songs...it was quite a production! I was amazed by the diversity of the kids sitting in the audience...looking out over the sea of students there were so many different faces. The signs for the bathroom were in English, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese. That's a sign of the diversity for sure!

In terms of size, it's a big school...there are 4 classes each for grades K-3 and 3 classes for grades 4 and 5. Each class has only 18-22 students! Compared to BS, Quinn had 32 kids in his class and Keely 25 so that will be a much nicer ratio. They also have advanced programs available to all children, both in class and in an advanced learning center. I was really impressed with the facilities and opportunities for advancement!

The school day runs from 9:15 AM to 3:55 PM, and they do have child care before and after if needed. They also have a morning program run by teachers at the school with various activities (i.e. gym games, drama, music, art, math, science) - you can drop the kids off at 8 AM and they can pick a different activity each day. This is free and occupies the kids from 8 until school starts - a great option to extend the school day for working parents. Obviously we don't need any of these extended options initially but it's great to know they are there!

While we were there, I got all of the registration paperwork and I've started filling it out and getting all of the supporting documents. I think we were all excited by the school visit and the kids are looking forward to starting in September!

As a side note, the cleaning continues at the house. The house has had only 2 owners, D (since their last name started with a D) and S (similarly because of their last name). D lived in the house from 1953 until 2000. S for the last 11 or so years. Apparently, S had a theory when they moved out - leave anything that was D. Their other theory was not to clean out anything, just pile their stuff in with D and then take it back out (or so it seems). Hence the goodies from before 2000 and sometimes as early as the 50s that we are finding throughout the house. So anyways, we have two sheds in the backyard...both good size and in good shape on nice concrete slabs. The bigger one is going to be a true shed and James told Keely that she could have the smaller one for a playhouse. In cleaning out the smaller one yesterday, they found an old copy of the Washington Post from April 3, 1994! It was fun to browse through it last night...relive some of the stories that were prominent in that year and see some of the grocery ads and how cheap things were 18 years ago. Too bad the paper wasn't older, it may have been worth something! Ah, the joys of buying a 1950s house continue :)

Home Again

We are slowly settling into the 'new to us' house. Moving day was very eventful, and not surprisingly long and tiring. The challenges of moving into a house built in the 1950s became evident pretty early in the morning. Some of our furniture would not fit down into the basement because of the smaller doors. We were donating a refrigerator, washer and dryer to Habitat for Humanity ReStore and just getting the fridge out of the basement was a huge challenge. The doors had to be removed before it could be fit out. We also had to coordinate the large amount of trash that the sellers had left on the curb when they cleaned out the attic. I use the term cleaned out loosely, because we found all kinds of goodies up there when we explored it and tried to put our own stuff up there. By goodies I mean mostly empty boxes and not the $50k in cash I was hoping to find :) So back to the furniture not fitting...our leather sectional was in no way going to fit downstairs, even though it would make a better fit for the recreation room turned family room with the 52" TV. So we compromised and put it in the living room upstairs. No big deal. But that meant the living room furniture had to go in the basement, and that took 3 tries and removing several pieces of the couch before it finally fit through the door. I was seriously crossing fingers and not watching as the movers tried time after time to maneuver it through. In any event, it fit and everything else followed suit pretty nicely. By about 4 PM, we were all 'in' the house - albeit with things in the wrong places and boxes seemingly everywhere.

The first few days were busy with unpacking boxes, moving furniture, cleaning and organizing. Who am I kidding?!?! It's all still going on, of course! But we have the kitchen and dining room done, and only a few boxes remain in the living room. The kids room are still a work in progress, mostly because they lost a lot of storage space from the built in shelving units in their closets. Keely's room is in better shape than Quinn's. The basement is coming together too, but there are still lots of boxes down there (mostly books). I've got the easy job, going to work during the day while James is here organizing and working on the house. We've made several trips to Home Depot, a trip to IKEA and lots of trips to the grocery stores to restock the pantry. I definitely forgot how much money goes out the door when you buy a house. It seems like a never-ending credit card swipe :(

In other news, today we will be visiting and touring the kids' new school. The neighborhood is very quiet and we haven't met many people yet. Patience is a virtue here, and the schools are not even out for summer yet. We did meet our next door neighbors, and they had us over for dinner on Saturday night. It was great, they are very nice and we got along well. They have one daughter, she is 10 and has autism. It is not a great match for a friend, but the kids did enjoy playing with her on Saturday night. We know there are other kids around because we see them at the bus stop so time will help meet them I am sure. It took 5 years before the kids had friends in our neighborhood in Utah, so we know it takes time. I guess I was just hoping for a busy kid-friendly neighborhood, but kids just don't play outside like they used to and friends seem to come from school and activities (sports, etc.). Because the houses in our area are older, there is quite a mix of ages in the area - from elderly original owners to newer young families to mixed families with interesting combinations of aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

We are getting settled and I am happy with the house. It's beginning to feel more and more like home, and it's definitely good to have a home again. My goal is to get settled before we leave for Ireland in two weeks. I think it's do-able!

Another Closing Story...

When we arrived in Virginia, we headed over to our new house for a walk through. It went well, and was mostly purposeful in informing me of things that are present in the house that I couldn't remember or hadn't looked at during our short visit in April. I am slightly embarrassed to say we only spent about 20 minutes, or maybe half hour in the house and I didn't even venture into the backyard or the garage. Crazy, I know. In any event, I was pleasantly surprised with a lot of the features I saw at the walk through (i.e. ceiling lights, closet space - a coat closet and a linen closet!). My realtor was laughing as I walked through exclaiming over the littlest of things...but I honestly didn't know what was there in some cases.

After the walk through was the closing. For the second time in less than a week, we walked into a title company - this time as buyers. This was a face to face closing, meaning the sellers sat across from us and we all signed documents at the same time. It's the first state where we have ever done that. It was interesting, and I liked it because we got a chance to ask the sellers some questions and receive immediate answers. We also got a feel for their moving out of the house as we were worried about the amount of 'stuff' in the house and how they were planning to get it all out in time. I left feeling more confident that they would actually be cleaning the house in addition to moving out their stuff. However, we still don't know but we'll find out for sure tonight...

The sellers have been renting the house from us the last week. We agreed to this to appease them because they wanted to be in the house until June 24th, but we compromised on June 7th. So we've been living in hotels since May 26th. We stayed in an extended stay here in Virginia for 3 nights when we arrived, then checked out on Friday and back in on Sunday for another 2 nights. That's 10 nights of hotels in total, in case you lost count. The reason for the check out was to head to New Jersey for the weekend - with two bonuses, two nights out of hotels and to see family.

The trip was fun, albeit exhausting. We saw lots of family, and it confirmed the true reason for moving back here. To be a 4 hour drive (yes, even in traffic) away is really amazing, and to watch the kids play with their cousins & to be spoiled by their grandparents truly makes the stress and struggle worth it.

Now we are focused on one thing, our move into the house. We will spend the night there tonight on sleeping bags, and the movers will be there at 7 AM tomorrow. We are so excited to get settled and I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again!

Stop #5 and Arrival in Virginia!

Well, I've gotten way busy and sidetracked so I didn't get to write about the remainder of our journey so here goes...

We awoke on Monday morning in Chicago and had another 8 hours of driving ahead of us. The good news was that it was our last long day of driving. We had purposely planned the last stop to be Pittsburgh leaving only about 5 hours remaining to Virginia. The drive from Chicago to Pittsburgh can be described with one word: tolls. We drove through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania and paid to be on every road that day. Despite the stops at toll plazas, we made good time and it was nice to have the drive broken up into so many states (instead of 10 hours in just one state). We stayed at a hotel just outside Pittsburgh, primarily because it took pets and was inexpensive with the bonus of an outdoor pool. For the first time the whole trip, we got to swim on Monday night. We also had ice cream for dinner...because sometimes it's okay to do that! We did that one night on our trip from Virginia to Tucson too, and it always sticks in my memory. Anyways, the only regret I have about our hotel location was the traffic we encountered upon leaving on Tuesday morning. Honestly it was less than a half hour delay, but we were getting an early start to make sure we got to Virginia in time for our walk-through at 1 PM. Even with the delay though we arrived at about noon, in time to stop at a bank to get the cashier's check we needed for our closing.

Two points of note about this journey...we crossed into Eastern Time Zone on the drive from Chicago, and we passed over the 2,500 mile mark of driving!

When we crossed into Virginia, Quinn exclaimed "I'm home!". Meaning he was born in Virginia...not the same part of Virginia, but the same state nonetheless. And Keely did a 180 on the 5 day journey...she went from bawling in her bedroom in Utah and not wanting to leave, to saying she doesn't care what time it is in Utah because there's no one there she cares about :) Ah, the drama and mood changes of a 7 year old. In all seriousness though, I think the journey itself was therapeutic and allowed us to have a smoother transition to our new state. We had plenty of time to reflect and adjust, and now we are all excited to be here starting a new adventure!

Stops #3 & #4: Minneapolis and Chicago

We have come a long way in these last two days of driving. We are more than halfway through our drive across the country, actually we were over halfway when we reached Minneapolis yesterday. The drive from Custer to Minneapolis was long...very long. South Dakota was a very boring drive. It got more interesting in Minnesota, because we could keep an eye out for the many lakes.
We spent last night in The Grand Hotel in Minneapolis. We didn't arrive until about 8 PM after a very long day of driving. We headed out to dinner and found a nice restaurant called The Local Irish Pub. No one tried their Irish cuisine, but it was really good food. The hotel was fancy (Keely concurred). I am not sure if I was just tired or what but the beds were so comfortable and for the first time in a while I did not wake up with any aches or pains in my neck or back. I just have to put a plug in for the Kimpton Hotels. We are staying in another one tonight, the Hotel Allegra in Chicago. If you are ever traveling with pets through a city, these hotels are wonderful. They offer pet supplies (beds and bowls) and have great rates, plus they have a program called Kimpton Kids where they give the kids bags with goodies. It's been a wonderful way to experience the city we are staying in...first Minneapolis, now Chicago.
We made the drive from Minneapolis to Chicago today. After yesterday's drive, it was a piece of cake. We also went through Wisconsin, and I was super excited to add another state to my list :) We got here about 5 PM, and were able to walk around Chicago and explore a bit. We went to Millennium Park and then to a pizza restaurant that I ate at during my 2007 visit to Chicago. Unfortunately, it was not as good this time around and now we have to have real pizza when we get to Virginia!
We've crossed through 6 states. We have crossed the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. We've crossed into the Central Time Zone. Tomorrow, we will cross into Eastern Time Zone and travel to Pittsburgh. I can't believe this cross country journey is nearing its completion, but we are eager to start this next journey of our life in Virginia!

Stop #2: Custer, SD

Today we drove about 400 miles, mostly in Wyoming until we reached the Black Hills in South Dakota. The drive itself was pretty uneventful. The kids had their good moments, and not so good moments. James took these pictures in one of the quieter moments...The animals were well behaved. They pretty much slept the whole trip. Rudy in the front passenger seat on either James or my lap, and Callie in the back on her dog bed. The first night in a hotel was good too, except when Callie started hearing voices in the hallways early in the morning and began growling and getting up to check out the source of the noise. She was coaxed back to sleep, but she made for an early wake up call so we ended up getting on the road by 8 AM, not a bad thing at all. We made it to Custer by 3:30 PM and our only stops were for a potty break and then lunch. All in all, not too bad!

When we arrived, we headed out to see Crazy Horse Memorial. James has already been on a work trip and we've known a bit about it but I really enjoyed visiting and learning more about the progress and history. I learned that it is much more than a sculpture in a mountain, but a tribute to Native American Indians and its ultimate build out includes a university and medical center. I hope that I can be around to see this memorial come to completion, but it seems like such an impossible task.
Next we headed to Mount Rushmore. To be honest, it almost pales in comparison to Crazy Horse (Mount Rushmore could fit in just the head of Crazy Horse!). I wonder how many people who visit Mount Rushmore actually venture the 20 minutes over to Crazy Horse. In any event, there's not much to see at Mount Rushmore besides the actual monument. It's pretty cool to see because you get close to it, but we were only there for about 30 minutes. I'm glad to say we've been there, since it's highly unlikely we will get to this part of the country again anytime soon. The Black Hills are really pretty too, lots of pine trees and it sort of reminds me of Oregon. We ate dinner at the German restaurant at our hotel, and it was very tasty. Now we are all pooped after a long day, and we're going to try and get a good night's rest to prepare for our longest day of driving tomorrow.

Stop #1: Rock Springs, WY

We've made it to our first destination, although it's merely a stopping point until we reach our true first destination of the Black Hills in South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. The movers finished up at the house by 4 PM and we headed out shortly after. We were all sad to leave our house, especially Keely. She was crying for some time, and struggled to compose herself. Truth be told, she was being a little dramatic...but really it's been the only home she remembers and it is tough to leave it. I was on the verge of tears most of the day whenever I walked through and saw the empty rooms. About mid afternoon, I found out we weren't the owners of the house anymore :( The deal was finalized, funded and recorded and our proceeds are now being wired over to our Virginia title company for our closing on Tuesday. Our neighbor snapped this picture of us right before we left...So for the next 5 days, we are nomads. We have no home and all of our belongings are on a truck or in our car. It's a strange feeling, and a bit unsettling. We will be like this for almost 2 weeks so I guess we had better get used to it.

The trip to Rock Springs was only 3 hours and really went well, considering it was the longest Callie has ever been in a car and the first car trip for Rudy in over 6 years. The only snag was Rudy vomiting when we made our first pit stop. Thank goodness for napkins and paper towels...and we were all cleaned up in minutes. We'll head out pretty early since we have 7 hours to drive and we want some time in the afternoon to see the sights.

Next stop, Custer SD!

Houston, We Have a Closing!

The saga of the house sale in Utah seems to be on its last legs, thank goodness for all involved parties. We thought the closing was going to be today, but were pleasantly surprised with a noon call yesterday saying the documents were ready and that we could close at 3 PM! What a relief. It was almost dream like walking into the title company with our realtor. The deal's not entirely in the books yet, but it should fund and record today or tomorrow so then we will have our money to close on the house in Virginia on Tuesday. Just in the nick of time!

So one chapter is ending, a new beginning. The house is almost all packed up and we are to head out later this afternoon. I'm not sure I ever detailed our stops along the way to Virginia but quickly, we will be in Rock Springs, WY tonight...then traveling to Custer (SD), Minneapolis, Chicago and Pittsburgh before arriving in Virginia on Tuesday.

I intend to blog along the way, in hopes of reducing the effort at the end of the journey. We are so happy we have the house closing out of the way, so now we can focus on the trip. There is still much to be done, but we have crossed a major hurdle and it is truly a relief. I am a bundle of emotions today, and it's hard to see our house almost empty. This has been our home for 6 years and it's sad to leave it. Hopefully I can hold it together in front of the kids...Keely's at a last minute play date and Quinn is hanging out with our neighbor. We have been truly blessed with our surrogate 'family' out here in Utah. Okay, signing off now before I get emotional again.

Next stop, Rock Springs!

Still Not Closed...

The saga of selling this house continues, unfortunately. I thought we would be done by this point, but nothing seems to be able to go smoothly on this process.

We were told yesterday that during the conditions review, the lender identified a few more conditions that they need to submit prior to a final, final approval and closing document generation. It was nothing on our end, and it must have been pretty simple since they were able to turn the conditions back around to the lender in about a day. But the time frames with this lender have been so long, and now they are back in another 3 day review. Another holding pattern, another Tuesday expecting a response. And another delay that pushes us closer to our departure date. I've vented enough to James, and whoever else I come in contact with. I'm sick of venting about this, I am sick of dealing with it...I just want this house closed and our money in the bank. We are scheduled to leave Utah on Thursday. This latest delay has us closing on Wednesday, at best. Another delay (and honestly, nothing would surprise me at this point) would push the closing back another 3-4 days, and mean that we leave Utah without this deal inked. And then impact our closing in Virginia, still scheduled for May 31st. At this point, a Wednesday close means the money is in our bank account by Friday and that means we can still close on Tuesday.

So for now, that's our hope. I really don't want to leave Utah without this deal done. I just want to be able to enjoy some part of this journey stress-free. I still feel torn about planning for the future. Yes, I have done things to plan for living in the new house. But there are still things to be done, and I am putting them off a bit until we hear on a definite closing. That means the list keeps getting longer and the time to check things off the list gets shorter. It's so frustrating. I guess I wasn't done venting after all!

In the meantime, the house is getting pretty packed up and it looks and feels like we are on the verge of moving. We have all of our hotels booked for the trip out to Virginia, and the time there before we can move into our house. All we need now is to sign these darn closing documents before we head out on Thursday evening!

Good News

Continuing on with the saga of selling this house...

The decision on the buyer's loan was supposed to come out on Tuesday. Well, Tuesday turned into Wednesday. Then we were told we would hear on Thursday. But they were practicing a principle I love...under promise and over deliver. I got a call Wednesday afternoon with the good news. The buyers loan is approved! It just had a few conditions (very typical) one of which was the roof repairs from the appraisal. We already had a roofer on standby for Friday, but with a few phone calls it was set for Thursday. The work was done late yesterday afternoon. The appraiser came out first thing this morning, took some pictures and told me all was good from his perspective. Just what I wanted to hear. The lender should be submitting back to the underwriter today with all conditions met, then we have been told it will take 3 days to underwrite, then 2 days for closing documents. So that puts us at next Friday (or thereabouts). We've written an addendum asking the buyers not to pay rent back, and giving them possession on May 27th (a few days earlier than original date). I won't count my chickens before they hatch, especially with the ordeal we've already been through - but it looks like this deal will be polished off here in a week or so.

On the Virginia side, things are going swimmingly. All is in order and our loan on the new house is in underwriting. I have to finalize home insurance and get utilities lined up.

So things are looking up after a long period of uncertainty. It's good to finally be able to plan the trip back East, and our time there when we arrive. There's a long list of things to do, but it feels great to be able to check things off that list. Only 13 days until we leave Utah!

House Updates

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...updates on buying and selling houses :) I wasn't ready to write about this but I think now I can. Things seem to change moment to moment and it's been hard to pick a point to update. I literally had this post written 2 days ago, and then not less than one hour later, it was incorrect. So I might as well update now because next week things are going to change again.

On the selling of our house in Utah...the buyers asked for yet another extension to get their financing in order. With some initially bad news middle of last week, the lender fought back with a vengeance and was able to get them another shot. Seriously we are so grateful to this lender...she and her staff have gone so far above and beyond what everyone expected and we intend to thank them properly once this whole process is over. The good news finally came on Monday evening. We got word that the buyers had been approved for financing! We lived in that bliss for about 36 hours until the world came crashing down again. Because the terms of their loan had changed, they got sent back to the end of the line with the lender and it was going to take another 4 days before an underwriter would review their file. The appraisal had been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon...they were ready to cancel but kept it scheduled at our realtor's insistence. The appraisal results came in late yesterday. The first appraisal had come in right at selling price with no conditions. We couldn't expect to be so lucky this time - it came in $15k above asking price, but is contingent on some roof repairs due to some damaged shingles in the troughs above our front and back roof pitches. So now we are getting some roof estimates...while we await the decision of the lender. They expect that to come in on Tuesday. At this point, nothing would surprise me and it's getting harder to stay optimistic. The buyers submitted yet another addendum extending the contract dates...that's #10 for those who've lost track. The new financing and appraisal deadline is May 13th and the new closing deadline is May 20th. This scares me on so many levels. We are set to leave just 6 days later. All of our eggs are in this basket. So much hangs on the decision of this lender. I can't even fathom the possibilities of this deal falling through because it literally changes everything. So I try not to let my mind wander there...at least not too often. We cannot purchase a home in Virginia without closing on this house, but that's exactly what we are set to do...

On the buying of a house in Virginia...our trip was very eventful. We looked at 7 houses. We initially decided on one but were in a multiple offer situation and didn't want to go into a bidding war. So we decided on another house about a mile away. We were initially told that it was close to having a contract with another buyer, so we thought we were headed to option #3. But at the eleventh hour, the sellers canceled that contract and decided to work with us since we are such well qualified buyers. The only snag was timing. They wanted to stay in the house until June 24th but we pushed back to June 7th and they agreed. It leaves us with about a week of time between arriving in Virginia and being in the house. Not exactly convenient with 2 pets, but we're going to figure something out. The purchase of the house was also contingent on the sale of the house in Utah...putting everyone in a waiting game while we awaited the decision on our buyers' financing. It's all so intricately tied together and now I feel like we have started a cross country drama with a domino effect to who knows how many buyers and sellers. In any event, things are moving along with the purchase - we have already gone through the home inspection, appraisal and gotten all of the paperwork to our lender. The sellers actually want to close on May 31st and then rent back from us for 1 week, so that's the current plan.

So that's our update. This is definitely an emotional roller coaster and I am entirely sick of it all. I feel like it could fall apart at any time....crushing all of our plans. We haven't even started packing yet, or booked any hotels because of all of this uncertainty. It's definitely been a test of my patience, and now we must wait again until Tuesday for yet another decision that is out of our control.

Housing Updates

This update is on selling of our house in Utah...and starting the process to attempt to buy a house in Virginia. There's no point in separating these two topics, as they are becoming increasingly intertwined.

On the selling side...the saga continues with our buyers. They got their money back from the IRS but then ran into a credit score snag with their lender. So at the last minute, they had to find a new lender. They have now found one, but they asked for a 2 week extension to get their new financing in place. Now we are out to April 29th for financing & appraisal (they need a new appraisal with their new lender) and May 13th for closing. Our hope here is that everything is in place by April 29th and then we could try and close earlier than May 13th. I'm so anxious to get this deal done, and just be renting this home. It actually saves us money the less we rent, but I'd rather have the peace of mind.

In the meantime, we were very focused on renting in Virginia. However, when we figured out what mortgage we could afford for the rent we are paying...coupled with the fact that after a year of renting, the home prices will most likely be higher...we decided to try and purchase a home. It's sort of in the 11th hour because it will take 30-45 days to close on a home. And that's just what we have from now until we move to Virginia.

Of course, here is where the intertwining of the selling and buying come into play. We need our house to sell in order to buy. We need the money out of it to put as a down payment on a new house. So if this deal falls through and we go back on the market, we will have no choice but to rent. And be faced with paying a mortgage while paying rent in Virginia. That is a scary thought, and one we didn't think we would have to face. Nothing seems certain anymore in the real estate world.

So for now, we keep our fingers crossed that the buyers new lending situation works out. And in the meantime, we fly to Virginia on Friday to house hunt. We have some pretty good choices and I feel confident we can find one to put an offer in on. But the offer will have to be (somewhat) contingent upon this house selling.

I'm excited to go to Virginia to look at houses, plus get the kids excited about their new adventure. I think this trip is just what they need to make this move feel "real" and see some of the benefits of the place they will be living - with any free time, we will explore DC and its attractions (mostly free!). I'm glad that James and the kids will be with me this time, and we can all experience it together.

More to come after the house hunting trip...

House Hunting

I spent the better part of last week in Virginia for work, and while I was there did some house hunting. This is the first trip that I have rented a car and actually explored the areas we may want to live in when we move. The rental market is so fluid and it was hard to get appointments set up. I was able to see 7 houses total (and one by proxy - Annie). I saw 1 in downtown Vienna, 2 in Annandale, 1 in Reston, 1 in Falls Church, 1 in Alexandria and 1 in Oakton. Nothing was exactly what we wanted or if it did come close to working, it didn't fit our time frame. I did put in an application on a house in Annandale, but then the owners decided to sign a 2 year lease with another family. I think it was for the best though, because houses in that neighborhood are selling reasonably and we'd possibly be wasting rent when we could be home owners.

I still think renting is the best option for us at this point, but I want to find something that (a) is reasonably priced (b) close to work for me (c) accepts pet with a reasonable security deposit and (d) is close to a good school. Oh and a few other things that we would like, but those are the main things. It's a tall order in a very high cost of living, crowded area. After this trip and this house hunting, we have decided to enlist reinforcements in the form of a realtor. I thought we could do this on our own, but it's just too difficult from 2,000 miles away. I need boots on the ground, someone who can preview these homes and help us secure something if it suits our list of needs and time frame.

I'm sure everything will work out but this trip was a bit discouraging. I guess I hoped I could line something up while I was there but that didn't happen. There is plenty of time though and I really think we are going to see more rentals popping up for our late May/early June time frame. And at least now I know what would be good locations, having driven most of the routes myself. So now to find a realtor and get him/her working for us...more to come!

House Update

Well as I knew it would, the end of March came quickly. The buyers finally did their appraisal on March 23rd. We didn't hear a peep after that, until the deadline date for Appraisal and Financing. That date was last Thursday, March 31st. In the afternoon, I got a call from my realtor to let us know that the buyers needed a time extension. So now the Appraisal and Financing deadline is April 8th and closing has been pushed back to April 22nd. No one believes there is any cause for concern - the buyers just need their tax return in their bank account to add to their down payment. They filed back in February and were expecting their money last week, but it didn't arrive yet. They seem to believe it will be here this week, but I am not sure how they know that. In any event, we all await the IRS so that these people can get their money and we can move forward with the closing. Nothing came back from the appraisal so that was good news.

So that is the latest on the sale of our house. With any luck they will get their money this week and not have to ask for any more time extensions. I guess the good news is that the longer they wait to close, the less money we pay them in rent. I'd rather just be closed though and renting so I know nothing can fall through and we're free and clear. Fingers and toes crossed!

Well Traveled

This past weekend, my mom asked me how many states I have been in throughout my life. I used to keep track, but found that I did not know the current total. There are a number of free websites where you can check each state that you have visited and then it creates a colored map highlighting those you checked. I suspected my total was about 30, and sure enough I was close - 31!

This is what my map looks like at this point:


visited 31 states (62%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

I am only counting states that I have spent time in, not counting an airport (i.e. I have flown through Minneapolis, but that doesn't count as visiting Minnesota). We intended to visit Seattle, and looking at the map makes me want to go to there before we leave Utah so then I will have covered all of the West. But that doesn't look like it's in the cards, so I'll have to check that one later in life. My total is likely to increase by 3-4 states when we travel to Virginia in May. I would love to visit all 50 states in my lifetime, and it's good to know that I am well on my way :)

Even more impressive than my total of 31 states at the age of 34 is that the kids, primarily Quinn, have been in just as many states as me and James. They really are well traveled children and I'm happy for them to have those experiences.