May 30, 2012

House Building Adventure: [To Build or Buy?]

Oh. Em. Gee. I wish I could just show you what our house looks like right now. It is so close to being move-in ready and it keeps getting harder and harder to stay patient! Good thing I've always believed patience is nonsense a virtue. I must keep the suspense up, though, and continue the house building story. So, we left off at the beginning, right after we were married. This time, it's all about finally deciding between building and buying.


We were all moved in to our temporary home which was also up for sale. It is a long story but to make it short, it was a fixer upper that I stupidly purchased with an ex-boyfriend. The only good thing about it was that we had a place to live for cheap and my husband is a master handy-man to do the stuff the lame-o never did. We just hoped it would sell so I could wipe my hands of it. Anyways, back to the fun stuff...

Very shortly after we were moved in and settled, we visited the model home of our dream house about a jillion times (in addition to the jillion times while we waited for the other house to sell). We wanted it so bad, but before we could totally jump in, we wanted to check out what was on the market. There were quite a few houses for sale in our price range and we knew we wanted something newer. Travis had his fair share of projects in fixer uppers and he was ready for something nice and new. So, we had our realtor take us around some homes. It basically assured us that we would be 100% happier if we built. We knew exactly what we wanted, and that didn't include being trapped in a flat subdivision surrounded by neighbors. Don't get me wrong, we love neighbors, just not smooshed up next to us. Travis grew up in a house that had 10 acres, so .00004 just wasn't going to cut it. There was also always something just, off, about the houses we looked at. We knew what we could get for the same price and nothing else came close. We were so glad we took the time to see what was out there, though, because we know we made the right decision.

Basically, our next step was to find out how much money we could get and start talking with the builder.If any readers live in Southeast Idaho and are looking for a good home builder, check these guys out. They are super easy to work with and do a beautiful job (more about this later). So, we found out how much we could spend and started making our offer! I hope you'll stick around with me and see what's next! I promise photos will come!

I just want to end this post with a few bits of randomness about me so you can learn a little more about me!

Watch out for this guy if you go to the Utah Zoo. He's feisty. Rawr.

* I am obsessed with this song. You can't tell me his voice isn't dreamy. Thank you Alt Nation (and husband for buying me Sirius).
* I can't say no to ice cream. Fro-yo, sherbet, sorbet, gelato...get.in.my.belly! Ben & Jerry = my heroes.
* I try to play the drums. I had a gig once at an open-mic night. There will be a band room in the new house so perhaps you'll hear about my drumming adventure. My husband happens to be an amazing musician and plays in a band with his brothers.

Okay, that's it for now! Thank you for commenting and following along! It makes me giddy. Serious.

May 25, 2012

My First Friday's Letters

One of my favorite blogs to read is written by the lovely Ashley over at Adventures of Newlyweds. She takes beautiful pictures and I love reading about all of her adventures with her little family. She hosts a fun link-up every Friday and I'm excited to start taking part in it! It will just add to the randomness of posts that will be around here when I finally have some time to start blogging more often!

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Dear Idaho weather, thank you for being so beautiful up until Memorial Day weekend. Come back, 80 degrees! Dear Riley, you are the best dog and I'm sorry you have to live in the barn for now. You will be back to being spoiled and leaving your hair everywhere soon! Dear Husband, you are the best for putting up with my shenanigans and I love you to pieces. Dear new house, only a few more weeks and you will be ours! Dear creativity, please come find me when we are in the new home so I can have awesomeness to share on this blog! Dear blog, I can't wait to be able to spend more time on you when life slows down a little! Dear Chia Seeds, I am so glad I finally tried you! I may start sprouting green hairs soon! Dear Softball Team Competition, I love when the boys scoot in when I'm up to bat. Makes me feel like Babe Ruth when I hit it over your head and run home. Don't underestimate women, misters! Dear Work, thank you thank you thank you for another three day weekend! Most importantly, thank you to those who have lost their lives fighting for our nation!

I hope everyone has a beautiful weekend full of adventure and memories! Summer is near!

xo, J

May 22, 2012

House Building Adventure: [The Beginning]

Right now, we are at the end of the long and super awesome but sometimes frustrating process of building a brand-new, super pretty home to call our own. I thought it would be fun to document the process for a few reasons. One, so that we can look back in 20 years and remember how lucky we were to be able to build our dream home, and two, to maybe help someone else that cannot decide between buying or building.

So, to start this blog with a hammer bang, this will be the first post in an ongoing series. I am planning on having a little thing I am calling the "House Building Adventure". I'll have a number of posts documenting the process. Since we are hoping to be moved in in just a few short weeks, it definitely will not be in real time, but that's okay with me. There will be other random posts as well, so you can see what we're up to, which will more than likely include making the new empty house a nice, cozy home! We are beyond excited and I cannot wait to share all of our decorating adventures!

Okay, let's get this series started!


How did we get to the point to think about building a house???

To make a long story a bit shorter, it all started back in 2010 when we found a house for sale that we loved. We weren't married OR engaged yet, but we were living together in Travis' fixer-upper house. The only reason he saw this dream home was because of a new subdivision going in within the view of our old house. He was intrigued since it was up on the hill and he went to check it out.

He was in love. The layout was perfect, the view was amazing, the upgrades were awesome, and the best part, it was affordable. He was not in the market to purchase a new home, but once he saw it, he knew it would be perfect for us. He took me up to show me, and of course, I was smitten as well. It is pretty hard not to like a brand new home, but this one was special.  Seriously.

Since the old house was as fixed up as Travis was going to make it, we put it on the market and put a contingency offer on the new home. That meant that we would buy the house if our old house sold. Well, 9 months passed before we sold the house and the new dream house had obviously received a cash offer in the meantime. Needless to say, we were pretty bummed. Also, in the meantime, we got engaged (I hope to tell our story on the blog someday)!!!

Ignore the horrible picture quality. Husband isn't evil, promise.
 This was a good distraction for us since it kept us busy and our minds were off of the evil people new house selling (for the most part). About one month before the wedding, we got an offer on the old house. We were very excited but also a little stressed. Doesn't it seem like everything always has to happen at once?! We accepted the offer, and after a few weeks of craziness, we moved out the day after the wedding. Did I already mention it was craziness? I highly recommend not moving the second day after your wedding. Not cool. I guess ya gotta do whatcha gotta do though, right?

We were just happy and excited to be out of the house and ready to start our new adventure together. Thus, the beginning of the building process! I hope you will come along on our adventures, so keep checking back to see what happens next!

Anyone have any experience buying or building? I'd love to hear your opinions/thoughts/comments!

May 10, 2012

A New Beginning and Adventure

Whoa. This has been a long time coming.
No, not because I've spent months creating code to make my layout perfect. Not because I've been writing down blog ideas so I'd have stuff to write about for months. Not because I'm lazy. Well, that could be a little bit of it. 

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Pinterest

 
It has taken me so long to finally start documenting my life because I've been waiting for the perfect time. It took me awhile to finally realize that there is no perfect time and I just need to do it! I'm basically addicted to reading blogs. Ask my husband. I have so many posts starred with amazing ideas, whether they are recipes, DIY tutorials, or great work-outs to try! While I am no master in one area, I do try to cook, make stuff and get my blood pumping! I can't quite consider this a certain type of blog, but to classify it as something, Lifestyle would suit it best. Things might get random, but I'm excited to see what happens. I'm hoping to learn more about myself by getting out of my comfort zone!

We are at the end of the process of building a new home, and I plan on blogging about that and all the adventures we have while starting this next chapter of our life! I work full-time and find myself lacking motivation and creativity! I'm hoping having a blog to share with everyone will motivate me to become a better person and just get those great ideas done! I am inspired by so many bloggers that I'm hoping to just be able to inspire one person! Let's get this adventure started!

 
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