M&M Kanet: February

The moving story:

Mike and I had been discussing moving for a year or so because, even though we loved our house, it was just meant to be a temporary home for us until we could afford something bigger as our family grew. Our house had 2 big bedrooms and a den for Mike's office. When we bought the house, Mike's mom commented that we could fit 2 bunkbeds in the kids' room. It was true! They were a really nice size. We wanted to keep it as a rental property, but since the market had changed so drastically in the 5 years that we lived there, we wouldn't have been able to make a profit renting it out becuase our mortgage was so high. It just wasn't a good investment anymore so we decided to short sale it. We knew it would be quite the process, and we didn't know how long it would take. We could have 3 kids comfortably in that house, but we didn't want to wait till we were too snug and out grown to start selling it, so we listed it on the market in July or August.

We had people come to see the house about 3 times a week so I tried to keep it super clean just in case they would come over without much warning. This was during the first trimester of my pregnancy and I was SO TIRED all the time. If I didn't get a nap in while my kids napped, I would fall asleep at 5:00 when they were awake and running around. I felt like all I did was exercise, clean, feed people, clean, sleep, and clean.

Our house sold in October and then the short sale process began. We had two mortgages on the house, so twice the trouble to deal with. In December (around the 16th, I believe) we heard back from one of the mortgages saying that they would approve of the short sale as long as they could close and have us out in 2 weeks. Um, that would be on the 27th of December... good-bye Christmas! We also still needed to hear back from our 2nd Mortgage if that deal would work out for them as well. Our Realtor was really good at calling and bugging them. They would give her and us numbers of people to call that would just be dead ends. As in the number didn't even exist. They told us, 'don't call us, we'll call you'. I told Mike we'd name our first born son after them (Chase) if they cooperated :) I started frantically packing up just in case we had to be out in two weeks. We got a storage unit and just started stuffing it with things I knew we wouldn't be needing in the next few months. Well, we didn't hear back from Chase in time (so that name is off the list), but when we finally did, it was good news! Both of the mortgages approved of the short sale free and clear! I was always scared that they would approve of it, but then ask us to pay $10K towards the debt or something. So we were so incredibly happy and thankful. Truly an answer to many daily prayers. We also attribute it to the fact that we stayed current on paying our mortgage. Since it wasn't a financial issue to be short selling our home, it didn't seem honest to quit paying - although that extra money would have been nice!

They gave us a closing date of Feb. 16th to be out of our home. All my time was spent packing, but I was SO SLOW! Some days I could only pack 2 boxes, while other days I packed 8. Mike was super busy with work, so he would mostly just help with moving the boxes downstairs and in the garage. During this time my back was especially hurting and I couldn't do much physical activity. Even going to my yoga class was too much for me. I was so amazed when some friends would come to help pack - they were seriously like 4 times faster than me. I was SO thankful.

We didn't have much time to search for a home or have much luck in finding one that was a great deal and met our needs. So we decided that we would need to rent a home in the meantime - if only for a few months. My friend Stacey was buying a new home and had planned to rent out her old one AND it would be available the weekend before we needed to be out of our home! Perfect timing! Even though it is 200 sq ft. smaller than our previous home, it sure would fit our needs for now. And a huge bonus for me is that it is a one story home. It is much better on my back. And we could rent month to month since she knows us. It is in the same neighborhood and the same ward which we loved.

Funny this about the house is that I lived there for a year before I got married! I have some REALLY fun memories in this house. It was such a wonderful time in my life, and some really special events happened here too in my relationship with Mike. 1. I met Mike here! Stacey invited him over for dinner one Sunday evening and we first spoke in the dining room. 2. We had our first kiss here! Sitting in the living room one evening. 3. He told me he loved me right outside the house in the front yard. I said it back to him a couple weeks later :) 4. Mike proposed to me here! He left a trail of flowers from the front door leading to my room where the wedding ring box was sitting.

So, needless to say it is fun to be back! There have been several times that I have remembered some happenings here in my previous life and it has been so weird, but I love reminicing as well. I keep teasing Mike that we should just buy this house because we have so many memories here. Soon we'll be adding another one - having our first boy here! (ok, not exactly IN this house (although I tease Mike about that too), but while we live here.

We have found a house that we love that is really close to where we are now, but it is in a whole different Stake! We love our ward and would like to stay in it, but we are open to change as well. They have accepted our offer and are just starting the short sale process on their end of things. So we're not sure how long it will all take, but we are sure happy where we are for now! We know that the Lord will take care of us and lead us in the right direction.

I came into Ellie's room one day and she was "packing up" her toys. It was pretty cute - she always wants to help out with everything. I would try to let her help out as much as I could, but some things just needed to be done a certain way. She kept asking, "are we going to take all my toys to the new house? And were we going to take the couch too? What about the stairs? The windows and doors?" :)

Reagan figured out how to reach everything on the counters. She didn't like getting caught and would tell me "bye-bye" so I would go away and she could get back to her business.

Moving day finally came on February 11th. I didn't take any more photos of it than this. I will have a chance again though, as we will probably be moving again in a few months.

We got everything moved out except our closet of clothes, a few odds and ends, and we needed to clean a little. So we came back with the girls. Reagan walked in like normal and when she saw that it was empty, she was very distraught. She kept saying things like, "Hey! Where's the table?" And she even started crying. It really was a bitter sweet move for me. I really LOVED our house and have so many memories there, but we were just growing quickly out of it. I know we will be happy in our next home as well.

Ellie is a good helper again.

Valentine's day was just a few days after the move, so we didn't do anything too exciting because we were still recovering.

Mike DID have flowers sent to me! I usually tell him not to because I can't get over how CRAZY expensive they are, but this was a very welcome surprise. This photo reminded me of one from exactly 7 years ago when he sent me tulips on V-Day when we were dating.