Happy Memorial Day!
We celebrated by ‘camping in’ – a new innovation to save us money and allow me to sleep in my own bed. Aaron set our tent up in the living room and he and Elayna both slept there quite happily for 2 nights (I made it half-a-night). We swam, used the fire-pit in the back-yard to roast hot dogs and marshmellows, sang the one camp song E knows, and enjoyed some awesome Phoenix cool-weather!
E had to wear her sun glasses around the fire – super cute!
We’re still plugging away on our loan application paperwork and waiting to hear when we can break ground. In the meantime, we visited the home site to take some overdue pictures.
The lot feels huge without a house on it but I keep reminding Aaron that the house will be huge too. We are still estimating a larger back-yard than our current house. In the left side picture, you can see one of 2 houses being built to the west of us on a cul-de-sac – we’ll have 2 side neighbors there. The house on the east of us has broken ground and will be the one-story model.
We have a little view fence at top of the back fence – nice since we won’t have any back neighbors. No one will sing songs about our view of the horse properties to the south, but you can see some distant mountains and the open space is great!
We’ve also spent some time exploring the neighborhood and amenities. Aaron biked with a few friends on Saturday and was very impressed with the mountain trails behind our community center. And we played in the pool and playground with Elayna today and she LOVED it. Between this and the prospective Princess room, she is sold.
We also met our new neighbor across the street today, a single-guy named Mike. He was very chatty and nice and gives us hope of a fun and warm neighborhood.
The shock of this decision has worn off and we’re starting to think more seriously about design ideas and costs. Everything is expensive and the choices are somewhat overwhelming. Our design appointment is officially set for June 28th~!
Welcome summer. Welcome the heat radiating from the asphalt, the constant need to drink water, the exodus indoors. And welcome the opening of the pool! We missed you.
They call it a dance recital for gymnastics. E gets to wear a fancy new gymnastics leotard, mom gets to obsessively take a million pictures, and the whole family spends 2 hours in a crowded gym. Elayna had a blast showing off her new skills and we’re proud of how much she’s grown.
We are quickly discovering that building a new home is a big waiting game.
We’re waiting to meet with the mortgage broker. We’re waiting for the builder to get permits. We’re waiting for our design appointment in late June. We’re waiting.
But in the meantime, we’re also debating fixtures, surfing for design ideas, searching books in the library. We’re weighing what features we need the builder to do versus what we can do ourselves. We’re pricing upgrades and discussing compromises. This will be a long, long process.
Yesterday we visited the builders’ design center for their open house. Our design appointment will be in about 6-weeks and will take all day. But in the meantime, we were able to see what our options looked like. It was fun and nerve-wracking all at the same time. Elayna had to most fun playing in the display showers and I think she was most disappointed she couldn’t take the carpet sample home. Aside from wishing to paint everything pink, I’m not sure she’ll be much help.
We have bought a house!
Even saying this out-loud is filling both Aaron and I with terror. And excitement, anticipation, delight. But mostly terror.
We have had to itch to find a bigger property for our little family for some time. We’ve been eyeing homes for sale and driving through desirable neighborhoods and dreaming. But there is a big plunge between dreaming and actually doing. We are currently in free-fall.
The home is a new build in a planned community off Happy Valley and I-17. It has all the features that we’ve been looking for: close to stores and shopping, a beautiful community center, near a mountain park for hiking and biking, and close to a good school. As an added bonus, its about 3 miles from my new office and the Honeywell Deer Valley site. The plot of land is on the edge of the development without neighbors behind us – very quiet.
More info on the floor plan and home: http://www.pulte.com/communities/az/phoenix/maestro-at-fireside-at-norterr/plan/577600/Perilla.aspx
The good news with a new build is we have some time. We’re waiting for a lot to be finalized: the loan approval, the building permit, etc. We’ll meet with the design center in June to pick out features. We’ll save $$ like crazy and start making plans to rent out our current house. And we’ll hope, plan, dream, and enjoy this crazy process. Our big leap.
Last night was our church’s annual Daddy Daughter Dance. A and E put on their finery and had a great date together.
Aaron said the highlight of the evening was when Elayna dragged him onto the empty dance floor – the first kid to commit to dancing. I’m proud of her. She’s not afraid to do her own thing, to pave her own path. And while she spent most of the evening dancing with the other kids and not with Aaron, I think they both had a good time.
And there is no denying that these 2 love each other!
Photos from 2011 Daddy Daughter Dance
Two weekends ago, we spent a lovely night in Tucson with Aaron’s cousin Jay and his wife Annie. Annie’s mother has home in North Tucson and they were visiting from Montana.
The weekend was devilishly hot already for April but had a great night barbequing and hiked on Saturday. We discovered Sabina Canyon in the Catalinas – a great park with a flowing stream and killer waterfall to get out of the heat. A highlight of the weekend
