New House, Ogden Temple Open House, First Day of School

Here is the miraculous story of how we sold our beloved Davis County Home and purchased our dream home in Utah County. We put our house up for sale in Mid-May after our offer was accepted for this new home. Meanwhile, we met with the sellers of our new home to sign papers. When we sat together in the restaurant on a Friday evening, we could sense there was some hesitancy on their part about their plans to move out of state and take a new job there. Thus, we left without signing any papers, and instead, Neil interviewed the husband the next morning for a job at Catalyst. He was a perfect fit for a leadership position.  By Sunday, the sellers called to tell us they had decided to keep the house and not take the job out of state. We were happy we had answered their prayers and helped them make the right decision for their family, but at the same time we were devastated to lose this perfect home. As we started looking online again for a home close to Grace's new school, nothing measured up to this one. We still felt good about keeping our home on the market, and it turns out that two days later, the sellers of the Utah County home called to tell us they were sticking with their previous plan and the house was ours if we still wanted it. Phew!

While we were in Wyoming in June, we received an offer on our home. The buyers were working with an agent who sent us all the paperwork electronically. We came home from our trip and started packing. We told all our neighbors we would be moving out by July 9. However, before their due diligence deadline, the buyers cancelled saying they didn't feel good about purchasing our house. Ugh! Back to square one. 

After re-listing the house on the market, I did 6 tours of our home with very interested buyers in 24 hours. At the end, we had a new buyer. He was also working with an agent, so we quickly signed the paperwork. His purchase was contingent on him selling his home, and he and his Realtor were both very confident it would sell fast. Thus, we started packing again. Boxes and bags filled the office and closets all through the house. By the time we left for our trip to AZ, the walls were totally bare, most all of the dishes and utensils in the kitchen were packed and we were camping out with the bare minimum. However, on the last day of our reunion at the cabin, I received word that our buyer still had not sold his home, and he suggested that we put our house back on the market. UGH! Not again!

On our drive home from AZ, I started calling and emailing anyone I could think of who had previously been interested in our home. Honestly, Neil and I both started questioning whether this was really supposed to happen. Maybe the Lord was trying to tell us that this was not His will for us. The sellers of the new house informed us that they would be putting it back on the market if we didn't have a buyer within the next two weeks. However, I couldn't get that feeling out of my heart about how good I felt with the school we found for our children and the new home. I chose to just believe it was all going to work out.  I had an appointment to show the home Monday evening, and thirty minutes after the tour, she called me and made a cash offer for more than what we would have received from the previous two buyers! Two weeks later we closed on the sale of both homes and moved.

Through the move, I put on my stage face and tried not to think about how sad I was to leave the wonderful friends we had made in Davis County. I did just fine until the final sweep of the house. Everyone else had left with the moving truck. It was just me, scrubbing the last toilet and sweeping out the garage. I started to cry as I looked at the patio and sandbox Neil and all our neighbors helped build in the back. There were still remnants of chalk drawings the kids had made in the driveway. We made a lot of memories in this home and it was starting to hit me that we were leaving it all behind. Luckily, there wasn't much time for tears, as there was lots of cleaning and unpacking to do in our new home.

We have found a few treasures in our new house. It turns out the former family had cats, and we might be allergic to the hair--judging by all the sneezing and runny noses going on. As my Mom was helping with the cleaning, she found a ring that seemed fairly legitimate. I took it into a ring shop and it turns out it is a real round-cut diamond set in a solitaire platinum ring. I asked both previous owners of the home if they lost it, and neither knows anything about it. 

Our very favorite thing about this new home is the fully-fenced back yard. The kids have been in total heaven with the new-found freedom they have experienced. They feed the horses and goats every morning through the chain fence. They climb the trees, ride bikes, paint rocks, play with neighborhood kids--all without me fussing about their safety.

Our first priority with the home has been to clean up the back yard. The play area was a total mud bog every time it rained, and the mud kept coming into the house. Neil and his brothers worked hard to level the ground and build a border around the play area. Neil spent a couple hours after work building a sandbox. Then, we worked together to lay down landscape fabric and spread a truck load of wood chips inside. It has really spruced up the whole yard!

 Before

After

 Another fun perk of our new home is its central location between Grandma and Grandpa Andersen and Aunts and Uncles. We have spent more time with them this last month than we have since moving to Utah 2.5 years ago. Together we attended the open house of the new Ogden Temple. It was a special experience for our children to see the inside of a temple for the first time. They asked lots of questions and we had good discussions about eternal families and our ancestors.

Our children idolize their Aunts and Uncles. We are so grateful to live closer to many of them.

Grace has had a great first week of school. After her first day, she came home saying, "Mom, do you know what we do at my new school?!? We say our prayers. All the orientations and parent-meetings have re-confirmed to me why we felt prompted to get into this wonderful school. Just walking through the doors, a great spirit can be felt and we know we are doing the right thing.

Tonight, my body is sore and that lovely herniated disk in my spine is sending shots of pain down my leg. However, my pregnant-nesting brain is so very satisfied because we are completely moved in, cleaned-up, and settled as Grace is starting her first week of school and with three weeks until our baby boy is due to join our family. Everything has worked out just as it was supposed to and we feel so indebted to Heavenly Father for what we feel are lucrative blessings which we don't necessarily deserve. Thus, we feel a strong drive to ensure we do everything we can to be instruments in God's hands to help and serve His children and fulfill whatever His will is for us here.