A New Year, a New Beginning

I feel SO far behind right now and like I'm never, ever going to be able to catch up.

And I'm not just talking about Blogging here!

So to bring you all up to speed, here are a few highlights for the outlook of our new year!

ps. Peter hasn't created my "re-size photo" shortcut since reformatting our computer so there aren't any pictures right now. He promises to get that done tonight--right honey?! And then I'll add pictures. Sorry mom!

We had a very productive trip to Utah after Christmas. It feels like we've been gone for weeks, but it was only 9 days. We drove out of California Thursday night and arrived by 2pm MST Friday afternoon. We stayed with Peter's family until Saturday afternoon when we drove up to Logan to visit with my family for the weekend. We had so much fun playing "the game," exchanging Christmas gifts, eating yummy food, and just spending time together. We also got to meet the mysterious "Liz"--Russell's girlfriend!!! (she's a sweetheart.) 

Monday we celebrated my mom's birthday with lunch at Cafe Sabor's, took naps, then packed up and headed back to SLC to celebrate the new year with Peter's grandpa and dad before he flew out to Switzerland. 

Tuesday we planned our house hunting trips around Utah county and then set out to get a feel for the neighborhoods. 

Wednesday we registered at several new home builders with our Realtor. 

Thursday we looked at established homes, but we decided on our way out of Utah county to just stop by our favorite builder and ask them about reserving a lot, just in case. We were quite lucky. We reserved the second to last lot available. On Wednesday there had been 4 lots available. Thursday, there was only one lot left, but someone's financing had just fallen through and they dropped their reservation which we promptly picked up without knowing for sure that we were going to actually build in that community. 

Friday we drove around to look at a few more model homes on our own. The distance between all of the potential homes and Claire's ability to stay happy in the car limited how much we could get done in one day. By the time we got back to the builder where we had made a reservation, we felt fairly confident in our choice to reserve a lot. We waited for the community manager to arrive and when he did, he walked in with another family of three and signed them up to reserve the very last lot that we turned down. So Claire shared crackers and grapes with her future best friend that will live around the block from us in about 9 months! 

Saturday we walked through the model of the floor plan that we had chosen and it completely solidified all of our confidence in our decision to build this home on the lot that we had found. The model was almost completely perfectly everything that we wanted and it was sitting on the exact same size of lot as ours would be. It just felt right. (http://www.mcarthurhomes.com/herriman-towne-center is the link to some of the floor plans. We are planning to build the Cameron. The model at the top is the one we walked through in Herriman--not Lehi.) Then we went to Chuck-a-rama and went home for naps again before we began the return journey home from the frozen desert, Utah, to the mildly cool and pleasantly sunny California. Forecasts for snow led us to go home the long way through Las Vegas and LA. Another determining factor was that I had only been to LV once and never to LA. Peter said it would only be an additional 2 hours to go this way. What he didn't say is that he got that information from his dad's trip home last winter. His dad drove 90+ mph most of the way. That would definitely shorten your trip time! Needless to say, it took us much longer. We stopped in LA to visit Peter's Aunt Judy and her daughter Annie. We drove down Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd. And then we left. Peter drove another 6 hours to get us home safe and sound.

And here we are.

Approximately 6.5 weeks away from moving.

I'm sad to say that if any of you were in doubt before about our conviction to move, the time has finally come that those thoughts can be no more. 

We are moving.

The exact date is a little hazy. Our lease ends Feb. 28th. Peter is going on a business trip to Boston sometime between Feb. 18th and 23rd. So when we move is largely dependent on me getting things packed and ready to go all on my own in the coming 6 weeks.

I feel SO incredibly overwhelmed that it's actually disabling. I have a to-do list a mile long. I have all these new year's resolutions that I feel like I can't/shouldn't bother to start because I'll be moving soon. I have to pack here, make plans to move there, and keep our house running all at the same time. Did I mention that we can't sign the contract to build our house until March 4th? It's a good business plan, but it definitely puts a damper on our moving-in plans. The company only signs/builds 4 houses per month to keep customers paying for current supply prices. Contracting to pay lower than supplies would put the company out of business, obviously. So we sign on March 4th unless someone in line ahead of us drops out. They take 5 months to build because they give each contractor a specific time to make sure each job gets done well and gets done right. (can you tell I'm easily influenced by advertising?) So we're planning to rent for 5-6 months when we get to Utah. And then we will have a house. But first I have to find an apartment, find a storage place, figure out how we're moving our stuff, pack our stuff, and keep us all fed and happy.

That backwards list made it seem a little bit more manageable. Weird.

OH.

And one last thing.

I have to figure out how to say goodbye to all my friends.