We are now official.... HOME OWNERS!

I'm going to be working back in time a little bit to get everything caught up. A few months ago Rusty and I started looking for a house to buy. I know it sounds crazy, and many people have told us that we are too young to do it; and if I had been on my own I would have completely agreed with them. But Rusty just seems to have a knack for this stuff and so we started our search. It was really hard at first because we kept finding these wonderful houses that we absolutely loved, but then they would be gone. The prices and interest rates were so low that everyone was trying to do the same thing that we were, and with school and work we weren't able to jump up and go look at them as quickly as others.

Then after all of this, it all stopped. It seemed like no good houses were on the market anymore at all, and the interest rates started to rise. We considered just buying a single one-story house instead of the house with a basement apartment we were looking for, and then we considered not buying at all. But we kept looking, and just as we were about to give up a house popped up. I was at work when Rusty called, but he was so excited about it he had called off work and was going to go see the house right then. It had only been on the market a couple of hours, but he knew that we had to get there that day or it would be gone like the others. He sent me videos of the house and then, without even seeing it, I agreed to put in an offer. We were hoping to hear back about our offer fairly soon, but it just so happened to be a three day weekend so the banks were closed, leaving other buyers extra days to look at the house. We held our breath and waited.

By some miracle, our offer was accepted. As Rusty and I walked through the house, we both had an overwhelming understanding of why the other houses didn't work out: this house was supposed to be our house. It just felt right. Those feelings have only grown stronger the longer that we have had our house and met our neighbors and learned about the faults of the house. There have been many problems, but nothing seemed completely out of our control. This house was a literal answer to our prayers.

It hasn't been easy though, in fact it has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my whole life. Trying to do finals, work, pack up, clean and move from our first apartment into this house where we wouldn't be living until August while keeping the things that we would need for Seattle in another separate pile, and working on the house proved to be challenging. The house needed a lot of work, everything from painting, tiling and rewiring the dryer to a new roof. Luckily Rusty has had a lot of hands on experience from previous jobs, and was willing to work patiently with a girl who was pretty clueless as to what was going on. :) Thanks to some help from friends, a ton of help from Rusty's family who came out for the week, and my wonderful sister Jessica who was there almost every day for weeks, the upstairs apartment somehow got done and rented out to a lovely young married couple. Once again, a miracle answered our prayers.

 This is our house! It has the new roof on it, the porch railings are painted and the door is painted black. Isn't it beautiful!?!?! :)

 This was our first day that we had our keys... our first day as official home owners. It was a weird feeling!

 Not sure we are really mature enough for this responsibility....

 Bedroom number 1. We painted the floor boards, walls, windows, doors, and closets, shampooed the carpets, and bought and installed the blinds.

 Bedroom number 2. Same stuff.

 This is the view from the family room into the kitchen.

 This is the family room. Love the hardwood floors. Painted the walls, windows, and baseboards. Did the blinds in here too.

 This is the new kitchen! Rusty laid the tile with the help of one of Jessica's friends, and then taught me how to grout it. Those cabinets were the death of me. They were so difficult to get to fit back on after we painted them. Good thing Rusty's friend came over and sanded them down for me! Washer and dryer in here until we fix the hook-ups in the basement. Then a dishwasher will go there.

This is the bathroom! We painted in here as well, cabinets and walls. 

The basement still has a long way to go, but again thanks to Jess it is still underway even though Rusty and I are in Seattle. She has taken this project head on and I am so proud and grateful for her. We hope to have the basement looking as good as the upstairs by the end of the year. It has been a difficult project, but there is no feeling quite as rewarding as seeing all of the progress that has happened from your hard work. We love our new house and are excited to get back to Provo to live in it!