I realize that we have been in our new home going on 6 months now and I really haven't explained much about it. However, better late than never, so here's the story.
It really did start with anxiety over where Cole would go to Kindergarten. There were no full-day Kindergarten classes in our Draper neighborhood, and I was having a really hard time with the idea of having Cole go to a new daycare where he would take a bus to school and back. The two hour commute was also starting to wear on us.
In April, we decided to test out the market and put our house up for sale. I did this with a burning gut. I loved our house. I loved our yard. I loved living in a neighborhood full of kids. Most of me really didn't want to move and didn't really think it would work out. Bryce was more enthusiastic and felt like it was a great time. He and I started to peruse the market of homes closer to downtown. We knew we would have to downsize and make some concessions for a home in the locations we were considering. Still, it was hard to scroll through listings of homes that needed major renovations or had tiny scraps of backyards. But then I found it - a listing for a home on 17th South. The home, built in 1950, had been completely redone, with a new roof, kitchen, A/C - so rare! It even had a two-car garage (detached as it was), which was a huge bonus. Bryce and I went and saw it, and though it would be a great possibility.
We had to go through all of the common frustrations of buying and selling a new home, including one ulcer-inducing day when we thought it was all falling through, but instead it all came together at the last possible moment. We had to have a big yard sale to downsize into the new home, which while it had more finished square feet than the Draper house, had less total square feet. This itself was emotional, as 90% of the stuff we sold was baby stuff. Then came the moving day, when the movers were set to arrive at our house around 9:00am and didn't show up until 7:00pm. (I kill them!)
But we finally made it. The first night we slept at the new home, I waited with baited breath for one of the boys to emerge from the basement scared, but they made the adjustment like champs. And the first night I got home from work in 15 minutes, I realized I had been given an extra hour of time every night. We've used the time to make yummier dinners, play in the sprinklers, go to the library - anything we wanted. And now I have no idea how we would have made it all work if we'd stayed. Don't get me wrong, living closer to downtown has presented it's challenges: from the motel down the street with it's *ahem* revolving clientele, to the cougar that was caught around the corner, to the water main break that flooded 17th - we've experienced some craziness. But, it's been a good move, and we love our cuddly, creaky, lovely home.
