We found a house ☺

We went to Edmonton on the 15th May and spent the week house hunting. Very stressful having 5 days to buy a house. Not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. We went to Edmonton we 3 or 4 houses we were really hoping to see/buy. When we spoke with our realtor on day one, he told us that the homes sold or had pending offers on them, and one had some sort of "disaster" and wouldn't be able to show their home the week we were there. (which by the sounds of "disaster", we no longer were interested in their home!!) So we were literally starting at square one. We saw about 25 homes the first 2 days (I lost track after awhile). On day one, there was only 1 house we would even consider buying, and it was a little on the small side, but we could make it work if we had too. On day 2 we found 2 more homes we really liked alot, both of which had great space and work would very well for our large family. One was in Edmonton and one was in St Albert. We debated which one to put an offer on... the one in Edmonton was awesome (I loved it sooo much) and it was pretty much a turn key home. The only thing it needed was central air conditioning & Bryce's dad told us he would put one in for us (LOVE THAT MAN!!). It was also only a few steps away from the kids school, which was a huge benefit. The one in St Albert was great too. Bryce really loved this one, I did too... Bryce was cute though... after we drove away from that house, he didn't really want to look at any more homes. He even said his heart was with the one in St Albert. (If you know Bryce at all, this is NOT the kind of mushy, gushy, emotional kind of comment one would hear from him. He REALLY likes this house.) Anyways, the perks of the St Albert house are that it's close to my family (like a 2 minute drive), the house has SO much room, so many bedrooms, an office, a bonus room, a great yard backing onto a little forest. In the evening we could hear the frogs and crickets. Very nice to be in. OK, so we had 2 great homes that would work for us & they were in our price range. After a great debate we decided to put an offer on the house in Edmonton. Mostly b/c we wouldn't need to do any work/improvements to the home & it was close to the kids school. Our realtor went to put in our offer and found out that it sold the same day we looked at the house. We were shocked & disappointed but happy and relieved that the house in St Albert was our close 2nd choice. So we put an offer on the house that evening, there was a little negotiating, and by 10:30 (ish) that night, our offer was accepted ☺ Hooray!

We went back to our hotel and were so happy that we didn't have to go through another day of going through peoples homes. I was so excited it was hard to sleep. And then I was freaked out that we had put an offer on a house... a little scary. The housing market in Edmonton is very expensive, I was so anxious about everything that night. I had a horrible sleep. (I'm broken these days... since I've had Dallin, sleep doesn't come easy. I can be totally exhausted and still not sleep. So if I have anything at all on my mind, I may as well kiss sleep good bye, it's not going to happen. It's made for a very long year.) Anyways, we had to wait until Thursday to have the house inspected. I was just praying and crossing my fingers that things would go well. If they didn't, then we would have to start all over again and we were flying out Saturday morning! Not much time for anything! We have 5 kids, it's not like there are a ton of homes that can work well for our family. If we had just as couple or a few, the market would be bigger for us. It is what it is. Thankfully the inspection went very well! We were thrilled and relieved to not have to start all over again. ☺

So things are good. We found a house, it is a nice house with lots of room for our children, there are 3 1/2 bathrooms (we only have one bathroom for 7 people right now... it's brutal, to say the least), we got the house for $80,000 less that what the owner initially tried selling it for, there's nothing wrong with it, Bryce is happy he can hear frogs and crickets whenever he wants (lol), it's in a nice neighborhood, there's a park just a hop skip and a jump away... so many good things.

I am SO glad we have worked our butts off the past couple years. We have scrimped & saved every penny we could so that this could work out. I am very grateful for this opportunity, it is such a blessing for our family. I know most people already have homes, and maybe have been in one forever and a day, but for us, it was a hard one to accomplish. It hasn't been an easy thing for us. Going through school and having baby after baby during school, then getting into the military and having just enough (OK, not even enough) to get by... Bryce has only been a Captain for 2 years... once he hit captain, we finally had enough coming in (combined with me working like mad) to start to pay down the student loans, pay off our van, and save up $$ for a down payment. It has been a long road for us. But boy do we appreciate it. I don't take this for granted at all. About 3 years ago Bryce & I were looking on the MLS and did the mortgage calculator/affordability thing . At that we would have only been pre-approved for a mortgage of about $57000... the only thing we could find on the MLS in that price range was literally a shack. I mean it, it was a shack in the middle of nowhere, Manitoba. I cried and cried and cried... I didn't feel like it would ever happen. A house was so far out of our reach. It makes today a sweeter experience for me. I SO appreciate, and recognize all the blessings that have happened so that we could get into a home. It's overwhelming, I just can't express enough gratitude. It's been a long road, and truthfully, I wouldn't trade it. I am glad that I know the difference (well, soon will know the difference) between not having and having a home with enough room & bathrooms. Simple things make me happy these days. ☺

I've been thinking about this all week, and Bryce and I have been reflecting all week of the events that have led to this. I have wanted all week to have a moment to write this down. Glad I finally have a chance....

So we move from Shilo, Manitoba to St. Albert, Alberta at the end of June. Our PMQ will be packed up on the 28th June, the truck will be loaded on the 29th, and we will hand in our keys on the 30th. July 1st we will start our drive to Alberta.

So excited to leave, but it's kinda hard too. Tonight we took the kids to the park and Dallin was trying to climb on the structures and go down the slide, and he was playing with the pebbles. It was sweet to watch... and then I went down memory lane (no surprise there)... I remembered my little Madi being that age, doing similar things in the same park. This is where my babies discovered their world. It's where I've raised my children, my baby Madi, had a baby (Dallin)... I watched my kids walk down the road to the school many mornings and looked for them at lunch time and after school. This is where my life has been with my family. So many memories here. I am excited to go to a better location with so many more amenities and opportunities for my family... but I know I will cry when we leave. I always find it hard to drive away from our home and know that this chapter is over. It happens every time (we've moved 14 times since 1997). I guess I'm a sentimental fool, haha.

OK, gotta stop going down memory lane. I'm getting teary on myself. Can't cry at night you know, my eyes will be red and puffy in the morning! ;)

Here are a few pictures I took.

This is the park that is at the end of our street. The kids are going to love it ☺

Here is the front of our house.

This is the view of the back of our house (picture taken from the bonus room).

This is the view from our master bedroom. I love this neighborhood! I'm looking forward to all the walks we'll take with the kids. It really is such a great location!☺

Here's our eating area. Pretty hardwood floors & fantastic view. So great!
I hate the pillar thing. Bryce doesn't mind it... he keeps telling me we just need to have a toga party and then I'll love it! Funny, funny man! We're planning on taking it down at some point. I think it's tacky. Maybe it's just me, but I could do with out the pillar. It will be a good joke between me & Bryce though... maybe we should keep it, it's brought us so many laughs already, lol!

Here's our bonus room.

I was going to post more pictures of the bedrooms and such but a room is a room is a room. They never look like much. I'll post pictures again after we move and get settled in.OK, that's it for tonight. Oh wait, I'm adding one more picture...

Our friends Amy & Dave Sopkow watched our kids while we were gone. They took this picture of Madi with their little puppy, Gizmo. Madi LOVES Gizmo! Good thing it's a little dog, Madi could actually hold it! ☺

That's it for tonight. I am done blogging. I'm sure Bryce would like me to resurface again and walk away from the computer. So I will. Night all ☺