Our House...Finally!

Many of you know that we have been looking for a house since October 2011. After looking at many, many, many houses, we finally found one that was just perfect for our needs in April. We put an offer on it, only to find out it was a short sale, which we knew meant it would most likely take a LONG time. Unfortunately, we weren't the first offer. A month later, at the end of May, we found out the bank had not accepted the first offer and now they were interested in ours. So, we redid all the paper work and decided to move forward. This was after a LOT of prayers and receiving answers that this was the house for us; this was OUR house. To make a long story shorter, Wells Fargo was the bank the sellers were using, and they put us through one heck of a roller coaster ride. First the house was going to auction, then it wasn't, then they raised the price $35,000 and we finally got it reappraised. When we finally got the magic number Wells Fargo wanted to net from the house, which happened around the end of October I believe, we were able to adjust our offer accordingly. Now it was the waiting game. Wells Fargo had no reason NOT to accept our offer, but who knows how banks think. We went to Utah for Thanksgiving without hearing anything. The Monday after Thanksgiving, we got an email from the selling agent saying that Wells Fargo had FINALLY accepted our offer!!! We knew the bank wanted a 30 day close, which was fine with us. The catch? This letter was dated November 21, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. On top of that, our realtor was going out of town for Christmas, so now our closing date was moved up to December 18th! That was only three weeks away from the day we got the acceptance letter. Our lender was AWESOME and really got on people to make sure the paperwork came back in time for us to get it to Wells Fargo by the deadline. After one final little waiting game, we closed on Tuesday, December 18th!!!!!!! The people "moved out" but left us a lot of junk and garbage to deal with.
  Today was the first day we were really able to get in and start working....well, Daniel started working. :)  In just a few hours he was able to get rid of all the junk on the main level and start ripping out carpet in the family room. Tomorrow he hopes to be able to get a lot more of the carpet ripped out, maybe even all of it if he's lucky. Once all the carpet is out, we can clean the wood floors, the walls and every other flat surface, paint and get new carpet installed. It's going to be a LOT of work at first, but then it's going to be FANTASTIC!!! We are so excited to finally have OUR home. I knew it was meant for us this whole time, but I had a really, really, really hard time being patient and remembering the answers I received clear back in May. I kept getting reassurance throughout the summer from the Holy Ghost, but some days were a LOT harder to stay positive. In the end it all worked out.
  Here are the before pictures of the mess they left us. Some of the pictures are pretty blurry, but you get the idea. The carpet is NASTY and the walls are very dirty. At least these are all pretty easy fixes though. I can't do too much because I'm now 8 months pregnant, but Daniel is amazing and my parents will be here next week. We've also had a lot of offers from our wonderful ward members as well. As we finish I will try to post more pictures.

Standing in the dining area, looking into the family room. The stairs and laundry room/garage door are to the left, sliding door to the backyard is to the right and the kitchen is behind.

Standing in the family room, looking into the dining area and kitchen. We are going to extend the wood floor into the family room, to the edge of the wall on the right side of the first picture. The door on the right is the laundry room and door to the garage, with the stairs and living room just past the door.

Standing in the dining area, looking into the living room. The front door is just to the right of the light switch on the far wall.

Standing a few feet in front of the front door, looking back toward the kitchen. The stairs are on the left, next to Daniel and the stairs down to the basement are just to my left, just inside the front door a bit.

Sorry this is sideways, but now you can see just how gross the carpet is. The people had 4 or 5 dogs and they trashed the house. Carpet is stained and ripped, door trims and banisters are scratched from the dogs and the wood blinds have bite marks. The front door is below the window at the top of the stairs.

Looking down into the living room from the top of the stairs. I like the vaulted living room, but it is going to be a  BEAST to paint this room!

The dining area at the bottom of the stairs.

Standing at the top of the stairs, looking at the two bedrooms that are in the front of the house, over the garage. Both rooms are blue right now. The door on the right is the hall bathroom. To the right is the hall to the other two bedrooms.

The door on the left is the master bedroom, the small door straight back is a linen closet, and the door on the right is the fourth bedroom, which is over the kitchen.

This is the first front bedroom at the top of the stairs. This will be Alex's room to start with, then we will probably move the baby in here after a couple months, and finally it will be Erik's room when the baby starts sleeping better and she can be in with Lily.

This is the hall bathroom. I know the green is bright, but I think it will actually match our shower curtain and rug. This also might be the cleanest room in the entire house. We need to do a little work around the tub though.

This is the second front bedroom, at the end of that little front hall. This will be Lily's room. After awhile Alex will move in with her until the baby is sleeping better, then she will move in with Lily. This room will not be blue, nor will the clouds stay around the top.

Standing in the doorway of the master bedroom. The walk in closet is back in the left corner and the bathroom is to the right. Right now it's a shade of purple, with darker clouds around the top and on the ceiling. It will not stay purple. The second picture is standing in front of these two windows, looking back toward the hallway on the left.

Master bathroom, with it's nice pink walls to match the pink flower tiles around the top of the bath.

The fourth bedroom, which is the biggest. Right now it's REALLY yellow with John Deere tractors along the top. It will be Erik and Drew's room right now. Later, when Erik moves to the front bedroom,  Alex and Drew will share this room.

Looking down into the unfinished basement. Not sure how the insulation got ripped up. The door to the left of the stairs is plumbed for a bathroom, and the door just past that is a small room that I want to be the playroom.

This is the room at the bottom of the stairs. The bathroom is behind me. To the right is another, bigger room that is also unfinished, but they were using it as a bedroom. We will change this around a bit, but that's down the road. For now it will just be play room/storage/guest room. I love the fact that it has big windows!

This is the room just past the bathroom. It has two big storage closets, one straight back and one through the door on the left, near the back wall.

This house has great space for us and will be perfect for our needs once it's all fixed up. We are sooo excited to finally be "homeowners." I don't know what we're going to do with double the room we have now.....ok, I'm sure we'll figure out a way to fill it up. :) Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us to find a house. We really appreciate all the love and support you have given us. Now you will have a place to stay if you ever come visit, or are just passing through. It will be great to be able to have space for people to come visit and actually be able to stay with us!!!