Home Owners!

Buying a house was the scariest thing I have ever done! Wow! But it has been so great! As I said before, we kept finding houses that we liked, putting offers on them, and having things just not work out. And it all happened for the best. When we would spend time driving around American Falls looking at homes, or search through real estate websites, I would always see this adorable house that was just out of our price range. I always thought "I would love to be able to buy a house like that." Well, one day we heard of a house that we had looked at sell for thirty thousand less than the owners were asking. At that time, we were going through all the crap with the house that we were supposed to be buying, that we were trying to get out of. Well, I told Tyler to just call the realtor selling this house we always saw, because at that point, it was like why not give it a shot. Maybe we will get lucky and get it for thirty thousand less than asking too! We looked at it, and fell in love. Then I was mad at myself for looking at something we could never afford. But we put a low offer in, just for the fun of it. We expected the owner to counter offer at least ten thousand more than what we offered and we would have to decline. But she came back with only 5 thousand more, and offered to pay closing costs! We said we would take it, but our realtor thought he could get her down another couple thousand, which he did! We ended up getting it for only three thousand more than our original offer, which was a very low offer to begin with! When we had to back out of the first house, I was so bummed because we were giving up an amazing interest rate, and I had heard the interest rates had gone up. When we called our home loan specialist to get the process of purchasing this home going, she was able to give us an even lower interest rate than the one we had just given up! Everything seriously just worked out so perfectly! We got the house of our dreams! We feel that we have been so blessed, and we know that everything we went through was just leading us to where we are now, and we are so happy to be there!

Our house has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, central a/c, a two car garage, and a huge, fully fenced in backyard. It has everything we wanted in a house. Tyler has lived in about 18 different places in his life, and this is the first time he has ever had a garage. The garage leads into the laundry room, which I love. The house has high, vaulted ceilings, beautiful pine doors throughout, and it came with all the appliances. No other house we looked at had everything we wanted. In every other house we would have either had to buy appliances, install a/c, or fence in the yard. The only thing that has dissappointed me about this house is the master closet. It is the smallest walk-in closet I have ever seen! The door can't even close with clothes hanging on the rack! Behind the door, there are shelves, but we can't even get to them. The closet door is actually in the master bathroom, so we might just take the door off, because you can't see it from in the bedroom anyways. Our master bathroom has two sinks, which is amazing! Our house in Harper had two sinks in the master bathroom, and we got so used to that. The house we rented while we waited to move into our home did not have two sinks, and I hated it! Here are a few pictures of my beautiful new home!

We closed on Wednesday, October 12. We could not wait to get out of the rental! We hoped that after we signed papers, we could move enough stuff in so that we wouldn't have to spend another night in that place. Our realtor wasn't able to get the keys to us till late that night, we couldn't get anything moved until the next day. The guy we were renting from wanted us out by the 14th, which meant we had one day to move! Tyler and I did as much as we could by ourselves, with what we could fit in our two cars. My parents came out around 6:30 Thursday night with their truck to help. Montana and Emilee weren't able to come, so we panicked a little. Tyler called the Elder's Quorum President from our new ward, and we are so grateful to him for showing up last minute, with a truck, to help. Everyone was amazing. Within only a couple of hours, we were completely moved out of the rental and into our new home! We love it!

Moving Sucks!

I know, such a negative title, but moving really sucks!

Goodbye House!

In one weeks time, We "lived" in three different houses, and had to move twice. Can you say stressful! We moved out of our summer home (the pink trailer) on August 11. We were renting someones home, so I definitely wanted to leave it cleaner than when we got there, to make it look like we were never there. They were so kind to let us stay in their house, with our dog, so I cleaned that place till it shined! We packed up all our stuff and drove back to Harper for our last few nights in our house there. I totally underestimated how hard it would be to leave my home and my life in Oregon!
The night we got back to Harper, the Harper School staff threw us a going away party. I was so touched by all the people that showed up to say goodbye. It reminded me how many wonderful people I got to know in my short three years in Harper, and just how great it is to live in a small town. Some of the best people I have ever known, I met in Harper, Oregon. The school has a tradition that they do with their seniors at graduation. They make shirts for each student that have something personal for them, usually an inside joke, or poking fun at them. They presented Tyler and I with shirts that they had made just for us. Mine said "Kelsey finally has class," referring to my first time having a full time teaching job! I love it! Years ago, Tyler made a bet with one of the students, and lost. He had to wear a dress to school because of it. The shirt he was given had a picture of a man in a dress and the words "I shouldn't have made that bet." My closest friend, Alicia Anderson, gave me a bag of ranch Doritos and cottage cheese! She knows that is my favorite snack! I was blown away by the thoughtfulness. I didn't think saying goodbye would be so difficult and so emotional. I cried myself to sleep that night...
The next six days were a whirlwind. We packed and cleaned, and cleaned and packed! I could not believe how much stuff we had. I felt like the packing would never end. We were able to squeeze in some family time for more goodbyes, though. Even though I am so excited to be close to my family again, it is going to be so hard not being by Tyler's family anymore. Saying goodbye was not easy.
Then came the big day. On August 17, we loaded up, left our home, and headed to American Falls, Idaho. On the morning of the 17th, my in-laws, Matt, Linda, Stephanie, Lane, and Trace came over and loaded us up. Matt and Linda borrowed a horse trailer from someone so we wouldn't have to rent a U-Haul. I am so grateful to them for everything they did for us! Linda sprayed and scrubbed all the horse crap out of the trailer so we could use it. Tyler, Matt, and Stephanie loaded up the trailer while Linda and I mopped, vacuumed, and cleaned the carpets. I really did not think all our stuff would fit in that trailer, but Stephanie was amazing! She found a way to fit everything in, with a little room to spare! It all took much longer than we expected, but went off much more smoothly than I expected. The biggest problem we had while loading up was with our desk. Tyler had a huge, really nice desk that we had in one of the spare rooms. We could not figure out how to get the thing out of the room! It got so beat up in attempts to move it out. We couldn't get it apart at first, but Matt finally got enough parts off to fit it out the door. We tried to put it back together in the trailer, because that would be the easiest way to fit it in, but then we couldn't figure that out. We never got it so the drawers fit back in. I don't know what we will do with it now. I wanted to post a couple of pictures to remember what the house looked like with almost all our belongings in one room. It doesn't seem like much in the pictures, but it sure seemed like a lot while packing and loading.

Before we left, we stopped off at the school in Harper so I could say my final goodbye to my dear friends Alicia and Janette. I should not have done that! I was an emotional wreck! I could not believe I was leaving the home Tyler and I began our lives together in, and I had to leave these people that mean so much to me.
The trip was very slow moving, but eventually we got to our rental in American Falls. Tyler had to leave for football practice as soon as we got there, so he didn't have to help us unload the trailer! Our good friend Blake came over to help, and we really appreciated that. Unfortunately, things did not go as smoothly with the move as it seemed... The first thing we saw when we opened the trailer was that my TV stand was completely crushed. It had snapped in half then buckled under all the weight that had been stacked on it. I was bummed, but I wasn't going to get to worked up about it. However, the next thing we pulled out was my big, brand new, beautiful bookshelf. It had huge dings in a couple of the shelves and a huge scratch down the side. I tried so hard to keep my cool, but tears just started coming. Then I noticed that one of the rails to our headboard had slid out of place. It had slid into another beautiful, short bookshelf we had, and the metal part of it had apparently been rubbing against it the whole ride. It rubbed off the finish on a big section and wore a hole into the wood. That really got me going. I was flat out crying at this point. I thought that was all the damage that had been done. All my decorations got there in one piece, and everything else looked fine. Me and Linda wanted to be done and leave the rest for Tyler when he got home from practice, so we left for a little drive and to buy some drinks. When we got back, Matt and Blake had unloaded everything else! It wasn't until the next day that I noticed my kitchen table also did not make it unscathed. It got a huge chunk taken out of the edge of it! All my furniture looks like crap!
That week was an emotional roller coaster for me. I hope to eventually, some time down the road, make it back to the Vale area, but I also never want to move again! I am so grateful to all the people that helped us get to where we are now. Moving sucked, but I am glad we had Matt and Linda there to help me through it. I don't know what we would have done without them. Now, once we get into our new home, my family will get to help us move again! Can't wait... NOT!

The Frustrations of Trying to Buy a House

So, Tyler and I started looking for a house in American Falls in early July. We knew that we didn't have a whole lot of time to buy one before we had to be in American Falls for Tyler to start coaching, but school didn't start till September 6, so we thought we had enough time before then. Obviously, we had no idea how frustrating buying a house could be! We went to American Falls with our realtor and looked at about six houses. We looked at this little twin home and actually loved it. We weren't sure if it would be the smartest idea to buy a twin home, but the house came with all the appliances, including washer and dryer, a/c, and a fully fenced in yard; all things that we were hoping for. The owner of the twin home also offered to sell us her bedroom set in her guest room, and a couch and love seat for a really good deal. We have no couches and this room had a living room and a family room we would need to furnish, so that would really help us out a ton! We were so excited about this place. We took my parents to look at it, and they seemed to think it was a pretty good place for our first home, but that the price was a little too high. We gave the lady an offer, which was lower than her asking price, but still very reasonable. She came back with a counter offer $5,000 over her asking price! Who does that!?! We countered again, still not at her asking price, but what we thought was top dollar for what the place was worth. Well, she got really sick and decided to take her house off the market. So we moved on...
One day, Tyler and I decided to just drive around American Falls on our own, looking for For Sale signs. It is a small enough place that we saw just about every single house for sale in town. We called our realtor and gave him a list of ten or so houses we wanted to see. We did not like any of them! At this point, we were actually really happy that the twin home didn't work out, because we decided we would so much rather have our very own home, not a house attached to someone elses. The houses we looked at the second time around all had horrible basements that felt more like dungeons than living spaces. On the way out of town, I told the realtor about a house I had seen on line that I forgot to list for him to show us. He said we could just drive by it and see if we could take a look at it. The owners weren't home, and their realtor said we could just go on in. It was a really nice, new, big house, in the best neighborhood! We loved it. It was for sale for much cheaper than it was worth, but we found out that was because the owners were losing it. They were just hoping they could sell it for what they had left on the loan, before it got foreclosed on them. We hurried and put in an offer, and within minutes of them recieving the offer, they got the call that the house was being foreclosed on immediately. So, that didn't work out. I was really bummed about that one.
The searched started again. This time, I got on craigslist to see if there was anything on there that we hadn't seen yet, and we found two homes that looked very promising. One was a cute, blue, cottage-like-home right across from my school. Well, the outside was cute. The inside was awful with a dugeon basement. The other house was way out of town, out in the country. When we pulled up to it, we weren't too impressed at first. It sat on an acre lot, but the yard hadn't really been taken care of. The house itself looked good, but the yard was very unappealing. But then we walked inside. It was beautiful! It was a two story home, four bedrooms, and two bathrooms. It was a very old home, but had been completely remodeled, down to the studs. The owners told us all about the house and everything they had done with it in the remodel. We had found our house! It was a great price, especially for how big it and the lot was. They told us the house had appraised for $25,000 more than the asking price, but that they weren't really trying to make money off of it. So we put in an offer, they accepted, and we started getting everything ready. We could not have been more excited! The only down side was that the home had renters in it and the owners wanted to give them sixty days to move out. That put our closing date on October 1st. Since we had to be in American Falls by the middle of August, we did not know what we were going to do. We called around to every apartment complex between American Falls and Pocatello, but nobody would let us rent month to month, with a pet. I got on craigslist again, since it had helped us find our home, and looked up rentals. One of the houses we had looked at the first time around was now up for rent. We called the owners, and they hadn't had anybody interested in renting or buying the place at all. So he agreed to let us rent his house for a month and a half, with our pet, but for a steep price. We really didn't have any other choice though. But at least we had a place to stay and everything finally felt like it was working out!
We sort of drug our feet with moving the process of buying the home along, since we couldn't get in till October 1st. After a couple weeks, we finally got the inspection. That changed everything! I knew a man from my home ward growing up that did home inspections. I am so grateful to him! He did us the biggest favor of our lives! After he did the inspection, we went through the house with him and he showed us everything he had found. And boy, did he find a lot! He saw that the foundation was just stacked lava rock and would not have passed inspection for a loan. He found so many things that proved that the remodel was obviously not inspected or approved by the proper authorities. There is just too much to even mention that he found wrong with the place! The renters were there and they told us their power bills got up to $600 in the winter, and $300 in the summer and there isn't even a/c in the house! There was no access to the attic, so we couldn't even see if the house was insulated at all! They told us that in the winter they would catch about five mice a day, that the toilets were plumbed with hot water, and that one bedroom didn't have any heat. Then we learned that all the bathroom fixtures were the renters and they planned on taking all of them with them, so we would not have had mirrors, towel racks, or toilet paper holders in both bathrooms! We were so glad the renters were there to tell us these things!
As we were leaving the house after the inspection, we knew that we needed to get out of buying that house. It has not been an easy process. The owners, who seemed so honest and respectable, have turned out to be pretty shady characters! They are now fighting us for the earnest money. They are millionare farmers, with a million dollar home, and we are poor teachers barely able to scrape by, but they want our $300! I have never been more frustrated than I am with trying to buy a stupid house!
After all this, we checked back into the forecloser home that we liked, but it isn't going to be back on the market for quite a while. We found out that a house we had looked at was sold for $30,000 less than asking price, so it gave us hope and we expanded our search. Last week, we looked at a home that I saw online many times, but it was out of our price range so I never considered it. We decided to just walk through it, and it was our favorite house of all that we looked at, by far! We are currently in the process of negotiation with the owners, but I don't want to jinx our chances, so I'm not going to say any more about that now. All I can say is wwish us luck!!

Our Nieces and Nephews

I love love love being an aunt! I am a very proud one! Since Tyler and I don't have any children of our own, we love to be with our nieces and nephews. We have 14 of them, with another one on the way, and are pretty sure we have the cutest ones in the world! Even the big teenage boys are stinkin cute! I just wanted to show them off...

We had a family dinner with Tyler's family our last Sunday in Oregon and we were so glad we were able to see everyone (well, almost everyone)! We missed having Braxton there with us!

Summer 2011

Every year since Tyler graduated from ISU, he has been teaching summer school in Pocatello for Upward Bound. It is a great job and he loves it! It is sort of a pain in the butt, though, because that means we have to look for a place to live for two months every summer. Thanks to our good friend Dan (again), we had a little pink trailer in the Pink Flamingo trailer park that we were able to stay in this summer. Moving into that pink trailer was the start of a crazy summer!

We came to Pocatello on Wednesday, June 8th. The next day, at 10:00 a.m. Tyler had an interview at William Thomas Middle School in American Falls, Idaho. Two hours later, I recieved a phone call from the man that interviewed him saying that he would like me to go to Idaho State University at 1:30 to meet with the principals of the American Falls Intermediate School and Elementary School for an interview. Tyler got home right after that and told me he had been offered a job as the 8th grade english teacher, and they wanted him so badly that the principal called the other principals and told them to find me a job! So I went and interviewed (well, mostly just sat and listened while the two principals discussed where they could place me) and walked out a half hour later with a job. The only thing I knew about the job was that it would only be part time teacher in the morning, and part time aide in the afternoon. So Tyler and I had a big decision to make... To leave our home in Harper, Oregon to move to American Falls, Idaho, or not. After weeks of thinking, and praying, making up our minds, then changing them, and knowing what we should do, then having no idea what we sould do, we accepted the jobs and made plans to move. Deciding to move was the hardest decision I have ever had to make! But I finally get to have my own classroom!

This summer was really difficult for us. Living in the trailer was not the most fun thing in the world. We appreciate the owners for letting us stay in their house, but it was rough living quarters. We went from wide open spaces at our home in Harper, to neighbors so close that it seemed like they were in our house! The swamp cooler made everything feel damp, and it even gave our poor Charlie yeast infections in his ears! This wasn't the best summer for Tyler at work, either. He just had such wonderful classes last summer that it was a little dissappointing this year. The best part of the summer was having my sister and her two kids here from Arizona! We spent a lot of time playing with Easton and Piper, and loved every minute of it! We also spent a lot of time and money at Kiwi Loco, the new frozen yogurt shop here in town! Our first night in Pocatello, my mom asked us if we wanted to go get frozen yogurt. We went reluctantly. Tyler even called it the most unnecessary thing he had ever heard of, but our first bite completely changed our minds! Every time we went, Tyler would say his yogurt cup was the best thing he has ever made! I did feel really bad for Tyler because while he was at work every day, I spent almost all of those days playing with my mom, sister, and Easton and Piper. Lots of time shopping at the mall, eating frozen yogurt, and just sitting around at my moms house. We even went to Lagoon without him. How rude of me! Thank you, Tyler, for making money so I could spend it!

Another fun part of the summer was Tyler's reunions. He had his ten year reunion and the Musgrove family reunion in Vale, so we got to go home two weekends in a row for that. They were both so much fun! I learned a lot more about my husband than I wanted to from his old high school friends. One friend in particular had a very difficult time with Tyler's lifestyle changes in the past ten years! It was so great to see all of Tyler's family. I married into a wonderful family and I think I was more sad to see that reunion weekend come to end than Tyler was!

The end of the summer has been the most difficult for us. I was so sad when Heather, Easton, and Piper went home. I loved having them around every day. My mom and I drove to Arizona with Heather so she wouldn't have to do it alone. We broke the trip into two days to make the trip easier on Piper. We had a lot of fun. Then we spent two nights in Arizona before flying home. Heather and Jason went to a hotel for the night so my mom and I got to have the kids for one night. It was nice to have a lot of alone time with them before we had to say goodbye. Piper is the sweetest little girl ever, and Easton is just so much fun! I miss them! Then Tyler and I headed back to Harper to say goodbye, pack up, and move away. I'll give the details of that crazy adventure later...