New Adventure

As if leaving our life behind in California for a job wasn't crazy enough, we decided to kick it up a notch. With rent more expensive than mortgages where we live in Utah, we decided (after much prayer) to take the plunge and apply for a Veteran's Home Loan. Tonight we just bought land and will have a house built and completed in late October. We're excited, giddy and happy. We never would have had this kind of opportunity in San Jose and are really trying not to get too out of control excited, but we are totally stoked! Since we can't have each and every one of our family and friends out for a visit (although we would love it if we had visitors :) ) here are a few pictures of what and where our new life will look like:

Maeser is about 30 miles East of where we live now in Roosevelt

We choose Maeser for a few reasons. My major motive to move here is because Maeser reminds me of Los Altos Hills, which of course reminds me of home. Are you noticing a theme in my posts? My homesickness seems to be curbed by people and places that reminds me of home :) Our joint reason for Maeser was because it's located within Vernal where we go to church. This move will allow us to make it to church on a regular basis and not have to drive the 60 miles roundtrip to get there. We have also made friends that live in Vernal, and to be honest, there's much more located there too. Eastern Utah has SO much to offer as far as the outdoors and Native American culture plus who can deny that Dinosaur bones are cool? If you've never touched a real dinosaur bone that's been partially excavated and still located where it died, I highly recommend visiting us and going to see the Quarry Exhibit at Dinosaur National Monument http://www.nps.gov/dino/planyourvisit/quarry-exhibit-hall.htm.

We have been working with a realtor that supports military families through her organization, Patriot Real Estate. The owner was a military wife for years and decided to help other families reach their dreams of homeownership. Plus as a "Thank you" for military service, active duty families get money back at closing! How cool and what a double blessing! We stumbled upon this new lot that popped up 2 days ago and couldn't walk away from it after a visit together. It's a half an acre, with big trees and at the end of a cul de sac with a stream running behind our lot and a farm backed up against the property line. It's funny because I've been saying how much I enjoy all of the beautiful horses out here but not really interested in the upkeep and maintenance of one. It's so cool that now I get the view of the pretty horses from the kitchen without having to own a farm :) Here are a couple pictures of our lot:

Left Side

Right Side

A couple of the tree clusters will need to be removed, but we're working with the builder to keep as many of them as we can. I didn't get a good "behind" photo, but there are a few pretty hills on all sides of us, and we're elevated above Vernal which should be cool at night!

As with most everything here, there's a lot more opportunities and our money goes a lot farther than California. Our tiny 1,100 sq. ft. 1954 bungalow in San Jose was always more than what we ever needed, but it is fun to go all out for less than half the cost of that house. Here's a shot of a similar looking home that we're planning to have built. We've made a few changes to the layout and design, but it's roughly the same except for exterior colors. That's the next interesting step, Justin and I need to agree on what we'd like as far as our options are concerned. For anyone that knows Justin, and his credentials as a home builder and remodeler in California, this is not an easy task, but I know he's going to make sure every detail is done to a "T". I'm thankful for his expertise compared to my fluff of "ooooh that's cute" :) There's going to be 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms once we're done and we'd love to have visitors if anyone wants a fun roadtrip. C'mon, if I can do it by myself with two kids under 3, I think you can make it out too! . Okay, maybe I don't totally recommend doing it as a single parent, but as a husband/wife team it's doable :)

 I could bore you with more photos of the interior and blueprints, but I'll spare you. I'll definitely be trying to keep our families up to date with lots of photos of the progress as time moves forward. We've been told by our builder that he's 95% on schedule with past homes and that we'll break ground before we go to California in August. So by Thanksgiving we'll be in our new home, starting our new life in Maeser, Utah. I feel so blessed that we were able to get a military home loan, to be referred to a military realtor, and build with a military builder. God has no limits, and I knew that, but I'm still in awe at how he's worked this out on our behalf. A year ago, I would have told you we'd be living in San Jose, Justin would still be the Stay-at-home-Dad while I'd be serving in the ministry at CityTeam while we struggle to get through our bills and reversed marital roles. I'm not going to lie, it's been a tough 3 years for us and our marriage. This huge blessing of a house is something we can enjoy when our hearts have been missing the only home we've ever known in San Jose. I hope you'll seriously consider visiting this diverse area of the West and especially make yourself at home in our place and visit us :)