Home is where the heart is...

Jeff and I had been married for about one year when we started house hunting.  We worked together and the company had just announced the new lab location.  Our hunt began for a house in the suburbs.  We chose a house from builder plans when the whole area was just dirt, we drove up north to see our hole in the ground, we would sneak onto the construction site while it was being built and eventually saw a completed home ready for us to move in.  By that time we had a 4 month old and life in the suburbs began.

July 2001

9 months pregnant and on a work site...a great mommy moment for me

visiting our half-built house was a regular outing for us (we are easily entertained) and we even got to see the original backyard pool

almost done, look at all of those white walls

November 2001

finally it was ready for us to move in, dirt and all...it was another 9 months before we had grass

This house has been our home for almost 12 years now.  We grew to a family of 5.  We celebrated birthdays, decorated for Christmas holidays, hunted for Easter eggs, carved pumpkins, walked around the neighbourhood trick or treating and had visits from the tooth fairy.  We became friends with our neighbours, rocked babies for hours on end, painted the walls, hung art work by the kids, put in a pool, baked muffins, built snow forts, planted flowers, hosted parties, marked the kids height on the wall, had sleepovers with giggling girls and game playing boys.  A lot of love and laughter throughout our 12 years in this home.  It is where our family grew up.  I hope it is what my children always remember as their childhood home.

Every year I take pictures on the porch on the first day of school

With the whirlwind of the move to Seattle, I have been so caught up in the logistics of what needs to be done that I'm only now starting to get sentimental.  For a while all I wanted was to sell this house (because we bought a house in Seattle and I don't want to pay two mortgages!).  Now that the sold sign is on the lawn and we are down to our last few days here the tears are starting.  They aren't sad tears, I'm very happy to have this opportunity, and I believe with all my heart this is a wonderful adventure for our family.  I just have so many emotions about this house that became our home and the life we built while living here.  It is very hard to say goodbye to our neighbourhood, our church, our schools, our friends and support structure.

Officially sold!  I have met the family who will be moving in, they seem lovely and friendly, they have a 15 month old daughter and a baby on the way.  It makes me smile to think of another family growing up in this house.

And now it's time to move onto our new home.  Jeff just signed the papers for this house on Friday and it's officially ours.  I'm looking forward to many more happy memories ahead, it doesn't matter which house or city we are in, my home is wherever Jeff, Kyle, Jillian, Leah and I can be together.