a "we are growing up!" story

now that I can tell the "untold story" of finding our home, I decided it was best to document it.

we really feel SO blessed and guided to have found this home.

I was really, really, really hesitant to say anything about the home before it was OFFICIALLY ours.

I was sure that as soon as I posted about it, I would jinx us and something would fall through.

...I'm not superstitious, but I'm a little stitious. ;)

(^please tell me you know what the above line is from! and we will be BFFS HAHA^)

Anyways, we had been looking at homes for almost a year and a half, on and off.

we had the BEST realtor ever.

If you are in utah county and need a recommendation, he's your guy!

every time we started looking, nothing was really coming together, and we kept having the feeling to wait a little longer.

finally, a year and a half after looking at homes, we decided to build.

we were under contract to start building, and we felt pretty good about it!

but then...I accidentally stumbled upon a house for sale on zillow.

I immediately looked it up on UtahRealEstate and had a really strong feeling that we should go and look at it.

so I timidly brought it up to Taylor.

and of course his response was, "What are you doing looking at homes!? We are already under contract!"

But, he also knew, that if I didn't see this home, I wouldn't be able to get it out of my mind.

So he agreed to see it.

It was smaller than the one we were building, and we wouldn't be able to pick everything out, but...there was just something about it.

When we started looking around inside, I immediately fell in love.

There was something about the feeling of the home...I just knew it was where we were supposed to be!

Taylor and I didn't say anything as we looked around the home...it was probably the most silent "walk-through" we've ever had.

After getting back into our car, I turned to Taylor and said, "What do you think?"

I was sure that he had completely nixed the idea of this home, since we WERE under contract for another home.

He turned to me and said, "Kells, that's our home."

And then I started crying in the car. HA 

I was just so happy that we had the exact same impressions while in the home.

So we hurriedly got out of the contract of the to-build home and put in an offer on the new home.

Well...actually, we were technically still under contract with the other home when we put in the offer on the new home.

TALK ABOUT STRESS AND RISK

but our realtor told us that if we wanted this new home, we had to put an offer in FAST.

so, we trusted our gut, and put the offer in.

they had 24 hours to respond.

the LONGEST 24 hours ever!

then, later that night, we found out that one of the neighbors had come over and also put an offer in.

they wanted to stay in the neighborhood, but wanted to "upsize" their current home, and were really interested in "our" home!

our realtor told us we should probably up our offer.

so we upped by 10,000 and made it a really attractive offer.

he also warned us that oftentimes, a seller will sell to someone they know over someone they don't know.

which made us REALLY nervous.

so the next day, I was sitting by my in-laws pool and anxiously waiting for a phone call.

finally, the call came, and our realtor said, "Congratulations! You and Taylor are homeowners!"

I FREAKED.

I was sooo happy!

I wanted to tell Taylor in person, so I drove straight to his work.

I was smiling and laughing and crying the whole way there.

I so badly wanted to call him and tell him but I knew I wanted to see his expression when I told him we GOT THE HOUSE.

I burst into his office and said, "WE GOT IT!"

HAPPINESS.

seriously, the best feeling ever.

the next couple of weeks meant major cleaning/packing/decluttering.

we've only lived in the one apartment the whole time we have been married.

and it was the cutest ever. 

I was really sentimentally sad to leave it, but since moving into our home, I haven't missed it once. ha

but really, so far, we have been so guided and so blessed to both places we have called home.

we decided to move in with Taylor's parents while waiting to close, so we could save 2 months of rent.

so we had to clean and pack fast!

but of course, I got super sick two days before our last day in the apartment.

which made me sooo sad, because I had so many cute plans on how to celebrate our last night in our first little home. 

but after I crashed in the bedroom, I woke up to find the rest of the cleaning/packing DONE.

taylor is a gem.

here I am, all sick with my little hero, tayrayg.

can you see my glazed over eyes? haha

we just couldn't be happier that it all worked out.

(p.s. luckily, our realtor worked magic, and we were able to get out of the contract without ANY penalty!)

and our very last picture in the place we were lucky to call our first home.

I was still sooo sick.

but it was taylor's birthday, so I tried so hard to "feel better."

and look at that birthday boy's face...classic.

and after a crazy few weeks of getting things together for the loan office (why is that such a nightmare? seriously, they asked for the same documents like a million times!), the home was finally, officially, OURS.

it's crazy how life just comes together, isn't it?
I mean, I literally ACCIDENTALLY found our home.
and now I don't even know what we would do without it!
we are so meant to be where we are, and we feel that every single day.

tomorrow, I am OFF TO WASHINGTON DC!
a little historical trippy trip with a bunch of my students! wahoo!

my favorite things

owning a home is SO fun.

but suddenly SO expensive.

and my to-do list never ends.

there is always something I "need" for the house. ha

before I do a full reveal (which may be different posts throughout the next few weeks, since we are working on one room at a time), I just wanted to share a few of my very favorite things about owning our home.

p.s. we are in LOVE with it.

every day (without fail), one of us says to the other, "I just LOVE our house." or "we are so lucky to live here!" or "we totally scored on this."

something to that effect.

so, a few of my favorite things:

1. our neighborhood!!

we live in just the cutest neighborhood.

last night, we went on a run through the neighborhood (actually, I ran, and taylor long-boarded behind me...he doesn't let me go alone when it's dark, and he didn't feel like running that late. ha), and we were loving looking at all of the cute houses.

2. I am in love with my new running routes.

just take a look at this:

I get so giddy to go running on these new routes!

our neighborhood has private access to this river trail, and it is amazing.

literally 20 feet from our house, and we are on the trail.

taylor and I have taken quite a few after-dinner strolls the past few weeks on the trails.

3. a backyard!

taylor looooves landscaping, so watching him mow our yard is like watching a two year old on christmas morning. 

we eat dinner on our patio furniture almost every night.

and it is divine.

and working out in my own backyard?

HEAVEN

taylor and I love spending time outside...so it's no surprise that we have more furniture in our backyard than in our whole house. HA

and every evening possible, we are out by this firepit.

4. the cutest gas station down the road

is that possible? a cute gas station?

okay, it's not really cute. but we've gotten in this little habit of going down to the gas station just a few minutes away, and the cutest asian family owns it, and we are becoming their new best friends.

so last night after our run, and to "top off" our anniversary, we went to the gas station, got some yummy drinks, and then drank them out by the fire while we chatted.

THE GREATEST

....and the owners may or may not have given us a "delivery menu" for the gas station HAHAHA

5. peaking in on taylor in our office

 we haven't finished this room, but we are loving how it is already coming together.

and it's so fun that taylor finally has an office.

he walks into the door every evening with the mail in his hands, and after giving me a kiss, he goes and sits down at his cute little desk and opens up all of the mail.

it's darling.

hopefully this post didn't sound too "braggy," we are just so thrilled with our new little life in our dreamy home, and I had to share some of my favorite things!

can life be more perfect?

runs through a cute neighborhood,

followed by dinner on the patio, 

then a stroll on the river trail, 

topped off cuddled up next to the fire pit.

and tonight we are running away to park city to continue our anniversary celebration.

I cannot WAIT.

FOUR YEARS!

today, we celebrate FOUR YEARS.

I can hardly believe it.

we were such babies in these pictures. HA

taylor rolled over at like two in the morning, grabbed my hand, and whispered "happy anniversary!" in my ear this morning.

perfect start to our day!

 

we love celebrating the day of our anniversary by attending the temple.

I love it.

And then this weekend, we are running away together!

Four years ago, I thought I loved him

I had no idea.

Four years ago, I thought I was the happiest girl alive.

I had no idea.

Four years ago, I thought life couldn't get much better.

I had no idea.

TayRay, I love you more every day.

I am happier today than I was 4 years ago, because every day lived, means an extra day of my life with you in it.

And life gets better every. single. stinking. day. with you.

today is a happy day for lots of reasons!

we love celebrating love.

HAPPY OCTOBER 8th TO ALL THE LOVEBIRDS

make today special.

 because in our universe, it's a special, special day.

REAL TALK

someone commented on our last blog post asking if taylor and I ever fight or disagree. HA

taylor and I laughed pretty hard at that.

YES, YES...and yes, some more.

There are quite a few things we don't see eye-to-eye on, and we definitely do have disagreements.

our arguments are fairly mild--we really do try to see the other person's point of view.

and luckily, we are both very quick to laugh and forgive.

in fact, when things get too heated, we have this "thing" we do, where someone can call a time-out.

and we aren't allowed to talk about it anymore (at least until we cool down)

but as soon as someone calls a time-out, it somehow always makes us laugh--probably because we are just so angry, and it always leads to ridiculousness.

anyways, the other day, taylor and I were arguing about something stupid in the car.
Taylor angrily tossed his phone on the dashboard, and it BOUNCED off of the dashboard and flew right into the windshield, and....

immediate STARBURST in our windshield. NO JOKE

When we saw the crack, we both sat there in silence for a couple of seconds, and then I just started laughing so hard. Like seriously, what are the chances??
I had a really hard time seeing through my tears (of laughter) on the freeway after that.
After I broke into laughter, Taylor started laughing....which ended our argument real fast. HA
The best part, is that he didn't even throw his phone at the windshield!
He just did like a flick of the wrist to toss it on the dashboard, and it just bounced, and hit the windshield!
HAHHA I die every time I think about it.
I told taylor (through hysterics), "I can tell you exactly how much this argument was worth." HAHHA

another story along those lines...
when we were unpacking boxes a few weeks ago, I wanted taylor to unpack a specific box, and he didn't want to unpack that one yet, but I was persistent that we unpack them in the exact order I wanted them unpacked, because my name is kelli and I'm a control freak.
Taylor wanted to wait to unpack this particular box until we bought this shelf thing.
Well inside that box, were these notes I had given him on our last anniversary---they were little "open when..." notes (like open when you need a laugh, open when you've had a hard day, etc.)
So in a really sassy way, I said, "Well, do you at least want to unpack these cute little notes I spent time writing for you? Or do you want those to stay in the box forever too?"
Taylor gave me his little half smile and said, "I'll take the notes."
So I handed him the notes (all annoyed, mind you), and he pulled out this one:

...and said, "I knew I was saving this one for the perfect moment."
As soon as I saw that, I started laughing/crying--because, I really was being REALLY annoying.

so yes, we do fight.
but I usually like to remember and record the really happy times.
so, sorry if it doesn't seem like we are a normal couple who have normal arguments. ha

on a different note...
I LOVE OCTOBER
it is seriously my FAVORITE month.
and I could not have lucked out more to have gotten married in october!
this year is taylor's year to plan our anniversary, and he already spilled part of his little secret that we are leaving town for the weekend for a little getaway.
YES.
soooo excited!!
we are turning 4 years old tomorrow, and I could not be happier!