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!