Goodbye Tempe, it’s been nice…

I hope someone finds you “paradise.”

All I can think of is Michael Scott singing to Toby. Any other Office fans know what I’m talking about?

After all my ranting and raving last post, we got the call the very next day (Friday) from the mortgage company saying that they had the paperwork back. We went and signed papers that same day, and had the keys a couple days later (Tues 8-31).

It was about the worst possible week to get the keys. I was supposed to work 20 hours that week for the first time in months, and Saturday was Tanner’s wedding. We took several carloads of stuff over during the week, including borrowing my dad’s truck and taking a bunch of stuff over as well. Friday night we spent the whole evening setting up for Tanner’s reception, and then it was wedding all day Saturday. After church on Sunday, we spent the whole rest of the day (until 2 AM) packing up. Luckily Monday was Labor Day, so with the help of the ward EQ, a borrowed truck and trailer, my dad’s truck, suburban and two trailers, and Matt’s truck, we got it all over in one load. Several of the men were kind enough to trek over to the new house and help us unload. We were sure grateful for the help! David and I still had to make a couple trips for the last little bit of junk.

We spent a few evenings, and all day one Saturday over there cleaning up. Now it’s FINALLY up on the market. We just pray it sells quickly.

Here is what we will miss most about Tempe… (in no particular order)

1. Our friends in the Tempe 10th Ward
2. Location, Location, Location. Right by all the freeways, and everything you could need within minutes.
3. Kiwanis Park. This was right around the corner from our house, about a 3 minute walk. When Shayla was newborn, I would put her in her stroller and take her for walks around the lake. We always said we were going to do the paddle boats, and we never did. There were always activities to do down there. I would often go running down there as well, cuz it just felt safer than the canal.
4. Our pool. We live in AZ. No pool is more convenient than the one in your own backyard. We’d like to think we will put one in this house someday, but we’ll have more cars to buy and kids to put through college before that ever happens.
5. Proximity to family. Luckily the drive to my parent’s home from the new house really isn’t that bad, but 15 minutes was better than 35-40.
6. I miss my big shower. That’s my biggest complaint about this house--not that our other shower in the old house was resort-style or anything. I do love that the new house as a Roman tub, but because of that, the shower in the Master Bath is dinky, and there’s nowhere to put anything. I have no idea how I’ll be able to shave my legs with a big pregnant belly. I guess that will have to be my excuse to take more baths.Not the best picture of the shower itself, but you can see that it’s just squished there in the corner. The toilet “closet” is quite large for just a toilet. I wish they would have made that smaller, scooted everything over and made the shower bigger.
7. Our big long driveway and carport. Although we much prefer having a garage to a carport, there were some advantages. It gave us a much longer driveway, and you could wash your car in the shade (and park it in the shade too). Right now our garage isn’t cleaned up yet, so we can’t park our cars in there--that and I haven’t bought the garage door remotes.

I think that’s it. I love having more space. I love having counter space, and not having to pull everything out of the cupboards to get to my crockpot (or just about anything else for that matter). I love that Shayla has room to crawl around (oh and we’re CLIMBING now)…time to get the stair gates.

So far the new ward seems friendly, and our church building is actually closer than it was in Tempe. The grocery store (Fry’s) is closer too. Really everything is pretty close except for Target, but it’s a pretty easy drive.

I’m starting to paint, and we have a long way to go before we’re organized and have furniture in all the rooms. But we have plenty of space for visitors, and welcome anyone that wants to stay. Just remember it’s going to be a work in progress for awhile!