The House Hunt!

On our way home from Medford in mid-Feb Gracie started to talk about farms and grass and yards.  She very sweetly was saying "one day I want to have grass and a garden and a barn and horses and apple trees..." She meant nothing more than genuinely one day she would like to have those things.  I was telling Tim about it when I got back from the trip and it planted a seed in both of us.  During our time in Cannon Beach we were online looking at home prices.  Maybe, just maybe?  Moving and/or buying a house was not on our radar.  We were happy where we were and with our house we rented.  But we both felt guilty because as the girls got older we wanted to have a yard for them.  So we looked more seriously.  We contacted a realtor we found who put us in contact with a lender.  That was on a Friday.  Monday we were told Tim was pre-approved!  We spent every extra minute and late nights looking at homes online.  We drove to different areas to get a better look.  Three days later we found a house, put in an offer, and the next day it was accepted.  The month of March is a bit of a blur.  We were on the phone with our lender nearly every day.  On April 2nd we got to move in- just 30 days from when were pre-approved.  We are so happy in our new house, and it is absolutely perfect for us.  We moved to St. Helens, and it is about 30 miles from Tim's work.  He is happy commuting because there is never traffic- it's just distance.  The drive is beautiful.  St. Helens is on the Columbia River and is only about 15,000 people.  We do have Safeway and Starbucks...but I have to go back toward Beaverton for things like Target and Trader Joes.  We have made many changes to the yard, and I know there will be many more in the future.