Our NEW Home!!!

Here it is! Our NEW home in Iowa. Goodbye Greenville...you are officially a place of the past (although always in our hearts). Hello Iowa! We officially live here now! Now that we have a permanent address, maybe I can get my Iowa driver's license... What a task!

Anywho...about the house. Everything is finsihed: house, garage, deck, patios, etc. Everything EXCEPT...the yard. So sad. We will get sod and our fence in the spring. Our builder was not able to put in sod because of the drought here in Iowa. Can you believe it?!? ALL of the sod here and surrounding states is gone! Apparently, companies started running out of sod around the end of October...boo! Winter is going to be sooooo much fun with all that mud! Uhhhhhh....sarcasm much?!?

But, we are very thankful to have a beautiful home to start our marriage in and make endless memories for years to come. God is God and God is always good!

Signing our lives away! and drinking coffee while we do it...always!

The outside of the house!! (minus the sod :( )

TL: Red front door/TR: living room/BL&R: living room

Left to Right: stairway to basement/bedroom 3 and bathroom/bedroom 1 & 2/guest bathroom

KITCHEN! I seriously don't ever want to leave it! and view of the deck from the dining room.

Left to Right: mudroom (project!!)/guest bathroom/master bathroom

 We are so blessed! and very thankful to finally have a place to call home in Iowa!

HOUSE!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

We are moved into our house!! It was a 2-3 day process! (This is why I have been MIA on the bog. Understandable right?!?) Brad and I started moving Friday after closing. Brad's parents, sister and her husband came up to help us on Saturday! We got everything moved in on Saturday...and it took 3 U-haul trips! BUT! It is all in and now we have the wonderful task of unpacking a house of boxes (that have been in storage since the end of July). Ooooh my stars! This has definitely been the longest move of all time... We are very happy in our new home and we both love it so much! It feels amazing to be IN A HOME and not renting anymore.

Pictures will come soon! (We will have internet at the house on Tuesday afternoon!) Woohoo!

House Update ~ 11.12.2012

It. Is. Almost. Here!! We are moving in 3 days and some odd hours!! Woohoo!

The house is so stinkin close to being done! They are putting all of the finishing touches on it this week. The deck is finished, the fireplace tile is down, ALL of the light fixtures are up, and the stone is complete on the front of the house!!

We are just waiting on: the finishing paint job, the refrigerator delivery, and the final "clean up!"

We cannot contain our excitement!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we move in, we will be taking a family photo and mailing out our change of address!! (Obviously, I will also be taking 8 thousand quite a few pictures of our new house...and you will see them here!)

Yay new house and finally finished moving process! Woo!

House Update! 10.29.2012

Well, there were a few more changes this week, as well as a few problems/mistakes! Grrr...come on guys!! We have less than 3 weeks until we move in and there seems like there are still so many little details that need to come together.

During the past few days: the sidewalk was poured,the carpet was installed throughout the whole house, the handles/doorknobs/hinges were put on, the light fixtures outside were put on, the garage door panel was installed, the fireplace was finished (grout), and the appliances were put in...even though they were the WRONG ones and now they are fixed!

A couple of weeks ago, Brad and I had mentioned to our builder that the paint on the walls was not right. They assured us it was, but white and white happen to be the same color. After asking them about it again, they checked deeper into the situation and found out *drum roll* that is was the wrong color! So, they are now fixing it for us and yet again, we are happy customers. They won't be able to fix the paint until very close to the closing date, however, so that any other contractors won't "ding" it up.

House Update! 10.23.2012

Woohoo! Our house is less than 4 weeks from being done!! We're soooooooo excited!! Could you tell?!?

The last time I posted about a House Update was on October 6th! There were several days when nothing happened at the house. Talk about frustrating! Come on guys! Build that house!

Anyways, here are the latest updates on the house. The light fixtures are up, most of the counter tops are on the cabinets, the carpet padding has started to go down, the fireplace is all painted, the front patio, stairs, and the back patio were poured, and today the driveway and sidewalk was poured!

It's coming together quickly, but we are frantically counting down the days until we can move in our house and actually feel like we live here now and are done with this move! It will feel so wonderul to be in OUR house, with OUR stuff (all put away in nice, neat, clean, organized places), making OUR memories!

24 days and counting (down)!!

House Updates! as of 10.7.2012

October 1 - October 6

Whew...we've made it to October!! Now the count down is really on! Only 5 weeks left until we move into our house!! Woohoo!! This month has seen some outside changes, as well as some additions on the inside.

The siding is completely up! The empty space below the siding will be completed with rock. I can't wait to see it! The carpenters are still working on getting all of the kitchen cabinets up. There were a few pieces that were damaged during the delivery, so there may a bit of waiting this week. However, the fireplace mantle is up and all of the trim has been added to the walls! We're still changing quickly and on track!

Now I am all caught up. Hopefully, there will be some more changes to report this weekend!!

House Updates! for 9.2012

September 6 - September 28...

A lot has happened this month! I think this month has seen the most changes in the house!!

• the dry wall went up in about a week
• the corners of the walls were rounded (my request!!) - they are called "bull nose corners"
• the first coat of paint went on the walls!
• the hard wood in the entrance and the tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms were put down

We are so excited about being able to watch each detail of our house each day/week! It's all ours and we can't wait to start making memories in it!!

House Update! for 8.2012

August 27-31

I know. I know. I have been terrible about keeping everyone updated on the house! So, here I am trying to catch up! I decided to break the posts up by months, because I have been taking tons of pictures!! We stop by the house almost every day to see the new changes. It's amazing that there ARE changes almost every day. Every day that we see the house, it makes us want to get in it even more!!

In August...the builders finished all of the framing and they started putting up the dry wall!

Our NEW Home

So...after searching for homes in our new city and watching tons of them get sold immediately, Brad and I decided to build a home! Although we had a home in SC, this will be our home TOGETHER with both of our names on the mortgage! It's fun being married :)

Through the advice of several wise people in our lives, we decided on Skogman Homes. We were very impressed with the builder, the quality of the homes, and the reputation of the builder in our neighborhood and city. We also absolutely loved the neighborhood we are building in. It is the perfect mix of young couples, families, and older, retired couples. As we drove through the neighborhood we saw kids running around playing together, neighbors outside talking and laughing, and beautiful homes. What more could we ask for?!? We bought one of the last lots in the neighborhood, so the neighborhood will soon be complete!

Ground was broken on our lot on July 30th and our home is scheduled to be complete early November! Our possession/move-in date is scheduled for November 16th!! Fast right?!? Here are a few of the pictures we have taken of our home being built. At the end of the process, I am going to make an album of the timeline of our first home being built!