The Move To Our New House - Temecula, CA - April 9, 2016

Robbie and I made the decision to move out of our apartment way back in October of 2015. We had been having issues with our neighbors directly below us, and we had just outgrown apartment living. Back in October we set out to buy a house. We happened to stumble across a great realtor and lender at the SAME open house one Sunday afternoon. After meeting with our lender, he gave us a cap, and we began looking for houses that met our criteria. From October to March, we probably looked at 100 houses (in person and online) combined. It was exhausting because nothing struck our fancy as a 'forever' home. We liked the idea of buying a 'forever' home vs. buying a starter home and going through the hassle of selling it in a few years. March snuck up on us real quick, and we had to figure out what to do, as our lease on our apartment was up in May, and we knew we weren't going to be renewing it. We are not the kind of people who make snap decisions based on urgency, especially one so large as buying a house. One day in mid-March, Robbie and I had a discussion about renting a house. We talked about the advantages of saving money for a few years to increase our house spending cap, and to also give us more time to make such a huge decision. We both really liked the idea. So literally that night, we went onto Zillow and looked for houses to rent. We found one we liked that had only been on the market for not even 24 hours. Robbie called the realtor the very next morning, and we got an appointment to view the house that same afternoon. Before we saw the house, we knew that it was bigger than any of our apartments have ever been, with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, it had 2 levels, an upstairs laundry room, our very own backyard, and most importantly, we had our very own walls! When we saw the house, we liked what we saw, and that night we filled out and turned in the required paperwork. The realtor said we were one of 12 applicants from that day that the owner was choosing from. We found out that the owners would be taking care of the taxes on the house, as well as the Home Owners Association fee! We kept our fingers crossed until 2 days later when Robbie got the call that we got the house! Wahoooo!

To make our application more attractive to the owners, we put a lease start date of April 1, increased the asked rent $50, and were willing to sign a 2 year lease. That, and the fact it was only the 2 of us without pets (the owner didn't want cats), gave us the green light. The April 1 lease start date also meant we had to act fast with our apartment as well. Management advised us that if we want to break our lease we can, but if they can rent it out between our move-out date and the end of our lease, we won't owe rent through the end of our lease. Knowing that, we decided April 9th as our moving day. This way we won't let the house sit vacant for too long, and we are giving the apartments time to rent out our old place, so hopefully we won't be on the hook for our May rent.

In planning our move, we confirmed the same movers who helped us move into our apartment last May. This time, however, they moved our stuff on both ends, and they brought the truck, too! Easy! Being we have moved so many times, it's pretty much clockwork on who does what in the way of  changing addresses and all that fun stuff. We save all our boxes from move to move, so it was easy to start the packing process. We took a Saturday and just packed like ninjas! It was really the most stress-free move prep that we have ever had; we are seasoned veterans! We had 9 days from when we got the keys to our new house to when we moved in, so that allowed us to bring small loads of stuff over, like our clothes. It also allowed time to clean stuff that the previous tentent's didn't.

April 9th came quick, and we were ready to go. The movers were a couple hours late (we had a 10am start time), but it didn't matter that much to us because they were packing and unpacking the truck, and we had nowhere to be that day. While we waited, we wasted time being silly. If other people saw us, they would've declared us insane!

It was a lot of fun watching the moving crew just take load after load while we did nothing, haha. Our entertainment while the movers were there was trying to get a ping pong ball into a standing lampshade without it bouncing. We both succeeded. Mind you, we were on the 3rd floor, and they we taking dolly's down those stairs. It was great. It took about 2 hours for them to clear our apartment, and then we were on our way to our new house!

Unloading all our stuff was much quicker, and the movers even helped put together our complicated bed! The movers pulled away after about an hour 15, and the house was ours (kind of....the owners are in China, so it pretty much is ours)!

It didn't take us long to unpack; we were pretty much done the next day. The last picture was hung on the wall that Friday, just in time for our first house-guest later the next day!

Below is a virtual tour of our home with captions below each picture, as I'm sure you all want to see it!

From our front entrance, looking into the living room to the back left, and the dining room and kitchen to the back right. Just inside the entrance to the left is a front closet and our stairwell. Between the stairwell and living room is the 1/2 bath.

Our huge living room, complete with a fireplace!

Dining room leading to the living room, taken from the kitchen.

Dining room leading to the kitchen, taken from the living room.

Our stairwell,which makes a 180 degree turn, leading to our first ever 2nd floor.

Top of the stairs, leading into what will be our guest bedroom. We are waiting to fill it until our first overnight guest comes!

Huge master bedroom, with master bathroom to the right, and master closet to the left.

Master closet.

The first of my favorite designs of the house. This built-in alcove is just outside the master bedroom, and perfect for both our families pictures, and our wedding photo in the middle!

Down the hall from our master bedroom is my office.

Our eastern-facing view that I get to look out at everyday from my office! Robbie's work is to the right; it's close enough for him to walk to and from work each day.

Just outside my office and to the left is the guest bathroom.

The second of my favorite designs of the house. This is right outside of my office, a long countertop, perfect for family and adventure photos!

Our backyard, with mountain views! Lovely!

The morning after we moved in, Sunday, I woke up early to watch the sunrise being we have a great eastern-facing view, but it was clouded over, which still made for a cool photo. The clouds were moving north, just crawling through the mountains! 

Our first sunrise came on Monday morning. It was a pretty one!

As I write this, we have been in this house for exactly a week, and we are going to relish the next 2 years in it, and make lots of memories! Hopefully after the 2 years are over, we will be making our last move ever into our 'forever' home! In the mean time, who's coming to visit?! We have room for you!

"Welcome to my house!" -Flo Rida

Family and Baseball - Phoenix, AZ - March 4-6, 2016

It's always a good day when I get to see my sweet little nephews AND see the Brewers all at once, and Robbie and I were able to do just that the first weekend in March! My sister-in-law's parents were on vacation in the Phoenix area, and my sister-in-law and nephews were joining them for part of the time. When we heard that they were coming to Phoenix, there was no doubt that we were going to see them at some point in their visit! It turned out that the first weekend worked for both parties, and it just so happened that the Brewers were playing their first weekend of Spring Training in the Cactus League as well! We were set to go!

We left on Friday afternoon for the drive east through the desert, and after a long 5.5 hours, we were settling in to our hotel. The vacation rental that Maura's parents were staying at was close to where the Brewers were playing their game on Saturday, so we got a hotel near both locations!

Saturday morning we woke up and by 8:30am, we were ready to see our nephews! When we arrived at the condo, JG was filled with energy and ready to go! He instantly lifted my spirits! We had a few hours before we had to leave for the baseball game, so that time was spent at the community's playground. Although, JG only wanted to get dirty playing with the woodchips surrounding the playground! The curiosity this kid has is amazing! Both Robbie and I got our cardio in that morning chasing JG around, but it was totally worth it! I can't wait for William and Aiden to be mobile like JG is! It won't be long!

After heading back to the house from the playground, William and Aiden were awake, and we were able to hang out with them before we had to leave. The twins are getting so big since the last time we've seen them, and they have just enough differences to tell them apart! The twins are getting stronger and bigger by the day. They can now sit up with support, and they are more aware of their surroundings, which was apparent as they wanted to be a part of every conversation! As soon as each of the twins saw me, it was instant happiness, for all of us! They are such hams! I was able to hold them for a little bit, and of course love them up! I almost blew off the game just to stay with them...almost!

It was eventually time to head out to the game, and I was excited. Baseball is back! In Spring Training baseball, there is a Cactus League in Arizona, and a Citrus League in Florida. The Brewers have always been in the Cactus League for as long as I can remember (maybe forever), and this was our very first Spring Training game that we attended. It's a hard month to get away because we love March Madness so much that we put baseball on the back-burner usually. However, being we had a huge reason to be in Phoenix, we decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone! The Brewers play their home games at Maryvale Stadium on the western side of Phoenix, but they were the 'away' team that day, playing the Oakland A's. The A's play their home games at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, an eastern suburb of the Phoenix area.

When we got to the stadium, it was set up like we were attending a high school baseball game. Parking was in a grassy field next to the stadium, and the stadium itself was about the size of a college venue. I kind of liked the set-up of Spring Training. It was more intimate. We didn't get tickets to the game until the morning of, and I ended up purchasing the cheapest one's available, and the seats happened to be in the very first row, right behind the Brewers dugout! How awesome! We got into the stadium just as the National Anthem was being sung, and shortly after, baseball commenced!

A lot of Spring Training games allow the non-starters to get some action, much like the NFL's pre-season. During the off-season, the Brewers traded away a lot of their well-known players for young guys, So, on this day, I only knew 3 players in the starting line-up, including the starting pitcher. It was fun for me to see the young talent we have this year. Our farm system is finally shaping up nicely, so in a few years we *might* be an above-decent team. Hehe! Robbie had me keep an eye on our new shortstop, #72 Orlando Arcia. Apparently he's a talented up-and-comer....? You heard it here first when he's named Rookie of the Year! ;)

It was so nice to hear the crack of the bat again, and the thought of each team starting on the same playing field (no pun intended) was a good one! The dream of the post-season was up for grabs for anyone!

Eventually Robbie and I moved to a shady area of the bleachers to cool off. We moved to the very last row, but being the stadium was so small, they were still really great seats! I actually preferred them for the purpose of seeing the whole field better.

The Brewers had their bats going from the start, hitting for the cycle as a team! Lucroy added a few doubles, and I could see he was back into his old form. Jimmy Nelson was the starting pitcher for the game, and he had 3 shut-out  innings, and newbie Rymer Liriano had the games lone triple! The Brewers even hit 3 homeruns in the game. If this is any indication of what the season has in store, it'll be a fun 6 months! The game ended in a tie, 8-8; in Spring Training, they don't have extra innings. I was very happy with their production, and I'm excited to see this young team throughout the season.

After the game, we headed right back to visit with the family a whilelonger, just as the twins were coming back from a walk with their Grandma. JG was busy playing hide-and-seek with Grandpa! Again, as soon as I locked eyes with the twins, we were all swooning over each other. I just love them! I was able to help with their bedtime routine and feed both of them. They were so calm the whole time we were there. Maura's mom wanted me to stay for their whole visit! Robbie was getting over a cold and felt bad that he couldn't have as much interaction with them. Of course all JG wanted to do was play outside, and he was constantly calling for his "Uncle Wobbie." Before bedtime, I sat down to a book with JG, and he was practically reading it to me. It's incredible how gosh darn smart he is!

I am so thankful that we have such an impact in our nephew's live's given the distance between us, and that our relationship with Johnny and Maura is so strong! After the boys went to bed, Robbie and I were about ready to turn in as well, so we said our goodbye's then, and headed back to our hotel.

That Saturday was such a great day, getting to do the 2 things I love the most; seeing my nephew's and baseball! There is a lot to look forward to when Opening Day is here, and I just cannot wait. Until then, my Badgers are about to enter the NCAA Tournament after a very surprising season. That's another story!