.{our soon-to-be-home}.

it is true-we have finally taken the plunge. last week bryan and i signed a contract for our new home.  ah. we are growing up.  the process began a long time ago, but always sat on the back burner for the longest time due to school, work, life, etc. we'd casually look through listings and make dream lists and such.  during the whole process we kept telling ourselves and everyone else that we would NEVER live in the East Valley (i.e. chandler, gilbert, mesa, etc.).  and little did we know that that is exactly where we would end up-gilbert.

so we looked and looked. tempe and south scottsdale were our main focus. nada. everything looked great inside (a 1960s home that have been completely redone) but then when i would click to exterior pictures my heart would just sink. ugly. no curb appeal.  i could never see myself driving up to the house and saying"yeah, i live here."  we thought of re doing the outside, but then we saw the neighbors and their homes were in the same shape. i wasn't feeling like home in any of these places.

and as we drove around the areas i noticed that there were no kids outside playing together or anything green. now i know we don't have kids just yet, but we hope to some day. and i want my kids to have neighbors that are around the same age so they can have play mates. and the whole green thing.... i HATE desert landscaping. rocks and cactus just don't do it for me. sigh. at this point i was becoming super discouraged.

then one day my sister and i went for a walk to some models by her house- just to see what they were like. and BAM there it was. i walked in and loved it. i had to show bry. i knew he would say it was kind of far away from the things and places that we liked to go. and trust me it is. but the home felt like a home to me.

a few weeks later i dragged bry through them on a walk again. and after going through all the other homes, this was the first and only one to this day in which he exclaimed, "i like this one. i really like it."  at first we both thought that it was a little large for just the two of us. but then with the wisdom of my sister we realized that we needed to look at it as a place we could grow in. and it was just that. perfect to grow in.

that was about three months ago.  we battled with how far it was. and put it on the back burner again and pursued more homes in the areas that we thought we wanted to live. we went out with a realtor, a family friend, and he showed us 5 houses. and then we went back to the house in gilbert and we knew. none of the other houses compared.

sure it was farther from work than we would like, but other than that it was great.  its bright. open. great floor plan. great ward (according to my sister), and close to jacks. being close to jackie was just an added bonus in all of it. not a necessity. couples in our same situation were moving into the ward and there were lots of young families. something our very first ward was lacking.

there are parks and green belts, and LOT and LOTS of trees. yes, that is right TREES.  in arizona! my childhood home had the same elements of tree lined drives. my sister and i share the same love for the tree lined street leading in from snowcreek to our house in walnut.  we loved how the trees changed color in the fall and dropped into the street adorning them with vibrant colors.

now these trees aren't nearly as mature as those trees and i'm not sure if they will ever grow to be that big, but anything is better than desert landscaping. so i am over joyed with the community.  we will be in the same ward as my sister and her family. that will be fun. and we will join the ward just as they are changing from 8 am start time to 11 am start time. how perfect.

our house right now is just a dirt lot. it will get started at the end of the month as soon as we go to the design studio to pick our interiors. it'll be a blue house with shutters and cream trim. at least that's the plan for now, we might change our minds.

here is a virtual tour of the model home. .{the farm house}. it worked from this computer. i hope it works. if not let me know. thanks. the count down is on! when we have a more exact date i will get it to you and pictures of where we are going to live!

p.s. a big thank you to my grandparents {grandma lee and grandpa lee} for all your help. and of course my mom and dad too. we couldn't have done it without you. and thank you to robyn and steve for supporting us and we promise not to be strangers, we understand it was farther than we all thought it would be, but it's not THAT far :). and to jackie and brad. we will try not to embarrass you or cramp your style in the ward :) we love you all.