Home Sweet Home

Time flies! I realized last week that we were coming up on our year mark of living in Arizona. I can hardly believe it! Today is the day! It seems crazy to think that when we moved into this house we didn’t even know about Wyatt and Dax was only 14 months old. It was a crazy time in our lives. Let’s flashback...

Austin had moved to Arizona before Dax and I at the first of the 2007 year to start a new job and begin classes. Dax and I waited in Utah to sell our house in Lehi. When Austin moved, our house had only been on the market for 2 weeks and we had no idea how fast it would sell with it being the dead of winter and oh so freezing! We had no idea when we would be a family again! Austin lived with his sister and their family and kept his eyes out for houses in this beautiful neighborhood that we absolutely loved in Queen Creek. But we obviously couldn’t make any moves because there was no way we could afford two mortgages and we had no idea when we would sell in Utah. Lo and behold, our house sold just less than 5 weeks of being on the market and escrow would close March 1st. Dax and I jumped on the first plane and quickly began our house hunt. We had to make a decision on a house in Arizona fast becuase I had been approved with my company to work from home, but that process took close to two months. The first place we headed back to was this dear neighborhood that for some reason kept drawing us in.

We had looked for houses earlier in December when we had been in Arizona for Christmas, and really loved two houses in the community. We debated long and hard whether or not we should just snatch one of them up since the market was so great for buyers at the time in AZ, but we didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves. What if our house in Utah took 6 months to sell? Well, when we retuned to Arizona in February, both houses were already gone and the development was basically sold out. We had already looked at every existing home for sell in the neighborhood, and there wasn’t really one that we feel in love with or felt right. I really wanted a brand new house, but we didn’t have time to build. We finally were able to touch base with the realtor of the builder of the development and he mentioned to us that his friend had purchased 4 houses in the neighborhood as an investment, but with the change in market, was planning on only keeping two. These houses weren’t even listed for the public to see. Basically the neighborhood was sold out and for some reason we were really lucky to be speaking to this guy. We walked into the first of the four houses and immediately fell in love. The floor plan was perfect, the location was perfect, the colors were perfect, the cabinets were perfect, the carpet was perfect....Everything I was hoping our new house would be, it was! It was completely finished and brand new, ready to move in. We just had to pick out our appliances, which we had an allowance for! We signed papers the next day and Dax and I headed back to Utah to pack the house up and move to Arizona!

It has been such a great year. We absolutely love our neighborhood and where we live. I knew we were supposed to be here for a reson. Our ward is amazing, we’ve made better friends than ever, and we have so much family around us. Utah was home to us for so many years, but finally we feel like we are “home”! We love being in Arizona! I decided to make our top 10 reasons of why we love Arizona so much!

10. AZ has more than one main highway in the valley (We love the I-15 and all, but seriously…)
9. We won’t ever have to remember the saying “Spring ahead, Fall back” and won’t ever need to remember what weekend Daylight Savings is!
8. We have street names. I know everyone says the grid system is the easiest thing in the world, but honestly, after almost 8 years it still confused me!
7. AZ has more than one professional sports team to root for (Sorry Jazz, we just weren’t that in to you!)
6. We will NEVER have to drive on an icy road, see our cold breath, or scrape off our windshield or driveway again! Hallelujah!
5. We can wear flip-flops, and sunglasses practically all year around!
4. There will never be a question if it will be snowing on Easter or Halloween.
3. Not only did we not have to say goodbye to Café Rio, but BONUS: we’ve got ourselves In ‘N Out
2. No more driving over the dreaded point of the mountain to go work…I just have to walk down the hallway.
1. The fact that we have a combination of two sets of parents and 5 sisters all within 10 miles of our house is the best thing by far about being in Arizona!