We're Moooving!

It's that time again!  This is one of the most exciting moves for us.  I know most of you know, but we are moving back to Utah.  Back to what I call my happy little town, (aka St. George).  I fell in love with that place long ago and it feels like home to us.  Before I go on, first, here is the outside of our new rental. We couldn't be more excited!!!!

We love the house (even though we've only seen pictures (I have more than I am posting here).  IT'S A HOUSE.  A HOUSE!  NOT AN APARTMENT.  A BEAUTIFUL SINGLE FAMILY HOUSE.

Something that we have been dreaming of for years now is to have a back yard.  A fenced in, private area that our kids could play safely in.  A place that our family could soak up the sun and relax without having to pack a bag or leave the house.  A place for the kids to explore on their own.  The list goes on.  It's a dream come true for us.  Having 3 boys who love being outside; this was top on our list.  It's not the biggest backyard, but it is the biggest one we have ever had (with grass).  It is plenty for us and we are over the moon excited about it!  The play set is actually going to stay for a while, until the owners figure out what they want to do with it.  It may end up staying the whole time.  If not, it just means more room to run. 

Our backyard has a peach tree that apparently produces a ton of peaches (especially around August).  That's a bonus for our friends and family as well:)!

We can hardly contain ourselves over here.  I'm even writing notes on the bathroom mirror.

And we are dancing, screaming, jumping, and praying prayers of gratitude every day (we've known for a couple of weeks now). 

As far as the house goes, it's the little things we are most excited about.  Number one, being the fenced in backyard.  Other things that are making us jump for joy are things like:

*Having a real garbage can, not a trash system like here in our apartments.  One that is just so conveniently on the side of our house and a trash man comes! 

*Having a hose...yes a HOSE!  When something gets barfed on, pooped on, or covered in mud...oh just simply take it out back and hose it off (maybe with a lot of soap for the barf and poop, but you know what I mean)!  A hose is also exciting because it means we can wash our cars on our driveway.  And of course kids can always find entertainment with a hose in the summer time.

*A driveway.  Right now we have a spot in front of our garage (which is a two car garage, but it's a tandem garage, so on the outside it looks like a one car garage) and when we get in or out of the car, there is a curb that we trip on constantly on both sides of our van.  It makes getting in and out (with a toddler too) a little challenging.  I know it could be worse, way worse, but it is annoying and we are looking forward to that driveway.

*No more hearing neighbors above/next to us slamming doors, running, pounding...waking up my sleeping babe.  Not to mention, they can't hear us.  It may take some getting use to again, but I know I'm going to love it!

*Having a neighborhood, not an apartment complex.  Awe.  The thought just makes me want to take a walk.  Maybe even start up jogging....wait a minute here...I'm getting carried away.

*Windows on all sides of the house.  This makes me so so so happy.  I love light.

*Being able to open my blinds without my neighbors being RIGHT there looking in.

*A place for our guests to park.  Holy toledos, that is so cool!  Right now our guests have to park down the street to come see us; and Rich can't even park near our apartment.  At the new house, they can park on our driveway, our R.V. parking, or right in front of our house along the curb.  How convenient! 

So honestly, those are the things that are exciting us the most about being in a house again.  It's such an amazing feeling to know we will have those luxuries again.  But what we are most excited about, (and this is not an exaggeration), about moving back to St. George is being near FAMILY again.  Truly!  I would live in an apartment again just to be near them again.  And I was willing, but this worked out to our delight.  Having that support system is seriously the greatest thing that we have missed.  I have my dad here, and I don't want to take away from the support he has given us or how much I love being near him.  It's just that in UT we have more people.  The kids will have grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  And best of all, we will be living just minutes away from most of them!!!  I'm going to miss my dad like crazy and trust me, I want to pack him in my bag, but I can't.  (This is a post in itself...lets focus on the positives here).  Birthdays, holidays, baptisms, sports, and just everyday life....oh how we have missed having a big family around.  We can't even begin to express what it means to us.  Family is everything.  Another perk about being back in St. George is that it is in reasonable driving distance to family out in Las Vegas and CA.  Again, there are no words for our excitement in that!  I will get to see my sister, her hub and their beautiful babies again, more frequently!!!  I haven't seen my mom since the beginning of 2008 and I haven't seen a lot of my family since 2007.  It's very exciting.  And I am looking forward to seeing friends in St. George, northern UT, and CA again too!!   It's the people that give us the most warm fuzzies when we think about this move.

But since I'm on a role with making  lists today.  Here are a few things I love about St. George besides what I listed above:

*The temple with a visitor's center.  We love going there, especially on Sunday (to the temple grounds), to let the kids walk around and feel the spirit.  It's so lovely.  I love the temple here, but unfortunately the temple grounds are closed on Sundays and it isn't a place to walk around; it only has a parking lot.  Love the temple though.

*Lakes near by!

*St. George has the best parks!  We haven't found any that compare (besides CA), and as you all know, we've lived in many places.

*It's centrally located to many fun places.

*It's easy to get around and find places.   It's not too big or too little.

*It's beautiful. We miss mountains.  And we love the red rocks against the green grass.

*It's just an overall great town that feels happy, safe, and homey, hence "my happy little town."

Texas has been good.  We really like San Antonio.  I think it's a great place to live, especially where we live in San Antonio.  There is a lot to do here, entertainment wise.  But it just isn't the same as having a lot of family around.  We'll be looking forward to visiting San Antonio again when we come to see my dad.  We like a lot about it.  But we love St. George.  We will be arriving in St. George sometime between the 29th of Feb-March 3rd.  We aren't certain when we will be leaving at this point.  Can't wait!!

A big shout out to Rich's brother Russ!  If it weren't for him, we more than likely would not be moving into this house.  When we found the house online, we immediately sent them an email and a family picture.  We later found out that they said, "this can't be real.  It's too good to be true."  Because we were out of state, they also felt sceptical about replying.  So we actually never heard back from them right away.  The next day, Russ called the number since he had the same area code (hoping to increase our chances) and they answered.  It turns out that the owners and Russ knew each other from church and because of the kind of people Russ and his wife are, they became open to us renting their home.  I won't write it all out, but it worked out so quickly and smoothly and we consider it to be a huge blessing!  Thanks Russ and Ren!!!!!  Times a million!