Big News!

It's almost midnight.
The baby is in bed.
Eric is in Portland (comes home tomorrow).
I'm too tired to blog and don't feel like it at all this week.
But big events have been happening in the Fuessel home.
And even bigger events are to come at the end of the week.

I've been waiting to write this post so I can give every detail about the process so I don't forget it, but we all know that'll just take forever and I can't postpone this post any longer. So here is the condensed version.

...

We are now HOMEOWNERS!!!!!!
That's right. We bought our 1st home.
We closed on our house last Thursday and got the keys on Friday.
Had our first fancy dinner (card table and paper plates) at our new place with family on Sunday
and bought 15 gallons of paint yesterday.

We're now responsible adults with a mortgage.
Woot Woot!
It's always been our dream to be homeowners and that dream has finally come true.
But that's not all.

...

We're going to be on HGTV's HOUSE HUNTERS!
Filming starts this THURSDAY.
I can't believe we're going to be on HGTV.
It's only our most favorite network on television.
So. much. to. do. before. then.
The important question is:
What am I going to wear?

I'm exhausted already and we haven't even gotten started. I just want this week to be over so we can start moving into our new home and begin renovating it room by room.

Isn't she a beauty!

Side yard.

Living room...look at those gorgeous floors.

Kitchen. Needs some TLC.

Awesome backyard. Great shop and lots of extra storage.

Basement family room but we're turning it into the master.

Leila's room.

100/365

Parked outside one of the houses we checked out.

We have about 10 saved homes on Ourutahhomes in the Sugarhouse/Downtown SLC area. It's a sunny day so we ventured out there to get a feel for the neighborhood and street of those homes. It's one thing to see a picture of a home and another to see it in person because neighborhoods in downtown can vary from one block to another. One block can be a little dodgy where people don't take good care of their homes, and the very next block everyone has immaculate homes with well groomed lawns.

Some homes, we found, don't look nearly as good in the pictures, while others the pictures don't do them justice. Many of the homes in our price range need some TLC. We'd most likely need to redo the kitchen, bathrooms, add new floors, and paint. It's a lot of work but we'd be able to customize our home to our liking...and we're up for the challenge. We'd have to live in a construction zone for a little bit but it'd be worth it in the end.

For this reason, new construction is great...its clean, new, no need for renovations or worrying about the foundation, roof, mold, etc. It's move in ready and all your savings won't go towards renovations. There's something about being the first person to sit on your toilet, bathe in your tub, etc. But after many Many MANY months of deliberation, we decided the west side isn't for us - Daybreak specifically. We've been on the fence about Daybreak vs. Salt Lake for so long. As with any location, there are pros and cons to both. But I think we've finally decided. We have our heart set on Sugarhouse/downtown and no matter where we move the desire to live there will always remain. These homes have so much character and charm. Sugarhouse is known for it's great walkability and tree lined streets. The tree lined streets remind me of Park St., the street I grew up on. We love the quaint shops and unique cafe's, and want to be able to walk everywhere. This is where we want to live our life. We just can't imagine ourselves anywhere else. Then again, who knows, we may change our mind tomorrow.

Another thing we are drawn to in this area is the diversity: people from all walks of life, religions, and ethnicities. I want to be surrounded by CULTURE. This is similar to my childhood growing up in the Bay Area.

99/365

As I've mentioned before, we enjoy driving around neighborhoods, looking at homes and dreaming of our future home. Eagle Mountain is an extremely affordable place to build a home. Sure it's in BFE (beyond freakin' Egypt), but with the construction of Pioneer Crossing the commute is a lot shorter. We've never wanted to entertain the thought of living out there because it's, well, out there. Since we're in the market for a new home (we're not too incredibly serious at the moment because of our awesome set up at the storage facility), we figured it'd be smart to explore ALL our options before buying a home and checked out the builders in Eagle Mountain.  

For $129,990 with 1907 sqft you could build yourself a large single family home. Screaming deal! With that low of a mortgage we could afford to travel and then some. Tempting right? We asked ourselves if living out there is really as miserable as we think it would be. The answer: YES! After our drive we concluded we'd go CRAY-CRAY!  The only thing out there are homes, a Wal-Mart, a Smiths, and a few businesses. Think it'll be a decade before it's boomin'. No thanks. We're into the urban living. It reminds me a little too much of movies The Truman Show or The Stepford Wives. Sure it's a safe place to live and raise a family but we'd get so BORED. 

BOTTOM LINE: we'd be happy wherever we decide to build our roots...but this place isn't for us.   

We just want to decide where we want to live and focus on one place. We nixed Eagle Mountain - not that is was on our list in the first place. To continue our neighborhood search, tomorrow we'll venture out to Sugarhouse.

We ventured out to Alpine/Highland to see what kind of homes were for sale in that neck of the woods. We made a pit stop at this delicious place:

Rachel and Emily first introduced me to Blue Lemon years ago and it's divine. I've been dying to take Eric here...he was blown away by its deliciousness. I'm a sucker for soup...tomato basil and butternut squash are two of my fav's. I ordered the butternut squash soup and it knocked my socks off...it rocked my taste buds! It seriously was orgasmic. Hands down the best soup I've ever tasted. If I worked here, I'd make everyone order this soup. Yeah, it's that good. 

The Executive Chef, Todd Leonard, is so talented. During my trip to the bathroom I saw that Blue Lemon offers cooking classes given by Todd. I signed myself up...along with my girls Rachel and Emily. This week they are preparing us for some outdoor summer cooking: using your dutch oven. I've gotta buy me a dutch oven. 

                                   

This girl is obsessed with strings. I love to capture moments like these when she's playing with daddy. She didn't want to get ready for bed...she wanted to play.                                                     

P.S. I always back date my posts if I don't get around to posting on the day I take my pictures. It just makes posting for my project 365 easier. Anyway, it's Monday afternoon and I'm sitting in the office blogging about this post when a tenant comes into rent a unit. He's from Saratoga Springs (right next to Eagle Mountain). I told him how funny because I'm actually blogging about his neck of the woods. I asked him how he likes living out there. He said he loves it and doesn't have one bad thing to say about the community...except that he doesn't like is the 25 min commute to Orem and that it's still being developed (no movie theater, mall, etc.). He said Saratoga Springs is definitely nicer than Eagle Mountain and he wouldn't want to live out there either. Hhmm, interesting. To me they are one in the same. Overall, he said its a great place to live.