If "Home is where the heart is" then our heart is about to get transplanted....out to Menifee, to be exact! Are we crazy?! Maybe. But also very excited - and a little bit terrified - about this new chapter in our lives!
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Why Menifee, one might ask? Isn't it way the heck out there? And HOT? Short answer: Yes & Yes. But there's more to it, so here goes.....
We've been beyond blessed to live in a home my Grandma owns in Oceanside for the past (nearly) 6 years! We moved in the week Matthew was born - in fact, our last boxes were moved from our apartment the day before he was born - moving is great for starting labor :) There are so many memories in this house, in fact it's hard to imagine our family anywhere else. But over the past few years, as our kids have grown, we realized we wanted a little more space, and a lot more backyard, for the kids.
After months of having "when we start house hunting" conversations, we decided to go ahead and get pre-approved. First step. Find out whether or not we could start looking. And really, that snowball tumbled fast. Before we knew it we were talking to a realtor - 2 realtors in fact - and lining up houses to view. We knew we wanted to look in North County, but we also knew that we were interested in Temecula (hence the 2 realtors). Josh's brother and his wife live in Temecula, and there are really some beautiful areas out there. It's also much more affordable. So here's what happened.....for what we were comfortable paying, and what we were looking for in a home, we had a grand total of ONE viewable home in North County. One. And that one was T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. Temecula had quite a few that we viewed, but when it came down to it, they were all at the top of our comfort zone with lots of work that needed to be done. We started looking at the wrong time, apparently, just as the market got craaaaaazzzzyyy competitive.
Besides Josh's bro living in Temecula, his sister and husband live in Menifee, as well as his Mom and step-dad who just recently purchased a home out there. Menifee. Hmmm. No harm in looking at some brand new model homes out there, right?
And that was it. Hook, line, and sinker. I'm a sucker for nice and new. I'm also a sucker for changing things up - and a move to a new location seemed right. We'd be near Josh's family and get to be closer to the cousins as they all grow up together, which is something I didn't have growing up and really hope my kids enjoy.
After lots of prayer and wise counsel, and after considering several different neighborhoods, we fell in love with Summerhouse at the Lakes in Menifee - such a fun community, a place we can really see our kids growing up! It has 3 man-made lakes that are stocked with bass & trout to fish. Walking paths around the lakes and throughout the community. Clubhouse that does community events and activities, a Gym, an AMAZING pool area (complete with WATERSLIDES - no joke). And we were able to get a beautiful home in a cul-de-sac, perfect for our family. This was all back in APRIL! I won't bore you with (any more) details - but we have felt SO blessed along this road - from prayer warriors, wise counsel, an awesome realtor, lender advisor, and even our escrow notary was a God-send! There have been bumps, twists and turns, tears, and lots of smiles along the way - as of FRIDAY we have keys in hand - it's truly ours :) Due to some family circumstances, which I'll be blogging about in the near future, we won't be moving up immediately, but we can't wait! We hope to have lots of visits from friends, BBQs & pool parties at our place!!!!! :)
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Ok, enough talk - PICS!
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The day we found out we won the bid, the lot was ours!
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From the ground up!
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The width of the backyard!! Josh on one end, me on the other!
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The "finished" backyard - or "mulch factory" as we like to call it. Well, finished except for grass - the dirt where Josh is standing is now grass.
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Last, but certainly not least, the POOL! We had SO much fun there this summer, and we weren't even living there yet - can't wait until next summer, and many summers to come!
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