Homeless

Well we are officially homeless... sort of. Our home is sold and closed. By tomorrow we will have everything moved out. We will be moving into my parents' basement until our new home is completed (hopefully August 3rd). Although we have been planning for our new home for at least a year, everything seems to have happened pretty fast.


We put our Herriman home up for sale in January and it sold at the end of February. We had about a month to get our plans for our new home finalized and construction financing in place. Branden and I had to make tons of decisions very quickly, but luckily I have been thinking about this home for a couple of years. We've gotten all the details ironed out and now we just have to sit back and wait while our dream home is built! (More details on the home coming later.)

Right now I am feeling mixed emotions.

#1 Exhausted. Packing up four years worth of stuff sucks big time. Plus I worked an extra 100 hours at work in the last month. We are busy, busy, busy!

#2 So excited about our new home!!! Those of you who know me well, know that I am crazy when it comes to houses. I daydream about homes constantly and I actually get butterflies when I think about building a new home.

#3 So sad about leaving our awesome neighborhood. I love our cute little community here; the parks, the roads I run on, the swing set across the street from our house... Most of all I love our awesome friends here. We have been so lucky to make such good friends. I intend to come back all the time for swimming, game nights, play dates, craft night, dance classes and maybe even Bachelor :) Plus you are all invited to visit our new home anytime!!!

So goodbye old house. We love you for all the good times we've shared and for all the work we've put into you! Thanks for being such a great first home.

BIG News for Utahns Buying a Home!!!

If anyone out there is thinking of buying a new home, now really is the best time! Not only is the government offering an $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers, but now Utahns will be able to receive up to $6,000 in down payment assistance thanks to a new bill that has been passed by the Senate and the House. It is expected that Governor Huntsman will sign the "Home Run" Bill at the beginning of the week. This bill applies to anyone buying a new construction home, not just first time buyers. I have been doing a lot of research on this for work, so if anyone has questions, let me know.

The following article is from KSL.com:

Senate OKs bill to help buyers of new homes.
March 10th, 2009 @ 8:00am
By Mary Richards

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Senate has approved a measure that would give Utahns financial help with the down payment when buying a brand new home.

Senate Bill 260, sponsored by Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, would give people $6,000 for the down payment on a new home. The Standard Examiner reports the money would come from the $10 million Utah is set to receive for housing assistance from the federal stimulus package. The money would go to more than 1,600 buyers on a first-come, first-serve basis.

It's an effort to help homebuyers and home builders by reducing the number of new homes sitting on the market since a housing boom declined about two years ago.

The grants would apply only to a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage for people who make no more than $75,000 a year. It's for first-time homebuyers and existing homeowners who qualify.

Realtors and economists say this program could really help the housing market. The University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research told the Standard Examiner the program could create 8,000 jobs in Utah's housing sector and add $27 million in income tax revenue for the state.

(Note from Kristi: The $75,000 income cap is for singles, married couples can make up to $150,000 and still qualify.)

How old are you?

Our little munchkin Marina is now nearly sixteen months old and growing up more every day. We love hearing her new little words (recently- candy, grandpa, poo poo, uh oh) and seeing what crazy thing she will do next.

Today at work Katie & Brandi were asking Marina, "how old are you?" We tried teaching Marina to say she was "one" several months ago and it never took, so I didn't expect her to do anything. I tried to get her to say that she was "one" but today she held up one finger and said "three." She did this for the rest of the day whenever I asked her "how old are you?"

I can't believe she is already trying to act older than her age! What are we going to do with her?