We Bought A Lot

my top + leggings + boots + sunglasses

Surprise! We bought a lot!! Cue all the emotions possible!! We are so excited and happy and sad and nervous and ALL THE THINGS at once! But we know this is the right choice for our family and can’t wait to take you along!! So what better way to kick it off then to give you the behind the scenes details of why we are moving and what it took to get the lot we love!

: THE BACK STORY

2020 was a crazy time for us, as I’m sure it was for all of you. In early 2020 we took a couples trip with my family to Hawaii. While we were there, I just felt such a pull that we needed a change for our family. Some kind of new adventure or fresh start and I couldn’t shake it. I told Joe about it and while he thought I was crazy, he didn’t totally shut me down. We started considering our options. We even looked up job openings for him in Hawaii, (which we found one!) and our hometown of St George.  And then the pandemic hit and things got trickier.

We had been in Utah and at Joe’s current job long enough that we needed to start making more long term decisions. The decision needed to be made to buy in to the current practice and settle down long term, or find our future area to make a more permanent home.

When we built our current home, we loved the lot. Our house is in a cul de sac and the property behind us was city owned, which meant NO backyard neighbors. We LOVED that privacy, but it was short lived. Those have now been sold and a spot we once loved is not checking off as many of our dream boxes anymore. Our house itself was also something we designed ourselves. And while we love so much of it, we were not professionals and there are a lot of things that could’ve been done better in order to fit our families needs, especially as our kids are growing up.

: FINDING THE RIGHT LOT

If the pandemic didn’t make the rest of life crazy enough, it for sure did when it came to finding the right lot. If you know the Utah housing market right now, it is basically pure insanity. Lots and houses for sale are pretty much non-existent and sell within hours of being listed. Pair that up with having very specific needs/wants on our list, and it definitely took some time, but we felt like it was the plan we needed to go with and started looking in August.

Now rewind a little back to when we first moved back to Utah and we were in our rental while we built our current house. A friend reached out to us and said he had the perfect land for us. We blew him off because we had just bought our current lot and were still building! Fast forward to August and that land he had mentioned was still available. In my mind it wasn’t where I wanted to live so even though I agreed to go check it out, I went into it with a bad attitude.

Driving home from seeing it I had the most distinct feeling that this was the one. Nobody can ever build behind us. It is expansive and spacious enough for us to grow in and build the home we want. My dream of having chickens and a cow are possible! Yes, I’m so serious and yes my people think I’m crazy!! haha. We are close to trails and the mountains to play and explore in. And the more family/friends we showed it to, the more they agreed and excited we got.

It took a lot of back and forth and what felt like endless paperwork and negotiating, but it is finally ours and we cannot wait!!

: HOW DOES EVERYONE FEEL ABOUT MOVING? 

Every single one of us have so many mixed emotions. We LOVE our current neighbors so much and they have become some of our dearest friends. Our current proximity to the schools, grocery stores, church, and restaurants is so convenient and will be a big adjustment in our new area. The kids get so excited about the change and the excitement of a new adventure, but just like any kid when they think of moving away from friends and their lives right now, there are sad and hard emotions there too. But the pros are all there too. The space and area are something we are so excited for. It is much closer to Joe’s work, which gives us more Joe time that we are always missing. Change is always hard, but we know we are strong and resilient and this is right for our family.

: WHAT DOES THE TIMELINE LOOK LIKE? 

We felt a rush to buy the land and get that all under contract. But the build itself will be a process. We want to make sure we think out things as far as space planning and growing kids! Right now we have FOUR kids sharing ONE bathroom! We are hoping to break land in early Fall. But if you’ve built before you know how long things take and usually things are always behind. We are thrilled to be working with Elizabeth Hales on the build and design.

: WILL YOU BE SHARING ALL THE DETAILS? 

YES!!! 100%! One of my favorite things about this community and this space is interacting with you and sharing what we love. This will be no exception. We will keep you in the loop from the design process, from the ground up – all the way until move in day and cannot wait!

. . .

I hope this helps fill you in a little more on the back story and first steps of this new adventure for our family. The kind comments and excitement filling our comments and direct messages is overwhelming! We feel so grateful to have this community supporting us and along for the ride!