Saturday, July 18, 2015

We Moved! Again.

Our family went up to Utah about a month ago, and none of us were terribly excited to come back to Albuquerque. After a long discussion--10 hour car rides are convenient for those--Chris and I determined that if we weren't completely happy with where we were, we should consider other options. A big drawback in life was our house. While it was fine overall, there were a lot of little things wrong (and a few big things, like the dining room floor). So...why not look for a new house?

The next day we visited our first potential rental house, and another the next day, and the day after that. We drove home from Utah on a Sunday and by Wednesday we had put in an application for a house. On Thursday morning, we still hadn't heard back and I was getting anxious. They were still totally within their allotted response time, but still. To kill time, the boys and I took a ride down past what would be the girls' new elementary school. While there, I drove through a neighborhood that I had never seen before. It looked really nice, so I drove straight home and looked online to see if there were any houses available.

Ta-da! There was one that had been posted for only 6 hours. I called right away and set an appointment to see it. That afternoon, I made my kids drive around with me all over town picking up money orders for a deposit and application fees, collecting paperwork, filling out applications, and getting it all turned in to the property management company. It was over 100 degrees that day and the kids were not happy with being in and out of the car so much. But, it was worth it. We had everything turned in by 5:20 that afternoon to an office that closed at 5:30.

The happy ending to that story is that we got the house! When the lady called to tell me that we had been approved, she told me that six other applications had been turned in after ours. There was one more turned in the day we signed the lease. What can I say? It's just that good of a house.


We had four weeks from the time that we first had the idea to move until we were loading the truck. It was a quick decision and a quick move. The entire truck was loaded in an hour and a half on Friday night, then unloaded in about an hour on Saturday morning. It was amazing.

It was kind of funny with the kids. They kept wanting to know when we were going to stay in a hotel. Our last three moves have been to a new state. This time we moved less than fifteen minutes away. Also, I find it noteworthy that Simon has moved twice now and he's not even one year old yet. Audrey will be going to her fifth new school, and Megan's first day of kindergarten will be her fourth first day of school. Apparently we move a lot...maybe this time we'll stick around longer.

Back to the house. I borrowed a few pictures from the online listing.







Even more amazing? We moved in one week ago, and we are already done unpacking. The only things still to do are getting rid of the boxes and rearranging the garage. But, that's a project that been on our list for months already. Now it's just in a different garage.

The kids are pretty excited about their bedrooms. We finally put Ben and Simon in together. I love that the bedrooms are all upstairs, which means Simon is no longer napping right next to the front door and being woken up all the time. We have learned, however, that Simon talks himself to sleep, sometimes for more than half an hour at a time. Ben is working on getting used to that.



The girls like that they don't have to have a bunk bed. Although, they weren't so happy with me taking pictures right at that moment.



Our bedroom is pretty sweet, too. Anything that can make a king size bed look small is impressive.



We have an awesome backyard. Grass in Albuquerque!


I even found a good place for my rooster.


My most favorite room in my house is the living room.



Everything has gone so well with us getting into this house. Not only did we beat out all the other applications, we were able to get out of the lease on our old house. The landlord was more than happy to let us break our contract in favor of renting it for a higher price than we were paying. New tenants were found very quickly--they actually started moving in their stuff the afternoon we were gone. We got our deposit back and everything, even though we technically still had 11 months on our lease.

We're getting into our new ward and neighborhood nicely, too. Already, in just one week, we've helped with an Eagle Scout project, been visited by the Relief Society presidency, gone to the park to shoot off water balloon rockets, picked plums with several neighbors, and tonight we went to a birthday party for a 4 year old. I very much feel like this is the right place for our family to be now.

And the icing on the cake? The view from the balcony that comes off the master bedroom.


2 comments:

Laura said...

Facebook Comments:

July 18 at 10:39pm

Wendi Beauchaine--Looks like a really nice place. You are getting to be a pro at this moving thing.


July 18 at 10:50pm

Liz Clegg Nielsen--Oh Laura this makes me sooooooo happy! The house is perfect! I love all the window seats and such in the bedrooms. The rooms all look pretty big too. Your room is a-maze-ing! And it sounds like the ward and neighborhood are pretty impressive too. Seriously, what a blessing! PS. I had a dream we came to stay with you a few months back and that room off your kitchen looks exactly like it did in my dream! Kind of creepy!!!


July 18 at 11:19pm

Jeri Lynn Fisher--That looks awesome!!! It sounds like you're meant to be there.


July 19 at 12:06am

Michele Wallace Clegg--I'm sad there is no wall of books- put that in soon


July 19 at 7:56am

Wendy May Wheelwright Webb--Much better, I love your new house, such an improvement!


July 19 at 8:05am

Mark Anderson--Wow awesome! Can't wait to see it :)

Chris Wampler replied We're a lot closer to you guys now. You'll have to come by some time.


July 19 at 9:06 pm

Amy Phillips Christison--I have visited every house you guys have ever lived in. Looks like I need another road trip!

Laura Wampler replied Come with everybody in October!!!

Tannie Datwyler said...

Laura, I am SO HAPPY for you. The house looks amazing. What a difference a move can make!!