7 years

Tyler at 22 months
This week marks 7 years in Austin/Round Rock. I was 8 months pregnant with Matthew and Tyler wasn't even 2 yet when we moved into a NEW apartment just down the road (I emphasize new b/c the place we lived in DE was a "hole").

Michael just got his Master's Degree from the University of Delaware the previous July, and in order to get a real job, he had to take exams in the state he would be living. Having spend a stint in Colorado, and living in the east, we thought we'd end up in one of those two places. We looked around at jobs and housing and thought and prayed about the feasability of it all. Neither one of us planned to come to Texas. Mostly because I grew up here (and wanted a new adventure) and Michael had a stigma against it (he is still working on that, but he's come a long way). After researching Colorado, California, Oregon, and a few spots on the east coast, it was quite disheartening to realize A) Physcial Therapist didn't make what they used to, the market was saturated, and it seemed to start at a teachers salary B) We wouldn't be in a home for several years, and it would be small and old (nothing against it, but not what we planned). I started to look in Texas, just to see. I really didn't want to go there. I have that independant spirit that seems to want to clear my own path and I thought that Texas would be going against that. The more I looked, the more I felt impressed to pray about this thought that kept nagging at me. I did, and it was undeniable. I hadn't brought it up to Michael until I really felt strongly about it. He was more open minded than I thought he would be, then we together prayer (over a period of time) and felt this was the place we would go. We thought maybe 5 years, then onto another adventure in another state. Hopefully Colorado someday.
Once we decided that, we had no money to "wait it out" till he got a job, so we bunked with my parents for about 6 weeks. Not my first preference (rememeber, that independant spirit) but they were more than willing to have us there. They were already coming for Michael's graduation at the end of July, and when I told them our plans mid July before they came out, I think they had to supress their shrills of excitement. Important to note that Tyler was the only grandchild at the time. I proposed a plan to them, that became our reality.

After graduation, we packed up and I flew to Texas with my mom and Tyler. Michael and my dad drove our U-Haul from Delaware to Texas in a remarkable period of time. Michael studied for a month solid going to the library for his exams. I hung out with Tyler and my mom at their home. Remember--7 months pregnant. Michael took his test, and we had about 2 weeks to wait for the results. Michael built a huge playscape in my parents backyard to pass the time. Also during that time, we looked all over the state of Texas for potential jobs. My parents were in Houston, and though they tried to lure us there, we knew we wanted to be elsewhere. We looked online at jobs in Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. We even drove out for a few interviews and to see what we felt about the areas.

Hangin' at my parents house wasn't so bad...I got to laugh at my dad wearing Bob the Builder hats and enjoy my mom, dad, brother Kirk, and Michael play with Tyler while I watched big and pregnant on the couch.
My mom was usually taking all these pictures....
When we came to Austin, he interviewed with Healthsouth and though they liked him, they didn't usually hire straight from grad school. We looked at an Austin/Far West location Cedar Park location and a Round Rock location. Michael liked the Round Rock location best, and I guess they were impressed with him, when they offered the job, he got to choose his location. Round Rock it was.

I was on the internet and phone calling around for apartment complexes. We knew we wanted to eventually buy a home, but wanted to get a feel for the area first. The Enclave at La Frontera is where we got an apartment on the 3rd floor, but with a parking garage that we didn't have to climb up and down steps each time we came home.

Passed the exams. Got the job. Found a place to live. Call ahead to our future ward and asked if some Elders could come help us move our stuff in. Too bad the moving truck couldn't fit in the parking garage--all our stuff still had to be carried up steps to the 3rd floor. Fortunately at that point, we didn't have a ton of furniture.

2 guys that came to help us move (Jessen and Denny) stayed after to chat with us. They both had 1 child each, the same age as Tyler. They invited us to join their babysitting swap, a concept we had never heard of, but sounded brilliant! This is a picture I found that I don't love of myself, but hey, its in the past.

This was the next day, our first day of church. I remember I wore that white eyelet maternity shirt and meeting the wives of those 2 men (Linda and Tracey). One of which became one of my dearest friends whom I spent many "stay at home mom" days for 4 years. Though she moved away 3 years ago, we talk nearly every week on the phone. I look back at this time fondly. It helped that her son, Evan, was Tyler's age and they became best buds. 10 days after we moved in, Matthew was born (3 weeks early) and this friend, Linda, took Tyler for us in the middle of the night as we rushed to the hospital. A scan from my scrapbook page.

In the past 7 years, we have come to truly love the area in which we live. We felt guided here, and here we've met people who have blessed our lives, and we have had the opportunity to serve others as well. I can't imagine my life withouth the experiences I've had in the past 7 years, living here in Austin, in the great state of Texas.

Wow, I need a new update~Crazy times 'round here

Here I am with Cali at the Design Center with some of our choices.

Here is our lot. Tree on the far left will by right by the fence in our backyard--I told Michael it is perfect for a fort. Unfortunately, the tree in the middle will have to go for the home to sit there. The other trees are at the back of the lot, and will probably eventually be in our backyard neighbors yards, but will still shade ours.
This is one of the many times (and surely not our last) that we took the kids to the Sales office at the model home. They came into our meeting (as they watched a DVD or ran rampant) and said, "come take a picture of us." How could I resist? I love it!

Crazy busy around here! Our house has been on the market for 22 days and we've had 14 people come through to look at it. Still no offers:( Thats ok...we have time. Everyone says our pricing is, "exact" but complaining about the road behind us, O'Connor. Not a major road, but the neighborhood entrance road that gets a good number of cars through.

We have gone to the design center twice and painstakingly decided on all the details of our home. We had a minimal budget for "upgrades" and stayed within it, which made me happy. I think it will be funny to walk around my future neighbors home (who all had the same builder) and think...."ahh, you opted to do the cap and riser stair system for $700 and even the starter step for an additional $700" or "hmmm, they upgraded from brushed nickel to brushed chrome for all of their faucets, that is a good $500." So many new terms that I learned.
This past week I was agonizing over our wood floors. We want them, budgeted for them, then realized what we budgeted through the design center wasn't very high quality wood floors. It would be a major leap to get a nice floor. We found a contracter where we could get the good stuff for a lot less than the cheap stuff through the builder.
We like the sample on the bottom left.
Problem is, we can't use our contractor until after we close on the house, and we can't close on an unfinished house.

Sooooo, since carpet is "standard" they will put it in, and we will pull it out the day we close. Painful, yes, but we will still use or sell that carpet. Also, get this, we will carpet our kitchen. Yes, you heard that right. When I told the design lady we wanted to do that, she said it was, "against code." To which I fought it and ask why. She sais because the kitchen is a "wet area." To which I persisted with "why is that against code?" She asked her bosses, and guess what??? We got approval! So the kitchen will be carpeted, because I want wood in my kitchen. I almost consented to tile in the kitchen, but realized its just not what I want, I want to go all the way, baby. I spent hours on the phone and email and asking people about what exactly comes "Standard" in our future home, so I could be fully educated.

These are our selections. Cabinet is kitchen and all bathrooms. I wanted white, but it wasn't an option. Michael wanted dark wood. We'll see how I like it after a while. Love my granite. Good Frizzay (not sure the spelling) carpet was a standard. Brick became an upgrade after we selected it, but we get to keep it at the standard price. To the left of the brick is our exterior paint.

There were already a great deal of Standard features in this home. A local custom builder, Scott Felder Homes, just recently bought out Newmark Homes here in Austin. Just in July as we were looking (the prices went up during our negotiations, but I held firm on that original price).
Cindy--our design specialist. She was nice and not pushy, I appreciated that.
As standard, we already get granite countertops in the kitchen, 5 inch baseboards throughout the house (I didn't realize this was so nice) 8 foot doors downstairs (again, didn't realize it was such a big deal), a drain in the laundry room, round edged corners on all the drywall, 42 inch kitchen cabinets, black wraught iron stairwell bars (what are those called again?), and crown moulding in 2 rooms. All the hardware (door knobs, lighting) is a silver, which we are coming from shiny gold hardware so we are thrilled about the silver. We would have loved to upgrade to a brushed silver, but decided not to.

For our kitchen, we got a Level 1 granite. Level 1 consisted of 4 choices---black, black, black, and gray. I couldn't believe they were so similar. I had my heart set on the brownish yellowish granite, so that was one of our big upgrades--we jumped to level 3 granite. We also upgraded to have them paint our ceilings white to match our baseboards instead of the same color they are painting the wall (a tan color I chose). I wasn't sure about this one, but after some research, realized I wanted the ceilings white because it makes the room seem bigger, and lightens the room, too. I like to see the edges. Another upgrade we chose was to cut down the tile for our kitchen backsplash, to "bullnose" the granite edges in our bathrooms (that was minimal, but it makes it round instead of straight/right angle at the edges), double flood lights at the soffit (DID NOT know what that meant, but it is the backyard lights at the corner, under the gutter. Also upgraded our front door just a touch so I could get the cute Texas star glass.
Close up on our granite (the small one) and cabinet.
I was glad the design lady wasn't pushy. Our sales guy just didn't understand why we would want to pay cash for our wood floors instead of rolling it into the price of our mortage. I kept telling him we were happy with the monthly payment and didn't want to go up anymore. I told this to my friends and they said, "That is why we have the housing crises that we do--pushy people trying to talk homeowners into more than they should try to afford."

We are anxious to sell our home, as we've decided--it just doesn't feel like ours anymore. We de personalized it quite a bit, and have to leave at a moments notice for people to come walk through. I do try to soak in the last bit of it, though. As I walk into the beautifully clean rooms, I have the constant thought...."I'm really going to miss this place." I'm able to drag out the goodbye, which I think will make it a tad easier in the end.

Now to share some pictures from the past month or so....

This is the Sister Missionary who helped me paint some rooms before our house went on the market. Her companion left before I could get a picture. That day, they spent 3 or 4 hours in my bedroom touching up paint on the ceiling that I should have done years ago. It was painstaking, so I had them do it:) Alyssa was in there the whole time talking their ears off. This Sister pictures was very cute with Alyssa. The other one was annoyed, it made me laugh.

We went to Russ and Kim's (in San Antonio) twice in August. Once for Kim's shower/Michael's bike race, and once because I photographed a wedding. We love to hang out with them.


On a neighborhood stroll--Alyssa got tired (no surprise at all).
Asleep on Russ' floor (soon to be Bennett's room)
Kim's Shower below...Alyssa got to help select the presents to open.

While the girls were at the shower, the boys went to the community pool with a high dive.


Back home in RR, Alyssa took this of me....

Matthew was holding Cali and walking around, then I found him reading his book, her just next to him. Tyler came to join in. Once she saw me, it was all over.



After months of drought in our area, our Stake at church held a fast for rain. About 5 days later, it flooded in some areas. We got the rain we asked for. It rained for nearly 48 hours straight...and HARD RAIN! No lightening, so they had a grand time playing in it...











Did I ever post my apple green kitchen? I loved it, but painting over it was another part of my goodbye to this home. That color just won't work with dark chocolate wood cabinets.

Kids watching tv on a summer morning. Notice the breakfast "picnic blanket" on the floor behind them.

Yesterday we took a quick day trip to San Antonio to meet my new little nephew, Bennett Isacc Hill. He was born September 16th, the day before Cali's 5 month mark. Kim and Russ will be such great parents. I took a bunch of other shots that are on my "big camera" and I'll soon post.

The cousins...
Me and my little bro and our babies (Cali, the giant).

Whew--I feel relief that I'm caught up now. Michael and I are headed on our trip in a week and a half, and I've been planning that trip amongst everything else. Now to go to bed.

The Alcott

Here is the floorplan for our home. We saw it first and really liked it. The Texas Basement is a storage room that is unfinished, but we plan to eventually finish it off. Michael says he can do that..."easy." We would have loved a 3 car garage (who wouldn't?) but just got a 5 ft. extention b/c the lot we picked on a cul de sac wasn't quite wide enough. We hope/plan to park both cars and bikes in the garage. We transformed the kitchen into "gourment kitchen" which gives us a HUGEmongous pantry and tech center which I am quite excited about. We love the open-ness between the kitchen/family room just like we have in our current home.

This is the exterior that we plan to get--brick and shades of brown. This is our floorplan on the outside--some random persons home across town, but same builder. When we walked into the model home, Michael and I instantly felt like this was our home. I took pictures of the inside, but I am not a fan of the decorations, not my style. There are some upgrades on this home that we won't do, but I'll try to explain that as pics are viewed.





Upon entering, the dining room is on the right. We plan to have it as a living room for our piano and reading enjoyment. Cross hatch on the wall, not included (yay, don't care for it). I like the tall window, almost to the floor.
Turn to the left and you have the study. It has double doors. Hall bathroom right next to it (no picture).
This is turned around looking at the front door (dining on the left) and stairway. Far left you can see the door to the under the stairs closet.
This is the closet. The kids loved the "secret hiding place."
The picture below, Michael is standing right by the same under the stairs hall closet. Our builder, Greg, is talking to him. I am in the breakfast nook right by the utility (laundry) door. This is a view of the kitchen (obviously) and the family room to right. Right by Greg in the archway is the entrance to the Master bedroom. Very left sliver is the garage door entrance. The wine rack on the island will be a bookcase.
Laundry Room. I'm glad it isn't attached to the garage.
This is standing by the garage door looking at the breakfast nook/kitchen.
This is the tech center off to the side of the kitchen, just to the right as you enter from the garage (see floor plan above). I love this, I'm sure it will house all our bills and etc. stuff as well as a laptop.
This is the other side of the tech center, great for backpack hooks and a shoe bind, also the pantry door entrance.
THIS is the pantry:) Isn't she pretty?
From pantry door looking at tech center.
Master Bedroom

Master Bath
Master Closet
I wonder how much we will use this tub, I am not a bath person, I'm sure the kids will like it.

Another view of the kitchen. I'd love to do white cabinets, but it isn't an option from the builders, so Michael wants a dark wood. We'll do it with the idea that I may later paint them white. Granite countertops come standard, I am going to do a yellowish/brown color.
From kitchen sink--view of Family/fireplace/Master entrance. The fireplace will not be stone.
Understairs closet with narrow hall that leads to dining/living
Upstairs bedroom that will be our guest/craft room
Girls room--Alyssa thinks she is getting a Cinderella bed in the new house.
This wall won't be happening either, but its cute.

The TX basement/storage for a while until we get garage shelfs hung and finish this out. Possibly a media room later? Not sure.
The gameroom at the top of the stairs.

Trying to do a jumping happy picture!
Looking down from gameroom balcony
Looking up to gameroom from front door. I really liked the openess of this floorplan. When we have guests, it may be a bit loud, but I love it for our everyday family togetherness.

We are excited, but it seems so far away.