Our New Home is Complete

It's been so much of a whirlwind making final choices on the home, fitting in summer activities, and packing that I can hardly remember all that has gone on the past few weeks. What I do know is I'm sitting in a cozy bed with a view of deep green blueberry bushes stretching down the horizon as the sun rises just to the east and am enjoying the quiet of this new beautiful home. All that is missing is Clint--we had 2-3 days to move before I rushed him off to the airport. He'll be at a conference in San Diego for a week, then head north to Seattle to complete his Pacific Coast Banking School program he has been working on for 3 years. I'm sad I won't be there to see him graduate, even if it's not a big deal to him. I have more than enough to do here, though, a lot of it is still piled in the garage and stashed all over the garage. It will get there. For now I am just so incredibly grateful for the space and the beauty we get to enjoy for at least the next 10 years as we raise our fun family.

Here are a few pics I snapped with my phone--hoping this works, as we don't have our Internet connection yet and I'm doing this all off my phone (thus te funny order of the pics).

I did have to include this first cute one of the girls--it's so how we have all felt. I caught this on an Ikea run we made between moving loads so we could stock up before Clint left.

We broke ground!

We snuck over to our lot after dinner last evening to see if it's true, if  it's for real that we are building a house. We were all surprised by the amount of dirt, and I could tell those dirt hills were especially tempting to Dax. Lucky for us the tractor was still digging, so we had a great excuse for keeping away, but also a good look at the dig in action. Kenna made me laugh by sneaking a toy over to play in the grass and remaining berry bushes just about as soon as she jumped out of the car. We're all excited to feel at home there, I think Kenna feels she can actually relax and play there. We took a nice walk around our new "loop," one of our favorite past times at our last home--evening walks around our forested loop in Sandpoint. We should be there in no time, taking many, many more family walks .

 

 

Eight Years, Eight Homes

Our first new home together, from Idaho Falls to Sandpoint, Idaho. Summer 2004

We listed our farmhouse in Sandpoint for sale last week, so I got a little nostalgic about all the homes we've lived in over the past eight years. It  took me a few times to count and realize that, yes, we really will have lived in 8 homes in 8 years. I know our life has been a little adventuresome sometimes, but when boiled down to the number of homes we've had, it sounds downright crazy. We have yet to live in one home more than 2 years, so we're bound and determined to build this home in Michigan and make it last for at least 10 years. There was a method behind this madness, however it is kind of a long story...I'll break it up into separate posts later and just share some photos for now.

Couldn't resist this photo. Look how little they all are! And, yes, that is a bonk to Dax's head, he always has something.

House on Main Street, Sandpoint. Summer and Fall 2004

Eagle Flight Way. 2005-2007

Baldy Mountain Road Farmhouse 2007-2009

Back lot on Baldy Mountain Road where we planned our family dreamhouse. And had fun flying kites in Spring.

Hunt Lane 2009-2011

Inside Hunt Lane, so far this really has been home...

Rental Cottage on Lake Lansing. January 2012-August 2012

Blueberry Lane. 2012 till all the kids are grown.

Life in Michigan

I thought I'd just jump right into the middle of life and make random posts here and there of how we're growing and evolving. Ideally I'll just as randomly fill in our history as I go along.

We've moved to Michigan. Seems like the shock is wearing off a little, and we're getting used to our new life here. We're still on hold, waiting to build a house that should last us the next 10 years or so of our adventures here. The house SHOULD be complete by the 1st week of August, when we hope to really settle in. But all in all I think we're starting to feel comfortable here.

This was a big move, not only as it was kind of out of the blue, and involved moving all 7 of us and our most important belongings across 5 states or so and 2 time zones, but, as we knew if we were going to make a move, it would be for some of the most important years of our kids' lives. This is where we'll be facing teenage hood in all it's glory, times 4, likely times 5. We LOVED our life in North Idaho, skiing, biking, hiking--just enjoying the views and the nature. I think we truly eked all we could out of it. Somewhere along the line the idea came up that perhaps we should have some new adventures, add some new dimension to our lifestyle, and seemed a college town might be a good way to go (as our ideal of beach living or anywhere else warmer would likely be too pricey or crowded for our whole crew).

Technically speaking the East Lansing area looked ideal for our family--hundreds of activities, if not thousands, all sorts of cultural events, and many places on the east side of the country to explore by car that we would never have otherwise thought of visiting. It's thankfully proven true already in our 3 short months here. Above all, the schools are fantastic, and we're constantly exposed to the benefits of a great university nearby. We might not have the mountains of the west, but we've still found familiar beauty in the forests, lakes, wetlands and farms. We're not far from beaches and I hear there are cliffs and mountains not far south in Kentucky, if not closer. (I keep finding it funny how although I know my states pretty well, I'm getting such a different perspective here now that I'm on the ground here, and not just thinking of all these places as lines on a map. Kind of like filling in the dots.)

I'm pretty sure we'll have a good life here, and glad we made the move. As much as my heart still aches for our friends in Idaho and throughout the west, I think we'll make some great connections here, too.