On the fast track

The last month has been a complete blur! Our house in Apple Valley hit the market on Friday, December 5. We had our first showing the next day, Saturday, and then a couple more on Sunday. Dave and I left for Arizona on our househunting trip on Sunday morning, December 7, and Auntie Lisa took the kids and Winnie up to my mom's for the day, coming home just in time for bed. I truly hadn't expected to get many showings right away due to the timing of the sale - right between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and since it is winter, so we were shocked to have 14 showings over the first week! My mom and Lisa stayed here at the house for the week, shuttling the kids to and from school, keeping the house clean, and clearing out with Winnie and the kids during all the showings. They spent several evenings at Lisa's house, and lots of time sitting in the car in the Walmart parking lot, waiting to be able to come back home. One of the showings even led to them being locked out of the house. Aidan came down with a high fever on Thursday and so missed Thursday and Friday from school. The radiator in Dave's van quit working, so they had to get that repaired. And then Zoe must've caught Aidan's bug and had a febrile seizure at school Friday afternoon. More to come on that...

The best news though was that not only did we find and purchase our perfect house in Mesa, we got an offer on our house Thursday morning! We really only had to counter to push back the closing date so we didn't have to spend an extra week in a hotel before our move. Here's how our trip went down:

Sunday - Dave and I arrived in Phoenix, rented a car and made it to our hotel in Chandler at about 3pm. We checked in and then got right back in the car, heading to a local pizza/burger place for some wings and beer. Sitting out on their outdoor patio, of course. After dinner we drove past one house we'd had on our list to check out, then went back to the hotel to relax, sit by the pool and read the Sunday paper.

Our new house!

Monday - we met our realtors, Ed and Burnie - the dynamic brother/sister duo - and hit the ground running. We saw many houses that day, none of which were quite right until we found a newly constructed house in the Bella Via development of Mesa. We saw 11 houses total before heading back to Ed and Burnie's office, where we decided to make an offer on the new house. We drove back to the Pulte sales office and quickly agreed to a deal. It happened so fast I walked out of the office a little while later and had to ask, "Did we just buy a house?"

Tuesday - Another run back to the house to do some measuring and another quick walk-through. We also spent some time signing documents, etc. Tuesday night we drove to the Mesa Arizona LDS Temple which beautifully lights up its gardens each Christmas.

 

We also explored the new neighborhood and took photos of the playground, dog park, fountain and some of the gorgeous flowers in our community: 

Wednesday - we had a little downtime while exchanging phone calls with the realtor, seller, and a few others so we hit the road for a fast trip up to the Grand Canyon. Gorgeous. Staying there to watch the sun set over the canyon did make for a late return back to Chandler, though.

Thursday - signed a few more documents, picked out blinds for the windows in the new house, then drove up the Superstitious Mountains a bit, again at sunset. We did make another quick pass by the house and also stopped to check out the kids' new school, Jack Barnes Elementary, where we got a quick tour from the registrar and also met the principal. I think the kids will really like it there.





Friday - home! We had the car returned to the airport by 10:30 a.m. and were on time for our 12:30 flight.

Our flight landed about 4:30 on Friday - central time - and as soon as we landed I'd switched my cell phone back on and began to check messages and emails while the plane taxied to the gate. Dave and I received an email sent from one of the kids' teachers during the flight but initially thought it was Ellie's teacher. The note was to reassure parents and students that although there was a medical emergency in her class that day, the student involved was okay. The student was not named, but as soon as I realized it was Zoe's teacher, not Ellie's, I knew the child affected was Zoe. I just knew it.
I texted Lisa asking if Zoe was OK and got a fairly quick response that while Zoe was okay, they were at the local hospital as Zoe had had a seizure. Dave and I had to wait to exit the airplane, then wait for our bags, and finally wait for my mom, Aidan, Maddie, and Ellie to pick us up at baggage claim, all the while not knowing much more about what had happened or how Zoe was doing. We later learned that Zoe had fairly suddenly collapsed in her classroom, and her classmates had gotten the attention of her teacher, Mrs. Eisen, who immediately called 911. Mrs. Eisen accompanied Zoe in the ambulance to the hospital, and waited there with Zoe until Lisa met them at the ER. Zoe was pretty out of it for quite a while, and by the time I spoke with Lisa around 5 p.m., the ER doc was asking for permission to do a spinal tap to help determine the cause of her seizure.
Thankfully they waited until we arrived at the hospital to discuss the procedure with us, and we made the decision to go ahead. Zoe was sleeping when we arrived but woke up shortly afterwards, and was much more alert after that. Zoe was given numbing cream and while I'm sure the procedure was uncomfortable at best, she didn't even whimper. The spinal tap came back negative, which was good news, and indicated she'd likely had another "innocent" febrile seizure, caused by a sudden high fever. After phone consults with Zoe's neurologist and endocrinologist, the ER doc released us to go home that night. She had a pretty low key weekend; she vegged on the couch the following day and still had a fever, but was feeling better by Sunday. We've since had follow up with exams with both docs and Zoe seems fine now, though she has a slightly higher risk of another febrile seizure that other kids.

Whew. Just writing all that down was exhausting. Today is now Thursday, January 1, 2015; the movers come next Tuesday, January 6 and will pack up the house Tuesday and Wednesday. The truck will be loaded on Thursday and we'll be out of this house by the end of the day. We'll let the kids finish out the school week here, and our flight to Arizona has already been booked for Saturday the 10th. We close on the new house on Monday, January 12, and hope our stuff arrives shortly afterwards! The kids are alternately excited and scared - as are we, if we're being honest. But a new year brings new opportunities and adventures, and we'll have to make the most of it! We're trying to reassure the kids that everything will turn out OK and that we have to look forward, even as we say goodbye to our friends and family and the comfort of all we've known so far. There's a quote that I really like that fits us so well right now:

"Eventually all the pieces fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moment, and know that EVERYTHING happens for a reason."

Until I can blog again - probably from Arizona! -  enjoy a few more photos of the new house!

Kitchen/Great room and stairs to loft. I'm standing in the dining area; to my right is the patio door leading to the back yard.

Loft - this will be where the kids' mess will be contained!

Photo taken from the stairs looking down at the kitchen/great room/dining area. The doorway to the master bedroom is visible next to the pantry door. Wish there wasn't carpet in the great room/dining room but we can change that later.

Back yard -lots of potential! Not huge, about 52x29, but there is room for a pool....

Rear of the house

Side view; we have a landscaped/irrigated lot next to us that belongs to the community; it's a nice buffer between our house and the corner!