Making a House a Home

Well it's been a whirlwind week. We're loving our new home, but it has already come at a price! Our AC broke on Tuesday night. Dave's brother was able to fix it temporarily yesterday, but it's needs to be replaced completely. We knew the system was old and needed to be updated when we bought the house though. But we didn't think we'd have to do it right away! We also didn't anticipate having to buy a new fridge the first week we moved in too! Yeah. Spoiled chicken, milk, etc. Gross.

Then, on Wednesday, Caroline started getting a runny nose and now it's grown into full-blown bronchitis! All three of us have been sick for the last couple of days. Not fun. But we've still been able to get work on the house done!

Caroline's room is almost done. It was the first room we painted. Aunt Joleen had Caroline for a couple of nights, or else the painting would just not have happened! She wanted a purple room, so we picked two shades of very light lavender. I love it! I also LOVE her quilt. My dear friend, Emily Devereaux, made this quilt and gave it to us when she was born and I love,love, love it. Here's my dilemma: I love this quilt so do I put it on display, never to be touched or harmed by my little one, OR do I keep it on the bed and use it? What do you think?

I call this my Reading Nook. I'm hoping someday this will be the piano corner!

Caroline loves the island in the kitchen. It's much easier to have her "help". And she can color while I cook or clean.

I always said I didn't want hardwood or tile or anything but carpet in my living room, but I actually like our wood floors more than I thought. Wood floors are big down here. It's actually hard to find a home that doesn't have them! Even the run-down ones that Dave fixes up for work!

My goodness, she's getting big. And pretty!

Martin Family Moving Stats

(no, I don't have our internet connected yet. Yes, I'm "borrowing" a connection from a neighbor!)

Ok, so while we were painting some rooms this weekend, Dave and I figured some astonishing statistics:

-In the 4 years and 8 months that we have been married, we have:

*Moved 7 times. Shortest stay at one residence: 8 weeks

*Lived in 6 Wards.

* Lived in 4 types of dwellings: apartment, duplex, trailor, single-family house

* We have Rented, Owned, and Mooched for shelter



In the 2 years and 9 months of Caroline's life she has:

*Lived in 4 States! Arizona, New Mexico, Tennessee, Mississippi


We're worse than a military family! If I even think about moving in less than 3 years, someone, please talk me out of it!!!

Hello House...Goodbye Computer!

Well, it's official - we closed on the house today! I feel so relieved! In the back of my mind I was always preparing myself for something to go wrong (termites, foundation cracks, lead paint) and the deal would fall through (it's true - little known fact about Susan: TOTAL Pessimist! drives Dave nuts), but now we've got keys!

Unfortunately though, we procrastinated ordering phone, internet, and cable so it's looks like I'll be taking a break from "Ted" for a while. (Dave will be thrilled)

Oh, I can now share my cute little Caroline tale ! (I've been saving it just in case we didn't get the house. Again, I know, so little faith)

*So, since we got here we've been dragging Caroline on long, boring drives looking through lots of empty, boring houses. Every house we'd go in we'd ask, "Caroline, do like this one?" and she'd reply (whining) "Noooo! I'm hungry (or tired or wanna go home, etc)" When we looked at our house the first time, we were sans Caroline. We brought her back the next day (before we made an offer) and showed her around. When we went in what is now her room, she looked around and exclaimed wide-eyed "This IS my house!"
That was good enough for me.

Mud Island River Walk

Ok, so I overheard Papa Martin complaining that all I post about lately is the house and he wants to see some pictures of his granddaughter already! So Gramps, your wish is my command (in this case only, of course:)


I've actually been meaning to post about this for a while now, but I've been a little side-tracked lately.

The Mud Island River Walk!

So several weeks ago, some ladies in our ward planned a day for mommies and kids to the Mud Island River Park. It's a scale model of the Mississippi River that runs right along the real Mississippi River!

(Ok, so this picture is really just a shameless plug for Modbe swimwear :)

So it's got little pools to play in and you can walk along (and in) the miniature river and take in the sights of the mighty Mississippi beside you!

(Jessica, Caroline, and Ashley walking the mini river)

(Making new friends! Isn't this picture so sweet! I love it!)

At the end of the walk, you reach the "ocean"!

It really was cool, and the kids love it! This ward I'm in now has some great fellow Moms that get together often and it's been so fun! Isn't it always the rule that as soon as you get to know and love a ward... it's time to move! OK, maybe that's just our family, but enough already! I'm hoping the next ward we are in will be it for a few years! (our luck, they'll change boundries just when we start to get comfy!)

(y'all better not shun me when I move!)

Our (soon to be) home

So here is the front of the house. We close on Aug 20th and plan to move in that weekend. The neighborhood is very cute. We looked at a few new homes, but decided we liked the older neighborhoods better. There's more trees and all the houses look different! And there's pleanty of level yard in front and fenced yard back for Caroline to play in! (and maybe a dog?:)





Here's the kitchen (the person taking the picture is standing in the dining area). The previous owner bought it as a foreclosure this year, and then flipped it. So it's nice to have new floors and paint and cabinets and stuff, so we dont have to put much work into it!

However, we are planning on replacing some old windows and the upstairs bathroom fixtures. Which means it's a good thing that there's a Home Depot 5 minutes away! (I foresee many trips to H.D. in the future!) It's kind of weird that the washer/dryer are exposed in the kitchen, but I found out that they moved them in there from where they were, connected in the outside storage shed! So considering the other option, in the kitchen is just fine with me!



All in all we're soooo excited and I feel like these next 2 weeks can't go by fast enough!

Caroline loves the stairs and the backyard. She's already started asking for a swingset for "the new house".



I feel so anxious and I think I'll sigh a breath of relief when the keys are actually in our hands!

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!

I NEVER thought that I would be able to blog about this blessed event so soon, but lo and behold!
With us just moving here, and David working for his brother, we thought it would be several months before anyone would even consider us for a home loan! But David's brother, Ryan, referred us to a great loan officer and real estate agent and said to just go for it! What's the worst that could happen? They could say, "Come back in 6 months." ?
But they didn't!
So we got pre-approved and started looking. (Okay, so I've been looking all along, but now it was much more official!)

We met with our agent (which I now highly recommend getting, for anyone looking for a house)
on a Wednesday, we looked at the houses she picked out for us that Saturday, we made an offer Sunday, and had a house by Monday!

It all happened so fast, but really, I think it was all a part of Heavenly Father's plan for us. Call me crazy, but I think this is how it happened (of course this is pure Susan theory) But a few weeks ago, I still didn't understand why some of these things were happening, but now I think I do!
1. 3 years ago, David researches optometry schools, and for some reason the Southern College of Optometry (in Memphis) stands out to him. I thought he was crazy for making up his mind without seeing this or any other school.
2. David's brother, Jeff, goes looking for a new career, and a new city and his search takes him through Memphis,TN (which he and his wife fall in love with)
3. Jeff and Joleen randomly move to Tennessee (now we know it wasn't so random, but again, at the time everyone was like, "Memphis? Huh?"
4. David takes the OAT and applies for optometry school and doesn't make it. (at the time, that was super hard and we didn't understand why this was happening to us)
5. David's brother, Ryan, moves to Hernando,MS (a few minutes south of Memphis) to start a home - rehab business. (Seriously, this shocked me when we heard they were moving)
6. Jeff and Joleen offer us a place to stay and Ryan offers Dave a place to work. (now this is extremely generous, but at first I was thinking "living and working with family? Yikes. that has trouble written all over it!")

Now, if Jeff had never moved here, none of this would have happened. If David had gotten into Optometry school right away, he wouldn't have worked this year and buying a house would not have been an option. If Ryan had not moved here and started his business, David would not have the job he has now and we would never have connected with the awesome people that made getting our house possible.

Wow. The Lord works in mysterious ways and hind-sight is certainly 20-20. I know that there is more to the story to come. I know the Lord has more reasons why we need to be where we are moving.

I suddenly feel so clear and realize that so much of what I worry about is already taken care of, though I don't know it.

This proves to me, once agian, I need to have a little more faith. David is great in the whole faith area. Me - not so much. (that was for you Adrian:)

I will post details about our house soon! So excited!!!!!!!!!!

Modbe

Well, Modbe has re-done their website. It is much cooler (especially for the consultants!) So my new website is:

www.modbeclothing.com/susanmartin

Also. Modbe is having another great sale, and this time, the swimsuits are on sale too!

Go Shop!

Sprinkler Park

The first week we were here, we were invited to go to the Sprinkler Park with some other families in the ward. At first I was thinking, "Sprinkler park? What the heck? They go to the park and run in the sprinklers? Gross." But we went and it's so cool! Caroline loves it! So last week we went back with my Sis-in-law, Courtney, and her 3 girls.

Caroline and Katelyn

They've got all different kinds of structures that spray water and they come on and off randomly, so the kids just run around like crazy getting wet! (and then fall asleep in the car on the way home!)

This is little Britni. Isn't she sweet?! It's so fun to have a new little baby close by!

It was so fun and Caroline asks to go back all the time!

I'm a little behind, blog-wise. We've been kind of busy lately. But I'll try to catch everyone up on what's been going on here!