Johnson's Journey in Life: 08.16

Ohhhh HAPPY DAY!

We closed on our FIRST home! We moved to St. George April 1st and closed August 1st. That was about 3 months too long ;) but so worth it because we love it! We have been in it for almost a month! Right now it feels like a nice, new house but not yet our home because I have yet to hang any pictures or really decorate :/ I know it will take time but we have been so busy with work!

Now, from the beginning. We started looking for a house in January after deciding October-ish that we were ready to consider buying a home. I say we were considering it because it felt like an extreme adult thing to do which was a little scary. I was sure that we would be told to rent the rest of our lives. The opposite happened and the next decision was to stay put in Rexburg for the next 3-4 years as Eric needed to finish school or move on? With me done with school, we considered the different options for Eric to finish school which led to the decision for him to finish in St. George!

Picking the place that you are essentially going to go into a large amount of debt for and have to live in for how ever many years is scary! What's the area like? What is the neighborhood? Is it safe? What's the commute like to get to work, friends and family? We looked all over the St. George area at different pros and cons. When we made the final decision it felt so right and peaceful. I had to remind myself of that feeling for the next 3 months because we picked new construction 😁 We were not the "builders", but we did put a deposit on the lot just as the townhome was being started and were a part of the entire process. Which was nice because we got to pick out carpet, flooring, paint etc. But there was so much dealing with the realtor, the builder, the contractor and all the subcontractors. Not ideal. I don't think we will ever actually build a house because of the stress and miscommunications. Ex: when the contractor takes a 3 week vacation and NOTHING gets done. In my books, he would of been fired. But again, we were not the builder.

SO many nightly trips were taken to look at the process over 4 months. Some nights it was very exciting and happy and others frustrating that there was no progress. That all will seem like an eternity ago soon enough. For now we are happy to be in our new home that we love. It is so perfect for us. We love the city, the feeling of it being spread out and not congested with people. We love our mountain views and how close we are to outdoor actives. I love that the commute to my work is 4 minutes! We love the neighborhood, our next door neighbors and our LDS ward.

Now for some pictures!