So I just realized I never came back and did a "part 3" of our move to Austin. I don't even remember what I was going to write about. Oh well.
Life has been so slow and yet so fast at the same time. On the one hand, Cohen and I are stuck here in our little apartment all day every day without a car and most days it's too hot to be outside except for to go to the pool. It makes for some very long days. I think poor Cohen is getting even more bored than I am. One nice thing though, is that Preston having a normal 8:30-5:00 job and not having school makes life so much less hectic. I'm a very non-spontaneous creature of habit so I love that we have a fairly normal, predictable schedule. It's nice that he can come home at night and play with Cohen and we can all eat dinner together and just relax. I think we all appreciate the amount of time we've been able to spend together since moving here.
On the other hand though the pace of life has picked up a bit because we found a house we really love and decided to buy it. Our house in Provo should be closing any day now and we close on our house here August 18th. We are so excited to finally be able to truly settle in and not be in limbo anymore. No more realizing something we need is in a box buried somewhere in storage. No more being stuck without a car all day every day (we will be living 3 minutes from Preston's work!). No more 3rd story hikes with groceries. And, living so close to Preston's work gives us another hour together every day! Anyways, I've bought a house before (plus I worked in real estate for a hundred years) so I know the drill, but for some reason this has been such a stressful process for us. There have just been so many things here and there that we have had to deal with and fortunately for us it has all worked out beautifully, but I'm definitely ready to be done and moved in and settled.
We really love the house we are buying! It has just about everything I could ask for in a house and plenty of room to grow for our little family. It's a 5 bedroom, 3 bath house with a huge kitchen (with an island and granite counters), a breakfast nook with huge windows, a formal dining room, a bonus room, a patio the length of the house, a nice yard, a huge master suite (with a huge walk in closet that has it's own window), and it's located on a cul-de-sac in a neighborhood with a community park and pool. The best part about it is the extremely low price tag. I won't tell you how much it is but I guarantee it's not as much as you're probably thinking! :) I love Texas housing prices. Anyways, I have so many ideas already of what I plan to do to decorate our new house and make it ours. Here are a couple pictures of the house.
Preston is loving his job. He gets to work with his hands a lot and has already been put in charge of several projects. He likes the people he works with and it makes me so happy that he enjoys going to work every day because I think that is so important. I am so grateful for everything he does for our family!
Cohen is growing up so fast it is not even funny. He is going to be turning ONE next week. I can't even believe it. It's like he's still a baby but not at the same time. He is becoming this adorable little boy. I will write more about him later and post some pics but let's just say I'm starting to get weepy just thinking about how fast this year has gone and how much I've taken for granted with this beautiful boy of mine.
Random side note of the day: I've been thinking so much about Europe lately. Preston and I love it there and decided a long time ago that some day we plan to live there for a little while. That will probably be a long ways down the road but until then I sit here pining for it. I am obsessed with all things European. We have a friend currently in Germany, and two more friends moving to Germany and Finland and I'm so envious! The cobblestone streets, the sidewalk cafes, the beautiful gardens, the markets filled with fresh breads and cheeses and herbs and flowers, the charming country villages, the random castles and church steeples dotting the hillsides, the history, the architecture, everything. Anyways, one of the things we loved about Europe was all of the different delicious cheeses they use. Dishes that are exactly the same as what you could get here were a hundred times better just because of the different cheeses they used. We are cheapskates and so we always used to just get the boring processed cheese at the store. But since Europe we have decided it's worth it to splurge for the real stuff and now I'm obsessed with becoming a cheese connoisseur. I'm going to learn all about the different kinds of cheeses and how to cook with them. I know what you're all thinking. "Umm, Amber, don't you have to actually learn how to cook first?". Well, yes, that would probably help...but don't worry, I'm working on it. :) Who knows, maybe someday I will even turn this into a temporary "Cheese Blog" and tell you everything I've discovered about which ones are good and the yummy things you can make with them. I know...I'm a nerd. I've come to terms with it...so can you. :)
And until next time, here are some pictures from our trip to Europe, just cuz I'm feeling nostalgic...
Can you see why we love it so much!?!
Life has been so slow and yet so fast at the same time. On the one hand, Cohen and I are stuck here in our little apartment all day every day without a car and most days it's too hot to be outside except for to go to the pool. It makes for some very long days. I think poor Cohen is getting even more bored than I am. One nice thing though, is that Preston having a normal 8:30-5:00 job and not having school makes life so much less hectic. I'm a very non-spontaneous creature of habit so I love that we have a fairly normal, predictable schedule. It's nice that he can come home at night and play with Cohen and we can all eat dinner together and just relax. I think we all appreciate the amount of time we've been able to spend together since moving here.
On the other hand though the pace of life has picked up a bit because we found a house we really love and decided to buy it. Our house in Provo should be closing any day now and we close on our house here August 18th. We are so excited to finally be able to truly settle in and not be in limbo anymore. No more realizing something we need is in a box buried somewhere in storage. No more being stuck without a car all day every day (we will be living 3 minutes from Preston's work!). No more 3rd story hikes with groceries. And, living so close to Preston's work gives us another hour together every day! Anyways, I've bought a house before (plus I worked in real estate for a hundred years) so I know the drill, but for some reason this has been such a stressful process for us. There have just been so many things here and there that we have had to deal with and fortunately for us it has all worked out beautifully, but I'm definitely ready to be done and moved in and settled.
We really love the house we are buying! It has just about everything I could ask for in a house and plenty of room to grow for our little family. It's a 5 bedroom, 3 bath house with a huge kitchen (with an island and granite counters), a breakfast nook with huge windows, a formal dining room, a bonus room, a patio the length of the house, a nice yard, a huge master suite (with a huge walk in closet that has it's own window), and it's located on a cul-de-sac in a neighborhood with a community park and pool. The best part about it is the extremely low price tag. I won't tell you how much it is but I guarantee it's not as much as you're probably thinking! :) I love Texas housing prices. Anyways, I have so many ideas already of what I plan to do to decorate our new house and make it ours. Here are a couple pictures of the house.
Preston is loving his job. He gets to work with his hands a lot and has already been put in charge of several projects. He likes the people he works with and it makes me so happy that he enjoys going to work every day because I think that is so important. I am so grateful for everything he does for our family!
Cohen is growing up so fast it is not even funny. He is going to be turning ONE next week. I can't even believe it. It's like he's still a baby but not at the same time. He is becoming this adorable little boy. I will write more about him later and post some pics but let's just say I'm starting to get weepy just thinking about how fast this year has gone and how much I've taken for granted with this beautiful boy of mine.
Random side note of the day: I've been thinking so much about Europe lately. Preston and I love it there and decided a long time ago that some day we plan to live there for a little while. That will probably be a long ways down the road but until then I sit here pining for it. I am obsessed with all things European. We have a friend currently in Germany, and two more friends moving to Germany and Finland and I'm so envious! The cobblestone streets, the sidewalk cafes, the beautiful gardens, the markets filled with fresh breads and cheeses and herbs and flowers, the charming country villages, the random castles and church steeples dotting the hillsides, the history, the architecture, everything. Anyways, one of the things we loved about Europe was all of the different delicious cheeses they use. Dishes that are exactly the same as what you could get here were a hundred times better just because of the different cheeses they used. We are cheapskates and so we always used to just get the boring processed cheese at the store. But since Europe we have decided it's worth it to splurge for the real stuff and now I'm obsessed with becoming a cheese connoisseur. I'm going to learn all about the different kinds of cheeses and how to cook with them. I know what you're all thinking. "Umm, Amber, don't you have to actually learn how to cook first?". Well, yes, that would probably help...but don't worry, I'm working on it. :) Who knows, maybe someday I will even turn this into a temporary "Cheese Blog" and tell you everything I've discovered about which ones are good and the yummy things you can make with them. I know...I'm a nerd. I've come to terms with it...so can you. :)
And until next time, here are some pictures from our trip to Europe, just cuz I'm feeling nostalgic...
Can you see why we love it so much!?!
3 comments:
What a beautiful home! I hope you get to move in soon!
The house looks beautiful! Congrats guys! I've always wanted to go to Europe, but your pictures make me want to go even more some day!
HOLY GORGEOUS HOUSE!!!
I haven't been checking the blogs like I used to, but I wanted to let you all know that you are missed back here! Hope you find a nice place to keep cook - And seriously, Cohen is the CUTEST kid ever! :)
Loves from the Hardman Family!
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