And our internet is too. Hallelujah!! If my kids weren't so smart and I hadn't made a promise to myself about lying to them, I totally would have made up a story about what the cable one guy was doing at our house. Life without internet was hard on me but bliss for my kids. They have been playing outside and with each other non stop. Eating outside is their favorite. We literally didn't watch TV, outside of a movie or two, for a whole week. It was amazing and we have really scaled back our screen time. And they haven't even thrown a fit about it.
Anyway, back to the real story. We bought a house! Yay! And we are so in love with it and our area. The plan was to stay with my parents and let Tayden finish out kindergarten, but as the days to baby grew closer, I felt the need to have our own space. My parents were beyond amazing and I can never thank them enough for letting us stay with them, but I was ready for our own place and tired of feeling like I was imposing. Which I know we weren't, but still. So we hemmed and hawed about what to do. Rent for a year and move again? Buy a place? Rent and then build? There were so many scenarios and to be honest, it got extrememly overwhelming. One day we decided to look at a few rentals in Idaho Falls. One place lead to another and before we knew it, we were walking through a new build open house and seriously considered building. We toyed with the idea for a few weeks, but ultimately decided it wasn't the right choice.
Our loan agent that we had been working with for the new build planted a seed about buying on the market, but again we just weren't sure. We thought it would be a good idea to check out a few on market homes so we could make the best educated decision as possible. After looking at a handful of homes and feeling more discouraged than ever, we remembered this house from zillow and called to look at it on our way out of town. And boy am I glad we did.
We drove up to the house impressed with the neighborhood. It is in amazing school boundaries, which was my number one priority, and the homes were all on good sized lots. Another key factor after coming from vegas. Walking into the home, we were equally impressed. It immediately felt right. The home, the amazing backyard, the neighborhood. It checked off everything on our list. And in many ways filled it better than we could have imagined.
We are all extrememly happy here. Even the dog. Who is happier than I think we've ever seen him. He is patient again, kind and actually likes going outside. He sat on the deck the other day for at least 15 minutes, like a real dog. It was so unusual I had to take a picture.
We've had multiple neighbors bring us goodies welcoming us to the neighborhood. And there is a constant flow of people and kids outside doing varios activities. It's wonderful. We are loving our huge lot and spend most of our days outside. My heart was so full as I soaked up my view the other morning as my kids and Scott played and wandered the yard, making plans for the upcoming summer.
Not to mention the beautiful view of the Ammon foothills lined with windmills. They are majestic and I could sit in the chair by the window all day, but it's a hot spot. Cache normally ends up there reading his books.

Or just watching out the window. I love how it overlooks our backyard, but we can still see the movement of the neighborhood. One thing I really wanted was a front window. I didn't get one, but these windows fulfill the purpose better than I ever thought.
Unpacking has taken some time, but we are in enough that we can function. Which was my goal before the baby. As far as decorating, my plan is one room at a time. Slow and simple. I think we'll be here for a long while and want to make this home reflect our family. So I'm not going to rush it like I did the others. One great thing about taking our time is every new box is like Christmas for the boys.
We did have one major adventure the first few days we were here though and it's quite hilarious. The kids wanted to ride bikes and it was such a nice day, how could I tell them no? After about 45 minutes of riding outside, I went in to get a drink of water. Except when I did, the door didn't open. We were locked out. I checked every door, window and called Scott. He was still two hours from being home and since he is bused to work, there was nothing we could do. So, the boys and I made do and played outside for two more hours. They explored the window wells, we played baseball, we told stories on blanket (that we thankfully found in the garage) and opened every box in the garage hoping it had a new adventure for us. It was quite the afternoon, but we survived. Even when cache had to poo in the grass. And we learned our lesson about double checking the door before we go outside.
It's been fun and I am so pleased with life. I feel like we were lead here and there is a purpose for us. My heart is content and I am so excited to be back in idaho.