our new, NEW home...

This summer, Rob and I will be married for THREE years, and we are making the move to our THIRD 'together' home. It seems slightly crazy, and maybe it is, but this is our life. Wouldn't have it any other way. I knew when I married a coach that nothing would be permanent, and we are about to embark on our first move for the love of the game. There's something very exciting about a new adventure, in a new town, with new people. We'll really be clinging to each other as we won't have our families right there with us. They will be there in spirit and probably will be visiting often, but I won't be able to just go to my parents' house when Rob's working late into the night. We'll find our "new normal," and I know my friends will carry me through football season! They always do.

So our first house: "The Jackson House" is how we refer to it now. I bought this sweet little house at the age of 19 and lived in it alone for over a year until Rob and I married. I LOVED that house. Just an adorable 2 bed, 1 bath, tiny home. But I was so PROUD of it. We have a lot of great memories in this home. It was the first home I lived in away from my parents, Rob proposed to me in the kitchen of this house, and we lived there for the first 2 & a half years of our married lives. I'll always think of it fondly, and I just know we'll drive our kids by this house in the future and say, "this was your parents' first home!" And they'll probably act like they don't care, while my eyes will be filling up with tears as I think of all the happy times and love held inside those walls.

Last fall, we decided we needed a little more space, so we started house hunting. Nothing serious, as we didn't NEED to move...we just WANTED to. We figured we'd be starting a family any day (still praying without ceasing for that) and we wanted to be able to have friends and family over comfortably. One evening, I was searching through realtor.com like I did most nights, and I stumbled across this beauty. I knew from the minute I saw the pictures online that it was THE ONE. Big kitchen, check. No carpet in living areas: check. Garage: check. It had everything we wanted. My mom and I went and saw it the next day, and I was sold. It was during football season when I found this home, so Rob didn't even see it before we put our offer in. He knew that if I loved it, he would to. And he did. It was officially ours in December of 2010.

And that about brings us up to the present day. I can't even remember when it was now, but Rob came home one day and said we needed to talk about moving to Temple. I, of course, said, "WHAT???!!! WE CAN'T MOVE, WE JUST BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!" Little did we know, that's what pretty much every. single. person would say when we told them. Except for our coaching family because, after all, we seem to thrive on the crazy! Anyway, after much discussion, we decided that we thought it would be a great opportunity for BOTH of us. Rob put the call in to Coach Spradlin, we took a day-trip to Temple, and it was pretty much official after that!

Moving, we were.

We REALLY lucked out with the sale of our new/current home. Some good friends of ours decided that this home was also perfect for them, and it will be their's soon. I can't even tell you what a blessing that is to me. I love knowing that it's going to a great family that will be able to give it the love that we haven't really had the chance to give it. It also provided me with the reassurance I needed to let me KNOW we were making the right decision.

So, we decided to take a leap of faith and buy again in Temple. Our first round of house hunting was downright depressing. We looked at about 20 homes, and I didn't even LIKE a single one of them, much less love. I began questioning everything...because I'm dramatic like that. We went back for round two, and it was MUCH happier. We just weren't looking at the right homes the first time!

So, without further adieu - here is our new, NEW home...

These pictures are either off realtor.com or the iPhone, so sorry they're not great, but it gives you an idea of the inside of our home :)

The entry way...

My favorite part...the OPEN kitchen and living. The living room carpet it coming up and being replaced with the same tile that's in the kitchen/dining.

I love the kitchen, and if you know me at all, you know that I NEED a good kitchen ;)

The master bath. Double vanities, his and hers closets? Heaven.

Jacuzzi tub? Double heaven.

That's all the pictures I've got for now, but I promise you more when we move!

If you've stuck with me for this entire post, I commend you. Really. I didn't mean for this to get so long, but a home is a pretty special thing, and I just couldn't shorten my feelings. This is a scrapbook of our lives, and I don' want to forget a thing about this season of our lives!