Chugga chugga, choo choo!

This weekend we took a train ride with my family to celebrate my grandma, Omi's 90th birthday. It was a nostalgic experience for Omi since she grew up riding trains all the time in Germany. On the ride we got to see the beautiful scenery, including green fields, brown mountains, a blue lake, and even horses and cows. Theo moo'd at the cows even. But I think his favorite part were the bouncy bench seats! 

After the train ride, we had a bite to eat at Dairy Keen (not Queen) in Heber, where Theo spent every minute wow-ing at the electric train and playing with the Thomas trains provided by the restaurant. On our way back to the car we spotted a park with swings across the street. We had to go.

It was a fun weekend with my family. We're glad we got to celebrate Omi's birthday.

We Got The Lot!!!

More good things have happened in the last week:

#1 - We got the lot!!!
The owner was quite friendly and laid-back. He was a little concerned about our house being the only one on the street NOT built by Cadence. It might look out of place. We assured him we will be doing hardie board and color on the exterior, and not the boring earth-toned stucco. We told him we'll be doing 2X6 construction, a 3-car garage, finishing our basement and the driveway (Cadence's "standard" is to finish only half the driveway, how retarded). We sent him an electronic copy of our floor plans so he could see for himself. Apparently he was satisfied because he accepted our first offer! (We offered what he asked because we thought it was fair.)

#2 - We decided on a lender!
After meeting with a total of 7 different lenders, we finally found one who really knew what he was talking about. Not only was he knowledgeable, but he was also friendly and listened to us (for 2 hours!). Plus he was competitive with our other lenders' fees. We really like Derek Johnson.

#3 - Rural Housing Loan = No PMI!
We thought we wouldn't be able to do the rural housing loan after two previous lenders told us we wouldn't qualify. Well, we do - by a big margin actually. We are so stoked that we won't have to pay private mortgage insurance! Thank you, Derek.

#4 - We've got the construction loan started!
A week and a half ago we crunched all the numbers and were pretty discouraged to find out we'd be about a grand short of having enough down payment for the construction loan. We had three options: Put the house on hold for a month, put paying tithing on hold for a month, or ask family for a short-term loan. Ugh! We decided to pay the Lord first and considered borrowing from family. The day after we decided this, we found out that the money paid for the house plans and architect counts as a credit to the down payment, which means we definitely have enough on our own right now! I know the Lord blessed us for putting Him first.

#5 - We're waiting on the permit now!
We picked up the finished plans from the artchitect, and now they're at the county. My job now is to figure out who I need to bug in order to get the building permit passed as soon as possible rather than have it sit on someone's desk for a month.

In the meantime, we get to start thinking about wall colors, floors, cabinets and such. Here comes the fun part! I'm glad because I've felt like such a business woman lately.

Next post will NOT be about the house. It'll be about... well... our lives outside the house - mostly about Theo probably. :)