Jesse Coulter

We bought a house! Whoo hoo! Alex and I couldn't sit still on Thursday at work as we waited to sign the many dotted lines to purchase our first home.   Thank you Stephanie & Lauren from Lauren Powell Realty for helping us along the way!

Friday, we began our remodeling adventure. Every single piece of wood and trim in the house is brown, and I'm a fan of white. Soooo, we have embarked on painting EVERYTHING that is brown, white. What were we thinking? Thankfully, Alex's dad and my mom helped us for 3 days as we worked on our first project, the kitchen. I'll post before and after pics once we're finished.  Currently I've got what feels like a gazillion cabinet doors hanging from ladders and boards in my living room.  Thankfully, we have 1 week till we move in to get as much done as possible.  Alex's Grandma watched Turner all weekend, which was amazing so we could have all day to paint.  My in-laws actually took Turner back with them to their home town to watch him for the week so we could have every night to tackle as many rooms as possible.  We are so thankful, but I am already missing Mr. T.

After 4 days of painting from 9am-11pm, we are exhausted.  I dream of painting every night, and I have white latex paint on every limb of my body.  All in all, our Labor day weekend was fantastic.  Hard work, but fun embarking on a new family adventure.  I can only imagine the wonderful memories we will create in that house.

A BEFORE picture, notice the smiling and clean shirt

Alex in his element.  He has been waiting for so long to have his own yard to mow,  and he was able to move all his tools in to his very own garage.

Everyone keeps telling me to not get my hopes up when house hunting, but for me that's impossible.  So, for the past three weeks I've been on an emotional roller coaster. Last night, I cried myself to sleep in my pillow after losing the house I was so sure we would get.  The Austin housing market is insane right now! We fell in love with a house that was listed on a Friday morning, and by mid afternoon it had 7 offers. Our realtor told us that after 2 days the sellers had to sift through 23 offers! 23! We have made 5 offers over the past few weeks, but we're now back to square one. Seems like everyone in Austin is looking for a home in our price range.  We might have to change up our strategy.  We're thinking about buying a real fixer upper, but in an ideal neighborhood with a great school district.  Originally, I wanted a move in ready home, but after evaluating our options and this crazy market, my expectations have changed.

With all this going on, I have slept very little and lost my appetite.  Thankfully, my family keeps me grounded and smiling. Here are a few recent pics.