Our House

We moved into our house on Barzona Traill on October 9, 2004. Everything happened so fast!

At the beginning of September Tyler, Abby, and I had gone to walk around the mall. We saw a realty booth and stopped to get some information. We lived in an apartment in Mesa at the time but knew with twins coming it was only a matter of time before we had to move. We knew it was a good time to buy and a realtor agreed to take us out that weekend. I DID NOT want to move to Queen Creek. It was WAY too far away from my grandma's and cousins. But sure enough that is where the realtor took us. He said the best prices on new homes were either in Queen Creek (or actually unincorporated Pinal County) or on the other side of Phoenix and Tyler really wanted a new home instead of investing in a home that would need repairs. We looked at several different homes in the area and found one we liked in Circle Cross Ranch. But here was the catch. Homes were going so quickly then that the realtor said if we wanted the house we had to get it RIGHT THEN! We said NO WAY!! This was our first experience ever going house hunting and we didn't want to buy the first (or 4th) house we saw. We went home and thought and talked about it and about 3 hours later we had changed our minds and thought why not? However, like the realtor had said, when we called on the house it was already taken.

We went out house hunting again that Monday (I remember it was Labor Day; I want to say September 6th). After looking at a few homes the realtor again took us to one in Circle Cross Ranch (guess it was meant to be!). It was two stories, 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, a big loft upstairs to play in, a huge backyard and it was right down the street from a tot lot. Oh the pressure!!! If we wanted it we knew we had to act right then. Did we like it that much? I never really had a "this is the house for us" moment but it was everything we needed/wanted and Tyler was very excited about it. So we signed the initial papers that day and signed on the house at the end of the month. CRAZY!!

These pictures were taken September 11, 2004 when we came out to visit our new house. Ü

It's so bare looking!!

The home was a spec home so carpet, counters, cupboards, etc were already chosen. The only thing we had to do was pick out our appliances and decide on the landscaping in the front yard

Abby playing under the stairs

I thought this downstairs bathroom looked so fancy Ü

I loved how you could just barely see the tot lot from the upstairs loft window. It was fun knowing it was that close. Then they finished building that house and you can't see it anymore.

Our backyard still looks this way. We've added a swing set and a few toys but still no landscaping. Maybe one day...

Playing at the purple park for the first time

Now we've been here 5 years. In that 5 years we have gone through 4 ward realignments and have been in 4 stakes (I think?). Two weeks after we moved in President Eyring visited for our 1st stake split. He not only said the Queen Creek, AZ was the fastest growing area in the church but he also said something to the efftect that this area would be hit hard with trials and that some would be equal to what the pioneers went through. Nice. I pretty much wanted to move back to where we came from then.

It's taken awhile to fit in. When we first moved here Andy and Alex were a few days shy of being a month old. (Sidenote - the next morning after these pictures I posted were taken the twins were born!!) I didn't know anyone and wasn't able to go out and meet many people with 3 tiny kids. Tyler was working full time plus going to school and then add the 40+ mile commute one way to that and we didn't see him very much. I was one overwhelmed mommy!! Then we were split out of the ward from most of the people in the community and then split back into the ward where there were so many new families who moved in.

Now we're old timers and thanks to being in two different primary presidencies and being involved in the PTO at the kids school I've gotten to meet lots of families. I've got my park group of girls who meet on Thursdays and who I love hanging out with. We do playdates and swap babysitting. I feel like I finally have friends. YAY!! The area has really built up out here with shopping close by and more roads going in and out so we aren't so far away from civilization anymore. And now with my kids in school just down the street and my parents so close by this is finally HOME.

And I don't want to leave!

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Great memories!

Have a great day!   Aldine Allen