Well, the time has come.... We always knew that with Jacob's job at Ernst & Young, the chance of moving was high...but we've lived in denial for years. Chances of attaining his career goals are dismal in Kansas City. After much consideration of client opportunities, E&Y gave Jacob the option of moving to Chicago or Minneapolis. Professionally the opportunities are fairly similar, but personally Minneapolis is the better option for us....so Minneapolis here we come!
Let's start with the up side....my Mom & David, and my sister, Kelli, Mark and Grant will live less than 30 minutes from our new home. How NICE it will be to have them close! I am really excited for our boys and Grant to be able to grow up together...something Kel and I always wanted for our kids! Plus, with more client opportunities in Minneapolis, Jacob will travel less which means more time with me and the boys - yeah!
Now for the down side....we are extremely sad to leave Kansas City for many reasons. We fully realize that many of the things that we know and love are replaceable (church, preschools, doctors, etc), but the relationships we have here are irreplaceable. Despite constant urging, my Dad won't be moving with us. :( We spend lots of time with "Grampy" and he is a big help with the boys & dogs. Plus, it breaks my heart to leave him here without any other family around should he need anything. We'll keep working on him!
We also have many wonderful friends that we'll miss dearly....many of them are old friends from high school, college or early days at E&Y. They have already stood the test of time, and we have faith that they will continue to do so from afar. Our strongest "newer" friendships are with our neighbors, who have become a 2nd family to us. We spend many nights per week together and our children enjoy each other as much as the adults! We know we'll never find neighbors this great again....and feel so blessed to have met them!
Below are some pictures of our house taken back in March when we listed it. We are happy to report that it is SOLD. We were happy not to have had to have it on the market too terribly long. We give possession to the new buyers on July 13th.
Front - we love our blooming trees in the spring.
Back deck - a feature we loved when we moved in. Now with kids, we don't like the distance to the ground...nor the effort it takes to keep up the staining!
View of the green space (park) behind our house from the lower deck. We WILL miss having the park behind us! Plenty of room for the boys and dogs to romp and play!
We have a small stream between our backyard and the park. Jacob built us a small bridge last summer, which has gotten LOTS of foot traffic!
Our large, shaded backyard makes for a great space for the boys to explore!
Dining Room - it was covered in wallpaper when we moved in, but since has been painted.....twice. I wasn't happy with my first choice! As you can image, this may have frustrated Jacob a little :)
Our living room
We stained the box beams & built-ins darker, painted the wood trim white, new windows, new lighting fixtures and replaced pink carpeting with hardwoods.
Ahh...the kitchen. Probably the room that I will miss the most. We gave it a complete overhaul - stained the cabinets, new appliances, granite countertops, removed wallpaper and new paint (twice again!), new lighting fixtures, refinished hardwoods and all new windows.
Master Bedroom on the main level - new paint, new carpet, new tile in Master Bath
The basement was unfinished when we moved in. We started the process to finish it in 2007 and it took YEARS to complete, but it is finally done...in time to leave it :( We love our big screen projector. It has made for some very fun movie nights with the boys and watching sporting events with friends.
The basement has a full kitchen, that we mainly just use as a bar.
The basement also has an office for Jacob, which he uses regularly when he works from home.
It has our guest bedroom, guest bath, and playroom for the boys through that arched doorway.
