Our New Home

Much has happened over the course of the last six months (hence the lack of posts!) :) Mike received a job offer at the VA (Veterans Affairs) Hospital in Tucson, we felt good about it and accepted the offer, sold our house in Virgina, bid sad farewells to our family and friends there, and subsequently moved to Arizona.

We then lived in a rental for five long summer months while most of our stuff was in storage. We found a great house to buy in a killer neighborhood and moved in. We got our stuff out of storage and began the process of unpacking and organizing. We love our new home, our new church congregation, and particularly our new neighborhood. It boasts a wonderful playground where I can always meet and talk with other moms, two pools, a tennis court, basketball court, bike paths, and a cute charter school. It is also a "green" community where all the homes are energy-efficient with solar paneling, etc. This helps keep utility costs low during those hot summer months where a/c is essential! I especially love that the streets in the neighborhood are lined with trees -- something you don't see much in deserty Tucson! :) The neighborhood uses reclaimed or "gray" water to water grass, trees, and plants, so the area is literally green as well. Reminds me of the east coast :)

We were lucky enough to have Mike's parents visit us for Thanksgiving. We loved having them. They were so helpful with the boys and our house. They treated us to a wonderful trip to Prescott, a beautiful town in Northern Arizona. I always love visiting there. It was a treat and fun for us to get away for a couple days.

Dianne was gracious enough to take some pictures of our home and community, so here's a little peek. Our house is not fully set up yet. We are still lacking some furniture and organization ... but it will come. :)

Hope all is well with each of you~



Here is the front of our house. It has three bedrooms and an office, which doubles as a guest room.



Our nice, big eat-in kitchen. I love it and never want to go back to a non-eat-in kitchen again! :) The island was not there before we moved in. We had them add it; we also had them add a desk area and a large pantry. We love the function of the space now.



Another view of the kitchen.



And the living room. This room is still very much evolving -- will post an updated picture when it's complete! :) We chose the tile; I love how it turned out!

Here are some pictures of the cute neighborhood: