The Backyard

Last summer we looked at dozens of houses. From empty lots and new construction to homes that were 5-110 years old. Our kids came with us to every. Single. One. For some people, they want to buy the perfect house with all the things they want ready to go for them. Some want to make sure it’s in the school zone they want, or close to work, shopping, the freeway etc. Some even want to be as far away from all that as possible. For us we were looking for a Yard. Because our home in California was quite small but had a huge yard the kids grew up outside. So despite the major weather differences in Lehi compared to Grover Beach, we still wanted a yard for the kids to play in. We wanted big trees for shade and one to build a tree house in. The condition of the house that came with the yard was very negotiable.

We were with our Realtor, Shandon, looking at an old home in Provo, when we noticed this Lehi home pop up on popular sale website. We made a plan and headed that way. We got to the home before our Realtor and needless to say the kids were very unhappy to be spending another Saturday house hunting. So we said “lets go check out the yard while we wait.” They begrudgingly got out and headed up the driveway. The second they caught a glimpse of the yard everything slowed down. It was as if we pulled up to their favorite park. The zipline, the trampoline, the tree swing, the sand box, the huge shade trees, the animals in the neighbors’ yards. Matt and I stood there in awe as the kids ran wild and free while looking at a home for the first time. There was no complaining or fighting, just the sound of happy kids. At that moment before even setting foot in the house we decided we were going to buy this house. All we knew was that it had been built in 1950, 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms on .38 acres. We knew that our kids loved the yard and could play out there for hours even in the summer heat.

Once Shandon came, walking through the house was just a formality. We already knew what we wanted. The inside was anything but surprising, old carpet, old wallpaper, bad layout, creepy basement. It would be a full remodel. He wrote up an offer that night and about a month later we closed.

That was in september. Now here we are in April over halfway done with the contractors part and we are gearing up to move back in and do the rest of the work ourselves.