the optimistic duke: Life Lately

We bought a house! Life has been absolutely crazy the last few weeks but I’m happy to report that we bought a house, moved into it, I traveled for work for 3 days and we made a quick family trip to Colorado…all in the span of 10 days…and we survived! #halleluiah Full disclosure, I have 0 good pictures of the house because it's just not ready to share! As soon as we feel a little more settled, I'll do a post featuring all the fun stuff.

Let’s back up. About 2 months ago, some friends of ours reached out letting us know they were interested in selling their home and wanted to see if we would be interested in buying it. They knew they were in a neighborhood we wanted to eventually be in and ideally wanted to make the deal as smooth as possible with no realtors involved. Dennis and I both knew we were about a year ahead of being ready to buy but figured it didn’t hurt to at least 1- see the house and 2- talk to some banks.

Duke approved of the staircase...

We all approved on the proximity to the park...and cousins!

We went and checked out the space and fell in love with it. We weren’t gaining much in size but we were gaining the potential of a finished basement, a house that was only 10 years old instead of 110 (we LOVED living in our older home with all of the character and charm but it was not ideal with the boys…creaky floors make it IMPOSSIBLE to sneak away at bed time!), and an attached garage. We happened to love the decorating style of the owners and knew that this was a house we could live in for no less than 10 years.

We started talking to banks, moving things around, and finally qualified and started the loan process. All in all it took about 45 days and was smooth. We had a few hiccups the final week but closed right on time on June 1^st and began moving items over that evening. We hired some local movers for all of the major items as well as the tons of boxes and totes we had been packing for weeks. By noon on Saturday, June 2^nd, we had a home and garage FILLED with stuff and began the LONG process of unpacking and organizing. Knowing we only had a few days before I headed off for a work trip, we prioritized beds for sleeping and a kitchen/dining room/toy nook for surviving. My family helped a TON by watching the boys, mowing the lawn, and helping us unpack and I left on Thursday morning feeling semi-settled in. Duke helped by trying on all the random hats he could find and hiding socks all over the main floor.

At work, our Board of Directors meets about 3 times a year all over the country. This meeting was relatively close to home and only required a short 2 hour drive to the hotel and event space. Over the course of 3 days we had about 8 different interactions scheduled, most of which I was heavily involved in and had been planning for months. Not being an event planner of any sort, I had been stressing about the events for a few weeks and although the hotel was a complete disappointment, everyone walked away inspired and excited about all of the wonderful things happening at the University of South Dakota. Minutes after wrapping up our final and most important meeting, I met Dennis in the lobby of my hotel and we hopped in the car to head to the airport.

While I was working in Omaha, my parents were driving to Colorado with the boys. Through some serious logistical juggling and coordinating, we were able to all plan to be at my nieces’ baptism in Colorado and still meet all of our work commitments. Dennis was unable to get any scheduled time off and since he works on Saturdays, he was in his home state for roughly 24 hours. I booked a one-way flight out to get me to Denver on Saturday night and drove back with my parents and the boys on Monday.

None of this would be possible without insanely supportive family to help fill in all of the gaps and allow us to be dedicated full time employees, present and engaged parents and the 40 other personal commitments we balance on a daily basis. Trust me, while I take full advantage of the support we have available, I take none of it for granted. The ability to be close to family, chase our career goals, and plant deep roots in the community, are just a few of the many reasons we are so thankful we moved.

I cannot wait to get back home and continue to settle in and make this place OURS. We will be putting up a fence in the coming weeks for some additional privacy and space for Capone to run around and we’re already dreaming up house projects big and small that we want to tackle. So far we've mastered taking naps, cuddling, and going to the park.

Coming up we have some fun plans in the works for the 4^th of July, another trip to Colorado on the books that same week for a wedding and then hopefully weeks of blissful summertime!