Home Sweet Home

This is the current state of my parents' home... the home I grew up in.

Yeah, pretty embarrassing.  The worst part is that the whole half-siding thing has been going on since before I was married... 5 YEARS ago.

This is the house that my family of 11 which includes 2 parents has occupied for the last 30+ years.  It is where I took my first steps and said my first words.  It is the place where I shared a 9 x 9 bedroom with 3 other girls for several years.  It's home.

Now the house has not ALWAYS looked this way.  This is actually the third revision of the outer appearance.  It's gone from yellow to brown (wood) to tan.  The inside of the house had changed even more times than the outside.  The whole house has probably never been finished in my lifetime.  If you walk around the house, you will notice that there are various levels of unfinished-ness.  These pictures below of the kitchen and bathroom have been this way for years.  We're just used to it now.

 

The latest reason why the house is in its current state is my dad's new ideas for additional construction.  Basically what he wants to do is rip off the front right side of the house and extend it about 10 feet or so.  He has some really great updates in mind, but he's decided that he wants to do it himself.  Recently he called a contractor to get an estimate of the foundation.  It was around 7:00pm and I was at the dining room table talking to my dad about it when we had the following conversation.

Jenny says, "Hey Dad, this new house remodel is really expensive. Why don't you just buy a new house?"  Dad says, "Eh, I've thought about it before."

30 minutes or so later... We're both downstairs on the computers. Dad is probably reading conservative news articles. I'm searching realtor.com for houses in the area. (Just for kicks and giggles.)

After searching for about 10 minutes. I say, "Hey Dad, what kind of street name would be good enough for our family?" I say a few and then I find a funny looking one and say, "Ohh, what about this one... 'C' Dr. That sounds just like a street our crazy family could live on!" 

Then Dad says, "Hey, that's where the Bishop lives. It's right next to the church. How much does it cost?" I tell him.  I then tell him a few other specs like land, bedrooms, and bathrooms.

Literally, about 5-10 minutes after I mention the house he tells me, "Print it out and have your mother buy it." Mom walks downstairs and I hand her the paper. "Dad says that you should buy this." Around 9:00pm, mom calls the Realtor and asks if the house is still available.

I leave that night not really thinking that they're actually going to buy a house.

They drive by it Sunday. Walk through it Monday. I get a call around 7:00pm Monday night (less than 48 hours later). Mom says, "We just signed the papers."

Seriously no joke, that's how it went down.  My parents after 30 years of living in the same home are buying a house.  For those of you that are worried about losing the old house, don't worry... my dad has decided to keep both houses.  This house is in foreclosure so it's quite the steal and it's in great condition.  My family has never done anything the normal way, so I guess I didn't expect them to start now.

So that's the story of my parents' new house.  

Here are some pictures.  This new house is slightly bigger than the older house with a whopping 6 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths.  It sits on 0.71 acres and backs up to the church.  Dad says that we can, "Walk to church like Mormons in Utah!"

 

I've actually started to get a little sentimental when thinking about the "old house."  Instead of being embarrassed as I drive up the street, I think of all of the fun memories I have had in that house.  I think of how much character it has.  I know that we're not getting rid of the old house, but it makes me sad to think that my family will not be living in it anymore.  Maybe one day in the future they'll move back in it.  My dad says he wants the space so he can work on finishing the old house.

You're probably wondering what in the heck my parents are going to do with 2 houses.  Well, as it turns out, the missionaries from our church are actually staying in the house that is being foreclosed on, so he's looking into having them stay in the old house.

For right now it's all a little hard to believe, but well... that's my family.