Scott accepted a new job in Vegas so it was time for our family to move from Oregon (our home for the last 12 years) to Nevada. But it took a whole year to finally get settled in a new home. Here is a time-line of The Big Nevada Move
August 2011 - Scott accepted a new job and we announced the move to friends and family.
September 2011 - Scott flew to Vegas and started his job on September 6th. His company put him in a furnished apartment. He worked M-F and flew home to Oregon on the weekends.
October 2011 - I took a trip to Vegas for some house-hunting. It was kind of a flop. We found nothing, but it did give me an opportunity to become familiar with the area, and get a feel for the neighborhoods. Our high-hoped optimism of finding a home and moving the family there before Thanksgiving was squelched by the reality that everything on the market was a short-sale. And short-sales are not so short.
November 2011 - Scott continued house-hunting in my absence -- taking videos of homes that were good possibilities. I watched those videos over the internet and put my trust in him. We went through a few frustrating home offers that didn't work out. Then an offer was accepted the day before Thanksgiving and we were thrilled! Yes, it was a short-sale so we knew a wait would be involved. We were okay with that.
December 2011 - Scott continued coming home on weekends. Although in November we began spacing his trips home 2 weeks apart. On the weekends that he attended business school it was just too difficult and too much of a strain (3-4 flights) to get him home for less than 24 hours.
January 2012 - I wanted to see the house in person before we moved, and our anniversary was in January so I flew out for a few days. We celebrated, I saw the house, and it felt more real
Later, for a variety of reasons we began questioning our decision. It just didn't feel right. So we decided to back out of the short sale.
February 2012 - I started looking at real estate listings again (something I hadn't done for 2 months) and right away a house popped up that looked like it would be perfect! Scott looked at it right away, I watched the video he took, we made an offer, and it was accepted! Again, the house was a short-sale, and we understood that it would take some time to close. We decided that we had been apart long enough and began making plans to move the family to Nevada.
March 2012 - Six months after Scott flew to Vegas, a moving truck pulled up to our home in Oregon. The next morning Scott and the boys started the 2-day drive to Nevada in the van. Anna and I stayed for an extra day to clean the house and tie up loose ends. After staying the night at Jenn's house, we flew to Vegas and Scott and the boys met us there.
- bags are (almost) packed
- little red schoolhouse - saying goodbye at the kids' school
- sunny oregon, small town charm, and Burgerville - photos from our last few days in St. Helens
- the big move - chronicling the moving day(s), March 6-8
- let me tell you about my friend - sweet friends & tearful good-byes
We moved into a 3 bedroom apartment to wait out the short-sale. And after a few days to decompress the kids started school. It was a little rough in the beginning, but within a few weeks we started getting the hang of it.
- new school - first day in a new school
- new school // first day follow-up
- two weeks - a report on life so far
- exploring the area - parks, the temple, bellagio fountains
- write to me - our postcard writing project
April 2012 - waiting
May 2012 - waiting
June 2012 - waiting
July 2012 - waiting
August 2012 - waiting
September 2012 - We got word that the bank approved the short sale on our house! Scott and I signed papers on September 27th. Such a happy happy day!
- 6 month report - announcing that we got bank approval
- the house is ours - signing day
October 2012 - We moved into our house on October 11th!!!
- 7 month report - swimming in our pool for the first time
- we have a house: party time
- we have a house: moving in
- we have a house: unpacking & progress