Big Changes for the Hodgepodge Family!

What do you see when you see this picture??

A big empty lot right??

I see our dream house.  =)

6 months from now that lot won't be so empty and in it's place will be our dream home that we've been searching for.  Remember when I mentioned seeing a home we loved in a post about Natalia?  Well, we REALLY LOVED it.  We didn't love the location so much.  I really like where we are at location wise because we are 10-15 minutes away from all our family and good friends.  Charlie's work is also close and any shopping is a few minutes away as well.  (I love having Walmart in walking distance because I can take the girls in the stroller when we need an item or two, will definitely miss that)  Anyway, this perfect house would have put us a good 25-30 min away, in good traffic, from most of our family and Charlie's work.  Not good in my book.  So what did we do?  We met with the builder and discussed our options.  I had shied away from building because of the stress it put on my parents years ago when they built a home.  Charlie really didn't want to build because of all the empty homes out there.  But it came down to the fact that I'm super picky and know exactly what I want in our next home. (Because this is the home I plan on living in until we die, where our grand babies will come to visit for holidays etc, I didn't want to settle!)  Whenever I saw a home online I either didn't like something about it or it's location wasn't stellar.  This home though is perfect for us.  Seriously.  It has every thing we have been looking for.  The builder gave us confidence in his work and said if we aren't having fun in this process then he's doing something wrong.  The model they have is also decorated exactly how I wanted a home too, dark wood cabinets/floors, the paint, carpeting etc is exactly what I would have chosen as well.  So he says we should be easy because most of the stress comes from choosing those things and if I'm happy with what they've already chosen then it'll just carry across to our home.  Plus now we can add a few extras such as surround sound in the family room etc. 

So yes, we are building our dream home on this big empty spot.  It's in an amazing location.  There is a walking path almost across the street that will take Charlie directly to work.  It would be faster for him to walk then to drive to work!  The schools the girls will go to are great and all within walking distance as well.  There is also a huge park and a Y along those walking paths.  Charlie's dad owns a hotel that is also within walking distance that we have unlimited access too for swimming in the pool.  Seriously a great subdivision.

The day we put down our deposit for that lot I was TOTALLY FREAKING OUT.  I couldn't believe that we had just made such a HUGE decision in a matter of minutes.  It was CRAZY.  Charlie kept telling me I needed to aim for our dream house when I would show him houses online that were just meh... so we figured if this is what it takes for us to achieve that dream home and not settle then we might as well jump right in!  HA!