Crap is getting real, folks

Oh boy, we received our "Loan Cost Worksheet" from our mortgage lender today with the nicely organized thousands and thousands of dollars we owe. Closing date is set for September 3! It's really happening! 6 weeks!

But between now and then, Ryan takes boards tomorrow and starts orientation next week.  Meanwhile, I'm kicking my butt in gear planning a two-week Resident Assistant training for 26 college students, and preparing move-in for over 1,000 residents. Ready, GO!

Oh, what a year it's been.

On July 15, 2012, Ryan and I packed up all our belongings from our first apartment
as newlyweds and left what had been our home for the past two years (left).

Today, one year later, our stuff is still on storage (right) and we have driven
coast-to-coast-to-coast-and-halfway-back and lived in 3 different states.

As I look back, this past year has been quite the ride, and thankfully it is ending on a high note. 
We have both learned a lot and gained a lot of trust in each other and our Heavenly Father. 
Below are my random thoughts on the experience...
(and realizations Ryan and I made through our MANY hours in the car together).

We've realized that living out of your car isn't so bad.  You can really live on the bare necessities. 
We look at that storage unit and can't even remember what we own.  It's just stuff.
While a lot of it is modern conveniences, when it comes down to it, they really aren't necessities. 

Over and over again, it has been confirmed to us what great friends we have here in Omaha, and that the friendships we made in North Carolina will last through distance as well. It was a huge relief to show up both cities after being away and being able to pick up right where we left off.

When it comes to friendships, Ryan and I have accepted our role as the instigators. 
We've had many discussions realizing that we probably wouldn't see many of our friends if we never called them. 
Sometimes that just stinks.  Sometimes we wish they would just pick up the phone and call us and give us a break.
But, for some, that just isn't part of their personality and that's just how it is. 
This is one of the many reasons we are so excited for our house.  Party at the Sweeney's!

Arizona, even though it's a "dry heat" is still HOT and Nebraska winters are still COLD. 

North Carolina is a happy middle-ground with mild winters, but muggy summers like Nebraska.  

In this past year, we feel like we experienced each of the extremes this vast country has to offer. 

Even though I hate the hot summers and Ryan struggles with the freezing winters, 

Omaha is definitely where we are supposed to be!

In the past year, I've gone from one extreme to the other when it comes to working and discovered that 25-30 hours a week would be idea for me at this point in my life.  Arizona was my time for myself.  And it was just the right amount of time.  By the end of three months I had accomplished much of what I had hoped and was about to get pretty bored.  In Nebraska I really struggled because I watched cute little Luna for half the day, but then the second half the day I didn't have a car, or the space to do anything I wanted.  Not to mention it was cold out.  Being trapped inside was AWFUL.  North Carolina brought three jobs and too much work.  I am definitely not cut our for retail hours.  Kudos to the people who can work nights and weekends, but that is time I want to be home with my hubby, not making barely over minimum wage.  So I cut back and ended up working around 30 hours a week and it was perfect.  My time at home was well spent and I was still making a decent income.

So much for "Happy Wife, Happy Life."  If Ryan is grumpy, it's not a pretty sight at the Sweeney household.  

I love you, babe, but we know this is true.  :)

Most recently, we have been learning what to do with our money.  

In preparation for earning real money for the first time in our lives, and not falling back on student loans, 

we signed up for Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace University."  I gotta tell you, I am SO glad we did. 

It has been the motivating factor that both Ryan and I needed to save money and spend wisely.

Ryno has kept us sane and happy on many occasions.  I did NOT used to be an animal person.  

In fact, I hated animals.  It's true.  My college freshman roommates will tell you so.  

I still don't love animals, or even dogs, by any means.  But I sure do love my dog.  

When all else fails, he always makes us so happy.  If only we could just take him with us everywhere we went.

Heavenly Father's plan is better than our own.

I can say this all I want, but in the midst of a trial, it sure is hard to really believe it.  Six months ago, I said those words but I sure as heck could not see how everything was going to turn out in our best interest.  But now, in hindsight, we have been blessed incredibly this past year even thought it was not at all what we had in mind.  This also marks one year since I went off birth control.  As you obviously haven't seen any announcements, we are still without a baby.  For many, many, months this was the hardest challenge I have ever faced.  Especially as we've seen friend after friend all experience the joy of bringing a little one into this world.  This was definitely the year of babies, just not for us.  BUT, Heavenly Father probably knows that we may not have been as ready as we thought.  Finances would have been really tough, and we would have gotten by, but Ryan and I have never struggled with finances.  There has always been enough money.  This time around, there may not have been.  A new baby and no money may have been too much for us and the Man upstairs knew it.  So now, instead, we have each been blessed with full-time jobs and a beautiful home to prepare to bring a child into this world.  

Next, Ryan makes a great stay-at-home husband. He has been studying for boards while I work and the laundry is getting done, the house is clean, Ryno gets to go on a run almost every day, and all I have to do is cook (which lately has been the last thing I want to do).  Thankfully, Ryan is the sweetest husband and really means it when he says, "It's okay, I can find something to eat on my own.  You don't have to cook."  In the past year, we've had many make-shift meals of Mac & Cheese, cereal, Taco Bell, three different leftovers, and sometimes just chips and salsa.  I sure have a good man.

I still love graphic design and someday hope to really make some sort of a career out of it.  But,  I also love my current job.  I haven't announced it on the blog, yet, but I have been hired as the Resident Director (again) at my college dorms. I had this position when I was a grad student, but they have built new dorms since then and they are up to 26 Resident Assistants.  It was time to make the RD position full time and I am so happy to be able to do it.  I love the energy of 19-22 year old college students. And I work with some of the best ones out there.  While I will often have to be working overtime and into the weekend, I love the work.  I have been a much happier person and over all more fun since being back there.  Not to mention all the fun memories it bring back of my college days!

This is a super random one, but I've finally accepted that medicine is there for a purpose. 
I used to NEVER take ibuprofen or anything because it never removed my headaches or my pains.
But my body apparently hates me since being off of birth control and I get monthly migraines,
cramps, back spasms, etc and I am sold on Midol and ibuprofen. 
I guess there's a reason the rest of the world loves the stuff.

My aches and pains and this past year have also reminded us that we're getting old. 
The days of staying up past 10 p.m. on a regular basis are long gone. 
Heck, we're lucky if we make it to midnight on the weekends. 

That's really all I can think of for now.  I gotta say, if you really want to start pondering life.  

Take a long drive.  A REALLY long drive.  Ryan and I had some amazing heart-to-hearts discussing what struggles we faced as children and what we want for our kids, our list of "musts" for a house, if we are the people we want to be or thought we would be, baby names, finances, friends, family and so much more.  

All in all, I think this has been the fastest yet longest year of our life. At times, it feels like we just left North Carolina but at others, living in Arizona seems like a distant memory.

Here's to finally settling down.  We couldn't be more excited to finally have a HOME.  Ryan hasn't had a place to call home since he left for his mission in 2004 and I've been a bit of a gypsy since going to college in 2005.  Hence, why we had this hanging on our wall in North Carolina:

"Free" vacation

What do you do when you have free flights that need to be used? Travel somewhere where you can continue to be cheap and stay with friends for free, of course! Thankfully we have good friends in fun places like LA. 

Amidst graduation, packing, the cross country move, and beginning work we didn't plan a darn thing. Thankfully Chris and Erica were wonderful hosts and entertained us as much as they could. 

We went to Laguna beach where the swell was so big that we got to watch a panicked lifeguard go in a few times after idiots who don't listen to his counsel.

Ryan learned that what's yours is also Hattie's.

I have never been to any Disney park and we figured because everything else had been free, it was time to splurge and hit up Disneyland and California Adventure.

We LOVED California Adventure and their life size recreation of Radiator Springs from Cars. Per Chris and Erica's recommendation we watched the movie the night before making the experience even better.

On our last day we had some time to kill so we went to the Dana Point Marina and enjoyed the ocean air.

And last but not least, we had to have a few meals at Cafe Rio.

This vacation actually felt like a real vacation. We slept like logs (and even slept in) and had enough to do but not too much. It was just what we needed before Ryan has to bury himself in textbooks studying for boards.

In case you were wondering, his boards are July 23 and he starts work August 1. Oh and I've been working back at the dorms where I lived and worked for 5 years as an RA and then Resident Director. It's just a summer gig for now but say a little prayer that I can stay permanently because I love working there!

Are we really "grown ups?"

I don't even know where to begin about this past week.  To describe it one word it would be:

MIRACLE

You know how everyone always says that Heavenly Father's plan for us is better than what we could ever imagine for ourselves? Well this is one of those situations where we have been so blessed we are still in shock.

Let me begin.  After waiting almost two months for the final decision on the Creighton Residency we feel like we had been on a roller coaster of thoughts and emotions and then like we ran right back in line and did it all over again... backwards.  We were confident, then worried, excited, but scared, doubtful, hopeful, and not to mention just plain upset that it was taking so darn long to make a decision.  A few days after graduation we were told that they had narrowed it down to four people - Ryan and three Creighton graduates but only had three spots to fill this year.  At this point, we were once again confident that he was going to get one of those spots but we still had to wait for the official offer.

Fast forward just a few days when we were driving to Chicago and the PERFECT house was listed (see my last post).  We just knew this was our house, but we had no idea how we were going to get it.  Like I said, we hadn't even received an offer letter for the job and with no offer there is no pre-approval and not to mention houses sell quickly these days and especially one like this with all the upgrades we want.  We knew it wouldn't last long but we just knew this was OUR house.  And we even began to call it just that - our house.

Last week was when things got real and it's amazing how it all came together.

Saturday: The house was listed.

Sunday: We got to Omaha.

Monday: We drove by and fell even more in love when we saw the Jeep parked outside.

Wednesday: We decided it wouldn't hurt to call the Realtor and have a visit.  We found out that the owner of the home is the Realtor's 25-year-old son who loves the Cubs and Bulls as much as Ryan does.  Also, the Realtor and her husband currently live in the home with him as they wait for their house to be built.  We explained how badly we want this house and that we have been watching this exact style of home be listed and sold for at least a year now.  We've seen everything they have to offer and this one is PERFECT.  However, we wouldn't be able to close until the fall when Ryan gets his first few paychecks.  She agreed to ask her son how he would feel about waiting that long.

Ryan also got a call from Creighton asking how he would feel if he were placed in the Creighton Hospital as his location.  It was his last choice of the three sites and there were a lot of hesitations, but we felt that it would still be a great opportunity.

 

Thursday: The Realtor calls us back and tells us that she really liked us, has a good feeling about all of this, and has convinced her son and husband that we are the people they want to sell the house to.  Keep in mind we haven't even been pre-approved yet! So, she gives us the names of a few lenders and we get to work calling until we find one we like.

It was also confirmed that Ryan did receive the Residency and would be working at the hospital. But, because everything was going so well with the house, it made any hesitations about the location disappear because it was getting us into OUR house.

We went to BWW with friends, many of whom have recently bought homes and began telling them our situation.  Because we went into all of this without our own Realtor, it saves the sellers money, but we want to make sure we are informed enough to make good decisions.  They all gave great advice and we came out of it feeling very confident in our decision.

Friday: Ryan received the official offer letter from Creighton making everything all real.  We found a mortgage lender who was amazing and is convinced that he will make all of this work out for us.  We spent the entire morning answering phone calls from Creighton, lenders, and the realtor.  The past few days had just been crazy and we could not believe what was going on.

At 3:00 in the afternoon we met with the Realtor and began signing a contract.  It was happening! We felt like we should have our parents there because there's no way we were grown ups and allowed to sign for a house, right?  In the middle of it we got a call from the lender ensuring that he could get us approved, but it would take some time due to Ryan's high amount of student loans.  Thankfully, our Realtor is giving us pretty much all the time we need.  We made our offer.  Two hours later she called us back with a counter offer and eventually we agreed on the terms.  She emailed us the contract, we signed it digitally and the house is ours! She cancelled all future showings and slapped a "sold" sign on the sign out front.  We still won't close until the fall but it is officially OUR HOUSE (pending approval, which we will make sure will happen!).

Ummm, what? Yeah. That happened.  Ryan has a job and and we have a house (oh, and I have a job, too. I probably haven't mentioned that).  We've been in Omaha less than one week.  Can you say, "miracle?" 

And now, a few picture of our beautiful soon-to-be abode and information on all the nit-picky details that Ryan wanted and amazingly we got:

It has a three-car wide driveway which we hadn't seen on any other homes in this neighborhood.

It has a red front door! I LOVE red front doors!

It is a corner lot, which I love and faces West which is the ideal direction for a home to face. 

It is 3 bedroom, 2 baths.  Perfect for a starter home!

 

MJ in his place front and center.

 

The whole house has white trim which was a definite requirement.

Some houses only had a single back door so we were excited by the sliding door and all the light it lets in.

I know they will get dirty, but the white cabinet are so pretty!
And so is the wood (albeit laminate) floor.

The counter tops were upgraded to quartz. 
Seriously, we were not expecting that in a house in our price range.

The family room with an electric fireplace.

 

Unfinished basement with plenty of room for storage.

A fully-fenced yard! We can let Ryno out and not worry. SO amazing.

There isn't a deck like Ryan would have preferred but this extended patio will do just fine.

Yeah, that's a shed.  Something else we hadn't seen on any other house and something Ryan very much wanted.

 

Oh my goodness, we just love it so much and are in constant gratitude to our Heavenly Father for making it all work out.  We never could have imagined it coming together so beautifully, quickly, or easily.  His hand was obviously in all of this that we just let it play out as He saw fit and did our part as much as we could.  I was so exhausted physically, emotionally, and mentally that on Friday night my body just shut down.  I got sick and crawled into bed around 9:00 p.m. and was just done.  What a week.

Homaha!

Ryan hates when I use that word.  

Homaha.

Homaha.
Homaha.

I love it.  Because Omaha is home.  I know all my family will read this and want to correct me that Lincoln is home and try to convince me that I should move back there.  Don't get me wrong, I love Lincoln, and I loved growing up there.  But it is my childhood home, I guess you could say.  Omaha is Ryan and I's home.  It's where we met, dated, married, and where our friends are.

Lincoln is MY home.

Omaha is OUR home.

We so very badly want to buy a home here, but we just have to wait.  

(Something we should be very good at by now, right?)

We've had our eye on one specific floorplan in a builder's neighborhood here in Omaha and we've watched many houses list and sell over the past year or so.  We've kept an eye on the upgrade options, distance from the main roads, distance from the neighborhood park, incline of the backyard, etc.  There have been a few that were pretty good options, others we did not want at all.  Then, 3 days ago OUR house was listed.  It has everything we want, including a fully-fenced in yard and a shed! 

When I started describing it to Ryan (because we were driving across the country as it was posted) I knew it was the winner when I told him that in their living room was this poster:

 

Ryan LOVES MJ.

We got really antsy (because it is the perfect house) and drove by the other day.

Lo and behold, their garage door was open and what was inside?

Not one, but TWO Jeeps.  A Wrangler and a Cherokee.

Needless to say, we REALLY want this house.

Tuesday

Tuesday is it:  Our final moments in North Carolina before we head out on our week long road trip to home, sweet, home.

I'm not exactly sure how I should be feeling right now or how I am feeling.  Well, I'm a stressball, that's how I'm feeling right now.  At the beginning of the week I felt like I had an overwhelming amount of things to do and thankfully Ryan just lets me freak out while knowing the whole time that it's really not that bad and we have plenty of time to do it all. 

But between working, packing, goodbye's and graduation, I was overwhelmed.  Oh, and did I mention Ryan is supposed to find out tomorrow if he got the residency?  Enter another panic moment.  We were hoping we would get an email today so I had both of Ryan's emails open while I was at work. No joke, I thought I was going to have a panic attack this morning waiting for an email.  I started sweating and feeling nauseous because I had very little to distract me.  Sadly, no email.  I imagine tomorrow being much like today but worse.  Great.

All in all, I think we are just so excited to go home that we aren't really sad to leave.  I'm sure it will hit us later but with modern technology these days, it's so easy to stay in touch with friends.  I have friends across the whole country (world even) and although you can't hang out, a phone call or texting can keep any friendship alive.  It takes work, but I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it by now.  Now I just have to switch who I call on my commutes to NC people instead of NE people.

I think I'm just shocked that this time has finally come.  If all goes as planned we will never have to move any further than across town.  No more playing tetris in the Jeep and throwing out food every three months.  I can't believe it.  Life is so exciting!

Merchant's Millpond

I know I posted a few pictures before, but I didn't think they did it justice.  

This place was worth every minute of the drive.  I could have hung out there all day!