Virtual Tour of Our House

About 4 weeks ago Karen and I went up to Iowa with Lilly and did some house hunting. Click here to read about that. In the few weeks that have gone by the realtors, attorneys and banks completed the home inspections, prepared the title and deed and wrote the loan. The only thing standing in our way of ownership was our signatures on it.
Karen didn’t think it was necessary to fly all the way back up to Iowa just for the closing and since it was a savings of $400 in airfare we decided to have her sign a power of attorney; giving me signing authority on her behalf.
Well, I flew up to the quad cities on Friday morning, did the final walk through and then closed on the house that afternoon. I decided that since we wouldn’t be back for a few weeks that I should change the locks and mow the lawn. So, I went to Home Depot and bought a Honda Mower (they don't make Deere walk behind mowers anymore) and new door locks. That evening I setup the mower, put on the new door locks and went to bed on an air mattress I brought in my suit case.
The next morning I got up, mowed the lawn and went back to Home Depot to get a garden hose to wash off the mower. Once everything was done and put away I took video of the house so that anyone who would like to see it can take a virtual tour of or home here.
Note: I increased the frames by 50% so the video is a little jumpy but it takes less time that way.

In the park with Lilly

Springtime!

Charlotte is amazing in the Springtime the landscape here is lush with  dogwoods, eastern red buds, magnolias and azaleas, a simple drive down the highway is splashed with bright, colorful flowers. Here are a few pictures.

Bad Habits

Herbie teaches Lilly that to be a true dog you have to learn to eat off the floor.

"Lean in a little more"

"That's it, you've got it now."

House Hunting in Iowa

Karen and I went up to Iowa last week to house hunt. We looked at 28 homes between the cities of Bettendorf, Davenport, Eldridge and Le Clair (which is home to American Pickers). We saw a lot of nice homes but we kept coming back to one that we really liked and honestly just felt good about when we were in it. This home is in a very nice part of the quad cities in a town called Bettendorf and belongs to the Pleasant Valley School District; which is highly regarded and is generally the winner in state championships. They also have a very good arts program and early college program. The house is 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and has a large kitchen with a center island, a family room with a fireplace, a dining room and living room. It also has an unfinished basement and a wooden deck on the back of the house which is accessed through a sliding glass door in the kitchen. We really like that it has a laundry room on the top floor where all the bedrooms are. We also like that it has a three car garage and most of all, for me anyway, we like that it comes with a beautiful hot tub on the patio. The lot is wooden fenced and adjacent to the lower field of an elementary school. We love the idea that Lilly would be able to safely walk to and from school in the morning through the gate at the end of the yard. It is also located a block away from a bike path entrance which runs down through a few parks before it drops out alongside the Mississippi river. From there it runs alongside the water for 13 miles at which point the path crosses the river on an old converted rail road bridge and comes out on the Illinois side.

Well, we couldn’t resist all this so we made a decision and put an offer on the house before we flew back to Charlotte. A couple of negations were held and a few days later the owners accepted our offer. We are now in the process of closing on the home and excited to be home owners.

Karen’s already made a list of things to get for the house, window treatments, a lawn mower, a snow blower, furniture and a few other things. She assures me that we won’t be getting everything on this growing list all at once but that we still need to document and prioritize all our wants and needs and decide what’s best for the family.

 Below are pictures of the house. The next time I am in Iowa I will take better pictures and try and get some video of it for everyone to see.

Silly Lilly

Taco Salads

Usually Tyson is the one that post pictures of food he cooks but I am particularly proud of this meal I made. I made some Café Rio chicken in the crock pot and with the left-over’s I made taco salads. Those are homemade taco bowls. We used a tool that was given to us by Gloria. She was giving away stuff she didn’t use anymore and I grabbed it. I am so happy I did because it was a lot of fun. The taco salads were amazing and had all of the fixings on them. I know that if I was still living in Utah Steve would hire me immediatly as a chef at Sonora Grill.