OUR BIGGEST DECISION

This is one of the biggest decisions that Gene & I have ever made together in our 21 years of marriage well, except for marriage itself.   I don't know a time when I have ever been as nervous and excited at the same time.  Gene and I have always planned on building a house out on our farm of twenty-five acres.  It has been a dream of ours since we got married.   Then about a year ago we  considered moving to a more rural area.  It didn't really seem like a possibility with the kids, and the fact that we would need to sale our property when the trust was finalized.  It would be difficult since there was no access other than a small dirt road that a small tractor can get down.  It was also known that with this small problem we would not be able to build down there either. 

Gene and I started to casually look at property anywhere from Plain City through Logan and on up to Preston.  We have always loved that area up there in Preston.  Honestly I really never thought that would be something I would really think of doing. Not with the kids getting ready to leave home.  Mason had no interest in moving to Idaho at all and I was pretty sure that would keep me in this area of Plain City. 

In the last year Plain City has made dramatic changes not the country life that we have wanted.  As I said we have been looking at different property every time that we go to Preston to visit Jessi.  Well Gene has found a lot of property that he has been interested in.  Each time I would get excited when I see the rural area's but never content with the property or location enough to say that this is where I want to live.  Well we had finally found a beautiful piece in Preston a 14.6 acre lot just on the edge of town in fact, the back side of the property was in Whitney.  That meant that if we wanted city water and to build in the back of the lot like four other houses next to us we would have to annex in to the city.  Gene fell in love with this lot,  I was not sold just yet.  My biggest concern was the road.  I didn't like the thoughts of riding my horses out on it.  I did love the view however but I just wanted to be around the corner on the dirt road.  At this point we were getting a little more serious about the possibility of selling our property.  We promised Mason we would let him graduate from high school at Fremont so that still gave us two year to make a move. 

Then things changed a few weeks later a piece of property came available just up the road from this place just like I wanted.  But I had never even been up the dirt road to see what was up there.  It was 94 acres and had a house on it.  We pretty much wrote it off, that was more than we were looking for and I didn't want a house.  Well one day we were going up to see the kids and drove by the place.  Wow... I fell in love!  I think Gene did at the very same moment.  We thought of buying the property without the house and all sorts of other thoughts of how we thought it might work.  While all this was happening something very strange happened back at home.  Right next to our farm property some property sold which now made ours worth a little more money. It had been for sale for 5 years or so.   Not only that the family had just dropped the price of the Preston property by ten thousand dollars.   Another strange thing happened, Mason who was not thinking he liked the idea of a move and a little rebellious about it, had a change of heart.  We took him up to see the property and he fell in love with it almost immediately.  When he got back in the car he said I could do my senior year in Preston.  Gene and I were shocked.  That is when we called a realtor and got serious. 

The next week we went through the house and actually considered buying it with the thoughts that we would live in it for a couple of years and then build a home.  We called a realtor at home to sale our property and within a week we have someone interested in our property.  This has all happened so fast  and yet not fast enough for us.  We have all been talking about our property, meaning the Preston property, and the house (of course the Preston house).  It almost seems that it is now a possibility.  My head just whirls when I think of it and my stomach gets nervous more of the thought of not getting it than getting it.  We made a contingency offer last week on the bases that we sale our property here.  We are just waiting to see if the family will accept our offer and waiting for on offer on our property which our relator say should happen tomorrow.  It is so exciting and scary at the same time.  I have even accepted the thought of moving to a smaller home temporarily, that is, in order to get this.  For some reason it just feels right.  Many prayers have been said both as a family and alone and it just seems to be falling in place.  We are so excited with the anticipation of both offers both hopefully tomorrow that I feel sick.  Something about this place just brings us all back to life and some excitement again. 

Well I wanted to show you what it is we are looking at and see what you think.  I found these pictures on google earth. 

 This would be the little house or the old house we talk about.  It was built in 1963 and needs a little update.  No one is living there now it is vacant just waiting for some family.

 This is looking down the road at the barn.  Oh the barn, we all fell in love with it. 

 Closer view of the barn.

 As you can tell the side view of the barn.  We thought when we first looked at it form the road that we might just have to tear it down.  When we went in side we saw that it was a pretty sturdy barn and we want to fix it up.  It was used as a dairy barn and still has the old milking stalls, I am not sure what the call them.  It is totally cool. 

 This is the other end of the barn showing the door to the loft and down the road the pole barn for hay.  On the other side of the barn is an old feed lot that is a mess and will need to be torn up. 

 Yes and I love this too.  Notice the road has gone form asphalt to dirt.  Yep, I love it.  This is looking down at the property from the side of the barn.  Every thing on the left.

 This is looking back up the road at the house.  The road goes back to asphalt. 

 This is on the south side of the house across the street.  There are 20 more acres over here.  I am at it looking down toward the house.  Isn't it beautiful?

 This is the dirt road that came up from the other property that I was talking about.  The corner lot by the house is on the right and the 20 acre on the left. 

 This is at the corner looking back at the house.

 I did find the mailboxes.  I had never noticed them.  Gene told me where they were and yep he was right. 

This is the aerial view, of course you can see that.  I tried to write in to help navigate a bit.  Yes and the property right behind the house all the way back to the next house, that is included.  I just love looking at this and the potential for us.  A lot of potential and a lot of work.  There are 55 acres of farm land and the rest is either house or dry lands.  There is even a little creek that runs through the property. 

Hopefully we will find out tomorrow or by the end of this week if we can really call this ours.  I hope so.  If so, we will be heading up there this next summer so that Mason can go to school his senior year there.  Wish us luck or a prayer might be more helpful.