Welcome to our Home in Murrieta!

It's been a while since I've posted, I know. I beg off to the excuse that we have been in the midst of moving! We purchased a house here in Murrieta. It's only 2 miles from the house we were renting but puts us in a different ward than the one we were in. It actually gives us more to consider, being a member of the church and purchasing a home. We thought and prayed long and hard about whether or not we should stay in our current ward. However, living in the ward with the smallest geographical boundaries in the church (6 square miles) made it difficult. That with the fact that 1/4 of our ward is a 55 and older community and another 1/3 of our ward is out of the school boundaries for the high school and junior high we wanted Kierstin and Bradley to stay in AND finding a house with a big enough yard and pool proved to be too much. So after careful consideration we moved out of the California Oaks ward and into the Murrieta ward, which many call the Murrieta stake cuz it is so big! I had actually went to a young women training meeting and remember talking to the YW president there. She said they had 56 YW on their roles! I remember thinking I'm glad we're not in that ward, yet, here we are.



We are thankful to our CAL OAKS friends who made us feel so welcome and needed right off the bat. It made our transition so much easier. Special thanks to our friends the Campbells, who lived right up the street from us and made us feel right at home. We will miss the convenience of just going up the hill to play but know we will still keep in touch.



In any case, here is our new home in Murrieta:



See that little room with the window in front? One of my favorite features. It is actually is a single car detached garage... finally a home for all of Danny's tools and toys!! Yeah!



t sits at the end of a quiet neighborhood at the end of a cul de sac (we love that!). But this is the big reason we bought this house:

A beautiful back yard with a pool that backs up to, what I call, the wilderness! No backyard neighbors, just the hills and the wildlife; hawks, lizards, squirrels, gophers, hummingbirds, cyotes and even rattlesnakes I here (yes, it makes this mom nervous a bit). The boys have already been hiking with dad and had their own adventures back there. We look forward to many to come.

It's an older home for out here (built in 2001) and smaller (only 2850 sq. feet). Like I said, it was the yard that sold us. It has a firepit and a large side yard for a play structure and trampoline to come. (pictures to come). However, the inside has needed some TLC. Danny, once again, has been put hard to work fixing it up to our expectations. We ripped out all the moldings and put in new. Danny has fixed up the huge walk in pantry and we had to strip all the upstairs carpet. We started The previous owners had cats that just destroyed the carpet and also a son that just destroyed the upstairs bedroom. Holes in every wall and I mean huge ones! (should have taken pics). With trying to move out of the old house and clean and touch up paint it (white flat, UNWASHABLE paint and 5 kids do NOT mix!) and earn an income has been a strain. I so appreciate all his hard work and efforts to make the interior of this home has inviting as the yard.

We are kinda camping out right now as the upstairs bedrooms don't have any flooring yet. WE wanted to put wood and laminate in the bedrooms in hopes that it helps the kids' allergies. But of course, the flooring we wanted, that was within our budget, was on back order. So when we have that all done and things are settled, we'll post more pics and have you all out for a housewarming party for ourselves!