Now that we have our keys, we want to share a little secret with you! We built a house! Our first house and I am overly excited about it. For the past 4 years, we have been living in the house where I grew up. When we moved here 4 years ago, we told ourselves that it was only temporary and that we would be moving out within a year. Well one year turned into two and before we knew it, 3 years had passed. It was time to get serious about finding a house. And so our search began. We had an idea of what we wanted and where we wanted to be, but that was about it. We knew that we wanted a house near great schools and not too far of a drive to Raleigh and Durham without being in Raleigh or Durham! I never imagined how stressful buying a house would be. And I think some of the stressing was for nothing as everything went pretty smooth throughout the process. Thanks to our wonderful realtor. I will gladly inbox you his information if you need it! He was great!

During one of my “house search drives”, we came across a neighborhood that had new houses being built. I loved the area as it was still rural (I’m a country girl) but close to stores and a short drive into Raleigh. But I didn’t like the hill on the available spot. Every time I’d think about the hill, a huge headache would come over me and so we decided to keep looking! Then we fell in love with a house in Burlington. It was the cutest ranch style house and we loved it. Or at least we thought we did. So we put in an offer and it was accepted. But we realized that we really only loved the looks of the house. The schools didn’t have the best rating, there was literally no backyard, and the smallest kitchen ever! We loved the high ceilings and huge windows in the bedrooms, but unless we could find a way to float up to the ceiling, it would end up being pretty useless space. I did love the thought of being right across the street from my old college roomie too! Back to searching we went.

One day I decided to see if the first spot on the hill was still available. Other than the hill, everything was exactly what we wanted. And as Brian would always tell me “you don’t live in the driveway, you live in the house.” Plus I started thinking about how much fun the kids could have sledding down the driveway during snow storms! The rest is history and I’m so excited to start creating memories in our house on the hill!

It has been a crazy busy week ever since we closed last week, but we hope to have everything in and settled by the weekend. We may have limited internet access for a few days, so please be patient with us. I promise we’re not ignoring you, just limited on internet! Here are a few photos that I snapped along the way at various houses we visited.