Goodbye Annetta!

Well, we've said our final goodbyes to our very first home we purchased together.

All weekend I kept saying (ok, I still keep saying) "I can't believe we FINALLY sold that house! I thought we'd be stuck there forever!" It such a relief to know that we're out of there and we can begin (hopefully end) our search for a new, larger, more family friendly home.

Although I'm super excited at all the possibilities ahead of us, I do have to say I'm a bit sad to leave. For one, we LOVED our yard at this house. I wish we'd taken pictures when we first moved in, but we did so much work to make that yard so... cozy. It was privacy fenced in, we had landscaping done and a nice big shade tree out back. It was great. (ok, minus the terrible moquitos that arise every spring and summer...)

It was our first home we bought together. We "lived in sin" before we got married. For awhile we rented the downstairs apartment of a house. One bedroom. One tiny... TINY bathroom with a clawfoot tub.

When we started house hunting, it was so exciting. I don't remember looking at a whole ton of houses, but the ones we did look at I remember seeing a lot of potential in them, but they all needed major work. Well, I remember driving up to Annetta Avenue, walking in and thinking 'OMG these walls aren't plaster... there are no cracks in them! I love this house!" Its kitchen was somewhat "newer" (although nowhere near designer... it was at least updated). It had a huge hard. The bathroom had room to walk in it compared to our apartment bathroom!

We were thrilled to buy the house. Our first home.

I remember before we moved in I painted all the rooms. I remember eating pizza in our empty livign room as I painted our kitchen this crazy yellow faux finish paint (hey... we were young.. 20ish... and at the time I was totally into Trading Spaces crazy decorating!).

Our first summer we had a roommate, which was a little insane. I don't recommend it in a 900 square foot house!

Within the first few months we added a new puppy to our 2-dog family. Ramsey. And a new cat... Sullivan (who incidentally didn't stick around too long... he made his way over to the next block and someone took him in and gave him the name Dexter...)

That winter we got engaged. I planned our wedding from Porter's room, which at the time was our "Purple Room" aka... my office. There were many late nights I spent scrapbooking in the Purple Room, while Ry hung out in the living room and we chatted back and forth.

In the early days, we had a ton of bonfires. We liked to have cookouts and have friends over and stay up late and drink and be crazy. It was the perfect house for that.

We spent our first night as a married couple in that house, staying up late opening gifts and then getting up early that morning to drive to Chicago for our "mini moon" (we got married in the middle of my semester at school, so we took our real honeymoon to Mexico in the spring).

I held my graduation party in that yard... there was room enough for a huge tent, and a bonfire later that night.

I found out I was pregnant for the first time in that house. I lost that first baby in that house. We cried together after leaving the ER that night in that house.

We soon after found out we were pregnant with Porter in that house. I remember being in my office late that night, and feeling a little off... so I took a test. We'd just come home from camping. I remember running upstairs in that house, waking Ryan up and telling him we were pregnant again.

I grew big and fat and round with baby in that house. We cleaned out our "junk" room and made it a special room for our soon to be first baby. We brought Porter home to that house. We welcomed our second little guy, Hudson, into our family and in the nick of time brough him home to that house as well.

We've had many fights in that house. Many make ups in that house. Many rejoices and tears in that house. Its the only home Porter has ever known. Its the only "real" home we've known together as a family. While it seems bittersweet to be leaving Annetta Ave, I know its time. Its time to close up that chapter of our life and cherish the memories we made in that house. Its time to move on and fill up a new home with new memories.

We'll miss you, Annetta!

(I do have a picture of us in front of our house... but I'm on my mom's computer so I'll add it later)