Our New House- Saratoga Springs, UT

OK, so it's not technically ours yet, but the ball is rolling and we've agreed to sign our lives away, so I don't see any reason NOT to call it ours.
I flew up to SLC on a Tuesday evening and had a list of 12 homes to see on Wednesday, with plans to look into building a home on Thursday.  Nana had the babies and the boys got to stay with our friends the Yorgasons, so I had two uninterrupted days to find a home for our family.  I was so nervous that I wouldn't find anything that would work for us.  It's a big decision, buying a house, and I had a short amount of time to make it.
I met with Carter, the realtor, early on Wednesday and we got started.  I found exactly what I thought I'd find- dirty, gross, messed up houses that needed a LOT of work.  Most of the homes we viewed were Short Sales, and I just kept feeling like that wasn't the right route for our family.  We've been unsettled since August already, and I didn't want to prolong that by waiting for the bank to decide our fate.  I wanted to get the boys settled in school and not have to pull them out later when we finally closed on our house.
I think it was about the 10th house we viewed when I found the ONE.  I had this house on my list that wasn't really anything special, but it was alright, and a short sale.  It was in a beautiful area though.  We pulled up to it and right across the street were two homes right next to each other that had sale signs in front of them.  I asked Carter if we could go in those.  He said he'd call, and in the meantime we viewed the one on my list.  The basement smelled like cat urine.
We got the go-ahead to go in the two other houses (which turned out to be brand new, spec homes) and started with the smaller one.  It only had 3 bedrooms and didn't speak to me.  Let me take a moment here to explain that every time we'd walk into a house I would look down as we opened the door and most times I would see 10 or 12 tiles surrounded by carpet... and my hopes would crumble.  A nice entry was important to me I guess.  Well, when we opened the door to the second house, there was a fully tiled entry that looked just like our old entry, only smaller.  I took a deep breath and told Carter, "I think this is it."  This house SPOKE to me.  It was clean and inviting.  It felt like the blank canvas that I'd been looking for.  With the unfinished basement it is about the same size as what we moved from, but since that space isn't really usable yet, the house is small.  It doesn't really matter.  It will suit our needs just fine... and Brandon is happy it has a 3 car garage.  More than the house though, what really solidified my resolve to buy it was the park behind it.  I would guess that it's at least 7 acres and has ramadas and hills and sidewalks and a huge playground.  The kids can sled in the park, we can picnic by the playground, and they have a place to ride their bikes that I can see from my kitchen window.  I can give up some square footage for a bonus like that.  Plus, we have beautiful views all around us.  Oh, and a bonus I didn't find out about until I'd already decided to buy it... a community swimming pool and clubhouse.  The pool isn't built yet, but it's in the plan, so we'll cross our fingers.
The house is in Stillwater at Saratoga Springs.  It's about 20 minutes from both Brandon's sister in Lehi and my brother in Draper.  It's probably an hour from my mom in Kaysville.  Not ideal, but as she's said before, "it's closer than Phoenix".  She has a very good point.

This is a poor picture of the house, but the only one I have right now.
 
                         

This is the entry that SAVED me:

My Sis-in-Law's favorite part of the house... a closet in the entry.  She says it will be PERFECT for boots.  I wouldn't know anything about that!

The kitchen.  Smaller, but big enough to make a cake in, right?  Please tell me yes!  It's a worry of mine that I won't be able to work efficiently in this kitchen.  Oh, and you can see that someone had the brilliant idea of carpeting the dining area.  That will have to be fixed before we move in.

A view of the park and playground from our back porch:

My new pantry... twice the size of my other ridiculous pantry:

Master bath:

The view of Utah Lake from our front porch.  It is STUNNING (in person... this is a pic I copied off the internet so the quality is poor)!  I am so excited to live on a hill!

This may not be my dream house, or the perfect house, but I feel very strongly that it's the RIGHT house.