The Shaw Family: Goodbye house... Hello double wide

When Doug & I flew out to Buffalo to house hunt it was pretty discouraging. It wasn't until the very last day that we were there that we walked through the mint green house at 64 S Huxley Drive. It wasn't until we had flown home in Utah & went over all our pictures, videos & notes that we took that we came to the decision that out of everything we went through the mint green house was the best. But it was MINT GREEN!!!!! I was not excited about that. But when the sale went through & we became the proud owners of our first home, the mint was already beginning to grow on me. Now, I think it is the cutest color & fit our house perfectly. It really is such an exciting thing to be a first time home owner. Of course when we got to Buffalo we realized how much needed to be done to this house, but we had the whole summer & it was just the two of us so we got to work & transformed our house into our home.

I love our house! It was really hard for me to even think about not being there. It's strange knowing that I won't be coming through the side door straight into my cute green kitchen, watching my boys play in the family room while I prepare dinner, putting my boys to sleep in their rooms, hosting parties/bbq's in our amazing back yard etc. Every room in the house holds different memories & things that I will miss. One major room that I will miss desperately is my salon.

This room was my haven! It was my escape from being a wife & a mother. It was such a blessing to be able to have the space & a brilliant husband design & build me this salon. So many wonderful things took place in here. Being able to create different looks & help people feel good about themselves is the best part about being a hair stylist. I always looked forward to my clients/friends coming over & getting to have that one on one time with them.

I will miss this SOOO much!

The first week of May was the only time that Doug's schedule allowed us to go down to Florida to try & find a place to live. Talk about cutting it close right?! :) We had done a lot of looking online so we had a few things in mind when we got there. I'm so grateful that our option #1 is what worked out for us because we only had 2 days to find a place. We were pleasantly surprised that the pictures online were pretty accurate to what we saw in person. We ended up buying a manufactured home-double wide in Rexmere Village that's about 15 minutes away from the University. It is brand spankin new & has 4 bedrooms! That's one more room then I was demanding from Doug in the first place ;)

There was quite a bit that was not yet completed, but those things would take place between then & when we returned in a couple weeks.

Liam, Me & Doug in front of our place.

Doug teases me & says that he never would have thought he'd see the day that he would get me to agree to live in a 'trailer'. And I just tease back that he has just 'cheapened' me over the past 7 years of our marriage. :) But to be completely honest, I never would live in a trailer park. Rexmere Village is different. They are manufactured homes that stay put. You can't hitch up the ol' house & drive away. All of the homes are owner occupied, they do background checks on everyone & hold to their standard, there are no pedophiles in the community (we checked), etc. I feel very safe & we have lots to do here. They have a huge pool, two playgrounds, tennis, basketball, fitness center & clubhouse. What more could a girl ask for right?! ;)

We stopped by the dental school. Doug is pretty excited to be starting this next phase. I am too. Let's get these next 30 months a rollin!

On our way to the airport we couldn't resist & had to stop & visit the beach.

You can tell we didn't live there because we are a bunch of whities! Gah!

You may have noticed that we only had Liam with us while we were looking for a place. That is because flights are ridiculously expensive & more than that because we have the amazing friends ever that offered to keep Gavin with them. I seriously cannot thank the Messick's & Evans' enough. It was so nice not to have to worry about him & know that he was being taken care of the two best families. This was the first time we have ever left him with anyone other than family too. He did great! Or so they tell me. Kate & Doug had him the first half of the trip & then Steph & Trav had him the last part. I'm so glad that Kate took pictures of the Gavin & Krew playing together. Gavin loves Krew & still asks to play or have a sleepover. I stole these pics from Kate's blog & they are seriously the cutest ever!

Kate told me that these two played & played & played. You can totally tell too because of their rosy cheeks & Gavin's sweaty head/hair.

Bath time is always more fun with friends.

How cute is Kate to set up the tent & let them watch a movie?! She said she left the room not long after they got in the tent & when she came back she found them like this...

All tuckered out. I was a little nervous on how Gavin would do sleeping somewhere other than his bed/house, but she said because they played SOOO hard, they were both exhausted & crashed hard.

Thank you Kate, Doug, Krew, Trav, Steph & Collin for taking care & playing with my Gavin. He sure misses you all & so do we.

So I didn't take many pictures on moving day as I was busy with either last minute packing or busy with the kiddos. Doug's parents were beyond helpful & we seriously could not have done this without them. They were so good at doing whatever it was that needed to be done. Whether it be keeping the boys entertained & out of our way or packing up boxes, moving boxes etc.