We bought a house!

Sooooo... we bought a house! After back and forth and round about for weeks with the seller and the settlement agents, the settlement for our new home finally went through today! I still feel crazy anxious, especially when I think about the sheer amount of work there is to do, the amount of tradies we will have to get through and the cost of it all! But, we are so, so thrilled. We are literally ready to make a start on the Kendall dream house! So exciting. I can't wait to show off everything as it's done. 

memories: kendall moving day

this snap popped up in my facebook memories this week and oh did it give me all of the feels. it's been just three months today since oli passed away and it made me grateful all over again for all that extra time we had with them. 

because they felt the call to be with their family - they sold their home, quit jobs they loved and moved more than 4000kms to be here with us in perth. because of their move, they had time with their grandchildren, to know them well and to love them. because of their move, i got to be as close with them as my own parents. because of their move they were here when alexander was born. because of their move, we didn't have to worry and stress about the distance on top of everything else when steve's cancer came back so agressively and oli fell ill too. 

i really don't know how we could have managed it. the only possibility seems that we would have had to move across to brisbane temporarily once the pandemic began. we wouldn't have been able to get in and out of wa... so we would have just had to make it work. such a scary thought. but we were blessed to have them here, to love them, to hold them and to kiss them one last time - all because they followed a prompting. 

we had no idea what lie ahead of us. but the lord knew. he has always known - and those who have faith will be guided time and time again to be guarded and guided with his love.

goodbye to the parsons crew!

this morning some of our very favourite people in the whole world drove out of perth for the last time. it's hard to believe they were only here for two thirds of the last year, as it feels like we've known the parsons family forever.

sometimes there are people you meet and you just click with - and you know you'll always be friends. it's easy, you don't have to try - and the jokes and the laughter and the friendship just flows. it was like that for us from day one. yet, our time was limited - and off they go, back to the eastern states, where work is calling.

our kids flow in age, from 8 - 7 6 5 4 and got along 90% of the time during play date after play date... some planned, most not. then when baby alex arrived, as a very welcome addition to the kid crew (on alice's birthday i might add!!) there was much oohing and ahhing from the kids as well as fights over who got to hold him next haha.

thank goodness we finally got a good photo of the kids together, after all this time. how cute is it?!

we have loved every minute with you, and although it's not goodbye, just see you later - we miss you already. ♥

it's the end of the world as we know it

and i feel overwhelmed, anxious, stressed and like i can't even fathom with the mess i have to sort out... but mostly fine.

27 myimbar way was our married home, the home where we welcomed our two children, laughed, cried, fought, celebrated, played, but mostly loved. we have loved living here and it truly feels like the end of an era leaving it behind.

it seriously felt like we were saying goodbye to a dear friend as we, and some beautiful, patient, amazing friends cleaned and then made our way out the front door for the last time. there have been so many good times in that place, i can't even name a small part of them. but onwards and upwards we go, and i know in time, there will be many more in our new place.

the last supper in the backyard... kfc while we rested for a little while before getting stuck back into the cleaning.

one last look back from the front of the house, goodbye old friend! we will miss you!

x ♥ x

p.s. i seriously felt obligated to show this off... as you can see the grout in the kitchen had managed to build up a lot of muck over the years... and it was actually black! who would have thought that oven cleaner was the answer? spray that sucker on, quick scrub with some water and a scrubbing brush... and back to white it goes! winner! maybe we will get our bond back after all!

moving day!

i was told this morning that the only thing more stressful than moving is losing a loved one that you're really close to. i would believe that now. without a doubt. so anyone i know that has moved interstate, or even intercountry, you are my heroes! i was so emotional last night, not because i am sad to leave, but just that it's so overwhelming! and then of course had another cry when my brother jared turned up with the van and it all just felt so real! but the move is done, all our things are at the new house, and i am assuming that it will take us about the next 18 years to sort it all out. blerggggg.

i must admit the highlight of the day was watching my dad cut up the table isaac made me as a wedding gift (which was waterlogged from having no where out of the weather to store it) because we weren't able to pull it apart and it was bowed beyone repair! out with the chainsaw... let's solve this the country way!

i also now know it is true what they say, that you never know how much stuff you have until you have to move it all! oh my word, we had the truck full, sardined in until we couldn't add any more and we still had to do a second load. and this was no miniature truck, jared had hired a 6 tonne furniture removal truck!! time for a cull i think!

it was a lot of work and we are so so grateful to the friends and family that came and helped us get it all done. it certainly isn't something that we could have done ourselves and we are so overwhelmed with the support we had. one thing is for sure though, we are thrilled to be home sweet home in our new place... and i never ever want to move again. not as long as i live. so this house had better be good to us! we love it and can't wait to get settled.

chilling in the truck with my dad and oldest brother who kindly gave up his day to drive this huge truck full of our crap.

game over! a job well done ♥

homeowners!

and just like that... we own a house! can you even believe it? we got this sms today, telling us that settlement was complete... and it's done! moving day is this saturday and i am so nervous... i am not the best with changes and this is a bigggg one. 

our new house! ours to do whatever we want with! so exciting!

there you have it, it's official. sold! so wish us well as we attempt to move 10 years of our life from one house to another. new house, here we come!

koala boxes

well. it just got real. today these 50 boxes got dropped off to our house, ready to fill with our things and move to the new house next weekend. i am so in love with this idea and i seriously wonder how no one has ever thought of it sooner... koala boxes is a local company here in perth, who deliver your chosen quantity of 70l plastic boxes with self locking lids, along with labels and a trolley to your house, you pack them, move them and then a week or two later they collect them from your new house. 

it's a win win! we don't have to look for empty cardboard boxes, these don't squash or go out of shape, they are stackable, it doesn't matter if they get wet... and best of all, i don't have to get rid of them afterwards. because someone is going to come and take them away!

so i started by packing the most important things first haha ♥

it's on! one week to go!

we bought a house!

yes. we. did. 

this afternoon (with just a few days to go before the finance deadline) we finally got the call to tell us that the house is all ours. loan is approved! settlement is 17th september and the loan docs are all on their way. but it is ours! so excited, nervous and hesitant all at once. but mostly excited! 

time to get packing i guess!

(on show of course, is doug's new favourite room...)

game over!

game over!! the packing is done, the house is cleaned and the moving van took everything these lovely people are keeping, to perth western australia. the last two weeks of stress and packing and trying desperately to get all the odd jobs done are finally over... and we can breathe again. steve looks like a huge weight has been taken off his shoulders... and i am so ready to go home to my little girl and her daddy!

settlement is 2pm tomorrow... and then it's all complete. i fly out tonight back home and the kendall parentals will follow me next week once the loose ends have been tied up...

they are being so brave... doing this all for family and i am so proud of them! it's been such a long hard road to get here, especially the last 2 weeks, for all of us, but it's done... and soon we will all be together as a family.

one last sweep of the drive for poppy ♥

garage sale!

it was 1am this morning and i was finally heading to my bed... after setting this up. i must admit, i'm more than just a little proud of myself, because i actually made this happen, with not a huge amount of help. i've been posting ad after ad on local buy/sell/swap pages, gumtree and facebook and then i just sat and hoped and prayed that people would not only come, but that they would actually buy our things!

and they did! we sold all but one of the large items, which we ended up gifting to the people who bought the vast majority of the furniture... get this, they turned up half an hour before we were going to close off... and it just so happened that we had everything they needed. coincidence? i think not! we were thrilled and so were they, because it worked perfectly.

the few things that were left over, we will be donating to the salvos in the next few days, as we do the last of the culling this week, but today has truly taken a weight off our shoulders, such a success and truly the answer to our prayers.

i can't believe that life in brisbane is about to be over... but believe it or not, it is, and in just over a week, the kendall family will be out of this house and soon joining us in perth, 

where we can be a family again ♥

packing up

ahem. guess what? i'm in brisbane! 

yep. that's right. the kendall family needed help to get this house of theirs empty and leave the state, so i am here to help. it was all up in the air whether i would go or not, but all of a sudden, there was flights being booked, a bag being packed and joseph and i are here for probably the next two weeks. we'll see what happens...

it's amazing how much you can accumulate over the years, it's not my house, so obviously i don't have a sentimental attachment to things and it is much easier for me to say, okay that can go... i just hope i am being a help and not a hindrance haha.

i am also amazed at how much you can get done quickly though, if you really need to. we are selling things right, left and centre on gumtree. people are coming and going, waving their cash and things are going well. i just hope we can get it all done, and in time. we have a deadline and we are all just praying we can do this. fingers crossed,