Future homeowners!

Let the OT begin! We signed papers to buy a new home today - our first home! We're pretty excited. Nervous, but excited to be able to have family, work, and nearly all the amenities we need closer at hand. We have an address. We picked out exterior colors (pebblestone clay and desert sand). We have more things to pick out before actual construction begins, but it should be ready to move in sometime in January. I can't wait!

Our new home will be at lot #40 in The Ridge in Gig Harbor, a new Quadrant Home community. We'll live right in the middle of Harbor Hill and Mike will be able to walk to work at Costco if his transfer gets approved. I'm still undecided about whether to move to St. Anthony Hospital once it opens (early 2009) but that will be a five-minute drive from our house if I do switch from St. Clare's. Two exits down from us is Uptown Gig Harbor, which has a new shopping area that looks like a small-scale version of Portland's Bridgeport Village. The satellite dialysis unit I used to work at is over there too.

I'm so excited to start planning out the details for our first home. I know Michael is more reserved about showing his emotions and will try to over-analyze every decision we make regarding the house, but that's just the way he is. I need someone to reign me in sometimes, and he does a good job of that by making me slow down and think (and re-think) about stuff.

We also had weather around the mid-80s today, so we held a pool party at our cabana. Michael's parents, Megan, and Mikki's family all came, as did my dad and Billie and Keith. Mikki's kids went swimming and the rest of us chatted, played pool, and battled it out on the Wii. I have to bow down to Megan for being Queen of Guitar Hero. She's already playing at the hard difficulty level on career mode, while I'm stuck swearing under my breath at the last guy on medium. I've tried about 15 times and simply cannot beat him without getting the feelings of early onset arthritis in my left hand. This Thursday Michael's brothers and their families come up for the 4th of July, and I hear Matt and Guy have been practicing Guitar Hero. I'll have to practice some more to beat them all.