Our New Home!

This post has been long awaited on our blog! Here is the story of how we got our house and some pictures for your enjoyment!

So,  there were were. Minneapolis. Our new city. We arrived a week before our first day at Target in order to search for a house. We had been searching all summer online and getting ideas of the different things we liked and didnt like, as well as what areas we'd like to live in. We arrived Monday afternoon, and were off with our real estate agent first thing in the morning on Tuesday. She had us set up to see 14 or 15 houses on Tuesday, and then another 12 or so on Wednesday. It was fairly exhausting running all over town looking at different houses. It was a lot to take in! There were some that we kinda liked, some we were so-so on, and a lot that were a no-go. After days one and two, we had our areas fairly well picked out, and just were trying to decide which house would be the best fit. There were a few that we liked from our first two days of hunting, so we went back and checked those out again. The good news is that new houses were still coming online and that there were probably 4 or 5 houses we looked at that had come online that same week. 

Of our 2 favorites, we werent ready to spring on either. Both seemed a touch over-priced and we were nervous about buying a 2 bedroom place in a predominately 3 bedroom neighborhood. We liked the two a lot, but were just nervous about pulling that trigger. We decided take Friday off to think about things, and then looked at just a few new ones on Saturday. We decided our plan was to wait either for the two homes' prices to come down or for something we loved to pop onto the market. 

On Monday, our first day of work, I got a text from our real estate agent saying that she had a new one that we probably needed to check out that night. After texting back and forth during our breaks at work, we decided we would head up. As soon as work was over, we jumped in the car to go and see it. Hayley didnt really want to head up-- we had looked at a ton of houses and had just finished our first day of work and were kinda tired. But we went up anyways and were thrilled with what we found. 

Turns out that our real estate agent had called the sales agent for the neighborhood this house is in on Thursday and left her a message. We had seen 2 buildings that were still under construction and were wondering if there were any left. Unfortunately, they had all been sold back in April or May. This sales agent, however, had someone call in with financing issues that were forcing them to get out of buying the home. This sales agent remembered that someone had left a message the day before, and so she gave our real estate agent a call on Monday. She said that we could come see the place on Monday and make an offer if we like, and that she would put the house on the official market the next day if we didn't take it. 

We went up there and checked it out and absolutely LOVED it. It had all the upgrades we wanted, was in a good location, and was at a price that was very fair. We moved on it that night and bought it! The best part is that they wanted us to close ASAP-- meaning Sept 23. We were done with our 1 month lease near lake Calhoun on the 18th, so that worked perfectly for us! We are so happy to have found a great place that worked out so well for us! Here are the pictures of it when it was still under construction:

First Day of Work

The big day has come-- the first day of work! Here are our obligatory first-day-of-work pictures:

Our First Anniversary!

This year marked our first Anniversary. The year flew by, it felt more like one month yet so much had happened since our wedding day one year ago. During year 1 we finished our senior years together and graduated from college. We packed up our life and moved accross the country. We took a wonderful vacation to visit Taylors mission in Argentina. We bought our first car and began shopping for our first home. We moved to Minnesota and began our first careers. All this in one year! It has been an adventure and I would not want to have done any of it without him by my side.

Because we were in the middle of a big move and beginning our new jobs the next day ( and it was a Sunday), we didn't have time to do anything too elaborate. To celebrate we took a dinner cruise on the Mississippi to explore our new city where we will continue our adventure.

Look at how cute he is! I love you Tay Bay Bay, Happy Anniversary!

A Summer in Cincinnati

After a very busy beginning to our summer, Taylor and I decided we should settle down for a few weeks before we relocated again. We had the awesome chance to live in Cincinnati with his parents for a month and a half. Let me tell you, the Jensen family knows how to stay busy and busy we were! The time flew by but luckily we were able to get most of our bucket list checked off. Our bucket list consisted of:

A lot of Reds games:

A few parties:

Sewing lessons:

Buying a car:

A day trip to Kirtland, Ohio:

Reds Hall of Fame:

John Mayer concert:

A missionary Homecoming:

Hilton Head

This summer, we had the opportunity to go to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina with the whole Jensen family. Everyone came from all across the country to hang out, swim, get a tan, and enjoy family time together. The last time we had all gone to Hilton Head was in 2008, right before I went on my mission. Needless to say, we were due!

Mom, Dad, Andrew, Hayley and I drove down from Cincinnati in a car that we rented so that we could fit all of our gear. The roadtrip was fun, but we just wanted to get there! We met up with everyone else who had flown in in a Walmart parking lot, much to Hayley and my chagrin. It was a fun reunion, and the cousins started doing their thing-- stick fighting and playing!

The guys went to the house to unload the bags, and the ladies went to do work at the grocery store. Hayley was bewildered at the amount of groceries we got, but hey! We are a big group that likes to eat! The house we stayed at was really nice-- it had a ton of rooms, including 4 rooms in a separated area of the house. Perfect for napping kids! Nana and Papa had the room right off the living room, and Hay and I, Putz, and the girl cousins were in the basement. 

Our time was spent swimming, enjoying the beach, bike riding, playing games, and eating.  We had a few sandcastle architects who built us towering castles in the sand. Hayley got to experience "" show , a Hilton Head classic. We took many a bike ride around the island on our beach cruisers and searched for alligators hiding in the ponds, we caught a few lurking eyeballs in the water. What would a Hilton Head trip be without everyone leaving with new Salty Dog garb? We had such a blast and our west coast girl has a new admiration for warm east coast beaches. When do we get to go back??