A house is just a house. The people that live in the house and the memories that are created there make it a home. This is home.
It's funny, because for as long as I can remember, we have been looking for another house. We wanted a bigger yard and more space to spread out. (Below is our backyard.)
But as we got ready to move and really say goodbye, we realized just how much we loved our home. We have so many memories tied to the house. It's where we became a family.
We found the house together as we were dreaming of our future together. We bought it hoping we would be ready to be married by the time it was done being built.
We picked out all of the options, cabinets, floors, tile, etc.
We even added a few upgrades that weren't on the list, like extra lighting, a pool door for the pool we never put in, cable in the garage so Jason could watch TV while he worked on whatever, and my favorite not in the book option, our raised fireplace mantle.
We went over to the house almost daily to watch the progress. It was such a fun time.
Each piece of furniture has a memory tied to it. We often bought furniture with some event in mind or happened across a great deal while we were out shopping, etc.
As I look at these pictures, I see spaces where we sat with friends and other areas where my babies played.
I remember when we first moved in and didn't have very much furniture, we put the trampoline in the living room. The kids thought it was great! It was fun until I realized there were hand prints up higher than I could clean!
I remember Jason tracking down the baby gate that is at the top of the stairs when Ashlyn started to crawl. It was hard to find something that matched and that would be sturdy enough to keep our little one safe.
So many memories are made in the kitchen!
Some of my favorite memories are making cookies with the kids.
Our living room was the heart of our home. We spent most of our time here. When the house was built, we decided not to have the TV area built in because we weren't sure how big our TV was going to be. We love home projects and finally got around to "building in" our TV area last year.
I always loved that our living room was open to our kitchen. It was great for big gatherings.
Our guest room was once known as Ronna's room. We always loved to have her come visit. We decorated with her in mind and for months were on the look out for the perfect chair to put in there for her. Lauren moved into into the room for about a year and then we decided we didn't like having one of the kids downstairs so we moved her back upstairs.
The Laundry Room that never ever looked like this except for the day we moved in and long enough for me to take this picture to list our house for sale.
Ahhh. Paige's nursery. I love this room and all the memories tied to it. Here is the link to the post when we did it. http://rickardsfamily.blogspot.com/2011/02/nursery.htmlThis was Jessica and Ashlyn's room. I wish I had a wider lens so you could see the room better. More projects, more memories. http://rickardsfamily.blogspot.com/2012/04/project-loft-bed.html
Lauren's room when we moved her upstairs. We never quite got around to making it how she wanted. She had cute blue and yellow Roxy bedding that didn't match the purple walls. She agreed to go back to her old surfer girl theme until we could paint the room. It used to be Ashlyn's nursery. Sadly, I lost most of my pictures a few years ago and the only pictures I have are of the finished product in Ashlyn's baby book.
Austin's room
Our room
My Bathroom
The Loft
Our garage that we made into another play room for the kids.
So many memories that I will never forget. So much love, so much history. Goodbye house on Perry Avenue.