Holiday Shopping....

This Memorial Day weekend wasn't quite the normal weekend. I'm not talking about shopping for your favorite outfit at the mall or even for a new car. . . We ended up spending four or five days shopping for a home for my dad. A few months ago, Kelly-my sister, was up in Meridian {just outside of Boise, ID where dad lives} and talking to him about moving down to Utah now that he has been on his own for a couple of years and has no family up there to help him with anything. We all worry about him being up in Idaho alone. He has gone hiking a few times and has taken some pretty good falls and has never said anything. Then we'll see him all cut up and find out what the real story was. He has also been having some troubles with his diabetes lately and could probably use someone there to make sure he is taking his insulin and visiting the doctor regularly, etc... He is still very capable of doing everything on his own, but if there was to be an emergency we are all about 6-7 hours away. We would love it if he were close and we could help him if need be.
He came and stayed at our house for 5 days and was ready to go look. We looked at many, many homes. It was very hard for him to see and compare homes for several reasons. Many of the homes we were looking at were at least 40-60 years old. Most were in great shape; but his home is newer-2001-and has 2500 sq. ft. It is a very nice house w/ a 3 car garage and plenty of yard and space for him. The price of homes here also scared him a little. We found a cute yet small home here in Kaysville that he really fell in love with, but very overpriced. When we went to the backyard-it was as if we were in his backyard from the house his grandparents, parents and he and mom lived in Grass Valley, CA. It was gorgeous and had a huge yard with a wonderful garden and had so many wonderful memories. Memories that for dad were his life. That street was even named after his family name and has had someone from his family living there for over 100 years. It was hard to see that house in CA sell and be gone forever!!! I think that brought back some fond memories for him when he saw the yard. Then we went back a few days later and went in to see the house. It was very well taken care of, but was also very outdated. He would need to update the carpet, paint and redo other things as well. It was hard for him to imagine giving up his beautiful home in Idaho for a much smaller home that was very out dated. We tried to explain to him that it was completely up to him and the reason he would be doing it would be to be closer to his children. It will interesting to see what he does and if he chooses to move or not. Right now he doesn't think he will. The market in Idaho is as soft as the one here and it is also a buyer's market. He is worried about what his house will sell for and also about paying good money for a home here. It was definitely a good eye opener for him and really helped him see what was here. Kelly came up for a night and also went out looking for houses. She is going to have a hard time finding something too. It is hard to make those big decisions in a short time. We enjoyed the company and of course the kids were so glad to see their cousins. Even though it is only an hour to their home-with life and schedules-it seems like it is forever away. We really don't see them very often and need to be better about getting down there to visit.
This is the house in the cute, quaint part of the old historical part of Kaysville that he fell in love with. The backyard is what did it!!!


This was taken closer to the house-the part that is further back in the photo was mainly the garden. It was nicely taken care of and you could tell the grandpa that had lived there loved it and cared for it daily. It was the original owner who had passed away last summer and had the home built for his family when he first married. It was built in 1957.