Dreamland and a Camel Dairy!

 LOTS of Pics!

In 2008 Hubby and I decided to leave our LARGE and CHEAP 2 bedroom apartment for a step up to a nicer area and a great school district where the median home price was $515,000 (sometimes I question his logic but we do what we need to for our kids!)  We loved the area and with hubby's civilian job and odd hours I ALWAYS felt safe - Then 1 month before Hubby got deployment orders (nope, we had no clue they were coming!) we moved into a larger 3 bedroom beautiful apartment in so that we had room to grow our family and just be more comfortable (first 2 bedroom was 1100SF and new one was 936SF) so we moved into a 1300 SF 3 bedroom apartment HOME (don’t get me started, an apartment is an apartment!).  We have talked about our future and next step since we got married and living there seemed like a great place to raise Diva.  I have never had roots, sorry mom but really, we moved almost every year from 2^nd grade through high school!  When someone asks my hometown I giggle inside and say, “Well, I graduated high school in the mountains”. 

Since hubby left for his sandbox vacation we have talked about Dreamland – over the course of 14 months it changed periodically but always came back to owning our first home.  We have had dreamland in Hawaii, dreamland in Santa Barbara and even dreamland with 2 kids in it but all of these things come back walking into our own home and having more permanent roots for Diva and any future little ones.  In May, we put in an offer on 540 Dreamland (as it became known for the duration of escrow).  All of our sacrifice and saving have paid off and we are now the proud owners of 540 Dreamland!  We moved north of our old apartment by about 15 minutes to a city that is super cute, in a new subdivision and CONSIDERABLY less than the old place - our mortgage and rent are the same!

Exterior!

Living room - NOT our furniture

Diva's room - This is the 2 year olds room BEFORE we Diva it out

Master bathroom - 2 sinks and a soaking tub were on the list of MUSTs

This weekend, without the help of Hubby, we moved into our first home!  After 3 days of physical moving, 3 broken nails… numerous bruises, a few scratched pieces of furniture and ZERO sleep we are all moved in.  Now to UNPACK!  OH LORDY – in 5 years we have amassed an interesting amount of CRAP.  I will be methodical in my set up of our home… I LOVE the way that sounds, OUR!  This week the painters will come in to convert downstairs from Psyche Ward white to a more warm off white and Diva’s room from a 2 year olds yellow room with a HORRIBLE wallpaper into a BIG GIRLS paradise of hot pink and black!  My plan is to have Diva’s room and the guest room all put away before she comes home Friday – then my room next week.

This is the loan package - as explained to me it's not signing your life away its signing UP for a new chapter!



The garage post move... yes, it became the CRAP location 



YEAH - thats my living room set up in there.

Our beautiful kitchen

Master bedroom

Master bedroom from a different angle with Hubby's closet

This is going to be Diva's NEW room theme!

Also this weekend was the weekend that Diva left for Army Reserve Enrichment Camp at the YMCA camp ground!  Hubby and I both went to Y-Camp as kids (we were both older than she is BUT I decided it was best for her).  I drove the 5.5 hours yesterday and dropped her off.  She was so excited because 7 out of the 10 girls in her cabin are military kids with deployed daddies!  After we put her sleeping bag on her bunk she basically threw up two fingers and said PEACE OUT MOM! Not even mommy, but MOM!  JEEZ KID.  I am glad that she was so ok with camp and I am sure she will have an unbelievable time however she has been the only constant in my life since she was born – the military and civilian jobs have taken hubby out of town and out of the country periodically since we have been together but my little Diva is always there.  This week will be MUCH harder on mommy than on Diva!

Diva's cabin at camp -



Diva's bunk - top JUST like mommy and daddy!



A Camel Dairy!  Who would have thought this would exist in California