Weekend Excitement.

Dear Family and Friends,

This will be very short. I owe you all pictures, but that means I need to attach my camera to my computer, which requires extensive amounts of movement. And that is impossible. Rob and I hiked to Flat Iron Peak today, a mountain peak on the eastern edge of Phoenix in the Superstition Mountains. We made it to the very tippy top! (I had gotten close before, but never quite made it. I was very proud to get there today!) It was a 6 mile hike, gaining over 3,000 feet of elevation which means more than 6 miles really. We went with Heidi, the guidance counselor from school and her fiancee, John. It was so much fun to get out with new friends on a perfect day to hike. But now, my legs and arms and tush hateeeeeeeee me. So very much.

I am posting, however, to tell you about more than our ridiculously impressive hiking accomplishment. We heard yesterday morning that our offer on the foreclosure we saw last Sunday was accepted!! This means we are one giant leap closer to being homeowners! It is definitely further than we have every gotten before. We have a home inspection scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, which is one of the last big hurdles to jump through. Assuming all goes well there, our lender will appraise the house, making sure it is worth what we offered before they approve our loan. Rob and I are both really, really happy that the end of this 6 month process is finally in sight! The house is not in as nice of shape as the short sale we were originally hoping to get, but it doesn't require too much work before we move in. The carpets need steam cleaned, the walls need cleaned and painted pretty badly and it needs all new appliances. (There are no appliances in the house right now.) There are also a few other fixer-upper things we'd like to do, but they don't need to be done before we move in. Right now, our closing date is set for late February! We will keep you all posted on the results of the inspection and will post pictures very soon. (I know I said this about pictures we took in California from Rob's camera, but it is high on my to-do list tomorrow!) I am also planning on taking a lot more pictures on Tuesday while we are there again for the inspection. More news to come when I can sit still without intense pain in my legs. Wish you could have all been here to enjoy the beautiful day and hike with us :)

Love, Sarah and Rob