As I mentioned in my last post I am soooooo happy to be home again after 2 1/2 years of living in Virginia away from family. I have been enjoying all the wonderful Holiday season traditions especially the traditions that have to do with spots that remind me of my childhood. This past weekend my family, Casey's family and my sister-in-law's family all went up to a place called Apple Hill up near Placerville, which is a little less than an hour from Lake Tahoe. It is a beautiful area and it is a Northern California's tradition to go to Apple Hill in the fall and pick apples and eat all the wonderful goodies you can think of that apples can make. There are of course caramel apples, apple cider, apple wine, apple beer, homemade apple butter, apple fritters, apple donuts (my favorite!), apple pie, and much more! If you ask anyone here in Northern California what Apple Hill is they immediately know what your talking about :) It is a beautiful drive and its kinda like several different farms that you drive too to enjoy the fall outdoors and some yummy food :) It can get super busy and with my nephews in school now we couldn't go on the week day like we normally could so we had to go on Saturday and it was so packed with people but the crowds don't bother me and it was still a lot of fun! Norah did so well and loves people watching so she had a blast! Its about an hour and a half drive and Norah slept all the way up there and then took a nap in the middle of our visit and then slept all the way home, she did awesome! Since Apple Hill is on the edge of the Sierra Mountains it can get pretty cold this time of year so I bundled Norah up like crazy. It was so nice to be with my family and make these special memories with them and Norah, I am so thankful :) Here are some photos below! Oh and of course my husband is in shorts, he is always in shorts, even if its freezing!
All the cousins, well Norah is blood cousins with the 2 handsome boys and the rest of the girl cuties are my sister-in-laws nieces :) and Casey's mom is in the middle :)
Also this week we met with my Aunt who is a really well known real estate agent in town and met with the lender to see about buying our very first house next year!!! Our lease is up in March, but we are fortunate to be month to month after that so we can take our time looking for a house and find want we really want. I'm beyond excited because frankly I'm ready to finally be able to go DIY crazy on my own place, I'm done with renting and being so limited!!! We are in the very preliminary stages, but we are going to look at a very cute fixer upper tomorrow so this new chapter of our life is exciting! With the interest rates so low, we feel very optimistic! I am truly thankful though for the rental experience, most people I have talked to say renting is a waste of money, but I have learned differently. We have learned so much from renting, what we don't want in our own home and things to look out for, plus I feel like it has given me much more appreciation for being able to own a home, once we are in one I know I will appreciate it more than I would have if we were to have bought a house right when we got married, mind you we were moving to Virginia and I wouldn't have bought there knowing we were coming back, but before we found out we were moving to Virginia 4 months from our wedding, we were looking at houses to buy back then and my mindset was totally different and I wasn't really for a fixer upper, which I totally want now to be able to make my home my dream home and with a fixer upper comes a cheaper house, which in the long run becomes a cheaper mortgage and then a house paid off :) We have learned from many friends and family from their home buying experiences and what to be watching out for. As everyone knows in the last 4 years the housing market has changed drastically and the cheaper houses and cheaper interest rates are to our benefit so I feel patience does pay off and in our case renting wasn't a waste of money :) God truly has a plan outside your own! All in all I am so very thankful!
Hope you all are having a great week, thanks for reading!
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