Here is a flashback of the homes we have owned
.......and a bit about our journey.
Steve and I were married in 1977. While engaged, we searched for a place to live in the only part of town we could afford, the bad part. Steve's father had just completed renovation on a tiny home and I asked to see it. Steve, who had worked with his dad on the home, thought it entirely unsuitable for us and didn’t want to show it to me. I coaxed him into giving me a tour, and it was love at first sight. The name of the street was Madison; my parents met in Madison, Wisconsin and it seemed like a perfect place for us to start out. How many newlyweds can say they started out on Madison Avenue?
First home – Madison Ave - Fresno, CA - $17,000 - 1977
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While pregnant with our first child, Michael, we began looking for a home at the north end of town. We found an old fixer upper on an acre of land in Clovis. It had beautiful wood floors and lots of light. We moved walls, painted, wallpapered and poured a patio. We cut our teeth on home remodeling at that house. The exterior wasn’t much to look at, but we often heard, “Wow, this is NICE”, when people came inside. I adored that house.
Our second home – Peach Avenue - Clovis, CA – $35,000 – 1978
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Tough financial times forced us to move to the Bay Area in 1983. We packed up our belongings and 3 children, all under age 5. We started our own company in an up and coming new field: The Closet Organizers. We enjoyed immediate success that lasted for 10 years.
After renting 4 years, we managed to save up the 10% down payment and bought a home for $168,000. Our family in Fresno, where the same home would have cost $50,000, thought we were out of our minds!
We loved that home, we loved our ward, and we loved our friends in Fremont. We raised 3 children, had another, went back to Electrical Contracting, bought 3 rental homes, sent out a missionary, and had a wedding reception at that house. It will always be very special to our family. We lived in Fremont 20 years and still have dear friendships from that time.
Our third home – Morley Place - Fremont, CA – 1987
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With Michael married and Brittany and Chrissy at BYU, we decided it was a good time to move back near our family in Fresno. Chloe was just starting school; she made good friends and loved being near her cousins.
Our fourth home – Woodmont Avenue - Fresno, CA - 2003
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After just 2 years in Fresno, we realized that Electrical Contracting was not going to work out for us and so we decided to start a new adventure. Michael & Marci had been trying to sell us on the virtues of Texas, so we decided to pay it a visit. We loved it! Our stereotypes of tumbleweeds and cow skulls everywhere were quickly dispelled. We sold some rental homes and bought 4 Curves franchises in San Antonio. We loved the new adventure and for the first 2 years, we constantly explored the area, like tourists. We bought this home to live in until we could get into our current home.
Our fifth home – Eagle Peak - San Antonio, TX – 2005
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We moved to our current home in June of 2007 and we love it.
Front Yard
Back Yard
You get a lot more for your money in Texas. Believe it or not, our 40 year old Fremont house is worth more than this one.
We have lived in Texas 4 years. We sold the Curves, and at this writing, are in the process of regrouping. We still own 2 rentals in San Antonio and 2 in California……who knows where the next adventure will take us!
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11 comments:
You really do get more for your money in Texas. Before Mark was elected we looked at houses in Katy (online) and we were blown away. For what you spend on an old run down fixer-upper here, there you'd get a sparkling upgrading modern home.
IT'S NUTS!
Nice house, btw. :)
It was fun looking at your many homes.
Small homes, made cute and cozy by you, grew bigger and bigger; and now you're in a beautiful mansion! I love your back yard with ferns, flowers, stonework, and a dog! Hope I get to see it in person some day.
Your next adventure will take you to OKC! All the fried pies and Humble Pie pizza you can handle! Wait, then when we want to get away we can't come to nearby TX to visit...
interesting lil trip down memory lane...it's fun to go back and look at homes from the past...i pretty much grew up in the one...but it's fun to look at old pics of good ol lila street in washington or aberdeen proving ground in maryland.
I remember your Peach house so well...I have a fantasy of living in a home like that in my old age, working in the garden, and having lots of shelter dogs--that was the coziest home!
I think the Madison house is my favorite. I would love to have a cute little house like that and be all cozy with my family... we all know how close I like to be to people :-)
I just remembered being in complete and utter shock at how much houses were in Fremont the first time Mike brought me to visit you guys there....absolute craziness. What a fun little house history.
I love this post!
As I look at each photo I remember certain improvements made to each one of those houses. I pealed the old wallpaper off of Madison and Ralph and I built those posts on the porch. We changed the floor plan on Peach. We changed the windows and doors to the patio on Morley Place, and installed the wood floors. Woodmont I loved the crown molding with the indirect lights and then Candelaria it's the landscaping. You know on Morley we had the kids growth marked on the side of their closet doors, I would like to have that.
So fun looking back.
What I love most is how you always make your house a home. You guys are so talented. Although I've only actually been inside two of them, I just know they all had the Freeman charm. I guess that's why you'll be happy anywhere you go! Please stay in Texas though♥
I love this post, as well as Steve's comments. Even though our list of homes is still small (only 2) It is so fun to look back and see how far we have come and where life has taken us.
What a wonderful trip down memory lane.
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