My husband and I are both originally from Minnesota. We met while both on a ski vacation in Colorado.  I had just moved to Northern Minnesota for my job and he had just moved to Chicago for a job.  We dated long distance until I was able to transfer with my company to Chicago.  Shortly after we were married, meaning months, he was promoted with his company to South Bend, Indiana.  So in 1995, we were married, had a job change and buying our first house.  It was quite stressful, but we had no idea what the future would have in store for us.

Our first home was a late 1800’s victorian with a front porch, built-ins, and character that oozed of a different time period.  It was a doll house and we loved it.  Just prior to moving in, my husbands company was bought out and he was out of a job.  I was still in Chicago living with a co-worker waiting for a transfer to Indiana.  Somehow it all worked out and we even acquired two little britanny spaniel puppies that year.

We only lived in that house for a year.  We were on a whirlwind and becoming corporate gypsies.  I was promoted next and we relocated to southern Indiana in a town called Evansville.  We bought our second home.  I don’t remember what year it was built, either late 80’s or early 90’s.  It was a cape cod and the construction could never compare to our victorian home.  It had a large back yard for the dogs and we knew it was not going to be our forever home.  We were quickly becoming savey home buyers.

We were both doing well with our careers, we had no children and we were looking at where we wanted our future to go.  We had many discussions and knew that one of us would more than likely have to give up our career and follow the other at some point.  My job and industry was more stable, so we decided that I would look at going from the operations side of my company over to the sales side.  Which meant, technically, going self-employed.

In 1998 we moved back to Minnesota and purchased our third home, the one we are currently living in.  We moved back for family and to raise our family.  We looked at this opportunity to settle down and stay in our forever home, the home that would always be there, the home that our future kids would bring their future kids to.  Grandmas house, I wanted Grandmas house.

Growing up my Parents moved four times.  Each time to a bigger and better house.  As a child it was hard.  Home to me was the three bedroom rambler located in a western suburb of Minneapolis called Minnetonka.  Their last house that I lived at was a lake home in a town called Victoria and I had to change schools going into eighth grade.  That was a hard move for me and I didn’t want my future children to have to change schools for a home.

I found our home while out looking at open houses on a Sunday.  I would not have found this house because at the time, it was just over our maximum price range.  I found the house driving by on my way to another open house and saw that it would be open until 5:00 and decided to look at it after the ones on my list.  I arrived back at the open house at 4:45 and I remember the realtor looking impatient and looked like they wanted to leave.  I walked in and didn’t want to leave.  I knew, I just knew this was our house.

We put an offer in and bought our third house. Our new address was 4020 Shady Oak Road, Minnetonka.  It was the fall of 1998.  I was in training to open my business, we had the same two dogs that we acquired in South Bend and we were home with our parents, siblings and extended family.