Happy First Anniversary Kristin!!

Now I know this is a day early, but I figure it will take awhile before Kristin even finds this so by the time she does discover I posted, it will be May 31st. :)
At this point I could write a book about all the crap Kristin and I have had to go through in our first year of marriage. Luckily, I suppose, all of it has been due to external factors beyond our control and had nothing to do with us. At this point I think both of us are so worn down by the emotional roller coaster of the last year that it makes it very hard to even celebrate the major victories in our life together. This first of which was the ending of the custody battle, in our favor, with He-who-shall-not be named but deserves every uncharitable and foul epitaph that the imagination can conjure up. Another big milestone ended just yesterday, and I am uncertain if Kristin knows for sure, but I am announcing it here:
We have our house!!!!!!!!!!!
(**knock on wood notice: I certainly hope I don't jinx it , though the official recorders response is not in yet, I have been told that the checks have all been cut, escrow has closed, security and title say its a done deal and I have a key.)
If you are unaware of what we have gone through to get this house, here is a quick summary...14 months, 2 shortsales, 4 security title companies, 5 loan officers, 7 different loans (5 for me, 2 for Kristin), 3 loan addendums and extensions, two mobile notaries, many midnight faxes and email scans as well as overnight express deliveries...I could go on. On a funny note Kristin discovered that she married a deadbeat, because despite a phenomenal credit rating, and sufficient income, because he pays himself from his business that takes a loss every year due to its high employee cost (there is only 1)...he can not qualify for a loan...only it would have been nice to have figured this out more than 4 business days before the deal had to close. What ends up happening is Kristin bought, in her name only, a very nice "vacation" property in Arizona (no literally, the government and mortgage company are classifying it as a "vacation" property....did you know PMI is $1000 a month on a vacation mortgage? Neither did we.) Needless to say, we learned a lot about buying a house and getting a loan...definitely more than we would have liked to have learned.

OK, so onto the good news: Our soon to be home where we "may" actually get to act liked a married couple and a family! (Cross your fingers...seriously.)

The main entry:




















Looking towards the foyer, office and front door from the living room area:


















The Kitchen (this is one of the hardest things to find...a good kitchen):


















The family room from the Kitchen:


















The Master Bath looking into the shared his and her closets. (I am told I only get 25% of the total closet space).


















Upstairs loft in the west wing:
Here we have the Library/Tech nook in the East wing:
Looking across the hall way from the east wing towards the west wing loft, and down into the Dining room:
The East wing Bathroom (subsequently for Mackenzie's and the Guest room):
Two shots of Mackenzie's room as I am certain she would want you all to see the full room, especially the 3 windows:

Finally the pool I need to clean:

There are a lot more pictures but this is overkill as it is.

Kristin, I can't express enough how much you mean to me, nor can I express sufficiently for anyone else to understand how much this long distance marriage fiasco has been a burden on me emotionally, but what I can say for certain is that I Love you and I ma proud to be your Husband, here's hoping soon enough that all your dreams come true.

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!
-Stephen

PS: For those of you who have never seen them, I periodically send cards like this to Kristin, they're great...I decided to share it this time.