Ok - here's the big news:
I bought a house! Yes, I have made the brave jump from the carefree, irresponsible life of a renter and am in the process of becoming a homeowner! It still has to be inspected and there are rumored to be a ridiculous number of papers to sign, but once that's all over .... it's mine! Woo hoo!
So yes, that means I'm staying in Yakima. I like the sunshine, I like the fruit, I love my job, I love the food at the hospital most of the time, I like my Safeway store, I like my dentist, I like my doctor, I like my coworkers - basically I pretty much love my life!
The location is perfect. I can (theoretically) walk to work, although we'll see about that. I'm near a fantastic park, a pool, my gym, and a few restaurants. The inside is cottage style, which really appeals to me. It's a 1940's house but appears to have been re-done on the inside. It had all the things I wanted when I made my "What my dream house looks like" list.

The list:
Price range - check. Actually less than what I had planned to pay!
Not too big, maybe 1800-2200 sq ft. ~ It's 2288
3 or 4 bedrooms ~ it has 3
1 or 2 car garage with car opener ~ yep, 2 car with opener
2 or 2.5 bathrooms ~ it has 2
Master bedroom with walk-in closet ~ present! (yay)
View of valley, Mt Adams, or this one particular hill I'm quite fond of - yes
Close to work/within 15 minutes - It would probably take less than 15 minutes to walk
Close to stores - yes!
Kitchen: hardwood floors with white cabinets, some see-through. ~ It has white cabinets that are see-through
Hardwood floors in front room and maybe a fireplace ~ it has both
Storage! ~ yep, tons of built-in places
Deck outside where I can have a BBQ ~ yep, got that too
Not too treacherous in the winter ~ although it's on a hill, it's relatively flat

The walls in the kitchen and sunroom are a very cheery yellow, the cabinets and some other details are white. There is a window in front of the kitchen sink that I'm sure will make doing dishes seem like fun. There are just so many wonderful things to say that I'll just describe it this way: It's incredibly ME. You know, cute, charming, ... haha
I'll take pictures when I'm there on Friday for the inspection~