We’re Moving!

Let’s just cut right to the news! We’re moving! Are you shocked? Yes, so am I. It all feels incredibly surreal. When we moved into this home I predicted we would live here somewhere between 5-10 years. We made it 8 years. So we are actually right on track :)

The past few months have been an absolute whirlwind, filled with big decisions, absolute excitement, a lot of sadness and SO much work. I honestly don’t think I’ve felt so many different emotions at the same time before. It’s been a lot. Which is a huge part of why I have waited to share anything with you. I’ve honestly needed time to process it all. And I think I’m finally there.

Not only are we moving out of this home that we love, but we decided to take a huge leap of faith and MOVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY. What?!?

So now that we ripped that bandaid off. Let’s dive into all the details. The why, where and when.

Why are we moving?

I wish I could give you one simple answer, but I can’t. The simple answer is, we are ready for an adventure and truly feel God is leading us through this next chapter in our lives.

I have always been a dreamer, adventurer, someone who loves change and new experiences. I’m honestly shocked we have lasted this long without moving, but it has never felt right until now.

When Brian and I got married almost 14 years ago, I was living in Arizona going to college and he was living in Washington. We had talked about moving to a new state just the two of us for a few years, but I was planning our wedding here in Washington and he already owned a home up here, so it only made sense for me to move back to Washington after graduation and start our new life together. Well, three kids and 14 years later, we are still here :) In fact, with the exception of going away to college, Brian and I have both lived IN THE EXACT SAME COUNTY of Washington our entire lives. Woah. The older we get, the more that sinks in.

We have talked about moving at least once a year, for the past 14 years. We both have always wanted to experience life in a different part of the country, but every time we bring it up it has never felt like the right time. Our family is all here, our best friends are here and with little kids, it was so important to be surrounded by our village. But in the last year, something began to stir in our hearts. We had some big conversations about the next phase of our life and what that looks like and what we truly wanted. If there is anything the past two years has taught us, it’s that life is short, anything can change in a second and if something is stirring your heart, why not just go for it?

With our oldest heading into middle school next year, we really sat back and had to think, “are we ready to stay here, in the same county, for the next 12 years until all our kids finish school, or we do we take this huge leap of faith and try something new”. It was either now or never.

Brian and I are both risk takers, we both have the mentality of living a life with no regrets. Even if we fail, at least we tried. We are always pushing each other to go after what we want. And I think we both came to a point this year where we knew that if we didn’t take this leap and see it through we would always regret it. And if we go and hate it, we can always come back.

All the puzzle pieces that have stopped us from taking this leap over the past few years seemed to finally be falling into place. For the first time since we’ve been together, Brian is no longer traveling for work. Up until March 2020, he was gone every week, now he is home full-time with us (it’s been absolutely amazing and a huge positive change for our family). With both of us working from home, we can ultimately work from anywhere, which played a big part in making this all work. (However, we still own our restaurant here in Washington and will continue to keep it, we have an amazing staff and manager and we will fly up here often).

Has it been easy? Absolutely not. It’s been so much work. We have had to push through a lot. There have been so many ups and downs and curve balls thrown our way. It has been a very emotional journey of experiencing such overwhelming excitement of the unknown, but also extreme sadness and grief of leaving a place I’ve called home for 36 years and leaving family and friends. Navigating those feelings has honestly been a lot. I had to learn that you can be sad and grieve, but also be excited for what lies ahead and lean into change. Despite the range of emotions, I’ve had the most surreal sense of peace over this move in a way that I could never even begin to describe. Everything has somehow just fallen into place and we cannot wait for what lies ahead.

But You JUST Finished your home and backyard?!

Yes. Honestly leaving this house has been really hard on me. Much harder than I expected. I was doing just fine until they did the listing photos and then I broke down in tears. Sobbed actually. This was the first home we bought as a couple, we raised our three kids here and it was the first home I have truly fallen in love with and made our own. I am so proud of the work I put into this house, I am leaving on a high note for sure. But also sad that we won’t be able to enjoy our backyard. I think I’ll miss that the most!

As far as “you JUST finished XYX”. Working on our home is technically my job and I love it. No matter what home we are in, there will ALWAYS be a “But you JUST finished that!”. It’s just part of it.

Where are we moving?

I’m not going to reveal our new location just yet. BUT. I will tell you this. We didn’t even make our final decision to move until this March and WE JUST WENT UNDER CONTRACT ON OUR NEW HOUSE THIS WEEK! So I feel like things have been moving at whirlwind, chaotic pace since then.

We knew we wanted to move somewhere with a warmer climate. A place where we could be outside year round. The amount of rain we’ve had in the PNW this year has honestly been SO hard on us and our kids. We love the sunshine, we are both happier (mentally and physically) in warmer climates. We wanted to be in a place with great schools for our kids and a reasonable flight time back to Washington. We were actually looking into three different cities/states for a while, but eventually landed in a place that we both knew we loved and have loved for years. A place we visited about 5 years ago and I instantly said, “this feels like home”.

When are we moving?

We are able to stay in our current home until July 7, but we can’t move into our new home until July 20th. So we will be staying here in Washington for a week with family and then starting a 6 day road trip, exploring different parts of the country until we eventually land in our new home state!

Will The New House Be A Fixer Upper or Move in Ready?

You guys… as you all know the housing market is absolutely crazy. We went into it with an extremely open mind. I flew down last week to look at houses in person. I toured about 6 of them. Everything from total gut jobs, fixer uppers, builder grade that needs some personalization and homes that were move-in ready. I had no expectations and was ready to tackle anything that felt right.

We found a house that we are head over heels for. I cannot WAIT to share it with you!

THANK YOU

I just want to say a big thank you for your patience as we transition to our new home and state. Thanks for being wonderful. I cannot wait to dive in and share the journey!