I see that my last post was in 2010. I don't even know if anyone will read this, but I decided to post anyway. And, happy decade post day! I know, that's not a thing...
We just did the most inexplicable thing. We left Colorado and crossed the wilderness that is Wyoming and part of Utah for a smaller, less expensive (that's all relative, I know), and more politically conservative area. Chris works from home, so we aren't necessarily limited when it comes to where we can live. We decided it would be best to stay close to an HPE facility since that is who Chris is employed with. Our choices were: California, Texas, or Idaho. Needless to say, it became a comparison between Texas and Idaho. Idaho came out on top. We just didn't even want to mess with a confusing property tax system in Texas, and Idaho felt right.
Unbeknownst to us, Chris' older brother and his family decided to move to Idaho at about the same time. They ended up 20 minutes from us. That's definitely a bonus! We miss the family and friends that we left behind, but I have to confess that we are happy here. Our kids are doing well and have adjusted better than I could have imagined. We sent our oldest to college last month, and coincidentally, she is only about 5 hours away and also in Idaho. Things have mostly turned out well.
We picked out a new home, but in a serendipitous moment, it fell through a week before we left Colorado. After a brief panic mode, we ended up renting a home sight unseen so we could at least have a place to land. We signed a 6-moth lease, and tried to be positive as it was less than half of the square footage we had before. I'm not complaining, we made everything work out because we went with it. Then last week, the house literally next door was vacated and available to rent. We didn't know it was a rental, and since it is slightly bigger than what we have now, we decided to take a look. That's all we needed. We are now moving next door, and since our current property management company doesn't want to try and rent this place over Christmas, they are letting us out of our lease a month early so they have a better chance of finding tenants. We have until November 1st to vacate. It's a nice overlap, we got this! Moving again will not be awesome, but a bigger kitchen, bigger bedrooms, bigger living room, nice covered patio, a shop space for Chris (we don't have that here so his tools are all lonely and gathering dust), it was a no-brainer for only $40 more per month. Renting really was a better way to go since we weren't really familiar with the area. I'm so glad we didn't end up where we would have if we were able to buy the home we had contracted. We really like where we are.
Chris has been busier and travels more for work, but he loves what he does. He works with the young men (boys 12-18) at church, and I love that we can hang out at home during his breaks. I keep busy doing things around the house, cooking, reading books for a book club that my mom and sisters (and one brother) are a part of. I also work with the young women (girls 12-18) at church. I'm still trying to find my place, but I'm meeting a lot of nice people. Caylee is so happy at BYUI right now. I am so glad she got a good batch of roomies. She is learning to spread her wings and taking matters into her own hands. She was going to major in Chemistry, but recently decided that she is going to pursue forensic science. Go Caylee! Aiden found a great group of friends and is doing well in school. That's a complete turn-around from last year. He seems so much happier, and that makes me happy. Sawyer is loving the Boy Scouts, and both Aiden and Sawyer are at the point of working on their Eagle Scout projects. Sawyer is part of Chess Club, and is also doing well in school. Brea has found playmates all over the neighborhood, and started a "beginning orchestra" class. She is learning to play the violin. She also spends lots of time on the phone talking to her older sister, and writing letters to some of her Colorado friends.
That's where we are right now. And really, this post is quite long. I think the next words that I write should be, "until next time friends!" Have a great weekend, and have fun getting ready for Halloween!
