Transitions!!!

I thought I would update our blog and let everyone know what has been going on with us. We finally moved out of our home almost 2 weeks ago - such a hard day to drive away from our home of over 6 years, but we know it was for the best and we look forward to what our future holds for us. We will miss everyone so much. We then spent the next week in Boise with my family for Easter and then returned to Utah to our "BOX" that we will be living in until the end of April. We have a studio size hotel that Mark, I, both girls and YES, both dogs are staying in until our rental is available May 1st. It has been interesting to say the least, but we are dealing with it and know that this is only temporary! The first day here, we set off the fire alarm in our room as I was cooking sausage for breakfast and I guess you know the rest...thankfully, we did not set off all the fire alarms and water, etc...scared the front desk person though...needless to say, I have not cooked anymore sausage - LOL. SO - we can't wait to move up north and get into our rental and have some normalcy again. The girls are doing great with all the change and are finishing school here through April and then they will finish up the last month at their new school and can't wait to meet new friends that they can spend time with over the summer. Keep our family in your thoughts and prayers and we'll try to keep everyone updated.

Found a Rental - NOT!

I've decided that I am no longer going to write about things that are happening as every time I do, something happens and it does not work out so we are working on something else, but I am not writing about it until it is set in stone - HA. Continue to pray for us and hopefully I'll know more news in another week or so. BUT, the sad and exciting news is that we closed on our house yesterday. We are very excited that it did indeed sell in this economy and market, but are very sad to see our home that we have put so much of our hearts and soul into be sold to someone else. It is the right decision and we know it, but it still does not make it any easier. Our comfort is that our home was bought by an amazing family that we know will LOVE it and take care of it as much as we did. We move out by May 1st. We'll miss everyone so much.

We Found a House!!!

I'm trying to keep everyone updated on our move status as most of you know, we have to be moved out by May 1st. We drove North yesterday and looked around and had a very interesting day looking at rentals. I really thought with the way the economy is that there would be a TON of rentals - WRONG! I would say that 75% of what ended up being available were homes that someone said they wanted to rent, but it turned out to be "Lease to Own" OR we're in foreclosure - take over our payments. Needless to say, this is not what we wanted to do so our rental selection was decreased significantly. We saw some very interesting rentals yesterday, including those with cockroaches and they still wanted too much money. BUT, we were so excited as there was one that we really loved and it was in our price range and something that we could live in for a year. It is a brand new Victorian style home never been lived in that is 4 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths and 2800 square feet. The only downfall that we had with it was that it was not fenced and this really was a deal breaker for us. We talked to the Landlord, which we love - she is so nice and she is going to put in a fence for us and she LOVES dogs to boot. We feel so fortunate to have found this and the girls are so excited. So, we now have one more important task crossed off of our lists and now we have to coordinate getting all of our stuff from (Boise in storage) and here all up to the new place. I know it will all work out, we're going to take it a day at a time, but WOW, what a lot of work ahead of us. Continue to pray for our family.

Plans have Changed YET one more time!!

Well - I thought I would update everyone again on the status of our move as plans have changed yet again. Due to circumstances out of anyone's control, we will now be moving the weekend of May 1st! So we are scrambling to find a rental and figure out how to have the girls finish school without much interuption. It has come to our attention that their end of year testing is mostly taking place in the month of May and it is universal in the state of Utah so we are hopeful that their new school will not have done these tests yet before we get there. NOW, just finding a good rental that will work out. Continue to pray for our family. We know that God has a plan for us and we're really trying to follow it.

Mom's 60th Birthday

My Mom's 60th birthday was on the 7th and the girls and I had driven to Boise over the weekend to visit Mark since we had not seen him for a few weeks and then for my Mom's 60th birthday. We had a great weekend, but certainly did not know what this week was going to bring for us (see below). Anyway, my Mom had an awesome birthday and absolutely loved having us all together. It was SO GOOD to see everyone.

Life has Thrown Us Yet Another Curve Ball!!!

As many of you know, we had moved half of our house to Boise in storage and Mark had begun working there and living with my Mom about a month ago and we had plans to probably move up there over Easter. WRONG...Unbelievably, Mark was laid off of his position on Monday this week and he has moved back home. It was an extreme shock to us all, but they decided they needed to do budget cuts and since he was the last one hired, he was the first to go. We had terminated our insurance benefits in anticipation of his new benefits kicking in and I had given my resignation at work, etc so LIFE HAS BEEN NUTS this week. I have to say though that God is watching out for us as both of our insurance companies reinstated our insurance benefits due to the circumstances (thank goodness as Mark was not eligible for COBRA since he had not been there long enough) and I was able to rescind my resignation without problems at my work. We have sold our home to an amazing family that lives in our neighborhood already and are so thankful for that and that they will love our home as much as we have. With the new change in plans, they have decided to let us rent from them for a few more months to let the girls finish school and then we will move June 1st. We would still love to go to Boise, but the state of Idaho does not have an insurance plan like Utah does so due to my circumstances, we will need to stay in Utah for now. Mark has his business in Logan still and we are planning to go and live in Logan in June after the girls are out of school and rent and expand his business there. SO, we feel it is a win, win for everyone. We will still be close to all our great friends and family here in Salt Lake and we will be 2 hours closer to all my family in Boise as well. Continue to pray for us with all of this, but we are taking it a day at a time and getting through it.

Another Update on the Move...

Well the past few weeks feel like a blur and it has been so crazy. Mark has been working like a crazy man trying to get as much packed as possible so that if we do sell our house quickly that we won't have much left other than just what we needed in the house and to make it easier on me. So essentially on his own for the most part, he packed a TON of stuff and completely filled a 24 foot truck and packed it one night by himself and then left the next morning at 4:15AM on the wee hours of the 11th to head to Boise with a load and put it in storage. My brother-in-laws were going to come and help him unload that night, but you know Mark, he got there about Noon and worked like a crazy man and had it all unloaded by 3PM. Needless to say, he was extremely exhausted and pushed himself to the max. He is still recuping, but at least we have a load up and in storage now. Our house looks pretty bare, but it will be SO nice once we actually move. He flew home on the 12th and we have been enjoying spending the last few days together before he has to head back to start his job. He leaves on Tuesday the 17th and will start on the 18th. He is going to live with my Mom and then will be commuting back to Logan a couple times a month on the weekends and then home when he can. He is really excited but nervous - it will be a huge transition for him as he has not had to work a 9-5 job in 10 years since Samantha was born so...you can only imagine. We are so thrilled though with the amazing benefits and it has been a blessing. We are still working on selling our house and the girls and I will stick around until we either sell the house or the girls get out of school, whichever comes first. It will be hard, but we'll manage and it will be so worth it in the end. We can hardly wait to be closer to family and see them whenever we want and the girls can hardly wait. So, pray for us that our house will sell and we will be able to move to Boise sooner than later and be all together again!!!