The Move

If someone were to tell me that I would be living back home in California two months ago I wouldn't have ever believed them! The decision to move consisted of a lot of little factors that have been felt for a long time and a few huge factors that pushed us. I am so grateful for the push. Isn't that how life is though? Sometimes our lives change so quickly, many times great things happen faster than you ever thought they would, and it never ends up as planned... ever! We needed the "push" to get us here, because when you're comfortable it's harder to leave. But when you're uncomfortable, that definitely helps push you to where you really want to go and even though it's hard and stressful and crazy and unsure.... you're grateful. Through much prayer, fasting, temple visits, more prayer, doors shutting and then windows opening, we're here in California. I always thought when we moved it would be back home closer to my family and I always thought it would be a slow moving process, very relaxing and stress-free. But that wasn't the case, when our window of opportunity came is was like now or never! Things with Jake's job went south in certain ways, we had a family who wanted to move into our home by July 1st, and a job opportunity open up for Jake here in Fresno all in a matter of a few weeks! When things like that line up like the stars, you know it's meant to be and we knew it was an answer to many prayers. We knew we were being blessed, and although it was a scary decision and we were stressed about a lot of things, we knew all would be well and that it was time to jump with both feet. I had never moved with kids before and we had accumulated a lot of stuff since our first was born, so moving seemed way over my head. But step by step it organized itself out: packing (thanks to Jake), moving dates, moving trucks, flights, interview's, a trip to Maui in between (thank goodness!!!!) that sure came at the perfect time, 14 hour drives, tears, good-bye's... but not the way we wished... and so on.  We've had a few people ask if it will be hard being so far away from Ryan's resting place. It is. But he isn't there, we know where he is. And if we would have moved a couple years ago it would have been extremely hard because we were going to the cemetery to visit and bring flowers every week. But after Caleb was born and life got even more busy, we started going only once a month. We have plans to move his casket and headstone to wherever we end up, which who knows if it's here or not, but in time we'll figure it out. We will hope to be able to visit WA in future every summer for his birthday and that will help.  SO....! Now we're here and happy and enjoying this new adventure together!  I will miss WA in many ways, being close to the water, Seattle is a beautiful city with lots of fun things to do like ferry rides, pike place market and museums, the beautiful green trees on a sunny day, some Tacoma waterfronts are beautiful too with great restaurants and an awesome 4th of July show, our ward there, and most importantly our many friends and Jake's family. Below are a few pictures of our empty home that we will miss. It was our first home, the home we brought our boys home to, and it will always hold a special place in our hearts because of that special time with our babies there. *see the gray clouds above, yeah, don't miss those ;)