So I never gave the run down on our whole decision to move to
Colorado. It happened so fast and really out of no where. I was in Utah
for my Grandpa's funeral and I get a call from Brian. I had to go
outside so no one would hear me talking about it because I didn't want
anyone over hearing and getting their hopes up or talking about it when I
really had no idea what was going on.
So Brian got a
call from some of our good friends from dental school, Chuck and Kendall
Skinner. They (and another partner Brett Lopez) had been in discussions
about bringing on another associate to one of their offices. They had
done some interviewing and weren't finding the right fit when Brian's
name popped in their heads, so they called him right then. They had
purchased 2 practices and needed another associate to work in the office
with Chuck. They ran down all the specifics and said they wanted he and
I to go out and check it out. They wanted me to swing by on my way back
home to PA, but I needed to get back to the kids and relieve those
helping with our kids. I wasn't too anxious to go out there for several
reasons.
1- I didn't think it would actually go
anywhere. I thought it was just another opportunity and that Brian
wouldn't want to leave PA.
2- I wasn't ready to do
another move, and although where we lived wasn't my favorite, it was a
good spot and I loved being close to all the Chudleigh family. It had
been a great time and the kids loved being with their cousins and I
loved all their company as well.
3- It may have seemed
like a great opportunity, but from past experiences, they usually aren't
as good as the person tries to make it out to be.
So, I
told Brian to go ahead and go out and look and if he was serious about
it, then I would go out after him together and look for housing. After a
couple weeks of praying and talking it over and over, our Bishop called
me and told me I needed to go out with Brian to help in making the
decision. I have had a hardtime with receiving real solid answers to my
prayers. My experience has usually been, "they're both good decisions,
I'll let you choose which one you'd like". I kind of felt nothing in
this experience. I could logically reason out both places, but I didn't
get a feeling as to what decision was the "right" one. That has been
frustrating for me, but also for Brian. He wanted both of us to feel
like it was the right decision and I just never felt anything about it
really. If Brian's family wasn't there, it would have been a no brainer
because there wasn't a whole lot I loved about it. There were
possibilities of it being great, like being close to so many places like
New York, the beach, DC, things like that, but for our life now, those
weren't things we did. It wasn't the best fit day to day for us. But
those same reasons were also reasons I thought would be great to stay.
Someday our kids will be old enough to do those things, but in Colorado,
we're kind of trapped with no where to go without it being at least a
days drive or more, and I didn't like the thought of that either. I was
finally getting somewhere with photography and I think it could have
continued to be good there, but that wasn't a reason to stay. Basically
any reason positive for one place I could even out for the other and
same with con's. So I feel like it really came down to a choice of where
we wanted to go. Brian felt very strongly that it was the best decision
for our family and for his career, which for his career, I know that is
probably true. He loves the Skinners, he has the potential to buy in
and buying in with people you know and trust is huge. Plus they've had
some great experience that will be beneficial as well, as has Brian,
so.... after many many hours of talking it out and taking a trip out to
Colorado, we decided to go forward with it which gave us 6 weeks to wrap
everything up, pack and move out. Not even a full year since our last
move. Blah! At least this time I had Brian around to help. That was
huge.
I was really sad to leave, but excited for our
new adventure. We found a house online to rent, didn't even look at it.
We had Brett Lopez look at it and he seemed to think it would be good.
We couldn't find a house that we wanted to buy, plus, with our
experience, buying right away hasn't been a good idea, so waiting would
be safer I guess. The homes moved so fast though and finding a house
with enough room and a good backyard was not easy. Or, one without
carpet in the dining area! Hello!!! Finally, after much looking and
stress, about 2 weeks before the move we nailed down the place.
The
move went well. Brian drove the truck and I drove the car. He usually
had 2 kids and I had the other 3, but the last day I think I had all 5
all day and they did really well. And I did really well surprisingly!
Staying awake while driving is not something I'm good at, but I was
blessed and made it.
We spent the first 2 nights at
Chuck and Lindsay's house until ours was available to move in. We
started the kids before we even got into the house. Everything went well
for all of them. Their teachers all seemed nice and there were no
tears. A great start. The ward was very accepting and kind too. Several
brought food and treats and the Sunday school class gave us a round of
applause when Brian said we had 5 kids. Too funny.
All
in all I think everything went really well. The kid like school, they
have some friends and are enjoying all the many parks we've been able to
go to with this beautiful weather! I think we might like it here!
