Utah, Here We Come!

Leaving Arkansas was harder than I thought it would be. We were so excited to start our new lives out west and so excited to be closer to family, but it was definitely bitter-sweet. The hardest thing for me was leaving the place where both of our little girls were born. We had to leave behind our first home. When we were packing up I found myself looking down the hallway to where I remember Kylie crawling to her bedroom just two years ago, and looking out the window in our bedroom where I used to sit and rock Emily to sleep when she was a brand new baby, and it was like I was right back there, in that moment and I could see my little girls replaying those amazing memories right before my eyes. And then I would cry. And just thinking about it now, my eyes are welling up. I never knew how much a house could mean to me. But even more than the house, it's my family and those amazing memories we were able to create during our three year adventure in Arkansas. And even though we were leaving our home, I am so grateful that I get to keep those memories with me no matter where in the world we end up.

One of my favorite children's books puts it best when it says, how can a place that feels so big look so small... When the house was all packed up, cleaned out and the girls were buckled into their car seats, I took one final walk through and had that exact thought. How could a place that felt so big, look so small?

I wish you could have seen how full our truck was. It was ridiculous! Remember how I said you don't know how much stuff you have until you have to move? We rented the biggest truck they had, filled it completely full, towed Mike's car behind the truck packed full with more stuff, the back of the van was totally full, and we still had to leave a few things behind.

It was a looooong drive. I'll just leave it at that... then, when we finally got to Utah we found out that our bank (in AR) completely dropped the ball on our $ transfer so we couldn't close when we got there and needed to stay in a hotel for yet another night. Stupid banks. I'll just leave it at that...

But we were finally in Utah, we were together, and that's all that mattered.

Our house is adorable. I seriously love it. It's so cute and so perfect for our cute little MBA student family. (photo tour coming soon) We were able to pick out the paint, floors, counter tops, cabinets, and lighting and they all came together so beautifully. I seriously love it. (Did I already say that?)

We are loving Utah so far. The mountains are unbelievably beautiful, the weather is amazing and the people are so great. Case and point:

How cute are our neighbors??? (There may or may not have been a few more cookies in that bag originally but someone's husband may or may not have snuck a few before I was able to take a picture...) I can't wait for all of the fun memories that await us here in this new state. We are so happy to finally be here and so excited to see what the future holds.