We live in Utah again!

Last year McKay received a job offer from dish network to be a senior financial analyst for them in Denver Colorado. We were really excited about the prospect of living in Denver. it was only an 8 hour drive to see family instead of 22 hours which seemed very doable. Also, McKay has an aunt who lives there so we would have some family nearby. We even started working with a real estate agent who my mom was friends with and who used to babysit me when my family lived in Denver over 20 years ago.

However, it was not to be. Three weeks before McKay was supposed to graduate Dish Network told McKay they had acquired a company in Provo Utah and asked him if he would consider moving to Provo instead of Denver. It was potentially a better job than he would have had at their corporate head quarters with a lot more responsibility and exposure to the higher ups in the company. They flew us out for a quick weekend to try and talk us into it, and even though we were a little hesitant at first we took the job. So at the end of May we  packed everything up and McKay and his parents spent three days and drove all of our belonging across the country  and I took the girls on a nice short 6 hour airplane ride, and we now we live in Utah again. We never expected to make our way back home because when we have looked for jobs, the caliber of jobs that McKay was looking for just couldn't be found. We are very lucky to be employed out of Denver but living in Utah.

We were not sure about being so close to all of our family again because we have really enjoyed being off on our own and essentially creating our own identity as a family, but it has been really good to be by our parents and some of our siblings. The best part is that Madelynn gets to spend so much time with her grandparents. She really loves her grandmas and grandpas and her aunts and uncles. Olivia is a little bit wary of anyone who is not her mother and wont  let people hold her, but I am excited for her to build those same relationships with her family once she gets a little bit older.

One of the major advantages to having family in Utah was that we were able to have a last minute place to live that was free! We moved into my parents basement after grad school  while we searched for a house. I was worried that I would go absolutely crazy living in my parents basement, but I only went a little bit crazy. We spent a lot of time out of the house playing and keeping busy, and when we were around we had built in play mates and baby sitters. We were able to put Madelynn to sleep and ask my parents to just listen for her while we went out and ran errands or on a quick date. That was really nice.

We found a home less than two months after we moved out here at the end of May and moved into it at the end of August, so we were able to be out of my parents house before we were all sick of each other. It was like we had an extended summer vacation at my parents house. Thank you for your generosity mom and dad. We love you!