In the past we have been approached to move to a few places for his work. New York, Arizona... Meh. To say the least I was luke warm to both... and that's generous. So alas, he's declined the "opportunities" in lieu of staying near his large family and our wonderful neighborhood and circle of friends. Then he got a call that changed everything. Faced with the prospect of potentially getting laid off, he was approached for this new move. And here is me... "Florida? Let's start packing!"
He went to Florida to tour the company site, meet people and see if he liked the area. I chose not to go with him on that trip because arranging sitters would be a pain and he wasn't quite sure about it yet. After he got back he said I should probably go down and check it out. I did... and it was amazing! I looked at a few houses with a realtor while I was there so I could kind of get an idea of the neighborhoods. At that time, a lot of the houses had been on the market for 6 months or more, the market was very slow. It was looking like, depending on how quickly we intended to arrive, this was probably the pool of houses we would have!
The whole job process took a while, a long while, but we got it worked out so we came down to look for a house in March. My niece Eden stayed with Asher, Greyson and Dylan and Ian and Duncan came to see what this whole Florida thing was all about. We really wanted to ease some of their concerns and show them that Florida was almost just like Utah, which was really the end result.
The boys and I took the red eye and met Matthew who had been here all week for work. The boys, of course, slept through the plane ride and were completely unaffected by a midnight flight, I wish I could have said the same thing for myself! You know how that goes.
We had a busy day, with 10 houses lined up to see, all in a row. Crazy. Duncan and Ian's favorite house was basically any house with a pool.... so all of them. My friends had asked me how optional a pool was and I told them it wasn't! It's so hard to get Dylan to a pool, we are in Florida, my kids are going to swim, so I need to bring the pool to me!
We had to be a bit particular on the house. It either has to have a guest room or additional bedroom on the main with the master that could be converted to be Dylan's room. With additional bedrooms to have an office space and playroom since we are losing a basement in this whole process. Just this narrowed down quite a few houses.
By the end of the 10 we narrowed it down to our favorite two, both in the same neighborhood and scheduled appointments to see them and decide the following day. We actually went back and forth between them a few times that following day and ultimately decided to place an offer.Tthe house is slightly fewer square footage than the house in Utah but the houses in Florida look huge because everything is above ground.
It got a little tricky with the house buying the next day but I guess that's what you get sometimes. Turns out they received another lower offer but told them they had ours and they raised it to full price. So we said we would offer full price and of course (and boo hiss!) it went to a best and final. I like the house, but we were kind of in a pinch at this point... we had to find a house that very weekend so we played the game and were ultimately glad they chose our offer. Turns out the offer, which was higher than asking, was quite a bit over appraisal (as was the asking price) so in the end they even had to come down a little. They didn't want to close until their kids were out of school which put our move date even further off in the distance! Worth the wait, I'm still on board.
We took Ian and Duncan to the beach and they loved it! We weren't terribly prepared, I am not even sure why we went on the detour but I am pretty sure they would have stayed in the ocean all day if we would have let them. It was funny! I wish we had prepared better and I could have gone in with them, then we probably could have stayed all day!
Before our flight our we went to Legoland which honestly? Was just okay. It was spring break and it's more of a locals park so it was packed! They don't manage the lines as well as Disney and the rides (once you got on them) were far too short. Moving past the rides we landed at mini-USA where they had recreated cities and landmarks with Lego's. While looking sun bleached and slightly run down, the boys thought it was awesome and it was by far the best part of the entire park! Lego - stick to what you know. Legoland: Fail. We probably won't go back unless some serious begging happens.
While we were in Florida we got to meet my long time imaginary friend Megan and her family. I mean seriously... should it take 8 years to meet a friend? No... but also worth the wait. We ate at a restaurant with a beach view and got to watch the sun go down over the water. Straight up dreamy. Let's play again Megan.
Matthew continued to travel back and forth, and to a few different site locations, starting in March while we flied solo and finished out the school year. One of the times he was gone was for 10 days, he went out of the country, and by the time he got back we were totally smooth sailing, and he came and kind of threw his wrench into things. We just had to keep finding our new normal, every week, off and on, for a few months. I am not going to lie... this was hard. For the love, I just wanted to be all in the same place! In between was not cool, not cool at all. Though it did make finally leaving a bit easier because that end goal became even more shiny after such a log hard wait!
Our house in Utah sold the first weekend with very minor issue which was a blessing. It was an amazing house in an amazing neighborhood and it was really hard to leave it not knowing if we would ever like a house and a place as much but alas, it was happening anyway. The goodbye's were beginning to get a little rough.
Before we got to the Florida house it got two visitors. My also imaginary running friend Kristen (though we have met, several times) was passing through she made her family stop. I am trying to talk them into buying the house across the street... maybe, you never know... And Jessica, who did us a huge favor. The previous owners left their garbage which stunk (literally and figuratively) because weren't going to be there to put it out until we arrived a couple weeks later! (Thanks previous owners. Thanks a lot.) Jessica and Steve took it out for us! Also trying to talk Jessica into buying the house across the street... made more progress with her than Kristen buand there's still time. Come on friends!
I posted a few of the original pictures of the house.... understand... it looks a little like pottery barn tossed up on it and you know us, it will NEVER LOOK LIKE THIS AGAIN. I mean, let's just be honest, right now it's a complete disaster! This no basement thing is a real killer!
On the plane and ready to go!
Me giving them eye daggers. Why do they get to sleep and I don't.
Adulting. Pshaw.
Adulting. Pshaw.
Cute boys at the beach.
They were totally fascinated!
This is Megan. Not so imaginary any more eh?
Didn't do the sun set justice.
Looks like I was feeling it right? Nope, faking it.
Well this is pretty cute, Duncan wouldn't stand by it.
Ian in the airport on the way home. He is such a charmer.
He made all kinds of new friends as he explained Pokemon to them.
Out with the old.
She is certainly pretty...
Not gonna lie. Best part. Hands down. No battle.
Kristen pointing to an empty house.
(We were so close, yet so far away...)
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