Last week I assured you that my next post would be from Utah. But then I remembered that on this Monday I would be driving from Boise to Utah, and likely have zero capacity to actually blog. So I am writing this the Friday before and scheduling it to go up on Monday. This week is tough. I've been continuing to pack up the house, while also packing me and the kids to live in Utah for a few weeks before the moving truck arrives, while also trying to keep our house looking perfect for showings at all times because it hasn't sold yet. Also trying to squeeze in quality family time visiting some favorite spots before we move and are apart from Jared for a month. If I chance trying to get something packed while Alice is awake, she will inevitably seize the opportunity to make a big mess that will then put me further behind than I was before. Really my only times to be productive are during her 90-minute nap, or after the kids are asleep for the night. Unfortunately, Jack's little brain is internalizing the move and doing what it did last time we moved, which is stew in the uncertainty and regress 3 years in the sleep department. He won't stay put in his bed after bedtime. He is scared and wants one of us with him until he falls asleep which can take quite a while. This all feels very much like trying to swim upstream against the current, only I'm not a salmon so I don't actually have the programming to swim upstream and it just all feels like a bit of a losing battle.
Jared also accidentally stopped taking his anxiety meds when we packed up our medicines 3 weeks ago, so I was doing a huge portion of everything alone and laaaaaate into the nights with a lot of bitterness until we realized, oh hey, Jared is sleeping all the time instead of helping because moving's a major life stressor and his anxiety meds are MIA. So we found those earlier this week and it finally feels like I'm not alone in this move again. I'm so relieved to have my partner and friend back instead of Sleepy Moaning Myrtle who would withdraw and call me a "mean person" when I begged for help (that was the point when I frantically started racking my brain for where my husband could have disappeared to). As soon as we realized about the medicine we were like, "Ohhhhhhhh yup. This tracks." Thank u modern meds.
I cling to the same mindset I used to when I felt overwhelmed during finals weeks in college, and here is the mindset: A week from now, this hard part will be over no matter what. I will be in Utah with the kids. I will somehow have gotten through the packing while keeping our house immaculate, and the driving with screaming kids and all of it. The only way out is through, and somehow I will stumble through the packing and moving and driving 15 hours with two young kids and come out on the other side, and then I won't have to do this particular part anymore. (I will however have to unpack the moving truck and set up our rental home without Jared in a few weeks, and then do the whole moving thing again in another year, but that won't be to a different state and we're not worrying about it right now.)
Anyway, things are good. We did have one home showing last week, and the family who looked at our home really loved it. We should find out this weekend if they're going to make an offer or not. That's about all I've got to write now. I've got to call Jack's school now and request a withdrawal form so I can start the process of getting him registered for school in Utah. We're doing it!
I can feel a little tingling in my bones whispering, "It's time. It's time." It's time to move! This feels different than any of our other moves in the past. It feels like this time we are moving to an expansive support system of loved ones and old friends and cousins for our kids. To family dinners and family holidays. Lunch dates with my Grandma. Playdates with my high school bestie. Parks galore. Great schools for our kids. The potential to drop my kids off to play with grandma and grandpa or cousins if I am drowning or in an emergency. (I have never had this support before and I hope my parents aren't too burned out from helping out with all the other grandkids for the past several years! We are so grateful we've had Jared's parents in Washington as a great starter support system. Living an hour away from them has been great for support when we can plan ahead a bit. Tougher when we need help on the fly or for just an hour or two.)
The kids and I were originally planning to drive to Utah yesterday so we could be away from the stress of home showings. But fortunately/unfortunately, we have had exactly ZERO home showings since our home was listed nearly two weeks ago. Yikes. The silver lining is that we aren't being kicked out at a moment's notice with the requirement of leaving a perfectly undisturbed home behind. Because of this, we decided to stay one more week. One more football game for Jack, one more week to help with the packing, one more week for Jack to enjoy his classmates and school teacher he's really loved. We might even make it to the ward cabin-or-treat at Cascade Park this weekend before we move.
There have been two weekends of open houses for our home, during which time we've received a small smattering of curious lookie-loos. Only one seemed to be a "serious" buyer. He and his wife loved our house (they are big fans of the corner lot and our fireplace built-ins) but unfortunately their employer is Boeing, and if you know anything about the goings-on with Boeing these days, you know it's probably not the most secure time to be buying a home if you work for them. So. That buyer is loosely on the radar and that's about it. We may have to drop our home price at some point, but it'll be ok. We've got a little wiggle room.
I am so excited to find out what life in Utah is going to look like on the other side of this move. This move has felt really stressful for a long time, but now we are so close to the other side and we are excited. Jack is excited. Jared is excited. Alice would probably be excited if she could understand. As it is, we might have a rough Alice transition ahead of us, but nothing we can't handle (famous last words). Ok then, till next week, when I'll be posting live from Utah!
Here are some pictures, starting with our trip just across the border into Canada to the most adorable town called White Rock. Jack's top request of what he wanted to do before we moved was visit Canada. On the drive up we realized that we would be there on Canadian Thanksgiving! Luckily the ice cream shops and pier were still open.
We had the open house for our home over the weekend after it officially went on the market and . . . crickets. Only two people showed up. Our house is really cute, but it might sit for a few weeks because we are selling in an off market in the off season in an off area (our school district is the worst in the region so most people look a little further south). We aren't too worried; several other homes with our same floor plan in our area have gone on the market in the past few months. They have all sold, but it takes about a month. So we will keep things looking nice, and I will start packing up me and the kids to move to Utah in the next few weeks. The moving truck arrives November 1, so that is the latest we would be here. Here is the link to our home on Zillow if you want to see what our home looks like inside:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9812-Hawkins-Ave-Granite-Falls-WA-98252/440172664_zpid/
While the open house was taking place, the kids had a sleepover at Jared's parents' home and we went on a short 2-night cruise to Canada. One of our favorite memories since moving here was our Alaska cruise three years ago. We've always said we need to do another cruise before we move out of Washington, because it's so nice to be able to just drive down to the cruise terminal and hop on a boat. With Alice being young we've been on the lookout for short cruises, and we recently saw this 2-night cruise to Vancouver for really cheap. We figured this would be a nice bookend to our time in Washington, an opportunity to rest in the midst of moving chaos, a way to be out of the house for a few days while it sells, and a way for Jared and I to reconnect, because moving can be a tense time. It proved to be a great idea, and it checked all those boxes. We had a wonderful time. We did lots of resting and eating, spent a full day at sea, and finished up with a day exploring Vancouver together. I took some pictures on my nice camera, but I'm having trouble getting the memory card to connect to my computer, so for now I'll just share the pictures we took on our phones:
We are really in the trenches of packing and selling our house now. I pulled an extremely late night and then an all-nighter getting the house sparkly and beautifully staged the night before the photographer came to get pictures for listings. The selling market in Granite Falls is pretty slow right now, so anything we can do to improve our odds at attracting buyers is worth it. I think our home will show really well--hopefully well enough to get a buyer quickly even though we're in the off season for selling homes. I will share pictures of our house next week when our Zillow listing goes up.
I keep reminding myself that this is a good kind of stress. I would rather be up all night making our home beautiful to sell and move to Utah, than be up all night vomiting, or in active labor, or studying for finals, or any number of other reasons I've had to pull all-nighters in the past. It is starting to feel real that we will be in Utah soon, and we are getting SO excited! I can't wait to have lunches with my grandma, and for Jack to have regular play dates with his cousins, and to spend lots more time with my parents and siblings.
Things are starting to come together! Not only is our home photographed and mostly packed, but against all odds, we were able to sign a contract last night to move into a rental home we're really excited about. The landlord initially wanted to go with a renter who was willing to sign a 16-month contract, but the people he chose backed out at the last minute so offered it to us a few days later. And it's not just any rental home, but one that is (presumably) Jared's dream floor plan, and in my (presumably) dream neighborhood. We are excited at the opportunity to "test out" what we hope will be an ideal home and in an ideal neighborhood. If we are happy there then we will feel good about building or buying a home of our own there next year. And we'll have a better sense for what Jared's commute for work will be like, if there's any chance of him transferring to a clinic further south at some point, etc. Me and the kids will likely be moved to Utah by the end of October. We're rolling down a hill and the speed is picking up. Here are some fun pictures from our week:
