Jared and I knew when we moved to Boise in 2012 that it probably wouldn't be forever, we were, however, really surprised at how much we fell in love with it. That being said, Jared started casually looking for new job opportunities back in 2013. We were happy with his current employment, and absolutely loved our brand new house, but it's always best to always be on the lookout.
In 2014 a lot of our friends moved to Utah, and we hemmed and hawed about how we would never be able to live there, blahdee blah blah. But the job search got a bit more serious with little Colton on the way. We knew I would stay at home with our kids, and that seriously inpact our income, and that was going to be really really tough. So in about May of 2014, one of our friends who had moved to Utah to work for Goldman Sachs reached out to Jared about a job opening on his team. At this point, this was not the area of the country we were trying to move to. We were trying so desperately hard to get a job back in North Carolina that we didn't seriously think about the move to Utah, but Jared applied anyway, along with several other jobs.The interview process was taking a loong time, heck Jared was supposed to have a phone interview with Goldman the day Colton was born, 3 months after he applied, but needless to say he rescheduled.
About the same time Jared was getting tons of phone interviews for the Goldman job, he was also interviewing for a position with Wells Fargo in San Francisco, and got pretty far in the process. I remember sitting up late one night talking about moving to San Fransisco and was just crying because I was so so scared, but still at that point, Salt Lake did not seem like an attractive alternative.
Well word came back that Jared didn't get either of those jobs, BUT Goldman thought Jared would be better on a different team, still in Salt Lake. Months continued to go by, and finally he landed the big interview in New York City in October. We were so excited and praying so hard. This finally seemed like the right time, and the right opportunity, and we decided that if the Lord wanted to take us to Utah, we would go with smiles on our faces.
Pretty soon after the big interview, Jared got word that they loved him (duh), and should expect an offer soon after. So in the beginning of November the call came, he had got the job!! Woo hoo! This really was an answer to so many prayers, and even though it was in Utah, not North Carolina, we decided that this was best for our family, and sometimes no matter how hard you push and try, certain things are not supposed to happen.
So we got the house up on the market (with high hopes of it selling in a week...HA!) and Jared gave notice to his company in Boise. We were hoping he could come back from our Christmas vacation a work a bit until we had to move mid January, but long story short, his last day was December 18th, and then we got work from Goldman that they didnt want him to start in Salt lake until JANUARY 26th!! That was a long 6 weeks without pay let me tell you. But this was such a huge huge blessing. We were able to go to North Carolina for Christmas and have a wonderful time, then we came back and spent such valuable time together as a family. Jared and Colton got to bond so much, and it was so wonderful having Jared around the house, we got so spoiled!
As the time went by and our house did not sell, we really had to figure out our living situation in Utah. We knew we didn't want to buy a house right away, for many reasons. We didn't want to have to sell our house in Boise and be stuck without a place to live until that happened, and we also wanted to take advantage of our pay raise and really save a lot of money. Lo and behold our wonderful friends Jeff and Kailey had bought a house in August right outside of Salt Lake that has a basement apartment. So on blind trust and faith we decided to move in there, and they are so so gracious to let us rent from them for a while!
Finally the big day came, and we packed up the truck and drove down to Utah on January 24th. Jared drove the Uhaul and towed the car, while My Dad, Colton, and I drove our Nissan Truck. I am so so grateful to my dad for helping us. This was the longest car ride Colton had ever had, plus he was teething, so there was no way I could've driven by myself.
We got to Woods Cross at about 7 pm, and had so many wonderful friends there to help us move in. Colton was so so overtired at this point that I really was absolutely no help moving anything, but everything got unloaded into the apartment (one way or another, the piano had to be sen on it's side, and we had to saw our box spring in half...haha), but we got it in, and just collapsed from exhaustion!
The apartment is much much bigger than we anticipated, thank goodness, and it's taken a few weeks to get it together, but we are just about there! Pictures will have to be saved for another post, but for now we are getting used to the Valley, and having Jared go back to work, and re-figure out a routine!
AND FINALLY after 3 months on the market we got an offer in on the house this week and are now under contract. HALLELUJIAH! So fingers crossed the buyer won't get cold feet and we will close mid March, and finally start to save some money!
Heavenly Father has blessed us so so much during this whole process, and though it has been hard, I am so grateful. This is where we are supposed to be, and we could not be happier! Plus the upside of living much closer to my family, I will be able to see them so much more, which is such a blessing.
We are so excited to be in Utah near so many friends and loved ones and are ready for countless adventures here!!