Howdy Partner! Let's Raise And Rope Broncos!

We moved to Texas!

I know this may come as a shock to some of you.  It all happened really fast and I'm not surprised if you are still sitting there saying "What?!"

And though the Texas thing didn't come about until the end of April, the whole story actually started in February.  David and I felt that we had out grown our house and put it on the market with the intentions of upgrading a bit to better accommodate guests, work out equipment, and the toys which seem to constantly multiply.  We just figured, whenever someone made an offer we felt was acceptable, we would go and find another house better suited for our family.  We were confident we could find something in the amount of time it usually takes to close.
Then on April 23rd, a couple came and looked at the house and loved it.  They made an offer on the 24th and wanted to pay cash!

The only catch was that they needed to move in on May 6th.  We were leaving for a week long trip to St. Croix on April 30th!  Which meant we needed to move out and close on the house before we went on the trip.
David thought about it for about 5 seconds and was on board right a way.

My reaction was a little more hostile.  "No! We can't do that! It's impossible!"

He calmly reminded me that they were going to pay cash almost to asking price and that deals like this don't come around that often in the housing market these days.  So, we did it.  We moved out two days later and closed on the house two days after that.  We hired movers to pack us up and move our life into storage. There was no way we could have done all of that so quickly by ourselves.  Not to mention that packing boxes and moving furniture could quite possibly be my worst circle of hell.  Want to torture me?  Give me a job and two men and a truck. 

Luckily we have some awesome friends that have a house and hearts big enough to invite us to stay until we could find a place.  Our kids are best friends and they were super stoked to find out we would be living together for a little while.

At this point I was starting to feel pretty numb.  I already had my "I'm homeless with a two small children" freak out. There really was nothing I could do about it.  By the time we had moved out, closed on the house, and moved some suitcases into the Bell's house, it was time to leave for our vacation. 

But then something incredible happened.  On our way to Nashville to drop the kids off at their grandparent's, David got a job offer to be the GM at Southlake Town Square in Southlake, TX!  Things just started to fall into place and it all seemed like it was meant to be.  And we were on our way to St. Croix, VI to mull it over on the beach!...with no kids!

David accepted the position and put in his two week notice when we got back from our trip.  We immediately headed to the Dallas/Ft Worth area that weekend to find a new house.  Since we aren't millionaires, Southlake felt a little out of our price range.  So we looked in Keller, the next town over.  After 2 days of looking, we found a house we loved, made an offer, and they accepted!  See the pieces falling into place?  Like I said, meant to be.


Then it was back to Branson so David could finish out his two weeks of work.  The Bell's graciously offered to continue keeping a roof over our heads at their place.  Most people would think two families of 4 living together would be pretty awkward.

But honestly, it went over pretty well and felt more like a party.  The Bell family is seriously the best.

After David's last day of work in Branson, he headed over to TX to start his new job.  The kids and I stayed behind until the close of our new home on June 6th.  The movers packed up our stuff from the storage unit and then I loaded the kids, the dogs, the fish, and a trailer full of things that the movers couldn't take.  We said goodbye to our friends, thanked them for keeping us alive this past month, and made plans to visit in the future.


Then I drove for 8 hours with a 5yr old, a 2 yr old, 2 beagles, 1 fish, an 8 foot pull behind uhaul trailer, and a partridge in a pear tree.



I was more nervous about the uhaul than anything else.  Our kids are well traveled.  But I don't have the best track record driving with extras added onto the car; i.e. bike racks and luggage carriers. But we made it in one piece. More importantly, I didn't crash into anything. 


After 41 days, we were able to sleep in our own bed again.


If you are reading this and we didn't get a chance to say goodbye, we are truly sorry.

This past month has been a whirlwind for us.  I think I even had a birthday in there somewhere.

St. Croix

We recently took a vacation and boy did we need it!  David found a half ironman in St. Croix and asked if that sounded like a race I'd want to go to.  I believe my answer was some where along the lines of "Heck Yeah!"  So we dropped the kids off at Gigi and Papi's and made a nice vacation out of it.

Here's the view from our room!

We stayed at the Hotel on the Cay and I would totally recommend staying there.

It has it's own little mini island with a private beach!

 We just took a 2 minute boat taxi across the water whenever we wanted to get to the main island.

There was lots of fun to be had on the boardwalk.

And the chickens were EVERYWHERE.

Just in case you forgot about them, the roosters let you know they are there too.  It is hard to sleep past sunrise in this place.

But getting up early was not a problem because there was so much to do!  Here we are at Point Udall; the eastern most point in the U.S.A.

David decided to get a real Cruzan haircut before the race.

We also went snorkeling.

Barracuda!

Then we got down to business.  The race started from the beach at our hotel.

After swimming out across the ocean and back, the rest of the race took place on the main island.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To keep the triathletes in check.

This is arguably the hardest half ironman course in the world.

(and not because of the chickens)

The locals loved us and were very welcoming.

Hills, heat, wind, and ocean waves made for a tough race indeed.  But my guy got through it with determination and strength.  He finished that beast of a race with high spirits.  So proud of him.

And big thanks to Kendall and Pat for talking us into going.  We had the best time!