We may not be ready to turn in our California drivers licenses, or take the California plates off of our cars, but we have changed the presets on our radios.

Leaving Los Angeles was like breaking up with that boy you knew you should not marry. We had been together for five years, and the familiarity of the place made the thought of leaving frightening, but exciting as well. It was time to start playing the field again. Time to see if we could find a better fit. But would the next boyfriend be better or worse? Would we look back in a few months and think, “I’m so glad I did that, this new place is such a better fit for us”? Or would we come crawling back to LA with our tail between our legs and beg him to take us back?


Once our decision had been made, and we knew the breakup was coming, there were many moments Mark and I looked at each other and said, “What the heck are we doing?”

There are so many reasons we fell in love with California. We had infinite opportunities for new and exciting adventures. We had a list of fun things we wanted to do, but the longer we lived there, and the more we crossed off, the longer our list became, because we just kept hearing about more places to see, things to do, restaurants to try, beaches and mountains to explore. We will miss the year-round hiking, camping, beaches, museums, daily walks to the park, farmers markets, amusements parks, tide pools and day trips. And it was hard to leave perfect weather, and friends we had come to love.

Los Angeles was almost all we knew as a married couple. We had lived there for most our marriage, and was the only place we had been parents.

But we had so many logical reasons to leave. The ever-growing expenses of our ever-growing family were making it difficult to get by, with me choosing to stay home and raise our kids. We were feeling pretty crammed in our 2 bedroom apartment, and dragging our mattress out to the family room every night for 15 months was getting a little old. Schools are always an issue there, and not having Mark at home before the kids were asleep was not ideal. If we moved to the school district and neighborhood where we wanted to settle, Mark would be gone an extra 2 hours a day. The reality that the majority of Russ and Luke’s grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins did not really know them also made us sad.

All in all, things have been much easier here. The best improvement is having Mark home before the kids are in bed. He has not had a job landing him home in the evenings before, and having him home around six is beautiful. I have to sacrifice sleeping in a little longer in the mornings, but it is completely worth it. Check with me in a couple months and we have a one-month old, I might be singing a different tune.

We have the opportunity to see family and friends much more. Loved ones have been incredibly helpful to us during our move, and over the last three weeks. We have been the recipients of so many services from family, friends and strangers. Yes, we have had about 15 families from our neighborhood bring us treats and dinners and welcoming us. Mark and I have been shocked by all the kindness.

Having a garage is a definite improvement. I can strap the kids in without first having to navigate through halls, stairwells, a pool and a parking lot. Having a washer and dryer comes close behind.

Yes, it is cold.  But if you are going to move to Utah in the dead of winter, I recommend doing it when you are 8 months pregnant and your body's thermostat is a little out of whack anyway. The boys only took a few days to adjust, and now they want to play outside even in 30 degree weather.

Quick story;  the boys and I have been used to walking to the park almost every day.  The first day we were in our new house Russ said, "Let's go to the park". 

'Why not?' I thought. 'It doesn't seem too cold, and they have coats.  I bundled them up, loaded them in the double stroller and walked the four houses to the park.  We got there, the boys just stood in the grass, unable to move, snot and tears were running down both of their cheeks. 

"It's flippin cold at this park."  Russ says, "Let's go to a biffrent park."  Sorry kid, all the parks in Utah are going to be this cold.

He also recently told me, "Cars in Utah drive sloooooow."

But, if you ask him if he wants to move back to our home in California, he gives a loud, "NO!"  He loves our new house. 
Back to the dating analogy- are we ready to accept a ring from Utah and make an eternal commitment? Give me a break, we have only been dating 3 weeks and we haven’t even had our first kiss yet. But I think we will try him out a little longer. We are quite happy here in our new home and environment, but let us not pretend that any of us know what the future will bring.

Merry Christmas everyone!