While I was pregnant with Lydie we suddenly had a distinct impression that the time was soon coming that we needed to relocate closer to family. To the state Del and I grew up calling home. Utah.
We have lived in Illinois for 12 years, and during that time moving back never felt right. There have been times that we have both wanted to go, and times that we both saw ourselves in Illinois indefinitely. When we moved here, we did it with the intention of going back one day. We saw it as a less permanent move back then. But then it became our life, and a good life at that! Our move to our current home a little over three years ago only helped with having a feeling of being settled for a while.
It is funny that after all this time, we both had the strong feeling we needed to proceed with making it happen this year.
Our children are only getting older, and relocating only gets more difficult the older they are. With Del's Dad aging and changing quickly, we felt an urgency to be close to our parents while our kids can know them and their many, many cousins during their childhood years. Life is fragile. The older I get, the more I appreciate that. My amazing Uncle Dave was just killed in a car accident this past weekend in Utah. This sudden painful turn of events only emphasizes our feelings more. Adventure and independence are things I value, but not more than the relationships I have with my family. The fact that the past two Chicago Winters have been nothing short of brutal, and the taxes in Illinois give the checkbook a major walloping every year, certainly played in to the decision as well. There is a reason that Illinois is on the list of states losing population the quickest, and Utah is on the list gaining the quickest!
While we were visiting family in Utah this Summer, we started to look for a lot to purchase. We both knew that ultimately we would build a home to live in, hopefully forever. We spent a large chunk of that trip driving all over Northern Utah. We looked in Draper, Alpine, Highland, Sandy, Kaysville, and Layton. Nothing was standing out to us as the place we would end up, even though I sure we would be happy in any of those cities.
Del has a friend from his childhood who he has been back in touch with for the past few years. One day they just happened to both find out they shared the same love of the small, charming mountain town of Midway. Del and I have loved the little town for years. It has been a fun spot to get away, and stay in one of the resorts that cater to skiers. My parents love it and told us about their visits before we were familiar with it, and we quickly saw why.
Midway is as I mentioned charming, and quiet. It is in the beautiful Heber Valley about 20 minutes from Park City. The town is most widely known for a craft fair and arts fair put on annually called "Swiss Days" and for having the only warm water scuba diving destination in the U.S.
I know! Who would think that people would fly from all over to a mountain town in Utah to scuba dive? Midway has many geothermal craters under the ground and the Homestead Crater is the one that provides Scuba certification opportunities, or just a warm dip inside a crater pool!
The town was founded by Swiss immigrants, and their influence can be seen in the architecture of the buildings. It is a great mix of farm town, and resort town, with access to amenities in Heber, and what to us does not feel like too long of a drive to both the Salt Lake, Park City and Provo areas. We are used to driving a long time for everything in Illinois. The road systems are not efficient here, and traffic is bad, so it takes us at least 25 minutes to get to any major destination.
Del's friend Tony, mentioned that he and his wife were thinking of moving to Midway and looking for a lot. When we went up to visit them on our Summer trip after they made the move, he showed us the street that they were planning to build on.
I will admit I was in a bad mood.
I was very pregnant. I was hot, tired and uncomfortable from being in the car all day driving around to look at land, my kids were cranky and hungry. At that point, I didn't know Tony, or his wife at all, so I was trying to drum up my best social skills on a limited energy tank, and I was just not in the best mind frame.
The street was not even paved all the way yet, but it was right in the heart of town, with a limited number of homes to go in on one acre lots, and standing there in front of the development sign, listening to Tony tell us the details with excitement, I just felt a tingle.
I felt good about Midway.
There is just something about that valley that made us feel like we had found a spot to settle our kids, and help them recover from the drama of a big move.
We owned the lot by the end of the next week!
This is the future view from my kitchen window after we build! Without the garbage piles and hopefully with nice landscaping. Mt. Timpanogas is in the distance. We certainly are trading our full, green Midwest views for mountain views. I appreciate both.
We made the decision to keep moving forward with relocating until it felt wrong. We have prayed about each change as it has come, and asked that doors open along our way that we don't see in the moment.
It has not felt wrong yet, so our moving truck is scheduled to begin our pack the first weeks of June! We went with the full pack service for this move, because we decided that additional cost is the price of my sanity!
We decided when we bought the lot that we needed to keep our plans quiet until right before we listed our home. Del wanted to be sure his company was in a place that he could make the move, and that his employees would hear it on his terms with a complete understanding on all levels, we didn't want our children to feel like there was change looming over them any longer than necessary, and we wanted to have a solid plan.
We finally told them and our families right before we left for Spring Break. We had Family Home Evening and played a match game. A correct match would add a letter to the message. It ended when all the letters spelled out, "We are moving to Utah."
I made the poster in a hurry. It was nothing fancy, but it did the job. I kind of wished I had put more thought into it when I found out that Georgia folded it up and stuffed it in her backpack. She took it to school and whipped it out for the whole class to see the next day! I had no idea until I found it in the backpack later. Our family has no secrets once our talkative children are in the know! I guess I'll share a picture of the poster here since it has been seen all over town!
The kids have had mixed emotions. Ups and downs about the move. I understand because we are all going through that. Overall, they are excited and are being good sports about it. I know that we will have individual moments of struggle and sadness through this process. I just hope overall they respond positively.
Last month, I flew out to find a place for our family to live while we build. We want to take our time with this build. We plan to live in the home long term, so we want it to be the house we want forever. We don't want to find ourselves rushing decisions that should be thought through because we are in a crunch to get in to the new house.
We had planned on renting during the process. Neither of us was excited about renting because it is hard to go back to that after owning, everything available had major drawbacks, and the cost of renting in Midway is very high. Real estate runs a higher cost up there than down in parts of the valleys.
I flew out to look at some options with a real estate agent, but after I landed, my Dad and I went up on our own to look around the day before I was to meet with her. I was discouraged by what I was finding because it can be difficult to house seven people in less than ideal circumstances.
After driving past some of the homes I was set to look at with the agent, my Dad and I found a neighborhood with a nice model home I had not seen listed online. The agent told me the model was already sold but the house behind it would be completed in a month! The home was much higher quality than what I had already seen, and considering the high rent prices, and the fact that Del and I really want to take our time with the build of our our new home, I knew we had to seriously consider buying this home to live in while we build our forever home.
I called Del and gave him a FaceTime tour. We talked about our options with the house, and decided we better put in an offer. So, we bought a house that is being built, to live in while we build a house! Keeping it straight is a little confusing for our children.
Here is a photo that is not wonderful of the front of the house. Heavy on the shadows and orange tones with the sun setting. It is tough to get a good angle when there are both a dumpster and port a potty parked in front of the house. We will have some landscaping to do this Summer! A trade off for living in a new home that does not need updating. I hope I can give it come curb appeal and make it pop a bit! When we move in it will only be my third time at the house, and Del is moving into a house he bought, but has never set foot in!
The house is much smaller than our current home, but it will be so nice to own while we build instead of renting. It will be fresh and new, and is in a nice neighborhood the kids can play in. With so many of the rentals available, there was a golf course right outside the door. That would be a disaster with my kids wanting to play outside, and me needing them to play outside.
Del will now be back and forth running his business. I am so grateful for the doors that have been opened for us, and the protection we have had in the life of the business. We continue to seek the guidance we need with this change, for our family, and company. With our house still listed for sale, we are continuously praying for that situation to come to a conclusion. We have had very consistent showings for two months, but no offers. I will admit that I am worn out from all the showings. I barely have time to sneak in a laundry folding day because we are constantly getting it ready for another potential buyer! I think our faith is being tested a little, but we are moving forward! We really want to sell this home instead of renting it out. It would not be a great rental for so many reasons.
Here we go! I remember feeling all the same feelings I am having now when we loaded a small truck to move to Illinois! Everything is amplified now because I am worried about five children this time around. It is amazing how fast the years have past, how full of life and opportunity they have been, how many people we have met who have formed perspective and taught us, served us, and loved us. It is hard to believe that we are changing everything in a heartbeat. All we can do is try to be where we need to be, when we need to be there. This feels right, so we are doing it.
We can only hope that our future in Utah ends up being as lovely as the one we have made here. We have a good feeling about it!
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