The Move

Tralee riding in the moving truck with Jim

When Jim and I were married for about a year, we took our first real vacation together; a vacation that wasn't a honeymoon, and a vacation that wasn't to visit family.  We were poor college students, so our options had to fit within our dollar-menu budget.  We decided to take a road trip to St. George, Las Vegas, and San Diego.  We ended up staying with family in St. George and Las Vegas, but splurged and used Jim's birthday money for a hotel in San Diego.  This trip was fantastic.  We spent our time in St. George exploring Snow Canyon and making a video of ourselves acting like Steve and Terri Irwin hunting for the St. Georgian Sand Moccasin (The Crocodile Hunter was VERY big at this time and we were hard-core fans).  In Vegas we walked the strip and watched the water show.  Our two days in San Diego were spent at the beach, and my birthday present to Jim as a whale watching tour I found a good deal on.  On the drive back home we stopped in St. George again.  While there Jim and I decided it would be an ideal place to live someday.  From that time on we decided to make living in or near St. George our goal.

For various reasons, once we finished school, instead of looking for employment opportunities in St. George we found ourselves in Boise, Idaho.  I'm glad we did.  I accepted my first post-college career at the Boise Art Museum, Jim started his own business, we welcomed our two munchkins into the world, and through the years we made some life-long friends in The City of Trees.  Boise was good to us for a long long time.

Then came January 2014 and a new opportunity for Jim.  He accepted a new position with Traeger Grills.  This path would allow more time for Jim to be with us at home, but also gave us the opportunity to live wherever we wanted.  As soon as Jim accepted the offer we looked at each other and pretty much at the same moment said, "We can move to St. George!"  That got the ball rolling.

We decided to let the kids finish up their school year, play for one more summer in Boise, and then make the move in August.  We spent our last days in Boise saying goodbye to friends, family, and packing up our lives.  There were many tearful goodbyes in August 2014.  When I pulled out of our driveway, and followed the moving truck I broke down and cried for a solid 30 minutes.  Eight years is a long time, and we grew some serious roots in B-town.  It was painful to sever them.  However, I knew what awaited us in St. George and all the reasons we wanted to live there, so my sadness soon turned to anticipation.

Our last night with our Jacobs cousins in Boise (a difficult tearful goodbye was said this night).

More saying goodbye to cousins at our old place in Boise

This was right after we left Boise.  I was crying pretty hard, but also knew this was a significant moment in our family's lives.

Sometimes Tralee wanted to ride with me and Corky instead of the moving van.

At one point on the drive, we saw a double rainbow.  We took it as a good omen.

We've arrived in St. George, moved into our new place, and have settled for about a month.  The house we're in is just temporary until we can find something long-term.  I'm not sure how much I want to decorate since we might only be here for part of the year.  It's a nice house though, so I'm sure I can be happy here for a little while.  

Our new house, don't mind all the moving boxes

Kitchen/dining room.  This is on moving day, so please excuse the boxes/mess.

Our backyard.  We have lots of lizards and humming birds visiting us back here.

The kids LOVE having a jetted tub

Hunter modeling in front of some red rock mountains

Another tub picture

The kids started a new school, and LOVE it!  It's a charter school based on the arts and technology.  They take dance, art, music, piano, strings, among all the regular topics.  When they get to the older grades, they'll also learn computer skills in a state-of-the-art Apple computer lab.  One parent told me his kids began their own graphic design business in eighth grade, after learning the skills needed at school.  Pretty cool stuff!  Also, instead of sitting in one desk all day, the kids rotate through classes in different rooms, which helps split up their day.  Tralee is SO excited to go to school every day, which is quite different to how she felt about her other school.  She also likes having her cousin Brody in all of her classes, and loves that every Friday is a half-day.

Since moving, we've spent a lot of quality time with our family here.  The kids play with their cousins a lot, we've had family dinners, outings, and get-togethers where fun memories have been made.  Also, we hardly ever had any visitors in Boise.  Since moving, we've already had family come visit, and plans for more to come over the next few months.  I LOVE living in a place where people come to visit.

Hanging out with cousins for family night

Adrienne, Tandra, and myself doing our best duck-lips

So, that pretty much sums up our move to St. George.  So far, we're loving it.  We love the red rocks, we love having family close by, we love all the outdoor things we have to do here, we love that we have so much more to explore and discover in our new city.  Jim and I feel like we're on a permanent vacation.  We keep wondering when it will be time to go home and get back to reality.  We feel blessed that this is our new norm.