Moving to Utah

Well, I’ve kind of fallen behind on my blog writing. Surprise, Surprise. Well I guess with all the changes that have happened over the past 6 months it’s really no wonder why I’ve fallen behind. So let me catch you all up…

After living in Florida for 4 years, both completing masters degrees, and then having Harper we both knew that 2019 would be a good time to move on to our next adventure. In December we started to think about places we’d like to live and decided that really anywhere on the Western side of the US would be great including Texas (me more than Sean wanting this), Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Arizona were all considerations. So Sean started looking around for job opportunities in these places. There were a few jobs he interviewed for, but they were outside of the Tech world so he wasn’t too into those (he worked for a tech company for 4 years). Then before going to Hawaii he interviewed with a Tech startup in Salt Lake, super exciting! Anyway he interviewed again while in Hawaii and when we got back from that trip he flew out to SLC for an in-person interview. It went really well and he was super stoked, we both were because we might be moving!! He didn’t get this job. We were both super bummed as it felt really right and he liked the company, the role, the people he’d be working with. He was pretty bummed, I was pretty bummed so Sean kind of cooled his jets on the job searching and just continued passively applying for jobs.

Fast-forward he gets a call from Ancestry for a Senior Financial Analyst position in Lehi!! So Sean goes through the interview process and after flying out for more interviews HE GETS A JOB OFFER! As you can guess we were pretty excited. We both felt like this was the right move for our family and he accepted the offer.

So now we had 3 weeks to pack up the house and move across the country, again. The first time we moved we had about a week and a half so 3 weeks felt like a lifetime! Anyway, we both put our two weeks in and went about setting up the move. Packing is NO JOKE! I didn’t realize how much stuff we’d accumulated over 4 years, especially since having Harper. My days were soon full of sorting, organizing, and packing. The hardest thing to move was the 9ft Hammerhead Shark taxidermy that Sean got the previous fall…haha!

We got it all packed up, ended the lease on our house and moved out. It was really sad. We loved that house in Deerfield Beach. That was a great place to live for 2 years. It was where we brought Harper home, where family came to visit. It was the house that we were really able to make feel like our own. We walked the streets of that neighborhood many many times and had amazing neighbors Carlos and Tony and Marge. They took care of us when the hurricane hit 2 years ago and got Harper so many thoughtful gifts. I can’t say enough about that house and will miss our little place in SW 44th Terrace!

We then spent the last few days saying our goodbyes. These were really really hard. I said goodbye to my friends, more like family, at work. I love them! I really do miss them so much and am so grateful I got to work with them all for 4 years. They were so sweet and threw a little party my last night there, those were some of the hardest goodbyes.

Sean’s last day of work:

We then had to say goodbye to our ward, who again had become our family out in Florida. We will always love the Coconut Creek Ward and are grateful for the love and service we received and were able to give to them. They are an amazing group of people that we miss so much!! We’re so grateful that we were able to be part of such a loving ward for so many years. Our last day at church:

But the hardest goodbyes were saved for last. The Shumway family moved into our ward in July of 2015 and we became fast friends. We LOVE this family. They are some of our best friends and Florida would not have been the same without them. It was so hard to say goodbye, but are grateful to have these relationships that will continue FOREVER (whether they want it or not ;).

Another hard goodbye for me was with my good friend Tia. She was such a source of calm throughout my schooling years and taught me to not take myself too seriously and not let things I can’t control influence my happiness. She is such an amazing person and I’m so grateful we became such great friends. Now I’ll just have to get her to Utah in the snow!! haha, that will never happen.

With all our goodbye done we packed up our hotel room and off to the airport we went! Utah here we come on a one way ticket this time.

We’ll always look back at our time in Florida with fondness. We were so lucky to have met all the people we did and to have made the relationships we did while we were there! We will miss you Florida!