Just Another Week

I was just going through our week in my head and realized it's another typical week in the Johnson home. Clogging, Soccer, Activity Days, Young Women's, work, babysitting and school. Oh, and it's Halloween Saturday so we have all kinds of fun things planned: class parties, parties at dance, the school carnival and no school on Friday. I swear there's something I'm forgetting. Oh! I remember now - we're moving.

For those who haven't heard, we are moving from our current residency. We've been here for two years and I guess that's long enough. We're ready to box everything up and haul it all down the street. Actually, I hate moving. Well, not really "hate." I like moving. I just don't like the actual act of moving. I get all giddy about the idea of having a fresh start. I love taking all my decorations and giving them a new look in a new home. I love that every time you move, you get rid of all your unwanted goods (like all that stuff that's still in the garage in a box from the last move - obviously not needed). I love the idea of having 4 bedrooms instead of 3. And, 3 and 1/2 bathrooms instead of 2 and 1/2. I'm also very excited to be in a more permanent place. As much as I have found all the good that comes from uprooting, I am very excited to (hopefully) be done with bouncing.

Jer and I had a home in Magna in the ward he grew up in. We lived there for 7 awesome years. We really never thought we would leave that neighborhood. After lots of prayers and sleepless nights, we decided to put our house up for sale and pay off all of our debt. This was in 2007 so the economy was very different from what it is today. We had one open house and within hours we had three offers. So, needless to say, our home sold almost too fast. Fortunately, my parents were gracious enough to let us camp out in their basement until we found something. I'm so grateful for those few months we had there. It seemed crazy at the time, but so many things worked out so well that I can't imagine it any other way. Jer was traveling for work a lot so this way I wasn't home alone. And, one week while Jer was in Denver, I had the flu and didn't even leave my bedroom for two days. I thought I had died. Thank heaven for my mom. Not only did I not have to worry about my kids, but I knew they were loving their time with Grandma. I will be forever grateful for those few months in the basement.

After four months, we were ready to be done looking at homes. We were spending every minute we had searching for a home. We had Alisha (my sis-in-law that is a Real Estate Agent) taking us to look at homes so much I think she tried to fire us. One night she took us to nine homes. Sorry, Leesh. In the end, we decided to rent a home. Sorry again, Leesh. This was supposed to be a temporary roof over our heads until we found exactly what we were looking for. This brings us to today- two years later. Not as temporary as anticipated. But, someone forgot to tell us that you can't keep moving your kids like this. They don't appreciate it. In fact, they start to have a lot of anxiety. They decide to stop going to school and to sleep in your bed instead of their own.

Fortunately, we recently found a home to land in long term. We will be in the same Ward and in the same school zone. No change for the kids other than the scenery. We have drug our kids through a few rough years of change and adjustments. But, hopefully this will be it. As crazy as this little venture has been, we know it has been the right thing to do. We have been blessed all along the way. It seemed insane to be paying rent again when we decided to live in this home, but it has been so perfect in so many ways. While the economy has been killing a lot of people, we have benefited from the change. Our kids have been overwhelmed with new friends and great teachers. We live in a great Ward and a great neighborhood and we are super excited to stick around for a while!

So, if you read this entire post, I already know you are one of those great friends. Most people probably don't care to know so much detail about us, but I thought I would let our loved ones (and the other two readers of my blog) in on our little family secret: we're moving this week.

This is what my living room looked like before:

This is what it looks like now: :( so sad.