We were walking out of a cathedral in Mainz, Germany when Dallin received an email: he, and over half the people at the tech company he had been working at for the past three years, had been laid off. It was 20 days before Christmas and mere weeks from the expiration of our health insurance policy.  Trying to get hired again when it was the holiday season? That was not going to happen. He landed a job in February, but those 2 months of receiving rejection after rejection were nerve-racking. When he received an offer for a software job at an airline, it felt like it was all meant to be. 

We received news that the townhome we were renting was going for sale, so it was time to look for a new rental. I was not thrilled with the idea of finding a new rental; finding a good management company in hard enough, plus its hard to get excited about settling into a new place when it is not your own. “I wish we could just buy a house,” I told Dallin, daydreaming. “Maybe we could,” he said, and I was shocked to find out that the savings account he had mentioned here and there actually had enough for a down payment. Within a week-and-a-half, we put an offer down on the second home we toured. I saw the listing, asked for a tour, and was immediately in love with the place, with its big windows and large yard. They told us that there were already 2 offers on the house, so if we were actually interested, we needed to put in an offer in the next few hours.  The decision was so fast, but we felt right about it. After a few weeks of paperwork and negotiations, we moved in the first week of April. I feel so, so, so incredibly lucky! 

Ironically, the owners of our townhome decided to take the place off the market, so we could have stayed there anyway. But we are so grateful for that little push that pushed us into our new home! 

*Update 5/19: We are unpacked now, but of course fully settling in with a toddler in tow is slow-going. We went to Arizona for Easter only a couple weeks after the move. Dallin’s new job has been very, very busy, and I’m a Facebook Marketplace kind of girl, so it’s impossible to pick up furniture by myself. But that’s ok! We picked up a kitchen table and patio furniture and assembled our bed over Mother's Day Weekend. We'll slowly but surely swap furniture that doesn't fit well here and hang decor. One day I'll even do the paint projects I have in mind. It doesn't have to happen all at once!*

The chaos of trying to pack, move and get settled when a toddler and two cats are involved: