Hi friends!

I’m SO thrilled to finally be sharing about our huge move! It has taken up SO much brain space lately and I’m excited to be able to talk and share about it openly now that things are settled and in place (probably goes without saying… there were a lot of moving pieces that needed to get sorted before sharing…).

So let’s start here… GOODNESS, it has been QUITE the year. And over the past few months, we’ve had a lot of moving pieces and big life things happening behind the scenes. One of those things being the logistics and decision-making involved with potentially moving back to Texas as a part of Duncan’s work. Because as anyone who has ever moved knows (especially cross-state), it can be A LOT.

It is my hope that this blog also helps explain why I have literally done ZERO (intentionally!) nesting or made much progress on the Denver house nursery since I’ve been scheming with my best friend, father to my child, AND husband to a special marriage… these things take time!

Anyway, I wanted to put together a quick blog post to answer some questions and explain everything :). DB and I will answer additional follow-up items as they come up but suffice it to say, this is all a dream come true, just on a quicker timeline than I was expecting.

Why are you moving back to Dallas?

I have no doubt you’re wondering why on Earth we’d be moving back to Dallas when we literally just moved to Denver a little over a year ago (October 2019). I don’t blame you – I’d be wondering the same thing! It’s a little nuts!

I’ll start by saying that this was not our intention or plan. We moved to Denver for Duncan’s job and knew it would be *at least* a 2-year commitment. We were definitely open to staying here long-term but wanted to see how things played out. I can confidently say now that we would’ve gladly stayed here for a lifetime. Denver is a flat-out special city that I still think I may end up spending more time in throughout my life. I know Duncan also wants it to stay on the table.

But then 2020 and a global pandemic came and threw us a few curveballs. Duncan’s company was acquired in April/May of this year, so the job situation suddenly looked a lot different. As I’m sure anyone who has been a part of any kind of acquisition/merger is well aware, new ownership changes just about everything.

While this was going on with Duncan’s work, we found out we were pregnant, which was of course super exciting but also A LOT. And if you’ve been following me, then you know that I did not have the easiest time during my first trimester. It was brutal for me both physically and emotionally (not to mention the entire country was experiencing some social unrest too). All that to say, the summer was a bit rough.

An incredible job opportunity came along for Duncan that would bring us back to Texas eventually but also gave us flexibility on timing. The idea of being closer to family sounded especially appealing during that time of isolation as I’m sure most of us can relate to after this year. Plus, to be frank, we needed insurance with a baby on the way. So the long and short of it is that we’re moving back for Duncan’s job and to be closer to family.

Are you nervous about being late in pregnancy and moving? Do you have a doctor?

I feel much better than I did at first. I’ve had several months to wrap my head around what’s happening and Duncan has been a tremendous help with all the details and logistics. I’ll admit, I’m still a bit nervous about a few moving pieces. But I know I will feel much better once we get to Dallas and I can start nesting. I’m taking it one day at a time.

We got a doctor in Dallas and had my records transferred from my OBGYN here, which feels like a MAJOR win! It feels good to know where I will deliver and at least be on someone’s books! Have I met my doctor yet in person? No, but at least I have one! I’m actually not that worried about it. I trust we will figure it out and everything will be OK. Also, this doctor came highly recommended by close friends. That’s one nice thing about Dallas (vs a new city) – we have a network and people we can ask for recommendations on everything.

When are you moving?

Our official move date is January 21.

It took us a long time to figure out when we were going to actually make the move, given the timing of the baby coming in March. We were also not in a rush to leave Denver because we have truly LOVED it and fallen in love with living here. There were several months where we knew we were going to move eventually (and that I was pregnant), but we didn’t quite have a timeline. We hadn’t decided if we were going to move before having the baby (December/January) or wait until a few months after (June/July/August).

After lots of prayer and talking to many close friends with more experience than us, we ultimately decided it would be better to move before the baby got here – even if it meant a bit of chaos and sadness to leave a little earlier than we wanted to. During the week of Thanksgiving, we set our move date and started making plans and talking about logistics.

Although we were disappointed that we didn’t get to see our families over Thanksgiving, it ended up being a blessing that we got some quiet, quality time to talk bout what we wanted the next 6-12 months to look like. We spent that week weighing the pros and cons and praying through the decision. Setting a date felt like a MAJOR game changer. We were both sad, but we also felt ready and excited to get things moving with our plan.

Do/Did y’all like living in Denver?

Yes! We honestly have loved it here in Denver so so much. I don’t think anyone could really say anything negative about living in Denver because it’s truly such a wonderful place! We actually loved the snow and did not mind the change in climate from Texas. The awesome thing about Denver is that it does get snow, but it’s also sunny 300 days a year. So when the snow comes, it doesn’t last long and it melts pretty quickly.

Do you already have a place to live in Dallas?

Yes, we do! We actually just closed on the house on December! We were able to do all our closing signatures and tasks remotely from Denver, which was so nice. Now that it’s officially ours, I’m so eager to start getting things ready and somewhat settled. I am already mentally prepared to be living in major transition though for the next few months, even with the baby coming in March.

Are you selling your house in Denver?

Yes! It’s not on the market yet, but we are planning to list it in January. If interested, please feel free to reach out :). We live in Hilltop and LOVE this location. Plus, we think our house is pretty amazing considering the *insane* market here in Denver.

How do you feel about the move?

I mentioned this above, but we have some mixed feelings. We are genuinely sad to leave. But at the same time, we are also excited and hopeful about moving back to Texas. We both know Texas and have friends and a network there. But we also feel like we didn’t get enough time to get settled and feel at home here in Denver.

This past year has been all kinds of different than I think any of us expected. Duncan and I definitely anticipated staying here in Colorado longer. We even played around with the idea of figuring out how to stay longer too, but the idea of being closer to family kept tugging at my heart. I think it also would have been different if we had had more time to get settled here and build a community and network. In many ways, we feel like our time got cut short for reasons way outside our control.

So I won’t lie, there is some sadness; Denver will always hold a special place in both our hearts. But we’re also excited too! Like I said, lots of mixed feelings.

What are you doing with all your furniture? Are you selling anything?

At the moment, we are bringing it with us to Dallas. In a perfect world, I’d love to sell some of it with the house since I bought a lot of it specifically for this space, however, I don’t think we’ll be able to make the timing work. We have a few things we need to get done before it goes to market and with a January 21 moving date, there isn’t enough time to show the home with furniture in it.

I do want to sell a few items if I can, so I might try and do that in the next few weeks.

Were you ever planning on staying in Denver long term?

We moved to Denver specifically for Duncan’s job with an open mind. I think we figured it would probably be a 2-year thing with a loose plan of moving back to Texas to raise our kids. But at the same time, we were very open to the idea of building a long-term life here as well!

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I think that about covers what I’m assuming the most popular questions would be! :)