That's right... we have them! (pictures are below.)
I've been feeling the need to document our big life change for some time now, and I think our life has finally slowed down enough to make this document a reality.
I want to preface everything by saying that we love Houston. Texas people are very warm and friendly. Surprisingly kind and considerate for a big city and extremely family friendly.
When we moved here, we had a very difficult time finding a place that was right for us. We scoured the internet pretty much 24/7 and tried to go along with what others told us. Looking back now, I wish we would have considered looking downtown a little more but everyone told us the shopping was better and the community was more family friendly out in Silverlake/Pearland. I believed them. The shopping was good. But I had to drive 10-15 minutes to get to ANY shopping. Including Grocery or gasoline. The school was great. Not amazing, but really fun. She had a great teacher. The ward was crazy over-achiever people. A little bit intimidating, but totally great. We loved all the people there and still do. However, if you don't live in specific neighborhoods in that ward, you get left out of a lot of play-groups/parties/co-ops and groups purely because you don't live close by. The ward was huge so it was hard to find the right stopping point for these kinds of things, so neighborhoods became a natural boundary. However, when you're the only one with kids your age in your neighborhood, it makes things a little bit harder. I know it wasn't just me. And I don't think there's any real solution for it either.
I know this all seems superfluous, but this is a lot of what was eating at me our whole first year here. It was really hard to feel left out of so many things.
I'm pretty out-going, I feel pretty strong in my self-confidence, but between the rain and ups and downs that are life, I found myself somewhat feeling inadequate.
My husband works very hard. I mean, even as I type, this is the 4th night this week he's been working until 11. Thank heavens we live downtown now, otherwise I might not have seen him all week. He... is incredibly dedicated and loving. He is focused and centered. He's smart and hard-working. He is the most honest man I know. And he's funny. I laugh with him like no one else. He likes me for me.
I missed him. I missed him terribly. The kids were even worse off than I was. They got grumpier and grumpier every day they didn't see him. Which of course made me even grumpier which made them grumpier and frankly, if I were Nate. I wouldn't want to come home either. :)
When he didn't come home for dinner, it became a huge chore followed by a chore that I hate even more. Laundry became overwhelming because all I saw were the clothes and not the man who wore them. Don't get me wrong, he did his best to be home if at all possible, but it got to be a lot sometimes. I lost all the things I loved. Or rather I lost a part of me.
Well.... I'm back.
If you don't like your fate... change it. We'd been looking for a change for sometime. We looked at houses on date-nights. We wanted to stay in our ward, but couldn't find anything in our price range in the 'right' neighborhoods and so we kept looking.
We loved our neighborhood. We love ALL the people there so much. We loved hanging out in the street riding bikes and playing games. I'll never forget how fun it was to feel a part of something bigger than our little family. We had neighbors help us get our son out from a door that he locked but then couldn't unlock. We were invited for many parties and dinners. We were accepted as one of them. We felt like family. We miss them a lot.
We had room for a lot of stuff... more than we have ever had and we enjoyed the yard there tremendously. But the stuff wasn't making us happy. What are things good for if you can't share them with other people.
I often argued with myself that the grass is always greener on the other side. That I don't know if I'll ever be satisfied with the house I move into. I don't want to be one of those people that can't be happy somewhere. But truly. I wasn't happy.
Our first thought was to move into student housing. It's cheap. It's close. and we could spend our money on more vacations and experiences with each other and more trips home to spend time with our eternal family and friends. Student housing doesn't have a great school, but we were willing to compromise. We could trade in all of our 'precious things' and space for days at the park and museums.
One day we went house hunting downtown. we found the PERFECT house. I mean yes it was smaller but it was beautiful inside. Everything in it was nicer... the flooring, paint, appliances, cabinetry... everything. It even had a yard which we never dreamed we would be able to afford downtown. We put in an application. The move-in time was perfect. And it's zoned for one of the nicest schools in all of Houston. So amazing.
We found out we were moving about a week before we left for the
wedding vacation and then off I left for 2 weeks. I basically had two
weeks total to pack up our lives, clean up our past, and move on....
literally. We had a lot of great friends help us out and before we knew
it, we were onto our next phase. We just like to keep things exciting
around here.
We had a wonderful time... playing guitar hero.
I've discovered I'm a city girl. I love the hustle and bustle. I love feeling close to people. I actually like sharing walls. weird, right? Makes me feel like I'm not so alone maybe. Our life is better here. Traffic is not my favorite, but it's not terrible. When frankly I can walk anywhere I wanna go, who needs to drive. :) We go to fun places all the time, because it's quick and easy. The library is amazing in Houston. Houston has crazy awesome museums and parks and I love it here. Just hopped over to Ikea for a little Saturday fun.
The other night, I told Nate that I thought I could live here for the rest of my life. It's that much better. (And we're talking 2 bed 1 bath condo here.)
The only downside is that we have to start all over again in a new ward. I wish we could stay put there and I have to admit that I've been dragging my feet. Getting to know new names and faces and people is super challenging. But everything else is pretty much amazing! Really. amazing. Our house looked like this for a better part of a couple of weeks. Just different variations.
Nate comes home for dinner every night. Nate's way happier too. So he says. :) We said goodbye to dear Sun and started a new year with Brenton. While we were gone on said vacation he went to a conference for craniofacial pain.
On top of all this, I joined weight watchers. Yes I know, Cliche. But in my defense, I joined before we knew we were moving. I've lost 10.8 lbs. It's been slower than I might like, but it's been the healthy way. My clothes fit me better and I love the way I feel. I now have a healthy relationship with food. I know how to handle what's set on my plate. It's so refreshing and empowering. I am in control of my actions... I make the choices. I am by no means done, but now I feel that I can get there. And I lost that much despite vacation and moving. Weight Watchers is awesome... and no they didn't pay me to say that.
We took a little trip to the museums last week. More to come on that later, but I just wanted to prove my weight watchers point. Here I am in all my no-make-up glory at the beautiful Rice University. But I see this picture and think... that girl is happy. Am I dramatically thinner? No. But I am happier.
Although this was written purely for documentation's benefit. I hope that it will inspire some to make choices for themselves to be happy. Don't settle for less. If you know what you want, go get it. Nothing's going to stop you.
I've been feeling the need to document our big life change for some time now, and I think our life has finally slowed down enough to make this document a reality.
I want to preface everything by saying that we love Houston. Texas people are very warm and friendly. Surprisingly kind and considerate for a big city and extremely family friendly.
When we moved here, we had a very difficult time finding a place that was right for us. We scoured the internet pretty much 24/7 and tried to go along with what others told us. Looking back now, I wish we would have considered looking downtown a little more but everyone told us the shopping was better and the community was more family friendly out in Silverlake/Pearland. I believed them. The shopping was good. But I had to drive 10-15 minutes to get to ANY shopping. Including Grocery or gasoline. The school was great. Not amazing, but really fun. She had a great teacher. The ward was crazy over-achiever people. A little bit intimidating, but totally great. We loved all the people there and still do. However, if you don't live in specific neighborhoods in that ward, you get left out of a lot of play-groups/parties/co-ops and groups purely because you don't live close by. The ward was huge so it was hard to find the right stopping point for these kinds of things, so neighborhoods became a natural boundary. However, when you're the only one with kids your age in your neighborhood, it makes things a little bit harder. I know it wasn't just me. And I don't think there's any real solution for it either.
I know this all seems superfluous, but this is a lot of what was eating at me our whole first year here. It was really hard to feel left out of so many things.
I'm pretty out-going, I feel pretty strong in my self-confidence, but between the rain and ups and downs that are life, I found myself somewhat feeling inadequate.
My husband works very hard. I mean, even as I type, this is the 4th night this week he's been working until 11. Thank heavens we live downtown now, otherwise I might not have seen him all week. He... is incredibly dedicated and loving. He is focused and centered. He's smart and hard-working. He is the most honest man I know. And he's funny. I laugh with him like no one else. He likes me for me.
I missed him. I missed him terribly. The kids were even worse off than I was. They got grumpier and grumpier every day they didn't see him. Which of course made me even grumpier which made them grumpier and frankly, if I were Nate. I wouldn't want to come home either. :)
When he didn't come home for dinner, it became a huge chore followed by a chore that I hate even more. Laundry became overwhelming because all I saw were the clothes and not the man who wore them. Don't get me wrong, he did his best to be home if at all possible, but it got to be a lot sometimes. I lost all the things I loved. Or rather I lost a part of me.
Well.... I'm back.
If you don't like your fate... change it. We'd been looking for a change for sometime. We looked at houses on date-nights. We wanted to stay in our ward, but couldn't find anything in our price range in the 'right' neighborhoods and so we kept looking.
We loved our neighborhood. We love ALL the people there so much. We loved hanging out in the street riding bikes and playing games. I'll never forget how fun it was to feel a part of something bigger than our little family. We had neighbors help us get our son out from a door that he locked but then couldn't unlock. We were invited for many parties and dinners. We were accepted as one of them. We felt like family. We miss them a lot.
We had room for a lot of stuff... more than we have ever had and we enjoyed the yard there tremendously. But the stuff wasn't making us happy. What are things good for if you can't share them with other people.
I often argued with myself that the grass is always greener on the other side. That I don't know if I'll ever be satisfied with the house I move into. I don't want to be one of those people that can't be happy somewhere. But truly. I wasn't happy.
Our first thought was to move into student housing. It's cheap. It's close. and we could spend our money on more vacations and experiences with each other and more trips home to spend time with our eternal family and friends. Student housing doesn't have a great school, but we were willing to compromise. We could trade in all of our 'precious things' and space for days at the park and museums.
One day we went house hunting downtown. we found the PERFECT house. I mean yes it was smaller but it was beautiful inside. Everything in it was nicer... the flooring, paint, appliances, cabinetry... everything. It even had a yard which we never dreamed we would be able to afford downtown. We put in an application. The move-in time was perfect. And it's zoned for one of the nicest schools in all of Houston. So amazing.
We had a wonderful time... playing guitar hero.
playing drums...
Playing golf at Trafalgar
and riding boats (seriously the highlight for these stinkers.
Capes at the library.
Morning sleeps with Mommy
haircuts
and lots and lots of quilting.
The only downside is that we have to start all over again in a new ward. I wish we could stay put there and I have to admit that I've been dragging my feet. Getting to know new names and faces and people is super challenging. But everything else is pretty much amazing! Really. amazing. Our house looked like this for a better part of a couple of weeks. Just different variations.
Nate comes home for dinner every night. Nate's way happier too. So he says. :) We said goodbye to dear Sun and started a new year with Brenton. While we were gone on said vacation he went to a conference for craniofacial pain.
He's been venturing into this lately and has been thoroughly inspired by the man in this picture. He's incredibly generous with his time talents and money and has taken Nate under his wing as a sort of apprentice. I'm sure I'll be talking more about this in the future. I'm so proud of him.
We took a little trip to the museums last week. More to come on that later, but I just wanted to prove my weight watchers point. Here I am in all my no-make-up glory at the beautiful Rice University. But I see this picture and think... that girl is happy. Am I dramatically thinner? No. But I am happier.
Although this was written purely for documentation's benefit. I hope that it will inspire some to make choices for themselves to be happy. Don't settle for less. If you know what you want, go get it. Nothing's going to stop you.
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