Brace yourself, this one gets kinda long…

It’s been a whirlwind of a time the last few months.  In March Jake applied for a job in California just on a whim, and 3 weeks later we were gone.  I was 7 1/2 months pregnant and devastated to leave our home and so so so so so many good friends.  I know moving for this job was the right decision and an incredible opportunity for Jake, but April was a blur of tears as I tried to come to terms with the gigantic change.  We were in such a comfortable place – I’d made so many close friends, I loved our home, I loved our neighborhood and all of our neighbors, I was excited for spring blooms and summer playdates, and we’d really put down our roots there…  I felt like we’d settled down and found the perfect place to raise our family.

I spent an entire month trying to not think about everyone and everything I left in Utah – I didn’t call many people, I didn’t email much, I didn’t blog – it just hurt too much.  I felt a little ridiculous with all the crying, but I’ve seriously never been so heartbroken!  (And I’m sure the emotions were made all the more intense with pregnancy hormones…)  I feel bad about the lack of communication now (and did then) because that’s no way to treat the people you care about.  And I apologize if this post sounds a bit mushy, but I just have to put it all out there so I can move on.

In light of the move, I was/am completely overwhelmed by all of the love and service and support shown to our family by so many friends and neighbors and family.  Being so pregnant, in addition to having back issues, I could hardly do any packing or cleaning (or unpacking for that matter).  Excuse the cliche expression, but it still brings tears to my eyes to think of all the things people did for me – babysitting Rush (offering before I could even ask), cleaning my home from top to bottom (baseboards, blinds, fridge, bathrooms, garage, and all), packing up EVERYTHING, loading the moving truck, throwing a little good-bye lunch, unloading the truck and unpacking boxes, driving our cars hundreds of miles, and the list goes on and on.  I’m a very lucky girl to have so many amazing friends – we couldn’t have done it without everyone!  But I’m still sad that my Utah friends are still in Utah and I’m in California…

And besides friends that helped, we also had a ton of help from both of our families – Jake’s parents and brothers helped drive our cars and the moving truck out to California, and my parents and sister and her husband basically moved us in, unpacked all our boxes, and made this house a home.  I can’t thank everyone enough.  Seriously, words just don’t suffice.

We’ve been in Santa Rosa for almost two months now, and I’m finally feeling like we can call it home.  (But speaking of “home,” we’re still trying to rent out our home in Utah – it’s a great deal for a great home!  Down to $1,195/month.  Here’s the listing: http://tinyurl.com/3t6rp6e)  One of the perks of living here is that my family is only an hour and a half away!  (well, at least my parents and one sister and her husband)  I always thought we’d stay in Utah for a long long time, so it’s a treat to actually be close enough to see them a few times a month instead of a few times a year.  Although we do miss Jake’s family in Utah.  I guess you can’t have everything all at once, can you.

Just a quick update on what’s happened since we decided to move:

• Jake and I celebrated our 6-year wedding anniversary on April 30th.  We went to a cool bakery in the country, went on a LONG beautiful drive (read: got a little lost) that eventually landed us in Bodega Bay, and had a super duper romantic dinner (of leftovers? I don’t remember) and movie at home with Rushton.  Good times.
• Rush and I spent a week in Arizona with my brother’s family while my niece had surgery.  Rush LOVED being with his cousins (so did I!).  The only un-fun part about that was that Rushton got some kind of stomach bug and spent the week puking on and off (including once at the airport food court, once on the airplane, and once on the car ride home from the airport, all in the span of about 4 hours – KILL ME NOW).  He didn’t act sick the whole week, but he would throw up once or twice every 36 hours.  It was weird.  But still a fun week.
• We moved from Utah to California, blah blah blah (finding a rental home out of state is a nightmare!!!).
• Jake started a new job as a web producer at O’Reilly Media in Sebastopol.  He loves it.
• I had a birthday on May 18th – the last year of my 20′s!
• We had sweet little baby Hailey Mae Spurlock on May 30th.  And she just started squirming and squealing so I’d better go now!

Pictures to come soon…