Destination: unknown.

It's official.

In black and white.

WE ARE MOVING TO BOISE, IDAHO!!!

We think....

We think we might move to Boise, but one thing is for sure....

Are you as impressed as I am that all of these fit in my van, children included!?!

We are handing the house keys to our friends on July 6th, and we are moving out, because when we got  a call just over 3 weeks ago from our friends asking, "Do you still want to rent out your house to us?"  we said yes, but that wasn't the start of all of this.

It was last October when Patrick and I started talking about where we would like to live that was a little more "free range."  It definitely had something to do with the fact that we realized that having city chickens in our neighborhood wasn't in the cards even if the city laws allowed it.

Shortly after, we started trying to figure out where that might be. I mentioned our desires to several people.  It didn't take long, but we decided to move to Boise. I had been there once as a young adult and had nice memories of the place.

After we were moderately convinced that Boise was where we should go, we started looking for a job, just before Patrick's contract was up for his previous job. We stared getting calls from some employers up there. Thankfully, within a few weeks a job landed in our lap. But guess what!?!?

It was not a job in Boise, it was an excellent job ANYWHERE, 100% telecommuting.

After a few trips to LA, Patrick started his position, working from home, in May.

He interviewed in a suit....but he can work in his pajama's.

(He's only done that once, but it's cool to have the option.)

Having him work from home is wonderful.

Even better than we imagined.

Amazingly enough, my good husband can concentrate amidst the chaos in our home, which is impressive to me. He gets to visit us for short intervals throughout the day instead of seeing us at the end of a long day. It's been ideal. Gone are the worries of trying to find a job and a house at the same time.

Here's where he worked 7-3 the whole week we were searching for homes in Boise.

It's a miracle job.

Really!

 

We feel so blessed, but there's one thing about this job.

It opened up a can of worms.

From that can crawled the question that we can't get out of our heads,

 "Where do we want to live if we can live almost ANYWHERE!?!"

 

If you know me, you'll know that is a tough question.

It is VERY hard for me to make a decision when there are a lot of choices.

(That's one reason I like In-N-Out burger: there are very few choices on the menu.

I know what I want pretty quickly.)

Having this option is like sitting down in front of a Cheesecake Factory menu.

When the waiter comes back after 20 minutes I usually have him or her help me make a choice from what I have narrowed it down to and hope it turns out delicious.

There are some requirements: there has to be tech jobs for Patrick if this position happens to end....

AND a place for us to have some wide open space where we could grow some real food (as opposed to our desert hobby garden) have chickens and possibly a few goats sometime down the road.

"Me Cowboy!" 

Boise has all 3 of these requirements and is a lovely place, but as a result of this "ANYWHERE" option, we are still not completely decided.

What if there is somewhere else that would be a better fit for us?

Patrick wonders if he could actually convince me to live in the rain so he could bask in some Pacific Northwest heavily forested environment where there are gobs and gobs of tech jobs.

I wonder if there is a city we would enjoy just as much as Boise that actually has a Trader Joe's less than 4 hours away.

Don't get me wrong, I love many things about Boise. Once we decided to go there,  we learned that many, many people we asked really like it there too. I can see why. Two weeks ago we spent a week there looking for house and even put an offer on a lovely home nestled amongst farms between Meridian and Nampa.  My favorite part of the area was the beautiful downtown area along the Boise River, but we're not quite ready to put our stakes down just yet.

We will really be ready to  buy a home in a few months when the right one in the right place comes along, but since we have good renters moving into our home on July 6th, a huge moving trailer that is parked in front of our house, some time our hands while we for sure decide on a final destination before we find out if they except the offer we put on a short sale, a wireless internet connection for Patrick's work laptop, some really excited kids, a TON of boxes (some full and many empty) and a desire to make the best choice about where our family should live long term, we are officially in the market for a 12 foot, single axle............

Vintage Camper Trailer!!! 

(Of course you could call it an old/cheap camper trailer, but Vintage sounds much, much cooler!)

That's right, We're going to be "Gypsies" 

(as my mum from England would say) 

for a month or two while we travel up the coast and beyond.

Better yet, let's call it an 

Extended Summer vacation!  

Of course we'll frequent a Hampton Inn to sleep on a real bed, splash in the pool and eat a fancy breakfast at least once a week, but for the most part, our temporary address will likely include the letters, K - O - A.

I will  continue to perfect my front seat lunch preparation skills. 

Did you know that a boogie board makes the most PERFECT on the interstate counter top????

We will also probably continue to take advantage of gas station blacktop dining where I don't have to worry if someone spills hummus all over the floor.

Oregon? Washington? Idaho? Colorado? Northern California?

We're still taking suggestions. 

can you believe that Devon is 5 months old already!?!?

I guess we'll just see where the wind blows us (better yet, where the Holy Ghost directs us)....which might end up as Boise, but we just aren't sure yet.

Are you shocked???

Well, so am I, considering the fact that I've only lived in the Las Vegas area,  but I'm not scared.

I am sad to leave family and many friends behind but I'm mainly excited.....AND dang ready to be done with this dreadful experience called packing (which has thankfully been made more bearable thanks to my mom, mum and m.i.l.)