It's official!

It's official - my parents are moving to Seattle! I've been in denial over the past month and wouldn't let myself stress out about it until it was indeed official - ie my dad told his work. I was hoping they would counter with an equally good offer - but I'm not that lucky. But of all places - Seattle! It's on the other half of the country!

I should have known. Growing up, it seemed like every 4 years we moved - living in Dallas, Wausau, Minneapolis, and then back to Dallas. But I definitely didn't see this one coming. Just last year my dad made partner with his architecture firm, which usually means you're a lifer w/the company. But now looking back, I should have know better - it's been almost 6 years.

So this Christmas, family meant more to me than ever. And we actually were all together over the Holidays - including my grandparents. We made an attempt to take a family picture (since who knows the next time this will be), but it was super windy so it was really hard to take a good picture.

The ENTIRE fam -

The Bros -


The Sisters -


I'm fortunate to have my two best friends as sisters! I wish Kristan could have been in it as she's now more like a sister too, but she had to rescue little Mason from the cold weather. I, on the other hand, let Tanner stay in the cold for an attempt to take one more family picture.

Overall, moving is too good of an opportunity for my Dad to turn down - at least financially. If someone offered to double my paycheck, I would take it too. But, I still do worry about them, especially my mom who is practically an empty nester and will now have no family around. But I also worry about myself - I'm not just loosing my mom, but also my NANNY while I work. It's been so convenient having them live 15 minutes away. This is definitely putting a kink in my plans, but in the end, I'm hoping I can just reduce my hours eventually so I can be with Tanner myself. But it also makes me sad that Tanner will not be as close to her and I know little Tanner will miss her as well. He loves her singing to him and other silly things she's always doing without even trying.

We had lots of family debates about what my parents should do - especially as it pertained to selling their home that they paid too much money for and will be hard to sell in depressed economy. But all 8 of us children and very opinionated...but I do have to say...I'm always right and my parents finally listened!

But as a positive note, I guess it could be worse. It could be Dumbai or some other foreign place I would never be able to visit. My dad has done a lot of international traveling this past year - and actually was considering an offer to move to Dumbai. So I guess I'll live with Seattle. And now we have an excuse to go visit...and maybe next Christmas we can see some SNOW for Christmas!