Our Move to California

I decided that I would like to remember the story of our move, so while most of you who read this already know it, I have to document for memory sake.  Quite a few months back, a senior manager from Ebay's corporate offices approached Devin about wanting him for a position on his team.  But it would mean relocating to San Jose, CA.  After much discussion and prayers we decided that we would pursue the opportunity and see where it took us.  After informing the manager that he would be interested in seeing if it was a right fit, the interviews began right away (of which he had many).  After that, there were some set-backs and months of waiting to hear back.  During this time, another company expressed their interest in having Devin join their company in San Diego, and another manager within Ebay also expressed his interest in having Devin join his team.  Our prayers increased and changed to knowing what the right path for our family was.  At the beginning of August, while on our vacation in Cape Cod, an offer came through for Devin to become a Category Manager in the Electronics Department of Ebay in San Jose.  We knew right away that this was right for our family and as soon as we got home the preparations began...

We immediately put the house up for sale and began planning our move.  Devin's new position was to begin on September 16, giving us just a month to pull it all together.  We discussed having Devin move down first and then the girls and I would move after the house sold.  Less than 2 weeks later, over Labor Day Weekend, Devin flew down to San Jose to find us a new home while the girls and I went to the cabin.  He found a couple places that he liked quite a bit.  One of which I seemed more drawn to than the other (for no logical reason).  This one in particular was located in a city called Cupertino and the property manager gave special precedence to Devin due to the fact that he was a Mormon.  "I have other Mormon tenants and they take care of things so well that I would love to have more," she explained to Devin.  Then later that day, she told Devin she would take $100 off a month if we could move in by September 15.  It was working out all too perfectly, so he signed up for it.  We then decided that rather than splitting up our family, we should all move together and sell the house empty.  We got home on Labor Day and had less than 2 weeks to pack up or get rid of our entire house.  It was a whirlwind of chaos from that point on.  We managed to get rid of around 80% of our belongings and packed up the rest.  We even managed to find time to say some goodbyes...

I had a last hangout with my best friend, Jessica.  I have known this girl for as long as I can remember and loved her for just as long...

I was so lucky to have one more girl's overnighter with my favorite Sandy girls, Melanie, Megan, and Carla.  These ladies have been such a blessing in my life for the past 3 years.  I seriously love this group more than words can describe...

A last family dinner with part of The Wayment clan.  My sister Melissa and her family came down and my parents bought pizza for everyone.  It was a great night just spending time with each other.  And my sweet parents brought the girls some travel bags for the drive to California...

Last family dinner with part of The Payne Clan.  The Lingwalls hosted this last dinner with us.  It is always a great time being with this bunch.  What a great group of people to be surrounded by...

My sweet sister, Angie, made a special trip down to our house for a last hangout.  The kids had so much fun together and she even RugDoctored my car!

This cute family (my cousins Ryan and Brianne) came to say goodbye and sent us off with some fun treats for our trip. And the girls just loved playing with Hailee...

Adalyn's last day in her East Sandy Kindergarten class.  She took some cookies as a goodbye treat for her class...

And finally the weekend of September 13th came.  Our original plan was to spend all day on Friday loading the moving truck and then make the 12 hour drive on Saturday.  But with the help of Matt, our brother in law, Devin's mom, and my mom, we were able to get the truck loaded and the house cleaned by early in the afternoon on Friday so we decided to begin our journey that night to break up the drive a little.  So Devin, driving the moving truck, the girls and I in the Pilot, and Devin's mom in the Civic made our way to Elko for the night.

The next day we headed out early to make the rest of our journey.  The girls were so great during this trip and we only had to stop once for lunch and gas...

Crossing the state line into California was a surreal moment for me...

We made it to Cupertino in great time and unloaded the truck as quickly as we could.  The next few days were spent tirelessly working to unpack, build furniture, organize, set up, decorate, and begin a life for us here.  Devin immediately started working, and Adalyn even began her new school within a couple of days.  This was quite a change as well.  Not only did she have an additional 2 hours added to her school time, but she will also be eating lunch at school and with a very diverse group of kids. Still, she jumped right in and is making her way in the class...

After a very long week we finally had a home we could live in, all thanks to Mary-Ann who was such a blessing to us during this time.  We could not have done all this without her and we are so grateful that she would take time out of her life to help us set up our new life.  Having her here really made the transition easier, especially for Adalyn and Quincy.  They loved running down to cuddle with Grandma in the morning!  She is the kind of person I can only hope to be like someday...

At the end of the week we were able to take some time off from all the work and have a few fun days.  On Friday we headed out to Santa Cruz beach which was just perfect...

Then on Saturday we went up to San Francisco.  It was rainy for 

part of the day but I still couldn't help but falling in love with 

this awesome city.  Just gorgeous...

Our last couple of stops were downtown Campbell, where Devin works and Stanford University...

And then reality set in this morning as Mary-Ann headed back to Utah.  Suddenly we weren't just "on vacation" anymore.  She was heading home, and we were still staying here.  The weight of what that meant came down and I felt Utah slipping away.  I had a day of holding back tears as the emotions of the past few weeks came settling down on me (all of which I avoided before with the busyness of moving).  We are so excited about this change and all that lies ahead of us, but we are also feeling the loss of all that we held dear in Utah.