Texas Move ~ Arriving in Texas

This is part 4 in a 5 part series about our move to Texas. 

To read part one CLICK HERE. 

Enjoy! xoxo

The last day was by far the worst and the longest! Around lunchtime, as we were driving through Louisiana there was a horrible rainstorm! I have never been on the road in such a bad rainstorm. The wipers did nothing to clear the windshield! It was a little scary. But luckily we made it through in one piece. 

In the afternoon we crossed the line into Texas! Unfortunately, a big truck was blocking my shot of the sign at the state line. Boo! 

Maybe it's just me, but the last few hours of a road trip always seem the longest, don't they? It felt like we were on big open roads, going 80mph forever and not getting anywhere! But we did in fact, finally arrive!  

We still didn't have a place quite yet. We had considered signing on a lease online before hand, but we weren't brave enough to do that without seeing a place in person. So for the first couple nights in San Antonio we had to stay at a hotel.

I found a hotel close to the area we wanted to be, that happened to be right down the street from Sea World. A Hilton that was actually really cheap. I wondered what was wrong with the place that made it so cheap. Luckily nothing was wrong with the place at all! It was amazing! Word of advice, always check prices on Expedia! We got our room $50 cheaper than normal! It was a HUGE room, with a living room, a kitchenette, a bedroom, a massive bathroom with a huge jetted tub, and balcony with a lovely view! We could have just lived there! Hahaha! 

But we busied ourselves with finding a place to live. We had one in mind that we had done lots of research on and felt good about, so we decided to start there. It was just as nice as we had hoped. Very affordable for a 2 bed, 2 bath, tons of closet space, a nice pool and gym, very close to plenty of shopping, restaurants, and Dave's work, and available for immediate move in! Once we were approved and had all the necessary paperwork, we were able to move in the very next day! We were very grateful for how smoothly it went for us. We couldn't have planned it more perfectly! 

Since we had an extra day before Dave had to report to work, we explored our new hometown. We got some yummy food,

And then took a drive up to the temple, just 25 minutes from our new home! The temple is quite small, but so lovely! with a wonderful view of the city! And we found a Kneaders just across the street! I had no idea they had Kneaders here, one of my favorite places! 

Continue to part 5

Texas Move ~ NC to AL

This is part 3 in a 5 part series about our move to Texas. 

To read part one CLICK HERE. 

Enjoy! xoxo

We hated to part with Dave's family after just such a short time with them, but we had to continue on.

We stopped in Atlanta at a yummy BBQ place called Smokebelly. Just a few days before we hit the road, I was watching the Food Network with my parents and this place was featured, particularly their Porky Pig Mac and Cheese. Luckily they were only 10 minutes off our route, and it was so worth stopping by! 

On the road again, we still had a ways to go. But we made it safely to our stop for the night in Mobile, Alabama. 

Continue to part 4

Texas Move ~ NC

This is part 2 in a 5 part series about our move to Texas. 

To read part one CLICK HERE. 

Enjoy! xoxo

Rather than driving straight to Texas, we decided to make some pit stops on our way, starting off with Dave's family in North Carolina.

We left Virginia bright and early and arrived in North Carolina a little before noon.

His grandparents (Pa Pa and Jo Jo) are such a hoot! I regret not making the time to visit them more while we were living in Virginia. We got lunch at Pulliams for the best Carolina-style hot dogs! They are topped with chili, onions, mustard, and slaw, all things I honestly don't like, but these are amazing! 

We swung by the West house (Dave's Aunt and Uncle) to say hi. We then asked Pa Pa and Jo Jo if they would be okay with us doing a little Q and A with them. We had reached out to Dave's siblings before the trip gathering up questions everyone was curious about. It went really well and we were so glad we were able to hear and document such fun stories.  For family interested in seeing the videos, leave me a comment with your email and I will give you access! 

After that, we met up again with the West family for dinner. I'm bummed we had so little time with them. They are seriously some of the nicest people I have ever met. I hope we can be back to visit for much longer again soon! And their kids are all so tall! I have never wondered what it felt like to be a midget, but now I know!

That evening we Facetimed Dave's parents with his grandparents (they are his Dad's parents) They got such a kick out of Facetime!

Barely a day in NC was certainly not long enough, but I'm grateful we had any time to spend with them! 

Continue to part 3

TEXAS

This is part 1 in a 5 part series about our move to Texas. 

To read part two CLICK HERE. 

To see our overview vlog, CLICK HERE. 

Enjoy! xoxo

It's still crazy for me to say, but we are officially Texans now! I never pictured myself living here, but we are so excited to be here! I figured I would share a little back story on how we ended up here.

Maybe a year ago, or so, we started feeling like our time in Virginia was coming to an end. We felt like there had been a period of time when we were supposed to be there, and that time had passed. So we began to wonder, where to next? Our first hope was for Utah. But pretty quickly I felt like that wasn't where we were supposed to be. I was a bit sad to be feeling that way, but despite my wishes, I couldn't deny how strong the feeling was, that's not where we were supposed to be. Looking back, I think that was a blessing to have received that answer so quickly and so strongly. I was able to accept it, and be open to other options. 

We considered a slew of other places; Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Southern Virginia, and finally Texas. Something about Texas felt right. Even having done little, to no research, we felt pulled to Texas, specifically San Antonio, a place neither of us had ever been. The more we did research, the more it felt right.

As we began to work on preparing to come here, many times it felt like it would be impossible. Even now, there is still so much work for us to do, it's a little overwhelming. But it's exciting to also see how smoothly things have gone. 

We didn't expect to be here till August or September. But at just the beginning of May an opportunity opened up for June and we decided to take it. And even on top of the that, we ended up leaving a near week earlier than expected. So we packed our little car to the brim, and hit the road. Not even sure where we would be living once we had gotten to Texas!

We made a few stops along the way (more on that in another post) and we arrived in Texas Monday, June 13th. We stayed in a hotel just two nights, and luckily were able to move into a place by Wednesday. We are so grateful with how smoothly everything went. We certainly have been very blessed with this move!

I will post more detailed blog posts shortly about our adventures, but so far we are loving Texas!

Click here to read part 2

The vlog;