Some times in life you have to make lemons into lemonade.

This would definitely be one of those time. Just about 3 weeks ago (about 6 weeks ago to date) Brooke talked with one of his old buddies that he used to work with about the idea of branching off from Pinnacle by doing a dealer program (Pinnacle is one of the Alarm companies here in Utah for those who don't know), the only hiccup with the dealer program is that we would need to move to Louisiana (a place we have never been to ever), just a little problem. After meeting with the owners the job offer came to be and that's when it all started. After talking about it with Brooke, it's a no-brainer job offer (it's no secret in the industry that you can make way more money if only you were only willing to move, which a lot of people in the industry here won't). I told myself I wasn't going to even think about it as reality until all of the paper work and contracts were set in stone. Well it's done and now it's time to come to grips with the idea that moving is really is a good thing possibility. It's ironic, we bought this house with the idea to flip it and sell it after a few short years and then as we all know the housing market came crashing down. So then we were actually happy with the idea that we would make this more of a permanent home. The kids have a great new school with a good reading program, the pool's right a cross the street (during the summer it receives a daily visit from us) and neighbor's and neighbor's 2 and 3 streets down the road that would make any other person that didn't live here jealous just to have them for neighbors because of the great and good natured people that they are. Not just our neighbors that are our friends but our friends that we've grown close to way before we had any kids. A lot of our old friends do thankfully understand moving countless times (because they have either been there or are still moving around to this day) and that distance doesn't hinder old friendships. And family...I can not even try to explain the heart ache that comes with leaving our family and moving so far away. Brooke's Mom and Dad live in Idaho as well as his sister Ginger, Neil and their 5 awesome kids. That means no more weekender trips up to Idaho to see Grandma and Grandpa Lowe and the cousins (which by the way we look like a circus when she has her 5 and our 4), and explaining to the kids that that's not going to happen any more. Not only Brooke's family but my sister Daisy, Todd and their 4 kids that only live about 40 minutes away. That one's especially going to be hard on me, aside from random visits, we have spent nearly every Christmas Eve having our traditional soup/salad and bread bowl dinners together and then reading the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Our kids love all of their cousins and Aunts and Uncles but especially their Grandma's and Grandpa's (both sets). So my heart aches mostly for their little hearts not understanding why they have to move so far away from family and all of their little friends that they have made along the way. It's hard not to feel like we are putting a price tag on family, but we also can really see that our family is truly only a plane ride away, or if we really want to roll the dice it's only a few days drive away. Brooke's Dad said it just about right when he said, "You know what this is going to cost you, don't you...a couple of plane tickets a year." Even though he said it jokingly it really is the truth we are all just a plane ride away. There is an upside to all of this, we will be closer to CheyAnne and Jeremy, who have almost 4 kids. My brother Johnny, Monica and their 4 kids and my parents who live in Maryland (our family has been know on more than one occasion to drive cross country to see family; we really are crazy).

I have shed a few tears as reality has come crashing down on me (normally I am so not a cryer, most of the time I lift my head up high and say it is what it is but not in this situation). Here we are with a no-brainer job choice and a really stinky moving option. So this is where I am determined to make the best decision with the ultimate question, "What do you do when you get Lemons?", for me, I will make the sweetest lemonade for the little men in my life!
As for work Brooke will be over the Louisiana area for now. He has already left to kick off his summer program with his summer guys that he has recruited here and to start hiring locals. His main role will be to hire, train and obtain guys to sell locally. The boys and I will leave some time in the middle of June after school and baseball season. Then it will be time to start looking at homes in a nice area to move into before school starts. We were thinking about living outside of Baton Rouge, not in the city. I love my boys but I really love the man I am married to, I would probably follow him across the world if that's where he wanted to go. To date as far as the boys reaction to the move it's mixed. Rustin was a little excited, Elijah was sad and Cooper balded his head off! I asked him why he was sad and he had said that, "[He] I don't want to get eaten by alligators". We had told them that we could go see alligators to get them a little bit excited for what's ahead and apparently he's not too excited for that part. We've never been to Louisiana before but every person that we have talked to that has been down there has said nothing but good things. It's just another chapter in our crazy life so we'll try to make it a good one.
Sorry about the lengthy article.