Our BIG announcement!

I think we have the biggest news to share since we announced we were having twins!

About six years ago, Keith and I graduated from ISU, got married, packed our few belongings and hit the road to start our lives in New Jersey. And after a little bit of life and experience under our belts, it’s time for us to bring our family back to Iowa! YES…..WE’RE MOVING BACK TO IOWA!!

Everything is happening really fast and it hasn’t really set in yet! Last Monday Keith accepted a position with Syngenta in Slater, IA as a Purchasing Manager. He will be purchasing capital equipment for the Midwest facilities. Keith has been with Lockheed for over 5 years now and was ready for a change and is really excited about the new opportunity.

{Good thing we have a lot of strong boys to move boxes here}

So here is how the next couple months look.  Luckily Keith won’t begin his job until December 6^th.  So he will stay here until that weekend, then move to my parent’s house.  I will keep working at JT Mega until the end of the year and stay here with the boys and focus on selling our house.  (With the help from a couple great grandmas)  Keith will come back up on the weekends.

Fortunately, Syngenta offered a GREAT relocation package and they will be taking care of realtor fees, which is huge for us!!! This takes a lot of pressure off of us, so now we should be able to price competitively and as long as we can get a bona fide offer, the relocation company will buy our house.  Now we just need to find somebody who wants to move to Minnesota in December!  We are hoping to get a realtor out to our house ASAP, learn what improvements we need to make and hopefully have an open house soon.  In the meantime, we have been cleaning closets and trying to pack up anything we don’t need to make all of our cupboards and closets appear much larger. 

{we have a pretty good moving team, they have moved these hangers all over our house}

So where will we live?  That is the great debate and I change my mind every day!  As of right now, we will either live in Baxter, my hometown, or Ankeny.  Keith doesn’t seem to have a strong opinion either way.  There is something special about living in a small town, but there are a lot of great conveniences about living in a bigger community.  I would certainly take recommendations on any other community or friendly opinions on big town versus small town living.  We plan to live at my parent’s house for a few months and will get a feel for living in a small town again.  And really, it’s the daily commute, which equates to time away from the boys, that bugs me the most.

{Did I mention they label boxes too}

And what will I do?  Like I mentioned, I plan to stay at JT Mega for the rest of the year and see out some of my projects, but just officially started my job hunt.  So if any of you know of any great openings in marketing, advertising or food I would love to hear about it!  I’m hoping to find something downtown Des Moines, but we’ll see what happens!  

What to think of all this?  I’m having mixed emotions with the entire move.  Certainly, I have always wanted to get back to Iowa and wanted the boys to grow up there.  However, we’ve been living here for about five years, so right now I am having a really hard time letting go and leaving things behind.  Here are a few of many things I’m really sad to leave…

Our first home!  As much as I dream of a new home, this house is our baby and we poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into our home and this is what our boys know as home and where we experienced so many “firsts” with them.

Our neighbors!  Can’t even begin to say how amazing living next to Beth/Mitch and Wade/Kellie has been, we were so lucky to land next to them and they have certainly been like family to us.  Stella is going to miss her boyfriend Bruiser too. 

My work! It’s going to be really difficult to let go of the Di Lusso brand, as it is something I really committed myself to and it is one of those things you never stop thinking about even after you leave work. Most of all, I’m going to miss my co-workers so much!  These are the people I see and talk the most and many have become great friends and I’m having a hard time even thinking about not talking to them and seeing them every day.  I will also miss the Hormel group I work with, they have been great to me and we’ve had a lot of fun together over the years! 

Cradle Club.  I’m really nervous about taking the boys out of their daycare.  They spend more time there than they do with us, so I hate taking them away from that steady environment and I know a lot of the teachers will miss them too! 

Amazing Location.  We live within 10 minutes of about 5 Targets, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Ikea, The Mall of America and about 20 other great stores.  I often sneak out for a little retail therapy after the boys go to bed. 

So a lot to adjust to, but certainly really excited to be closer to our friends and family!  Just a little crazy right now packing up our lives at the busiest time of the year with so many unknowns right now as to where I will work, where the boys will go to daycare and where we will live and how quickly we will be able to sell our house!  Good thing my mom and dad our letting us live with them while we figure everything out!!!