MICHIGAN SPRING, GEORGIA

Spring is FINALLY here! Of course in Michigan, that means a lot of back and forth with the weather. One day it will be 80 degrees, the next day 50 degrees. It is not safe to pack away coats until it is officially summer sometime in June...

Things I am going to miss about Michigan...
(Some outside fun since it has warmed up a bit: our "backyard," the "forest" behind the Stake Center)


(Playing at Shade's school [Longacre Elementary])

(It never ceases to amaze me how many blossoms can fit on one tree, and the different kinds!)

(The "forest" behind the church building we go to)

(My view from work and on my way home)

Also, just an update... As most people know by now, we are MOVING! Our 3-year plan to move to Michigan and then go somewhere else took an extra 5 years, but it is finally happening! We moved here in June 2007, and will be moving to GEORGIA in June 2015! I must admit, Georgia has never even been on my top 100 places to visit in my lifetime, let alone my top 100 places I'd like to live, but that is where we are going.

It all started when Kellen's sister who lived in Chicago (our only family "close" to us out here) decided to finally get out of Illinois and move somewhere warmer with good schools, low cost of living, and near a big city so her husband could get work (he is a computer programmer with his own business). They decided on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia (Buford). Bosch, the company Kellen works for, has two locations in South Carolina only a couple hours from there. So our plan was that when Kellen got the green light to start applying for jobs (he got a promotion last year and they are supposed to wait 18 months before switching positions), he would try to get a position in South Carolina. But this last winter was particularly miserable here in Michigan. It was especially cold with months of highs below freezing, hardly any sun, and TONS of snow. And since we had just had a baby at the end of December, we were not really in a position to be going outside much in such cold conditions. And then Kellen was not finding any real job postings in South Carolina. So he decided to start looking outside of Bosch...

He started by applying for jobs near family: one job in SLC, Utah (which he never heard back from), and one job in Peachtree City, Georgia, near his sister at Panasonic. He got an interview with Panasonic, and it went really well, but it didn't work out. However, the people he interviewed with liked him so much, they wanted to give him another chance and recommended him for another job opening that hadn't even been posted yet. He interviewed for that position, and it went so well they flew him down to Peachtree City for another interview. Kellen took a couple vacation days to explore the area and visit his sister. A week later, he got a job offer: better pay, better location, closer to at least some family (who just happen to have kids the same age as our three kids)... How could we resist?!

It has been bittersweet since we decided to move. We have had enough time to plan things out and try to enjoy Michigan a little bit more before we leave. But every time I go somewhere I think, I may never see this again, etc, etc. And then there are the awesome people. Living so far away from family, the people here, especially in the Livonia Ward, have become our family. Even though we are excited to try something new, it is going to be difficult to say goodbye to so many amazing people. I have been trying to not think about it much, but I am sure I will be a teary mess on our last Sunday here...