The Big Move: Colorado to Minnesota

One adventure ends and another one begins babes. After 6 years of living in colorful Colorado, Kirby and I have made the decision to move back home to the Midwest - Minnesota to be exact. This post is beyond bittersweet to write to say the least. We have been blessed with having the best 6 year adventure of our life and now we're ready for the next one as we prepare to welcome sweet little Baby O in September. The thought of being away from family while welcoming our little babe was way too overwhelming to stay. After months of decision making, planning and stress everything fell into place this last week and I am so excited to finally share this journey with you. We're beyond ready for this next adventure to kick off and super ready for the big move: Colorado to Minnesota here we go!

If we were meant to stay in one place, we'd have roots instead of feet, he said - Rachel Wolchin

We announced our pregnancy to the world in early March (read more here if you missed the post) and that was by far one of the hardest secrets to keep. This is definitely a close second. We started talking about the idea of moving home to Minnesota when we started trying for a family last year. When we found out I was pregnant Christmas morning I basically looked at Kirby and said, "So yeah, we need to move home." I am a huge family girl. Always have been and always will be. I think sometimes I try to fight it because I am super independent. However, I also like to be surrounded by the love of my people and thinking about being separate from them with Baby O's arrival just doesn't work in my head.

Change, Change and More Change

I tend to dive into 3-4 big life changes all at once. I'm not sure why and I'm honestly not even sure how it ends up always happening that way, but it just does. A lot of you don't know, but Kirby and I actually moved out to Colorado the day after we graduated college. We had no jobs lined up, no place to live and really not much money to even live off of. We just pulled the trigger and jumped. We also had never lived together before and funny enough our first place we lived in was only 450 square feet. I truly believe that if we can survive living in that small of a place the first year of living together, we can make it through anything.

Looking back I think that's when I started jumping into multiple changes all at once. This big move from Colorado to Minnesota is no different. When we officially decided we wanted to make the move it led us from one decision to the next. The biggest one of all was getting Kirby a job. I'm lucky enough where both of my jobs can move with me where ever I go. For those of you wondering, yes, I will still be co-hosting My Haute Society in Minneapolis and we actually hope to continue to expand it through the years. Woohoo.

Eventually, everything connects.

For Kirby, finding a job was critical and difficult. He was not only looking to expand on his position, but was also looking for a step forward which is extremely hard to do states away. The Minneapolis market is a lot like Denver with how fast pace it moves so locking in an in-person interview, Skype sessions, etc. was hard given he's still here in Denver. We also couldn't really figure out a place to live without knowing if he had a job. The amount of pressure I know he's felt these last couple months is unreal. On top of all this, I am pregnant for the first time ever and experiencing so much change in my body and my mind. To say we're going through many life changes is an understatement.

Pulling the Trigger

This last week has been an absolute whirlwind. Kirby and I have always been the type of couple to just jump into new experiences and adventures with the best and most fun mindset. I'm sure you know that by now after listening to how we got to Colorado 6 years ago however adding a baby into the mix definitely changes the way you think. If you follow along with my Instagram stories you would know that a couple weeks ago I actually did a poll to ask my followers if they were people who pulled the trigger or if they planned out every detail before making a change. I was actually surprised and super inspired to see that only 4 people out of everyone who voted were the type of people to plan every little detail out.

What you didn't see on my stories was behind the scenes. I woke up a few mornings before I put that poll up and told Kirby that I thought we just needed to poll the trigger. Job or no job we clearly needed to get to Minnesota and fast. I believe enough in us that we will figure out any situation we jump into and he does too. We started looking at places, started feeling a rush of excitement and thats basically when the whirlwind happened.

You may not understand today or tomorrow but eventually God will reveal why you went through everything you did.

On Wednesday afternoon we jumped and we put in an application for a place. Woohoo! We were so excited we were finally making a strict decision on this new adventure. We put in our notice to our current renters and sat there feeling in shock and hoping for the best. Thursday morning, no joke, Kirby received a job offer better than we could have ever imagined the offer to be. You all know I am a believer no matter what, but God winks like these are what makes being a believer so much fun. Like what?! We were and are still freaking out with excitement, shock and just feeling so blessed that everything randomly fell into place at all the right moments. All the stress, late nights up planning and applying to jobs, searching for places and wondering if we would ever make it to Minnesota finally came to an end; A crazy, whirlwind of an end.

Here We Go

After so much decision making we are beyond ready to start this new adventure. We are set to move from our beautiful state of Colorado to our new home (and old home) base of Minnesota in the first week of May. We are super excited, but to be honest it all still feels really weird. After months of going through the process and thinking so much about it, its crazy that it all of a sudden hit at once. Placing an application into a place, Kirby accepting a job offer and finally setting an official date to move within 2 days of each other is insane. When I say I make 3-4 life changes all at once I'm not lying. Oh yeah, please don't forget that I'm pregnant and 19 weeks along as well. Oofta. This life adventure we're on is never ever dull.

It's extremely bittersweet, exciting, sad, happy, crazy and so many more emotions all at once. It's so weird and hard to think of not living here after making such a beautiful life in Colorado. The thought of being away from the mountains and away from the sunshine is really difficult. Leaving my blogger girls, our close friends and the place we've made our home this past 6 years is definitely sad. However, thinking about being away from my family while having a little babe is even more sad and something I for reals would not be able to handle.

If it excites you and scares you all at the same time, it probably means you should do it.

So here we go. We're jumping into yet another crazy and new adventure all at once. We can't wait to get home and we can't wait to be surrounded by our people. After we move and after Kirby starts a new position we'll only have 4 short months to prepare for the arrival of our newest and best adventure of all. God has blessed us beyond measure. We feel so lucky to have been given this life and we can't thank Him enough for His timing. No, none of this was or is easy, but I truly don't think any change that's really amazing ever is. Change isn't supposed to be easy. It's made difficult to help with growth, and without being open to change, what are you really living for?

Wish us luck babes and please continue to follow along on this crazy and super fun journey we're on. As always, I appreciate every single one of you and love being able to be so open and real. Life is too short to not live every day as your best and most truest self.

About The Hike

St. Mary's Glacier has a very special spot in both mine and Kirby's heart. It was one of the very first hikes we ever went on when we first moved here and we fell in love with the view instantly. We have continued to go back with friends and family over the last 6 years and have so many amazing memories up there. We've seen it at every single season and I swear its always beautiful. The great thing about the hike is its only an hour drive from the city and it's only about a mile or more to get to the glacier. The short distances of the hike made it easy for anyone visiting Colorado who wasn't use to the altitude.

We've done photoshoots up here, had beers with amazing friends, had sister time, dad time and mom time. We went up here so much with our sweet pup Ace too who we lost in November at the age of 13. We knew when we finally decided on a move date that we had to make it up one more time. It was perfect for me being pregnant because you get to about 10,000 feet and the air starts to get pretty thin. It was a beautiful sunny day with lots of wind at the top. We truly took time to soak it all in and just feel blessed to have been able to see this beauty so many times. I also feel so lucky that we now already have a special memory there with little Baby O. I only shed a couple tears when we turned around to hike down, but I know we'll be back and it will still be as beautiful as ever.

One adventure ends and another one begins.

I wanted to share some pictures we've taken over the years. These are only a handful of the memories we've had at this magical place. Colorado, you were too good to us.