So it is no secret that I do not like Las Vegas. Well, that is kind of a lie. I actually don’t mind Las Vegas, and growing up here was pretty great. Everything you ever need or want 24/7, great restaurants, fun clubs, the strip, etc. When we had the twinzies we knew we didn’t want to raise them here for a bunch of reasons. Bad school system, loud, mean, dirty, crime filled, crazy drivers everywhere, gangs, violence, HOT, no community, etc. We recently had a bunch of crime in my immediate area (several people murdered - as in shot in the face murdered - just a few blocks from here). The killing and crimes were in broad daylight and I was honestly scared to leave my house with the kids for walks or bike rides. That is just insane and not somewhere I want to be.

Ok, so that entire story was not really necessary to say - WE’RE BLOWING THIS POPSICLE STAND!!!! Yep, we are finally, FINALLY moving. This Sunday to be exact. We’ve been tossing the idea of leaving Las Vegas around for a few years, and have researched moving to Canada (Trail/Nelson, BC) quite extensively. When my good friend Julie mentioned how awesome Bend, Oregon was and that the housing market was super cheap we started researching the city, and BAM, it got bumped to first place! I wanted a city that was not too tiny, but not larger than about 125,000. Bend has 80,000 so perfect. The schools got above average ratings, the city is beautiful, clean, and green. I’m certain the people will be much nicer than the rudeness that is Las Vegas. We worked with an awesome Realtor (Kelly Johnson if you’re in the market for a home in Central Oregon). She showed us houses online and we actually bid on a house, only having saw photos. We were up against 10 other bidders and won!! I flew there to see the house and luckily, it is perfect! The house is nice (bigger than ours now), the yard is big and beautiful, and it is in a great neighborhood. It has a garden which I can’t wait to plant, and right up the street is Tar*get, which is probably my favorite store!

So anyway, this last month has been crazy insane with work and trying to get the loan in place for the house, renting our current house, packing, working, working, working, being crazy, getting gray hairs, and then more crazy. I’m not a big secret keeper. I try to be, but I just suck at keeping secrets. I couldn’t say anything about moving until certain people were notified and man, that sucked! We leave this Sunday for the (UGH) 16 hour drive with the twinzies. I’m not too happy about the drive, I’m actually dreading it, but at least we’ll be in our new home!!

It is very bittersweet to leave. I’m so excited for us to move, but so sad to leave my family. My entire family is here, all of my sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews, Grandma and Grandpa, everyone . I’m so sad to leave them all, especially when all of the cousins are so close in age and love each other so much. I plan on coming back fairly often for work (I’ll be here in July, September, October, and maybe November) so at least I’ll get to see them all often.

Mt. Bachelor is only 20 minutes away and Jeff promised me if we moved to somewhere snowy he would go snowboarding with me, so YAY, this winter I get to snowboard again!!! And I hope to put the twiznies in ski lessons. Bend is a very outdoorsy type of city and I’m really glad we’ll get to enjoy it. The downside is the snow. Las Vegas really has no weather, it is just hot. Winter’s are very mild, spring and fall are awesome, and summer is just HOT. But, no snow. No rain. No real weather. Bend has both snow and rain (although not as much as most of Oregon since it is the high desert). I don’t drive well in weather (I don’t know how to drive in snow at all), so I’m a little nervous about living in a place with weather, and real winters with real snow. But Jeff assures me the twinzies will love it and that it won’t be as bad as I’m imagining. Lets hope he’s right!

So YAY!, that was the super secret project I kept alluding to, since you now know I can’t keep a secret!