Big News- We’re Leaving Las Vegas

Yes, it’s true, after 4 years of living in Las Vegas we are leaving.  My family and I are packing up our lives here and moving back to Michigan.  Back to the mitten state where both my husband and I are from.  This time we are going to be living on the west side of the state in Grand Rapids.

Our decision to leave Las Vegas was not an easy one.  As you may know, Kevin recently upgraded to the captain at work.  The airline industry is all about seniority and in Las Vegas, he is at the bottom of the seniority list, which means his work schedule would be bad if we stayed.  We knew that we would most likely have to move this year to a base where Kevin could be higher in seniority.  We just had no idea where that would be.  His company is always opening new bases all over the country, so when we heard that Grand Rapids was becoming a base, we knew it just made sense to go with that one.  Both sides of our parents live in the Detroit area, so we would only be a 2-hour drive from them, which is much better than a 4-hour flight + the 2-hour drive.  Even though we would be moving closer to family, it was still a hard choice.  We listed our pros and cons and Las Vegas had so many more pros for us.  No state income tax, warm weather, sunshine… just to name a few.  The thing was that we just could not ignore the few pros we found in Grand Rapids.  Their importance outweighed everything in Las Vegas.

With that said, we made the decision that the best choice for our family was to move to Michigan.  I’m excited about the move.  Grand Rapids is known as a great place to live and raise a family.  It’s only a 40-minute drive from where Kevin and I went to college and first met.  We will be close to Lake Michigan too.  There are so many cute little towns that line the coast of Lake Michigan and I can’t wait to spend time exploring them.  I am excited that Jack will grow up closer to his grandparents.  It’s been really hard being alone in Las Vegas and having a baby.  I’ve always wished that our parents got to see Jack more than just once or twice a year.  Holidays will be much more doable for us because we won’t have to worry about air travel during the busiest times of the year.  I look forward to getting to know a new part of Michigan for me.

Even though I’m excited about our move, it’s also bittersweet for us, because we really love living in Las Vegas.  There is so much to do here.  I’m going to miss all the sunny days.  This is the city where Jack was born too.  It’s always going to hold a special place in my heart.  I feel like I officially became an adult when we moved out here.  We didn’t have our parents to lean on at all.  It’s just been us and our little family.  My brother just moved to Las Vegas last spring too, so it’s going to be hard to not live close to them.  Also my sister-in-law and family live in Los Angels, so I will miss our weekend trips to LA.  The good thing is that Grand Rapids has plenty of direct flights to Las Vegas, so if we ever really miss it we can always hop on a flight for a visit.

I always knew that being married to a pilot might involve having to move around for his job, but I never imagined that it would bring me right back to where we started.  The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy with our move and all the changes that will come, but change is usually a good thing.  I’m excited for our future.  Thanks for following along with me!