A tough one

When we decided to move here last year, we just took a leap of faith and went for it. It really felt like the right thing for us to do, so we did it.

It has been a very challenging year. It hasn't been exactly what we imagined in some ways. We have gotten to spend much more time with family than we ever did in Philly, of course, but I think we imagined that we would have even more of a relationship with them, especially with our siblings. I know it's a 2 way street and our lack of effort is in part to blame for that.

We do not love it here. We still find ourselves wishing that we could just hop on the blue line downtown and walk around Reading Terminal Market or take a family walk scoping out cute old houses in our neighborhood. We miss our apartment there, where we never heard a peep out of our neighbors. We miss the walkability of our neighborhood. We tried to find that here, but aren't sure it really exists. But we are slowly finding our place here, learning to enjoy what is available to us.

Probably the hardest part of just moving here on a whim is that it has been more of a battle than we expected for Zack to find employment. It has been super stressful for all of us, and it has been a painful year financially.

I don't say all that to sound whiny.

The fact is things are turning around finally. Zack starts his new job tomorrow. We will be moving away from our awful neighbors in a few months (although who knows what our new ones will be like). We have the opportunities available to us to continue to spend time with family. Despite how hard this year has been, somehow we made it through together, and I'd like to think we're stronger for it.

So in a couple weeks, our second year back in Utah will begin. Here's to a less rocky year for our little family.