BIG Changes are Happening SOON

Many of you have probably heard through the grapevine, or from me, that we are MOVING!  And not just down the street or into a bigger apartment, but ACROSS THE COUNTRY!!  We are moving to Charlotte, North Carolina!  And we couldn't be more excited!    

  Let me start from the beginning.  We all know that Orange County is a very expensive place to live.  I'm an open book (shocker!) and paying over $1600/month in RENT is just absurd!  It just made Josh cringe each month he had to write that rent check.  If we are going to spend that much, we want a big house and have something to show for it.  There are several other reasons that have swayed our decision to look outside of CA to live long-term.  You have to understand, when we originally decided on OC, we were planning on dual income and no children.  Obviously, plans change.  By the time we knew we were having Charlotte, it was too late and Josh had already accepted a position in the Irvine office.   ******************** Josh has grown up all over the east coast and his family enjoyed their time in North Carolina very much.  Once Josh through out the idea of Charlotte, I started researching the heck out of the city.  I was looking into schools, real estate, cost of living and everything else you can think of.  I had my days...some days I was totally on board and other days there was no way I was moving across the country where I didn't know anybody!  Trust me, it wasn't an easy decision, but I knew deep down, it would be best for our family.

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Josh finally applied at two of the Big 4 Charlotte offices on a Sunday night.  The next morning, as he is getting ready for work, PWC called him and talked to him for about 20 minutes.  He got off the phone with a big smile on his face and said, "well, they're interested!"  I couldn't believe it.  Since then, PWC had been in communication with him constantly.  I made it very clear that when it came time to fly out for an interview, I would be going as well.  And that's just what happened!  ******************** Recently, Josh and I left Charlotte with my grandparents and aunt Robyn, and took the red-eye out to Charlotte, NC.  We arrived at 6:30 am, picked up our rental car and went straight to the hotel.  Josh had enough time to shower, get dressed and walk to his interview by 8:15 am.  I tried sleeping but the walls were so thin, that I could hear everything going on in the hallway.  Oh well.  I made sure we had a plan of where we were going and what houses we were going to look at.  Josh got back about three hours later and had a great experience!  He met several nice people, including a fellow BYU alum!  Who would have thought.  As we drove around the Charlotte metro, I couldn't believe how clean the city was and how easy it was to drive in.  Compared to other big cities I've been to (NYC, Boston, LA), it was perfect!  Everywhere we went the trees were so luscious, the shopping centers were well taken care of, and there were adorable little downtowns.  It exceeded my expectations!  I don't have one negative thing to say about the place.  We even went to our potential ward on Sunday before heading out and it was 23 minutes away!!!  That's far, but that's how it is everywhere besides the west (from what I hear).  I am so glad I went on this quick, weekend trip.  It got me 100% on board and I loved everything I saw!!! ******************** What is our plan? Josh has to start work on December 2.  Yes, it's fast! We are planning to leave the weekend before Thanksgiving.  We will drive to Utah and Josh will leave Charlotte and me there.  (I don't want to think about it.) He will drive the rest of the way to North Carolina to start work on Monday.  Until Christmas, Josh will be jumping around between NC and Atlanta for training, so we thought it would be best if I stayed on the west.  He will come back for Christmas and then we will head to Connecticut to spend the holidays with the Whitmores and then to Charlotte to start the next chapter of our lives!