At the beginning of June, Jake accepted a job offer from Chewy.com. Let me say first, we LOVED Bentonville. We loved the people, the culture, the city, everything. And it took a lot of long discussions to decide we were moving. But, here we are.
It was not as easy move. After receiving the job offer from Chewy, they wanted Jake to start work 3 weeks later. 3 weeks to sell a house (get it ready to sell), pack everything, drive 20 hours, find a new place to live, get settled and start work. (Plus, I had a mad and unexpected Etsy rush from LittleDuckieBoutique--200+orders in under 2 hours--yikes! and BYU basically told me I had to finish my last undergrad course by the end of July or I'd have to start again). So no pressure.
Those last few months are really quite a blur. They went by so fast. All I can say is we most definitely had the help of the Lord. Everything worked out, even though it was one of the more stressful times of our lives.
Not to mention that our moving truck didn't arrive with all our worldly goods until month after we moved into our new apartment. We made due. It's the little things you become grateful for. Like chairs. Or a stroller. And a spatula.
Regardless, we did fine. We thought Bentonville would be our forever home. But, turns out it wasn't. So, moving here, we have no idea how long we'll be here. Maybe 2 years, maybe 10. Either way, we are determined to make the most of our time here.
Our apartment is in a perfect location. We're 20 minutes from basically anything we could need. We're 20 minutes from the beach, from the temple, a giant outlet mall, etc. Plus, we're only 3 hours from Disney World (hip hip hooray!). Most of our summer was spent at the beach and the pool. (It's really hot here, so that's all you really want to do in the summer). But, we also found some other cool things to fill our time with.
It was not as easy move. After receiving the job offer from Chewy, they wanted Jake to start work 3 weeks later. 3 weeks to sell a house (get it ready to sell), pack everything, drive 20 hours, find a new place to live, get settled and start work. (Plus, I had a mad and unexpected Etsy rush from LittleDuckieBoutique--200+orders in under 2 hours--yikes! and BYU basically told me I had to finish my last undergrad course by the end of July or I'd have to start again). So no pressure.
Those last few months are really quite a blur. They went by so fast. All I can say is we most definitely had the help of the Lord. Everything worked out, even though it was one of the more stressful times of our lives.
Not to mention that our moving truck didn't arrive with all our worldly goods until month after we moved into our new apartment. We made due. It's the little things you become grateful for. Like chairs. Or a stroller. And a spatula.
Regardless, we did fine. We thought Bentonville would be our forever home. But, turns out it wasn't. So, moving here, we have no idea how long we'll be here. Maybe 2 years, maybe 10. Either way, we are determined to make the most of our time here.
Our apartment is in a perfect location. We're 20 minutes from basically anything we could need. We're 20 minutes from the beach, from the temple, a giant outlet mall, etc. Plus, we're only 3 hours from Disney World (hip hip hooray!). Most of our summer was spent at the beach and the pool. (It's really hot here, so that's all you really want to do in the summer). But, we also found some other cool things to fill our time with.
Dania Beach -- 9 Miles, 13 minutes away
Hollywood beach -- 13 miles, 20 minutes away
South Beach -- 29 miles, 38 minutes away
Delray Beach -- 33 Miles, 37 Minutes away
Ft. Lauderdale Beach -- 13 miles, 21 minutes
Clam Pass Beach -- 103 miles, 1 hr 38 minutes
This is on the West Coast of Florida. Its a beach on the Gulf Shores, rather than the Atlantic Ocean. We kept hear how beautiful the sugar sand beaches are, so we thought we'd check them out. They also had tons of cool shells for us to check out.
This is on the West Coast of Florida. Its a beach on the Gulf Shores, rather than the Atlantic Ocean. We kept hear how beautiful the sugar sand beaches are, so we thought we'd check them out. They also had tons of cool shells for us to check out.
Theses pictures only represent 1/6 of how much time we've spent on the beach. What can I say, it calls me. ;) (Get the Moana reference, haha.)
Ft. Lauderdale Temple
Zoo Miami
Just Plain Swimming
Anyway, these are just a few of the things we do with our free time. Florida is such a different place than Bentonville. There are moments where I crave nothing more than to be back in our cute house back in Centerton. But, at other times, I can't imagine living anywhere else. If anything, moving has taught me that its really not WHERE we live that will determine happiness. It's really WHO you choose to have in your life that will make happiness. If Jake and Mckynlee are there, it's home. These two are my everything. And no matter where we end up, there will always be something to love. Life is what you make it, right? I'll always love Bentonville. But I'll probably always love Ft. Lauderdale, too.