to stay or not to stay.

So as many of you know Jeff and I change our plans just about as often as possible.

Proof: we have a house in AZ and are living with his parents in UT.

Since moving here we have both really liked it and have seriously been talking about staying here permanently, if possible. But at the same time the idea of just going back to our house in AZ is really enticing. It would definitely make things a lot simpler. Leaving his family would be really hard for Jeff. I am a little different than him with that, I tend to do okay as long as I can talk on the phone with family as often as I feel the need. Especially if I know that it will be possible to fly to visit whenever we feel the need. It will be sad for him to leave. I am more nervous about having a tiny, literally newborn, baby to take care of without family around to bale me out if necessary! I just realized this morning that if we do decide to move back and he is able to get a job down there, the schools start the first or second week of august in AZ so we will be moving with a 2 week old. (And that's assuming he is born sometime close to his due date!) Or maybe he will be a pal and decide he wants out 2 weeks early instead!

When we first moved to AZ, I was working 50 or more hours per week, plus commuting. (Hard to believe now, considering my general state of sitting-around-doing-nothing-ness.) Jeff was working his 40 hours at a job he absolutely hated while stressing out about grad school costing all sorts of money that wouldn't be made back in the career path it would put him on. And even with all of that we still liked AZ. But because I only had 10 vacation days all year (holidays aren't an option) and we were gonna be po' the possibility of visiting our families regularly was basically zero and big events (aka family reunions) were out of the question. So AZ felt a lot farther away than it really was.

With Jeff teaching and me being a stay-at-home-mom (still can hardly believe it), we will have a ton more freedom to go places and visit family and friends than the last time around. Plus we already have a house that we love. I still can't believe that we basically just got up and left that house exactly as it was when we were living in it. Seriously, all we moved out was our bed and bedroom set. Oh, and I cleaned our stuff out of the master bath too. What the?! Who does that?! So actually, when I say move all we will really be moving is our clothes, bed, a couple bikes, and whatever gadgets we acquire for the new baby (and the baby, of course).

Housing prices in Southern Utah are basically ridiculous. Of course that is how it works: We buy a house in AZ and the market immediately drops through the floor and then we start looking in UT and it manages to be the one county in the entire nation not to know there is housing collapse supposed to be taking place! Nothing like stating the obvious: we will have to spend a whole lot more money to get a whole lot less house here while stressing out about keeping the house in AZ rented.

So, to be honest, I vote that we move back to AZ. Maybe not forever, but at least until the housing market picks up again. And no one knows how long that could take. I am standing neutral when I talk to Jeff though because emotionally it will be a lot more difficult for him to leave and so he gets to reach a decision one way or the other for himself. And who knows, maybe we won't even be able to find him a job in AZ and this small novel was all for naught.