Fourteen...

I'm sure I've seen it a time or 12, but we've moved a grand total of 14 times since we got married. And I thought it might be fun to go through them and get them down for posterity. So, here we go...

1. Into the town house Jamie was building after we got married. It was 3 stories and quite nice! We found out we were pregnant with Nicholas while living there. We moved because Jamie's office was in jeopardy and because I wanted to be close to my Mom after I had the baby.

2. From the town house into a little ranch rental behind the Hospital in Teays Valley WV. It was in HORRIBLE condition. The carpet was so greasy and gross. We actually spent our own money to have new carpet put in before we moved. It turned out really cute though. I painted the baby's room and once our stuff was in there it was cute. We were really happy there. We brought Nicholas home from the hospital to that house. I have a lot of happy memories there. When I was VERY pregnant and it was VERY hot the AC went out and I remember thinking I was going to DIE from the heat. My Mom bought us a window unit and then they got the AC fixed. The neighborhood was kind of sketchy so we ended up moving.

3. Another rental. It was a darling little house that sat ON the railroad tracks in Hurricane. There were tracks, small road, yard and front door. Nicholas used to pull himself up at the front door storm door every time he heard the train whistle! I believe this started his (so far) life-long LOVE of trains. He took his first steps in this house.

4. We ended up moving closer to Charleston because the house on the tracks was next door to the owner and it just got so annoying having them popping around the house all the time. We moved into a house built in the early 1920s. It was a little on the small side. I didn't spend a lot of time in it because I started working with my Mom to make some extra money. It had a ton of charm and character. We had to move because Jamie got laid off. It was awful.

5. My parents basement. Ugh. Jamie got laid off and so we stayed there while he was finishing out with his job and looking for a new one. Luckily he found one before he spent any time unemployed. We made the basement homey. Divided it up with shelves and made it work. It wasn't that bad. Nicholas got to be really spoiled and we got to figure out what we could do. A huge portion of our stuff was storage.

6. Jamie got a job in Mississippi. We moved down there to a town outside of Jackson. We got an apartment on the third floor. At the time I thought living there was awful but looking back, we had some really great times there. There were a lot of really nice things about Mississippi. The lake, the food, the parks and all the "southern." It was a fun adventure. We explored places like New Orleans and Eastern Texas while we were living there.

7. Jamie got a job back home in WV. Whew! We ended up back in Mom's basement. Not quite as nice or organized this time. But, we were going to be buying a house finally! So we didn't mind being there so much knowing that at the end we'd have OUR home. And we did.

8. Our home near Ripley. Oh it was wonderful. Rustic plank flooring. Tray ceilings. It was a 1800 square foot rancher on 1/4 acre. We fenced the yard. Painted. We spent 3 1/2 years there. My favorite Christmas ever was spent there. We lived, loved, cried, laughed and grew in that house. I was so happy there. Some of the happiest times of my life were there. And some of the hardest as well. I've missed this home the most of all in the last years. The sense of community. The friends we had there. Nothing is perfect of course but I loved it. Perhaps I love it more looking back but that is the benefit of time. Jamie's company was going to close so we ended up moving. Deciding that we just couldn't make it in WV. The work too uncertain. We just couldn't do it any more. Too many ups and downs and job crisis. We needed a more stable place to live.

9. In came Indiana. We moved to an apartment on the North side to Indianapolis. It was fairly awful. Not much I can say about that!

10. A little house on the south side of Indy! It was another of my favorites. An acre of fenced yard. 30 some trees. Big stone fireplace. But it was a small house. And we were living a small life. And we decided we wanted a big adventure. The owner raised the rent and that just solidified our decision to leave.

11. The first house in Utah. It was HUGE. The first big place we lived. All the houses out there were gigantic. They tend to have big families so lots of house. We got pregnant with Sarah while there. We met some nice people in the neighborhood. Then the owners let the house go into foreclosure and we had to move while I was 6 months pregnant.

12. The second house in Utah. Another decent sized one. Small fenced yard. We brought Sarah home from the hospital in this house after they had to take her prematurely and she spent 3 weeks in NICU. I recovered in this house after a couple of surgeries and my pregnancy. I almost didn't come home to that house at one point. I liked this house a lot. I thought the layout was really nice. It probably would have been a nightmare once Sarah started walking. There were so many stairs! We ultimately decided that we wanted to go home. Not to West Virginia of course. That ship has sailed.

13. Back to Indiana. Great house. Another big one. Lots of yard. Well water and a septic tank that ultimately I couldn't get over. I thought we'd make a life there though. I could see us living out the next 20 years there. However, the well water and the drought and the constant stress of it just drove us to decide to move. We thought we might be able to live with it but the owners just wanted too much price-wise for us to buy and we are SO tired of renting. I left a little sad. I had plans for that place. Sarah took her first steps there. We loved the yard and all that went with it.

14. And here we are. Back in a neighborhood. In our new home. Happily settling into our little place. It's cozy and homey. The neighbors seem nice. The yard isn't very big but so pretty and well landscaped. We'll put up a fence. And hopefully we'll make a few changes and make this feel like US. I'm ready to get the feeling of being settled back. Ready to make a life for us and the kids here. This home is full of possibilities and is holding a lot of dreams right now. This home holds our future.

Where we go from here is yet to be determined. I know that we are all ready to settle and enjoy our home. We are finally able to look to the future. To start with a home base and be able to go on with our life without so much uncertainty.

So, there you have it! 14 moves....and counting?