Idaho here we come?

Funny how things go...
Really.
Kev and I have been wanting to buy a home and we were dead set to stay here in Rocklin. We LOVE it. Love the ward, community, etc. We kept saying that we would grow old here. I'm even running for City Council!
But alas, (between the little snipets of raising our family in a smaller town somewhere over the years), things started heating up lately as we see how much Kev loves APX (he's found his calling!) and wants to continue for awhile. So we have been thinking how he is the main breadwinner (despite Leonidas, etc.) and that if he needs to work on recruiting in the off season, he needs to be where the type of people he is looking for is strong. We started thinking AZ, but that only lasted a few days. We couldn't wrap our heads around it. Why do people love AZ? Why do people move there? Not our cup of tea. :)

Anyway, so like a couple weeks go by and we started up again. This time, with drama of Leonidas in the forefront, it was even stronger. The drama with Leonidas is that besides us throwing our money into it in the off season, (which we knew we would do), Corp Leonidas wants us to open in the Galleria... and be a coffee shop (the NEW LCC). And we don't want to be a chocolate cafe (a $350k buildout). And the whole time we've been open, they've been saying how really, they wanted us or SOMEONE in the Galleria. And we never went there first because, hey, cheap rent to get started then move on, but also, Corp really wants the coffee thing, so we felt like we were pigeonholed doing what we were doing in our current spot. We would never be able to open another "just chocolate" shop again. No room for growth/expansion for us. That's no fun because that was where we were planning on going with it. And we didnt' realize how much Corp would be involved, because it only just started in this last year. Before it was, sell our chocolate any way you want, be what you want. Now they are streamlining and braning themselves hard! Anyway, we were worrying that someone would come into our territory, and we'd be out of biz, etc. We had stopped worrying about it because we were like, no one wants Sacramento but us. Well, that is true, but since we had expressed interest about having a kiosk in the mall at the holidays, Corp went crazy! And as of yesterday emailed me plans to the mall... and I'm like, wait, wait!! So, since Corp wants us in the mall, and not in our current location, we can't sign a new lease with where we are at. Especially because if we don't open in the mall, Corp will find someone that will and won't care that we get squeezed out. Why do we want to commit business suicide? Why ride a sinking ship? So...

With the drama of possibly shutting our doors. Well, okay, we will be, just after the holidays, but I do hope that someone wants to open in the mall because it is Fab chocolate and now we got people all excited. I don't want to let the fans down. :)

So that opens the door for us to be able to leave. (without a mess.) How wonderful is that? Kev and I started thinking that if he makes great money for APX, maybe we SHOULD start considering what people always talk about, the whole "cost of living thing". So we started comparing different cities and costs, and discovered Rexburg, and how we could get a huge home and get everything we want and more and it is the price of a cheap, nothing home here. The comparison was like, 43% lower cost for a home and 27% cost of living lower. That's a ton. Besides that, the cost of running the home is low as well (Utilities are like $120 in the summer a month for all and then up to $300 in winter, again for ALL the bills. Not here, and I'm a RENTER!) Also, we found a home we are in LOVE with. And then it started to come together. Kev and I were like, this sits well with us, where AZ didn't. We keep talking as if we already own this home and live in Id. Kev has tried to look at other homes online and send me links, and I'm like forget it! I'm sold, this is the one! And he agrees. We both just keep staring at the pics online...

Last night, Kev's regional, Cameron and wife, Brooke, went to the home, knocked on the door and got a tour of it. The owner is the builder, he's a contractor! They put it on the market on Tuesday and Cameron said it was a great home. They said there are four girls who live next door for our girls to play with! The wives hang out and drive to the lake! I'm so excited and I'm not even there yet. But it FEELS right. Well, the sick thing is so did the modest clothing shop... but we won't go there. (I'll get back to that in a min).

So yeah, we love Rocklin, swore we would be here forever, or around this area (loomis or somethin) and here we are, moving to the SNOW. (notice how I just said "moving", like it's a done deal!). Oh, and on the whole snow thing, we didn't want snow when we were thinking of where to go and kept talking about how perfect CA is, but then since I've lived in Rexburg before for a couple of winters, it wasn't a big deal. I don't look back and think, Rexburg was nice, but man I hated the snow. Now I could change my mind. But at the same time, we both agree that there are more benefits to living there than the snow can dampen.

Okay the mod clothing shop, I still am going to do it. I will come back and get that started and then when I come back to visit my family, the trips will be tax write offs for the biz! But yeah, since my intention wasn't to be hands-on with the shop anyway, just the dream of bringing modest clothing to our area, I still want to do that, and still like the idea of it being mine. But all the day-to-day stuff, I know Morg can handle and I can't wait to turn it over to her. So yeah, once we get settled in Id, we will come back in the spring and get things going for the Simply Modest Clothing. If I can even use that name...

And as for the home, we are already working with a local realtor (Cameron and Brooke's) and then we have our friend Gary here, who is working on the financing. It's all rolling... Maybe my next update will say we got it?!