Back to the Midwest.

When we moved to Phoenix, we thought we'd be living there for at least 5 years, which is why we bought our house and I doubled down on my career post maternity leave. Neither of us had any idea that an opportunity would present itself so soon for James at Enterprise's headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, but here we are!

I'm forever grateful for our out west experiences – both Alberta and Arizona. Leaving Michigan was the best thing that could have happened to us. Not that I don't love Michigan (I do, and it's forever home for me), but you don't know what you don't know, and our moves have given us new perspectives, new friendships, and even expanded our knowledge of how to responsibly recreate in different outdoor terrain. The silver lining to being back in the Midwest is that we are within driving distance to our family in Michigan, so we can get back much easier than we could in Calgary or Phoenix. I also had no idea how much I missed the rain! Everything is so green and beautiful! The humidity is taking some getting used to though…we’ve been living that dry climate life.

So…how did we get here? Let's take this back a few months to February 2025 when James called me to tell me that a position within his field opened up at Enterprise headquarters in St. Louis. Queue the tears – and not happy tears. I wasn't ready to leave my job. I wasn't ready to uproot our life again. I just wasn't ready for change. After processing it the news and having a lot of conversations with James about it, we came to the decision together that we were ready to commit to this move if he got the job. Of course he got the job, and I'm so proud of his commitment to work and growing his career. As soon as he accepted, the whirlwind process of our third move (within 5.5 years) began.

I had let my employer know we'd be moving out of Arizona, and unfortunately, they were unable to let me keep my job remotely, which was extremely disappointing but also understandable. I kept working up until the very last minute, giving over two months notice for them to find my replacement. In March, we were swamped with doing a bunch of updates/work on the house, I had to travel to Orlando for work, and we snuck in a trip to southern Utah for my birthday and one final out west vacation. James left for St. Louis on March 31st, which was also the day we listed the house. I had to logistically move around Mia and the dogs, keep the house spotless, and keep working while we had showings and an open house. We were extremely fortunate to receive an offer one week after listing. Then, in April, James came back to Phoenix for a quick two day trip, we had an AMAZING time in Disney World, I began wrapping up things at work, and James found us a house in St. Louis.

Some of my favorite humans at Spear Summit 2025!

Just a couple of the MANY pictures from Disney World!

As May arrived, it all started to sink in. I had been living life relatively normal (other than James being across the country from me), but now it was move month. It was also Mia's birthday month, so James flew back to Phoenix ahead of her party and my in laws came to celebrate and help us with the move. I was so thankful we could give Mia her Rubble and Crew trampoline birthday — one final hurrah with her friends. And I got my final hurrah in Sedona.

The movers had our stuff packed up within two days. Mia and I flew to St. Louis on May 21st, James and his dad the road May 22nd with the dogs in tow, and we closed on our Phoenix house May 23rd. What a week!

We're officially settled into our new place and have already had visitors! My sister and her family have visited twice and we've done quite a bit of exploring – both hiking and camping. Unfortunately we had to sell our pop up camper (The Desert Nomad) in the move so we’ve transitioned to a 10-person tent and cots LOL.

As far as my employment goes, I'm taking the summer off with Mia, soaking in as much time with her as I can! James is really enjoying his new job and we're making the most of everything here in our new home. I can’t wait to share more of our journey with you!

xo, Stef