I’ve had a few people ask in the comment section of my posts why my family has moved SO many times. My husband and I have actually moved 11 times in the 11 years we’ve been married. That’s 4 states, 9 different cities, and 6 different school programs.

No, we aren’t a military family and no we don’t own an RV and just move around for fun. Although living the RV life for awhile does sound kinda exciting. I mean, my kids did great and excelled when I home schooled them the last 2 years… But anyways, I’ll list the reasons we have moved:

• Getting married
• Internships
• School
• Careers
• Helping family

Also, let’s name those states real quick: Michigan, Utah, Indiana, & Florida.

Our first move was when we moved in together after we got married. We were both in college and found a dirt cheap 1 bedroom apartment across from a cemetery. Super romantic right!?

The second move was just a stop over. Our apartment contract was up but our Disney World internship hadn’t started yet, so we crashed at the in-laws place in another state before driving down south to Florida.

Our third move was in fact for the Big Mouse. We were 1 of 3 married couples who were doing the Disney World college internship program. No, we didn’t meet the other couples, but it was funny when a guy tried to pull the, “So where did your boyfriend go?” And I got to respond with, “Oh you mean my Husband? He’s back at our apartment sleeping.” Watching the kid back peddle with shock was priceless. Tip: Don’t be a tool. Some of us actually do want to get married young and love every minute of it. Don’t judge.

The fourth move was a little sooner than expected. I ended up leaving my internship sooner then planned because I wasn’t expecting morning sickness to hit me so hard that I lost 20lbs in my first trimester. Our first son was wanted and planned, but puking multiple times a day until he was born was far from our newly wedded expectations. So I flew back to my home state and stayed with my grandparents for a few weeks until my husband drove our car across the country and we found a cold basement apartment near our college. My grandma was great, she told all the relatives as quickly as she could that I was expecting so they wouldn’t think my husband and I were splitting up. Ain’t that great. I am lucky though that they let me use a spare room until my husband finished his internship to get his credits.

Our fifth move was to help out my brother and his wife. They had a baby girl just a few months before my son was born. Their daughter was born with Down Syndrome and had some health issues. Both parents worked outside the home, so we moved close by to watch their daughter, and so she wouldn’t have to be in a daycare with her weakened immune system. While in this 4-plex we welcomed our 2nd son and yes, I was terribly sick with that pregnancy too. We had wonderful neighbors who watched our son while I was in the hospital.

The sixth move was back across the country to the in-laws home for a masters degree offered in their state. We figured if we had to move out of state for my husband’s education we might as well move near family still. The in-laws we gracious and let us take over their upstairs until we could save up enough money to get our own apartment again.

Our seventh move was under an hour away to a lovely neighborhood where we were threatened up close with baseball bats, at a distance with guns, had ice cover our windows on the inside, and for a short time we had to dress our babies in snow pants and coats and put them in our bed to keep warm because the heat broke. But I only had to keep my babies down below the windows for a gun shoot out with police once. All things considered, the neighbor who blatantly stole our Wi-Fi did look out for us and told me when to take my babies inside so we didn’t get attacked by people out causing trouble.

Needless to say we were ready to move 3 hours north for our eighth move. This time we moved for an internship that turned into a full time management position that eventually went sideways. But the town was a gorgeous vacation town and the lake was very therapeutic for Mr. L so there won’t be any complaining from me. Also, this 3 bedroom apartment felt like a sprawling mansion after the last 2 bedroom closet we had stacked ourselves in before. And this is where the blizzard brought us our baby girl.

Are you keeping up? This is our ninth move now. We moved from an expensive 3 bedroom apartment to a cheaper 3 bedroom townhome 5 min from the lake- Good move. This is where the Covid shut-down started for us. We got a puppy during this move. My husband had been let go from another job (Because the company had been sold), a month before the shut down and we spent a lot of time enjoying our little family until he got a real career switch back down state. Seriously, if you want to hear a crazy story, ask my husband about his terrible luck in finding his career that he now loves. No really, so many times the craziest things happened to him.

Don’t worry, we are getting close to the end of this story. I mean, 11 moves- Life had to have happened to make all these moves necessary, because who wants to move with 3 kids, special needs, and eventually a puppy? Not me… But thanks 😜

Anyways, so move number ten was out to the middle of no where in a run down farm house that we rented and it wasn’t great. My kids called it “The bug house” just to give you an idea. The good news was that my husband had finally found a career he liked, a boss that appreciated him and helped move his career forward- she’s a real sweetheart too.

But back to move number ten. The land was cool, it had deer, turkey, rabbits, and really all wildlife would casually walk across our yard. We could go tromping around for hours on that property and still find new stuff. But the house needed love. The washing machine, furnace, freezer, and stove top all broke within the first 2 months. There was mice, stink bugs, and Japanese beetles literally everywhere. We also fought off wasps and snakes. Often times I would check the boy’s bedroom before bedtime for bugs so they wouldn’t fly at their faces- it happened, seriously. How they don’t have phobias of stink bugs I’ll never know.

I basically homeschooled on a deserted island during a lot of the pandemic, in the middle of no where with no neighbors. But the town was so little that the check out clerk at the Walmart recognized us every time. I drove my kids almost an hour one way to the local YMCA for classes in hopes of making friends- it didn’t happen, but they still had fun for the most part.

And for now, our eleventh move… We finally bought our first home. It has a fenced in backyard for the dog, a swing for the kids, no bugs, no wi-fi stealing neighbor. No cigarette smoke coming in through our open windows trying to catch a breeze. No stomping neighbors, no gun shootings, no constant mice or stink bugs. If the kids bang on the walls I don’t have to come running to shhh them, and when I clean- I’m cleaning my home, not for some landlord who may or may not give me my deposit back based on their morals.

It’s been a wild ride up until this point. I know millions of details have been left out. But that’s life right? Big moments filled with millions of details. But I can tell you that all of those moves were meant to be. The moving has been trying but the company has been amazing and priceless. There isn’t anyone else I would rather save cardboard boxes behind the couch with knowing I’m going to be boxing up picture books and college texts books with soon again. Thankfully after officially buying this time, we felt comfortable tossing all the boxes and donating most of the textbooks 😉

So now you know why we have moved numerous times, or at least the logical reasons ☺️