To Move, To Stay, To Be Happy

Birch finished his residency interviews last week so now we're trying to decide on how we'll rank the schools he interviewed at. It's pretty much coming down to if we're willing to leave family or not. There's a part of me that REALLY wants a change. How often are you given the chance to live somewhere new, knowing that you'll be back in a few years? If it were just me and Birch, I would leave in a second. But thinking about having another baby with my family 14+ hours away doesn't sound fun. And what about holidays, family get-togethers, etc.? We're not the type to go home every month just to visit but I would miss not being able to hit the big family events.

Our top four choices are Tucson, Portland (Maine), Oklahoma City and Omaha. I never would have guessed that I'd want to live in Oklahoma or Nebraska but from what we've seen, they seem like great, family-friendly places. I'm not the kind of person who looks for change--I'm happiest when I'm familiar and comfortable. But when Birch showed us pictures from the cities he visited and described what it could be like to live somewhere new, I got the "grass is greener" fever.

We'll turn in our list in a few weeks and hear where we match on March 17--Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Any thoughts on moving away from family? I'm sure the pros and cons are pretty obvious, but I'm curious how it's been for anyone who has left home for a while. Would you go back and change it? Are you glad it happened?

This weekend Birch met my dad and brothers in Phoenix to play golf (AKA the Frost Open). The moms and kids stayed at the house playing. Here's Haley with her cousin Kate.

And the boys: Trevor and Benson.

Trevor is way into jerseys right now--soccer, football, you name it!