Regan expressed a desire with American Family Insurance to go from being a manager to a State Director which is the next progression in the company. He was asked to apply specifically for the State Director of Ohio, so instead of just being a normal person, he decided to apply for all 4 of the State Director positions. He spent more than 100 hours preparing for all of the states and came up with these amazing books specifically for every single state he was applying for: Nevada, Nebraska, Illinois and Ohio! He went into the interview in Madison, Wisconsin ready to prove that he had what it takes to be the state director. Keep in mind that he has only been with American Family Insurance for almost 7 years, so he was going up against people that have been with the company for more than 20 years. He blew the interviewers away just like I knew he would and then we played the waiting game...not a fun game when the fate of your life is at stake!
We found out on May 29th while Regan was in Missouri that he got the job as the new State Director of OHIO! What is crazy about Ohio is that Regan served his mission in Cleveland, Ohio, it is 9 hours away from my sister Ashley in Connecticut, and it was the furthest state away from Utah that Regan was applying for. We will be living in Columbus, Ohio. We went to look at houses last week and I was pleasantly surprised with Ohio. It wasn't as humid as I thought it would be, it was beautiful-green everywhere and I felt so safe in the area we will be living in.
Our kids are surprisingly excited to move. We have told them that it will be a new adventure for our family and that they will make friends everywhere we go and keep the old ones as well. We had a hard decision of what to do with our dog Sweetie. I actually listed her on ksl to have her go to another family because she has been very hard to train and the thought of driving with her 1700 miles to Ohio was a scary thought! In the end, Riley found out about this plan and freaked out saying, "first you take away my house, then my friends and now my dog!" so that was a very easy decision to keep the dog and just suck up the awful drive!
When we showed the kids pictures of our new house we bought in Columbus, they were SO EXCITED! The house comes with an amazing play set that looks like it is from a park and in the backyard is forest. The house itself is so kid friendly and it will be perfect for our family-after I paint every single room in the house!
Even though I always thought I would live in Utah for my whole life, I feel very positive and optimistic about this move across the country. I am so proud of Regan and his accomplishments in his career. He works so hard for our family and has done an amazing job supporting us. In return, I feel like it is my job to return the support and be the best supporting wife I can be. Am I scared about being away from the comforts of being close to family? Yes, but I am also excited to have an adventure with our own little family and create new memories. I am excited about living outside of Utah to see how the church is in other places. I have heard that your ward becomes your family and I am excited about that because every place we have lived in Utah has been a little frustrating in the fact that a lot of people live right by their family and only do things socially with their family. It's hard to fit into your friends lives when they are always with their family. Another thing that excites me is to have missionary opportunities...we have the missionaries over to our house for dinner quite a bit in Utah, and try to be good examples to our non member neighbors, but I have a feeling we will have some awesome missionary experiences in Ohio!
Regan's step brother and sister in law live in Cleveland Ohio and I am excited to get to know them better. Ashley lives in Connecticut, so that will be nice to have her closer. We are planning on coming to Utah for 2 months in the summer time when the kids are not in school and spend time with our families so really, I think we will have some great quality family time.
Here are pictures of our gorgeous South Weber House---I will miss this house and yard SOO much!
Here are a few pictures from our new house in Lewis Center, Ohio...I have big plans for each room!
You know what's funny? Your new house looks a lot like my parent's house. ... I am so excited for you guys in your new adventure. We will come visit for sure! Wish I could come help paint. :)
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