Well it’s been over a month since we have moved to Gulf Shores! We are loving our new home, the location and experiencing so many new things together as a family. Here I am recapping our first few weeks and sharing some photos too!

July 8th was officially move in day. We had movers who packed up our boxes and furniture from Bloomington on Saturday, July 6th, and they drove down 12 hours to Gulf Shores on Sunday. We completed a few last tasks at home on Sunday, including things like finishing packing up the enclosed trailer that Josh would haul down and tidying up the house as it was still on the market. We drove Sunday late and through the night. Josh and I drove with Hunter and our 3 dogs. Josh’s parents drove Wyatt, Deacon, and their dog on Monday. Josh, Hunter, and I met the movers Monday morning after driving through the night.

Moving in was hot, lengthy and exciting all at the same time. There were 3 movers (plus Josh, Hunter and I) and between the 6 of us, it took 8 hours (plus) to move us all in to our new home. Furniture went where it needed to go, boxes were labeled and set in the appropriate rooms and then we filled the garage top to bottom with the remaining boxes and tools, etc. We were incredibly grateful to have the help of my in-laws and the movers. I really don’t think there is anything worse than physically moving and so the help was worth its weight in gold.

After a long, tiresome, back breaking, sweaty move in day, we all walked out through our backyard and on to the dock which sets on Little Lagoon, a small, shallow body of water (8 miles long and 1/2 mile wide) and opens up to the Gulf of Mexico. Here, we are so exhausted and felt the pressure of a long to-do list to get our family settled, but we still took the time to enjoy our family and appreciate our big accomplishment. We have finally moved to the beach!

Many ask us why we decided to move. We have many, many reasons. First, we know this is God’s plan for our family. This is bigger than us. We have known this and are following all of the signs that have pointed us here. Gulf Shores’ motto is “Small town, Big beach”. We have always loved and vacationed at the beach. We have been driving great lengths and have been bringing our family to the beaches of NJ, NC, FL, IN, and AL since they were born, often 2, some times 3 times a year. In fact, I think it is telling that Josh and I met at the beach! This small but growing community offers so many opportunities. We didn’t want a large, bustling beach town, that just isn’t us. I grew up in New Jersey (always going to the shore, seasonally) and Josh grew up in Tennessee (fishing every day of his young life) until high school. Indiana just felt less and less like home over the years. We made the best and love our family and friends- this was, by far, the hardest part about moving. Josh also had back surgery in April 2023 and closed and sold his business, moving completely out of the tree care industry. 15 years was a great run but it was time to move on, to save his back and health. I love my job at Solution Tree and get to continue to work remotely. We are following our dreams and passions. Josh will start a fishing charter here and we plan to invest in rental properties in this growing area. It isn’t easy to move a family but the big things in life rarely are. We are living at the beach and our boys are thriving. They have excellent schools here in Gulf Shores. We all have to make the decision of what is best for our family.❤️

Josh’s parents stayed with us for the first week. We barely had beds and bathrooms organized those first few nights. The house had been on the market for several months and no one was living here so we were turning on water to toilets and figuring out sheets and light switches and getting our food in the fridge (the little bit that we brought). Joyce tackled the kitchen on Day 1, unpacking and organizing it all completely and then all of the bathrooms in the house on Day 2. I’ve said it many times, she is a saint and so selfless and just willing to help and tackle big projects without us even asking. Josh, his Dad and the boys emptied boxes and organized items, putting them away where they needed to go.

Week 1

Also, Josh’s birthday was Tuesday the day after we moved in. We went out to Tin Top, one of our favorite restaurants here, to celebrate his 40th. On the way home, on a dark, quiet back road was a truck pulled over to the side and 2 men working on the truck. Josh can’t ever ignore things like this,  ever. He is giving and helpful, even to strangers on his 40th birthday, the day after we moved here. So he pulled over and helped this family with truck problems. He even gave them a ride back to their condo on the beach while Jeff and Joyce took our boys home. True Southern Hospitality. Josh has always been this way, anyone that knows him knows that he will prioritize helping others no matter what. Anyway, Josh made new friends that night and has stayed in contact with them. Josh and the boys have gone on deep sea fishing trips (40+ miles out) three times now with this family.

We continued the week of unpacking, getting organized, cleaning, and setting up our home. I then had a trip to Orlando with my best friends from New Jersey (friends from kindergarten and high school!) for our 40th birthday celebration. While the timing couldn’t have been worse for me, I couldn’t cancel this trip. We never take trips together and rarely get everyone together anymore, especially with me being the only one who has moved out of New Jersey. Eight of us were getting together and I couldn’t miss it. Josh encouraged me to go, and the house and our projects will still be here when I return. While I was gone, Josh got to take the boys fishing, to the beach and to see the Blue Angels in Pensacola while also making progress with new home tasks!

I left on a Thursday and returned home Sunday early afternoon. Josh and the boys picked me up from the Pensacola airport and we ate at Lillian’s pizza. Josh’s parents had left the day prior to make the big drive back to Indiana.

Week 2

When we first moved in, I saw a large sign outside of a church, St. Andrew By The Sea, across the road. It read, VBS July 15-18, 9 am-12 pm. My first thought was, it’s too early, we just moved here. I’m not going to push them. Then I thought, they need to make some friends and this will give them a chance to get out of the house (while I am working) and get acclimated and meet new kids and neighbors. So we took them 9 AM on July 15th, exactly a week after moving in. They made new friends, had a lot of fun, played games and made crafts. The boys went all 4 days and we made connections with the sweet women who selflessly gave their time to teach this large group of young children at VBS. (Josh also met a Dad who has now become Wyatt’s fall baseball coach.) Also, because of packing and getting prepared to move, we missed VBS at home. And it was even the same theme too, Camp Firelight! It was meant to be.

During this week, we also realized how much Wyatt loves catching crabs with a net from the dock. We watched the sunset in the evenings most nights, my new favorite past time. Hunter found a kayak left for us by the previous owners. We took walks in the neighborhood and swam in the evenings.

Week 3

We went to the beach as a family for our first weekend together. They boys fished and we saw a Pirate ship pass by. We then met up with good friends of ours who were all in town for a baseball tournament. We went out to eat, Party of 16 with 10 kids (9 are boys!) and 6 parents. 😁 Friends came to visit and see our new house and how we are getting settled here in Gulf Shores. They even caught crabs, fished and swam from our dock. Josh took the boys to watch their 14U baseball games that week, too, while I worked. We also spent some evenings at their condo nearby, with the boys all swimming and hanging out together until late.

This week we also got paddleboards, watched more sunsets and at the end of the week, Josh made a trip back to Bloomington to check on the house and a few other things.

The boys are thriving in their new environment. We spend time swimming, fishing, kayaking, paddleboarding, bike riding and checking out new things in the area. We love it here and it is everything we hoped, planned and prayed for pur family over the past year plus. Admittedly, we are still in the honeymoon phase and we know all of these new exciting things will feel pretty normal soon enough. The boys have so many opportunities and a top rated school system. We visited their Elementary school (K-5) this week and got them enrolled in Fall Baseball. I made connections and met other moms through classes at Neighborhood Barre who have very quickly plugged me into the community. I attended my first Pleasure Island Jr. Women’s Club meeting and was even asked if I’d be interested in becoming a Barre Instructor at my new studio! (The answer is yes!!)

I’ll start my next blog with weeks 4 and 5!