Can y’all believe it’s already been two years since Michael and I moved from Dallas to Colorado?! If you missed my original post about the move, check it out here – this shares why we moved and answers tons of questions! Today I kind of wanted to recap our last two amazing years here in Boulder, and share what our plan(ish) is for the next couple years, because I’ve been getting lots of questions about that! [Side note, the photos in todays post were taken in Beaver Creek at the Ritz-Carlton! One of my all time favorite hotels! Michael and I visited this hotel in September of 2016 which is when I first had a desire to move to Colorado and started praying about it].
So two years ago we moved to Boulder, Colorado. We found a rental house we loved and lived there for about a year, and then bought a house in Boulder last April! It’s crazy to me that we’ve already lived here for two years, but at the same time I feel like SO MUCH has happened over these last two years! We found a church we love, made friends there, Michael has almost completed his MBA, we’ve taken tons of amazing trips both in and out of Colorado, worked a ton and continued to grow my business as a blogger, got pregnant, had a baby!, hosted tons of friends and family up here, gotten in fights, gone on wonderful date nights, grown so much closer and stronger in our marriage, grown closer to the Lord…I could go on forever about how much life has happened over these last two years.
If I had to pick favorite memories from the last two years, the obvious ones would be finding out I was pregnant, having a baby, and buying a house! All MAJOR life events that I will be eternally grateful for and never ever forget! Michael and I asked each other at dinner the other night though that if we had to pick favorite memories from living here over the last two years – other than house and baby – what would it be? For me…I remember maybe a week or two after moving to Colorado, Michael and I went on a hike close to our house with Beau. It was a simple 2ish mile hike we randomly decided to do on a Tuesday afternoon. While we were on that hike, I had this moment where I just had to stop and realize…we live here now. On a random Tuesday afternoon we have the ability to go on a beautiful hike, in the mountains, and enjoy these amazing views in some of the most beautiful scenery I could ever dream of! This is our home now! Instead of afternoon activities just being happy hour or shopping in Dallas [still love those things lol], we get to be in the mountains! Everyday! It was the most amazing feeling / realization that just flooded my heart with gratitude and excitement! Honestly, that feeling has not gone away! Every time I drive to the grocery store and see the mountains, I’m still blown away that we actually live somewhere so beautiful.
Other favorite things about living in Boulder…we just love the city of Boulder honestly! Downtown Boulder is absolutely adorable with tons of great local shops, SO many incredible restaurants we’ve fallen in love with [we still need to try more!], and just a low key, chill vibe. Boulder is REALLY different from Dallas in that people don’t really dress up here haha. No one wears a lot of makeup, and you can pretty much wear lululemon into any restaurant you go to lol…SOMETIMES you might need jeans! But that’s about as nice as things get around here! Totally different than Dallas but I’ve kind of grown to love that part about Colorado! We also love that Boulder is a small town. You can get anywhere you need to go in about 10 minutes or less. Obviously we love how beautiful it is, and how active this city is. I always feel inspired to be more active or get outdoors here.
There are also a lot of personal reasons about why we’re so glad we moved here two years ago. I feel like our marriage has grown SO much since we moved away from ALL of our friends and family in Dallas. We’ve really learned how to be each other’s best friends and have loved all of the time we’ve gotten together. We’ve had to learn how to argue well and make decisions together as a team – just me and Michael. Our marriage was great before we moved to Colorado but I do think we’ve grown so much closer and stronger as a couple because of the move.
Moving definitely did not come without its challenges though! First of all, practically speaking, moving to a different state is just a giant pain in the butt ha. So the actual move part itself was definitely stressful. Another challenge about living in Boulder is cost of living. Boulder is SUPER expensive, so coming from Dallas, that has been an adjustment. Politically speaking, Boulder is also very different than Dallas and how we were raised. So at times that’s been a challenge as well! But, something we’ve both learned and grown a lot from!
The biggest challenge though about moving to Colorado is pretty obvious…we definitely miss our people back in Dallas! Michael and I were both born and raised there so both of our families are still there and we miss them a ton. Especially now that we’ve had Shiloh, I really wish my family got to be around her more. We have amazing friends and family back home so being apart from them isn’t easy. We’ve tried convincing them to just move here haha but no luck so far!
People always ask us if we’ll stay in Colorado or move back to Dallas once Michael is done with school [he finishes this May!]. I am a MAJOR planner and have major ‘fear of the unknown’. I like to have a plan and know exactly what’s coming next. At the same time, I am a big believer in the fact that God gives us enough light we need to see for this day and this next step. Right now, we absolutely love Boulder and living here is amazing. We bought a house here almost a year ago that we love and are extremely happy here. So, we currently don’t have any plan to move back to Dallas. That doesn’t mean we’ll never move back…just means that for now, we are content here and think this is where God has our family for right now! We’ve said we’ll re-evaluate in 5ish years [around the time Shiloh will be going to school] and see where we’re at. But who knows! TBH I go back and forth between “I LOVE IT HERE!” and “I miss my family” pretty often. But, I trust the Lord will show us what the next step is whenever we need to take it!
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Outfit Details: Textured Sweater | Dark Wash Skinny Jeans | Leather Booties | Round Sunnies | Gucci Bag | Hoop earrings
It’s so cool to me that some of you guys have been following me since the beginning – that you stuck with me during our transition from Dallas to Colorado. And at the same time I love that some of you just started following me since we moved to Colorado! I am so thankful to get to share my life with you guys and appreciate y’all following us along on our journey as a family more than you know! Thanks for reading!
xo Lauren
