Hello friends! I finally have a long-awaited home and life update to share after my post about a dream coming true for our family. This is part one of our story, so grab a cup of coffee or tea and get comfortable.
In short: we are moving. We have put our house on the market and are in the process of buying a new home. It’s been a whirlwind of emotion and joy, and I’ll share the background below and continue to update you as things unfold.
I’ve been sharing our family, life, and home stories on the blog since 2007—longer than many home influencers—and this past month marked fourteen years. Balancing a private life while sharing personal moments with an audience has sometimes felt vulnerable, but I’ve cherished the connection with readers who have followed along for years.
The last year brought ups and downs, not only because of the world around us but because our family was entering a new season. Our empty-nester chapter arrived for real this year. After praying for clarity about what that life would look like, many pieces of the puzzle started falling into place over the past year, and especially in the last two months. Some final pieces even came together just this week. It has felt like a string of answered prayers and dreams unfolding.
Family has always been central to our lives. Over the past year, our kids and their pets moved back in with us at various times, and those unexpected months together were some of our favorite moments. We would have happily kept them forever if that had been what they needed.
This year our children made decisions that shaped our next steps. Courtney moved into an apartment in Bellingham, about 1.5 hours north of Seattle. Kylee and her husband bought a house in Portland, three hours south. Our son Luke moved into a house with friends while he finishes college. They each chose slightly different directions, which wasn’t the neatest map for us as parents, but they are launching their own lives and we are proud. The good news is we are still all in the Pacific Northwest and close enough to drive to each other.
Watching them get settled gave us the freedom to imagine our own next chapter. For several years we’d wondered how long we would stay in our current home—we moved here six years ago for our son’s high school—and although I often told myself we would stay, my heart began to sense change was coming.
One weekend, our kids joined my parents and niece and nephew for a walk along a beautiful boardwalk in Bellingham, near Courtney’s place. My parents talked about how lovely it would be to move closer to the water and enjoy new adventures. Hearing their excitement stirred something in me.
After that day I spoke with my dad and listened to his dreams. My husband and I talked about the life we wanted in our empty-nester years. Suddenly those hopes and visions aligned in a way that made sense for our family. For the first time in a long while we felt free to dream anew.
You don’t always see which moments will reshape your life until you look back. Being near the water in Washington brought memories of my childhood—our family sailboat adventures in the San Juan Islands and summers at my parents’ beach house near Cannon Beach. When my dad mentioned wanting to recreate that coastal family experience closer to the San Juans, it clicked for us.
We realized we could design a life that felt like a daily vacation—waking up to water views, outdoor adventures, and family nearby. As tempting as it is to rush, I found peace by letting the process unfold naturally and trusting the path. Conversations and circumstances after that boardwalk walk made moving closer to the San Juans feel right for many reasons.
This move isn’t about finding a fairy-tale house; it’s about embracing a new rhythm of life by the sea. Still, I’m a homebody and the idea of selling our house without a clear next address felt unnerving. With the real estate market so active, we prayed for wisdom and timing so we wouldn’t rush into the wrong decision.
There’s an area north of where we live that has tugged at me for years. We finally decided to explore it, and on a short road trip my husband and I discovered not only an ideal location for the lifestyle we wanted, but a home that felt like it had been waiting for us. The timing felt right, and the sense of possibility was strong.
I’ll share part two of this story with more details about the new house and what comes next. For now, we’re grateful for how these pieces have come together and excited about a season of living nearer the water with family and new adventures ahead.
Click HERE for PART TWO of our new home story!
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