We are now Coloradans! Although I’ve mentioned moving to Colorado in many posts over the past year, this post makes it official.
In January 2023, on my 20-year California anniversary, we started the journey to move to a new state. At the time, I was in Ohio with the kids visiting my family. Dan, undistracted by a wife and four kids, was casually looking online for new build communities in Colorado that offered 5+ bedroom houses in our price range. We’d been toying with the idea of moving out of California for years and even once put an offer on a house in Bend, OR. We loved Orange County, but with a big family, were were getting priced out. Dan reached out to the sales associate for the Blacktail community at The Meadows in Castle Rock, CO, and bam, now we live here!
Of course, a lot more went into getting us from Baker Ranch in Orange County to The Meadows in Castle Rock. Everything started pretty quickly and by February 2023, we had a lot and house plan (Dayton) picked out, Dan had flown out to Colorado to see it in person, and we were ready to sign on the dotted line. Then, the morning that we were supposed to sign with the builder, we received an email stating that we could not, in fact, build the house plan that we wanted on the lot that we wanted. So, the process stopped.
There were other lots available, but we decided to wait. The builder said that it would take 10-12 months to build the home and we didn’t want to close on it and have to move the kids during the school year. Then, the market slowed down and the builder put a halt on selling dirt lots.
In July 2023, the sales associate for the builder reached back out to us and said that we could buy a dirt lot (one of the bigger ones in the community) and build the house that we wanted on it. The timing seemed to be working out and we signed!
In October 2023, Dan and I both flew out to Colorado and picked all the finishes for our new home. That was so fun and exciting! This was my very first time ever visiting Castle Rock. We also got to see the progress of our build. At the time, we only had a basement.
In late December 2023, the framing was completed and Dan flew to Colorado to walk the house.
Over the first few months in 2024, the house quickly took shape. We monitored it with pictures sent to us by the builder.
In March 2024, I flew to Colorado for the new home orientation. My sister, Anna, joined me. Then, just two weeks later, Dan and I flew to Colorado and signed all the paperwork to make the house ours (well, and the banks’!).
After we closed, I stayed by myself in the house for a week getting basic things set up. Then Dan and the kids joined me for another week. This was the kids’ first visit to Castle Rock and the new house. We spent our Spring Break here.
We all flew back to California at the beginning of April 2024 to wrap up our SoCal lives and so that the kids could finish the school year at their school. In mid-May, my Mom came to California and helped us pack for our move…then it was a whirlwind of purging, planning, packing, moving, scheduling, and crying. We did all the last things – last meals at our favorite restaurants, last playdates with BFFs, last neighborhood park party with all our friends. We said tearful goodbyes to all our friends and all the people who been a part of our life in California. Then, we said goodbye to our California house, which we put up for sale days after we moved.
My Mom drove our packed SUV to Colorado, stopping at tourist destinations along the way. Dan drove a packed truck to Colorado in one overnight trip. And, on June 1, 2024, two days after finishing their school year, the kids and I flew one last time out of Orange County and to Denver with ten checked bags and nine carryons.
We spent the week after arriving in Colorado unpacking and organizing. We were extremely lucky to have my sister and her kids, my brother and his family, my Mom, Dan’s sister and her family, and visiting friends to help us. It took a village! After six days, though, were were completely unpacked and settled.
Now we establish new routines, make new friends, style the house, and explore our new state. Looking back, this past 1.5 years, and especially these past two months, have been utterly overwhelming and exhausting in all ways. But, we did it. It’s good to have change and we are ready to embrace all that Colorado has to offer, most notably cheaper prices, mountains, skiing, hiking, real seasons, and new adventures. I do miss California and our life there a lot, but I’m hoping to feel less sad about it as I build a new life in Colorado. For now, we are taking Colorado transplant lessons:
The Chambers Family - A.D. 