Truth Tuesday: I'm Torn

Rob talked to my dad a couple days ago about my parents selling their house. We were hoping my parents would move out here to Tennessee and be near us but we knew they might end up in Arizona with my brother. While my dad was talking to Rob my dad said they would be going to Arizona once their house sells.

My dad has an opportunity to work for himself if he goes out there. My dad is an amazing dude, he can make all sorts of things and fix anything I've ever needed fixing. My dad turned L's old crib into a bridge to go over his backyard fish pond. He's done a million other things but my brain isn't wanting to remember those things right now. My brother is a chef in Arizona. My dad made my brother some sort of wood knife protector/case thingy and I guess all of my bro's chef friends want them. So, if my dad is in Arizona he can have this little business going. I personally think he should make furniture and stuff too because he's pretty awesome!

So, here is where I am torn; do we stay in Tennessee or head to Arizona?

 I miss my family very much and I am thinking of moving to Arizona to be with them. We had talked about moving to Arizona a few years ago but never really did it because we weren't sure we would survive the heat. If we were to go there we could be near my parents, my brother and only a few hours from Rob's mom and step-dad who live in a different part of Arizona. I would also be able to stuff my face with In-n-Out on a regular basis. We would be closer to Disneyland, the beach and our old friends. But, it is hot as a mother out there and I might melt. My body really doesn't like heat, my face gets super red at just a slight temperature increase and so does A's. I will be needing tons of makeup to not look like a crazy weirdo! It will also take A LOT of money for us to get back there.

Thank you In-n-Out for making my life decisions so hard

I LOVE Tennessee. It is such a beautiful state and we have had so many fun adventures in the short time we've been here. The thing that I worry most about here are the whirling winds of death! Tornadoes scare me more than I could ever explain. I just feel like I really want to live and I want everyone I know to live. I have always said that I could never live somewhere with tornadoes because it was just too scary. Being here we have had one tornado warning already and I was terrified but we didn't die! A man did die during that one though, when a tree fell on the shack (it was a real shack) he was living in and some buildings were damaged about 30 miles from here. I don't like that we have no one here, there is no one to put on the girls' emergency cards when they get enrolled in school. No matter where we go I will most likely go back to work. If we stay here I have this huge fear of a tornado coming and not being able to get to all of the kids spread out all over the place in time. I guess I know my fears are irrational but I'm still worried about it.

Let's review the pros and cons of each place:

Arizona -
Pros:
No tornadoes
Animal Fries
Closer to places we love
Close to family
My mom can babysit for us
Cons:
Hot as a mother trucker in the summer
Brown and dry
Neither of us has a job there (but when we were looking to move there a few years ago we both got calls for jobs we applied for so it might not be too hard to find work there)

Tennessee -
Pros:
Lots of places to explore and see
Pretty trees and tons of water
Closer to places we'd like to visit on the East Coast
Close to Rob's dad who is only a few hours away in Alabama
Rob has a job (it isn't the job he wants and it doesn't pay what he was making before but he has a job)
Cons:
Tornadoes
We know no one here
Humidity
Houses in our price range are tiny
Putting C in daycare
No one to watch the girls so Rob and I can have a "date night" once in awhile

I don't know what we will end up doing. Some days I wake up ready for Arizona and other days I think I want to stay here in Tennessee. It's hard and I just want us to do the right thing. We have always lived close to my parents so it's weird to be so far from them.

** On a side note, we had a great day trip to Chattanooga over the weekend to celebrate A's birthday. I took over 100 photos so once I go through them I will post about the things we did!