Headed down the Oregon Trail..

Yep that's right...we are moving to Oregon!!! Daniel was just named Athletic Director at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon!! I am so proud of him and excited to be a part of the University!

(a few shots of the campus and the WOU logo)

We can't wait to get up there and meet all the coaches and their families, administrators, faculty and all of the students and student-athletes. I'm already planning in my head the "come and go" coffee and dessert nights to get to know all of the coaching staff and their families. We'll be packing up and moving out west in mid April.

The school was so gracious to offer Daniel the position and then fly the both of us out before anything was finalized to be sure that I got to see and approve of the area too! It is beautiful!! Monmouth is about 15 minutes outside of the capital of Salem. We ate some amazing food while we were there and tasted some equally amazing Oregon pinot noirs. We'll be an hours drive from the coast, 2 hours drive to skiing in the mountains, 45 minutes from portland and 0 minutes from tons of fresh local veggies, fruits, cheeses, wines, and seafood! (We are now accepting reservations for our guest room!)

(one of the vineyards near Monmouth)

A local realtor and her husband were kind enough to spend some time showing us around different neighborhoods. I'm somewhat obsessed with older homes, you know the craftsman and cottage style homes with big trees in the yard and sidewalks, big front porches, old wood floors and beautiful built ins. The problem is that unfortunately niether I nor my wonderful husband can do anything more than paint and maybe change a light fixture. The realtor knew just where to take us, and she was right- it's my dream neighborhood - except all the houses are new so it's even better, we won't have to keep a contractor on retainer!

(We'll be living in the smallest one I'm sure! We have our eyes on a couple and hope one of them works out!)

At the same time we both realize how far this opportunity will take us from our family and friends. We have both been lucky enough to be within short driving distance from our families our entire lives so this will take some adjusting. On the bright side we're moving to a place that friends and family will really enjoy coming to visit. Our christmas lists have officially been shortened to one gift....plane tickets. And so the madness of packing up and moving across the Rockies begins!!

Here's the link to the press release:
http://www.wouwolves.com/news/2010/2/8/GEN_0208104910.aspx

Cheers!