September 21, 2017

We're moving to Wyoming (kind of)

Exploring a "new" built-in-the-1950s house

I mentioned in July that Scott officially changed command. He passed off the company of 200ish soldiers to a new captain. With this came a complete shift in our lifestyle. For awhile there, he still jumped when the phone rang, getting out of bed at 3am to answer a wrong number because "it might be important". That's something only a commander would do. He was in command for 19 months and over half was deployed time but, let's face it, he worked 12-18 hour days for the 9 months he was at home anyway.

But it was time for us to leave Ft. Carson. Which is really weird, because we're still in Colorado.

Last fall, Scott applied for the Advanced Civil Schooling program. He's an engineer and this is a program the army offers for engineers. He was accepted this past spring. It means that he can pick any university in the country and the army will grant him a second masters degree in engineering (his first is in environmental engineering from MS&T in Missouri). Since we have this house, and since we have this land, and since we are pretty well-settled in Colorado, we decided he'd apply to schools around here. He chose the University of Wyoming in Laramie because they worked well enough with all the military paperwork and documentation that he had to file and they have a good program for what he wants to do. He'll work toward a masters in civil engineering and will likely work as a civilian for the Corps of Engineers and that could put us anywhere in the country. At some point in there, he will hopefully be promoted to major and that would send us to Kansas for a year or so for school. The exact timeline, again, is up in the air.

IF Scott hadn't gotten into ACS, we (he) would get out of the army. ACS guarantees 4-5 years of non-deployable time while counting as active duty years. If he'd decided to get out, that would be a whole other story of obstacles to overcome because we'd have to decide where to settle, where he'd work, where I'd work, etc. IF he'd stayed in the regular active duty army without ACS, we'd move to another base likerightnow and start over, likely facing another deployment pretty quickly. We're not ready to start over yet and are exhausted after 3 deployments of varying lengths over the last 3 years.

In August, we bought a house in Laramie and we just closed on it it this week. While he'll live there during the week (Laramie is 3 hours away), I'll go up there on the weekends or he'll come back here. With his class schedule, unless he needs to be there for some reason, he can leave here Monday morning and be home by the time I get home from work on Friday.

We plan to use the Laramie house as a rental property once he graduates. Rent is shockingly expensive in Laramie, Wyoming and in order for him to keep the dogs with him, we needed to buy. It was a tough pill to swallow, the fact that he wanted to keep the dogs there, but I knew it was his turn. I've spent so much one on one time with Jett and Scout and he's missed a lot of their little lives. For the next 8 months, for at least most weeks, he'll have the dogs. We didn't want to pick up and move our entire lives to Wyoming without selling or renting this house. We're not at a place where we're ready to sell or rent it.

We talked a lot about what I should do this fall. I could've quit working and just hung around Wyoming. But we have this house here. And teaching, while exhausting, is something I love. And I couldn't turn down a known income. I figure I can get this one more year in, or maybe two, depending on what his 2018-2019 calendar looks like. Plus, I've been so bored this past summer that I know I need something productive to do with my days. There have already been multiple days where I've second-guessed this choice but, most days, I'm okay with it.

So while we're not at Ft. Carson anymore, I'm still in Colorado and he sort of is too. It's an odd situation. I will say that I 100% prefer this arrangement to him working 18 hour days and constantly bringing work home after those 18 hour days. And, again, I don't even know what next year will look like yet. Maybe I'll move up to Laramie? That's likely. Maybe he'll find a placement in Colorado and we'll stay here for a few more years after all? Or maybe we'll head off to a new state, rent out our houses, and start over somewhere else. Making peace with the idea of not knowing yet is just part of the military life.


I don't have a bunch of new pictures of the house there yet, but it's nice to kind of live on a regular street again, and be able to WALK to restaurants, stores, etc. Imagine the novelty I feel after 3+ years on the prairie. 
(As for the four-wheeler, there was a hunting trip last weekend so I ended up meeting Scott there. #priorities)

8 comments:

  1. Such big changes! congrats on closing on the house and all the adventures of the next year going between the cities.

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  2. What an exciting and crazy adventure. I'm glad it's working out for you guys.... you know what I mean. It's weird but it's doable and that is rare with army life. haha

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  3. Oh wow! Congrats on all of the upcoming changes. It sounds like you guys have a great path laid out for the future.

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  4. Congrats on this next adventure. You'll have to check out Cheyenne mountain days and venture west more to see Jackson hole when you're out visiting. Gorgeous land just like Colorado!!

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  5. Wow... life is always keeping you on the 'move' ;) see what I did there. haha
    Just look at it all as a big adventure.

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  6. Congrats on the new house!!

    My only memory of Wyoming is driving straight across when I moved from Oklahoma back to Washington after college. It was flat, brown, dry and BORING. I hope where you live is a lot better than the area I drove through, haha.

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  7. oh my goodness, big changes! congrats and good luck. not knowing what is going to happen has to be annoying, but like you said part of that life. i hope it all works out exactly how you want it to though. hope this school year is better than the last!

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