Big News: Our Homestead is Moving!

Yes, you read that correctly: We are packing up our homestead and leaving Idaho!

We’ve been at our beautiful little Southwest Idaho homestead for three and half years now (get all the details about our Idaho homestead here). It has been glorious! This is the first place that we’ve lived that truly felt like our home. And it has felt like ours from the first moment we saw it! And believe me, this rundown place was not much to behold when we first laid eyes on it! But, we both instantly knew that this was our homestead!

We’ve spent the last three and half years completely dedicated to the property. Yes, we are home-bodies, but this home has also been our hobby, our passion, and our work. We’ve painted, picked, caulked, sanded, weeded, tiled, mulched and demolished and rebuilt every inch of this place. I can confidently say that there isn’t a piece of this property or home that hasn’t been touched by our hands! Bringing this place back to it’s former glory has been one of the greatest honors of our lives so far. Check out the before and after pictures here!

We love our home and our life in Idaho. Absolutely love it! We have learned so much and have grown so many skills here. We’ve become the people that we are here. Which is why a lot of people are absolutely shocked that we will be leaving it soon! Many people have even said things like “How could you leave when you’ve put so much work into your place?! You’ll never find that kind of place again!”

Maybe they are right. But I think that we make our lives what we want them to be.

Just because we have a life here that we love, doesn’t mean that we can’t also have a life we love somewhere else. And just because we’ve had it so good here is no reason to fear change or new opportunities! I’m not scared for us to try something completely new and unknown. In fact, my heart is full of optimism and excitement for it!

So, without, further ado, I am so excited to announce that…

We are moving to WASHINGTON!

Washington state that is… not Washington DC! ?

That’s right, the Zenstead is moving to the Pacific Northwest! Next month, in early February, we will move to the Tacoma area of Washington!

The ultimate reason for our move is a job opportunity. Lindy has accepted a leadership position at a real estate market center in Federal Way, Washington. This is a chance for her to do what she loves and a huge opportunity for her to grow and advance professionally. It will also allow me the opportunity to focus on our new homestead full-time without having to work outside of the home unless I want to. Ultimately, this opportunity just makes sense for us! It’s the perfect next step in our lives if we want to continue to grow ourselves personally and professionally. 

So, how do you move a homestead?

That’s something we are working on figuring out right now! So far, it’s been stressful and not pretty at all! We listed our home for sale on December 30th. FYI: I don’t recommend trying to prep your house for sale during Christmas!? But the good news is that the sale is already pending and, if all goes well, the sale will close on February 3rd. We will have until February 6th to officially move out!

We’ve been searching for a new home in Washington via FaceTime and video chat with our awesome real estate agent up there – seriously, we owe this girl a new pair of muck boots after all the crazy properties we made her hike around! The search has been frustrating to say the least. Honestly, I don’t think we’ve ever been this stressed! And with the clock ticking until our house sells, we just continued getting more and more stressed about the few options we had. But, as of yesterday, we think we have found the perfect property! However, because it’s very easy for things to fall through, I don’t want to share too much jinx us! So just help a sister out and cross your fingers and toes for us! 

As far as our homestead goes, we’ve been working on pairing down a lot of animals over the last month or so. We’ve rehomed all the rabbits, except for old Tina (the “yard bunny”) because she is more of a pet than anything else. We are also rehoming some of the chickens and goats. Ultimately, I think we will end up moving with: our 3 doggos, the 2 cats, 2-4 goats, about 10 chickens, Tina (the yard bunny), and Baby (the pet turkey). Cause a girl’s gotta have her pet turkey, right?! ??‍♀️ ?

Over the next month, as we move and get settled, my posts will be few. But, I will fill you in on all the details and exactly how we moved a homestead once we pull off this miracle feat! 

Here’s to a new year and a new adventure for the Zenstead!