Trust me, this is a crazy one and it wasn’t exactly on our vision board but we are entirely excited about how life has unfolded in the recent months. So maybe you’re wondering what this “big announcement” is… well, we’re moving to Minnesota, Duluth to be exact… my home. I wanted to share a little bit about how this big move transpired and how God’s hand was in every little piece of it and also what our plan is going to be moving forward.

Why Duluth, Minnesota?

I grew up just outside of the city on Lake Superior and it’s always been home to me. My entire family is nestled on the hill and though I spent the last 11 years in the great cheesehead state of Wisconsin, my heart definitely is happiest in Minnesota. When I left for college, I never guessed I would stay here and since Drew and I started dating, we always had Minnesota on our ten-year plan… but we never really thought about the how, when, or where we would end up back home.

How did this come about?

Well, to be entirely honest, it started as a total joke. I was randomly looking at real estate websites (I swear I never do this) and avoiding work when I started searching for property in Duluth. We had planned to build our next house and had joked that we would buy land off of my brother and build a family compound, but the logistics of building while being six hours away scared the crap out of me. I typed in neighboring towns and landed on the house. It was the literal home I would build if we were to build from the ground up. I (as a joke) sent a text to my family saying, “Maybe this will be the next Kutcher craftsman” while Drew was on a run and within 30 minutes there were over 100 text messages from my family cheering on the sale.

Drew came back from his run and I was laughing because of our phones going nuts and I asked him, “Did you see that house?” Confused, he had no clue what I was talking about, so I pulled up the link and the first thing he said was, “Well we’re going to move eventually anyway, why not.”  Umm… not what I thought he would say so it got my wheels turning.

The more we thought about it…

The more it started to make sense. For the last eleven years, I’ve been over 5 hours from home. We usually only make the trek up north 2x a year and now that my entire family is settled there and my grandparents are still with us, it was pulling us in. (Kudos to my family for texting us photos of everyone together EXCEPT for us… you win, Sheleruds, you win.) We were missing family dinners, nephews milestones, and precious time with the people we love the most because of the miles. I can’t imagine having babies without having my mom nearby and I knew that when the time would come for us, I would yearn to want to be closer to my family but as you know, that road hasn’t been the easiest for us.

What this means for the business:

Nothing will really change! In fact, seeing how things have lined up, there’s no denying God’s hand in it. The fact that Drew started his business that he can run from anywhere, the fact that I cut back on weddings so we could focus on having a baby, the fact that I’ve focused on growing an online business with a remote team, the fact that I’ve hired my sister on full time (and my mom) to help me run this little empire… there’s so much that has happened in the last year that prepared us to be able to pick up and move without too much commotion or issue! We are so, so fortunate to be able to work from wherever – whether it be the islands of Hawaii or in the tundra of Duluth.

We’re sad to be moving away from…

Drew’s family! They’ve been within an hour of us for the last 7 years and we’ve loved being able to meet in the middle for dinner or hang to watch the football game on the couch. I had one superpower, it would be to move our families closer together but now we’ll just be reversing our road trips and hosting our loved ones more. We’re also super sad to be leaving our friends. Over the last 5 years, we’ve made some incredible friends (mostly thanks to Crossfit Fort Atkinson and Real Hope Community Church) and they’ve been our family in so many ways. We find ourselves saying, “If only we could move the gym and the people with us!” and we’re forever thankful for people taking us in and loving us so well while we’ve settled into life in small-town Wisconsin.

So tell us about the house:

Well, it’s beautiful. We fell in love with not just the house but the humans who built and designed it (and their sweet baby girl!) We want to write in the contract that they have to remain our friends! After looking at it online for over a month, I knew that when I walked into it I would either feel it or I wouldn’t. It’s safe to say Drew was sold after a short little walkthrough, but I had to take it all in. It’s a home that looks like Joanna Gaines designed: shiplap, subway tile, a clawfoot tub, and built-ins.

It’s the perfect mix of our styles and tastes: I love character and charm, Drew loves new and fresh. There’s plenty of space to entertain (this is your invitation!) and I can visualize bringing a baby home into that house. It’s about 20 minutes from all of my family, 2 blocks from a Crossfit gym, and located by all the things we’ve missed over the last few years: Target, good coffee shops, and fun breweries!

When is it all happening?

We’re still taking our sabbatical in Hawaii (we’ll be gone for 5 weeks) and then we will be coming home, packing up the Kutcher craftsman and heading up north! We’re enjoying the time we have left in Fort Atkinson and loving the house we made a home over the last two years and we’re getting excited about decorating the new space and making it our own. It’s a huge, giant change and one we didn’t anticipate, but one that feels oh-so right. We can’t wait to be closer to family and we’re sad to leave behind the life we’ve built over the last 6 years but we’re ready for change and embracing this next stage of life with our hands open to all the possibilities it holds!