5 Years Living in Tracy

Five years ago today, we left our rented condo in Fremont for the dream of home ownership in Tracy. Why Tracy? We had family and a few friends here, it was a quiet community with lots of open space and not many crowds, the ACE Train stopped here which could take us to work in the Bay Area, and the housing prices were WAY lower than the Bay Area.

Looking back on the last 5 years, it's obvious to me that we made the right decision to move out here. I absolutely love to come home to our very own house every night and spend time as a family. We go for walks around the many parks and uncrowded streets, kayak in the private lake and shop in the spacious stores (it was a shock the first time I went to Costco and only had to wait 5 minutes in line, but it's easy to get used to). In general, it just seems a lot more relaxing in Tracy as compared to the Bay Area where we both grew up.

Of course, to gain something, you have to give something up. In our case, moving to Tracy meant moving 50 miles farther from our families and jobs. It took some adjusting, but we've gotten into a groove of visiting our families in the Bay Area and having them come to see us in Tracy on a regular basis. We don't see them as much as we would if we lived closer, but we make do.

We solved the issue of having a long commute to work with a combination of working from home and taking the ACE Train instead of driving. Over the years, Shawnna and I have alternated working from home a couple of days a week, but the current setup is that I work from home 2 days a week and Shawnna goes into the office all 5 days. When we have to travel to our office in the Bay Area, we make almost exclusive use of the ACE Train (we've only driven approximately 15 times in 5 years). The train allows us to relax and not have to deal with traffic. While riding the train over the last 5 years, we've watched about 400 movies, I've read about 50 books and we've made some good friends.
The time has gone by so fast, but we have done a lot in the last 5 years (not in order of significance):

• Attended 40 sporting events
• 23 Sharks games (hockey)
• 11 Stealth games (lacrosse)
• 3 A's games (baseball)
• 3 Giants games (baseball)
• Attended 7 live concerts
• Performers included: No Doubt, Blink 182, Night Ranger, Tim McGraw, Carlos Santana, Five For Fighting, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls
• Took several vacations
• Destinations included Hawaii, Las Vegas, Disneyland, Monterey / Carmel, Lake Tahoe, SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, Hearst Castle, Universal Studios, Yosemite
• Shawnna started her own business (Thyme Deserved Personal Chef Service) and closed it down 2 years later because...
• We had a baby (Kaitlyn Belle Cutforth born 7/1/07)
• Countless other good times

Who knows what the next 5 years has in store, but if the past is any indication, it should be a fun ride.