Blessed.

I know it's so cliche' this time of year, but I'm so thankful! I know I've written a few times about how much we love Columbus, but I really can't tell you how much I love this place. Its probably a regular city, just like every other city, to most of you, but to me its so much much more. This next part is hard to explain without it sounding weird, but I'll do my best, so hear me out. Cortney and I have always had a very strong friendship, and before husband and wife, we've always been friends first and I think we have a really great marriage because of that. When we lived in Utah, we worked all day and when we got home, we usually always had something to do- hang out with family and friends, run errands, church callings, school applications, studying, etc. And we loved it! We were surrounded by such great friends and family! But with the decision to go back to school, a little nervous and mostly excited, we looked forward to starting off on our little adventure. And that we did.

Starting from the drive out here, every day has been an adventure-the best one of our lives. Again, I really think we had a great life in Utah and it didn't lack anything, but I can't even begin to describe how happy we are here! I feel like our lives are so much more simple here and we get to concentrate so much more on 'our family' since it is growing and all:) And I really feel like we are our own family now- with our own traditions and history. My favorite parts of the day are when Cortney gets home from school, we usually find ourselves just talking for an hour-just laughing and enjoying being together. How many times can you say that you 'just talked' with your husband for an hour and had a great conversation? Most days, I meet Cortney to walk home from school with him and we look at the fall leaves the whole way. We eat grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and eat oreos and milk for dessert. On days that we feel like splurging, we head down to Don Pablos and devour the steak fajitas for $13. We rent a movie every Saturday night and watch it until I fall asleep and then we watch the rest Sunday after church. I know our lives sound so boring and lame, but we love every second of it.

And we have met so many WONDERFUL people here and from all over the world. I had dinner the other night with 4 of Cort's classmates (from Korea, India, Pittsburgh, and Indiana). How many places can you be surrounded by so many cultures? More than 30% of Cortney's class are foreign students and we absolutely love that! Columbus is a melting pot for freakishly nice people. I mean it- everyone is SO nice here. Not to mention just how blessed we feel in general to be able to go back to school and everyday we are amazed at the doors that are opened to us because of that blessing.

I was telling my mom the other day that I feel like moving to Columbus 'saved us'. And I never felt that I or we needed to be rescued in any way. It has just been such a welcome part of our lives that we weren't expecting. I've heard a few people say that when they had their first kid, their lives were so much happier then they ever thought possible before they were parents. I think it might be something like that- completely happy before, but life is so much richer now. Does that make sense at all? I know, I told you it was hard to explain.

So here's to you Columbus- 'our town' and everything you've given us. A very unexpected, but well received blessing that we will forever be thankful for. You've changed our lives.