"There is No Place Like Nebraska"

It has been really strange that in the last couple weeks I have been getting more and more thoughts about moving to Nebraska.

Ever since Dylan and I first started dating I told him I never wanted to live in Nebraska. If there were some special cirsumstances that required it for a period of time, that would be fine, but otherwise it was never going to happen.

Dylan has done well with accepting this (and it helps that Colorado is AWESOME), but he does miss his friends and family a lot.

The main reason I don't want to live in Nebraska: the weather. It is humid and it sucks. The summers are hotter and the winters are colder. Eww.

The main reason I would want to live in Nebraska: the people. I have a TON of family out there. Pretty much all of Dylan's family is out there and Dylan still has a couple big groups of friends that live out there.

It is that last bit that has been one of the factors driving my thoughts towards moving out there. One couple of Dylan's closest friends are pregnant and obviously we are trying to be on the same track. Another couple from the same group is working on it as well it sounds like. How much fun would it be to have all three of us having kids together?! I have always loved all of Dylan's friends and it would be so great for Dylan to get to hang out with them and for me to hang out with the wives and babies. The hard part for me is that here no one at work is on the same page in life and none of my girl friends are either. Right now I am would mostly be meeting a lot of new people through mom things and through my kids. Which is totally great, just not the same as having close friends going through the same thing.

We would have all the support of my extended family, and my kids would get to know all their cousins and second cousins (a lot of my cousins are working on more kids in the near future too, so even more fun!). It would be great to be near Dylan's parents and family too so they could be more involved.

The argument for Nebraska has been supported by third party rankings as well, which makes it even creepier, like someone if trying to tell me something. Depending on which list you look at, I have seen Omaha among various spots in the top 10 of Places to Raise a Family. Just about a week ago I saw this article ranking the Most and Lease Livable States. Nebraska was ranked number 4, but then Colorado was ranked third.

But thinking of everything that I gain out there, I lose that much and more out here in Colorado. Dylan and I are very close with my parents (we hung out with them most of the weekend) and not having my mom and dad be a part of my children's week-to-week lives would be pretty much unbearable. My sister may hopefully end up working in Denver and that will be the best thing ever, so I would hate to be away from her again. While I do have technically MORE family in Nebraska, I do have a lot of family here in Colorado too. Even Dylan has an aunt and uncle out here.

Plus I love Colorado. The weather here is so nice for most of the year and the Winters are mild here in town. I love our house and I just now finally feel like we are settled in, so I would hate to relocate and have to start all over again.

For now the plan is to stay here for the long haul, but you never know what may happen. Really if we would just get everyone from Nebraska to move out here...