We love Ohio!

• We've reunited with our old friends the Christensens and the Wallis's. Matt & Camie Christensen are our great friends from Kansas, who we love, and Ryan Wallis was Peter's roommate and our good friend back at BYU. We were greeted upon arrival by Ryan with some homemade bread (the BEST thing to give someone who's just moved in!) and had dinner with them the next week. It was cute to see Owen & Parker play together, even if it did make us feel old. We spent a day in Cincinnati with Matt & Camie, hitting the Children's museum and playing at Camie's parents' home. Parker loved being with Lydia again, Tyler & Clayton played together and it was great fun for us to be with Matt & Camie.
  
• We've also reunited with some family! Cannon & Ariel Silver live here and are actually in our ward. Cannon is Peter's second cousin, and we are familiar with one another through the Ranch in Utah. It has been fun to spend time with their awesome family and we're excited to be making more memories with them this year.
• Making new friends here is greater than we ever expected. The ward is awesome, and living in our complex makes it even better. There are tons of other student families. I have had to learn that I can't run around in my skivvies anymore, for fear that someone might knock on the door with cookies! It has been so great for Parker especially, since his favorite thing to do is play with friends. We went on a "walk" on Sunday around our block and ended up outside for nearly two hours, chatting it up with our neighbors. Everyone is just really friendly, and it's the perfect place to be for this year of our lives.
  
• Columbus is a fabulous, family friendly place. We've already discovered the zoo, the library, the bunny fountains (a great place to cool off for kids), the dollar theater (saw Meet the Robinsons), the malls (it had been a while...), downtown and some really great parks. We have yet to explore the famous Cosi (science center), North Market (a twin of Pike Place), Hocking Hills State Park, Kirtland, u-pick farms, and many, many more shopping opportunities nearby (like the Pottery Barn and Williams' Sonoma outlets...hold me back).
  
• Parker starts preschool next week! We've taken him by to play at the playground and he is super excited. We can't wait to see how it will change his little life....
• We got TiVo...oh happy day. Peter & I are so happily watching "Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown" at night, imagining we are there, and I am so happy to have control over what Parker & Tyler are watching in the mornings!
• We took an unexpected jaunt over to Utah to visit Peter's parents at the Ranch. That will be a separate post!