Okay, let's compare prices for homes. For about $250k in the Glendale area, you can get this.

For the same price, you can get this in a nice part of Missouri. And this is a newer home. It's become painfully obvious to Scott and I that we will have to leave the state in order to buy a house and live in a nice area for Isabella (and future sibs) to grow up in. I know I've been clinging on to the whole California dream, but unless I want to move to Hesperia or Palmdale, it ain't gonna happen. I cannot even conceive of throwing down $250k for a condo/townhome. No yard. Sharing walls. All the noise and smog of LA has seriously taken it's toll. Plus, most of our best friends live out of state anyway. Roger will be heartbroken, but he'll survive. That's what plane trips are for. I just love the idea of living near a nice college town, but living enough outside of town to feel like I'm in the country. And the distance between doesn't have to be far at all. Having the woods in my back yard. Being able to see the stars. Actually having seasons. That would be an adjustment for me for sure, but I'm up for the challenge. The real challenge is finding Scott a job.

Ahhh...much research to be done...