Our last summer in Connecticut was bittersweet. We spent lots of time with friends, having a BBQ every Thursday night by the pool. We loved to sit around the fire and chat, and the kids loved running around the tennis court. We spent time at the pool, ate ice cream at Wentworth's at least once a week, and enjoyed the beautiful canal road for many walks. We went to a fireworks show on the beach and explored Westerly, RI. We tried to make the most of our last few months on the East Coast and I think some of my very favorite memories were made during those months. We were so excited to move home, but sad to see such a special time of our lives come to an end. The time away is invaluable to me. All of Vivian's firsts happened in our cute apartment there, and our simple living made Derek and I grow closer. Even though there were many hard and lonely days, I'm so thankful we got to live there for 27 months.
Derek graduated. Dad, Sue, Ash, and Kyle all came to CT to celebrate with us. Mom coudn't come because she was finishing her chemo and radiation treatments. We'll always be sad she couldn't be there. We took them to our favorite spots-- Pepe's Pizza in New Haven, J. Timothy's, and Wentworth's (duh) for ice cream. It was so fun to show them a little of where we lived and especially great to have family there to celebrate Derek and all of his accomplishments in PA school. We also spent a day in NYC- we visited Ground Zero, took a ferry ride around the Statue of Liberty, got lost on the subway, went to the top of the Empire State Building, ate Levain Bakery cookies in Central Park, and went to a Yankees game. Viv was the best little traveler and as always, was so easy to have around. She fell asleep in her stroller when she was tired, and was happy as a clam seeing all the sights of the Big Apple. Our last weekend on the East coast was definitley busy and full of adventures and memory making.
Viv and I flew home to Utah with Dad, Ashley, and Kyle, and Sue and Derek made the trek across the country in the car. We had all of our things shipped, including Derek's car, and that was quite the debacle. We chose a less than stellar moving company who charged us more than double what they quoted us, and were basically just sketchy all around. We wondered if our things would even arrive in Utah. They did, but we learned that driving our belongings in a truck would have been the best way to go, even if it did take twice as long to make the trip.
A few days after Derek made it to Utah, mom and I planned a surprise graduation/birthday party for him at the pool by Mom and Dad's house. All of our friends and family came and it was the perfect night to celebrate Derek in every way. Mom made tons of yummy food of course, and we had a fun cake made to look like a scrub top with medical supplies all around it. To make the day even better, just before we left for the party I took a test and found out we were PREGNANT again! It was the best surprise- I thought for sure it would take a long time to get pregnant again like it did with Viv. We had only been trying for about 3 months so it was a pleasant surprise.
We packed in some family trips before Derek started his job at Calton Harrison in October. We traveled to the Oregon coast for the Smith family reunion. It was Vivian's first time camping and she loved every second of it. We drove in Sue's motor home and camped in yurts, which made the trip quite enjoyable with a toddler. If we were in tents I might have felt differently. But as usual, she was a great traveler and was perfectly content exploring around the camp site, picking up rocks, playing with her cousins, and getting covered in sand at the beach. About a month after our Oregon trip we headed to Disneyland with all of Derek's family. It was magical! I hadn't been since I was 15 and Derek hadn't been since he was 10. Vivian was a little young to really appreciate all of the Disney magic, but she was definitely star struck when we got to meet princess Sophia from her favorite show, Sophia the First. Being pregnant, I wasn't able to ride anything but the kiddie rides, but Vivian was too short for most of the regular rides so we got to spend lots of time together all the small rides. She is easy to please and loved the theatrics and music everywhere. We had long days at the park and we were all worn out by the end of the trip, but the memories were so worth it.
In the fall Derek started his job and had to work through the difficulties of being the new guy, especially in the job you prepare for for years. Derek is a perfectionist and expects a lot from himself, which makes him the perfect candidate for any job. However, he's super hard on himself. He learned the details of orthopedics quickly even though he'd tell you otherwise. He works hard and is so smart. Patients love him, of course. He doesn't know if its a job he'll stay at long term, but as we approach his year mark he'll reasess his long term goals. There is one doc he works with that is a real piece of work and makes the days spent with him pretty miserable. Besides that one terrible person, Derek really enjoys all of his other colleagues. As I type this, Derek is lying on the couch beside me because he just got home from doing a cycling relay with three of the guys he works with from Moab to St. George.
We found out baby #2 would be a boy- and we were thrilled and surprised. This pregnancy was completely different than my first, in that it was completely normal. I was nauseated for the first trimester, had heartburn, craved sweets, ached in places I didn't know possible, and actually had a pregnant belly. Baby boy grew right on schedule and didn't give us any surprises. Sometimes I had a hard time believing everything would go smoothly, and anticipated getting preeclampsia again. I didn't. I hoped for a vbac delivery and got it, along with all the regular labor experiences. (That is a story for another post.)
Miss Vivian just turned three. (I'm not crying, you are.) Our spunky little girl seems so old, especially with a new baby around. Viv continued speech therapy till she turned 3, and has many more words than she did a year ago. She is able to understand and communicate so much better, and we are amazed at her progress. Shes just as fiesty as she has always been, and shows us her strong willed and stubborn side often. But we are thankful for it. She got glasses and is the cutest thing in them. She loves to do anything outside, play with cousins and friends, and still gets most excited to see her Daddy and Gramps. She's my best pal and I love that I get to be with her all day every day. She'll start preschool at Canyon View in the fall, where she'll get lots of help with speech and her develpment. I'm not ready for her to start school but know it will be so great for her, and I'm sure she'll love every second of it. She loves her baby dolls, ("bebe") books, french fries and Diet Coke. She loves her minky blankets ("akie"). She still loves music and dancing, and most Disney movies. She'd be content outside in the yard every hour of the day, picking up sticks and greeting the neighbors through the fence with a friendly "he-wow". She loves to color and play with Play-Doh. She can maneuver her way around a play ground and also loves the play land at McDonalds and Chick-fil-a. There's not a person we greet that doesn't comment about her long, beautiful, thick auburn hair. And there's not a person we meet that she doesn't cheerfully greet with a sweet smile or wave. She is the absolute best and we love her more and more every day.
We started our house hunt in the fall and after months of searching in a terrible buyer's market, we happened upon our dream house in a place we least expected-- one block away from Derek's childhood home. Glenn and Mary Galer were in Derek's ward growing up and were the only owners of the home. They spent over 30 years there. They raised their family and were planning to retire and move to Colorado to be closer to their kids. One day, we asked Sue to call Mary and ask what their plans were, since we knew they'd be putting their house on the market soon. They invited us to come look at the house and offered to sell the house to us cheaper if we could avoid using real estate agents. It was fate. We loved the house and it felt so right the second we walked across the threshhold. We quickly decided that we had found our home. Mom was able to help us get the right legal documents we'd need to sign with the Galers and we awaited the day we could move in. After a crazy couple of months of moving out of Sue's and into Mom and Dad's hosue, all while preparing for baby boy, we offically moved in on April 7, five days before baby boy was born. It was a whirlwind couple of months but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love this home. I feel so blessed to have this home where we will raise our kids, and so blessed to have Derek that provides for our family and takes such good care of us. I know he sacrifices a lot so that we can have this wonderful life and I am endlessly thankful for him. It's been such a great year for our family and we know we have been SO blessed.
