Graduation, Relocation, and Celebration!

The past few weeks have been been filled with lots of changes! We finally made it to the so-called pinnacle of our lives...ha ha...and are now trying to settle into our new world. Here's a quick recap with some pictures to help tell the tale!

To kick start our commencement into the "real world," Chad celebrated graduation from his residency program in mid-June. It was so nice that his parents were able to travel to Tucson to be there for his ceremony. The ceremony was beautiful, elegant, and delicious! It was wonderful getting to see Chad in the spotlight and formally be recognized for all of his hard work and achievements. We even brought Reece to come cheer on daddy (she thought it was so fun to get all dresses up, and she kept calling herself a princess!). We couldn't have been more proud of our Dr. Chad! Congratulations Chad! We love you, and are so grateful for your professional accomplishments and successes!

Next was our big cross-country move! We loaded up a 26' Penske truck, and moved our little family from Tucson, AZ to Bend, OR. A big thanks to Chad's dad who helped drive us (again!) as we moved our family across the country. We made it to Bend on June 25th and were so thrilled with our new home. So far, we absolutely love Bend! It is so pretty and green, with beautiful mountains and rivers and trees...and no cacti in sight! :) We've been welcomed in by our new neighbors (Reece has made instant friends with several other kids that are her age...so nice!), we've had lots of family come visit and help us move in, and Chad is getting all settled in with his new job. 

Just a few days after our arrival, we celebrated Jace's first birthday on June 30th. I still cannot believe he is already a whole year old! For his birthday he and Reece went on a pony ride at the local farmers market, and then we had cake that evening. As you can see below, Jace quickly figured out how to demolish his baseball cake. He was timid at first, but soon gave the cake a proper beat-down. By the end Jace had not taken a single bite, but had successfully splattered cake on the walls and floors and literally flattened it to his high chair tray. It was hilarious!

At the big age of 1, Jace is simply a sweetheart! He is always happy, and has his daddy's easy-going personality with just a tad of his mommy's temper. Right now he loves to clap his hands and wave at people, loves balls, has 7 teeth (with the most adorable gap in the middle of his front teeth), still has no hair, and is still BIG (weighing in at just under 25 pounds and 32 inches, which puts him in the 97th percentile for both). Jace figured out how to walk at 11 months old, and then four days later he figured out how to crawl. He has now mastered crawling and is EVERYWHERE! He is still perfecting the whole concept of walking, but gets better every day. Jace is a joy, and stole his mama's heart at first sight! Reece and Jace are best buddies and are even beginning to play together...and Jace is already figuring out how to steal toys away from Reece! Jace eats at least 10 times more than his sister. Unlike his sister's blonde hair and light skin, Jace has dark features and big brown eyes, that I have a feeling will get him out of a lot of trouble when he's older. I tell people that I have two flavors of children...chocolate and vanilla! Luckily, my favorite flavor has always been the twist! :)  

  

The last celebration was Independence Day. Bend is known for always having festivals and community events going on, and the city's 4th of July celebrations did not disappoint! We started the day at the annual Pet Parade. People dress up their pets (mostly dogs and stuffed animals) and walk around downtown in the parade...guess that means we need to get a dog sometime between now and next year so we can join in! The kids enjoyed free popsicles after, as we headed to the festival in the park. Reece participated in her first sack race...it was so cute and fun! The sack was bigger than her, but she hopped (hobbled) her way through it...with some help from one of the workers. She thought it was a blast! That evening we went swimming, and lit off some fireworks with a few of our neighbors. Despite Reece being scared of all of the fireworks except the poppers, it was lots of fun!

All in all, we have really loved our new home in Bend. We are still trying to get settled and oriented, but that will all come soon enough. Bend is beautiful and seems like a great fit for our family (I just hope my tune doesn't change come winter time! ha ha)