Jeremiah & Hannah's Blog: New Job, New Third Year, New Niece... What Else is New?

We’re back! And guess what?? I’m a third year physical therapy student!! That is really crazy to say because the past two years have flown by... yet at the same time so much hard work, time, tears, and endurance has gone into them! I have about 7 weeks left of classroom work before I am out on clinical rotations for 24 weeks before I graduate. I know that time is going to fly just as much.

So what have we been up to since March you may be wondering? For one, Jeremiah got a new job that has been so good for him. You may know that in order to move up to Denver he turned down a job offer from a company called Stryker that he interned for. They have a small division here in Denver which he tried to get a job with when we first moved, but due to its size there was nothing available. But he kept an eye out and about a year and a half later he saw an opportunity with them that fit him SO perfectly. So he went for it and nailed it! He got the job offer and started there on April 1st as a test engineer in their Research and Development department. It has been such a great fit for him. He has great coworkers, the mission of the company is something he feels passionate about, and he finds the work more interesting. What more could you want? I am very excited for him if you couldn’t tell! He also has had a few cool travel opportunities through work including just a couple of weeks ago to Puerto Rico where he got to stay a couple extra days to explore and even try surfing!

In early May, Jeremiah and I had a temporary goodbye as I hit the road to live in Kansas for 8 weeks! I believe I mentioned it before, but my school requires that one of our clinical experiences be completed out-of-state and in a rural setting, or you can do both at once. So I decided to complete both at once, and it was made much easier on us because Jeremiah’s grandparents live in rural Kansas, just 6 hours from us! I lived with them in Salina, KS and worked about 40 minutes away in a smaller town called McPherson, KS. I worked in an OP/IP Mixed setting in McPherson hospital, though 95% of what I was doing was Outpatient Musculoskeletal, or what you imagine of a “typical” PT office setting. I really enjoyed the experience, living with Jeremiah’s grandparents and the setting itself. Everyone at my office was very welcoming and made me feel like part of the team which helped boost my confidence for sure. Then it was nice to go home at night and have friendly faces to talk to and eat with. Jeremiah’s grandparents were very generous and took me to some meals out, made me many nice dinners, took me to a community theater performance, and a number of concerts. I’ll add in pictures to show even more of what I did because I could go on for awhile!

A very nice dinner with a lovely view at the Salina Country Club

A classic, Swedish data horse. Everyone in Jeremiah's family has one of these outside their home!

A view from one of my bike rides.

There was frequently the delicious smell of fresh-baked bread that Mormor was making!

Outside McPherson Hospital

Mormor and Papa!

I finished my last day in Kansas on a Friday, drove home on a Saturday, and was back in class on Monday. Yikes! But it was a super short semester, only about 4 1/2 weeks. This rounded out my 2nd year of PT school and I am a third year!! Woohoo! Now I in the midst of my 3 weeks off before my very last semester. And then two 12 week rotations. Graduation date: May 2, 2020. Can you tell the countdown is on??

We have a new niece!! My sister and brother-in-law gave birth to Mae Olivia Lucas on July 25th at 3:06 pm. I was sitting in class not paying attention at all and just staring at the group text with my family waiting to hear boy or girl. Then my mom sent the text that just said “Girl!!” I gasped out loud and everyone at my table turned to look at me and I looked up and whispered, “It’s a girl!!” It was such a happy moment. Fortunately I had already told everyone at my table that I was waiting on a new niece or nephew so they weren’t totally confused. She is adorable and with every new niece or nephew I’m always so amazed with the miracle of birth! I originally hadn’t planned to meet her until mid-October but my mom was so nice to offer to fly me out for about 48 hours in a week so I can snuggle her as a newborn. So just last week I got to see her and barely put her down for the two days I was there. I was just starting at her and so in love already! While I was in AZ we also managed to squeeze in a family dinner at my parent's house, I got to be part of a few school drop-offs and pick-ups (we have two new kindergarteners in the family!), and really just some great time talking with family.

The few days I had in between my last day of the semester and going to AZ I got in 4 hikes! One day hike near Vail with a couple of friends, and 3 up in Rocky Mountain NP where I spent two nights camping for a girls' weekend/bachelorette party kind of thing. It was so nice to disconnect and be in the mountains hanging out with these friends and experiencing and taking in God's creation each day! It was so beautiful!! I will post pictures to do most of the explaining for me, once again.

After my 48 hours in AZ, I did not fly back up to CO alone. I flew back with my oldest niece, Paisley for a weekend trip! I had been asking my brother and sister-in-law for a little while now if they would be comfortable having her fly up here to visit us, and it ended up working out very well that I was at least with her for one leg of the trip, though she did the flight home by herself with no trouble at all! While she was here, she, Jeremiah, and I had a fun-filled weekend that left me rather tired! Definitely gave both Jeremiah and me new respect for how hard it must be for my siblings to raise three busy kids! We had a movie night where we set up a "concession stand" and pretended our apartment was the theater, we went on a short hike in Boulder, went on the Hammond's Candies factory tour, played at the park and splash pad, listened to lots of music, went to Chipotle for dinner (Paisley's request even though I offered restaurants unique to Denver!), made pizzas, went to Big Time Fun Center, and introduced her to Little Man Ice Cream! It was a successful weekend of fun, without any hiccups which I was happy about! Parker is already asking if it is his turn for a special trip. If we are still living in Denver when he and Madeline turn 8, I think it would be fun to make it a tradition! But who knows where we will be at that point.

My partner on my flight back to Denver!

My first day back on August 26th I have this big Comprehensive Exam for school, so I am now studying for that. Yayyyy. Next week, we are heading to Yellowstone with my parents, so Jeremiah and I are very much looking forward to that!

Before I wrap up, a couple more random things that we have done in the last several months include: A French-themed cooking class that was a late Valentine's gift from Jeremiah, that was delicious, the Dwights visited for a weekend in April, "Bagels and Beer" class where we learned how to make bagels at a small local, bakery (Jeremiah has found a new love of bread-baking), a quick Memorial Day weekend in AZ for my friend Morgan's wedding, a 4th of July hike up Torrey's peak which marked out 3rd 14er, stayed one night in Breckenridge as a belated-anniversary celebration, and miscellaneous other evenings with friends!