Chemistry can be fun too

We're starting to feel settled in here in Salt Lake City, and our home renovations are almost done! I'll post pictures on that later, but wanted to share a fun one from a few nights ago. We were working downstairs, and Evan found John's molecular modeling set from grad school. These sets are basically a big box of beads and little sticks so that you can make molecules with atoms and bonds (I know, very nerdy). Anyhow, I can see how this would be a super-fun toy for a kid. Evan kept saying "open, please" but fortunately we managed to convince him that it is just as much fun to leave the box closed and shake it a bunch to hear the stuff rattle around inside.

Moving Day!

Ever since we started packing the boxes to move, Evan's favorite book has been the Berenstain Bears Moving Day in which Papa Bear says "My dears, the time has come to move."

Well, a couple of weeks ago, our time came to move too. Evan did really well coping with all of the changes, even when he came home from day care to find our apartment full of boxes.

We were fortunate that Chicago was right on the way to Salt Lake City, so we could stop off and spend a few days with family while our stuff made its way across the country. Evan had a great time sharing his ice cream with Grandma.

The drive from Chicago to Salt Lake City was a bit rough on all of us, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures from that part of the process. However, we arrived into SLC and promptly went to check out our new house. Evan wasted no time in finding the broom and getting to work.

We've got a bit of painting to do in the house, and Evan has been a great helper in choosing colors. I love this picture because he looks just like a little interior designer pondering his choices.

One of our favorite things about our house is the awesome view of the mountains from the front porch. (Yes, our front yard is a bit patchy - apparently the greener patches are thanks to the previous owners' dog).

After looking at the mountains every day for about a week, we finally finished the unpacking and were able to go and explore a bit. We drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to hike to Doughnut Falls (sadly this is the closest we will get to Dunkin Donuts in Utah). We didn't make it all the way to the falls, but Evan kept busy playing in the little streams along the way.

It has been difficult moving away from our dear friends in Boston and knowing that we still don't live close to family, but we are enjoying life in Utah and can't wait to have guests!

Home, sweet home

So we're going with "home, sweet home" as the theme of this post, because right now, the definition of "home" is in a state of rapid revision for us. A couple of weeks ago, we went "home" to see Grandpa and Grandma Heemstra in Chicago, and Evan had a ton of fun drinking juice boxes with Grandma and helping his Dad and Grandpa replace sprinkler heads in the yard.


While we were there, the closing date for our new home in Salt Lake City came and went without any problems, so we very unceremoniously became home owners. Our house hunting trip was a bit of a whirlwind as we only had about 7 hours to look at houses before making a decision, but I think we've found one that will be great for our family. We loved the interior, but more importantly for Evan, we have a nice backyard that he can play in, which will be awesome since Evan LOVES to be outside.

Here are some pictures from the MLS listing. The cool treehouse looking thing is actually in the neighbors back yard, so Evan will have to make friends with them :)


In just 6 short days we'll be turning the car westward and heading out to Utah. Living in Boston has not been without its challenges, but it is an understatement to say that God has blessed us richly with a wonderful church home and dear friends whom we will miss very much.

I'm hoping to keep our camera from being packed by the movers, so stay tuned for photos from the road . . .

Dos Años!

I can't believe our little boy is 2 already! Our lives have been a bit crazy lately, so Evan has had multiple small birthday celebrations instead of one big one. To start off, Grandma and Grandpa Heemstra sent a birthday gift of Evan's first tricycle. He had fun helping Daddy put it together, then took a spin around the living room.


All of this made us very thirsty, of course. The tricycle had a bell on the handlebars, which Evan loved, but turned out to be deeply traumatizing to our dog Nicky, so the bell has come off until we move and Evan can ride his bike outside in the driveway.


For Evan's birthday, we made his favorite dinner of fish sticks and sweet potato fries, and we were all set to have birthday breakfast the next day, but instead we were up at 4 am and on our way to the airport to fly to Utah. So, we waited until Grandma Cary came out to visit (which also involved fun birthday toys) and enjoyed our birthday breakfast of bacon and cinnamon rolls.


Not really part of the official birthday celebration, but today was a GORGEOUS day in Boston, so we headed downtown on the T and played at the Frog Pond playground for a while, then walked around the Common and through the Public Park. In an ode to Evan's Dutch heritage, we even took a few pictures next to the beautiful tulips that were in bloom.


After all of this playing, we enjoyed a nice lunch, followed by a leisurely stroll through the North End and a sleepy T ride back home.

Utah!!!

After a job search with many ups and downs and generally a lot of waiting, we finally have an answer . . . we're going to Utah!!! The offer came through about 10 days ago and we went out this week for our second visit. Jen will be an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Utah and John has some great leads on industry positions, as well as an offer to lecture at the University if nothing in industry works out immediately. During our visit, one of the professors took us sightseeing at Park City, and we got some pictures of Evan training for the bobsled team and playing in the snow.


We spent some time house hunting in Salt Lake City during our visit this week, and are in the process of buying a home. The offer has been agreed upon and we have inspection on Monday, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that all goes smoothly. This has been a crazy process because it was only two weeks ago that we found out that there was a good chance we would get the offer, and now we've accepted and are moving in just 2 months!

Thanks to all who have prayed with us through the high points and low points over the last year or so. We are very excited to see how God is planning to use us in Salt Lake City. We are also praying that Evan adjusts well to the move - if we get the home we have the offer on, Evan will have a nice big backyard to play in, so maybe that will smooth the transition.

Not quite beach weather

A few weeks ago, we decided we needed to get out of our Boston apartment for a few days, so we headed up to Portland, Maine. One of the highlights of the trip was walking out to Crescent Beach on Cape Elizabeth. The road is closed in winter, and it of course didn't completely register that this meant we would be pushing the stroller through snow and ice.


However, the sun was out and the view was beautiful, which made it completely worth the effort.


On a completely unrelated note, Evan's head gets very sweaty when he takes naps (likely because we put him in lots of layers of warm clothes thinking that this will lull him into sleeping for an extra half hour), so he often wakes up with a really funky hairdo. Today's was particularly impressive, so I though we would share.

I hate to admit part of me is kind of proud of this

Ever since Evan was born, I've been promising to take him to the climbing gym with me. But, lately he's decided that our apartment can also function as a perfectly good climbing gym. Step 1: pick up car and set down in front of chair. Step 2: use car as stepstool to mantle onto chair. Step 3: grab handhold of window ledge and climb onto chair armrest. Step 4: bring feet up to window ledge and stand on tiptoes to get the best view. Step 5: look at Mommy with a face that says "why do you look like you are about to have a heart attack?"

Christmas!

Okay, so blog updating has not been my strong point lately, but hey, these things happen. The Heemstra family enjoyed a fun Christmas, complete with our biannual 1000 mile car trip from Boston to Chicago to see John's family. Nicky shook the whole way, and Evan stared at him with curiosity in between playing with toys. We then flew to Phoenix to see my family and Evan was once again a real trooper for a long travel day. We enjoyed a nice break from the job hunt, and Evan got to spend lots of good time with his Grandparents.


In the last month, Evan has also picked up a new hobby - sweeping the house. He's very much into emulating everything that we do, which leaves me a bit bewildered as to how he learned how to use a broom and dustpan. He is a bit dangerous with the real broom (think clearing off a table top in one fell swoop) so we had to find him a more Evan-sized version. As you can see, it also doubles as a very nice pony.