Sandy’s Family at a Family Party

Sandy is extremely close to her family; she has one older sister, Annalise, who is an elementary school guidance counselor. Annalise is married to Mike. (Mike happens to be adopted). He also works in education as a Technology Director at a local high school. Derek and Sandy are the godparents to their 5 year old daughter, Rory and they are the godparents to their 3 year old daughter, Lily Grace. The two girls are the best of friends and love every minute they are together (which is quite often). Sandy's mom lives next to her sister and helps with babysitting both granddaughters since retiring after 30 years from teaching at an elementary school. Sandy's dad passed away over 13 years ago but is still a part of their lives through wonderful memories that they share. She has a large extended family with many young cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews that all live in her home town. She loves spending time with all of them and sees them often at family parties, barbeques, holidays and other occasions. Not a day goes by that she doesn't talk to both her sister and mom on the phone. They are all very supportive of each other and always lend help whenever needed.

With Derek’s Mom at a Triathlon

Derek grew up in a close-knit community on a farm where his mom currently lives. He has a strong relationship with his family as well spending much of his time helping out his mom with renovations around her house. He has one younger brother, Scott who is an artist and is currently a graphic designer at a local product company. Derek's mom never misses her weekly visits to their house spending the day with her granddaughter. They both love and look forward to their special time together and always find something new to learn about whether it's a nature walk, arts and crafts or reading books from the library - Lily Grace knows it will be a fun-filled day with grand mom.

Our Home

We live in a warm and cozy four-bedroom home on a quiet residential street of a suburban neighborhood that is just minutes away from the beach. The house has a sunny breakfast porch, big family room and eat-in kitchen, a finished basement that is now a playroom and a beautiful fireplace in the living room which we enjoy in the few colder months. Our backyard is perfect for barbeques and play-dates for our daughter and her friends since they all play on the playground set we gave her for her 3rd birthday. Riley, our Labrador Retriever, also enjoys our fenced in yard where he plays catch, sun-bathes on the patio and chases squirrels for fun.

Lily Grace and Riley

Our street is filled with children of all ages, ranging from 10 months to 10 years. We live in a close-knit community and have wonderful neighbors who have become our extended family. Lily Grace has made great friends on our street and loves to visit the 'new babies' in the neighborhood. We chose the town we live in mainly for the great schools and many family-oriented activities like parades, carnivals, sporting events, holiday festivals and many beautiful parks. The neighborhood kids love to come for a visit since we happen to have the best climbing tree on our front yard!