Moving Forward

Although we cannot believe it, our time here on the east coast is drawing to a close. We have absolutely loved living in Connecticut and are sad to say goodbye to the pretty scenery and our newfound friends that we have made. While living here, we have had the chance to travel around and visit many beautiful sites. We have also enjoyed spending more time with Phillip's family. Here is a small glimpse at some of the fun we have had:

Our visit to the Mystic, CT Aquarium (April 11)

This truly was a wet day at the aquarium. We really enjoyed the east coast rain as well as the many different animals that were at the Mysitc Aquarium.

Sumpter Family visits us from Delaware (May 16-17)
Phillip's family made the journey north to come and stay with us in our little apartment for a short but fun-filled weekend. We enjoyed cramming into our little apartment and playing games together. We also drove around and visited some of the sites of Avon, Connecticut- including visiting the largest tree in Connecticut!

Our visit to Newport, Rhode Island (May 18th)

We loved traveling up to Rhode Island and seeing the beautiful city of Newport. We went and toured the Vanderbilt mansions which were unbelievable. They were huge and right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The scenery was breathtaking.

Robin's mom and sister Becky visit us from Utah (May 22-25)

We had tons of fun with my mom and Becky while they were here with us. We visited the city of Essex where we rode a vintage steam train and went on a ferry boat ride. It was a great way to see the beauty of Connecticut. We also went to Mystic where we shopped at many cute boutiques. We are so grateful that they were willing to make the long journey to come and see us!

Our Many Visits to the Sumpter Family in Delaware

We have had the chance to visit Phillip's family in Delaware about once a month while living here in Connecticut. While on these trips we have had fun riding bikes, going to the beach, celebrating Phillip's 25th birthday, playing tennis in their back yard, and many other fun activities.

Though it's hard to leave, we are extremely excited for our new adventure... law school!! Phillip is starting law school this August at BYU. We start our journey back west this Saturday. We are moving forward with our lives, and looking forward with much hope to the future.

Benjamin Rush Sumpter

After 6 wonderful months (26 weeks) of pregnancy, Robin gave birth to Benjamin Rush Sumpter on Friday, March 27, 2009. He had passed away peacefully inside of his mother a few weeks before delivery. He weighed 13.1 oz and was 10 inches long.

On Monday the 30th we had a graveside service for our little boy in Salt Lake. He was buried next to his cousin, Christian, who also passed away prematurely.

We are so grateful to call ourselves parents of a sweet baby boy who will be ours for eternity. We are grateful to all of the friends and family who have sent us their love and prayers.

Law School Results Are In!!

This year, Phillip applied to 3 different law schools across the country. Here are the results!:

-University of Virginia (top ten law school!): waitlisted

-Univeristy of Illinois: accepted

-BYU: accepted

We are SOOO excited! Right now we are planning on going to BYU unless we hear from Univ. of Virginia. We are looking forward to finally starting our law school adventure this fall!

Travel Across America Completed!!

We did it! We have reached Delaware safely after 6 days of travel! The last leg of out journey included going across the states of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware! The weather was great and we are happy to be out of the car. We got the chance to stop and visit two law schools on Monday- The University of Illinois and Ohio State. We especially enjoyed University of Illinois and are happy that Phillip has already applied there. We are now enjoying some time with Phillip's family before reaching our final destination in Connecticut.

Moot Court Room at the University of Illinois


Beautiful ice waterfall along the freeway

Phillip and our mounds of snack food! YUM!

Journey Across America: Part 2

Today we spent most of our time in the beautiful city of Nauvoo, Illinois. It was so much fun to walk where Joseph Smith has walked! We had a wonderful time. We then traveled across Illinois and are now in Champaign, where tomorrow we will visit the University of Illinois' law school.

Joseph Smith's home in Nauvoo

Carthage Jail and memorial to Joseph and Hyrum Smith

Bullet hole in door at carthage from the bullet that killed Hyrum Smith

In the room where Joseph and Hyrum were murdered.

Journey Across America: Part 1

Hey everyone! We are currently on our grand adventure across the country, where we will visit Phillip's family in Delaware and then head to our new home in Connecticut! We left on Thursday morning and so far have traveled through the states of Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois. We have now made it half way across the country! Our legs and backs are aching, but we are having a wonderful time!

The mighty travelers!

In Missouri we stopped and visited Adam-Ondi-Ahman. It was really cold, but really amazing to see the valley as seen below.

This is the beautiful Mississippi river at sundown. I took the picture from Illinois looking across at Iowa.


The beautiful Nauvoo temple!!


We will keep you posted on the rest of our journey. So far the weather has been amazing for which we are extremely grateful!

Major family update

It's been awhile since our last blog, so here is a little bit of what has been going on in the Sumpter family:



1. We're having a baby!!! This is probably not a shock to most of you, but we are VERY excited to be expecting our first baby on June 30! I am now 13 weeks along and doing very well. I had a rocky couple of weeks at first with bad morning sickness, but now I am so happy to be feeling great with a healthy baby inside!



2. We are moving to Connecticut! As we have mentioned before, Phillip has loved his insurance consulting job in Rexburg that he has been working at for almost a year now. As an added bonus, he was offered a position with the firm in Connecticut for the next couple of months. It is a great opportunity in which the company will pay for a furnished apartment and groceries. Phillip is really excited for the opportunity, and I am excited to enjoy the east coast for a little bit. We are leaving around January 5th in our trusty jeep and driving across the country. We are planning on stopping along the way in places like Nauvoo, and of course Delaware to visit Phillip's family. It is going to be so fun to be closer to them! (only about 4 1/2 hours away!) I will move back to Utah in May, and Phillip will come back in June. The entire journey will be such a fun adventure for us!



3. Phillip is on his way to law school! After deciding to wait a year before going to law school, we are very excited to be applying again for law schools across the country. At the beginning of December, Phillip took the LSAT again and did awesome! He scored a 161 (85 percentile)! We have already applied to BYU (our #1 pick) and are now trying to decide where else we would like to apply. He will start in the fall.



We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and hope you enjoy the new year! We will be sure to keep you updated on all of our adventures! (pictures will also be added later)