Has the Bougainvillea recovered?

We got a Bougainvillea plant when we lived in San Jose. It seemed to do really well there for us. Then we moved to LA. From that point on, the plant seems to be in a state of suspended animation. All of its' leaves will fall off and it will appear to have completely died, then a couple leaves will come back, it will bloom... on and on. But it never appears fully healthy.

Now it has a bunch of leaves on it. Is this the the re-dawning of the bougainvillea? Will it now surge into a thriving plant?

The part of this which drives us crazy is that bougainvillea grows like a weed in LA. It grows by the side of the freeways into bushes that appear more like trees. I keep threatening to transplant ours into the median on our street, where i'm sure it will triple in size within 6 months.