2011 Year in Review

In January of this year Justin and I went to Washington D.C. for a few days before school started. We had a lot of fun seeing the Smithsonians and such, even though it was VERY cold. Unfortunately, none of the food we had was very good. I would attribute this shortcoming to my pregnancy, as I was not quite past the morning sickness phase, but Justin agreed with me that the food was disappointing. Here is a picture of Justin and me in front of the Washington Monument.


In March we flew to San Diego, where we got to see Grandfather (my dad's dad) and both of my mom's brothers and their kiddos. Justin had never been to San Diego, nor had he met many of those relatives. The weather was beautiful. The purpose of our trip was to pick up Grandmarm's (my mom's mom) Passat, which we purchased, and drive it back to Houston. The drive back was fun- our last road trip together without babies. Unfortunately I failed to take any pictures of this whole trip (what???).

In May we bought our house. We began our house-hunting in January, and saw many so-so homes. In April we had a particularly depressing day of house-hunting in which our best option was a home that we referred to as the "bird house" due to the 2 dead birds found inside the house when we toured it. The next day we decided to slightly increase our price range, visited one house, and immediately agreed that we wanted to put a bid on it. About six weeks later we closed on the home and began the clean-up (it was a foreclosure). I am happy to report that we are feeling very settled in and thankful for our home. Here's a picture of Justin and me (about 6 1/2 months pregnant) on the day we closed. Bonus: in the foreground is a portion of the car we bought in March.


The biggest event of our year was the birth of our dear son, Ezekiel Thomas O'Shay, on August 17, 2011.

A week and a half later I went back to school. I had help from several friends who watched Ezekiel while I went to school, including lots of babysitting by my parents. I have found my interest in school to be a bit less than it was B.E. (Before Ezekiel). In October Ezekiel's baby cousin Isaac was born in Japan. Hooray!

In November we got to see my whole family, including Isaac for the first time. He and Ezekiel are already getting chummy.


We have just finished celebrating Christmas with the whole family.

We had a really good time seeing everyone, but it was bittersweet; we had to say goodbye to Luke, Amber, Titus, Joy, Apollos and Constantine. They have been part of our life for the last seven years and we are going to miss them a lot. But we're looking forward to seeing them in Anchorage!


Now we look forward to 2012, in which we hope to make new friends, see Ezekiel continue to grow and learn, and continue progressing in our school/work. Cheers!