myJaxonIf we don’t go crazy once in a while, we’ll all go crazy. - Hawkeye

In January, Grandpa and Grandma Smith celebrated their 50th anniversary with an Open House. The only thing they had to do with the party was that they had wanted a family picture done. It’s been awhile since we’ve had one and we’ve gotten a lot bigger since then. Oddly enough, we’re not finished growing either. There are still three more grandchildren who need to find husbands (although one has found one, she just needs to get him to propose) and that isn’t including the great-kids that will be popping up soon. My grandparents are thrilled with the way the family keeps growing. For their anniversary, the family gave them a vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, but they are not going alone. They get to have the entire family with them on this trip. That’s right, all of us in the picture will be spending a week in one house. That is going to be one interesting week. Especially since a lot of us are planning on relaxing that week and I know Grandma is going to be planning out the entire week with events. Hopefully, we’ll all live through it.

February was relatively quiet and things didn’t start heating up until March. Jesse was contacted for a job back home in Grand Rapids (yes, we consider this home). After a few phone interviews and some serious debate on our end, Jesse accepted the position and we started planning our move back to Michigan. However, before we could move back, we had a few things to take care of first…namely, the parents.

Mom and Jerry came out for an extended weekend at the end of March and Jesse’s parents came out the following weekend. Since it was his parents first trip out to see us, we wanted to stick around so they could see where we had been for the past 18 months. With this being the last two weeks of our living in DC, I wanted to make sure that mom and Jerry saw what they wanted to see as well as see something I haven’t had a chance to see yet. Since mom and Jerry had been out, there wasn’t a lot that they haven’t seen. We did find one thing though - the National Zoo. I never got a chance to go out there, so we did it. Once they left, Jesse and I had about 36 hours to ourselves before his parents came out. This was their first visit to the Capitol in a long time, and they wanted to get to some of the monuments. They knew that Jesse and I had seen a lot of them multiple times, so we tried something new. An after dark DC tour. While the concept was brilliant, the implementation needed a lot of work. Either way, they came, they saw, and then they left with my husband. That’s right, Jesse went with them back to Michigan. With him, he took the cats plus a van and car load of our stuff. His parents left on the 12th and Jesse wanted to have a bed up there with him. He didn’t want to have to wait another three weeks. The movers came on the 13th and we had our new apartment filled with our worldly possessions on the 14th. With the new apartment, we were able to do something for the very first time - we painted the walls. While it’s still an apartment, it feels more like home after the paint job we did on the walls.

We’ve been back in Michigan for about 2.5 months now and while we’re glad to be back and near family and friends again, there have been times that we started thinking this wasn’t a good idea; but we’ll see what happens.

July had me heading to the Outer Banks in North Carolina with the family. For the grandparent?s 50th anniversary, the entire family decided to give them a vacation and we were all tagging along. For 7 days and 6 nights, all 14 of us were living under the same roof. It was definitely interesting and a lot less drama than I thought there would be.

The end of the month brought Jesse and I some good news. Doctor confirmed and everything, I was 8 weeks pregnant with our first child. We had been trying for a couple of months, but it was still a shock to the system.

August brought us some bad news. Jesse was laid off from the job that brought us back to Michigan. That was definitely a shock to the financial system, but we?re dealing with it. However, this wasn’t all that bad as Jesse was dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety and he?s been a lot better since leaving the job. Either way, we?re planning on staying in the area unless a really good opportunity arises.

In September, Jesse and I went camping with four of our friends. This was the first time the two of us went camping together and we both had a lot of fun. We pitched a tent at Orchard Beach State Park in Manistee, Michigan and while the weather was a little cooler than expected and after the initial shock of the tents not holding up to the rain, the weekend went smoothly and we?re already talking about doing it again next year.

In October, Jesse and I celebrated three years of marriage (and seven years of just being together). There are times when it doesn?t seem that long and yet it seems like forever. On our anniversary, we found out that we were having a boy in March. It took us awhile to come up with a name, but we settled on Ian Hawthorn and even set up his own website. We still have a girls name (Zoe Illyria), but we won?t have to use it this time around.

November came and went, while December brought us some good and bad news. Jesse was offered a position with Entertainment Publications, however, that meant we were moving again, but this time to Rochester Hills, Michigan. While we tried to stay in the Grand Rapids area, we came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t feasible any longer. Either way, the year ended on a positive note and we?re hurrying around to get everything ready for when Ian will join our family.