HEEEEYYY-YOOO! Happy 2012 to all of you! All 3 of you. Thanks, Mom and Mama Hazen!
We thought we'd punch out the highlights of 2011 and after completing this post...I've now decided to write our 2012 goals in another post.
January 2011
After ringing in the new year, we settled back into studying (for Liv) and working (for Dana). During the beginning of the month, Dana's grandmother passed away. It was a very emotional time for the family but she lived a long full 93 years and we still remember and celebrate her love and spunk for life.
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| Pap and Gram Hazen in 2008 |
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February 2011
This second month was pretty busy for us...which is probably better because February always seems to take twice as long as every other month despite it's brevity. What's up with that?
My family and I had the opportunity to hang out with Gordon Gee at a basketball game in his private suite. For those of you saying "who the heck is Gordon Gee?" - he is the President of Ohio State and the most interactive/actually cares about the students college president there is. I'd be hard pressed to find an OSU student who hasn't had an experience with Gee and he's just a great dude. THAT was awesome.
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| Hipp Family hanging with Gee! |
We also took a trip to Holiday Valley in New York and went on a ski trip with our friends Ben and Dana Holt and their family. We stayed in this great cabin where you could literally ski out the back door down to the slopes. We also LOVE Ben and Dana. We even have a celebrity name with them - we're the Holzens. Anyway, we basically skied all day, ate delicious food, played ridiculous games, and were very tired out on our drive back home, but the good kind of tired - not the O M G those people are crazy kind of tired.
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| The crew for the weekend! |
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| Me and girl-Dana |
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| One half of the Holzens during a night run |
Another fun event in February, my mom turned 50!! I still don't know how we pulled it off but we threw her a big surprise party and so many of her friends and family joined us in Apple Valley to show her some love and give her some presents. It was a thrill - I have to say.
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| SURPRISE!!! |
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| I really love this sign |
Also, Dana fixed my trunk and I no longer had to drive with a bungee cord holding down the back of my car. Might as well have given me an Escalade! Best husband points awarded for sure.
March 2011
SPRING BREAK! We took another trip out to Washington and got to see two sets of our favorite people out there. I've already dedicated several posts to our adorable nephew Jeriah if you would like to watch the videos again :) We had a wonderful time just hanging out with April, Jordan, and Jeriah in Bellingham and loved how normal and "hey, I just live around the corner" it felt to traipse around the town.
We were also able to swing down to Seattle and visit my BFF from high school, Meg and her boy-toy Ben. True to form - Meg had a list of, oh I don't know 37 things to do/see/visit in the city completely ignoring the fact that we were only going to be there for 2 days. So we scrapped the list, went out to dinner, drank some good wine, ordered midnight sushi, and called it a night. The next day, Meg and Ben went to work and Dana and I rode into the city and explored the Market. Washington might be one the coolest states. After a fun packed week, we reluctantly headed back to Ohio.
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| Jamming...the toddler way |
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| The boys playing on the iPad |
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| Enjoying a day in the city :) |
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| Meg looks cute...Dana looks like he's in mid-sentence |
April 2011
In a word, NUTS. April was nuts. School was intense, Dana was working hard at JCP, I was training for another half marathon, attending bridal showers for beloved friends, but the most time consuming was tying up all the lose ends from a Job Fair event I put on for my school after a year of planning. Whoa...no pressure or anything. In the end, the event went amazingly well, but I believe I got about 4 hours of sleep and lived off of anxiety fumes the two weeks before April 28th finally came to a head.
LUCKILY, April 29th was the perfect day to celebrate the exhausting work from the past year...because of this happy couple.
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| The Kiss! |
AHH...The Royal Wedding :) To say I'm a fan, would be an understatement. To say I'm mildly obsessed with all things blue sapphire, shiny dark hair, and Windsor family crests would be a statement. To say I google Kate Middleton on a regular basis, would be a fact. And I don't even care. Just like Diana was to the generation before me, Princess Catherine is my cup of tea. Check out that british reference....TEA!
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| That hair! That dress! That smile! |
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| I'm pretty sure 2nd Anniversary is blue Sapphire! |
May 2011
May started with a bang! Literally. On May 1st, at 7:00 in the freaking morning, I heard the gun go off and suddenly I was running...in the rain....in 50 degrees...for 13.1 miles. My old roomie Laura and I completed the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati (aka the Nasty). I trained for 3 months. She woke up the day before and said, "sure, I'll run with you". That girl is a baller. So that was fun.
After the run, I got in my car (remember the bungee is gone so I'm looking fly) and drove 4 hours (p.s. don't sit for 4 hours after running) to Alliance, OH to support my sister in law Ashley as she opened tons of pretty things for her new home with her soon to be new husband Joe. Ashley is a great gift opener too which I know sounds weird, but it's not. You've all been at that party where someone is on display opening their gifts and either says thanks and barely looks at the gift before moving to the next one or tells a 20 minute story about each measuring cup and what it means to her. Ashley DOES NOT do this. She's the perfect little story teller :)
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| BFF Laura at the finish line |
Jeriah and April also made a trip home to Ohio during this month! So did little Ebenezer, but he was still cooking so we didn't get to meet him. But his big brother had us entertained for hours and hours.
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| Love him |
During this month, we were asked to be "models" for our friend Luke who was getting his portfolio established because he's a stinking fabulous photographer and the whole world needs to know
His Website!! I think I must have still had the Royal Wedding Glow because there's no way I'd be asked to model without a little help from my girl PK (that's Princess Kate for all you commoners out there). It was super fun! We went to German Village which was very apropos since that was the place where Dana proposed a few years earlier. That's where the photo from the top of our blog comes from btw.
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| This is a pretty normal pose. We strike this one at least 3x a day. |
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| He really does make me laugh everyday. I didn't have to pose for this one. |
Dana got a bike!! A road bike! Thus began the bike obsession although not quite to the extent of me and the Royals. He was able to start riding on trails and get some great workouts in. I'm sure that one of his 2012 goals is to "ride my bike more" and possibly ride Pelotonia? At least I hope so. He can do it :)
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| Extreme! |
We ended May 2011 with a Memorial Day weekend full of laziness, tan lines, and eventually...sunburns. It was fabulous. We spent the weekend with our small group friends and truly welcomed summer back to land of the Buckeyes. Looking back, I'm glad we took that time to chill because the coming months would have us begging for more time to relax with each other.
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| Girls sitting by the pool... |
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| ...Boys playing in the pool |
June 2011
Weddings. Anniversary. Birthdays. Road Trips. Fieldwork. New City. Hello Summer.
We started June by celebrating Erika and Adam's wedding. It was beautiful. It was a blast. Best of all it was 2 friends starting their life together. And on a side note, we are incredibly pysched they now live a mere 4 blocks away from us!
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| Mr. and Mrs. Hines! |
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| We do love weddings. |
After the fun of this wedding, reality started to sink in. I was getting ready to move myself and most of my belongings (okay my books) to the Nasty (remember that's Cincinnati) to start my 3 month clinical fieldwork at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. I didn't realize how hard it would be to be away from my husband, my home, and my community for that long. Not that I was miserable or anything...because I really wasn't. It just wasn't the same as being home though. On the much brighter side though, Laura (my flying pig buddy/roomie) generously offered her home as a place for me to live rent free AND spend some much needed time together since we now live in different cities.
So, I started working as a student OT. LOVED the kids. Really loved the people I was working with. Basically, I was very quickly realizing that pediatric occupational therapy was becoming my niche.
Dana took a road trip to Connecticut to attend a Seminary Summit at Yale University. I told him to call me if he saw Rory Gilmore...I guess he didn't see her. He went with several people he goes to seminary with at Ashland and has more stories (both hilarious and insightful) from that trip than I have attempts to convince Dana to fly me to Kensington Palace to live unnoticed with the future King and Queen of England.
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| Rory-being all scholarly at Yale |
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| He's a pretty handsome pastor to be :) |
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| Some of the crew for the week |
June 18, 2011 - One year of marriage and we weren't living in the same city...not exactly what I thought it would look like in 2010 but we worked with it. I came home on Friday after my first week at Cincy Children's and Dana had cooked me a fabulous dinner of steak....and probably some veggies and potatoes and some delicious dessert, but I was just focused on the steak. I love steak.
Saturday was our actual anniversary and what better way to spend in than at a wedding. Our friends Meg and Andrew Peterson got married in a picturesque ceremony and we loved being part of their day. Both of them were in our small groups in college and we were able to watch their relationship grow from friendship to dating to engaged to marriage. Great People.
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| Mr. and Mrs. Peterson |
Back to Cincinnati I went until June 25, 2011 when the Hazen family reunited again to celebrate Ashley and Joe and watch them get married. They were both so happy and loved their backyard garden wedding.
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| Sisters looking on |
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| Mr. and Mrs. Hagan |
Also, I'm the worst wife ever. Dana turned 25 on June 27th this year and I wasn't even able to bake him a cake or give him a card in person! This wouldn't be so bad except that the year before I completely forgot as well because we were on our honeymoon/had just planned a killer party for 300 people. Get ready for birthday 26 because I have a lot birthday party making up to do.
July 2011
We spent the 4th of July at the Cabin with my mom, Mike, and various family members that were in and out. During that weekend, you could have found me in the boat with a book in one hand and a drink in the other or....no wait....that's all I did. I love the 4th. It's my second favorite holiday next to Christmas and there's something that feels incredibly right about celebrating on a boat. Props to Mike for having a boat!
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| Bobbing in the lake |
A few weeks later, we participated in the annual Breathe Festival that our church holds every summer for the 20 something community. Basically, you camp in a field and worship, listen to great teachings, give and receive powerful prayer, and then get bitten by bugs because you're outside for 3 days.
We camped with our small group and it was awesome. Not only because we know great people but because we somehow found the gourmet campfire chefs in the forms of Macie and Seth Schroeder. While other fools were knawing cold hot dogs and melted together gummy bears, we were dining on blackened spiced chicken breasts, roasted asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes. My kind of Camping!
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| Our campsite at Breathe |
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| We had great seats inside the tent! |
Dana was on the Breathe Team this year so he did a lot of the planning and organization that goes into this event. He wore a name tag.
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| See----the nametag |
The following weekend I was in the wedding of our friends Megan and Colin Bellantis. We met them last summer and they started coming to our small group. Megan picked out the CUTEST bridesmaid dresses and her wedding was rustic, soft, and elegant. We had a great time dancing the night away :)
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| I mean how gorgeous is this wedding |
August 2011
August 13, 2011 - Yet another epic Hipp/Kluding family wedding that entirely lived up to expectation. My big cousin Marissa married her dream hunk Matthew and she could not have looked more beautiful. The dancing was almost as fun as watching the dancing on DVD months later and it was just a perfect night. Love the Dellisanti's!
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| Kluding Cousins! |
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| Cousins! |
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| Hipp Cousins! |
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| Mr. and Mrs. Dellisanti! |
Now living in the Nasty is starting to get hard. I miss Columbus and I'm treating a full case load of kids...I'm a little restless. What better than a weekend with Dana! Dana came down to Cincinnati and we attended the Cincinnati Open and watched the men's semi-final matches and it was pretty awesome. I really like how at pro tennis matches, you get to basically walk around with the players. The set up is so open you almost forget you're at an event that's being broadcast on TV! It was incredibly fulfilling for me to get involved with something that my husband takes so much joy from and we were able to share it together.
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| Tennis! |
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| Dana's man crush |
September 2011
My last day at Cincy Children's is here. And although I'm ready to go back to Cbus, it was a hard to say goodbye to the kids and to the people and relationships I had made along the way. I am so grateful for the time I had there.
Next up....CHICAGO! Dana and I got cheap flights, planned our days to the max, and had a blast exploring this city that neither of us had been to. We visited everything: Wrigley Field, Millenium Park, Navy Pier, Michigan Ave, Sears (now Willis) Tower, and tons more. Chicago was great and we are looking forward to visiting more unexplored cities together.
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| The skyline |
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| hardcore hotdog |
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| So shiny |
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| It's a concrete jungle! |
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| Just awesome |
Started over again as a student OT and began my second 3 month clinical fieldwork at the Inpatient Rehab section of OSU's hospital. It was very different than pediatrics and ripped me out of my comfort zone. I'm glad I experienced this setting and it definitely made me a better clinician.
Then we went to another wedding. No seriously, it was time for Wedding #6. This time Dana's cousin Tim got married. We ate, we watched vows, we threw bird seed, and had a great time. How can you not have a great time at a wedding?
October 2011
We watched a lot of Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. Dana made pumpkin everything. I ate everything Dana made. We carved pumpkins and went to a pumpkin/fall fun farm - we were definitely the oldest people there without kids WIN!
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| Why not? With our friends Kelli and Kyle! |
Dana started Seminary this month! After years of knowing his life would take this turn, he finally started on his dream and I'm so proud of him. So we switched places, I was the one now coming home in the evenings while Dana studied all day.
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| Dana is a serious studier! |
My cousin Lizzie got engaged!!!! To her high school sweetheart Nathan. Her surperb roommate Megan organized a surprise engagement party for them and I had to keep the secret for an entire week!! It was torture but totally worth it because their engagement night was a blast. And now I cannot wait for the 3rd year in a row of a Hipp/Kluding Wedding. I hope they invite the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!
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| Almost newlyweds |
November 2011
I turned 25 this month! And to celebrate my quarter of century of life...I applied for jobs. Many of them, just waiting for the right one to say "sure, you're qualified"! In the middle of job searching though, I was able to go out with my family to celebrate! The Hipps came down and we all had things to celebrate which was too fun: Uncle Dan had a birthday, Eddie and I had our birthdays, Lizzie and Nate engagement, Marissa - a newlywed...TOO FUN.
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| Birthday Dinner with the fam! |
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| 25 candles |
A couple weeks later we ate too much turkey at my mom's place on a little day known as Thanksgiving. It was delicious and relaxing. After Thanksgiving, Dana and I bought a real, live Christmas Tree. Did you read that correctly....AFTER THANKSGIVING...talk about growth on my part :) We decorated the tree and the apartment and listened to a little Buble Christmas while doing it.
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| Christmas Tree in all its glory |
December 2011
A very good month.
Our second nephew Ebenezer James was born on December 3rd and he is PERFECT. We can't wait to meet him and until that time are living through pictures and skype :) We love you, Nezer!
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| Jeriah Daniel and Ebenezer James |
After six and half years, I graduated with my Masters in Occupational Therapy. It was a great feeling receiving that degree but there was still so much I had to do. Step 1 - Find a job. Step 2 - pass my boards. The day after I graduated, I had an interview with Nationwide Children's Hospital. After two LONG weeks during which I doubled the amount of Kate Middleton googling just to keep my mind off the interview...I heard back. They offered me the job - YES PLEASE. Oh sweet relief. Christmas was extra joyful and I was ridiculously grateful. Praise God. Step 1 - check. Step 2 - in progress.
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| I did it! |
Amidst the joyful noise of securing a job, Christmas brought many visitors: The Sisters, The Schroders, Heather and Laura, Dr. Burow to name a few. We are so blessed to have friends all over the country and in our beloved Columbus, OH. We rang in the New Year with my Sisters and their respective husbands/boyfriends. The Sisters is the name my high school girlfriends and I affectionately call ourselves because of how deep our friendships are.
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| Sisters - Christmas 2011 |
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| Sisters - Summer 2008 |
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| Sisters - Summer 2005 |
So there you have it. 2011 in the Hazen Home. Look out for a post about our 2012 goals and aspirations coming soon. Happy New Year!
