Excitement from 2011

Well 2011 came and went in a blink of an eye- which is why I had absolutely no time to blog about it! This year I will strive to do better, and keep you all updated on what is going on in our little world! It was a very busy year for us- with work, school, and Hank's business endeavors- we didn't have much time for anything else! I am going to attempt to update you from last years excitement!

Hank was finally able to accomplish one of his goals and start his own company- Eng Solutions and enabled him to go out on his own to do IT Consulting, he is currently working on two separate projects which tends to keep him pretty busy- but he enjoys it. He spent the majority of the year inventing Screen-Wear. Getting the copy right, buisess license, patent, product development, testing the material, and creating an e-commerce website. The product officially launched a couple months ago and is doing very very well, so all of his hard work is definitely paying off!

My goal for 2011 was to FINALLY graduate, so I spent most of the year focusing on my studies. Taking 3 classes each semester and working part time at the farm! I am very happy to announce that I accomplished my goal and got my Bachelorts Degree in Business Management!! I feel a huge sense of accomplishment and relief. I am grateful for my very supportive husband that helped me all along the way and my sister inlaw for tutoring me in finance and managerial accounting- I couldn't have done it without them!

I found a passion of running this year! Some friends and I trained and ran the DC Ragnar in September and then my good friend Brittany and I continued training to run the Richmond half marathon in November. My goal was to finish in under 2 hours- we barely made it, finishing in 1:59! Both were huge accomplishments for me and I hope to continue my running this year!
















Bandon's mom got married this year so they moved to Fairfax, which meant he had to switch schools. He adjusted really well, has lots of friends, tons of girls after him, and has managed to take excelerated classes and maintain A's and B's! He is very active and involved in several extracurricular activities. He plays the base in the school Orchestra, and it teaching himself the cello, he plays lacrosse and is on the schools wrestling team. We are so proud of his many accomplishments and hope that he will continue doing his best!












We found an amazing unique little neighborhood in Gainesville that is on a lake and it was just too perfect to pass up. Those types of neighborhoods don't really exist in the Northern Virginia area- so we are building a beautiful house that should be done by March 10 (hopefully sooner). We are very excited, this will be our first house together and also very grateful for all of Hank's hard work that has enabled us to be able to afford to put a private living area in the basement for Hank's parents and his little sister, where they will be more comfortable!









We put our town house up for sale/rent last month and within a week or so we found the perfect candidate, who will be renting for the next 2 years!! He wanted to move in by December 15, which was bitter sweet moment! We were very grateful to find such a greater renter so quickly, but that meant that we needed to find a place to live until out house is finished! Luckily for us our friends Ben and Brittany Crane had just renovated their basement and turned it into a studio apartment- So we will be living in their basement for the next couple of months! It has a pretty good size room/living room, full bathroom, half kitchen (fridge, sink, hot plate, microwave oven) and a huge fenced in backyard that the girls absolutely LOVE! We are grateful to have it- it is a humbling experience and challenging at times! Took a bit of adjustment for all of us. Hank is struggling, he has no cable- so he has resorted to watching Netflix and The Big Bang Theory! The girls get a little depressed when both of us go to work, because one of their favorite past times is watching people out the window- but on the positive side they love to run free in gigantic backyard and go upstairs and play with Hallie and Kyle! Thank heavens for Brittany's willingness to let me use her oven on a regular basis or I might go crazy!

Last by not least my inlaws and sister-in-law are back from Cambodia after being gone for the past 10 months! We are very very excited to have them home! Also my sister-in-law Chantra got engaged a couple weeks ago and will be getting married in May! We are so happy for her, her and Brian make a great could and he will be a great addition to our family!