Thursday, December 15, 2011

The Masons Go West!

I know a lot of family and friends have been eagerly awaiting the results of where Jonathan's job will be sending us. As you can guess from the title, it looks like we will be packing up and taking the road trip out west to California!
We are very excited to see what God has in store for us on the West Coast and experience a whole different side of this great country.
Hopefully we will be able to stop and see some friends and family on the way out. If you would like to catch up with us in January as we make this journey, let us know! I have plans to be in Florida for a dear friend's wedding before I start driving either with or without Jonathan. We will know more in the coming weeks on how we are going to tackle this HUGE task!
Thank you to everyone during the past few weeks for your support with Jonathan's qualification. We are both very happy to start on the next step of this amazing opportunity!

All Our Love,

Janna and Jonathan

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Year End Recap!

Well you can say I don't have my act together yet as I am behind on Christmas Cards/Pictures/Year End Updates which are usually sent around this time of year. Luckily, I have this handy, dandy blog newly created by Yours Truly in which I will break down this last years events.

In the infamous words of Ms. Julie Andrews, "Let's start at the very beginning..." (For those of you who have no idea what that is from, think back to The Sound of Music. I dare you not to break out in song!)

January started with me waking up on New Years Day at 6am and taking Jonathan, Tori, and Sarah to the airport. We really enjoyed having the girls out to visit after spending Christmas without either family in Virginia. It was not such a lonely Christmas as I was able to experience 18 inches of snow for the first time. We were also able to spend time with Erin and JoEllen who came to visit mid-month and take a little excursion to DC. JoEllen and myself had never been to DC before and Jonathan was an excellent tour guide.


February I started working for a local Clinical Research Organization as a Administrative Assistant. I was able to pick up a lot of skills as this was a small company and I was depended on for the accounting, customer service, and everything to do with managing the office. I also met some really awesome ladies who helped with the lack of female interaction in my life at the time.

In March we took a trip to Annapolis, MD so Jonathan could show me his Alma Mater. He also decided to run his first Marathon. I'm very proud of all the hard work he put into training for such an amazing event, and I hope he gets to qualify for Boston this year!


April came with a two new additions to our family. Phoebe got two little brothers: Little Jerry Seinfield Mason and Brian Danger Mason came into our lives with so much love and loyalty. They are absolutely two of the most amazing joys in our lives. Phoebe likes them too... sometimes. We also got to take a trip to Florida to see my parents and thaw out on the beach!


I think the most important thing from May is I ran my first 5k race. I didn't do great, but at least I did it! And then I did it again and improved my time by 2 minutes. Jonathan also ran a Half Marathan with Drew Carey... and of course beat him. lol

In June we were lucky enough to take two trips to Ohio. Tori graduated from The Ohio State University (Go Bucks!) and Jonathan was in a good friend's wedding. We really enjoyed seeing family and friends and the awesome scenery of driving through the mountains in West Virginia.



July was kind of a bummer because I left my job due to a difference in Ethical and Moral Values between myself and my boss, but it gave me the chance to really start working on plans for the wedding. Also, Jonathan's work started to pick up so his schedule was very hectic! He also started to really get serious about carpentry by building a "cat tree".


August was great! I spent almost 2 weeks in Florida finalizing details for the wedding. I also got to let my hair down and spend time with most of my girlfriends at my Bachelorette Party!


September was spent again working on stuff for the wedding until Mean Irene decided to show her face. My friend Lindsay talked me into evacuating with her and her two cats. After my better judgement to stay was overuled (it would be my first ever Hurricane Evacuation in my life and I'm from Florida) we packed up and shipped out. We spent two nights in a hotel room with 5 cats, while at home Mean Irene moved through with nothing more than a few power outages. Our homes never lost power. I can honestly say I have learned my lesson to always trust my gut instincts.

October, October, October!! Finally our wedding month had arrived!! My Matron of Honor, Amanda, flew to Virginia and we drove down to Florida together. It was such an awesome experience to have both Jonathan's and my family together with our friends at one time. We really enjoyed the time we spent with everyone and we are so thankful everyone could be there!


After everything settled down from the wedding activities it was already November. Literally the time just flew by. Thanksgiving weekend was a great time to relax and spend time with some close friends. We decided against traveling and instead prepared a Thanksgiving feast for other people who couldn't make it home for the Holiday. We called it our "Orphan Thanksgiving". Erin also drove down from NY to spend the weekend with us. Jonathan did the Turkey Trot 10k and Erin and I did the Fun Run Miler (I know, it was a beast!) Then we geared up for Rivalry Weekend and had a good time watching football. Not too shabby for a Holiday weekend if I do say so myself!


Now that we have finally made it back to present time, I'm exhausted. I hope you enjoyed our Year in Review and we wish you all a Happy Holidays!!

Welcome!

Welcome to The Mason Jar! Jonathan and I decided it would be a great idea to start a blog so our friends and family will be able to hear about all the wonderful and new things happening in the journey we have started as "Man & Wife".

We have so much to share and hope you enjoy a glimpse of our life and experiences.
All Our Love,

The Masons