{"id":9627,"date":"2023-12-31T23:27:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T07:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/?p=9627"},"modified":"2025-11-06T10:34:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T18:34:06","slug":"2023-december-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2023\/12\/31\/2023-december-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 – December part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hey again,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halfway through the month and almost done with the entire year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year blew by us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wanted to make sure that we still got out and saw some Christmas lights, despite things feeling so hectic this year due to having a new baby to care for. We spent a few nights going to various places and a few with some light shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Included a photo of Lijah (who adores his baby brother) and loves holding him. He takes off his shirt when he can and gives it to the little man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The last couple of photos show some home renovations! Big costs in the way of a new roof. Our roof was already on borrowed time. We ended up having some water damage near the edge of the roof (which nobody ever told us about). There was some flashing that wasn’t included from the last time (but should have been). Due to that, it made some of the base wet and rotten. You can see the leading front edge (in the photo above with the ladder) and where they removed some parts to replace the bad sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, we thought we were okay to hold off, but it’s good that we did it now. This roof comes with a 50-year warranty, so hopefully we won’t ever have to do this roof again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parents came to visit for Christmas until Luca’s birthday. They were excited because this time they were able to finally meet Ezra (photos below of the first time they held him).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we knew it, it was Christmas morning. Below is a photo of the kids on that morning before they opened gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One thing that Luca asked for was “Back in Time” cars. Not only did my parents get him some, we got him one as well. He loved every single one so much that when he went to take a nap, he fell asleep hugging all of the cars. Ever since we went to the Back to the Future event in September all of the kids (especially Luca) have loved all things having to do with Back to the Future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elijah got an Ecto-1 car from Ghostbusters. Naturally, Luca wanted that car too. Alas, he can’t have everything. For dinner, we decided to go to a local place to eat instead of having to cook dinner at home and try to help remove that stress from everyone (especially the wife).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riverhouse Bar and Grill, unfortunately, was not a place we should have gone. The food was bad, and we ended up getting more than half of our bill comped due to food quality issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rounding out the year with a photo of Ara loving on her new sibling. The same day, we took him in for his Circumcision. I must say, he took it like a champ. No joking about that at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the 31st, we went to find the Santas that are hidden each year around Portland every year. Later that evening, we went to “Bing in the New Year” in Milwaukie and saw the first ever “Bing” drop. Since the Bing cherry originated in Milwaukie, they did something locally that everyone could go to (and it was a free event). We all enjoyed it and hope they continue to do something similar every year moving forward. Since it was a “family” friendly event, they had the Cherry drop at 9 pm PST (noon EST).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that’s it for 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024 is upon us! Now we will watch the new year come in by streaming the final minute of the year and watching the Space Needle (the event we went to last year) as it is local and better than watching a pre-recorded ball drop from New York. Don’t get me wrong, we will still watch the NYC ball drop, but for the live event, we will watch the Space Needle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy New Year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

just Pray<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey again, Halfway through the month and almost done with the entire year. This year blew by us. We wanted to make sure that we still got out and saw some Christmas lights, despite things feeling so hectic this year due to having a new baby to care for. We spent a few nights going…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/dec18-roof2.jpg?fit=1175%2C881&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2825,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2017\/01\/31\/2017-january\/","url_meta":{"origin":9627,"position":0},"title":"2017 – January","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"January 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"January! Spent the first few minutes of the day drinking some bubbly as we rang in the new year. Always spending it the same way, watching the ball drop in New York. I really do wish they had something cool like that for the West Coast. Why not do a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/jan4.jpg?fit=698%2C931&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/jan4.jpg?fit=698%2C931&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/jan4.jpg?fit=698%2C931&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5478,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2021\/01\/06\/2021-january-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":9627,"position":1},"title":"Luca Isaiah","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"January 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Twenty-twenty-one! Amazing. When I was little I thought it would be cool to see flying cars when we got to 2015. Here we are years after that- but still no flying cars. Instead, we are dealing with a global pandemic. 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We were so excited to meet our new baby boy. After taking a photo outside of the hospital we made our way inside. They checked us in (felt like check-in at a hotel except with a much-much-much-much larger bill). I had to change into my\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleepybeach.jpg?fit=1115%2C836&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleepybeach.jpg?fit=1115%2C836&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleepybeach.jpg?fit=1115%2C836&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleepybeach.jpg?fit=1115%2C836&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleepybeach.jpg?fit=1115%2C836&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2841,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2017\/02\/28\/2017-february\/","url_meta":{"origin":9627,"position":3},"title":"2017 – February","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"February 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey, These updates are becoming easier to do. I think I like the whole \"one month update\" thing we have going. In the months when there are slim pickings we will combine a few. February has always been a birthday month. First was my mom, then Arabella. You can see\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/birthdatrain.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/birthdatrain.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/birthdatrain.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/birthdatrain.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/birthdatrain.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2928,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2017\/06\/30\/june-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":9627,"position":4},"title":"June – 2017","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"June 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"After we got back to the house we saw an event for the Phoenix Art Museum, a free day. It was during the week but since we had the week (and month) off, we decided to go. It honestly was a lot cooler than I expected. 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