Tay's 1st Christmas and Birthday

We spent Taylor's 1st Christmas in Juneau Alaska with lots of family. Taylor got to meet all of her Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and Grandparents. We spent Christmas Eve at Marks dads house. It was a night to remember. There were 33 people there opening presents! All can I say it fun and chaos. Taylor wasn't old enough to really understand what was going on but she sure loved all the boxes, bows, and wrapping paper! She also threw a few fits when Mom or Dad could not get the toys out of the boxes fast enough. We spent Christmas morning with my dad, step mom, stepsister and grandparents. It was much more relaxed and quieter. Taylor was to distracted by her new toys to really even watch what we were doing. Then we headed off to Marks moms house for the afternoon where Taylor proceeded to take a 3 hour nap and sleep the afternoon away. Since we were leaving to come back home on the 27th we decided to celebrate Taylor's birthday a few days early so everyone could be there. Once again it was a day of fun and chaos. Taylor loved the cake but was not to sure about the frosting. She got her hands covered in frosting and was not too happy about it. Once we got them clean and gave her a cupcake with NO frosting she was much happier and ate the whole thing!

People say the 3rd times a charm, well in Taylor's case that is true. My dad sat down with her to open her presents and she went to town. She was ripping the paper off the boxes and digging in the bags to find the treasure!

It was so cute to watch her get all excited! Over all it was a great holiday season, but we are sure glad to be home again. Yesterday was Taylor's actual first birthday and we just had a few friends over for dinner and cake. Once again she loved the cupcake but not the frosting. It is hard to believe that she is already 1 year old and walking everywhere.

Long time no blog!

You could say that the Mesdag life has not been slow lately. Since my last blog we have taken Taylor on her first camping trip, gone to Canada numerous times, had friends visit, gone to the Seattle Seahawks - Philadelphia Eagles football game, and played way too much disc golf. Taylor has grown and changed so much it is unbelievable. She is now a crawling feen. She has also learned to pull herself up on any piece of furniture and walk behind anything she can push! We got to watch her latest discovery unfold before us. While Mark and I were having a nice lunch together Taylor was in her highchair with some cheerios to munch on. She must have decided that she was full, because all of the sudden she just started busting up. We turn to look and see what is so funny, and found her dropping her cheerios over the side and busting up when Max (our golden retriever) would scarf them down! We knew we were in trouble but couldn't stop laughing long enough to take away the cheerios. It is now to struggle to know if Taylor really wants some cheerios to eat or if she just wants them to feed to Max! Mark has been busy traveling with work for the past 2 months but it is now slowing down as the holidays approach. We have really enjoyed our move to Bellingham. It is a lot like Juneau but not nearly as much rain despite what people here say.

Birch Bay State Park

Mark and I having been looking forward to getting to spend more time at the ocean now that we live close to it again. Last Saturday we went to explore Birch Bay with Katie, Ted and Lizzy Heidersdorf. It was a ton of fun. It was a sunny and hot 85 degrees here in Bellingham. That is the hotest it has been since we have been here. Since it was so hot we decided to let the girls play in the ocean for the first time and boy did they love it. They had a hay day splashing in the water and playing in the mud. The dog had a wonderful time too! After exhausting ourselves out in the ocean we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the sun on the warm sand. Hopefully this is just the begining of many Saturday afternoons by the ocean.

Joining the blogging party

Since I have been horrible at keeping everyone up to date this past year I have decided to join the blog party train. I will do my best to keep this up with the adventures of our crazy life. Here is a quick recap of what has been happening. Mark graduated from Whitworth University last May with a BA in Accounting. He was offered and accepted a job with a public accounting firm in Spokane called Moss Adams. Shortly before his graduation we were both surprised to find out that I was pregnant! Life quickly started becoming more crazy. Mark started studying for the CPA exam and working full time while I prepared as much as possible for our new arrival. I was due on December 28th. I quit my job so I could stay home with the baby shortly before Christmas. Mark got his tax credit just in time! Taylor Noelle Mesdag came into the world at 9:55am on December 30, only after a little threatening of induction. She was 8lbs 9oz and healthy as ever. Mark was able to stay home for a week before he had to head back into the office for the start of busy season, and busy it was. He was working 50-60 hour weeks and coming home to a colicky baby. Taylor challenged us with that for about 3 months. As soon as busy season ended it was back to studying for Mark. He had passed 1 of the 4 tests before Christmas so only 3 left to go. He passed the next 2 tests without any hiccups. Just as he started to study for his last test we requested to be transferred to Bellingham, WA. We have been living in Spokane for the past 7 years and were ready to see some mountains, ocean, green trees and rain again. We were flown over to the Bellingham office for a visit and interview in mid-June. A few days after the interview they called us with an offer. We were expecting them to ask for an August 1st start date. Boy were we wrong! They asked if Mark could start July 1st. That would give us 2 weeks to pack up, move and sell our house. We requested a little longer time frame and they kindly gave us until July 7th. So we got home and quickly started packing and getting the house ready to be put on the market. Mean time Mark was still working full time and studying for this last exam. Mark took his test on July 3rd, we packed the U-haul July 4th, and moved July 5th. We weren't able to move into our rental until July 6th, so we had to stay the night at our landlords house. That was interesting. We moved in the evening of July 6th. I had already made plans to go on a vacation with some of our Spokane friends to Washington DC. Our plane left out of seattle the morning of July 9th. So I spent the 7th and 8th unpacking as much as I could and packing for DC at the same time. Taylor and I had a wonderful time in DC. We stayed with my Uncle and his wife in Fairfax, VA. We saw a lot, ate a lot, and slept a little. We arrived home the evening of the 18th and life is finally slowing down a little. Mark is just working full time and waiting for the results of his last test. Taylor and I are working on settling in to our new home. We love Bellingham and have enjoyed going on hikes or to parks almost every evening. We look forward to seeing what life has in store for us next.