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.