Good Morning Baltimore!

The last two weeks have been quite the adventure for us.  Just as we started feeling like we were getting into the groove of things here, we got some new exciting news....news that David has dreamed of since we have been dating.
David has been on the job hunt for the last year.  He had a job, but he didn't enjoy working with a cranky lady each day.  He had interviews here and there and we kept hoping he would be able to move on to a better job, but nothing worked out.
At the beginning of August David started interviewing for a job at one of the Big 4...there are four accounting firms that are the kings of the accounting world.  David had his first two interviews over the phone.  Then after a month of this, he finally heard that he was going to be flown out to Baltimore for an in-person interview.  He was just a tad bit excited.  While we were still aware that he didn't have the job yet, we couldn't help but think that as long as he didn't do anything socially wrong, he was hired.  They probably don't just fly anyone out for those interviews, but what if they did?
We went and got David a brand new suit and trimmed his hair and he gave me a preview of his interview attire to check for my approval and so he was looking so good!  He packed his bag, studied up on interviewing skills and was off to Baltimore.
He assumed he was going to be grilled and that this would be such a tough interview for such a big company and was very surprised...and relieved that it was casual Friday and his interview seemed to be just as casual.  He loved it!
He loved talking to people that he would be working with that were actually young and in the same stage of life as him.  People that had similar interests and that he could have an enjoyable conversation with.
But now the wait began.  We wondered how long it would take before he heard if he had the job or not.  He met up with my brother and went out to eat and they tracked down the Ravens NFL stadium...top priority I guess :)  Then he flew home and dreaded the thought of going back to his old job and possibly getting turned away from the new big and fancy one.
Monday came and we mentioned that it could be the day.  The first business day after the interviews that he could hear back about the job.  I was checking the phone and his email constantly for any news....and there was something.  They emailed him and wanted to chat with him about the interviews.  We only had one phone between us and I had it so I rushed on over and he gave them a call.
They had the best news he could have imagined...he got the job!  He got the new job with a huge pay raise, 10 times better benefits, and 1000 times better future job potential.
We are mostly excited to be heading out east.  We are on the hunt for a place to live...(too many places have bars on the windows...YIKES, no thank you!), trying to sell some stuff we don't want to haul across the country on our drive, and trying to figure out what we want to keep.  I will be leaving my soccer team, but they will only be without me for a couple weeks and my assistant coach is okay with finishing off the season for me.  I am sad to go, but it isn't worth it to stick around here to coach.  David also started up his window washing business a little over a month ago...he is sad to leave it since it has been doing really well and it picked up really fast, but we know there are bigger and better things in store for us in Baltimore.  This will be quite the adventure, but we are ready for some changes and for the big opportunities we can find out there.

Fire Ninjas

I am quite the super hero!  A couple weeks ago I realized that it was almost soccer season and I thought it would be fun to coach a kids team.  So, I emailed around to the different soccer clubs around here to see if they were in need of any coaches.  Coaching is 100% volunteers and usually one of the parents of the kids on the team steps up to coach, so it wasn't very likely, but I thought I might as well ask.

Lucky for me, there was a team that was in desperate need of a coach.  Apparently the club had called through the roster of kids to beg the parents to coach.  The called a meeting hoping that they would have better luck convincing a parent to step up if they talked to them in person.  If no one would step up and be willing to coach that season, then the team would be dissolved and done with.

This is where I came in!  They had called the meeting and were sad that this team was about to be done, and then they got my email.  They were thrilled but wondering who I was and why in the world would I want to coach "just for fun".  We chatted a bit and they realized I wasn't crazy and that they had a willing volunteer!

At the meeting they introduced me to the parents and my new team.  They were all grateful that I wanted to help, but I was so glad that none of the parents wanted to do it :)  We all got what we wanted!!

We have had our first week of practice and it has been really fun.  They are all 8 and 9 years old so most of them have the basics down.  There are a couple of air heads, but what team doesn't have those :) At the end of the first day, one boy came up to me, gave me a hug and said, "I love to play soccer so much and I am so happy you will be my coach.  Thanks a lot."  He is the sweetest boy, but he is serious about soccer and he is a really good player.

We weren't assigned a team name and so I let the boys decide on what they wanted.  I kept pushing for the Fireballs since that was my team name when I was little.  They liked it since it wasn't girly.  The boys submitted their favorite team names and we voted.  I had them vote with their eyes closed...they still peeked.  Some of the boys had their hands over their eyes with their fingers cracked so they could see and every time I would say a team name the boys who liked that team name would raise their hands.  The ones that were peeking would swing their head around and see what people were voting for...really sneaky :)  I was a little tempted to sway the votes and say Fireballs won the vote, but it came in a close second.  The majority wanted to be the Fire Ninjas.  I was surprised to see that the Killer Kittens came in 3rd...goofy boys!  These boys crack me up and I have already been karate chopped by one boy when I asked for a high 5 :)  It will be a fun season!

Mud Run

Over the weekend we went up to Bogus Basin, but there was no snow. ..luckily!  We had a friend watch Katelyn so that David and I could run the Dirty Dash.  It was pretty fun!  

We were running through the mountains on the slopes and there were obstacles about every mile over the 6 mile course.  Some of the obstacles were muddy and others weren't.  The first one was some hay bales that we jumped over.  They were 5 foot tall bales on an uphill.  By the last one were were getting tired and didn't realize how scraped up our shins and knees were.

Then there were some balance beams along the way.  Then we came to the tires.  The tires were tricky for me because there was a girl in front of me and to the side of me that I was trying to steer clear of and not land in the same tires as them.  David took his time through the tires, just taking them one at a time :)  We were a little bummed with these "boring" obstacles, but we knew the good ones were coming!

 The first "good" obstacle was nice and muddy!  We climbed over a slippery/muddy hill which seemed impossible to stay on your feet and it dumped us into a shin high mud soup pit.  Then we climbed through the swampy mud through some tunnels.  Then there were poles that you could either climb over or duck under.  We went over which we thought would be easier but we just got a lot of mud between our legs every time we straddled the pole to get over which was NOT good for more running.  We were nervous about rubbing our thighs raw, but they were just fine :)  Our shoes and our shorts felt a lot heavier after that mud pit and our shorts had a hard time staying on!

The next obstacle was this wall.  There were a few of these and some were 4 feet tall and some 6 feet tall.  We definitely didn't train for these!  There was mud sloshing around at the base of them where we were trying to jump from to get up.  The walls were really slippery and muddy too and one time David went to jump off and his feet slipped out from under him and he rolled nicely into the mud pit on the other side.  He didn't get hurt and I got a good giggle out of it!

 At the top of the mountain there was a beer chug, or for us there was a root beer chug.  They had a couple water stations along the way and those were nice and refreshing.  But root beer is not the refreshing drink you want when you still have 2 miles to run!  I drank half of mine before I realized how bad of an idea that was.  The last 2 miles were all down hill and we were burping and pulling our shorts up and mud was flinging off our bodies as we probably sounded like a pair of laughing elephants trudging down the mountain.

As we came to the finish line there was this huge slide.  I loved it!

 David was in the next lane over sliding on down.

 After the huge slide, we were greeted into the huge swamp of mud with kids all around the outside chucking mud at the racers.  One of them nailed me on the side of the head and took off running but I got him back :)

 I had to make sure they could see my number!

We made it!  This was such a casual race as they weren't really recording times...thank goodness!  There were teams that would dress up in costumes and had fun with capes, armor, tutus and waldo outfits.  It was such a fun, non-competitive race and we cleaned up pretty well in the freezing community showers.  I donated my muddy shoes to a show company that was collecting them to clean up and give to those that need them.  Such a fun race but I can't wait to run a real race soon to see how my running has paid off.  

I have a ONE year old!

I have often heard that your first and your last birthday have a lot of things in common.  You need help blowing out the candles on your cake, someone chooses who your friends are and does all the inviting, and you don't know what's going on during your own party.  

We celebrated Katelyn's birthday and we were definitely more excited than she was about the whole thing.  Well, I think I would have to say that I was a little more into it than David was once he realized she really didn't have a clue what the big deal was.  

Some people rent their own circus with a balloon-animal-making clown, bounce houses, carousals, water slides and invite half of the world.  We almost did that...you know us!    Just couldn't find the clown so we called the whole party off :)

Here's how we celebrated her special day...

This cake and cupcakes...writing with frosting is stinkin' hard!  I do not have a steady hand and those cupcakes were for family only because I used my fingers way to much and licked them every single time :)  The cake was safe to share though!

I made very attractive party hats.  They did a wonderful job of emphasizing any "extras" around our jaw lines being sure to let everyone know about our double chins.  Katelyn didn't dig in like I wanted her to.  She was very careful with the cupcakes and didn't even make a big mess.  She also didn't blow out her candle.  We tried to practice the whole week before, but she didn't get the idea of blowing.  She better be a pro by her next birthday!  

She was very thoughtful of others and wanted to share her cupcakes with Dad.  I don't think he minded at all :)

So sweet!

 The party hats weren't that flattering but we all wore them because I wanted them so badly.  Katelyn even wore hers to the store too :)  She sort of figured out that these bags had stuff in them...

...and she wanted to make sure Dad saw her new clothes as she tackled him :)

We love this little girl so much and never realized how happy she could make us.  We love having her around and being constantly entertained by her.  She may have drop dead stinky diapers that have to go directly outside, but she is so sweet and playful and we can't get enough of her!

I love that face of hers!  Such a precious girl looking so grown up and not so much like a baby any more!