The Offer

Hey everyone, we are off to Montana tomorrow morning (for Shi's 10-year highschool reunion), but I wanted to let everyone know that I was offered a job with the PR firm today! I'll be accepting a position with a global Issues Management/PR firm tomorrow afternoon.

I've got a lot to do to get ready for the trip, so I'll give more details later.

Let's play catch up!

So a lot has happened since my playgroup adventure, and I really don't want to do too many additional posts, so I decided I'd give everyone a brief catch up session.

Last weekend my good friend Megan Engelhardt had a wedding reception in Connecticut. I grew up with her little sisters and I love their entire family, so when I learned that they would be gathering for the weekend, Shiloh and I had to make the trip. We went up and had a really great time. The reception was great - complete with tasty food, a chocolate fountain, cake and lots of dancing!

While we were there, my sibblings informed me that my presence on MySpace was not nearly as cool as if I had a profile on Facebook, and that I should set up a Facebook account. I decided to consider it.

Monday and Tuesday, Shiloh went to W. Virginia for a field trip :). While he was gone I got bored and got on Facebook. Apparently the children were right. There are tons of people that I haven't seen forever on there! I got back in touch with some old friends, and have really enjoyed playing around on it. Here's the link to my page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=523659185

Speaking of which, on Tuesday afternoon, one of these friends that I had lost touch with -- 12 YEARS AGO -- emailed me, letting me know that she is in DC, as well, and suggested we get together. Turns out, she works at the Pentagon, which is one metro stop from me! We got together that night. It was great to catch up.

Wednesday I met with a temp agency, so that I can do something with my summer. They let me know that they have great PR connections in DC and that they are sure they can keep me quite busy. That evening, however, I got an email from the original firm that I applied with (over a month ago) letting me know that they are trying to find a way to bring me on full time, and that they would have a final decision on Friday! Yay. As a bit of a celebration we took a stroll around DC and then went to see the Die Hard movie. I haven't ever seen one before, and I really enjoyed it. (Below are some pics from our stroll)



Not the most flattering picture, I'll admit.

Today we went to lunch with a man that works for the LDS Church office here in DC. He is an old friend of my dad's and it was really neat to get to know him and hear about his experiences here. Shiloh had a promising discussion with a bigshot at work today that gave him high hopes of a job offer in the future. We'll keep you posted.

My Day at Playgroup

I was invited to playgroup this week. I'd never been to playgroup before, and I've decided that the outing was great for the kids, but is also a nice reprieve for the moms. We visited the LDS Temple in Maryland and I was reminded how breathtaking it is when you come through all of the trees and the beautiful temple is there to welcome you. It was quite warm outside so we didn't stay long, but the kids seemed to like the outing.

Next we went to this great park, not far from the temple. One might actually be tempted to call it a carnival or fun park: it comes complete with a carousel and train ride. For $1.50 each we took a train ride through a very wooded area. I don't know if the kids loved it, but I had a good time taking pictures (as shown above).

By this point, playgroup was winding down. Kids were starting to get tired and hungry, so we called it a day. My neighbor (until Friday), Robin, let me ride with her and it was nice to get to know her a little bit before they leave. Her kids are adorable and very well behaved. I was quite impressed.

Overall, playgroup was fun. Maybe I'll go again next week.

Family Pics

Shiloh took last Thursday off, so we were able to hang out in Connecticut for another day. We took the opportunity while we were all in one place to take a Christmas card picture. Here are some individuals from the day, but you'll have to wait till December to get the full fam. (I know the suspense is torture)

Arrin & Ben

Ben & Adi

Chris

The 'Rents

Huh, I guess I didn't get any of Shiloh and I . . . sorry.

When we got home, we discovered 2 ticks on Adi. Here is the first, the second was a deer tick and too small for my camera to focus on. Hopefully she doesn't get Lyme.

The Fourth

We started out this 4th of July early. At 8:30 we started "The Four on the Fourth" race in New Canaan. It is a four mile race that is run every fourth of July. (As if the name hadn't explained that already) It was a fun race and something that I think we'll make a tradition. We didn't come in first, but we weren't last either. Arrin beat us all, but Shiloh wasn't too far off.

We were told at the beginning of the race that the town fireworks had been canceled because of probable rain. We were skeptical. In the afternoon, we enjoyed a bar-b-que with some friends from town. I say "friends" but I really didn't know too many of them, New Canaan's residents have changed so much since I left. During the BBQ it sprinkled a little, but we were sure that the evening would be pretty dry.

My parents and I went to Wally World to pick up some "at home" fireworks, lots of people had the same idea, but we managed to get a few packages.

My mom made a delicious 4th of July feast and Arrin and I got bored waiting for it to get dark enough to light fireworks. My mom joined in on our photo shoot after a little while, but for some reason I didn't come out with any of her on my camera. Here's another cosmo quality pic:

Unfortunately, the weather reports were right. It poured. We didn't care though, we were doing fireworks. Arrin and Ben had a bunch of friends over, and we had a great time trying to stay wet and putting on a good show. Here are some highlights:

Dog Parks

Here are the promised pictures of Adi enjoying the some of the local dog parks.

Visiting the Rowe's

Last Saturday, after a fruitless trip to Mt. Vernon (we'll go again another weekend) and a stroll along Gravely Point, we decided to call the Rowe's.

A Little Background: I knew Brooke and Ed Rowe when I lived in Chicago during 8th grade. Back then, they had adopted one little boy named David. They moved to VA not long after we left Chicago. Since then they've moved all over the world: Russia, Ethiopia, Utah, and back. (I think there were more but I don't remember the specifics) When we moved into town, my aunt told me that they had just moved back about a year ago.

They now have 5 kids: David, Connor, Colton, and the twins (Annie and Jessie). They are such a neat family and we've loved having them close again.

Now, back to the story. They just adopted a little labradoodle (labrador X poodle) named Tyson and we wanted to introduce the dogs. The Rowe's had no plans so we made our way out. They have a great backyard complete with a zip-line a fire pit and a river that runs along the back of the property. The dogs had a great time together.

Around 6 we asked Shiloh to build a campfire. We had very good intentions of roasting hot dogs, but simply because it was easier, we ordered pizza.

This is when the evening got a little interesting. Up until this point, the dogs had been getting along pretty well. Now there was food around. Unfortunatly, Adi's agressive side came out when they both went for the same discarded crust. Poor Ty put up a good fight, but ended up with a pretty nice cut under his eye. We felt so bad. Shiloh and Ed just laughed.

It was a lovely evening and the kids had a good time with the fire. Below are some pictures that we took. -- The light was really low and the flash just didn't look good so I'm sorry for the blurry...ness....