I haven't taken my Christmas stuff down yet. I'm a little behind this year. I usually like to have everything even remotely Christmas related completely put away by January 1st but I'm still just really loving my tree. It's so nice to sit here with the house all dark and just the Christmas lights on. I don't think I've gotten to enjoy it quite enough this year. I suppose I'll have to take care of all of that on Monday since I have the day off and Steven will be working. Putting Christmas away is always a bit of a downer but it will be nice to have the house put back to normal again.
This year has been a good one! We started out the year with Steven working at Rural Metro and really struggling to stay optimistic about his job. At the time I was just starting to fill out substitute applications for the local school districts. Then we found out the dates of the application/testing/interview process for the Enumclaw Fire Department and decided it would be best if Steven quit his job at RM so that he could focus on studying for the test. It was his birthday present to himself and all of the sudden we were living on a substitute teachers salary. I was subbing full time in six different districts from April through the end of the school year and I was one cranky young lady. Poor Steven. He stayed home and studied for 8 to 10 hours everyday and then his depressed little wifey would come home from work in tears and complain for hours about how substitute teaching is the worst job ever. I'm a little dramatic sometimes. Let's be honest. Then came the testing and interview process. STRESS!!! And the news that Steven did not get the job with the fire department. Huge disappointment. We left the next day for a week in Kauai with the Mayers and then, thank God, got a call a couple of days later saying that as it turns out, Steven was going to be hired by the fire department. Phew! That totally saved our trip for me -- up to that point I was a bit of a basket case and was just kicking myself for allowing myself to be depressed on my first trip to Hawaii. The first weekend in July Steven started his new job and I had the pleasure of being in Lena and Aaron's wedding! It was a big weekend for celebration. A couple of weeks later I coordinated Joy and Cody's wedding down in Dayton, Oregon. Steven was a huge help at that one and we even got a few minutes of swing dancing in. In August we celebrated our first anniversary -- woohoo!! -- and drove down to southern Oregon with Chad & Whitney where Steven and Chad stood with Jeremy as he and Ronnie said "I do" and the rest of us melted in the sun :) It was a beautiful wedding! Then came the fall and my never-ending sinus infection -- seriously, I was sick for almost 3 months. Between rounds of antibiotics and with bags of coughdrops in every jacket pocket we made a trip down to Portland to visit with Jeremy & Ronnie and then flew over to Boston for a long weekend with Chad & Whitney. It's been such a treat so see Chad and Whit so many times in one year even with them living so far away! Then Paige came up to spend Thanksgiving with us and then the Christmas whirlwind and now here we are. Ready to start the whole crazy cycle again. I'm very much looking forward to a new year. Big things are going to happen in 2012 and I am so excited to find out what they are. I'll be real honest, I hope it includes a new job for me, an improved stair climb time and huge fundraising boost for Steven (because I know that's what he's working towards right now) and maybe even a really fun vacation for the two of us. Not to worry, I'll keep you informed as usual ;)
Happy New Year Friends!
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