Year Two.

It has been two years now since the day I married the love of my life. Both have been wonderful years and I think this last one was my favorite. And yes, I hope to say that every year :)

I can't believe how lucky I am to have Steven in my life. I am continually blown away by his kind heart and his gracious nature. He is so good to me and I am so undeserving of the unconditional love he showers me with every single day.

I am incredibly proud of the work he is doing this week fighting the fires in Central Washington and I have never been more in love with him than I am right now. I can't wait to have him home with me so we can kick off Year Three together! It's already off to an amazing start with our new home, my new job, and a God who provides exceeding abundantly above all we could ever ask for.



My Dear Sweet Steven,

Please come home soon so I can cuddle you.

Desperately Yours,
Your Little Wifey Steph

Out of Control.

God likes to do this crazy thing where he waits and waits and waits to give me what I've been wanting and working really hard for until I've pretty much given up on having it. Until I've changed my plan. And that's what it's all about isn't it, "my plan," but God's plan is different and I'm always thankful for that. I'm not sure what that's all about. Maybe I'm supposed to be learning a lesson in relinquishing control so He likes to wait until I've stopped working really hard for something to show me that it was all His doing and absolutely none of mine, which would totally make sense. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a sort of game. It would be really funny to watch someone like me reason through everything, make lists, take measured and purposeful steps, hit a dead end, completely reformulate my plan, and then all of the sudden get thrown back to the old plan and have to completely reset my brain. I can see how that would be entertaining.

The good news is, God gave me a teaching job yesterday. After many long months of writing cover letters and filling out applications for teaching jobs and getting nothing but generic rejection e-mails, I was finally starting to tell people that with school starting in a couple of weeks that door had closed and I was starting to look for other opportunities. I was halfway through the interview process for an awesome nanny job and had an interview lined up for yesterday at the Starbucks in Swedish Hospital. And then God threw this little gem into the mix. He just handed it to me. I mean really.

I think this must have been a last minute opening because I got a phone call Friday night saying that "unfortunately" they had a position open and asking if I would be able to come in Saturday morning for an interview. I said OF COURSE, went in, had an excellent interview, sent my thank you e-mail with a small list of references to contact, and then waited. But not for long. I received a phone call from my teacher friend Melissa early yesterday afternoon saying that she had just given me the best reference ever and she was praying that she had sealed the deal. Sure enough, as I was listening to Melissa's voicemail, I got another one from the headmaster at the school! I called her back and we had a nice little chat. Yes, we did, a nice little chat about this and that, and how nice it was to meet me, and did I have any other questions about the position... so I asked about the schedule and salary (because I really didn't know what else to do), which were pretty much what I expected... and then she finally asked if I wanted the job!! Eeeeee! I was getting worried she wasn't going to ask but she did. She told me that after we met on Saturday she had gone home and told her husband how great she thought I was and how she thinks I'm a very creative person who will make anything I teach come to life. Glad that was her takeaway from the interview! She seems really excited to have me on the team, which makes me excited to feel like I already have her confidence and enthusiasm on my side.

Work starts on Monday so now I'm just hoping to get a little time in with my hubby before I jump into the new school year. I'm a little overwhelmed by the whole thing but overall, I'm just so stoked for my very first year as a REAL full time teacher. Woohoo!

Still Burning. Still Baking.

(**Just a quick note: I've borrowed some photos for this blog post. That's okay, right? I mean, as long as I say where I got the photos from it shouldn't really be a problem. They are all from King5.com and Seattletimes.com and most of them are from this link: http://www.king5.com/news/local/Taylor-Bridge-Wildfire-Tuesday-166105116.html?gallery=y&c=y. And just to be clear, the wildfire is still burning, I am still baking. I'm not burning anything. Especially not what I'm baking.)

I am so glad that my man-in-uniform is of the firefighter variety and not the military variety. This deployment has gone on long enough! And it's only been a few days... I can't imagine having to say goodbye for months at a time and then not even really being able to text or talk on a regular basis. Steven has been SO good to me and has stayed in touch the entire time. I usually get a phone call in the morning and another just before bed and he sends me text messages whenever he has a few minutes. It's been really interesting to hear bits and pieces of what's going on over there. He's been in the neighborhoods protecting homes and he's gotten to see the helicopters and planes that are fighting the fire from the sky.

There was a report yesterday saying that the fire was 33% contained and they were hoping to have it completely under control come Sunday. They're a bit worried about the forecasted thunderstorms this weekend but as long as the lightning doesn't spark anything new, the rain and the slight drop in temperature should be a big help. After 100 degree temperatures the last couple of days, it will be a huge relief for everybody, not just those fighting the fire.

Steven wants to stay until it's over. He seems to be loving this. I think he feels like he's really doing something there, and he is! He can see the immediate results of his work when he puts out a fire that was creeping up on someone's house. He loves helping people and he loves his job and I think this is one of those times where he can really feel with each passing hour that he's doing something good that his work is having a positive impact on people. I'll try to talk him into writing a blog post when he gets back so he can share his experience with all of us. I am so proud of him! I just want to tell everyone all the time that I'm married to a firefighter and he's out fighting the Taylor Bridge Fire. I mean, how cool is that? What an incredible experience for him. He has such a good heart and he is so brave and I love that he's willing to make the sacrifices to be the best that he can be at his job. He's in it for all the right reasons and I really admire that.

I've been asking Steven all week if I could drive over and drop off some stuff for him. He forgot his pillow and has been sleeping on a pillow case stuffed with clothes, and I'm sure he's in desperate need of cookies, and he must be running out of clean clothes... He kept telling me no. He didn't want me to make the drive for what would be a very short visit. He said it didn't make sense to see each other for a few minutes just to have to say goodbye all over again. I see his point and I'm sure he's right (I would probably start sobbing when I had to say goodbye again) but I just really want to do something for him! Fortunately, another Enumclaw firefighter is on his way out to Cle Elum today and Steven said I could send a bag of stuff with him -- yay! So what do you suppose I did first? Yes, I did bake cookies. You're absolutely right. I'm in the process of packing a bag of clean clothes, a new package of socks, a box of cookies, his helmet camera, and the regular camera. I can't wait to have him home but in the meantime, it was nice to be able to do a little something for him.

Here are some photos from the fire, in case you haven't had a chance to see any of them. I think fire is fascinating and secretly wish I could've been there in person to take some of these photos myself. Most of the photos with flames are from the very first night when things were completely out of control.

Credit: Bettina Hansen



 Credit: Elisa Hahn

 Credit: Jordan Stead

Credit: King5.com

Credit: Getty Images 

 Credit: Mike and Sandy Lockleer

 Credit: Moe Albermany

 Credit: Robin Sarmento

 Credit: Robin Sarmento (this is one of my favorites!)

 Credit: Robin Sarmento

 Credit: Steve Bisig

 Credit: Steve Bisig

 Credit: Getty Images

Credit: King5.com

Credit: Steve Bartlett (I really like this one too)

 Credit: King 5 News

Wildfires and Baked Goods.

Steven is in Cle Elum today working very hard to protect the homes that are being threatened by a fast moving fire. It is hot and windy and this fire that started as a brush fire which was sparked by a construction crew about 24 hours ago, had grown to over 26,000 acres and destroyed 60+ homes by the time I woke up this morning. I just read an article on King5.com that says about 31 square miles have been burned -- roughly the size of the city of Bellevue.

Steven worked 72 hours this weekend (8am Friday to 8am Monday) and was home for only 8 hours yesterday before getting called out to Cle Elum and I am missing him! As he was rushing around packing clothes he made sure to tell me that he didn't know how long he would be gone and that I probably wouldn't be able to reach him by phone. I bravely nodded, attempted a smile, and said, "okay." but was maybe kind of panicking inside. I didn't get much sleep last night but then... he certainly didn't either. He has been in touch, thank goodness, and said they arrived in Cle Elum around 9pm and got straight to work.

He's finally settling down for a rest and some food. From what I understand the firefighters just have this huge camp full of tents. I'm not sure who organizes this type of thing but they're feeding the firefighters and providing LOTS of water and everything. It seems like a pretty incredible experience.

(cases of water and Gatorade in the camp)

Lena and Aaron were driving through the area when Steven was first heading over there and they sent me this picture. Crazy! I'm so bummed that I didn't think to send a camera with Steven! I'm probably going to borrow some photos from the internet for a blogpost later this week. I have already seen some shocking images and can't even imagine what it must be like to be there.

In the meantime, I am at home, baking. Yes, baking in this summer heat. And no my new house does not stay nice and cool. It gets hot hot hot, just like anybody elses, but baking keeps me busy and makes me happy. Todays recipe: Maple Pecan Scones. Oh. My. Goodness. So tasty. This icing is basically what you find on top of a maple bar and it's amazing. Probably not the best that I've discovered how to make it. The scone itself is light and buttery like a pecan shortbread. Delish!

Yum. Feel free to come over and eat with me. I'll make you a cup of tea.

I'm doing my best to keep busy because when I'm not busy, I think I'm a bit anxious. I sent him a text earlier today telling him that "I'm not worried but sometimes I think my tummy is." And that's how I feel! I don't think I'm actually scared of him being so near this raging fire but my tummy has felt sick since he left last night so maybe I'm more nervous than I thought. I know they all make safe choices though.

I seem to be spending lots of time on the computer reading every Taylor Bridge Fire update that pops up on Seattle Times and King 5 so I'm sure you'll be hearing from me again soon.

Birthday Weekend.

Friday the 3rd was my last day of my summer job and the first day of my birthday weekend. It was a pretty great day. Since it was the last day of camp we had a BBQ at the beach and Steven came down and joined us for the day. He mostly stayed near the slack line and helped the kids out but it was nice just having him there with us.

I only had one very brief moment in the evening where I thought to myself "aw man... I'm turning 25 in just a few hours and I'm unemployed again!" but as I've grown somewhat used to being unemployed over the course of, well, my life, and on account of the fact that I had a beer in my hand at the time that thought floated through my brain, I really didn't mind too much. We spent the evening at Eastlake (our church) attending the event of the year. Of the last two years really, considering it's been two years since the last time they threw this party.

Drinks 4 Drinks is an event designed to raise money for Charity: Water (their mission is to provide people in developing countries with clean/safe drinking water). I wish I had taken more pictures but I was wearing a dress and since I didn't have a pocket for my camera, I didn't feel like bringing it and my phone takes terrible photos. They had a huge beer/food garden set up outside with wine from Silverlake, beer from Redhook, and some pulled pork sandwiches that smelled amazing. There were donation stations inside along with this catwalk where people had the opportunity to car jerry cans filled with water to get an idea of what women in children in developing nations have to suffer everyday just to drink nasty dirty water that makes them sick. The entire event was completely paid for so that everything we were spending was going directly to Charity: Water. It's kind of fun to be like "well, might as well have another beer -- it is for a good cause you know..."

A cover band called The Herding Cats played for a few hours and I love love love them! Wish we had discovered them a few years ago and could have hired them to play at the wedding. They were so much fun! We sang along and danced and donated and had a blast!

Grand total for the night. Over 50,000 people will benefit from what was raised at this event alone.

You should probably check out the video too (we're in it!). Once you watch it you'll want to make sure you don't miss the next one. http://vimeo.com/47423478?action=share

Steven took me out for birthday breakfast at Jay Berrys Cafe on Saturday morning. I love going out to breakfast -- it feels like such a treat. I had a waffle and a mimosa and we played Cribbage and it was perfect.

We spent the beautiful (and hot!) afternoon with our inner tubes at the Cedar River.

It was a bit of an adventure... we had some trouble finding a spot to get down to the river and then by the time we got to the water one of our tubes had almost completely deflated - ha! Good thing we were just planning to float in a pool and not actually go down the river. We ran into our friends Joy and Cody, or rather, they floated past us, which was really funny. We shared M&Ms and goldfish crackers and just enjoyed the sunshine for a while.

Marvelous view of Mt. Si.

Steven & Steph looking sunny. I love it.

Lena and Aaron met us for happy hour at Ruth's Chris, which was great fun (Aaron's birthday is the day after mine so it's always fun to celebrate together when we can), and then Steven and I went over to my mom's house for a fire and s'mores on her patio. Steven made a perfect marshmallow roasting fire -- ah the joys of being married to an Eagle Scout! It was nice and relaxing to finish the day with Mom and Tara and the s'mores were delicious!

It was a wonderful weekend but I am SO glad to be out of that heat! It was a bit much for me. Thank you to everyone for all of the cards and phonecalls and facebook messages! It was a really special 25th birthday.

Welcome Home.

I love our new house! It was so weird waking up here yesterday morning. It feels like we're on holiday or something. Our bedroom is huge and our new bed is nothing short of luxurious. After two years in a full size bed, we feel like we could swim laps in this new king size one. I know we both woke up at multiple points in the night and were more than a little surprised to find that we weren't even touching. We actually each have our own side of the bed and can stretch out a bit without kicking the other. It's magical.

We're still tired and not feeling super motivated but we did accomplish one thing yesterday -- we emptied every single box labelled "Games." Steven has, for lack of a better term, a man cave. Tara and I tried to dub it The Cave of Wonders but I'm not sure that name really stuck with Steven. Oh well, we tried. We actually found a way, even with our limited shelving, for all of the "good" games to be out on display. You can see the tower of glory in the corner there. Those are most of the favorites. All of the "normal" games are on the shelf in the closet: Boggle, Clue, Monopoly, etc. Steven doesn't even acknowledge that we own those games, but I think it would be weird to be the "boardgame people" but not actually own any of the classic ones that normal people know how to play, so we keep them.

I wanted our first dinner at home to be something special. I'm tired of camping out and eating whatever's easy (frozen pizza, cereal, toast) so I wanted to make a real dinner with a real dessert. The menu for the evening: Tuna marinated in soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, ginger, oil, and vinegar, and then baked in the oven, white rice, salad, a glass (or two) of Moscato (we received this bottle as a gift a while back and have been saving it for something special. I think it is my favorite wine though and might be all we buy from this point on), and a browned butter raspberry tart for dessert. Carl, from the fire department, caught the tuna over the weekend and was kind enough to share it with Steven. I had never cooked tuna before but I just marinated and baked it like I might a piece of salmon and it turned out to be delicious! The tart was slightly more difficult as I was unable to locate my measuring cups... I did my best though and it was tasty too.

Hilde came over yesterday! She was our first house guest :) We had a pretty chill day including a walk to the store for dinner stuff and Jamba Juice (Steven and I love having Safeway -- with a Jamba! -- just a 4 minute walk away) and then a little walk and some frisbee at the park. We had salmon for dinner, and bread pudding for dessert, and then played a really intense game of Castle Panic, which Hilde and I barely won! I dropped her off at the airport at 4:45 this morning and she's on her way back to Norway. I wish Norway wasn't so far away. I would love to see it and I would love it if it were easier for her to visit us.

I went back to work today after a 4 day weekend. I really didn't want to go and thought it would be weird since I hadn't started the week with the kids but I was glad I went. Steven is working tonight but then he has a nice long break and we have a fun weekend ahead of us. It's supposed to be sunny and 80+ degrees all weekend and I turn 25 on Saturday -- woohoo! Happy August by the way. Can you believe it's August already?? Me either. July was both the fastest and most drawn-out month of my life as we prepared to move. I'm glad it's finally over but can't believe how quickly it flew by!

p.s. This is my 200th post! How awesome that it's about something so wonderful. I love it.