2012.

I knew 2012 was going to be a good year! I would have to say that it definitely exceeded my expectations. I started out the year at a job that I absolutely hated and spent the first couple months of the year moping, and relieving my stress through baking and zumba. Fortunately, I got to skip a week of that awful job when we had one of the worst snow/ice storms I've ever seen. We lost power for three days! Steven, of course, still had to go to work where there was a furnace and a hot shower, and I almost froze under layers of blankets on our couch. A couple of weeks later we had the joy of celebrating with our dear friends Tim & Annika at their beautiful wedding. Then came the month of March, when my moping and complaining about work and our difficult schedules reached a depressing low and my sweet and amazingly thoughtful husband surprised me with a ticket to Disneyland for a weekend with my mom and Tara! It rained - sideways - the entire time we were there but it was still Disneyland it was still a vacation and it was still one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. Steven was one of the highest achieving participants at the Stairclimb -- He improved his time by 2.5 minutes (15 minutes 20 seconds), placing himself 92nd out of 1500+ participants, and he raised over $2,000!! I was the most proud! Still am, of course. The week after my Disneyland trip, I interviewed for and was offered a position as a longterm substitute teacher in a 5th/6th grade classroom at a small Lutheran school -- I didn't even hesitate and was pleased as punch to say goodbye to my terrible-awful-no-good-very-bad part time job as an aftercare program director. The new job was an excellent change of pace, much better commute, and fantastic experience, but it kicked my butt in terms of curriculum development and lesson planning (they didn't tell me that I would have to create my own curriculum...). We spent spring break on a California road trip (much needed vacation!!) with the first night spent at our time share resort in Sun River, OR -- beautiful! Then a stop in Visalia, Mariposa (we love the Solanos!), and San Francisco (to see Paigey of course!). Steven's 26th birthday was a blast and we kicked off his 27th year with a trip down to Portland for dinner with friends and another incredible Cirque show. I finished my temporary teaching job with a bang and a rockin' awesome unit on Ancient China -- the kids loved it! Steven completed his first full year as a career firefighter, wahoo! And the biggest news of all: We bought our first house!! It's bigger and more beautiful than we could have hoped it would be and we are so happy here! I turned 25 (say what?!?) and we celebrated with the party of the year at Eastlake: drinks4drinks. A week later Steven was in Cle Elum fighting his first wildfire and I was in our new home making blackberry ice cream and maple pecan scones trying not to worry. While Steven was fighting fires in Cle Elum, we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary and I received the news that I had been offered my very first full time teaching job - wow! We started the school year off with 3 straight weeks of 80+ degree sunny weather (most beautiful late summer and fall I have ever seen!) and I quickly learned that my job was kicking my tush and maybe I'm not meant to be a teacher after all. And here we are in 2013 -- I will finish my job strong (only 5 more months!), and Steven and I are planning an amazing vacation for the end of the summer. We have another marvelous year ahead of us and I can't wait to see what surprises 2013 holds for us!