My First Quilt.

Well, I uploaded these photos a couple of weeks ago and am just now getting around to posting them. I've been wanting to get into quilting for quite a while now but have always been very intimidated by the process and lack of knowledge in the area of sewing in general. When I found out that a coworker of mine is due to have a baby this August, I knew that my gift to her would be a quilt. I just think that a handmade quilt for your new baby would be such a special thing to receive. When I told people what I was working on they would say things like, "Wow, what a labor of love. You must like her a lot." Huh, well, actually, we hardly know each other. Needless to say, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It was a HUGE project and I wish I had logged my hours because I am curious to know how much time I actually spent on it. Maybe should have started with an easier quilt...

 

The nine patch blocks (the small pile under the scissors in the above photo) weren't very difficult and were actually really fun to put together. That bad part was when I realized that somehow I was sewing 3/8 inch seams instead of 1/4 inch seams -- EEEK! I was losing 1/4 of an inch on every block! This caused problems later in the process.

The quilt pattern that I chose was, I think, rather difficult for a beginner such as myself. Around midnight the first night I was working on the quilt, I got to the appliqué portion of the project. I spent the next forty minutes on various websites and watching youtube tutorials before diving right in. That's right, I taught myself. No big deal.

So tedious!!! As I was tracing and cutting out the letters I thought to myself, "I will never do this again!" But, of course, as the project came together and started to look freaking awesome, I decided that I probably would choose to do something like this again at some point in time.

Putting the pieces together -- major problem: lack of floor space to lay everything out. Ha! I barely had enough room.

I had a major frustration when I first started laying out the pieces because the book I was using gave me the wrong measurements for the blue triangles -- they were ALL cut wrong!!! I frantically looked around on the internet trying to figure out if I had made a mistake only to find that the book is indeed wrong and the publisher has a spot for "corrections" on their website. Well it never occurred to me to get on their website and double check to make sure the pattern I was using didn't have any corrections posted online, but it will in the future. I sent them a (mostly) respectful but obviously irritated e-mail and received a prompt and apologetic reply with a $25 credit to their online store. I don't even think the measurements in the correction posted online were quite right so I trusted my instincts, did a little math and cut them the way I knew I needed to. I had just enough fabric to fix the error.

And now let's see if you can spot the error in the next photo... And I'm not talking about the fact that the "y & z" aren't quite centered on their square. (I'm so embarrassed, I can't believe I even included this but it's somewhat humorous and a mistake I will NEVER make again!!!)

Um, yeah, after a week of looking at this out on the floor (because I didn't have time to move forward with it just then) I finally looked down and thought to myself, "Wait, there's no 'n' in that part of the alphabet!?" Shoot shoot shoot!!! I had the "u" right side up initially but it somehow got flipped when I was piecing things together and I didn't even notice. Oiy. I had to get real creative when ripping it out and putting it back in. I hope Sue and Grandma Barb aren't reading this... so embarrassing.

And we're finished! Oh man that was a lot of work! And machine quilting in the middle of the night when you have no idea what you're doing and have just been hit hard with a terrible head cold was just no fun at all. I only quilted on the diagonal lines just to hold everything together. Basting was stupid. I'd much rather baste a turkey. I will use pins next time.

And blue flannel on the back. I LOVED the Berenstain Bears fabric -- it was hard to part with. It turned out really cool but I didn't actually want to keep it because I know where every single mistake is and that would have made me crazy. I hope the new momma and baby love it though, if not, I want it back :) It was a great process to go through but I really want to do my next quilt right. I want a real quilter to hold my hand and walk me through the process. Steven has a coworker who is having a baby at the end of the summer. I would love to make one for them to but we'll see if it actually gets done in time.

What an accomplishment!! Glad to have the first one out of the way.

Retired at 25.

I have just completed my first week of intentional unemployment. For the very first time in over four years I am choosing not to begin the frantic search for a teaching job for the next school year.

I have had some weird jobs and worked at some crazy schools but this last year did me in! I'll be honest, it only took me the first few days at my new (first-ever-full-time-teaching) job last fall to realize that I was in the wrong place. If you have been in contact with me over the last 10 months  you will remember that I was somewhat miserable: grumpy, irritable, and frustrated, but trying my best to finish out the school year on a positive note. Early on in the school year (uh... halfway through week 1), I really didn't think I was going to make it and seriously considered quitting right away. I hated the idea of quitting and really just wanted to prove (to myself!) that I could teach a full year of school and that my education, teaching certificate, and years spent filling out applications weren't a waste.

The teaching wasn't the difficult part -- that I loved -- but the rest was a bit of a mess. A few months into the year I knew I would survive until June, but Steven was begging me to pursue other employment opportunities. That poor husband of mine has suffered just as much as I have through the ups and downs of my terrible teaching jobs these past few years. I told him that I just had to finish but promised that I wouldn't sign up for another year once it was over. From that point on, I made a real effort to keep work at work and cut my hours back to my contracted hours instead of my I-just-feel-obligated-and-overwhelmed-and-how-the-heck-will-all-of-this-ever-get-done hours, because everything always gets done in the end anyway. We did finally make it to the end and last Thursday was my last day of work. I celebrated with an evening in the kitchen, feeling happy and free.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Overall, I count the experience as a blessing. It provided an extra income during our first year as homeowners. It introduced me to Heather, who has become a very dear friend. It made me so stressed and anxious in just the first two weeks that it sent me back to Chris's zumba classes in Enumclaw where I have found great happiness, friendship, and an even smaller waistline -- though it did nothing to diminish the size of my ridiculously wide hips ;) It also gave me the chance to speak into the lives of some very special kiddos (most of them anyway) and their families for a short period of time. And when it was all said and done, I finally came to the conclusion that I am not meant to be a classroom teacher right now. That might change, who knows, my life plans tend to change especially where jobs are concerned, we'll just have to wait and see. It was somewhat heartbreaking to let go of teaching and I still want to cry just thinking about it. I mean, come on! A teacher and a firefighter, how adorable are we?! But seriously, teaching is so much a part of my identity that the idea of removing it from my life has been rather painful. I believe I am good at it and there are many aspects of teaching that I love but it just hasn't worked out for us the way it was supposed to and I need to stop trying so hard to make it happen. I suppose I will always be a teacher, just maybe not in the traditional sense.

So, here I am. I have decided not to seek full-time employment for two reasons, 1) that schedule doesn't really work so well for us if we want to see each other (don't know how the other FF wives do it!) and 2) I really can't think of anything full-time that I'm interested in doing right now and I am definitely not just going to run out and find a job for the sake of having a job. I've had enough of that. I'm hoping to be self-employed and to focus on things that I am truly passionate about. This will include food, zumba, singing, blogging, and probably much more. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted as usual.

Hope your summer is off to a spectacular start!

Cheers,
Steph

May Days.

I can hardly believe that tomorrow is the last day of this month. It went by so fast!! We are down to 6 days left of school. The kids' last day is Friday, June 7th, and then we have a full week of in-service days, so I will be working until 4pm on Friday the 14th and then I am a free lady! Wahoo! I'm so excited.

It has been a very busy month full of birthdays (Papa, Canyon, Tim, Mandie, Barry, Rick, Andrea, Grammi, and - tomorrow! - Chad), family dinners, house guests, report cards (a 5 week work in progress), crazy weather, and quilting projects.

This particular project is actually on hold right now. I've been spending most of my time on another one which I will post very soon. 

We have had some beautiful weather this month, followed by some cold, dark, rainy days in recent weeks. Fortunately, the first week of June looks promising weather-wise and I think our sunshine will be back for a bit.

On one of those spectacularly sunny days (we had a weekend that was in the 80's followed by a Monday that reached 90!!) we met up with Jon and Caitlin at Houghton and the next day went to Newport Beach for a picnic with Tim and Annika.

What a beautiful weekend that was!! I was sort of hoping that it was the official start to summer but I should've known better. What's Memorial Day weekend without a little rain anyway? Besides, it's always tough to finish out the school year strong when it's just one warm sunny day after another. Believe me, there's a reason even people like me start skipping class at the first sign of a little Seattle sunshine :)

Steven and I hosted family dinner that weekend for Steven's and Papa's birthdays -- it's way more work than I thought! We had fun though and it was really great to have the whole family over to our place. We had fish tacos and German chocolate cake. Yum.

The first full week of May brought teacher appreciation week. I think my favorite part was the beautiful bouquet that showed up on my desk on Monday morning. All of the families brought in bunches of flowers and then they worked together to piece them into bouquets for each of us. One of my students, who regularly announces that she wishes Mrs. Lentz were her mom, special ordered my flowers and I definitely had the prettiest bunch. She told her mom that I like orange and she worked really hard to keep mine coordinated. Loved it. My other favorite thing was the tin of Paris tea that was in my gift basket. Spot on. I know that same student picked that gift out for me as well -- glad to have her on my team! A few things to note in the picture above: the potted lily is now dying on our balcony (I'm not good with plants), that walkie-talkie is our PA system (no joke), one of my students painted that horse for me and brought it to school with a little adoption certificate that says it's an Arabian even though she painted it just like an Appaloosa, and Paige, my pen cup is the SF mug you brought back for me from a Quest trip many years ago.

This was also the week that a parent of one of my kids came up to me and said, "I don't understand. At the beginning of the year we couldn't get [him] to pick up a book and now he gets in the trouble all of the time because he won't put them down! What did you do to him?!?" Haha! Such a big compliment! It made me feel so good. It's true, that student gets in trouble everyday for getting too distracted by books and not doing his work, but it makes me so happy to see how he devours books that I just don't really say anything.

We took a little trip to Century Link (can I still call it Quest) Field for an early Mothers Day celebration.  Steven had to work and I felt terrible going to a Sounders game without him, but we did have a really good time.

Aren't we cute? Oh my gosh. So grown up. I can't even handle it. Weren't we just a mom and three little girls a little bit ago? It's crazy.

Um, wow. Coconut cream pie in a jar. Perfection. And not only did it look incredible, it tasted amazing as well.

We also shared a gluten free cherry pie and a slice of peach pie.

You should probably check this place out.

Following a Sounders win and a little pie, we went back to Mom's to help Tara get ready for her senior prom. Doesn't she look great?!

Mother's Day we, of course, spent playing board games with my mom and then had dinner at Uncle Scott's house. Jeremy and Ronnie were in town for the weekend and spent the night with us that night. This is what I woke up to the next morning:

Yes, it's true, the boys had been up until 3am with board games, an xbox, Jameson, and the quesadilla maker.

We had more houseguests the next weekend when Paige, her boyfriend Rob, her friend Katelyn, and Katelyn's friend Teresa came to stay for a few days. We kicked off the weekend with a Sounders game (another victory!). We split up for dinner prior to the game and Steven and I got to celebrate Tim's birthday with a big group of friends at Red Robin on the pier. Tim and Annika went with us to the game as well.

It wasn't a warm day but the sunset was incredible!

What a view!

Normally, the cranes are not my favorite and I try to steer the camera away from them, but I thought they looked pretty cool silhouetted by the bright clouds.

Paigey!! I still think we take the best "roommate photos." We could certainly do without those three in the back though... I so loved having Paige here! It was exciting to finally show her our new house and to get to meet Rob. I love hosting anyway but it was really such a treat to have my bestie in town for a few days. I even took Monday morning off work for a little date at La Reve with Paige. It was wonderful. Very grounding. There's something so assuring about spending quality time with a girlfriend who really knows your heart.

Friends! We love those two.

Last weekend we had dinner with Scott and Chloe. The food was absolutely incredible (nothing new there!) and the company was even better. Scott made pork enchiladas and I brought a flourless chocolate torte. It was a lovely evening. Always love a good dinner date with the Vegas. Steven worked most the rest of the holiday weekend but I did get to go to the Mariners game with Papa and Grammi and Uncle Barry on Monday. It was really cool to be there on Memorial Day. They honored veterans many different times throughout the game and we got to hear some really interesting stories. Baseball has that "all-American" kind of feel and I always think the field looks beautiful with big bright American flags everywhere.

Steven and I have taken a bit more time to start planning our big vacation. I'll have to make more time for planning once school is out because there's still so much to do!

Other than that, I've just been scrambling to finish the school year. We have a lot of fun stuff coming up next week including a French themed day, field day, and the year end celebration, which is a formal event! I will be wearing my dress from Ashton Ball freshman year :) Ha! Always fun to dress up!!

Other random highlights from the month:

> Scott's homemade hot sauce. Changed my life.

> Iron Man 3 - loved it. Pepper is my favorite.

> Ellen Degeneres's Clumsy Thumbsy. Freaking hilarious. We laughed so hard we cried.

> We got a new MacBook Pro -- I felt like a traitor doing it but, I secretly love it. Shhh! Don't tell. I am endlessly grateful to Microsoft (and my Dad, duh) for all it (he) has provided me over the years. He no longer works for them so that makes me less of a traitor, right?

> One of my students announced the other day that this is the 1st year she's ever not wanted summer break to come and she wishes this school year could just keep going. It made my heart happy.

> Dark Chocolate Coconut Almonds from Costco. Holy cow!

> I am planning to use my crockpot for the first time tomorrow.

It has been a crazy spring and I am ready to welcome the summer months! Have a great weekend! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAD!!

The Laundry Room.

My husband is too good to me. We already know this, of course, but I had a very fun surprise for me when I came home from work today. One of the first things he said to me when I got home from work was, "Hey, can you move the laundry from the washer to the dryer while you're upstairs? I forgot to do it earlier, sorry about that." Ummm... okay. I wasn't offended or anything but I was a little surprised. I mean, I had just gotten home from work and as far as I knew he had been home all day. He could've at least put a beer in my hand before sending me upstairs to do chores! But then I opened the laundry room door and saw this:

If you've never done laundry in my laundry room, you have no idea how awesome this is. In fact, it probably looks pretty stupid to you because you will quickly notice that I still haven't purchased any shelving or even a proper hamper for my laundry room... oiy. But what's really awesome is that the washer and dryer used to be on the long wall (the left-hand side of the picture) and it always seemed so silly to me because the room is just narrow enough that if you have the washer door open, you can't get between it and the wall to get the hamper or reach the detergent or anything. It was all squishy and inconvenient and uncomfortable. Our next door neighbor Andrea and I have been complaining about the ridiculous design since we moved in and have talked about making this switch many times. We just weren't sure how it would fit or how it would work out since all of the hook-ups are on the long wall. When Canyon and Andrea told us that they had switched their laundry room last weekend I gave Steven the puppy-dog eyes and said, "Oh please can we do that?!?" I knew he liked the idea but was shocked that he took the initiative to do this all on his own while I was at work today!!

Now I can take full advantage of my incredibly spacious laundry room -- I can't wait to do laundry! Next step: get a sink and some cabinets in there so it is really organized and functional.

I'm also super excited to start organizing my craft room over the summer. I've been waiting since JANUARY to get the craft table I've had my eye on, which should be in stock at Costco sometime in early July. We sold our rolltop desk on craigslist last week and I have all of my sewing stuff down in the "craft room" now on a folding table. It was nice to get it all moved out of Steven's room - finally! I felt like such a terrible wife allowing all of my girly crafty stuff to take over his mancave space. It's nice to have it all situated downstairs. Now if only I can get my craft room to look like Lissy's studio: http://hugsandpunches.net/studio-tour-organization-tips-with-lissy/ That girl's got style! Her home is so beautiful and I'm not sure if I'm talented or creative enough to decorate on that level but I'll just have to keep working on it.

What a Weekend!

Steven's birthday weekend was packed with fun events, though very few of them were birthday related.

 

Our weekend started on Thursday with a ceremony in the Tower Club to recognize the top racers and fundraisers of the 2013 Scott Firefighter Stairclimb and Big Climb. We felt so privileged to be there. This is Steven's second year in a row as both a top racer and a top fundraiser and, as I've mentioned before, I am the most proud of him. Look how handsome he is!! It was a beautiful night to be out on such a special date and we had a wonderful time!

Of course the view was amazing, as it always is, and this was the first time that Steven was able to enjoy the view without having to climb the stairs first. The elevator is quite a bit faster : )

We had the opportunity to visit with someone who is on the Leukemia Lymphoma Society board. She was very curious about Steven's job and his efforts in the stairclimb. We also met the oldest participant in the Big Climb. He is 88 years old and he climbed all 69 flights in just 22 minutes!! He is adorable. And there was a doctor there who talked all about blood cancer research and the progress that has been made. It is truly amazing. They have made very rapid progress in a short time and have come a long way. It was so motivating! Made us both super excited to start fundraising for next year.

On Friday night we had dinner at Chipotle and went to see Jersey Boys at the 5th Avenue -- our Christmas present from Papa and Grammi. I love that show!!! Franki Valli and the Four Seasons have such great music anyway but I think their story is pretty interesting too. I was glad to finally get to share this show with Steven.

The next morning we were off to spend the weekend in Lynden. Neither of us had ever been there before but we liked the idea of a two hour drive for our getaway as opposed to the eight hours we had driven to MT earlier in the month. We stopped in Bellingham before driving into Lynden and, thanks to Hilde for the suggestion, stopped at the Boundary Bay Brewery for lunch. They were packed! But it was well worth the wait. I had maybe my favorite beer ever, a Scotch Ale, and Steven and I both had enchiladas. His were chicken and mine were yam with cheddar cheese and caramelized onions and mole sauce. They were fantastic! I don't know who ever thought to put yams in an enchilada but it was a brilliant idea.

From Bellingham, it was just a short drive out to Lynden. This place is really nice! It is definitely a newer building. Everything was nice and clean and the shower was tall enough. No fireplace this time and the hot tub was a ways away but we enjoyed our cribbage board and the TV, which sounds ridiculous, but we don't have cable so it's totally a vacation thing for us. We watched a few episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives -- loved it!! I want his job! Not only does he get to travel around and eat all of that amazing food, but he actually gets to go into the kitchens with the chefs and learn how to make the food. What a great idea.

The condos are right on a golf course. I wasn't super excited about that part but it turned out to be gorgeous! The sunset the first night was definitely the best.

Tim and Annika came up to spend Sunday with us and it's a good thing they did because apparently Lynden is completely shut down on Sundays and there was almost nothing to do or see. It was so fun to have friends with us and we wished we had thought to invite them earlier! It would have been fun to have them there all weekend. We went wine tasting at a winery called Samson. We must have tried 10 or 12 different wines! Most of what they had were fruit wines. I particularly liked the black currant dessert wine, but the all around favorite was the hazelnut wine. Wow. So tasty. We definitely came home with a bottle. Tim and Annika came back to the condo with us for dinner, games, and ice cream before heading back to Seattle and Steven and I left for home in the morning.



We stopped at Red Robin for his birthday burger and then came home to unpack (well, actually I think Steven and Chad were probably playing Halo at least part of the afternoon). Our next door neighbors came over for dinner last night and we had one of Steven's favorite meals: flank steak, fettuccine, and strawberry rhubarb pie. He's at work tonight, so I don't get to spend his actual birthday with him but I think we did a pretty good job celebrating already.

Our First "Sideways" Road Trip.

A couple of weeks ago Steven and I went on a little spring break trip. We didn't go to Mexico, or Hawaii, or Southern California, or Florida (like all of my students did...). We went on a road trip to Whitefish, Montana. How adventurous are we?!? The most, actually. We knew we didn't want to pay to fly anywhere, and we also knew that we didn't feel like driving far enough for warm sunshine (though I desperately wanted warm sunshine!!!). We originally planned to go to Tahoe (I've still never been there) but our timeshare resort in Whitefish was only an 8 hour drive as opposed to the 13 hours it would have taken us to get to Tahoe. And what a beautiful drive it was!!!

 

As we passed through Idaho, I was struck by how strange it was that we were on a "sideways" road trip. I've never gone on a road trip that required me to cross a time zone before. I've driven up and down the west coast more than a few times but there was just something totally different about the west-east drive. Montana has a lot to offer when it comes to a scenic drive: rivers, fields, lakes, wildlife, mountains, farms, old broken down barns and other buildings, etc. I loved it.

Our condo in Whitefish was pretty nice. It was an older building, which I was a little uncertain about when we first arrived, but it was very specious and they had a well equipped kitchen! Of course, I cooked ahead of time to minimize my time in the kitchen but it was still nice to know I could have done some real cooking if I wanted to. The hot tub was right outside our door and we had a wood burning fireplace with a free tub of fire wood! These are the two features we enjoyed the most. Our one complaint was that the shower was really short. Like ridiculously, hilariously short. It was a very relaxing vacation with lots of board games, hot tubbing, and listening to Harry Potter while sitting in front of the fireplace.

Whitefish is about a 45 minute drive from Glacier National Park so we drove over there on our first day. We weren't really sure what to expect. We knew we wouldn't be able to drive very far on the the Going to Sun Road (it isn't completely plowed until sometime in June or even July) but we kind of thought we would be able to go for a hike. No such luck. Well, not for this fair-weather hiker anyway. It was cold and the weather wasn't very nice. Plus, we were told that most of the trails were all pretty muddy if not still covered in snow.

We decided just to drive as much of the road as we could and get out and walk around a bit here and there. We stopped at Lake McDonald first and had our lunch at the end of the dock. The water was impossibly clear and it was very, very quiet out there. A beautiful spot for a picnic.

Note the rain clouds slowly approaching...

We're so cute.

Steven said our heads couldn't touch in this photo because he wanted to try to get the mountains behind us a little bit. It only kind of worked. The clouds did an excellent job of thwarting our plan.

Crystal clear lake and a perfect reflection. The lake was so still and peaceful.

Down at the dock by the Lake McDonald Lodge. It isn't open at this time of year but that's as far as the road was open for us to drive on (about 10 miles from where we started at the other end of Lake McDonald).

Skipping rocks. Of course. Can't waste an opportunity with a lake so smooth and about a zillion little flat rocks around.

And here comes the rain. SO glad we weren't on a hike at this point!

I've always wanted to take a raindrop picture!

Much more impressive splash from the huge rocks Steven was throwing into the water.

Aaaaaand a feather. Check out the color of these rocks though. Aren't they cool? They seemed really bright in person.

At this point in the day Steven and I were more than ready to head back and jump right into the hot tub.

The next day we took some time to go into town and do a little birthday shopping and grab lunch. And on the last day of our trip it was sunny and beautiful! But cold cold cold! I really wanted to see Glacier in the sunshine and Steven was kind enough to agree to drive back there... just for a few beautiful photos.

I was so glad we had gone a couple of days before as well because this day was really windy and the lake itself was so much more beautiful when it was still.

However, the snow capped mountains are much prettier without clouds covering them. We went back to the condo for a little hot tubbing that afternoon -- it was so sunny we even got a little tan! It was 39 degrees out and we were in a hot tub and we got tan. Pretty cool.

And then it was on to the next adventure. Being the amazing wife that I am, I decided to surprise Steven with a little rock climbing trip as an early birthday gift. He's really gotten into climbing during his months working at Stone Gardens this past winter and I figured he would think it was pretty cool to do some outdoor rock climbing in Montana. I sort of thought I was going to get laughed at when I e-mailed the guy asking if he was doing any climbs so early in the season but he was excited about it and we ended up being his first rock climbing group this year (one day after the ski season closed).

Surprisingly, at this stage of the game I wasn't even nervous. Just feeling a little silly after wiggling into that crazy tight little harness.

Steven was pretty stoked and Link, our rock climbing expert, was glad to have a trustworthy person to belay him.

I don't know if you can tell from this picture but the top is way up there. At least, it seemed pretty high to me. Also take note of the portions of the climb where it looks like the rock is just flat. As in, nothing to grab onto to pull yourself up.

I really didn't want to take my turn. It was difficult right off the bat. I didn't understand how you could just grab or step onto a tiny little ridge in the rock and have it hold you. I just kept feeling like there was nothing to reach for.

Here's my view from part way up! There were a few times throughout the climb when I was really really nervous.

I even asked to come down, more than once, and they wouldn't let me. I got a little panicky but I didn't cry. It wasn't that I was afraid I would actually fall all of the way down but I definitely felt responsible for keeping myself on the rock and there were moments when I didn't think I could possible do it any longer. I did finally make it to the top though, where I promptly shouted, "Okay, I did it! Can I come down now?" They had to remind me to take a moment to look around.

My view from the top!

I couldn't turn around and look straight down, that was too much for me, so I just took a photo.

I made it! I guess I'm glad I reached the top but I do not ever want to go rock climbing again. We can go horseback riding, or white water rafting, or scuba diving, but no thank you on the rock climbing.

Steven loved it. He took a few turns and I got to belay him once.

Apparently my helmet was crooked the whole time but Steven never told me because he thought it was cute.

They talked me into trying again. It was a little easier the second time, at least this beginning part, but I chose to come down before I reached the panicky part again. I wanted to end on a good note. Plus, the sun was starting to go down and it became more and more difficult for me to hang on as it got colder.

I love my husband.

Oh my goodness! Look at those hands! Oiy. I couldn't believe how dirty the rope was. What I should have taken a picture of was my knees! Being the inexperienced climber that I am, I might have used my knees more than once to try to get up on a ledge or steady myself or whatever. I knew that probably wasn't the way I was supposed to do it but at the time, I was just committed to not falling. I still have bruises on my knees! I couldn't wear skirts or dresses the first week back to school and when I wore one this week one of my students asked, with great concern, "Mrs. Lentz! What happened to your knees?!?" Oh dear.

On our way home we stopped in Medical Lake and had dinner with some of my dad's family. We had planned to stay the night but once we were that close to home, we decided we would rather just keep driving and sleep in our own bed that night. We were so glad we did! Steven was awesome and drove the whole way. We got back around 1am and it was nice to have the whole next day to just clean up and unpack and get ready to go back to work. Fortunately, I still had the weekend before having to go back to school. We had a lovely little trip. It was just nice to get away together for a few days and relax. I'm voting for someplace tropical on our next vacation though : )