Ooohh, Shiny...

I like sparkly, shiny things. If you know me, you should know that by now. So I changed the blog background again. I certainly like this one. In other news, 2011 hasn't been awful yet. Great, no. But not awful either.

We have had some rather spectacular weather here in the northwest the last few days. It's been 50 and sunny all day. So Saturday, we decided to go be all touristy and roam around Elliott Bay and Pike Place Market. Little did we know it would be so dead on New Year's Day, but it was still fun. We even had fish and chips right on the water. We will definitely be going back when it gets warmer again.

Auld Lang Syne...

I don't want this post to sound whiny, but it does. And I'm not looking for support or reassurance, I simply want to be able to reflect on this last year the way I do the first half of 2006...as a basis of comparison, and to remind myself of the low points and that things can only get better. You see, 2010 hasn't been good to us. In fact, 2010 has pretty much sucked. Looking back over the last year in blog posts, the few good things that happened can easily be seen in a negative light.

Like me getting a job and earning more money = hating my job, being tired and stressed all the time, and feeling guilty for the rest of my life that I was away from my kids so much for 9 long months.

Or like us getting the mini van = more car repairs than I care to think about.

Trip to LA = cost us a lot of money and didn't yield any results for jobs or even contacts for Zac.

Moving to Seattle and living with the Williams' = not having any friends or job offers and feeling like I'm in the way all the time.

See what I mean? I hate to be such a Debbie Downer about it all, but it's been rough. And that was the "good stuff" that happened. Forget all of the other crap that I don't want to go into detail about. Unemployment, deaths, fighting, unemployment, debt, computers breaking, did I mention unemployment? This year has pretty much been comparable to our first six months of marriage which were probably the worst six months of my life (not because of being married, mind you, but because of all of the other awful things that happened to me in those six months...deaths, unemployment, severe anemia, school issues, etc...all that other crap that I don't wish to think about).

So yeah. Here's to hoping for a better and brighter 2011.

And speaking of bright, here are some pictures of my beautiful kids in the bright sunshine. (These were taken a few weeks after moving to Seattle at our new favorite park that is right down the road.)





We'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Belated Christmas Post...

So I tried taking pictures of the kids in order to send out Christmas cards this ear...then Zac's card reader wasn't working so I couldn't upload the pictures. And I didn't get a single decent picture of the kids together anyways, so whatever. But, these are some cute ones that did turn out and deserve recognition somewhere.
The girl:







The silly boy:







Christmas was great. Do I have pictures? No, because we were too busy web chatting all day with my parents, Zac's parents, and Zac's brothers and I just didn't take any pictures. Fail. I know. However, I feel it is safe to say that the kids LOVED every one of their presents...from shoes to games to toys to clothes, they couldn't be happier. Among Logan's favorites: the full-sized Buzz Lightyear ("Butt Laser," as he pronounces it), a wooden train set from Ikea, his new sneakers from my parents, and his fire-breathing dragon from Zac's parents. Kaylee LOVES her pink sneakers from my parents (she tries to put them on every chance she gets), her Little People dolls which seem to make the bath WAY more fun, her baby doll and bottle she got from us, and the stuffed puppy from Ikea that she got from us. She says "puppy" like "Ba-boo" for some reason and she sleeps with that puppy all the time. Bedtime and naptime have gotten much calmer...as long as she has her Ba-boo, she just snuggles it, rolls over, and goes to sleep.

I scored some good stuff...I am really falling in love with my faux fur pom pom slippers from Old Navy from Zac's mom. They are adorable and toasty warm. I also love the earrings my parents got for Kaylee, even though they aren't my gift. There are 3 pairs of 14K gold earrings...pink CZ, butterflies, and gold balls. They have safety backs which twist on and are rounded caps so the earring post doesn't poke her. They are beautiful!

So, we had a good Christmas. Not a white one, but a good one.

All I Want For Christmas...

Well, not really ALL I want. But if you are wanting to get our little family a gift as a family gift, this is the one: $40 family pass to the Seattle Children's Museum. Just a thought.

This Last Month (Scatter-brained Style)...

So I always put off blogging until I have time to make something funny, witty, pretty, etc. I tried to make a timeline in Photoshop of the last month with pictures and descriptions...it was very clever. Then the computer crashed. And now I'm getting to the point that it's been more than a month and it will be very hard to catch up on all of the events in that manner.

My second thought was to write a song to the tune of Billy Joel's, "We Didn't Start the Fire," since this last month+ has been hectic enough to warrant that. But again, I don't have the time or patience to do that.

Instead, you get a mismatched, unorganized series of events that I will just write down for future reference. Maybe, MAYBE, I'll get to a picture smattering of events later, too. So, deep breath. Here goes:

Early October:
General Conference. It was great.
Kaylee started walking more than crawling.
I bought myself some sparkly Converse sneakers. I love them.
We had an offer to move to Seattle and live with my best friend's in-laws.
We didn't want to take the offer because it was just so...uncertain. Other than we'd have a place to live as long as we needed it.
A few talks in Conference and some thoughtful prayers later, we decided we were moving to Seattle.
I put in my two-weeks notice at work.
I put in our 30-day move-out notice.
Found a new writer's group in the Seattle area.

Mid-October:
Started packing.
Zac's friend Brian Coller came and stayed with us for a few days.
I made chicken tortilla soup with black beans and fed it to Brian. His stomach doesn't do well with black beans. He spent a good day barfing.
We came up with a list of things to do before leaving Provo.
I broke my glasses beyond repair. They were still under warranty, but they only had black frames in stock (mine are brown). So I had to use black until they got mine in.
I used a spa gift certificate I had and got pedicures and "glitter toes" with my neighbor, Roxy.
Roxy talked me into going with her to her parent's houseboat on Lake Powell sans children.

Late October:
Went to Lake Powell with Roxy and left the kids home with Zac for three days.
Zac's best friend, Matt DiPerri, came out for a visit.
Had a hitch installed on our van so we could pull our Uhaul.
We finally made it up to the Salt Lake Temple. It was awesome.
Attended a good friend's baby's funeral. That makes two and I'd rather not have to do that ever again.
K started "talking" more. Actually distinguished between "yes" and "no" now. Before it was always "Nuh-uh."
Packed up most of the apartment.
Returned a bunch of stuff to people all over the city of Provo that didn't belong to us.
Broke my pinky toe on my left foot. I still can't wear my sparkly Converse sneakers.
Packed up the rest of our apartment, shoved it into a Uhaul trailer, and left the state of Utah.
Spent a few days in Idaho with the Ganoes.

Early November:
Made our way up north. I drove a lot. Pulling the Uhaul.
Spent a night in Somewhere, Washington at a hotel.
Finally made it to Sammamish where we are currently living. (Let me know if you need the address!)
Continued/continuing the job hunt (apartment managing, animation jobs for Zac, part-time writing gigs for me).
Went to the Costco in Kirkland...which is basically like going to Ikea in Sweden.
Got a GPS which is necessary when moving to a new state. I'm convinced.
Met with my new writing group for the first time (last night, actually). They are equally as fantastic as my Provo-based one. However, there was better parking for the one in Provo. And yet, meeting at a coffee shop in downtown Seattle is pretty darn hip.



Um. I think that's all. Now you know how my brain really works when I don't have time to process things. We are off to look at an apartment for a management position in a bit. They owner was nice and said "here's the address...go look at the building and see if you'd be interested in living there first. If so, call me back and we can set up an interview." I don't know what to take from that...potentially, it's really ghetto and we might hate it and may not even want to apply. But we shall see.

I'm out!

Punkin' Patch...

I know I still haven't said much about Seattle. I will. Until then, here are pictures from our pumpkin picking extravaganza yesterday:








And yes, that does happen to be the same shirt Zac wore at the same farm 2 years ago. Maybe it's time for a wardrobe overhaul...

I also enjoy the picture where the boys are sitting the same way on the hayride. Like father, like son, I suppose.

Metaphor Continued...

(Courtesy of my Aunt Karen at Strapp Studio)

EEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Details where I spill all of the nitty-gritty are forthcoming. But for now, you should just know that the whole family couldn't be happier!!!!

Try This Metaphor On For Size...

I don't know why I post the things I post. Like when I get my hopes up about something (see the last two posts about potential moves for us). I get all excited and then...

BAM.

It falls through.

The lady in Seattle? She still wants us.

I still want to go.

But I don't think it's going to happen.

"Not under these conditions," someone said.

I hate Provo.

I hate my job.

I want OUT.

I feel like I'm a fish on dry land, slowly suffocating. Or better yet, I feel like a fish in a plastic carnival bag that is slowly leaking water. Yep. Like this:



I'm running out of room to breathe, to swim, to be happy and alive. And here comes this net, ready to scoop me up. But I can't tell if the net will drop me into the ocean where I can breathe and be free and happy, or if it will simply drop me into a small bowl where I will continuously swim in circles, surrounded by my own fecal matter.



So no, I don't think we are taking this Seattle job. "Not under these conditions." (Makes snide, mocking face.)

I'm pissed.

Time For Another Fortunately/Unfortunately Story...

Fortunately, my husband and I are both college graduates now.
Unfortunately, I picked a terrible major for which to acquire a job.
Fortunately, my husband picked a specialized major for which he has a deep love and where jobs are typically plentiful.
Unfortunately, the whole "economy being terrible" thing has hit his job market in the area of internships and low-level positions, so now companies only have positions that are contractual or are for people with 3-5 years experience.
Fortunately, the place with the most freelance and contractual jobs to offer is Seattle (and the surrounding areas, where we would love to live.
Unfortunately, Seattle is expensive and paying rent for an apartment when you aren't sure if and when you will have a job and get paid is scary.
Fortunately, the idea occurred to us that apartment managers typically get free rent.
Unfortunately, we don't have any experience managing apartments, and there sure aren't any positions in Provo to get us started.
Fortunately, there are 2-3 postings a day on Craigslist for ads for apartment managers.
Unfortunately, (and obviously) no one that posts those ads wants to hire someone from out of state.
Fortunately, one of the first jobs we applied for, we got a phone call back and the owners were so excited to meet us that they were willing to Skype-interview us.
Unfortunately, we never heard back from them. Even after sending an email saying "If you found someone else to fill the position, that's great. But please let us know!"
Fortunately, there were a ton of other want-ads, so we kept applying.
Unfortunately, we only heard back from two other owners, both of whom we didn't get a response from after we said we were out of state and could not make it in for an interview the next day at 9:00 a.m.
Fortunately, I got a voicemail on Thursday from a lady with a 20-unit complex that wanted to phone interview us.
Unfortunately, she wanted to have a phone interview basically to pre-screen before she would make up her mind if she wanted us to come into the office for an actual interview. So I never called back.
Fortunately, she noticed on our resumes that we are BYU graduates and secretly, she was hoping to hire an LDS couple. So she called again.
Unfortunately, I was at my crappy job that I hate, so I didn't answer.
Fortunately, Zac had his phone on him so she called him.
Unfortunately, Zac was caught off-guard and didn't know how to respond to any of her questions.
Fortunately, he told her just to call me and leave a message and I would call her back asap. So she did. Then he texted me and told me, "got a call from an apartment place in seattle. the lady said she is mormon and likes the idea of hiring mormons and needs someone like now."
Unfortunately, I was still in the middle of work and didn't have time to call her back.
Fortunately, when I did listen to her message and call her back, she was thrilled. We talked for a good 15 minutes about the job, the pay, and about how soon we could get there.
Unfortunately, the compensation for the job is only half rent credit. We would still have to come up with $450 a month.
Fortunately, I explained our desire to be managers was for the free rent. Then she said we could have until at least November free. She also said that with the three other properties she manages, she would throw work our way (painting, cleaning, turn-overs, etc), to help compensate for the other half of our rent.
Unfortunately, it's only a two bedroom.
Fortunately, it has a washer, dryer, dishwasher, and a fireplace.
Unfortunately, and this is a BIG unfortunately, she wants us there in a week. Like, pack up the entire apartment, quit my job, and drive to Seattle by next weekend.
Fortunately, it gets us to Seattle with extremely discounted (if not free) housing.

But do you see why I'm stressed?????

Miss K...

Disclaimer: Her hair is out of control in nearly all of these pictures. I promise I usually do it and she normally doesn't look so homely!


(On her 1st birthday...over a month ago. Wow.)

Well, Miss K has been up to quite a lot. She is such a big girl!!! She now scales all three flights of stairs in our house in about 38 seconds flat. And just a few days ago, she learned how to go down them on her own, too. She also knows how to get up and down from the couch, the chair, Logan's bed...you name it.


She isn't quite ready to walk yet, but she is getting pretty good at the standing thing which tells me that walking isn't too far behind. Here's a video of her doing just that....however, I had to put the camera out of sight/reach and didn't realize you couldn't see her head. But whatever. You get the idea. (I would say "I'll try and get a better video and post it later," but we both know I won't actually do it, so I won't make any empty promises here.)



And as I mentioned before, she is pretty much weaned. I totally feel a sense of freedom. Both times that I have weaned my children, I have expected to be a little sad. However, that's not the case. I'm glad I've done it until they are just about 1, but the honest truth is that I find it suffocating to nurse and have a baby literally attached to me several times a day.



Even though she is on the bouncy seal thing at the playground in this picture, she LOVES the slide. She would climb the stairs and go down the little slide all on her own all day if she could. K also has a total of 6 teeth...two on the bottom and 4 on the top. At her last appointment, she weighed in at a petite 18 1/2 pounds which is like the 30th percentile.


K is still napping twice a day (most of the time), which is great. And though she wakes up once or twice at night still, it usually only lasts about 5 minutes and she puts herself back to sleep.


Her favorite food is cantaloupe, but she also goes crazy for Vanilla Oreos, most pastas, and root beer. And she prefers a bottle full of water when she goes down for a nap over anything else. She also has two super-soft blankies that she likes to snuggle when she sleeps. Though she doesn't need them, per say, I think she prefers to have them close.

We sure love our little princess!!!

Ugh. I Know...

I don't blog anymore. I'm too tired. But I do have to say this:

If I don't get out of Provo like NOW, I'm going to slit my wrists.

Just sayin'.

Oh Man, Oh Man, Oh Man...

I hate getting my hopes up.

But just this once, EVERYTHING seems to be falling into place.

The stars are aligning.

The timing seems perfect. Especially now when timing seems to be everything.

And I don't want to give away too much info because I honestly feel like that jinxes us.

But, for now, let's just say that someone found a something in Somewhere, Washington and had an interview. And though the something isn't like a Microsoft something, it certainly would be, well, for lack of a better word, PERFECT right now.

I feel like packing more boxes.

Potentially Too Much Info...

...but I had to write it somewhere.

And Facebook didn't seem like the appropriate venue.

Turns out it's "World Breastfeeding Week" this week (August 1st-7th).

Apparently I didn't get the memo.

It's "Weening Week" here at the Steele's.

I forgot how painful it can be.

Sunday Snapshot...

I love this time of year combined with the gardening talents and generosity of our ward members. You see, many of the older people in our ward are active gardeners and have a plethora of seasonal produce. And they bring it to church and leave it up for grabs. Today, I made off with a zucchini and a nice yellow summer squash and three cucumbers. The zucchini and squash are in the oven becoming ratatouille right now. The cucumbers will go nicely in salad with our salmon tonight.

But the picture? That is Logan and Zac picking fresh, sun-ripened apricots right off of the tree. An older gentleman in our ward has this giant tree in his yard that is producing more than he can handle and said, "feel free to stop by and pick as many as you want!" so we did!

Not quite sure what I'm going to do with them yet so if you have any suggestions...

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!!!

(I realized that I never posted this draft that I wrote in California...I guess it's just another epic failure that goes with celebrating my baby girl's first birthday.)

Since Logan's birthday post was delayed, it only made sense to wait a few days to talk about Miss K's first birthday celebrations, too. (That, and we're on vacation`, so...)

So I know it sounds awful, but we didn't do much. We still have to take her on her "Mommy and Daddy Birthday Date," but I will let you know when that happens. I figure, hey. She's one. She won't really be offended if we don't take her out for another week or two. Besides, we're in L.A. and we don't have anyone to watch Logan :-)

So what DID we do? Well, on her birthday, we had a lot going on. We all had to be at like 4 different places Wednesday afternoon so we decided to postpone the cake-eating until Thursday. So we ordered her free first birthday cake from Macey's for pick-up Thursday afternoon. Long story short, we didn't get to the cake Thursday. Nor did we do it Friday. And before we knew it, were packing up the car and heading to Vegas. So what did we do? Took it with us and ate it for breakfast, of course.