.01% chance obliterated

Well, it's official. We're going. More on our fun weekend later.

Moving

Yes, well some of you already know this, but chances are 99.99% that we are moving to Seattle. In a week and a half. Why the .01% doubt, you ask? Well, this all hinges on a "technicality". We are waiting on a signature from some guy in upper management who has no idea he holds our (very near) future hanging in the balance. Stephen got a call from King County Metro (Seattle's department of transportation) last Monday. They offered him a job as a Transportation Planner II. Which just means he's supposed to know more than a Planner I. The job is in downtown Seattle, so we are going to try and live a little more urban this go-around. Mostly so that Stephen doesn't have to commute 1 hr each day and we can get some of this urban thing out of our systems. ha ha
I am not going to go into detail how much I will miss Chicago and a lot of the people here. Basically, I have like 3 days to move since I will be in Boise this Thurs to Monday. Stephen and Odessa will head up the packing and we'll load when I get back. Stephen graduated Friday, his parents have been here this weekend, we went to a live performance of A Prairie Home Companion in Milwaukee on Saturday, but all this will have to go undocumented for the most part. There just isn't time. Well, in Boise I will have some down time and maybe blogging will keep me from going crazy as I worry about Stephen having to decide what things in my kitchen should be packed and which should be tossed. But if you don't hear from us for a few weeks, now you know why. And if I get back on here in a few days and sheepishly have to report that the .01% chance was the one we got, well- I just won't report that and if I never post again, you'll know why.

10 things I love about Stephen

Cheese, sigh. So my friend "tagged" me to do this and since I, like her, don't want anyone to think I don't love my husband, I will do it. But that doesn't mean I have to pass it on or anything because there was no promise that I would have my greatest wish come true if I tagged 5 more people. And I really do believe in those promises, by the way. (hear the sarcasm drip, drip, drip.)


1. I love that I have to literally boot him out the door some mornings because he just wants to stay five more minutes with the girls. He loves spending time with them so much.
2. I love that he's willing to learn new things, like how to be romantic in the ways I like romance.
3. I love that he is very righteous without being self-righteous and lets me play devil's advocate sometimes just to try and bug him.
4. I love that he's really organized and likes to do jobs really thoroughly and will spontaneously clean or organize something in the house. (this usually offends me, but inwardly I am glad).
5. I love that the girls look like him.
6. I love that he uses bigger words than me and knows more about computers than me (I used to not think this was the case, but it probably has always been that way.)
7. I love that people think he has an accent and he blames it on a slight speech impediment when he was a child (I think it's because he's trilingual).
8. I love that we seem to like almost everything the same! We want to do the same things, we believe in most of the same values. However, he likes to debate emotionally charged topics and once completely turned my opinion around and then back again to the original!
9. (You are going to hate me for saying this) but I love it that he doesn't watch sports or actually any TV. Yes, this makes it hard for me to want to watch any TV, but the perks are definitely better than the fact that we are two CLUELESS pop culture failures. (ps- it's mostly b/c he has no time since being in school).
10. I love that sometimes he has to do things the hard way. I can't believe I am saying that, because I think that trait has been the source of a lot of frustration for me (starting with our 5 1/2 yr friendship when we both knew we could probably be a great couple) but it makes him an individual and that's something I love best about him!

Isn't it romantic?

Ten years ago this week, Stephen gave me these blossoms from a tree for my birthday. He got them on the BSU campus where we were going to school. We had met that previous fall and by spring were good friends (but I had a big crush on him). There were 3 of us girls that had birthdays all within about a week, and he gave us each some, but it was on my birthday that he did it. I went home and pressed them in a seldom used text book. After a couple of months, I pulled them out and they were so pretty, I put them in a frame I had. I've had them up on my wall ever since. He never knew until years and years later when we were finally dating. Since then, he has given me lots more flowers that he picks on his way home and some we have pressed. I have some little blue wildflowers that were growing in Grant Park. The fun part is that he picked them while I was on my mission and he was here visiting Nathan and Beth- years before we moved here.
This year's birthday (Wednesday) did not disappoint. Even though Stephen had to defend his thesis that day and had night class, it was still a special day. There were blossoms from the tree outside on the table when I came down- they were from the girls. I got a delivery later that day of this flower arrangement from Stephen. Then later that night when I was waiting for Stephen to get home, I got sad that I hadn't had cake on my birthday. My sis-in-law Beth had tried and tried to convince me to let her bring me a cake she would bake, but I had wanted to celebrate all together sometime when all the kids could help me blow out the candles and enjoy the cake. Just then, Stephen came home with Nathan and a cake! Beth had determined to surprise me after all. I was so happy! We lit the candles again the next morning for Odie and Ada. Now Odessa thinks she had a birthday and all the cards from my sisters and parents are for her, etc, etc. Thanks to Beth for surprising me with my cake and thanks for the many phone calls and emails, it was a special day.