Our 4th Anniversary

Jeremy surprised me with a trip to the Redwoods for our anniversary. We spent a long weekend exploring and getting pampered. Below are some special moments from our trip:

Clearly, he did an awesome job with planning our trip!

Below is our favorite memory, not just of this trip, but to date, as a couple.

We were in our beautiful hotel room, getting ready for a beautiful seafood dinner on the coast when we came up with a beautiful idea. 

Jeremy went to gather 11 balloons: 7 for every year that we've been together and 4 for every year that we've been married. We decided to take them on the beach before dinner and release each one with a hope/dream/prayer/wish for our marriage, future children, family, careers, and life in general. 

I loved every touching second of that moment on the beach with my husband.

Lincoln City

Jeremy and I just exited one of the busiest times of our lives, thus far. Combined, we were working 100 hour weeks and barely able to see one another. The long hours were to prepare for several planned trips that were so worth the exhaustion (although I'm happy to be home sweet home and working a regular work week). Jeremy planned a surprise trip to Lincoln City, in the midst of all of our traveling. It was a trip of necessity. To relax. To talk to one another. To rest. Just us.

The weather in Lincoln City ended up being gorgeous that weekend. We were able to explore quite a bit and truly took advantage of our weekend full of nothing to do but whatever it is that we wanted to do.

Jeremy found a hotel, Surftides, from a Google search. We've been recommending it to anyone we can. It truly exceeded our expectations. For us, the beach is a place of rejuvenation and instant relaxation. It's our home away from home. I'm so thankful that Jeremy noticed how important it was for us to spend time with each other and get away from the rat race at home. I'm also thankful that I, for the first time in my life, am starting to feel deserving of a break here and there. No guilt after a vacation, just enjoyment. It's a freeing feeling.

aaaaaaaaahhhhh :)

Driftwood Sconces

When I posted our house list last, I noted something about staying tuned for the sconces for the bathroom. We just finished them last night and I am thrilled with how they turned out!!

The idea started on a sunny 1/2 day off. Jeremy and I decided to work no later than 2 o'clock and spend the rest of the day at the beach.We were enjoying each other, the weather, the ocean... when we happily stumbled upon this piece of driftwood:Immediately my wheels started spinning and I knew that we had to take this puppy home to repurpose into something awesome... And what's more awesome than finding something awesome and turning it into something awesomer, for free?? And so began it's final trek to becoming sconces for our bathroom:

First, we chopped the driftwood in half and squared off the back so it would fit flush to the wall:

Then, we cut out an approximate 90 degree angle, just enough for a tea light candle to rest on:
(sorry for such dark pictures, it was a little late when we were finishing this project!)

Then, Jeremy drilled a hole big enough for the tea light to rest in and I lacquered them:

EEk! And now look! I absolutely love them!

The Steinberger's are Now Toddlers

This about covers the trip I'm about to revisit. This past Tuesday my husband and I celebrated our graduation from infancy to toddler hood in the world of marriage. Yep, we turned 2. August has proved itself as a very busy month for us this year so we postponed our trip to Yellowstone National Park for September. But of course had to do something on the day of (and surrounding) our anniversary. So we took the day that marked our 2 years as man and wife as a great excuse to camp on the beach. Camping is an inevitable summer activity. Well, it used to be. We haven't gone once all summer. Busy bodies means no time to sleep outside. HA! It doesn't sound like such a bad thing when put that way, huh? In any case. We love to do it and have missed it this summer.We did some golfing, frisbee throwing, kite flying, shopping in Lincoln City.... and relaxing.

While packing for our trip we found one of the signs I made for directing our guests to the wedding site. We wanted to bring it to use it one last time before we got rid of it.

Apparently the sign was incredibly visible to everyone in the camp ground. On our first night we took the hound down to the beach and after walking past a couple two camp sites down from us, we heard a "congratulations, happy honeymooning!" It completely cracked us up for several reasons. a. (the obvious) it wasn't our honeymoon and b. who camps for their honeymoon? We love to camp but, honeymoons are designed to be a tad more special, according to us. It just struck a funny bone.

To My Dear Jeremy,
I love you more and more everyday. I am so excited for our future and what every day holds for us. I can't tell you how much I've learned from you, all are things that have added to my quality of life. We are becoming such a solid team. I have never had so much fun, love, laughter, music, appreciation for everything small and big, adventure, spontaneity in my life until I met you ... I am consumed with our ability to meet in the middle and see each other eye to eye. I love our friendship and our inside jokes. I love that you think I'm the funniest person in the world. I love that half of your ingredients fall on the kitchen floor when you're making me dinner, the effort is so appreciated and end result is always delicious. I love that we've blended 2 very, very different upbringings and took the good and made it great. I love your curly hair even though you thought it would prevent you from making friends when you were little. I love that you're a rock solid Godly man. I love that you always call our dog "hound" and think that because she is so sweet, so will our children be. I love watching you do things that you are passionate about and are amazing at. I can't wait to grow old with you, embark on new adventures, and create a lifestyle of not having the biggest house, or nicest cars but one rich in memories and faith.

I love you with my whole heart and with all that is within me,
T