Christmas

Christmas this year was low key and enjoyable, we were able to fly home to AZ to spend it with my family.  It was a very short trip of just a few days and a lot of traveling ( 1 hr to Baltimore airport, 4-5 hour flight, 4 1/2 hour drive to parents' house/hometown) but it was still well worth it. It was also great to be able to enjoy a short visit with my Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, and Grandpa. Grandpa has been in the hospital recently, but luckily was able to go home a little before Christmas thanks to my loving and supportive family members.

What happened to when we were students and had 3 weeks off to enjoy the Christmas season?  I feel like it came and went in a blink of an eye.  I still have our small amount of Christmas decorations up, and sometimes still listen to Christmas music- don't judge!  Not to mention I went a little crazy in post-Christmas shopping for Christmas decorations, and I'm excited for next year's decorating!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas with your loved ones.

A lovely Christmas.

Our Christmas holiday was a good one. We made it to my parents house by around 8pm, and soon after opened our delightful gifts. I surprised my family by bringing some "bundtinis" home, that I raved about in a previous post. I don't know who was more excited, me or them.

We stayed and relaxed a few days with the fam, and enjoyed many rounds of, "The Game of Things." Games in the Dudley home can get a little rowdy, that's all I can say about that.

The obvious gift that was given as shown in the picture, definitely won the 'most entertaining gift' award of the year. Several of the pictures that were taken with the 'staches are most definitely black mail worthy, and I've decided to be a nice sister/daughter/wife. For your viewing pleasure though, I will share a few 'not-so-bad' ones.

An Austrian...with a short mustache... enough said.

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas with loved ones.

As much as I love and covet the green, I'll always call the beautiful desert home.

What's for dinner?

About a week ago before we came up to stay at my parents' place, I talked to my dad on the phone. Kind of out of the blue in the middle of our conversation, my dad asked, "Are you a good cook?" I was confused as to why he was asking me, but I responded with something on the lines of, " I'm not an amazing cook, but I can cook." I thought maybe it was just him trying to make conversation as to how I am doing being a wife, or something.

Then it dawned on me. I thought, My mom isn't going to be in town for the duration of our stay, so he's wondering if I can cook for him! I see how it is. Sure enough, the next thing he said was something like, "Because I'm not (a good cook)."

I thought it was kind of funny, and decided to make it a little challenge for myself. As mentioned in a post or two ago, my mom had told me I had free reign on buying whatever I wanted/needed for cooking, etc. Also, I was very excited to use all the things I don't have, when it comes to any kitchen appliances.

Needless to say, I tried a few new recipes on my dad and husband. I do have to admit that I didn't cook/bake as many new things as I wanted to, but I did make a small dent. Here are some of those things that I had tried for the first time:

Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Pesto Penne

Picture and recipe found here.

This was easy and pretty good. I was expecting more of a bold flavor, but it wasn't bland by any means either. Wolfgang was a big fan.

Rachel Ray Chickpea Burgers

Picture and recipe found here.

For some reason, I was really excited about this one. The men on the other hand? Not so much. Considering I was the cook, I made them anyways. They turned out ok, but I did have too high of expectations. If I were to make them again, I would cook them on a grill or George Foreman, etc instead of a skillet like I did. I also would use original bread crumbs and not Italian flavored...I didn't take a good look at the label that my mom had, until it was the last minute.

And of course, a dessert:

Chocolate Coconut Bars

Picture and recipe found here.

This turned out really good. Not in any way healthy, but that's why they are so yummy, right? One person who had made these described them as tasting "Just like Samoas Girls Scout Cookies" which led me to them. I do have to say they definitely don't taste just like them, but they are still delightful.

I'm really enjoying trying new things. Once again, thanks Pinterest.

Kayaking

This is my cute husband. Today we went kayaking on The lake {notice the capital "t"? Lake Powell IS the king of all lakes. period. biased?}


We didn't quite go where we were planning on {I don't want to talk about it...} but we did do a little exploring in a cove/mini canyon. As you can see from the picture above, we were a hot mess by the end of our journey; it was exhausting but we had a great time.

Needless to say, pain killers are already our best friends tonight.

Nice weekend.

Dear Hometown,

Thanks for such a lovely weekend of wonderful weather (sunshine and rain),

lake time,

relaxing with and enjoying the parents,

and all those other little things that I love and enjoy about being home.

I temporarily forgot how wonderful it is to have a neighborhood and a backyard.

Once again you reminded me how incredibly lucky I was to grow up there, in such a beautiful and peaceful place.

Till we meet again in a few weeks-

Sincerely,

Jaimie,
currently wishing she was still there and not in her 98 degree apartment that only drops 3 degrees in 30 mins.

home.

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged, eh? I guess that means that I've been having too much fun and not a lot of time around computers.

That's a GOOD thing.

Ok, so maybe there's a side of laziness in there somewhere too.

Since I'm official home HOME as of two nights ago, I think it's time to play catch-up with blogging on these last couple of crazy weeks.

It'll be coming soon....today, tomorrow....or whenever I feel like it.