A wedding and mini vaycay

At the beginning of the month, we went to Vegas to celebrate my cousin Joy's wedding!  It was a lovely occasion, and I was finally able to meet her (now) husband.  He is a great guy and I think he will be able to handle our crazy family well.

After a few days in Vegas, Wolfgang and I decided to spend a few short days in Phoenix! We had a great time relaxing in the perfect, perfect weather {think 70s, people!}. I even wore shorts and sandals one day. I could have cried.

Wolfgang's old "Marriott family" at the Camelback Inn took very good care of us for two nights, then the last night we stayed with some friends. We were both able to visit with old friends and co-workers, and quickly realized how much we missed them, and how much we miss our desert livin'. We really did have it good in Phoenix in many ways. 

Also, I was finally able to take a picture of my favorite sign!  

Isn't that great?  It's on the drive between Vegas to Phoenix. And literally, there is nothing around. There are some interesting podunk towns outside of Phoenix, and now Wolfgang and I decided that when we are feeling sorry for ourselves, we are now just going to say, "It could be worse, we could be living in Wikieup."

What's been up, and what's next.

I always seem to need to have some sort of event, big or small, to keep me going and motivated throughout the week.  I haven't quite figured out if this is a good or bad thing, but that's basically why my blog title is, "What's Next?" Because it fits me perfectly as to how I tend to look at things.

The last couple of weeks have been great, we've been able to do things here and there that have kept us sane during this busy and slightly chaotic work season.  Here are some things we've been up to.

Spring Training

 A couple of weeks ago we went to a spring training game with the Diamondbacks (Go DBacks!)  vs Cubs.  It was a gorgeous day, and it was a chill but fun game.  Wolfgang is officially American, because he had a hot dog at a baseball game!  So proud.  Next step for us is to go to a legit game.


Treat Yo' Self.

Never heard of it?  It's only from one of our favorite TV shows.  Let me clue you in:



So, we decided to have a "Treat Yo Self"  mini (sorta)stay-cation.
We stayed at the Ritz Carlton Dove Mountain for two nights; first night was free, second night on our employee rate, of course.  BAM!  It was fantastic. Not to mention, they had the best avocado fries, and buffalo tacos {salivating}

 

 During that little vacation, we also went to Saguaro National Park.  I just love them cacti!

Other festivities have included actually being social with friends and co-workers (woah, I know...)  and going wedding dress shopping with a friend of mine on several occasions, which was fun because I hadn't gone since it was me putting on all those dresses!



And now, the moment you've {I} have been waiting for, of what is to come in the {somewhat}  near future...{and sorry, to many of you, this isn't new news}
Flights are booked, and we are going to Austria for my brother-in-law's wedding in July, with a side detour of Wolfgang's old stomping grounds in England!!!

I'm so excited, I can hardly wait.  We'll be gone for about 2 1/2 weeks.  I've already got a list going of things we have to do, and things we should do while we are over there.  The Lonely Planet book of England has been very helpful, and seeing that I have a local informant for Austria, I don't have to do too much researching for that portion of the trip :)

I even loved  reading the confirmation email for our flights to/from Austria to England, because the English words and slang are different and cute.

Hope you are all doing well, and thanks for being patient with me as I figured out the new Blogger set-up, aka my laziness.

Sedona

I just love Northern AZ. It has it's own unique beauty, that is definitely not present in Phoenix.

We decided to take a day trip to Sedona, AZ with a couple, just for fun and to get out of town. Wolfgang and I had the opportunity to have a complimentary off-roading tour (thanks Marriott!) with Pink Jeep Tours. Unfortunately our friends didn't come with us, because the wife is 8 months prego... we didn't want to play doctor on the tour (nor would they let her go anyway)

It was chilly but the air was crisp and clean. It just so happened that they also had some holiday festivities going on at Tlaquepaque so that was fun too.

Here are some pictures from the day, and if you'd like you can look at some more if you click here.

The city that never sleeps.

Stage two of the trip with the in-laws: Vegas! Good ol' Vegas.

Got in yesterday afternoon, and spent some short but good time with grandpa, aunt, uncle, and cousin n' boyfriend.

Being a Marriott employee, benefit #234 is that you can get employee discount rates for hotels that aren't really Marriott hotels, like The Cosmopolitan. Therefore, that's where we stayed at for two nights.

Wolfgang has been wanting to stay here ever since it opened last year, but they are pretty (understandably) stingy about giving employee discounts, so needless to say, he was really excited to find some rates for when his parents were coming here.

So, would you like a cheesy video tour of our hotel room? Ok, if you insist.


(sorry, after two long tries, my video wouldn't upload...maybe I'll put it on youtube and share the link)

The weather here has been great, rainy but enjoyable. I think fall is finally here? I'll be the judge when we are in Phoenix.

Utah.

Thursday night Wolfgang's parents flew in from Austria. Friday morning we all caught a flight to Salt Lake City, to attend General Conference. It's been a great weekend to become spiritually uplifted, enjoy the beautiful weather, and to meet up with friends and family.

When you are a member of the LDS church, the world seems to become a lot smaller. I have never been to Conference without seeing at least a few people that I know from home, or more in particularly, from school in Idaho and Hawaii.

Yesterday I randomly came across a dear friend of mine from high school who was a foreign exchange student my senior year of high school. The last time I had seen him was when one of my best friends and I had said our excited, yet sad goodbyes to him, at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT. We knew that it could possibly be the last time we would ever see him again in this life, considering his home in Brazil wasn't exactly just around the corner to visit.

As we had a few minutes to say hello yesterday and to catch up, we realized the day we said our goodbyes, was around 5-6 years ago. Say whaaaat?? We couldn't believe it. Oh, how time flies.

The last two night one of my (2nd) cousins kindly let Wolfgang and I stay with her husband and adorable two boys. I couldn't believe how much the boys had grown! The oldest 3, and the other...probably about 1 1/2. The last time I had seen the youngest, we was only a few weeks old. They are both so precious and lively little boys.

It's been a good weekend, and tomorrow we continue our travels with the in-laws to southern Utah, then off to good ol' Vegas!

California.

The goal of this blog post is to effectively share about our visit to CA, with minimal amount of words and pictures; I'm usually not so good at this. We'll see how it goes.}

Back in around April or so, Wolfgang and I randomly decided we wanted to go to San Francisco for our wedding anniversary this year. We bought cheap flights then waited, and waited, and waited....and finally were able to go this past Thurs-Tuesday. We had a great time, and took over 400 pictures. Ridiculous, right? I'm pretty sure we can delete a slew of them though.

Here's the condensed version of our vacation:

We flew into L.A. thursday morning and headed up to Paso Robles, where my aunt and uncle live. It had been 10 years since I had last seen my uncle, and a few years short of that since I had seen my aunt. It was so great to see them and to enjoy their company, and of course for them to finally meet the husband. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to prove this event, but it did indeed happen. We stayed with them that night, and then again on our way back. I swear these two will never age. I hope to be like them. They are so fun to be around, and it was good to catch up, reminisce, and play with the pets too, of course. We even watched a 20 yr old home video of when we all were together on the lake, and it was pretty funny.

The next day we headed up to San Fran! We were there for 3 nights, and stayed at two Marriotts, obviously. There we did all the touristy stuff, like:

Had delicious fresh clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl from Boudin (it's a must),



while meeting up with one of our good friends from Hawaii, and also having ridiculous sundaes at Ghiradelli Square. We miss his presence.

We took our time heading up the coast, so that's pretty much all we had time for the first day.

The next day, we went to China Town. Wolfgang was overwhelmed {in a good way, I guess} by all the crap you could by in the stores. His most favorite find apparently was this: (enough to take a picture of it). Thank goodness he didn't actually buy it, or anything for that matter.


We ate at a restaurant there in China Town for lunch, and that was an experience in itself.

Next we headed over to the Fisherman's Wharf to check out the Sea Lions. May I add that they were hilarious? I could have watched them for hours; they were just naturally comical. The extremely passed out ones were my favorite.

The little light colored Sea Lion in this picture, can you see it? (below) He's completely passed out with his neck and head completely cocked back! Ouch. So funny.
These two were pretty funny also. The big one in the front kept having his mouth in the water, but he was so out of it that every time he would somewhat notice, he would take his head out of the water...then it would end up right back where it was. The little guy next to him is so cute too!



We finished the day off with good ol' Lombard Street. Such a beautiful street with beautiful landscapes and cute houses!



The next day was our 2 year anniversary! Time flies. We had an amazing breakfast then we met up with my wonderful first roommate in Hawaii. She was so great to live with, and is a wonderful hostess/tour guide. First time I came to San Fran I stayed with her and her wonderful family. We ate lunch at Ike's Place which was pretty dang tasty. We then went to the wonderfully beautiful area of Presidio with its huge mansions nearby, old military homes, and beautiful parks. It was also the first time I had ever seen a huge military cemetery. It was very humbling. There we took pictures of the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge.
From there we went to "The Painted Ladies," because Wolfgang insisted on seeing the "Full House" {early 90s TV show} house. Needless to say we don't know which one it was? Pretty sure it was painted since then, or its really none of the above.



Obviously there were other more important things than us when taking this picture...



Our next big event was the following day on our way out of town, when we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was SO cool. I've been wanting to go to this for years, ever since I saw it on tv or something for the first time. Since in my next life I will be a marine biologist {didn't really work out in this life} and my obsessed love for the ocean and its creatures, I had a great time, and so did Wolfgang too. Sometimes I am so overwhelmed by the beauty and complexity of God's creations, that I can't help but tear up a bit and just be in a total euphoric mood. Luckily no crying at the Aquarium.

We took way too many pictures there, but here are just a few.


Someday, I WILL pet you, dearest Killer Whale.


Well, it looks like I failed on my goal for this post.

We had a great time, even if I had an obnoxious head cold the whole time {it started the day we started our vacation. So convenient, right?}. The weather was great, a little cold but it was nice to be cold rather than dying in the heat for once. We were happy and glad we had the opportunity to take this nice little trip.

Back.

Back from mini vacation, getting over a head cold, and back to work. We took a few too many (hundreds) of pictures, so that'll be a doozey to get through; Will blog about it soon.

G'night!

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.

Family Weekend

This weekend we took at quick trip to Vegas to meet up with the fam and go to a family reunion for my mom's side. Usually reunions are thought of as painful and boring, but ours was enjoyable. Unfortunately pictures of the weekend were not taken with our camera, so no pictures of relatives and headstones for you.

A few thoughts and observations from the weekend:

-This was (I believe) the first time I had done this route to Vegas. For the first hour or so, I felt like we were heading to Mexico instead of Vegas.

-Peoria is the saddest town. Ugly, and it has more vacant buildings than my hometown. It also has a lot of random elderly people driving golf carts on public roads. Is that legal? weird.

-I forget how artistic graffiti can be

-INSIDE a hotel wall is no place for a cricket to live and to make his nightly music

-My mom's family doesn't mess around when it comes to potlucks (it was delicious)

-My talented aunt who was unable to attend made and sent several types of earrings to be used at the silent auction and for us to enjoy. They are little pomegranates; aren't they so cute? Pomegranates have historic and sentimental value in our family. -These baby booties were in the silent auction, made by a relative. I thought they were adorable and so did my mom, so she bought them for me. (who's the favorite now, Jess?) I think she might be hinting at something. Aren't they just the cutest thing?? We were glad that we were able to spend time with our family, it never gets old!

Sun to Snow

Today marks the end of our long weekend road trip to Utah. This past weekend we went on our little Mormon pilgrimage to Salt Lake City to watch General Conference. We had tickets to watch it live for Saturday morning and it was a real treat, especially since Wolfgang has never seen the huge conference center.

It was an enjoyable weekend spent catching up with many of my old roommates/ Wolfgang's mission friends whom we have not seen in several years. I miss those girls so much and which I could be around them more often, but I enjoyed the time I had with them. I had every intention of taking pictures, but got caught up in the moment of catching up/laughing/reminiscing in such a short amount of time.

This was also a weekend of blessings. I'll try not to get too wordy {since I've probably already lost your interest in not having any pictures}. Let's just say that we had several "incidences" with our car this weekend, that could have ended up possibly canceling our trip altogether, having a lot of car damage, and costing us a lot of money. Thank the heavens above that we had good Samaritans, talented car gurus, and trusty and honest friends to help us out and make our weekend still happen, worry-free, and very cost efficient.

It was a good weekend, and now it's go time on really convincing people to hire me.

what is this white stuff? haven't seen that in a while. had a good day in Page and enjoyed the beautiful weather; now off to Utah!