Recipe Blog

I finally got brave and started a recipe blog. I have recipes all over the place and it will be nice to collect them all in one place. This is also a way that I can share recipes with my mom and sister since they often ask for new dinner ideas. Don't expect anything fancy. I like easy, yummy food so that's what you'll find.

You can find this block at http://cookingitupstephstyle.blogspot.com/

Photo Dump

Here's a photo dump of the latest random pictures I've taken on my phone. None of these deserve their own post so they are compiled all together. 

Thanksgiving was spent at Golden Corral. Now we can say we've done that. Lots of variety but I missed the home cooking. We ate with Scott's cousin and his family.

Who says you can't have pizza and steak on Thanksgiving?

My car had a very big milestone in December. I don't have one regret buying my Honda. It's been a great car and has been a trooper getting us so many different destinations. 

Christmas morning sunrise taken from work. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was beautiful. 

 

 Christmas afternoon picture. Cosmo was ready to open some presents!

 

 We opened the container for Cosmo's toys and 5 minutes later he'd gone through each toy making sure they still had squeakers. Now if we could just teach him to put them back.

 

The forecast in January. Rough life here.

A funny sign mocking the Mayan calendar. I got a good laugh.

We had dinner with Scott's great uncle and his wife while Scott's parents were in town. We hung out outside while dinner was grilling. It was such a nice night!

A roadrunner next to my office.

Yes that's frost on my car! My scraper is packed away. I definitely wasn't expecting this.

The view out of my boss' window. Not too shabby.

And finally, our silly dog. He always sleeps in the funniest positions. Love him!

Big changes and more visitors

Saying that we have been busy is a serious understatement! When we moved here, one of the things we were excited about was that we pretty much had a clear calendar. Fast forward 4 months later and I think we are almost as busy as we were in Price. We were excited when Scott's parents and brother made a last minute trip to see us last week. Last Sunday Scott was called to be 2nd counselor in the Bishopric in our ward. This meant that he needed to be set apart as a High Priest and we feel so blessed that his parents were able to make the last minute trip so that his dad could ordain him. Along with that, I was called as the Young Women's secretary which I'm so excited about! 

Here are some of the fun pictures from our time spent with Scott's family. Kevin (Scott's brother), Scott and I went to a restaurant in Gilbert called Joe's Farm Grill which was awesome! They have a farm where they grow all of their own produce that they use in their meals. They have this awesome picnic area where you can eat, and since it was 70 degrees outside we enjoyed the beautiful weather under a huge tree. This was the sign next to the tree.

After we had dinner the boys played a little Xbox tennis. Boys will be boys. They really enjoyed themselves.

This is the picture we took of the men before church. Three very wonderful men. Two being bishops, and one about to be a bishopric member.

These are some pictures that we took after church. I wanted to take some outside of the church building but Scott was very busy already working on some duties so we took some pictures outside once he got home. 

We had a family dinner that night and invited Scott's cousin Brad and his family.

On Monday, Scott had to work so I got to spend some time with Scott's parents. We found this awesome river walk about 2 miles from my house. I'm so bummed I didn't know about it sooner. It was awesome! And a beautiful day for a walk. Can't beat the 75 degree weather we had.

I love that in this picture you can see the Phoenix skyline.

It was a great week and we feel so blessed to be here and that we had family to share this special week with. We know without a doubt this is where we are supposed to be and we are so grateful we were lead here.

Staycation

My folks came to visit us from Utah right after Christmas. I have to say that a staycation is awesome! We didn't have to pack, we got to sleep in our own bed, and didn't have to do much cooking or cleaning. It was super relaxing and enjoyable. We were able to show my parents around Phoenix, eat new food, see a movie, play games, watch football, and enjoy the time together. 

First I will show you how much Cosmo enjoyed the staycation and having Grandma and Grandpa here.

 I'm not sure that he's loved quite enough...

We were able to show my parents the Mesa Temple in the day and at night with the Christmas lights.

 

 

We had such a great time. Like any vacation it didn't last long enough but we have some great memories and we can't wait for the next time!