Come again on my Birthday!

We had a really great Christmas Vacation. First, I got to go home for five days and see my family. It was really fun doing Christmas things with them, since I haven't really been able to since we moved here. We usually go up after Christmas.

Then, Josh's family came down to Arizona for Christmas and then a bunch of the Brady's came after Christmas for their niece/grandaughter/cousin's wedding. It was like a really long party that just kept going and going. So fun! And my work computer crashed so I wasn't able to work. The. Whole. Time. (Well, almost.) Bummer. I was pretty broken up about it. The only really sad part was I was so exhausted from not sleeping enough and having a really bad headache that I fell asleep on New Years Eve at 10:30. My poor husband didn't have anyone to kiss at Midnight. I think he tried to wake me up for it, but I am kind of grumpy when I sleep.

So anyway, my house is being built super fast, which is good in some ways; like in the way that I will be able to live in the same city as my husband. But it's also not so good in other ways; like in the way I haven't really packed and we really need to sell the house in Ajo and it doesn't seem like I am getting anything done to further either one of those things. But I'm sure everything will work out okay in the end. Anyway, here is a few shots of the process. It's all very exciting!

Front of House
Front Door
Lots of Windows
Fireplace
East Side & Garage

Back Porch
View from Back Porch

Pretty cool, eh?

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...sing along everybody!

"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree; you are not at my house. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree; I didn't put you up. I've been too busy doing stuff, and I won't be here anyways, SO Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, you're staying in your box."

Thank you, thank you, I know, I am quite talented. This is a picture of my tree from last year. It would look the same if I put it up this year so I think it counts. But seriously, I didn't get out any of my decorations this year. I figured it was counter-productive since I was packing things into boxes. And since Josh and I are spending Christmas away from our home, what is the point? Surprisingly, it doesn't bother me. It's actually kind of nice not having to worry about Brutus knocking it over.

However, in the spirit of Christmas, I have been busy making lots of treats; because that makes Christmas time delicious. Here are a couple of my favorite "make-to-give-away-to-friends, neighbors, and-old-people-in-the-ward treats" recipes.

Pumpkin Bread

Here's a LINK to recipe. I make this into those little mini loaves, and I get six per recipe and I bake them for about 65 minutes.

AND

Sweet Chex Mix (No picture. Sad.)

(The secret to this one is the sugar with butter and more sugar (in the form of Karo syrup) and butter flavoring. YUM!)

1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup butter

dash of butter flavoring

1/8 tsp. baking soda (pinch)

18 cups cereal (6 cups each: Corn Chex, Rice Chex, and Golden Grahams)*

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Measure out cereal into a large bowl. Melt butter, sugar and corn syrup in saucepan over high heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and promptly add butter flavor and baking soda and stir. Pour over cereal mixture and stir to coat evenly. Pour onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and dump mix onto wax paper to cool. Store in ziploc bags.

*This year I used Wheat Chex because it came in the combo box I bought at Costco, so I did 5 cups of Golden Grahams, and 4 1/3 cups of the three Chex cereals. Josh thinks I should just leave out the Chex and do it all with Golden Grahams.

You should really try them. Go on, start making them. Hey, are you still reading this?

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM JOSH AND NICOLA!

"Suuuusan....oooh, I just scared myself!"

Haha, I love Bob and his 14 chunks of pineapple jello salad girlfriend: SO FUNNY. And it's as close to a Halloween movie as I get. I don't like scary shows, they freak me out and not in an enjoyable way. Anyway, volleyball is over now and I have more free time but so far I have used it being really sick. But now that I'm getting over the sickness, I am going to make some Halloween treats. Aren't these strawberries cute? I am totally going to take them to our ward party if I can get some good strawberries, which might be tricky. Here's the LINK to recipe.
I also need a good last minute Halloween costume without spending any money. Any suggestions?

"Rosie, I bought a house!"

Haha, I love that movie (Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, for those of you who don't know). But the line is not totally accurate. We are actually in the process of buying a 2.56 acre lot in Safford, AZ for our house that we are going to BUILD! I am excited for a lot of reasons: we will be close to Josh's Aunt Kathleen and her family (they are awesome), we will also be close to a temple when it's completed, as well as a Wal-Mart, grocery stores, Home Depot, and other modern shopping places that are two hours away from Ajo. Well, we do have a grocery store in Ajo, but it's kind of pricey since there's no competition. Also,the weather is cooler over there, there are lots of mormons (which means we won't be in a branch or tiny ward like Ajo), the list goes on and on.
Anyway, it's going to be great, and we will be able to build the house we want for the same amount of money we were looking at spending on an already built home. We really like the builder too. He built Kathleen's home and they really liked him, so we have a good reference and Josh met with him this week and also liked him. Plus, ever since we made this decision, I have not been stressed and I feel more peaceful about moving. Here is a picture of our lot, and a LINK to the picture, floor plan and 3-D view of the house we have chosen.
On a totally unrelated and unnecessary side note, I always have a hard time coming up with titles of my blog posts. So I have decided to use movie and song titles, quotes, lyrics, etc. If you have any suggestions you would like me to use, that would be funny. I do want them to sort of relate to what the post is about so keep that in mind.
I know I have been a slacker lately with the blog, but it's volleyball season and I am pretty lazy once I get home from practice and games. I will try to do better. I am also going to try to post some of the delicious recipes I have discovered lately. I could probably do a whole blog about food, YUM. In fact, I will share one with you now. The Chunky Apple Cake! This is a good Fall recipe because it has apples in it. I do recommend making this for a large group because it is really good warm with the sauce, and the leftovers aren't quite the same. Here is the LINK to the recipe. Taste of Home is the best.

NOT Stuck in Ajo

I guess we're going to have to get another blog. We're not actually stuck in Ajo. We won't have to spend the winter here with summer (remember Ajo is where summer spends winter.)

I got a call last Friday, and then an email containing a job offer yesterday. I'm going to be transferring to the station in Willcox, AZ sometime in the next one to three months. I still need to get all the details hammered out. The phone call was very unexpected as I had applied for this transfer over a year ago. Apparently the union was upset that there were very few transfers within Tucson sector last year (most of the transfers were up to the northern border.) So the union threw a fit, and now all the stations are picking a few people from the old lists to transfer. I got picked because I'm certified on the horses, and they need riders, so I will even get to stay on the horse patrol unit.



I'll get a lot less dope (approx. 300 lbs. marijuana pictured above) and I will work in the day rather than at night, but it will still be fun.