At home in Draper

This past weekend James and I were in Utah and we found a place in Draper that we will soon call home! It was my goal/project for the week to find housing and while we haven't officially decided on the unit we'll rent (apt or townhome) we know the property we like.

On Friday Diane and I put in a full day of "house hunting," and it wore me out. I can't imagine how draining actual HOUSE hunting must be. And that goes on for months or longer. We met some very interesting characters who gave us walk-throughs of very interesting units...units with green bamboo shoots painted in the master bedroom that can't be painted over, others with Harry Potter-like cupboards under the stairs covered in Winnie the Pooh murals, and more. I obviously did a real nice job selecting where to look. Haha. We really did find some good places though, and the one we settled on won me over because they had bowls of Werther's and free Cokes in their model units...two things that obviously don't come with the apartment. Oh I'm a slave to sugar.

On Saturday I brought James back to the "free Werther's and Cokes" property and what do you know they had a plate of chocolate chip cookies sitting out up for grabs in the leasing office! They sure know how to sell the place! That's probably what sold James, but we are also very happy with the the quality of the apartments and townhomes, the reviews, and the location (near his work, a chapel, a grocery store, a movie theater, and a huge new shopping center with Cafe Rio, Zupas, and In N Out...all the MUST HAVES of course). We're so excited to be real close to James' family and closer to my family, who live in CO but have some reason to be in UT almost every month it seems. We've been sad about leaving Houston, but the beautiful blue snow-capped mountains that we'll see out our windows made us both feel back at home and excited for our new adventure!

In addition to house-hunting we had a wonderful weekend watching General Conference, going to my mission reunion, celebrating James' birthday, and spending time with family. (Insert: I know many of you reading this are big foodies like unto myself, so you'll appreciate the details of our meals this weekend which included homemade cinammon rolls, my grandma's chicken and kielbasa jambalaya recipe, and brownies/ice cream/hot fudge/caramel/oreos for James' birthday dessert.)

Also my brother Morgan, sister-in-law Eliza, and niece Eva Kate came up to SLC to join us at the McKeans and I completely hogged adorable little Eva the whole day. Then on Monday on my way back to Houston I had a 3-hr layover in Denver. My lovely mom drove up to the airport and treated me to to lunch nearby...fish tacos and DOUGHNUTS. Mm mm mm...

My wonderful comps Sarah and Cami :)

My delightful sushi at Happy Sumo w/the girls during priesthood session

My cutest niece ever.

And again.

Such an awesome weekend.

So, I think for this week's project I want to hone my baking skills and try my hand at either a few new recipes or revisit a few things I haven't made in a very long while, like homemade bread perhaps. Yummy pictures (hopefully) to come next week.